Adorable Food Goddess

“Boatman, is there a silk warehouse or a clothing shop on the island?” the nobleman asked.

The boatman replied, “I’m afraid there’s nothing of that sorts on the island. There is a philanthropist, though, who opened a charity shop. Usually, if someone fell into the lake, they can change their clothes there.”

After the boat touched down the shore, the nobleman went straight to the charity shop and Ye Jiayao followed him aimlessly. Her delicious meal plan depended on him, so naturally, she followed him closely.

It wasn’t long after before the nobleman had transformed into an average civilian dude in yellow linen clothes. Since he has long legs, the pants were too short for him. The cropped pants look was too hilarious, Ye Jiayao couldn’t stop laughing uncontrollably after seeing him.

The son of nobility was terribly disgusted. “What a terrible charity shop! It costs 500 grams of coppers just to get this ragged clothing,” he said depressingly.

Thinking about the cheap clothes that only cost her a few hundred copper coins, she felt proud of herself. She didn’t need good clothing if it was going to cost that much.

“It’s all your fault! If you didn’t tear my clothes, I wouldn’t have any reason to wear this garbage,” the nobleman complained. Hell, even my horse-keeper wears better clothes than this.

“For such a big man, you sure are such a sissy! Don’t you get frustrated from talking about these tiny little insignificant details? All you toffs are so squeamish and spoilt! One tiny little thing that doesn’t go your way and you think that the sky has fallen apart! What if, one day, you can’t depend on your family anymore? What would you do then, huh?” Ye Jiayao ranted angrily. Although the kid was a lot taller than her, he looked very much younger than her. He doesn’t even have a full beard! 

“A true man needs to know when to yield. What is wrong with wearing linen clothing? Does it really kill you to wear it? There are so many people in the world that don’t even have linen clothes to wear! There are families who make do with one pants for all of them. You are quite lucky compared to them, so stop whining about it!” Ye Jiayao was fully aware that she was acting like a big sister, but she couldn’t help it. She just couldn’t bear how rotten this young man was acting.

It was the first time that the nobleman had heard of such things. “I don’t think that’s true. Only one pants to wear for the whole family? How could they even wear it?”

Ye Jiayao raised her eyebrows, challenging him. “How? The person who needs to go out wears it and the others just hide in the bed sheets.”

“You must be making that up.” The son of nobility could not picture such a scene.

“That’s because there are only a few places that you have been. You haven’t seen much of the world. Just because you haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

The pretty phoenix eyes of the nobleman lost its fire as he grudgingly said, “You talk as if you’ve seen many parts of the world. You look the same age as me, how much experience could you possibly have had?”

“Of course, I haven’t had more experience than you in the rich families, but I certainly understand more about the poor families,” Ye Jiayao said haughtily.

As they talked, they made their way inside an eight-sided, grandeur ancient pavilion. Ye Jiayao raised her head and saw ‘Li Xia Pavilion’ written on the awning and a feeling of historical significance washed over her. She thought of the poem that was left as the old Du drank here with the protector of the north sea, Li Yongyan.  Please, let the sea protect this pavilion. There are many famous people in Ji Nan. Although, I don’t think there’s an old Du yet at this time.

As she stood in the middle of the pavilion, looking out afar, she marveled over another scenery. She could see the width of the lake, the green lotuses everywhere, the surrounding willow trees – the whole magnificence of Da Min Lake could be seen.

“The scenery here is really good even compared to the river of Qin Zhun.”Thank God, the nobleman finally stopped whining about the clothes and praises.  No wonder big mountains and seas can cure a person’s mood. It really opens a person’s heart.

“Are you a descendant of Jin Ling?” asked Ye Jiayao.

The nobleman raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You know about the river of Qin Zhun?”

“Uh-huh. I’ve even been there!”

In another space-time, thousands of years later.

“Where else have you been?” the nobleman asked, curious.

“I’ve been to many places, from the ends of north and south,” Ye Jiayao answered.

“How old are you? You’ve been to the ends of north and south? You must be bluffing.”

Ye Jiayao shrugged. “Believe what you want, I don’t care.”

I have even been to foreign countries, another continent, oh, and another time! I bet it’ll scare the life out of you if I tell you.

“Selling ice sugar and lotus seed soup! Aromatic and delicious lotus seed soup, five copper coins a bowl! It’s cold and refreshing…” The booming voice of a seller could be heard from not far away.

Ye Jiayao was ecstatic. Ice sugar and lotus seed soup could be counted as one of the delicacies of Da Min Lake. The lotus seed produced here were big, round, filling, snow-white in color, and it was very fresh.

“Let’s go! You promised to treat me to delicious food! Let’s go and eat the ice sugar and lotus seed soup!” Ye Jiayao took his arm and dragged the son of nobility outside of the Li Xia Pavilion.

They found the stall that sells the ice sugar and lotus seed soup beside the road. Ye Jiayao excitedly said, “Madam, two bowls of ice sugar and lotus seed soup please.”

The madam filled up two bowls happily.

The nobleman was left bemused. Are we going to eat it while standing here on the side of the road?

“Hurry up and eat it! This is delicious! The lotus seeds here can only be compared with the Wu Yi lotus seeds from Jin Hua palace. You can’t eat it anywhere else.” Ye Jiayao has already started devouring her food. Her mouth was filled with the tenderness and deliciousness of the lotus seeds, and the aroma stays in the mouth. It was indeed true to its name.

Even though it was just an ordinary ice sugar and lotus seed soup, the cook has to be careful to make it right. The yellow dried up lotus seeds from regular shops don’t have the same taste no matter how well you cook it. The good quality seeds must be selected, rid of the bitter heart of the seed, bathed in water for a night, and then added the ice sugar, white fungus, and medlar. After that, it still has to be boiled in a steady fire until the flesh was soft.

It was a long process.

Ye Jiayao saw her companion eat a tiny portion at a time, pecking on his food like a bird. She said in exasperation, “No one knows you’re here! Why are you still putting on a show? It’s only refreshing if you drink a lot at a time.”

The nobleman stole a glance at the sides, and when he was satisfied that no one was watching him, he took a large swallow.

Refreshing!  “Yes, it’s quite good.” The son of nobility smiled, revealing two adorable dimples.

Ye Jiayao looked mesmerized. Damn! A man with dimples! He looked so charming when he smiles.

The two quickly finished their bowls of lotus seed soup.

Ye Jiayao put her bowl down, wiped her mouth, and said, “You are paying.”

The nobleman went to fetch his wallet. His worried look gradually started to get worse as he felt left, right, up, and down.

Ye Jiayao had an unfortunate feeling. “What’s happening?”

The nobleman was confused. “My wallet is gone! It was just here before.”

Oh, gosh.

“Did you forget to take out your wallet when you were changing clothes?”

The nobleman frowned. “That’s possible.”

“Look, you drank my lotus seed soup. You can’t get if for free, my business is quite small.” The madam scowled after seeing that they have lost their wallet. She feared that they might not pay the bill.

“Can you pay first? I’ll pay you back when I find my wallet,” the nobleman said, visibly embarrassed.

Well, if you’ve lost your wallet, how could you get it back? I was going to get you to pay, now, it turns out that I am the one who’d be treating you . She really was the magnet of misfortune. YeJiayao looked down at her sad looking money bag rapidly becoming very flat.

Reluctantly, she paid the ten copper coins.

The two found their way back to the charity station. The nobleman immediately asked a worker, “What happened to the clothes I left here?”

“I don’t know. You can check it out from that old pile of clothes.” The worker pointed to a basket coldly.

The nobleman didn’t care about how dirty or messy it was right now as he bent down and sifted through the pile.

Ye Jiayao leaned against the counter as she watched the nobleman search for his wallet, knowing that he would not find it. When he bought his linen clothes and paid, she saw the golden leaves on his purse and the silver coins in it. A large sum of wealth like that, who wouldn’t be happy to have found it? There was slim to none chance of them ever giving it back.

The nobleman had completely turned the basket upside down but still could not find his original clothes.

“Didn’t you say it was dumped here? Why isn’t it here?” the nobleman asked the worker.

“How would I know? The people coming here are all looking for their clothes. Your clothes have a good material, it’s probably already taken by someone.”

Ye Jiayao observed the worker’s calm expression. He looked so collected, they couldn’t just randomly accuse him of taking the wallet.

“Well, have you seen my wallet, then? Maybe I left it here when I was changing clothes.” The nobleman was still not defeated.

The worker said angrily, “What do you mean? We hid your wallet? We are a charity station, our specialty is doing good deeds. How could we have taken your wallet?”

“I was just asking! Why are you yelling at me? Your specialty is doing good deeds, and yet one ragged clothing cost five hundred copper coins. Ha! I think you are just a bunch of thieves robbing people’s money,” the nobleman snapped back.

“Did you just say we are a bunch of thieves?” The worker rolled up his sleeve, and shouted, “Brothers, there’s someone here looking for trouble.”

Suddenly, a few aggressive-looking dudes appeared from the courtyard behind the curtain. “Who is it? Who is looking for trouble?”

Ye Jiayao saw the situation took a worse turn and stepped in. “Calm down everyone. My brother here lost his wallet after he changed his clothes. He is just worried, that’s why he asked. He didn’t say much really, just asked if you have seen it. That’s normal right? You are all doing good deeds and by beating up a kid, you’d just look like you were hiding something.”

The worker was now seething as he pointed to the nobleman and said, “He said it! He said we are just a bunch of thieves!”

Ye Jiayao quickly replied, “When did he say such a thing? I was beside him and I didn’t hear anything like that. Don’t use the fact that you have more people to bully us! Do you know who he is? Ha! You’d pee your pants if I tell you who he really is.”

Ye Jiayao dragged the nobleman away as the workers processed her little tirade. “Let’s go! There’s no need to waste your temper on them. Losing the wallet isn’t that much of a big deal.”

Once they were outside, the son of nobility shook her hold off him. “Why did you stop me? What can those scumbags do to me? I can beat them up so bad their mother wouldn’t even recognize them.”

Ye Jiayao scowled at him. “Do you have a brain? A real man won’t fight when the odds are against him. Besides, do you have evidence that the wallet is really at the charity station? If you wreck the shop but still couldn’t find the wallet, what then?”