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Now she could finally taste the dish for real!

She ate and ate and ate and ate!

Yu Qing stared at Xiang Changge for two minutes without getting so much as a glance from her. "..."

It seemed her housekeeper really was hungry.

At the table, Yao Ningran tried the Scallion Oil Chicken and nodded. "It really is delicious. This chef must be at banquet-level, right?"

Chu Keke had been a little reserved at first. The dishes in front of her and the person seated at the head of the table had both made her hesitant to reach for her chopsticks. But seeing her friends chatting and eating so freely, she gradually loosened up too.

"I think the sea bass is delicious. It's so fresh and sweet."

As she spoke, Chu Keke pushed a deboned piece of fish belly from her plate toward Xiang Changge and said quietly, "Steward Xiang, could you please give this to Miss Yu?"

After speaking, Chu Keke happened to glance over and froze.

Wait, where had Steward Xiang's rice gone?

Hadn't they sat down less than five minutes ago?

Xiang Changge looked up, interrupted in the middle of her head-down feast. She saw the intact piece of deboned fish by her hand. Since her mouth was busy, she gave Chu Keke a thumbs-up, then passed the fish to Yu Qing.

Yu Qing looked at the fish by her bowl, then at Xiang Changge, who had gone back to battling the Eight Treasure Duck. Finally, she looked past Xiang Changge and nodded at Chu Keke in thanks.

The meal was lively and animated... at least, that was how Yu Qing felt, even though she had barely said a word throughout.

The other three were simply so talkative, and they knew so much.

They went from how the dishes were made to their origins, then to foreign food cultures, on to how ingredients were cultivated, and eventually to developing talent. After that, they started gossiping.

By the end, Yu Qing even knew the exact size of the tails of Ge Bufan's three goldfish.

When they finished eating, Yao Ningran glanced at the nearly empty plates and sheepishly rubbed her earlobe. "We sure can eat."

Yu Qing silently looked at Xiang Changge, who was elegantly wiping her mouth with a napkin.

The others had been chatting, but Yu Qing had seen everything clearly. Xiang Changge had eaten most of the dishes on the table.

Just how many stomachs did she have?

As Yu Qing pondered this, the kitchen brought out fruit and dessert.

Xiang Changge tossed aside her napkin and launched into a new round of battle.

Although Yu Qing had found them rather noisy, she had gradually gotten used to it.

Some of what they talked about was interesting, too—things she hadn't known before. Yu Qing listened as she ate, occasionally eating the food they served her. By the time she realized it, she'd eaten quite a lot.

Rubbing her stomach, she watched Xiang Changge eat a lemon tart, then a crème caramel, then reach for the blueberry cheesecake...

As she watched, Yu Qing fell into thought.

Could what Aunt Yang had said really be true—that Xiang Changge could eat eighty buns for breakfast?

Was that even reasonable?

Or was her own appetite just abnormally small, making Xiang Changge seem like an outlier?

There were other people around, so Yu Qing didn't say anything. She simply made a note of it for now.

After the meal, Yu Qing felt a little drowsy. She had woken up early the night before, and it had been a long time since she'd slept.

When the three saw Yu Qing yawn, they exchanged glances and immediately stood up.

Ge Bufan said, "Come on, let's go make incense. I haven't done it in ages, and I can hardly wait."

Yu Qing lifted her heavy eyelids.

Could she just not go?

The thought had barely crossed her mind when Yao Ningran spoke to her. "Then let's go, Miss Yu. I wonder what kinds of incense we can choose from."

Yu Qing came to her senses for a moment.

Her eyes instinctively turned to Xiang Changge.

Did she really have to go?

Xiang Changge, who had eaten her fill, stood up too. Meeting Yu Qing's vacant gaze, as if she hadn't slept in thirty days, she held out a hand. "Would you like me to help you up, Miss?"

"..."

So there was no room for negotiation?

Yu Qing lightly slapped Xiang Changge's hand away and stood up by herself.

Fine, she'd go.

The other three were still chatting.

They surrounded Yu Qing like the three legs of a tripod, with Yu Qing in the middle.

Yu Qing heard the pretty one, who seemed to be called Chu Keke, ask the cheerful Ge Bufan, "You have to make your own seasonings for cooking? I thought people just bought them."

"Most seasonings are definitely store-bought. Some just need a bit of processing."

Yao Ningran was curious too. "What kinds of spices have you made before?"

"Cinnamon, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, bay leaves, that sort of thing."

Yao Ningran thought it over. "How do you make incense from those?"

The incense she made would probably be suited to going into food?

Yu Qing perked up her ears, curious too.

"You grind them together in the right proportions and put them in a sachet."

Chu Keke looked a little confused. "What kind of incense is that for?"

"Braised-meat spice!"

"..."

The other two fell silent for a moment.

With a dead-fish stare, Yu Qing blankly turned to look at Ge Bufan.

So when Ge Bufan said she had plenty of experience making incense, she meant she was good at making braising spice packets?

Was there really much of a connection between the two?

Faced with the three women's silence, Ge Bufan was uncharacteristically at a loss. She scratched her head. "What's wrong?"

"That's amazing."

"?"

Yu Qing, Chu Keke, and Yao Ningran all turned to look at Xiang Changge, who had just spoken.

Xiang Changge gazed at Ge Bufan with delighted admiration, as if she'd just realized there was a genius right beside her. "I can't believe you can make braising spice packets too."

Ge Bufan chuckled at the praise, returning to her happy-puppy self. "It's nothing. But this secret spice recipe of mine has been passed down through my family. It's been refined over so many years, and I can honestly say the food I braise with it tastes better than most of what you can buy nowadays."

"Wow—"

Xiang Changge exclaimed.

The others: "?"

What a reaction.

Wait, where was the serious, no-nonsense Steward Xiang?

Xiang Changge made up her mind at once. "Then next time, I'll hire you privately for a few hours and have you braise a pot for me."

"Hey, it's no trouble," Ge Bufan said generously, already so pleased with the praise she'd forgotten herself. "Why don't we go braise some after we finish making incense? I won't charge you. We can treat it as an after-work team outing!"

As she spoke, she smiled at Yu Qing. "All Miss Yu has to do is provide the ingredients. How does that sound?"

"..."

How did it sound?

There was a team outing after making incense?

Yu Qing felt her vision go black.

Maybe she should pretend to faint right now.

Author's note: Eat less, but eat more often [dog with a rose in its mouth]

### "Then that's wonderful!"

As if she'd seen right through Yu Qing's thoughts, Xiang Changge had somehow joined their little tripod. She walked beside Yu Qing, close enough that their shoulders nearly touched.

That way, if Yu Qing tried to faint, Xiang Changge could catch her at once and immediately give her the whole pinch-the-philtrum treatment.

While discreetly adjusting her position to prepare for any eventuality, she also replied to Ge Bufan, confirming the unexpected team outing.

Yu Qing continued walking toward the greenhouse, but her unfocused eyes and heavy lids showed that her mind had already checked out some time ago.

After confirming they'd make braised food later, the group started discussing their preferences.

"When it comes to braised food, you can't leave out chicken offal. Chicken hearts, intestines, gizzards—that's the essence of braised food!"

Though she'd only just eaten her fill, Ge Bufan smacked her lips as she spoke, already craving it.

"I think braised noodles are even better."

Yao Ningran offered her opinion too.

Chu Keke was a little embarrassed. She said quietly, "I-I like braised pork intestines, especially the spicy kind."

Ge Bufan gave her an approving look. "Exactly! Keke knows how to eat. Braised pork intestines are delicious in hot pot too—spicy and tender..."

These were all things they hadn't eaten in a very, very long time. Listening to their lively discussion, Xiang Changge felt she could eat another two whole cows.

To distract herself—and to give Yu Qing something to do—she looked at Yu Qing, who seemed like the living dead, and asked, "What about you, Miss? What do you like braised?"