Leng Ruo Li woke up from a strange bed, still clad in her wedding gown. The sky was already bright.
Leng Ruo Li recalled the events of the previous night, which immediately made her furious. That Ming Jiu Xiao was truly detestable, knocking her out and taking her away when she was off guard.
"Ai—"
"After Ming Jiu Xiao's commotion this time, Leng Ruo Li's reputation will only worsen," Leng Ruo Li said to herself.
Afterward, she scanned the room and found herself in a rustic, exquisite thatched cottage.
The place felt very familiar!
She walked out of the cottage and saw a peach grove outside. She realized she had been here before.
Leng Ruo Li looked towards the lake not far away and saw Ming Jiu Xiao fishing by the lake. She hurried over.
"Ming Jiu Xiao, now that you've had your fun, send me back quickly," Leng Ruo Li said to Ming Jiu Xiao's back, her tone full of annoyance.
"If you can walk out, I, Ming Jiu Xiao, will not stop you," Ming Jiu Xiao turned around, raised his eyebrows at Leng Ruo Li, and said provocatively, as if to infuriate her to death.
"Are you telling the truth? If I can get out, you'll let me leave?" Leng Ruo Li looked incredulous.
"Indeed, but only if you can get out of this peach grove." After saying that, Ming Jiu Xiao chuckled.
Although Leng Ruo Li didn't quite believe Ming Jiu Xiao's words, she still wanted to try.
Subsequently, Leng Ruo Li ran into the peach grove without even looking at Ming Jiu Xiao.
Watching Leng Ruo Li's eager escape, Ming Jiu Xiao's expression instantly returned to normal. He was contemplating whether imprisoning Leng Ruo Li in the peach garden was the right decision.
Leng Ruo Li, however, spent the entire morning wandering in the peach grove without finding a way out.
At this moment, Leng Ruo Li finally understood why Ming Jiu Xiao was so confident she wouldn't be able to leave. It was because he knew that the end of this peach grove led to a bottomless cliff. She, Leng Ruo Li, had nowhere to go.
So, Leng Ruo Li returned to find the stone door she had seen the first time she was here. She found it, but the stone door was located on a cliff face about twenty meters high above the peach grove. The cliff was incredibly smooth, as if artificially polished, and Leng Ruo Li couldn't climb it!
When she had been here last time, it was night, and she hadn't been able to see the surroundings clearly. Now, in broad daylight, Leng Ruo Li could see the scenery clearly.
"Ming Jiu Xiao, screw you! You're truly cunning, playing me when you knew I couldn't get out." She was so angry!
Just then, Leng Ruo Li saw Ming Jiu Xiao's large black eagle perched on a peach tree several dozen meters away. Leng Ruo Li's eyes suddenly lit up, and she hurried over.
"Big Black Eagle, do you want to eat raw chicken and fish?"
As soon as the black eagle heard about food, it immediately opened its eyes, looking at Leng Ruo Li with anticipation.
Seeing its eager look, Leng Ruo Li knew she had hooked it.
"You really want to eat? Let's make a deal! If you take me back to Leng Wang Fu, I'll have someone chop up raw chicken pieces for you, without any limit," Leng Ruo Li tempted it.
Upon hearing this, the black eagle flapped its wings excitedly, its eyes shining. Oh my, she said she would give it unlimited raw chicken! Should it agree? But its master had told it not to fly this woman out of the peach grove without his command. Yet, it really wanted to eat raw chicken! It was all because its master rarely let it eat its fill. The eagle was very angry.
"Big Black Eagle, just agree to my request."
The black eagle really wanted to accept this easy task, but it was terrified. If its master found out that it had sent this person away, he would immediately roast it into roasted eagle.
Sob sob—
As a black eagle, its life was truly miserable!
Therefore, the black eagle hesitated for a moment, flapped its wings twice, and refused Leng Ruo Li's request. Because it couldn't betray its master, it absolutely could not agree to this woman's terms.
When Leng Ruo Li learned that the black eagle had refused her request, she became furious. She squatted down, picked up a broken peach branch, stood up abruptly, and swung it at the black eagle. However, she missed, and it flew far away.
Disappointed, Leng Ruo Li returned to Ming Jiu Xiao's small thatched cottage.
Inside the cottage, Ming Jiu Xiao was cooking in the kitchen. The smell of burnt fried fish wafted over. Leng Ruo Li's eyebrows furrowed, and she muttered, "Ming Jiu Xiao, you idiot, can that burnt fish even be eaten?"
She hurried into the kitchen and took a look at the fish Ming Jiu Xiao was frying.
"My goodness!"
"Is this still fish?"
"It's not an exaggeration to call it 'charcoal'!"
Ming Jiu Xiao chuckled.
Looking at the pitch-black "charcoal" in the pot, he felt awkward. Why was the weather so hot this winter? He wiped the sweat from his face, smearing half of his fair and handsome face, making him look particularly comical.
"Girl, I intended to fry fish for you, but I didn't realize frying fish was so troublesome," Ming Jiu Xiao said with a hint of grievance.
"Then how do you usually cook?" Leng Ruo Li felt speechless.
"Lin Feng usually cooks for me. Don't let his seemingly dull appearance fool you; his cooking is delicious. But Lin Feng went out these past few days, and I can't eat his food anymore," Ming Jiu Xiao said with some helplessness.
Speaking of food, Leng Ruo Li was also truly hungry. She hadn't eaten a single grain of rice since yesterday morning. And after all that trouble for over two hours, her stomach was already hollow.
"Is there any more fish? I'll cook."
"Yes, I caught two live fish from the lake this morning. I'll help you clean them."
"No need. Just bring them over, and I'll handle it."
As soon as she finished speaking, Ming Jiu Xiao excitedly trotted over to a wooden bucket and caught the fish.
Watching Leng Ruo Li expertly clean the fish, a peculiar emotion stirred within him, reminding him of his mother. When Ming Jiu Xiao was young, his mother lived with him in the peach grove, leading a reclusive life. It wasn't until one day his father came and took them all to that place, and from then on, they lived a life on the edge of a knife...
After processing the fish, Leng Ruo Li marinated it with salt. Then, she found a small hoe in the kitchen, picked up a small bamboo basket, and walked out of the door towards the peach grove.
"Girl, where are you going?"
"To dig for wild vegetables!"
"Wait for me!"
Then, Ming Jiu Xiao sprinted to Leng Ruo Li's side.
The two of them entered the peach grove and soon returned with a large basket of wild vegetables. Leng Ruo Li washed the vegetables and stir-fried them. She made pan-fried fish and then added noodles from her system space to the pot. With some seasonings, in less than the time it takes for a cup of tea to steep, the two of them were eating fragrant noodles.
"Girl, your cooking is much better than Lin Feng's. Even your plain noodle soup is tastier than his," Ming Jiu Xiao said, his mouth full, his words slightly slurred.
"If you let me go, I can make delicious food for you often in the future. How about it?"
Upon hearing this, Ming Jiu Xiao immediately shut his mouth.