"You won't, I know you the best!" Ye Lang smiled and said.
Zhen Xiaoyan pouted, hummed, and said, "I am not good, so I won't cook for you. Anyway, you don't care about me."
"Why should I care about you? I don't have that much free time." Ye Lang said directly.
"..., go die!" Zhen Xiaoyan angrily said, and then in the next few days, she didn't appear in front of Ye Lang again, as if she was really angry.
To this, Ye Lang could say that everything was tasteless to him! However, this was not what Ye Lang wanted, but because he couldn't taste Zhen Xiaoyan's food, he felt it was tasteless!
Ah, this fat woman has left like this. I won't be able to eat her food in the future. It's really uncomfortable. However, it's also good because sooner or later we will have to separate. Even if it's not for this reason, I would still go out to play and still have to separate from her, not being able to eat her food.
I might as well get used to it early. I should have asked her to prepare some food for me earlier!
Coming back to the topic, when the participating students depart, the emperor will host a banquet in the palace for the students to see them off. In other words, at that time, Ye Lang might still see Zhen Xiaoyan who might still be angry.
At that time, many people will be present, not only the participating students and their families, but also some court officials who want to grab these talents.
This is also a tradition, I don't know when it started, but it has become more and more grand!
Time passed unnoticed, it's the day when the students are leaving. Everyone is ready in front of the palace!
"I knew this place isn't fun. I should have gone to sleep!" Ye Lang stood in the crowd, yawning, feeling like he hadn't woken up.
"How dare you!" The Seventh Princess and Ye LanYu lectured him from both sides.
Today is the day they are leaving, how can they leave without Ye Lang, an important person? If he doesn't come to send them off, they might not leave!
"If I dared, I wouldn't be here!" Ye Lang said helplessly.
"Consider yourself lucky!" both girls said at the same time.
"I'm going to find the fat woman. It seems like she's still angry!" Ye Lang left Ye LanYu and the Seventh Princess and walked towards Zhen Xiaoyan in the crowd, whether he was looking for an opportunity to slip away or he genuinely cared about Zhen Xiaoyan's feelings, leaving behind Ye LanYu and the Seventh Princess.
At that moment, Zhen Xiaoyan was watching Ye Lang. When she saw him coming over, there was a hint of joy in her eyes. From this look, it was clear that she was not angry!
However, Ye Lang didn't notice this, he just felt that Zhen Xiaoyan had disappeared for so many days and her anger had not subsided.
"Fat woman, are you still angry?" Ye Lang asked.
"Ah!" Zhen Xiaoyan was taken aback, then immediately shook her head, "No, I'm not angry, why would you think I'm angry?"
"You haven't shown up for so many days, what else could it be if not anger?" Ye Lang asked in confusion.
Zhen Xiaoyan looked at Ye Lang and then asked softly, "If I were angry, how would you react?"
Would he care about me? She didn't say this out loud because she was still quite tender, not like someone who was shameless, oh, no, blunt!
"I would apologize and coax you!" Ye Lang replied.
"Really?!" Zhen Xiaoyan said joyfully, but this only lasted for a moment.
Ye Lang nodded and said, "Yes! Otherwise, I won't be able to eat your food in the future!"
"Hmph! I should've known you would say that!" Zhen Xiaoyan immediately became displeased.
"Hehe, don't be angry, fat woman. During the training this time, you have to remember to take care of yourself. I don't want to lose you." Ye Lang instructed. This statement came from the heart. He didn't want to lose Zhen Xiaoyan, but the reason for this was worth studying.
"I know, I know. You just don't want to lose your lifelong cook!" Zhen Xiaoyan nodded and said clearly.
"Anyway, remember, you're mine. You can't have any mishaps!" Ye Lang said with a smile.
"Phew! Who belongs to you? Don't talk nonsense, I still have to get married." Zhen Xiaoyan blushed and knocked Ye Lang, as if she was acting coquettish.
"You are my lifelong cook, just as you said." Ye Lang shrugged, indifferent.
"Hmph! I'm ignoring you! Fine, while there's still time, I'll give you all the food for this year." Zhen Xiaoyan said while taking out the prepared food from her spatial pouch.
"?? For a year? Did you really make all these?" Ye Lang asked in astonishment, and his hands were not idle. He took the food handed to him by Zhen Xiaoyan and put it in his spatial pouch.
"Yes! I've been cooking these days for you in the kitchen. It took a lot of effort to prepare so much. I don't know if it's enough." Zhen Xiaoyan nodded and said. However, she didn't slow down or stop her actions of handing over things.
Now Ye Lang understood. It turned out that these days, Zhen Xiaoyan wasn't angry with him, but was preparing food for him all along. The reason might be because of his words, asking her to prepare a year's worth of food!
Looking at Zhen Xiaoyan's smiling face, Ye Lang suddenly felt a kind of guilt in his heart. Besides eating, he seemed to have paid little attention to her, while she had been considering him all the time.
Did he lack conscience?
"Fat woman..." Ye Lang looked at Zhen Xiaoyan, his eyes a little watery.
"What's wrong? Are you wondering why I didn't come over? You and your sister and the Seventh Princess were chatting, I didn't think it was appropriate to come over. I wanted to wait for you to finish and then talk to you, I just didn't expect you would come over on your own." Zhen Xiaoyan said happily. For her, Ye Lang's initiative to come over might not be a big deal, but for her, it was a completely different concept.
And if Ye Lang didn't come to find her, she would have gone to find him, to hand over the food to him. It's just that with Ye LanYu and the Seventh Princess around, she wanted to take a step back.
All this indicates one thing - she has not been angry with Ye Lang even a bit, or at least not overnight. After sleeping over it, any anger would be gone.
"Oh, actually, you don't have to be afraid of them. They like you a lot." Ye Lang recalled that Zhen Xiaoyan always seemed a bit restrained in front of Ye LanYu and others, as if she were afraid of something.
"I know, but our status is different." Zhen Xiaoyan said softly.
"What does it matter?" Yè Làng didn't understand.
"It does matter, but soon I'll be able to shorten the distance between us. I will become a skilled alchemist," Zhen Xiǎoyān tightened her fist, speaking earnestly.
"???" Yè Làng didn't understand, he only knew that recently Zhen Xiǎoyān had been paying a bit more attention to alchemy, unlike before when she mostly focused on her culinary skills.
He was also puzzled why Zhen Xiǎoyān suddenly mentioned participating in the competition, now it seemed to be somewhat related.
"To become powerful, I can teach you."
"No, I need to have a name, an influential name!"
"Do you care about these things?" Yè Làng understood that Zhen Xiǎoyān didn't really care about them.
"I care!" Zhen Xiǎoyān hadn't really thought about it but for now, she could only say that.
"Is it meaningful?" Yè Làng waved his hand.
"It is!"
"I think your interest is only temporary. We'll just wait and see." Yè Làng didn't think Zhen Xiǎoyān would persevere, because it simply wasn't suitable for her, although she did have considerable talent.
"Hmph! You dare to look down on me, I'll show you!" Zhen Xiǎoyān pouted defiantly.
While the two were talking, things continued to be passed around, leaving the other students speechless, wondering how much she had made.
Of course, most people were just briefly interested in this and soon returned to greeting and congratulating.
Not understanding?
At this point, most people were congratulating these students and their families, saying how impressive it was for someone to enter this trial.
Take Yè Lányǔ for example, she was currently being hassled by a group of people and was trying to pull Yè Làng over as a shield. However, Yè Làng was too busy dealing with his food for the coming year to pay attention to her.
Because of this, Yè Lányǔ and the Seventh Princess also separated. They had never been very friendly, and without Yè Làng around, the princess had already left.
She also had her own people to deal with; after all, she was a princess, and among these students, she was the most respected and naturally attracted attention.
As time passed...
After waiting for a long time, today's main course was finally served, and the Emperor made his appearance!
"Everyone, today is your..."
As Yè Làng had anticipated, on such occasions there were always some formalities, but the length of the Emperor's speech was different this time, not too long but definitely not short.
"Now, let us demonstrate for the future pillars of our empire, let's begin!"
"We've been waiting for that!" Yè Làng pulled Zhen Xiǎoyān and quickly reunited with Yè Lányǔ, finding a place to sit down. After this demonstration meal, they probably wouldn't see each other for a long time.
The meal for this demonstration was quite simple and likely wouldn't take more than half an hour; it was a straightforward banquet.
"Strange, where's Little Seven?" Yè Làng realized that he hadn't seen the Seventh Princess, feeling a bit puzzled.
"I don't know, she disappeared just now. Those princesses and princes are also missing, they should be inside." Yè Lányǔ was not familiar with this tradition; this was something that happened once every ten years, and as a child ten years ago, she wouldn't have been aware of it.
"Yè Làng, this dish tastes a little strange; let's not eat these." After taking a bite of the food, Zhen Xiǎoyān frowned and said.
"What strange taste? I don't feel it." Neither Yè Làng nor Yè Lányǔ had noticed, and no one else in the room seemed to notice it either.