He Changdi hadn’t looked at Sima Hui since the start, although it wasn’t clear if he was simply presenting his best behaviour in front of Chu Lian or trying to avoid suspicion. His gaze darted to Chu Lian’s tiny face from time to time.
When he saw that her almond-shaped eyes were looking brightly at Sima Hui with admiration, he felt a sudden wave of dissatisfaction within.
Heh! This wicked woman had never looked at him with worship like that. What? Could it be that he couldn’t be compared to Sima Hui in her eyes?
He Sanlang’s hands curled into fists and his dislike towards Sima Hui grew even more.
Captain Guo poked his head out of the tent and ordered the nearby guards to bring over a few more tables. There were six of them here and the tiny side table in the tent wasn’t enough to accomodate all of them.
The guards worked quickly and brought over four tables in just fifteen minutes.
All of them were part of the army and Sima Hui was a female general. Chu Lian was a married woman with her husband right there with them, so they sat together without any restraint.
The person with the highest status, Sima Hui, was given the right to pick her seat first. However, she shook her head and smiled before allowing Chu Lian to find a seat first. Following that, before the rest had a chance to speak, she sat herself right next to Chu Lian.
Chu Lian admired how outspoken and straightforward Sima Hui was, so she had no issue with having the general right next to her.
About half a metre away from Chu Lian’s side, Wenqing and Wenlan were still grilling slices of beef and mutton. She turned and gave them some orders. When she turned back, she was met with the sight of a expressionless He Changdi pulling away a wailing Xiao Hongyu from her side and seating himself in the remaining seat next to her.
Xiao Hongyu couldn’t beat He Sanlang, so he could only admit defeat and sit next to He Sanlang instead.
Captain Guo and Zhang Mai were already old friends, so they picked a seat without any fuss.
Actually, Xiao Hongyu didn’t have any other intentions. He just wanted to sit a little closer to the brazier where the amazing food was being cooked, so he could eat more.
It was just a teeny tiny request, but Brother He refused to fulfill it. What a good sworn brother!
Chu Lian took two plates of grilled beef slices from Wenlan and placed them in the center of the combined table. She pointed at a plate with lighter coloured slices and explained, “These are teppanyaki beef slices. The ones in this plate are just plain and the ones in this other plate are spicy. If you’ve never eaten spicy food before, be careful when you’re eating these. Take a small bite so you won’t choke on the spiciness.”
Captain Guo and the rest weren’t going to stand on ceremony before a delicious spread like this, especially Xiao Hongyu. He had eaten at the He Estate before, so he knew that Honoured Lady Jinyi’s servants cooked very tasty food. If not for Sima Hui’s presence, he would probably have stolen one of the plates for himself and run off.
Right before Chu Lian finished speaking, the men before her were already gulping down the food voraciously. The grilled beef slices were lean and seasoned well. The special seasoning complimented the natural taste of the beef, bringing tears to the eyes of the men who had been eating bean paste for a month.
Sob sob sob… This was proper human food! That bean paste they had been eating was only fit for feeding pigs!
The wretched sight of the three men eating didn’t faze He Sanlang at all. He sat ramrod straight at the table without touching his chopsticks. His eyes seemed to be fixed on the table, but he was actually watching Chu Lian from the corner of his gaze.
It was Sima Hui’s first time seeing Captain Guo and the rest eat like that. She was stunned and could only continue staring blankly for some time. It was only when Chu Lian spoke up from beside her that she finally regained her senses.
Chu Lian was already used to seeing reactions like those of Captain Guo and the rest after opening ‘Guilin Restaurant’.
She remained calm, as if it was completely normal to be wolfing down food like Xiao Hongyu and the others were doing. Sima Hui was starting to wonder if she was the one who was abnormal for not reacting like that.
Chu Lian kindly reminded her, “General Sima, please have a taste. They’re eating really fast.”
It was only then that Sima Hui picked up her chopsticks and reached towards the plate. Unfortunately, she was still too late; the last slice of spicy beef was quickly taken away by Xiao Hongyu.
Sima Hui: ……
Chu Lian: ……
Xiao Hongyu didn’t notice that he was being judged at all. He was still immersed in the delicious food!
Mm, the spicy ones seemed to carry more flavour and were even better than the normal beef slices.
Chu Lian was too lazy to reason with a glutton like Xiao Hongyu. She shot a look at the busy Wenqing, who quickly passed over a smaller plate to Chu Lian. There were two freshly grilled beef slices on the small dish.
She set the dish in front of Sima Hui and smiled, “General Sima, please try this.”
As thick-skinned as Xiao Hongyu was, he still didn’t have the guts to steal from Sima Hui’s dish. He could only chew on his chopsticks with a pitiful look on his face.
Sima Hui used her chopsticks to pick up a slice of beef and blew on it first, before putting it into her mouth.
She chewed once, twice, before her eyes abruptly lit up. Following that, her chewing got faster and faster…
Even though she had been raised on the best delicacies that money could buy and she had eaten plenty of good food back in Shandong, Chu Lian’s little beef slices had already conquered her taste buds in seconds.
