Gu Qingheng nodded, then began to feel around the stove before touching the firewood and nodding again.
"Why is Brother Gu here?" Erni came to help Yang Ruxin cook, and seeing Gu Qingheng sitting in front of the stove was a big surprise.
"I’m helping her light the fire." Yang Ruxin rapidly continued her preparations, "You go wash the rice. Tonight, we are eating rice, pure rice."
Erni glanced at Yang Ruxin, and without any objection, really went to wash the rice.
In the evening, Yang Ruxin deep-fried eggplant patties, made potato cakes, steamed eggs with shrimp paste, dry-fried kidney beans, cooked a dish of syrup-coated sweet potatoes, and finally stewed cabbage with meat. It was a bit of a pity that there were no vermicelli for sale; otherwise, the taste would certainly have been even better.
To Yang Ruxin’s amazement, throughout her cooking, Gu Qingheng very well controlled both the high and low flames.
"I say, aren’t you too amazing?" Yang Ruxin furrowed her brows. However, seeing the other’s slender, white fingers all smudged with black and gray, she somewhat regretted letting him tend the fire. It was a waste of his hands. "How can you control it so well?"
"The distance lets me sense the temperature," Gu Qingheng smiled, his face smeared with ash but not detracting from his good looks, "and I can tell the size of the flames by the thickness of the firewood..."
"Alright then." Yang Ruxin was thoroughly impressed, "Gu Qingheng, when I said I admired you before, I wasn’t kidding."
Gu Qingheng just laughed, his fingers feeling a scar on the palm of his hand, a burn he got from when he first helped the Feng Family light a fire. But fortunately, now he was able to do it.
Everyone had a very enjoyable dinner.
"How come the same dishes become so different when they pass through your hands?" the Feng Family was full of emotion, "Xinxin ah, your cooking skills are even better than those master chefs at the big restaurants..."
"Just figuring things out as I go," Yang Ruxin chuckled, "If I master a few more dishes, maybe I could even open a restaurant."
"The business would definitely be good." Gu Yao was completely convinced by Yang Ruxin, thinking he’d gained weight over these past few days.
Yang Ruxin was delighted. It’s a good thing that this era has frying pans for cooking; otherwise, even with culinary skills, she wouldn’t be able to show them off.
In the following two days, with the peace from Yang Anshi, the days in the Yang Family’s small courtyard were quite comfortable.
Zhou Xiao and his siblings adapted well to the life here, besides practicing martial arts and studying with everyone, they would also join Sanni and others in gathering firewood down the hillside and catching fish in the Xiaocang River.
The only thing that troubled Yang Ruxin was Dabai. She had wanted to let it recuperate in her space, but unexpectedly, because the space maintained the original state of matter, Dabai’s condition remained the same after two days inside, just like when it first entered. That is, in the space, its wounds could never heal.
She was uneasy about sending Dabai back to the mountains, so she could only find a secluded spot nearby.
Yang Ruxin wandered around the village, and finally, she discovered an old, half-collapsed house by the river, surrounded by weeds—a place most people would avoid.
"Stay here and recover for a few days." Yang Ruxin moved Dabai out of the space and stroked its head, "I’ll come every day to change your bandages and bring you food, but you must absolutely not go out. It wouldn’t be good whether you frighten someone or get hurt by someone."
Dabai nodded.
Yang Ruxin breathed a sigh of relief. Dabai was sentient, and if it promised not to wander off, it definitely wouldn’t.