Adorable Food Goddess

Ye Jiayao could not remember whether she fainted or simply fell asleep from over-exhaustion last night. She was already in a deep sleep before the sun was out – that was until someone shook her shoulders roughly.

She was actually dreaming that she was discussing her creative insights and concepts to the editor-in-chief of a delicacy magazine. The editor-in-chief was engrossed in her presentation and was so impressed by her skills and knowledge that he said, “Ye Jiayao, you will handle the delicacy column for next week.”

“Wake up! Wash and change me!” someone yelled, disturbing her dream impolitely.

Ye Jiayao laughed foolishly in her dream, half-consciously hitting the annoying hand away as she wrapped herself up in the blanket. She turned away and said in annoyance, “Stop bothering me, I want to sleep.”

Xia Chunyu screamed her name, “Ye Jinxuan!”

“You’re so noisy! Can you not be so irritating?” Ye Jiayao grumbled, covering her head with the blanket.

Xia Chunyu lifted the blanket away from her and howled, “Are you a pig? Only pigs sleep so much! Get up!”

Ye Jiayao felt cold so she sat up in frustration, shouting with her eyes still closed, “Have you lost your marbles?” She pounced to get the blanket back, hugging it tightly and lying back down to sleep.

She was hurting all over! It’s as if she just ran 3000 meters because there was not a single part of her body that was not aching.

Ugh! Ye Jiayao felt a shiver down her spine and she opened her eyes in shock. She had thought that she was still in her home back in the 21st century! She had forgotten that she has time-traveled to another time. What did she yell at him just now? Oh, lost his marbles! Well, sh*t ! She has angered him again.

Although her back was to him, she could hear his heavy breathing from behind her and she just knew that he was about to erupt.

Ye Jiayao coughed dryly, sitting up properly with the blanket still around her and looked at his face timidly. His eyes were dark with anger and his face was cold as ice. Ye Jiayao only thought of two phrases: dark clouds above-head, torrential rainfall about to descend.

Ye Jiayao started kissing up to him immediately, smiling embarrassedly. “That… I am so sorry! I thought I was at home.”

Xia Chunyu looked at her expressionless for a few seconds. He just told him he had lost his marbles, and even though he does not know exactly what it meant, he has strong suspicions that it was less than respectable.

None of her demeanor was that of a wealthy family’s daughter. She just looked like a spoilt and willful lady.

“Are you really the daughter of Ye sub-prefect? Are you usually this overbearing and bossy at home?” Xia Chunyu demanded.

Ye Jiayao cursed at him silently. You are the bossy one! You lot of bandits are bossy! “No, no, no, I thought it was Xiao Hei who was annoying me just now.”

“Xiao Hei?” Xia Chunyu raised his eyebrows in question.

Ye Jiayao nodded. “Mmhmm, Xiao Hei is a dog, around that big.” Ye Jia Yao pointed to the teapot on the table. To prove that the dog really existed, Ye Jiayao added, “Xiao Hei is the offspring of the gatekeeper’s Labrador and a wild dog from somewhere. Xiao Hei is cute and cheeky so I adopted him, but he is quite annoying. He will jump on my bed early in the morning to lick me and annoy me. At night, he will lie around on my bed and I can’t even chase him away.”

Stinking wench!  Was she trying to call him a dog? A dog with a bastard breed?

This was it! He would die of anger with just three minutes of talking to her.

Additionally, he was now tempted to discuss whether the bastard breed was a metaphor or not.

Xia Chunyu snatched her blanket away angrily.

“Ay, a gentleman uses his mouth and not his fist! If there is any problem we should talk it out. Don’t use violence…” Ye Jiayao thought he was about to violate her again so she clung tightly to the blanket.

Xia Chunyu spent so much effort into getting his clothes out of the blanket and here she was, snatching the blanket away, pulling his shirt into the pile once again.

Ye Jiayao realized that his goal was to get the shirt and she let go of the blanket awkwardly. “Oh! So, it is the shirt that you want to take? You should have said so earlier.”

Xia Chunyu’s blood was boiling and he was so mad he was about ready to spit nails. He glared at her venomously before he snatched his clothes and walked off.

“Ay, I really thought it was Xiao Hei just now!” Ye Jiayao called after him.

Xia Chunyu almost went back to strangle her.

Ye Jiayao breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the filthy man was finally gone. She felt like the air in the room was fresher without him. She lied back down, hugged the blanket again and went back to sleep. After all, recurring dreams were the best.

Xia Chunyu walked out, his face thunderous and his foul mood clearly obvious. I am not in a good mood, don’t annoy me.

The brothers in the stockade, however, didn’t see it that way. Was the third-in-charge dissatisfied with his new wife? Or was his desire not fulfilled?

“It can’t be that the third-in-charge is not satisfied with the bride’s looks, right?” someone discussed as they saw third-in-charge walk away.

“Is that bride still considered ugly? Such a delicate woman! Just thinking about it makes my whole body limp. If I can just hug her or kiss her, even if I have to go report to Hades tomorrow, it will be all worth it.”

“How dare you think of third-in-charge’s woman? I think your bone is itching for a beating.”

“You should stop acting all righteous. Don’t you think about women?”

“The lot of you! Are you free? Don’t you need to train today? If I see any more people skiving, we’ll go by the stockade rules,” third-in-charge berated in his deep voice that was cold as ice.

The few bandits scattered away, warning each other, “Third-in-charge is not in a good mood today. Take it easy all of you.”

Indeed, third-in-charge’s training was exceptionally harsh today. First, it was getting the lot to hike two rounds around Mist Peak, the main peak of Hei Feng Gang. Then, it was swimming 10 laps around Haze Lake at the bottom. After lunch, it was four hours of horse stance at the training grounds. The whole gang of bandits was crying for their parents before it was even over.

“First-in-charge, third brother doesn’t seem right today. I have never seen him so ruthless before,” second-in-charge sympathized. The bandits in horse stance at the training ground had legs trembling and eyes flowing with tears.

First-in-charge simply narrowed his eyes, shaking his head, seemingly deep in thought. Abruptly, he walked away with his hands behind his back.

Why didn’t the first-in-charge say anything? Second-in-charge pondered as he watched first brother walk away.

Xia Chunyu drilled the bandits like they were about to die, so there was no one to annoy Ye Jiayao and she has managed to sleep all the way until noon. She only woke up from hunger so she braced her aching body and got up to hunt for food.

Outside, the noon sun was shining brightly. Ye Jiayao stretched, tilting her face up to bask in the sun’s rays and took a deep breath. The air in the mountains was exceptionally fresh and the gentle mountain breeze carried with it the scent of grass and wildflower. If one thing good came out of her kidnapping, it was that she didn’t have to inhale smog anymore. Ye Jiayao laughed bitterly. Since it has already happened, she would just have to make do with it. Life goes on, or whatever life she has left that is. Right now, she was starving so her problems would have to wait until she has filled her stomach.

Ye Jiayao made her way to the kitchen and seeing as it was way past lunchtime, everyone was already packing up. She still hasn’t gotten the chance to see Old Yu, and Auntie Jiang was nowhere to be found. There were only three aunties that were washing the pots and bowls in the kitchen.

The three aunties saw Ye Jiayao dressed in red and immediately knew that she was third-in-charge’s bride. They all turned away and ignored her. Today, their men got tortured by third-in-charge and they heard that it was because of this new woman. Somehow she has annoyed third-in-charge, who in turn punished their men. In their eyes, it was all Ye Jiayao’s fault so they ignored her completely.

Obviously, Ye Jiayao did not know that she has become the common enemy of the whole stockade, so she simply smiled sweetly and asked if there was anything to eat.

After asking for the third time, one of the aunties replied coldly, “No, the leftovers are fed to the pigs.”

“Then… can I make some noodles to eat?”

“Sorry, the fire is extinguished,” the auntie said, scooping a dipper of water and pouring it over the stove to extinguish the fire.

It was clear to Ye Jiayao that these aunties did not like her. Were they jealous because she was pretty? Ye Jia Yao glanced over the kitchen quickly and took a cucumber from the basket. The vine was still fresh so it must be newly plucked.

She would have to just nibble on the cucumber to fill her stomach.

“Hey! You can’t just take whatever you want! This is for dinner,” the auntie who extinguished the stove fire scolded.

Ye Jiayao grinned and said, “It’s just a cucumber. Don’t be so stingy!”

Before the auntie blew her top, Ye Jiayao escaped. It looked like the authority as the third-in-charge’s woman was not useful. It must be because third-in-charge does not have enough power. The stinking man was only a tyrant only at home!

While munching on the cucumber, Ye Jiayao walked around idly, checking out the topography of the place. She was blindfolded when she was kidnapped yesterday so she has no idea what the view of Hei Feng Gang is. From what the stinking man has said, it seemed like a formidable place.

The topography of the mountains here was strategic with cliffs scattered all over. There seemed to be only one way down the mountains and there was a guard posted with every few steps. Escaping would be more difficult than scaling heaven. Attacking up the mountains would also be more difficult as it was comparable to Shui Po in Liang Shan.

Ye Jiayao was discouraged after she had finished roaming around. Was she going to stay as a bandit’s wife up here in the mountains forever?

She turned a corner and her eyes widened at what she saw. On the horizon, the cliff has a piece of empty land about the size of half a soccer field. There was a banner waving in the wind and a few hundred bandits standing neatly in formation, all holding a horse stance. It was a spectacular view.

“No skiving! The hardship of today will bring a large chance of survival on the battlegrounds. Iron Cow, hold your ground steady! Er Lengzi, don’t let me see you skiving again or I will add another two hours,” Xia Chunyu lectured coldly.

“Hey, focus! Stop looking around. What are you looking at?” Xia Chunyu realized that everyone’s eyes were fixed in one direction and turned around to have a look. A dainty-looking woman dressed in red garb appeared by the bend, her steps quick and light.

Xia Chunyu’s face darkened. What is this wench doing up here?

Ye Jiayao saw Xia Chunyu, dressed in a white gown, standing tall and straight. He certainly stood out among the group of uncouth bandits with his aura and looks. This was the first time Ye Jiayao had a direct observation for the idiom, a crane in a flock of chicken .

Thinking that he was the best-looking bandit and she would be the prettiest bandit’s wife in Hei Feng Gang, made her feel better. Of course, this was only temporary. She certainly didn’t want to be a bandit’s wife for all of her life.

Ye Jiayao saw how everyone greeted her with their attention and knew that she had to play nice. It was obvious that she wouldn’t be able to escape anytime soon so might as well build good relationships with everyone to make her time here a bit better. She certainly did not want a repeat of what happened with the aunties today.

She put on her sweetest smile and waved her hand just like how famous people do it to show her good intentions.

She just has to switch her cucumber to her other hand first.