Eh?
If it wasn’t because he couldn’t eat spicy food, then what was that expression just now?
Tang Doudou was pushed aside by Baili Yu. As he looked at the mass of fiery red inside the pot, Baili Yu’s expression was as if he was facing a formidable enemy!
Actually, it didn’t smell half bad. Baili Yu could only find solace in this.
He raised his chopsticks.
Just as he was about to use his chopsticks, Tang Doudou, who was standing by the window, suddenly shouted, “Wow! It’s snowing!”
Hearing that, Baili Yu lowered his chopsticks and looked towards the window. The only thing he saw was snow flowing down, nearly indistinguishable from flowers.
It’s snowing?
“Wow! It’s so beautiful!” Tang Doudou leaned on the windowsill and extended her hand to catch the falling snowflakes, her eyes filled with little stars. Although she had gone to see snow a few times during the modern era, she had only seen this kind of dreamlike snowfall scene – where snow drifted alongside plum blossom petals – in games and had never witnessed it in person before.
This kind of beauty could make a person forget everything.
Between heaven and earth there was only a vast expanse of whiteness, so beautiful that it took one’s breath away.
Tang Doudou, unable to endure it any longer, rushed out of the room. Standing in the yard, she looked up at the falling snow, her face flushed with excitement.
She shouted, “Ay, big evil spirit! Come out! Let’s look at the snow together, it’s so pretty!” towards Baili Yu, who was still in the room.
Big evil spirit?
She also called him this way that day at the Alliance Head Residence, didn’t she?
Baili Yu’s mouth hooked slightly in a trace of a smile. Reflected within his pupils was the sight of Tang Doudou running all around in the courtyard. It could be seen that she was truly happy.
But it was nothing but a snowfall. Unexpectedly, she’s quite easy to please.
“Ay, what are you dazing out for?” Tang Doudou blew off the snowflakes in her cupped hands, and yelled towards Baili Yu again: “I’m going over there to take a look! If you don’t want to look at the snow then just eat your fish hotpot!”
Tang Doudou ran off laughing as soon as the last word left her mouth.
Hearing the sounds of laughter getting further and further away, Baili Yu put down his chopsticks and folded his hands behind his back. If his memory was correct, then today was the Winter Solstice?
“Ye Chuan!”
Like a ghost, Ye Chuan flashed into the room. Smelling the fragrant scent of the hotpot, he couldn’t help but swallow his saliva. He looked at the hot pot seated beside Baili Yu. What was that? It smelled too good to be true! Even his saliva was dripping uncontrollably.
“Is today the Winter Solstice?” Baili Yu asked.
Ye Chuan unwillingly pried his eyes away from the hot pot and replied, “It is the Winter Solstice.”
“En. Did the Garden prepare the things for celebrating this holiday? If they have then get someone to move them all here. Afterwards, have Meng Yu make some food at the Plum Garden.” Baili Yu instructed, causing Ye Chuan to temporarily be confused at what he was trying to do. It should be known that this master of his never celebrated holidays. If he was happy, then every day would be a holiday. If he was unhappy, then years would pass without celebration.
However, since Master has spoken then as a subordinate he could only obey these orders. Such was the case when earlier he was suddenly told to find some hot pot. It was a good thing the Heng Xuan Chamber of Commerce extended over the entire country and collected quite a few odd marvels and strange treasures. It was only due to this, that he had managed to find something similar to that hot pot.
Soon after Ye Chuan left following orders, he came back with various items from the Plum Garden.
Afterwards, he removed the long tables from the wooden house, tidied up, and blocked the kitchen stove with a screen. Thinking of the small stove that Tang Doudou mentioned, Baili Yu ordered that the wooden house be carpeted then filled with several small stoves, a soft couch, fox fur, side tables…
In a flash, the quality of the wooden house increased by several levels. When Tang Doudou grew tired of playing and returned, her eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.
“You’re back? Come warm your hands.” A warm and lazy voice came from the soft couch. Baili Yu, who was holding a small and delicate warming stove in his hands, raised his eyebrows at the sight of Tang Doudou with snow on top of her head. “You shouldn’t run off when it’s snowing. If you catch a cold, you’ll be the one who suffers.”
Hearing his concerned tone as if he was gently rebuking a lover, Tang Doudou’s face which was already red from the cold became even redder [than the Soviet flag]. Feeling warmth rush from her heart, she pretended to be indifferent as she walked over and accepted the stove. “Are you planning to spend tonight here?”
Baili Yu didn’t answer but instead pointed beside him. “I just heard that it’s the Winter Solstice today. You were originally supposed to return to the Alliance Head Residence to gather with your friends. But considering how late it is, combined with the wind and snow, it’ll be hard getting there. So I ordered this to be set up. In any case, I’m also alone, so why not celebrate together?”
Because the lights in the room had been changed, the lighting in the room had become immeasurably brighter. Contrasting with the light, that seductive yao’s eyes glittered even more captivatingly. He looked at her just like that with some eager anticipation in his eyes.
Tang Doudou smacked her lips. What friends could she have at the Alliance Head Residence?
Although, today was the Winter Solstice? She was rather surprised. It was already the Winter Solstice! Doesn’t that mean that it was almost time for New Year’s?
Time passed so quickly. Before she transmigrated, it was spring in her era. When she transmigrated, it was winter. Now, in a blink of an eye, it was already the Winter Solstice…
“Alright ah. Baili gongzi is accompanying me to celebrate the Winter Solstice, that’s fantastic!” After Tang Doudou finished laughing, she took the stove and sat down beside him. Since she was an orphan and didn’t have many friendsT/N, much less a boyfriendT/N2, all of the holidays in her past life were celebrated alone. But the world is fickle. Never would she have thought that after transmigrating she would have such a handsome man to celebrate with. What else could she be dissatisfied with?
(TL: Like me) (TL2: Like me, but a girlfriend)(TLC: Lol, same~ Dw! Fellow anti-socials make up a strong united minority! :3)
Even though celebrating with only two people still felt kind of lonely, it was still better than celebrating alone.
Only after sitting down did she realize that, after being away for so long, the fish hot pot was still sitting there untouched. She couldn’t help but ask, “Why didn’t you eat?”
Baili Yu leaned against the fox fur and lifted his brows towards the small stove beside him. “Didn’t you say that you wish you had a small stove? I had someone bring one over and was waiting for you to return.”
It was only now that Tang Doudou realized that in the room were several small stoves. “It’s too late for the stoves now! The fish has probably been simmered into mush! Ai, what a pity!”
Baili Yu saw disappointment on Tang Doudou’s face, which made him feel uncomfortable. Suppressing this feeling, he said, composed, “The flavor only fully enters it when it’s mushy. Was it not supposed to be cooked like that?”
“Stewed fish is better served soft. However, the fish in the hot pot was definitely very tender. Cooking it just long enough is best. Once it turns soft, the taste falls far short…” Suddenly remembering that there were still some remnants in the pot, Tang Doudou stood up and said, “How about this? The river isn’t far from here. I’ll go catch some more fish and make another pot!”
This was because she wanted to thank Baili Yu. If the flavor was off, what would she do if Baili Yu didn’t like it? Wouldn’t it have been a waste of her efforts?
“I like eating soft fish.” Baili Yu didn’t tell her to stop, but rather extended his hand, picked up the chopsticks, and began stirring the white pieces of fish in the pot. Perhaps it was because the coals weren’t hot enough, but the fish hadn’t disintegrated yet; it only looked a little obviously overcooked.
After staring at the fish for a while, Baili Yu opened his mouth and slowly tasted the fish. The taste was really not bad. Of course, it would be better if those ridiculously spicy hot peppers that were driving him to the brink of tears were removed!
Although, who was he?
He was Baili Yu. What had he not experienced before? As a person who walked out from seas of blood and mountains of corpses, he would be a laughingstock if he couldn’t endure this level of spiciness!
Although it was like this, beads of sweat still appeared on his forehead. It was obvious that his tongue wasn’t feeling very well at the moment.
Putting down his chopsticks, Baili Yu gave a faint smile and said, “The flavor is very…unique. It’s just that I don’t recognize which region’s cuisine this is. Why haven’t I ever heard of it before?”
If he had known of it beforehand, he would have sent somebody to kill the creator of this hot pot!
Was something this spicy meant for human consumption?
Seeing that he indeed seemed very satisfied, Tang Doudou sat down and stretched her neck. She realized that she had been a little too quick to speak earlier. Thinking of it now, she must be crazy to think of catching fish in this weather.
And now, she was also hungry. She couldn’t just watch Baili Yu eat the food by himself now, could she?
Just as she was contemplating whether or not to join Baili Yu in consuming the hot pot, the door opened again. In marched a line of servant girls, each holding a covered dish. They each moved to place them down on the small table in front of the two, then quickly withdrew.
Looking at the spectacle in front of her, Tang Doudou had to resist the urge to run over and give Baili Yu a smack with her lips. Why was he so attentive today?
He thought of everything!
“Alliance Head Li, please!” Baili Yu poured a full glass of wine as he made a please sit motion, then lifted the glass in a toast. Tang Doudou looked conflicted towards the wine on the table. Was she supposed to drink as well?
Baili Yu looked at all the dishes that were brought here and also loosened a breath in relief. If he ate some of everything, then surely she would forget to watch if he ate the fish hot pot, right?
Although the flavor was good, the feeling was not!
Only after drinking some wine was Baili Yu able to slightly suppress the burning feeling on his tongue. His mouth was filled with the fragrant aftertaste of the fish. It was truly something you couldn’t help but love yet hate.
Tang Doudou first took a bite of the food. After a small internal struggle, she poured herself half a cup of wine and smiled at Baili Yu. “Happy Winter Solstice!”
Following that, she wrinkled her eyebrows, tilted her head, and poured all of the fiery wine down her throat.
Da hell, it’s a celebration. If she didn’t drink some wine, she’d be betraying the spirit of celebration.
Before, Tang Doudou used to watch people on TV get together to drink a lot of alcohol and had always felt envious of them. Now that she finally had a similar opportunity, there’s no way she could miss this!
Finishing her thoughts, she poured another cup of wine and toasted Baili Yu again. “Come come, let’s drink! Although this celebration is rather quiet and doesn’t feel very festive, I still have to thank you! Thanks!”
Finishing her toast, she downed another cup of wine. She felt her head starting to swim a little. Baili Yu was starting to look a little hazy. Laughing, she prepared to pour another cup.
The alcoholic content of ancient wines was really nothing to sneeze at. Only people who’d never drunk before would impetuously down two cups of wine like this, no?
Li Xueyi had long lingered in the field of romance. He was a master of eating, drinking, playing and enjoying life, and was of course very skilled in tasteful drinking. So why would he toast like this?
While pondering his recent actions, Baili Yu once again felt suspicion rising up from his heart. However, he had personally seen that fire-red fox on his shoulder.
Immersed in his thoughts, Baili Yu failed to notice that Tang Doudou had already downed several cups of wine.
“Big evil spirit, why aren’t you drinking?” Only when Tang Doudou’s intoxicated voice reached him did he come to his senses. A probing look emerged in his eyes as he looked at her.
“Alliance Head Li, did you experience anything sad? Drinking away your troubles like this isn’t nearly as good as discussing them!”
Sad things?
Many sad things had happened to her ah! Apart from happy things, everything else was freaking sad!
Tang Doudou’s nose smarted. Falling face-first on the table, she began crying. “I want to go home!”
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