"Yes! Yes! Please wait a moment, Senior!"
Su Wan'er felt as if she had been granted a new lease on life. She hurriedly pulled her younger brother aside.
She rummaged through the small bundle she carried and found the little food they had left: a few dry, hard rye cakes and a small piece of salted meat.
She quickly started a fire and set a small pot over it. She crumbled the rye cakes into the pot, diced the salted meat and tossed it in, then poured in some water and began to stew it.
Before long, a strange smell, part wheat and part meat, wafted through the air.
Su Che helped her, tending the fire as he asked in a low voice, "Sis, did we... did we really follow the right person? This Senior... is so strange."
"Don't talk."
Su Wan'er glanced warily in Lu Yuan's direction and lowered her voice. "Senior is far beyond anything we can fathom. We only need to remember that we're his servants and do our part. Then we'll be able to survive. Understand?"
"Mm."
Su Che nodded as if he only half understood and added a piece of firewood to the flames.
Before long, a steaming pot of gruel was ready.
Su Wan'er found a wooden bowl that was reasonably clean, filled it to the brim, and carried it in both hands to Lu Yuan once more, bowing respectfully as she presented it.
"Senior, dinner... is ready. Our circumstances are humble, so this is all we have. Please... forgive us."
Her palms were slick with sweat. She was terrified that the fastidious Senior would fly into a rage.
Lu Yuan sat up and accepted the wooden bowl, lowering his eyes to look inside.
It held some kind of sticky, gray, unidentifiable substance. A