Chu Lian smiled after seeing Sima Hui’s reaction. It looked like the teppanyaki suited her tastes.
Wenlan served up another bowl of lamb organ soup for everyone.
Chu Lian held up her bowl with two hands and sipped slowly. Since the soup was piping hot, her cheeks were flushed red from the heart. She said, “This isn’t anything fancy, it’s made from lamb intestines. It’s good for keeping your body warm though.”
The intestines of cows, sheep and pigs were not considered good ingredients in the Great Wu Dynasty. They were seen as some byproducts of killing livestock. Only the families who were really poor and couldn’t afford other types of ingredients would eat them.
Everyone had been drinking the soup happily. Upon hearing the truth from Chu Lian, their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
Captain Guo was in absolute disbelief. He looked at his empty bowl and looked again at the steaming pot of soup boiling over the brazier. “Is this really made from lamb intestines?”
Chu Lian blinked, “Didn’t you just eat it for yourself?”
Once Captain Guo had confirmed the truth with Chu Lian, he slapped his leg in anger and his whole person seemed to sag. He looked rather depressed.
Chu Lian found it strange and didn’t understand why Captain Guo had such a huge reaction. She set down the bowl in her hands, “Brother Guo, please don’t worry. Although this soup is made from lamb intestines, Wenqing and Wenlan have already cleaned them thoroughly. You won’t get ill from eating this.”
The people of the Great Wu Dynasty didn’t dare to eat intestines because some people had fallen ill after eating them. As the news passed by word of mouth, it became that no one dared to eat intestines any longer.
It was true that it was easy to get infected with some sort of bacteria or virus by eating unclean animal organs. However, as long as the organs were washed carefully, there wouldn’t be any problems.
He Changdi drank a mouthful of the soup. For some reason, although he was absolutely starving, when he saw how Chu Lian was ignoring him, he just couldn’t muster up any appetite.
Zhang Mai shook his head. He was the one who understood Captain Guo the most here. “Honoured Lady, it’s not what you think. Captain Guo is regretting how he threw away all the intestines before this!”
The border army had slaughtered livestock like cows and sheep to preserve the meat for winter. Those intestines and organs had been immediately thrown away and buried.
If they had known that these organs could be made into such a delicious soup, they wouldn’t have wasted a single cow intestine. If they had kept those organs, their army would have a few more days of supplies!
The party had only come over for a free meal; no one expected the mood to turn depressing so suddenly.
Captain Guo, Zhang Mai and Xiao Hongyu all sunk into silence. He Changdi’s face had been cold from the start. Sima Hui joined them with an expression of deep thought.
Chu Lian really hadn’t expected a simple bowl of lamb organ soup to have provoked such reactions from them. She rolled her eyes speechlessly. What was the use of regretting it now? Those organs had long been buried. By now, the organs must be decomposing naturally. Even if they regretted it, it wasn’t as if they could dig up the organs and eat them now.
Wasn’t it good enough to take note of this knowledge and apply it in the future?
While Chu Lian was remaining calm, it didn’t mean that the others shared her open-mindedness.
Wenqing and Wenlan were getting anxious watching them. Once the atmosphere in the tent had taken a turn for the worse, the two sisters’ actions had become more careful as they continued grilling meat.
Wenlan’s hand trembled, accidentally moving the chest plate and causing it to make an ear-piercing screech as it rubbed against the steel wire mesh it was balanced upon. Following that, it wobbled and fell off the wire mesh… letting out a clear ‘cling clang’.
Everyone was jolted back to their senses and they turned towards the sound in unison.
Wenqing and Wenlan’s faces turned pale as they tried their best to blend into the walls.
When six pairs of eyes focused on the object still shaking and wobbling on the floor, they shared a sense of familiarity.
Hmm… This round plate didn’t seem like a wok… Although it had been charred black by the fire in the center and was covered in glistening oil, the sides that hadn’t been burned looked like shiny golden metal.
They were all officers in the army and for all soldiers shared the same style of armour apart from the generals. Even Sima Hui’s armour looked about the same, except for the two chest plates in the front.
Suddenly, in uncoordinated unison, everyone turned towards the armour hanging on the wooden rack in the tent and sweat drops seemed to form simultaneously on their faces.
Chu Lian immediately realised that they had found out that her teppanyaki plate was the chest plate on He Sanlang’s armour. However, she had already used it right in front of them so it wasn’t good to explain too much at this moment. Anyway, they had all eaten it together. They couldn’t scold her now after eating her food.
Chu Lian was very thick-skinned. She acted as if it were nothing.
He Changdi was the first to lose his temper. He cast a cold gaze over the defaced chest plate and pressed his lips together. With gritted teeth, he shouted, “Chu Lian! Is this your doing?!”
After getting shouted at by He Sanlang, Chu Lian did feel a little guilty. She tried to soften him up by giving him a sweet smile.
The group saw that tension was rising between the couple, so they immediately made their escape.
Sima Hui hadn’t expected that the normally cool and reserved He Sanlang had moments where he showed his anger; she stared in stunned astonishment.
Xiao Hongyu stood outside the tent in the cold and breezy night. “Brother Guo, Brother Zhang, let me sleep over in your tent tonight! Brother He was way too scary just now.”
The two of them completely ignored Xiao Hongyu’s request and ran away as fast as they could.
Sima Hui stood outside the tent with a smile. She really hadn’t expected to see that that was how He Changdi and his wife got along.
When that calm, intelligent and cold He Sanlang was in front of Honoured Lady Jinyi, it was as if his divine aura had suddenly been lifted and he had become a real, living human being with emotions, rather than a cruel and heartless robot.
The couple seemed to be getting along very well. How could anyone possibly get in between them? Xiaoyan had really been too naive.
When she thought of Xiaoyan, Sima Hui let a long sigh. She left Xiaoju behind with some instructions before bringing the rest of her party back to her tent.
