Tang Xiulan walked quietly to the kitchen, her gaze fixed on the distant mountains that were visible from outside the chamber halls, but her thoughts were wandering away, wrapped around the figure of a man who only recently was known as one of the most arrogant and hedonistic men in Cloud Mist City.
Chen Ren— the young master she temporarily served, had been quite the individual whom she had gotten the chance to observe a few too many times to her liking.
He was bold, brash, and full of empty boasts— but now, she found herself at a loss with this new persona. He had been flaunting his cultivation, tossing around his weight in the city, and flirting with anything that moved, but now…
Now he was different.
It started after the defeat by Li Xuan. It hadn't been something small, the young master had almost died in front of many people. That day had shaken him to his core, she could tell.
But instead of the loud proclamations of revenge or desperate attempts to regain his lost face, he had retreated into himself.
He kept to his chambers, scribbling away in a language she didn't recognize. She had taken a peek at it when she had entered his room to clean and found the language unfamiliar and foreign.
Tang Xiulan wasn't illiterate and had been taught the common script. But it wasn't that.
Moreover, there was a politeness to him now that hadn't existed before, a quiet respect in the way he spoke and acted. Not just with her, but with everyone.
He even talked about starting a business, of all things! The idea was so far removed from the man she once knew that it made her wonder if he was even the same person.
Is he the same person or a shapeshifter? No, if that was the case, I would have already been dead.
Xiulan couldn't shake the feeling that he was playing some kind of game, that this was all a facade. Yet when she looked into his eyes, she saw something she hadn't seen before— a light, a spark of purpose and clarity that had been missing before.
They were not the eyes of a defeated man, nor of one who sought to reclaim his former glory through the same reckless means.
No, these were the eyes of someone who had glimpsed something greater, something beyond the petty squabbles of sects and clans, beyond the simple pleasures of life.
And that unsettled her more than anything.
The man she once knew might have been a fool, but he was a predictable fool. This new version, with his quiet intensity and strange behaviour, was a mystery she wasn't sure she wanted to solve.
Though she was certain he'd give up sooner or later, her confidence wavered when she discovered the reason behind his visits to the stall owners. It was a strategy so unexpected that it caught her off guard.
Her mind drifted back to a few months prior when the family head had handed the young miss, Tang Yuqiu, a sum of money to start a business. To test her capabilities. But, she had faltered at the very first hurdle, unable to secure a permit due to the officials' endless delays and other lazy reasons— and her father had barred her from using the family name to sway things in her favour.
But Chen Ren… Chen Ren was already ahead of where the young miss had stumbled, though she doubted his approach would lead to anything substantial.
The idea that he could create a dish unique enough to captivate the entire empire seemed like just another empty boast— a large but empty boast.
So when he had asked her to bring rice and a mortar, claiming he would craft this so-called legendary dish, she nodded and fetched the sack of rice that had been sitting in the kitchen, along with a mortar.
As she handed him the items, a part of her wanted to see him fail— wanted to see that spark in his eyes and movements extinguished by the harsh reality that the world wasn't so easily conquered, things couldn't be easily achieved.
When she gave the items, Chen Ren took them from her hands without a word, his expression unreadable.
Then, to her surprise, he asked, "Can you help me out? This might take a while."
There was no hint of the usual bravado in his tone, just a calm expectation that she would follow his lead.
Tang Xiulan nodded. "Okay."
They started by rinsing, then soaking the rice, a process that took six to seven hours— an eternity in Xiulan's mind. She had never known a dish to require such long and careful preparation, and the repetitive nature of it wore on her patience.
When it was finally done, Chen Ren turned around and looked at her.
He handed her the mortar. "Grind it," he said, leaving no room for debate.
Xiulan couldn't help but wonder if she was the one making the dish while he simply watched, but she complied nonetheless, her curiosity piqued despite the work.
Either way, even if the entire thing ends up being an utter waste of time, she was just a maid. How could she defy the young master? Also, they had already spent quite a lot of time on this. Washing rice then soaking them for almost seven hours… Really?
Xiulan shook her head and focused on grinding the rice, resulting in a smooth paste.
Throughout the process, she repeatedly asked what they were making, but Chen Ren remained tight-lipped, offering nothing more than a cryptic smile and a promise that she would soon see for herself.
Finally, she finished her task and turned to him.
"And now?" she asked.
"Now, you watch."
He prepared a bamboo steamer and lined it with a cloth. Then, he poured a thin layer of the rice batter before closing the lid. After a minute, he opened the steamer and carefully removed the cooked layer of rice, placing it on a cutting board. He poured another layer of batter and repeated the process until all was used.
Once the cooked rice had slightly cooled, he rolled the layers and cut them into thin strips, his hands moving with unexpected precision. The silence between them was punctuated only by the soft rustle of the wind outside.
Xiulan had never seen anything like it before. She watched, half in wonder, half in disbelief, as he took the strips and they moved back to the kitchen.
There, he gathered the strips in a bowl, their texture smooth and translucent. The simplicity of the act belied the anticipation that had built up in the hours of preparation.
"What is this called, young master?" she asked once again, not able to contact her curiosity.
He smiled. "Noodles."
Tang Xiulan had never heard that before, but before she could ask more questions about it, another order came from Chen Ren.
"I want you to bring me vegetables. Whatever you have, bok choy, spinach, mushrooms, green onions, scallions, carrots, broccoli. Make haste," Chen Ren said while she tried to keep everything in her mind.
The list wasn't hard to memorise so she quickly walked off to fetch them, still unsure of how the noodles might taste.
After she brought them back, they chopped the vegetables together, the slamming of the knife against the board being the only noise in the room. From time to time, she would glance at the young master and wonder how he was so skillful with a knife.
She knew about his skills with the sword due to his boasting, but she had no idea it would also make him proficient in chopping.
"What should we do next?" she asked once all the vegetables she managed to bring were cut into small pieces. Her question went unanswered as Chen Ren walked around the small space to reach the boiling water.
"Hand me the vegetables," he commanded.
She quickly took it to him and watched him throw them into the pot. A few minutes later, he scooped them out and added them to the rice noodles. The smell made Xiulan's stomach grumble.