Heart Protection (Back from the Brink)

CHAPTER 47

Yan Hui laid on her bed the entire night. The pain in her abdomen had lessened quite a bit. The next morning, she ate an entire mantou. However right when she was going to eat a second one, she hastily covered her mouth. She ran, half bent over, to a large basin and promptly vomited.

Yan Hui felt like her stomach was trying to force its way out.

The room's door opened with a creak. It was Tian Yao. He heard her movements from next door. He saw Yan Hui puking like she had morning sickness and frowned: "What is it?"

"Don't make me talk." Yan Hui finished throwing up. She clutched her stomach and limply sat down on the floor. "Stomach hurts."

Tian Yao sat next to her. He clasped her wrist and measured its pulse. Tian Yao frowned even more: "Your injury contains magic."

"Well, duh." Yan Hui shook off Tian Yao's hand and crept back to the bed. "If it didn't have magic, then I would've been able to recuperate my inner breath during the night." Finished speaking, she reached toward the table to get a cup of tea.

Tian Yao took two steps forward and suddenly pressed Yan Hui's hand flat: "The tea isn't good for the stomach, yet you still dare drink it."

Yan Hui looked wide-eyed at Tian Yao. She said in innocent astonishment: "But I'm thirsty."

Tian Yao ignored her. He didn't say anything, only snatching away the cup in her hand and taking away the mantou on the table. Yan Hui was stunned. She slapped the table: "Give it back. What are you taking it away for?"

Tian Yao didn't even look back. Holding the edibles, he pushed the door open. When the door was about the swing close, only then did he turn to look back at Yan Hui: "Wait here."

The food had been taken away. Idly waiting here wasn't Yan Hui's style. She clutched her stomach and hurried after Tian Yao.

Yan Hui chased Tian Yao to the top of the stairs. He turned back to look at her. Perhaps because he saw she didn't have any issues with walking that Tian Yao didn't mind Yan Hui. He continued to the back courtyard, holding the food, and entered the kitchen.

Breakfast had just ended. The chefs in the kitchen were prepping for lunch. No one was using the fire yet. Tian Yao walked right in and with practiced movements busied himself with the pots and pans storage area.

Yan Hui moved closer to the doorway and watched him. She saw him pour out the tea and set aside the mantou. He washed the rice and then set the pot with rice on top of the fire to boil. He efficiently prepared the fish, removing the bones with just a few slices of the knife. Then with the back of the knife, he efficiently removed the spines on the back of the fish.

Yan Hui heard the knife rapidly chopping on the board as Tian Yao minced the fish with a few slices of ginger. In another pot of boiling water, he blanched the fish to removed the fishy taste. Then he scooped the minced fish into the pot with the boiling rice. Three chopped scallions were added, and then Tian Yao slowly stirred the porridge.

His movements were swift and skilled. It made sense. Tian Yao spent ten years without magic and lived in a small mountain village. There would be no one else to do the cooking and cleaning except for him. Tian Yao had to do everything himself.

Yan Hui watched Tian Yao's busy movements from behind. At some point while watching him, her thoughts began to drift. She remembered when he made mantou. Those were pretty good, and at the time they were living in a remote and bleak place. There weren't any good ingredients. Otherwise, Tian Yao's cooking might be even better than Fatty Zhang's cooking at Chen Xing Mountain.

And Tian Yao's every movement and even his bearing was so elegant. Even wielding a big iron pot didn't detract from him. Even if Fatty Zhang rode a galloping horse, he couldn't catch up to Tian Yao's handsome and sharp profile.