Little Pink Starfish

The Princess Who Wanted to Boil Noodles

Li Yuanle collapsed into the chair behind him, covering his face with both hands, speechless for a long time.

Gu Xingnuo slowly finished a cup of tea and said to Li Yuanle and Li Wan, “Go into the inner hall and talk. With Xinglang and me guarding outside, no one will disturb you.”

Li Yuanle said, “Brother Gu, I…”

“Just have a proper talk with your sister,” Gu Xingnuo waved a hand at Li Yuanle and said, “Now that the princess and our Gu family have stepped in, we won’t abandon this halfway.”

Li Yuanle stood and headed toward the inner hall.

Gu Xingnuo said to the still-seated Li Wan, “Go on. It’s good to speak your heart. What you just said took courage.”

Li Wan’s face was pale, as if those few words had drained all the strength she had.

“To want to spend your life with the one you love—Xiong Xiong risked his life. I think, Li family sister, you should do something for him too,” Gu Xingnuo said gently. “Go now.”

Li Wan wiped her tears and rose to go into the inner hall.

Back in the courtyard of the flower hall with his elder brother, Gu Xinglang glanced at the tightly closed windows and doors of the flower hall and quietly asked Gu Xingnuo, “Will Yuanle and Uncle Li be okay with this?”

Gu Xingnuo replied, “What do you think?”

Gu Xinglang shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Gu Xingnuo smiled. “Don’t worry. There won’t be any changes between Miss Li and Xiong Xiong.”

“You’re that sure, Brother?” Gu Xinglang asked.

“Because the Li family has no choice,” Gu Xingnuo said with a faint smile.

“What?”

“If they want Miss Li to live, then the Li clan of Chengzhou must die with her,” Gu Xingnuo said softly. “If they don’t want to die, then they have to let this couple be.”

Gu Xinglang was speechless. Sometimes, the way his elder brother smiled made him want to punch him.

“I heard you and the princess found a wife for Xu Wei too,” Gu Xingnuo suddenly changed the subject. “Where’s this woman from?”

“What? That woman is Zhao Qiuming’s third daughter?!” Gu Xingyan exclaimed, holding a bowl of glutinous rice balls in his hand and staring wide-eyed at his sister-in-law.

Yu Xiaoxiao nodded. “Yep, second brother, are you shocked?”

Gu Xingyan said, “Hold on, let me think this through.”

Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Okay, second brother, take your time.”

Gu Xingyan munched on his tangyuan as he thought. Whether they were peanut-filled or sesame-filled, he couldn’t tell at all.

Yu Xiaoxiao finished her own bowl and looked longingly at the shredded pork noodles in Xiao Wei’s hands. Those noodles looked really delicious.

Xiao Wei swallowed his bite and said, “Princess, I’ve already eaten this.”

Yu Xiaoxiao knew the rules of this world. Food that someone had already eaten shouldn’t be passed around, especially between men and women. “You eat it,” she said, looking at Xiao Wei’s bowl.

Xiao Wei felt a wave of regret for having started eating the noodles.

Yu Xiaoxiao quietly asked, “Do you think if I ask Momo for another bowl, she’ll give it to me?”

Xiao Wei didn’t really get why their princess feared Momo Wang. Then again, he was kind of afraid of her too.

“I’ll go check the kitchen,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, and with a sway of her body, she disappeared from the room.

Xiao Wei glanced at the spirit-drained Gu Xingyan and ran to the door with his bowl. No matter how skilled the princess was, he had to stand guard for her.

At that moment, Momo Wang was in the outer room of the bathhouse, barking orders: “He must be scrubbed clean!”

Inside the bathhouse, Little Sha and a few young eunuchs were holding down Tian Xingzi, while a burly young eunuch poured water over him.

Tian Xingzi shouted, “I’m a guest of the princess!”

Momo Wang replied, “Ignore him. A guest of the princess? What, now even beggars can be the princess’s guests?”

“I’m not a beggar… glug glug—” The old Daoist was shoved under the bathwater by Little Sha and the others.

As he was drowning and his eyes were rolling back, he heard that chubby woman roar with powerful lungs: “Even if you have to peel off a layer of his skin, you must wash him clean!”

Merciful heavens!

The old Daoist, gulping down bathwater, thought, That fat woman must be a monster!

Yu Xiaoxiao stood at the kitchen door, listening to the chaos coming from the bathhouse, then ran inside.

Xiao Wei stepped into the kitchen with his noodles, only to find his princess boiling water.

“Xiao Wei, do you still want to eat?” Yu Xiaoxiao turned her head at the sound of footsteps and asked.

Xiao Wei was so startled he quickly put down his bowl and rushed to her side. “Princess, how could you cook yourself?” What kind of royal princess cooks her own meals?

“Relax,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, clearly on a different wavelength. “I can cook noodles.” She hadn’t had much chance to hone her culinary skills during the apocalypse, but she could at least cook things through.

Xiao Wei took the spatula from her hands. “I’ll do it.”

Yu Xiaoxiao was surprised. “Xiao Wei, you can cook?”

Xiao Wei froze. What kind of secret guard learned to cook? Looking at the spatula, he realized: wait, you don’t even use a spatula to boil noodles!

Yu Xiaoxiao grabbed a big handful of noodles and walked to the stove. “This should be enough for the two of us.”

Xiao Zhuang glanced at the noodles in her hands. At least three jin (1.5 kg). He twitched his lips and said, “Maybe a bit too much.” Even if the princess ate two jin, Xiao Wei wasn’t finishing the last jin.

Yu Xiaoxiao lifted the lid to toss the noodles in. “No worries. If we can’t finish, Little Gu and second brother are still around. It won’t go to waste.”

“Wait, don’t toss them in!” Xiao Wei shouted. Even without culinary training, he knew you had to wait for the water to boil.

Yu Xiaoxiao paused, confused. “Why not?”

“You have to wait for the water to boil,” Xiao Wei explained.

Yu Xiaoxiao was a little embarrassed. “Oh, so you boil the noodles after the water’s boiling?”

“Have you ever seen anyone put noodles in cold water?” Xiao Wei asked.

Yu Xiaoxiao went silent. She and that damn dog man used to cook the noodles and water together—no wonder they never got actual noodles!

At that moment, Mo Wen stood in the courtyard. He glanced at the blooming autumn chrysanthemums in the flower bed, listened carefully to the noises coming from the courtyard, and walked up to the small kitchen window. He was certain Yu Linglong was in there.

Xiao Wei squatted to check the fire and said, “Princess, this fire isn’t strong enough.”

Yu Xiaoxiao squatted too and looked at the dying flames. “That’s easy—I’ll blow on it.”

Outside the half-open window, Mo Wen saw a pot without a lid and water that hadn’t started boiling. With a thought, a small bottle appeared in his hand.

At that moment, Yu Xiaoxiao puffed out her cheeks and blew hard into the stove.

BOOM!

Xiao Wei…

This time, it wasn’t thunder—Her Royal Highness had blown up the stove.