Winning Him Over at Dinner

"So good..."

"This is good too..."

"Slow down. No one's going to take it from you." Lu Guan handed Dania a drink, at a loss. "Have something to drink. Don't choke."

"Hehe... I've never had anything this delicious before." Dania happily bobbed her head. Clearly, the food the Frontier Court served had delighted the little peach, who had never eaten anything so good before.

Then she speared a slice of meat with her fork and held it to Lu Guan's mouth.

"Try some too... This is called spicy feathered meat, right? I never imagined meat could be cooked like this and taste so good!"

"It really is good..." Lu Guan said after eating it. "It would've been even better with a little more garlic leaf added before it came out of the pan. It's missing a bit of complexity in the aroma..."

"But resources are scarce here. To make something this delicious with such limited ingredients, the chef must be very skilled."

"Hehehe... To receive such high praise from a young master like you, I'm rather flattered." Changli, wearing an apron, walked over with a plate of freshly cooked Jinzhou stew.

"I didn't expect you to cook for us yourself, Sister Changli." Lu Guan, who respected his elders and cared for the young, was still almost cloyingly sweet when speaking to an elder. "No wonder it's so delicious. We're in for a treat today!"

"...Thank you. It's delicious." Dania was still a little bothered by how she had misunderstood Changli and Lu Guan's relationship in the reception room earlier, and she scarcely dared look Changli in the face.

"Mm-hmm~ As long as little Dania likes it~" Seeing Dania's adorable expression, Changli couldn't resist teasing her.

People really do enjoy watching the younger generation once they get old...

Pfft, pfft, pfft! Changli hurriedly banished the strange thought. How old was she, anyway? Why was she thinking about such things?

Meanwhile, Jinhsi arrived at the dining hall.

"Did you really cook today, Master?" she asked, looking with some surprise at the kitchen apron Changli wore.

"Xixi, you're here too?" Changli waved her over. "Come and try your master's cooking~ See if my skills have gotten rusty after so long away from the kitchen..."

Jinhsi looked at Dania, who was wolfing down her food, and Lu Guan, who was eating slowly beside her. Feeling a little out of place, she asked, "May I really join you?"

"It's our honor to dine with Magistrate Jin." Lu Guan swallowed his food and gestured toward the seat across from him. "Please, have a seat."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony..." Jinhsi smiled gracefully and sat down opposite Lu Guan. "Come to think of it... I was sent to the Frontier Court by the Sentinel when I was still a babe in swaddling clothes, and everyone there raised and taught me..."

"Since I can remember, I've rarely left the region. Most of what I know of the outside world comes from Teacher Changli's instruction and example, as well as certain texts."

"Thinking it over, I really am curious about your experiences studying across the ocean, Lu Guan~"

"Could you tell me about them? Just as casual conversation."

"Oh? I didn't expect you to be interested in that sort of thing, Magistrate." Lu Guan wiped his mouth and looked at Jinhsi in surprise.

"Mm. I'm bound to be a little curious about things I've never experienced..." Jinhsi nodded. "Teacher Changli often mentioned you while teaching me, too. For a time, I even looked up to you as a role model..."

"Really?" Lu Guan looked at Changli and saw her guilty expression, which piqued his interest. "To be honest, I'm curious what sort of impression other people have of me..."

"How did she describe me? Could you tell me?"

Hearing this, Jinhsi looked up in thought, completely oblivious to Changli frantically signaling her from across the table.

"Hmm... How should I put it..."

"Master said you have an excellent temperament... that you're one of the Ming Court's outstanding young talents, immensely gifted yet not the least bit arrogant, a rare talent indeed..."

Of course, Jinhsi wasn't foolish enough to repeat what Changli had said afterward-"We must do our best to win him over"-but what she had already said was enough to make Changli's face, often flushed because of her resonance ability, turn even redder.

"Oh!" Lu Guan was delighted. He looked at Changli beside him. "I never imagined you thought so highly of me, Sister Changli..."

"Come to think of it, I really didn't live up to that image in the reception room earlier..." Lu Guan smiled and spread his hands. "Were you a little disappointed when you saw what I'm really like, Magistrate?"

"Not... really." Jinhsi shook her head. "Compared with the exemplary child Master described, the way you are now actually makes you seem a little more real to me..."

"At least it showed me that geniuses are human too, with their own joys and sorrows, and their own distinct personalities and ways of behaving..."

"Genius is a bit too much praise." Lu Guan was a little embarrassed instead. "I'm just an ordinary person who got lucky and awakened a resonance ability... I don't deserve that title."

"You do... Of course you do," Jinhsi said. "There's no need to be modest. You foiled the mysterious Fractsidus leader's plot. Which of your peers could claim such an achievement?"

Lu Guan explained, "It was just luck..."

"Luck is part of one's strength too..."

Seeing that Jinhsi was making a rather clumsy attempt to win Lu Guan over, Changli quickly coughed twice and interrupted. "If you keep talking, the food will get cold."

I'll have to give Xixi a serious crash course in persuasion later. Who tries to win someone over by doing nothing but praising them? It's only because Lu Guan is easygoing. Anyone else would probably have seen through Jinhsi's intentions by now.

Had Lu Guan seen through her?

He wasn't stupid, and Jinhsi's approach was far too inexperienced. Combined with Jinzhou's current situation, her intentions weren't hard to guess.

But Lu Guan was happy to chat with Jinhsi a little longer. After all, he could enjoy listening to the system's notifications that her favorability was rising while being praised by a beautiful girl. Why not?

Both sides felt they had come out ahead in the conversation, but it was actually a win-win. Lu Guan won twice!

No, it should have been three wins. No one was competing with Dania for the food, and the girl was so delighted she nearly cried.

"What did you think?"

"What do you mean?" Dania tilted her head at Lu Guan. "If you mean Sister Changli's cooking, it really was delicious."

"I mean Jinhsi..." Lu Guan explained. "Didn't you notice what she was trying to do at dinner?"

Dania nodded. "She was trying to win you over, wasn't she?"

See... Even Dania noticed!

"You clearly didn't show her how strong you really are... Yet she still praised you so much..." Dania said. "Even I could tell. That woman has ulterior motives!"

"That's not how you use 'ulterior motives'..."

Lu Guan was a little embarrassed. What a thunderous way to use an expression.

"Mm-hmm~ I don't care. You're all I have left anyway..." Dania suddenly threw her arms around Lu Guan. "If you dare leave me... I'll..."

The girl suddenly ran out of words. She really didn't seem able to threaten Lu Guan. After thinking it over, she shouted, "I won't have little Yayas with you!"

"Ahem, ahem..."

Lu Guan choked on Dania's outrageous declaration.

He had noticed something: ever since they returned from the Void Matter space, Dania had been leaning more and more toward the gravity type...

And for some reason, the way she spoke was getting more and more thunderous too.

Her undisguised possessiveness felt a little unfamiliar to Lu Guan... It was like someone who had fallen into a river grabbing a floating tree trunk and placing all their hopes in it...

But on further thought, it was only natural.

After all, Dania was in an unfamiliar place now, so naturally she would feel insecure. Ever since they got off the ship, she had followed closely behind him, as though she would be left behind if she fell even two steps back...

To solve the problem, he could either have her try to make friends here or try to change her way of thinking, so she would understand that she was no longer the person who had nothing but him.

"Say something..."

Seeing Lu Guan space out, Dania gave a coquettish complaint and shook him, dissatisfied, interrupting his thoughts.

"...What do you want me to say?" Lu Guan patted her perky little butt. "How should I prove I won't leave you behind?"

"As if you don't know..." Dania gave him a pretty roll of her eyes.

Then she opened her arms and wrapped them around the back of Lu Guan's neck. Pushing off with her toes, she shoved him toward the bed.