Before the Departure
Liu Yuewang watched as An Nuan nestled in Liu Chang'an's arms, feigning shyness while her eyes darted around. After glancing at Liu Yuewang, An Nuan continued to rub her cheek against Liu Chang'an's chest and hum softly.
That's disgusting.
That evening, Liu Chang'an cooked, Liu Yuewang invited Professor Ling over to eat together. After dinner, the four of them played mahjong.
When the game ended at 10:30, Professor Ling left. An Nuan checked the time and said to Liu Chang'an with some concern, "It's already 10:30. Be careful on your way home. It's almost the end of the year, and there are more people out doing bad things."
After saying that, An Nuan couldn't help but glance at her mother again, only to find that her mother was standing with her arms crossed, looking at An Nuan with a "keep performing" expression.
An Nuan blushed slightly and picked up the mahjong tiles one by one, putting them into the box.
An Nuan had only told Liu Chang'an to be careful on the road, and Liu Yuewang wouldn't have thought much of it. But she insisted on saying, "There are more and more bad people now." Does Liu Chang'an need to be afraid of bad people? It should be the bad people praying they don't run into Liu Chang'an.
Everyone here knows that Liu Chang'an has extraordinary abilities.
"It's too late today, Chang'an, you should stay." Liu Yuewang spoke up. Whether Liu Chang'an stayed or not was of no concern to her, but she couldn't be bothered to watch An Nuan's elaborate performance.
"Then stay," An Nuan said, mimicking Liu Yuewang's tone and accent.
Liu Yuewang slapped her, "Aren't you going to tidy up the study?"
"She hit me." An Nuan said to Liu Chang'an, snorting. Of course, she didn't expect Liu Chang'an to help her get justice. She put down the mahjong box and went to the study to pack it up.
Liu Yuewang already knew that An Nuan and Liu Chang'an had a relationship, but as an elder, could she just let Liu Chang'an sleep in An Nuan's room like that?
This still had to be done. As for whether An Nuan sneaked into the study that night, or Liu Chang'an sneaked into An Nuan's room, Liu Yuewang could only turn a blind eye.
An Nuan dawdled in the study for a while, carefully making the bed with the sheets and duvet cover. If she just did a sloppy job, wouldn't that mean she thought Liu Chang'an would definitely come to her room?
Liu Yuewang and Liu Chang'an chatted for a while before Liu Chang'an went to wash up. As Liu Chang'an walked into the study, An Nuan happened to come out and bumped into him, clasping her hands in front of her chest and letting out a sweet "Aiya!" before ignoring Liu Chang'an and walking out.
That night, everyone went back to their rooms to sleep.
In the middle of the night, Liu Chang'an went into An Nuan's room and didn't return to his study until the next morning.
While eating breakfast, Liu Yuewang seemed to be a little hot-tempered due to lack of sleep, and also had the irritability that comes with menstruation. She became picky about Liu Chang'an's cooking. An Nuan, surprisingly, did not speak up for Liu Chang'an. Her face was flushed as she lowered her head and bit into a rice noodle, her red lips licking it slowly.
There were no classes today, and Liu Chang'an went back after breakfast because Liu Yuewang said that exams would start tomorrow and told Liu Chang'an and An Nuan to study hard. She said that if Qi Mou's exam results were bad, she would definitely beat them up.
When Liu Chang'an returned home, Zhou Shuling asked him if he had eaten breakfast. After receiving his reply, she continued peeling meat off the pork bones.
She sawed off a section of the large bone, then inserted a straw into the bone, and had Zhou Dongdong and Shangguan Dandan each hold a bone and suck out the marrow.
"Would you like a drink?" Zhou Shuling took out another bone marrow and looked at Liu Chang'an expectantly.
"I don't want to drink it, it's too greasy." Liu Chang'an shook his head.
"I sawed it off before making the soup, and then I added some ingredients to the soup. It's not greasy, and it has a slightly salty and spicy taste. It's delicious." Zhou Shuling insisted that Liu Chang'an try it.
"Are you planning to invent another new dish?" Liu Chang'an had no choice but to accept the answer.
"I saw some people eating that pork bone soup noodles. The soup noodles weren't very good, but there was a huge pork bone in it, which looked quite appetizing." Zhou Shuling pointed to the pot. "So I made some to try. They've already eaten the noodles, and now they're eating the bones."
"Why aren't you eating?" Liu Chang'an looked at her clean lips, which weren't greasy at all.
"I'm afraid of gaining weight," Zhou Shuling said in a low voice. This stuff is so nutritious, and she's already worried that her hips will become fuller. Right now, the weight gain seems to be concentrated on her buttocks. What if it spreads to her thighs later, and her legs become like chicken legs? That would look awful.
Having some self-awareness, Liu Chang'an nodded in agreement and walked over to sit with Shangguan Dandan and Zhou Dongdong. He said, "This stuff is indeed very nutritious. In ancient times, children from noble families were often malnourished or weak. They would boil a large pot of pork bones, then crack the bones open and extract the marrow, gathering it into a small bowl. With various seasonings, it was extremely delicious. Eating it for a while would replenish their bodies, even more effective than bird's nest or shark fin... This is the origin of 'cracking bones to eat marrow,' which is now often used to describe the heinous acts of capitalists exploiting the working class."
I am malnourished.
Liu Chang'an thought he had misheard, so he turned his head to look at Zhou Dongdong who was speaking.
"I'm malnourished and thin." Zhou Dongdong hopped around, and seeing that Brother Chang'an seemed not to have heard her clearly, she quickly added.
After Liu Chang'an finished sucking his own bone marrow, he reached out and pressed Zhou Dongdong's belly. "You're still malnourished and thin? You've gotten so fat you're like a ball, have you forgotten you're round?"
Zhou Dongdong sadly touched her stomach. She was round, but what did that have to do with her malnutrition and thinness?
Shangguan Dandan giggled. Zhou Dongdong is so cute.
Liu Chang'an took some soy sauce, quickly mixed it, then removed the meat from the bone and ate it with everyone. Although Zhou Dongdong didn't get to eat a small bowl of bone marrow, she felt that what Brother Chang'an made was quite delicious. After eating, she temporarily stopped feeling malnourished and thin.
Liu Chang'an and Shangguan Dandan went downstairs. The first thing Shangguan Dandan did was turn on the electric kimono and then the television.
"I'm going to Antarctica soon," Liu Chang'an casually said to Shangguan Dandan. "You can take care of them, mother and daughter."
"You don't need to tell me that. I will also take good care of the others." Shangguan Dandan gently. As the empress dowager, she was not only involved in palace intrigues with her wives, but more importantly, she had to fulfill her responsibilities as empress dowager and protect them.
"That's good. I'll definitely be back before the Lunar New Year."
"That's good. Dongdong's mom has been saying she wants to have a more lavish New Year this year, and she was wondering if you have any New Year's goods to buy."
"Let's go shopping for New Year's goods together," Liu Chang'an said expectantly.