Chapter Six – Grilled Meat Strips

By the time Xuan Yue returned to the residence with Qingfeng, Wen Lan had already finished grilling all the meat strips.

If you wanted proof of how delicious her meat smelled, just look at Tie Jiangjun, who had completely abandoned his duty of standing guard.

At this moment, Tie Jiangjun was “loyally” sitting at Wen Lan’s feet, eyes fixed intently on her, its adorable head swaying slightly in sync with the movements of Wen Lan’s hands.

It was absolutely famished.

Wen Lan wasn’t stingy either. After all, she had started grilling under the pretense of making food for Tie Jiangjun. Seeing how eager it was, she stuffed a piece of roasted meat into her own mouth, while handing another piece to Tie Jiangjun.

Just as the girl and the dog were happily sharing the food, Xuan Yue and Qingfeng returned.

“Mmm, smells amazing. Seems like someone’s grilling something?” Qingfeng spoke as he walked toward the woodshed.

Hearing the noise, Wen Lan quickly stood up. Even at this moment, she didn’t forget to wipe the oil from her mouth with her sleeve.

“Wow, you really are grilling something.” Qingfeng pushed the door open, and after a glance at the fire pit, his eyes landed on Wen Lan.

He looked at her with a half-smile, clearly waiting for her explanation.

Xuan Yue followed in right after. When he saw the girl and the dog by the fire, his brows immediately furrowed.

“This is what you call ‘being like air’?” he asked, displeased.

Faced with one warm and one cold interrogation, Wen Lan’s initial nervousness surprisingly dissipated.

She calmly held out the plate of meat strips to Xuan Yue and answered, “I felt uneasy staying here as a guest without contributing. Since you and Tie Jiangjun didn’t seem to have dinner, I took the liberty of roasting some meat. I hope you won’t take offense.”

As she spoke, she nudged the plate a little closer to Xuan Yue.

Before Xuan Yue could respond, Qingfeng beat him to it. The plate was right under his nose, and the mouthwatering smell was just too tempting. He, too, hadn’t eaten dinner, and couldn’t help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

“This smells amazing.” He reached out, grabbed a piece, and popped it into his mouth.

Immediately, his eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Wen Lan. Without a word, he grabbed another piece and shoved it into his mouth.

“How did you grill this? Why is it so delicious?”

Wen Lan thought to herself that the times had truly changed. When it came to exploring flavor, the increasingly picky modern people definitely had an advantage over ancient folk.

What was to her just a simple meal had stunned the man in front of her like it was a heavenly delicacy.

It seemed that she could probably make a living here with her cooking skills.

“I grilled it on a stone slab,” Wen Lan explained to Qingfeng, keeping her tone as neutral and humble as possible to avoid making him feel put off.

“Just a stone slab and it tastes this good?” Qingfeng clearly didn’t believe it. “Why do I taste something like citrus?”

Wen Lan quickly explained, “The citrus flavor is because I added citrus leaves and peels to the firewood.”

She pointed to the charcoal embers in the fire pit.

There were a few wild citrus trees near the hunter’s home. It was late autumn now, and the trees were dotted with fruits of all sizes. Wen Lan had noticed them while trailing Xuan Yue back earlier. So, while roasting the meat, she had picked some citrus leaves and fruit to smoke the meat, enhancing its aroma.

“How did you think to use citrus leaves and peels to enhance the flavor of the meat?” Qingfeng asked again.

You couldn’t really blame him for asking so thoroughly. As Xuan Yue’s personal guard—even though he hadn’t been by his side for the past three years while Xuan Yue lived in seclusion—he was naturally vigilant. And now, he had doubts about the village girl before him.

He had investigated Yushou Village before. The villagers weren’t wealthy—while they didn’t starve, meat was still a luxury in most homes.

If people rarely ate meat, they naturally didn’t have much experience cooking it. Not to mention roasting meat like this—using citrus leaves to add fragrance was even more unusual.

Was this woman truly from Yushou Village?

Qingfeng mentally drew a big question mark, and his eyes couldn’t help but scan Wen Lan again.

The girl before him looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. Her long, jet-black hair fell to her waist. She wore no hairpins or decorations, only a plain, coarse robe—clearly a girl from a humble background.

But her eyes were calm, her demeanor neither servile nor arrogant. She didn’t seem like a naïve, rustic village girl who had never seen the world.

Hmm. Worth investigating.