Autumn Canon Complete!

Afternoon sunlight streamed through the window lattice, spilling across the spotless floor.

The scent of cooking drifted out from the kitchen, mingling with the damp fragrance of freshly turned earth.

Ji Mingyue wore a plain cloth apron she had just bought and carefully used a spatula to plate the final dish, lotus-leaf chicken, onto a porcelain platter.

The immortal crane crouched at the doorway, tilting its head at the steam rising from the pot and letting out a soft cry from time to time.

Jiang Ning sat on a stone stool in the courtyard, shelling the pea pods Ji Mingyue had just brought back.

After a long while.

"Dinner's ready!" Ji Mingyue stood beside the table with her hands on her hips, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

Jiang Ning looked at the six dishes and one soup on the table, surprise flashing through his eyes.

These dishes were prepared quite differently from Great Xia cuisine, mainly through stir-frying and pan-frying.

"Did you learn to cook while you were in the palace?"

Looking at the six dishes and one soup, all perfect in color and fragrance, Jiang Ning asked.

"No!" Ji Mingyue shook her head, hands still on her hips, then continued, "Back in the palace, as the Seventeenth Princess, I never so much as touched spring water with my ten fingers! You should count yourself lucky! This is my first time cooking. Not even my Imperial Father has received such treatment."

Hearing this, the surprise in Jiang Ning's eyes deepened.

"Then how does your cooking look this outstanding?" he said, looking at the six dishes and one soup before him.

"Secret!" Ji Mingyue smiled mysteriously.

Then she picked up the wine jar she had set aside earlier.

Clang—

It landed on the wooden table with a sharp collision.

She had