"Oh, aren't you that walking corpse!"
It was the second time he'd heard that term in one day.
Xiao Jin Yu felt like laughing—at himself. Right now, those three words "walking corpse" fit him more perfectly than anything else.
Chu Chu stood right in front of him, already changed into the common attire of capital women these days, except without any makeup or jewelry. She still wore that same smiling expression.
Xiao Jin Yu felt an inexplicable warmth in his heart.
"Do you live here too?"
Since the exam she took during the day wasn't actually for Six Doors at all, she didn't hold any grudge against him. The capital was an unfamiliar place to begin with, and Chu Chu considered anyone she'd interacted with even once as an acquaintance.
Xiao Jin Yu gave a slight nod.
"What a coincidence!" Chu Chu pointed westward. "I live over there. Where do you live?"
Xiao Jin Yu wanted to point toward One Heart Garden, but discovered his arm was too stiff to even lift.
"What's wrong with you?"
When Chu Chu asked with such concern, Xiao Jin Yu suddenly remembered Jing Yi's words, and his heart sank.
If his calculations were correct, Wu Jiang should still be outside handling a matter for him.
If she wanted his life right now, she'd only need to lift a finger.
He didn't even have the strength to cry out loudly, let alone resist.
Exhaling softly, Xiao Jin Yu spoke calmly, "I've just been sitting for too long, my body's a bit stiff."
"On such a cold day like this, with no flowers or moon, what were you doing sitting here?"
"I... got lost."
Chu Chu immediately beamed with delight, "What a coincidence! I'm lost too!"
It was the first time he'd seen someone who could announce being lost with such cheerfulness...
"...Where are you trying to go? Perhaps I know the way."
Chu Chu pursed her lips, "I haven't had dinner yet. I wanted to go to the kitchen to find something to eat."
Xiao Jin Yu frowned slightly, "It's already the second watch. The kitchen has been empty for hours. Why didn't you just make a request from your room?"
Chu Chu waved her hands repeatedly, "No, no, I can cook. There's no need to trouble anyone so late at night. I'll just find the kitchen and make something simple myself."
"I know where the kitchen is, but... I'll need you to help me get there."
"No problem!"
The kitchen was indeed empty. Chu Chu fumbled in the dark to find the fire starter, and as soon as the lamp was lit, the entire kitchen brightened up.
Chu Chu stuck out her tongue and deftly started the fire by the stove. "This is the first time I've seen such a big kitchen!"
Xiao Jin Yu found himself inexplicably adding, "Me too..."
His brain must have frozen too—why was he telling her this...
Chu Chu squatted by the stove, focused on fanning the flames without looking up. "Really?"
"Really."
This was Xiao Jin Yu's first time seeing a kitchen, regardless of size.
In Prince An Manor, there were places he didn't allow others to enter, and naturally there were places others didn't allow him to enter either.
After getting the fire going, Chu Chu lifted the lid of the large water vat and scooped several ladles of water into the pot. Turning around to see what ingredients the manor kitchen had available, her gaze swept across Xiao Jin Yu's face and froze in place as if she'd seen a ghost.
She hadn't noticed in the dark earlier, but now she could see everything clearly.During the day, this face had still been bruised purple and blue, yet now it was so fair it resembled someone from a painting. If not for the few faint scratches remaining on his forehead, Chu Chu would have suspected the previous injuries had been fake.
"What happened to the bruises on your face?!"
He truly hadn’t noticed, but thinking about it now, it could only be Ye Qian Qiu’s handiwork. "There’s a skilled physician in the Royal Mansion."
"What medicine did he use on you?"
"I don’t know."
Chu Chu leaned in, staring intently at the spots where the bruises had been. The more she looked without finding any traces, the closer she got, until Xiao Jin Yu’s pale, ashen complexion began to flush faintly red. Just as she reached out to touch the few remaining scratches, a tightly clenched sentence suddenly escaped Xiao Jin Yu’s lips.
"The water… the water’s boiling."
Author’s Note: 【Girl】: Ugh, you had it handed to you and you didn’t take it—what were you thinking?! 【Wang Ye】: You know exactly what I was thinking…
☆、8 Jujube Ginger Soup (Eight)
Watching Chu Chu dash back to the stove, Xiao Jin Yu exhaled in relief as if he had narrowly escaped disaster.
He’d faced death countless times, yet never been this terrified…
Fearing she might bring up the injuries again, Xiao Jin Yu deliberately steered the conversation as far away as possible.
"Why didn’t you eat dinner?"
Chu Chu, with her back to him, rummaged noisily through the cabinets. "If I tell you, you can’t laugh at me."
"I won’t."
Chu Chu pulled a piece of ginger from a vegetable basket, washed it a few times, chopped it loudly on the cutting board, and tossed it into the pot. Still searching, she continued, "I was crying in my room the whole time. I cried until I was exhausted and fell asleep, then woke up hungry and came out to find something to eat."
"Did someone in the Royal Mansion bully you?"
Chu Chu stood on tiptoe on a small stool, stretching her arm to reach a pile of dried goods in the cupboard. "No, no, no one bullied me…"
"Then why were you crying?"
"If I tell you, you can’t tell Wang Ye."
"Why?"
"The steward forbade me to say it. He said it would upset Wang Ye."
Xiao Jin Yu frowned slightly. "Upset Wang Ye?"
Hadn’t she already caused him enough trouble today…
Chu Chu successfully retrieved a handful of dried longans and several jujubes, closed the cupboard door, and hopped down from the stool. Only after tossing the ingredients into the pot did she explain, "I heard Wang Ye is a stubborn old man with a terrible temper. If anyone upsets him, he’ll beat them until their buttocks are bruised black and blue!"
Xiao Jin Yu froze in disbelief. "...Who said that?"
Chu Chu rummaged through several spice jars by the stove again, finally selecting one and scooping two large spoonfuls of brown sugar into the pot. "The steward. He’s been here for many years."
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