Mo Xi was speechless for a moment, never expecting that she could be associated with employee benefits, and then looked at the dishes on the table.
Most of the dishes are vegetarian, and each dish is served in small portions, but the presentation is exquisite.
One of the dishes, Vegetarian Longjing Shrimp, is made with yam as the main ingredient, and each yam is hand-carved to resemble a shrimp.
Tang Huan scooped two spoonfuls of stir-fried lettuce and yam for Mo Xi, saying, "Yam is slippery and difficult to pick up, but it's excellent for tendon growth."
Mo Xi ate silently; it was refreshing and smooth, indeed excellent. Looking up, she saw Tang Huan staring intently at her, not touching her chopsticks. She sighed inwardly, but smiled and said, "Staring at me like that, are you afraid I'll eat you out of house and home?"
Tang Huan laughed and said, "If you really have this ability, how come you're so thin? You should eat more." But in her heart she thought: If you're willing, I'd be happy to do so.
That night, it was dark and windy.
Under a sliver of silvery moonlight, the elegant Tang beauty rolled up her sleeves and began the sordid act of digging up graves.
However, Mo Xi found that Tang Huan looked good no matter what he did; even with an incongruous prop like a shovel in his hand, he was still worthy of being a fashion magazine cover star. Mo Xi already had quite a bit of experience watching grave robbing, so he calmly held up a lamp and supervised from the sidelines, ostensibly to keep watch for Tang Huan.
Young Master Tang was quite efficient, and it didn't take long to move the coffin lid. Although it wasn't empty, after searching carefully twice, the Langya Staff was still nowhere to be found. So he had no choice but to close the coffin lid again, fill it with soil, and call it a day.
Mo Xi said, "If the Tang Clan takes Tang Yi's body back for burial, the Langya Staff might not be buried with her. After all, it's a treasure of the Tang Clan." She secretly thought that she should find an opportunity to ask Mu Fengting; this guy might really know about Tang Yi's parents' deeds. Only in this way could she get more clues.
Tang Huan said, "What you say is absolutely right."
Although he returned empty-handed, there was not a trace of disappointment on his face. The cemetery was inevitably somewhat eerie in the night, but Tang Huan felt that everything was as serene as the moonlight.
He escorted her all the way to Mo Xi's bedroom door, stood there for a moment, and then slowly walked back to Qinghui Pavilion. For the first time, he realized how close the back mountain was to Chongyao Terrace.
Author's Note: Hehe, some readers wanted to see a treasure hunt, so I'll take you on a treasure hunt.
Okay, enough with the sweetness, the next chapter will be a bit angsty. But it'll be mild.
Ouyang Shuangzhu
( ) The midday sun in winter weaves in like golden gauze, and the thin warmth in the cool air makes one feel as if they can smell the melting snow.
A large snow-tailed eagle darted in through the window like an arrow, shaking off the snow and instantly ruining a magnificent Xining white wool carpet inlaid with rounded turquoise, red coral, and white coral. Ever since Mo Xi had sent it camping outside for two consecutive nights, it had come up with this mischievous idea: every day before coming to Mo Xi for food at noon, it would burrow wildly through the thick snowdrifts.
Mo Xi was having dinner with Green Cloud when she saw it and said irritably, "You're causing trouble again."
Green Cloud laughed and said, "You scared it yesterday, and it doesn't dare to pounce on the table today."
As if it understood, the sea statue immediately raised its head and gently flapped its wings twice, expressing the grievance left by the psychological trauma Mo Xi had left it with yesterday when she pretended to hit it with the jade chopsticks.
"It should learn a lesson." Even so, she still picked out two stewed quails from the table, put them in a porcelain dish, and squatted down to feed them.
Tang Huan saw this scene when she came in and couldn't help but smile slightly.
"Fourth Young Master has good taste. This eagle is completely devoted to the young lady. It ignores everyone except Fourth Young Master and the young lady." Green Cloud said as she quietly slipped away upon seeing Tang Huan.
"This guy has an amazing appetite; I'm afraid I can't afford to feed him." Mo Xi naturally knew that Tang Huan had come, and these words were directed at him.
Tang Huan laughed and said, "It can actually hunt on its own. It may not necessarily think that these cooked foods are delicious. It's just taking the opportunity to get closer to you by taking food from your hand."
With Mo Xi, their proper master, in front of them, the eagle didn't even bother to glance at Tang Huan a second time. After wolfing down its food, it hopped over to Mo Xi's side, wiped her skirt with its greasy beak, and then reluctantly flew away.
Mo Xi sighed inwardly: Does it actually like me, or is it just using my skirt as a free tissue...?
Tang Huan naturally saw her annoyance and felt both pity and affection for her. However, he was the one who had brought the eagle, and strictly speaking, he was the culprit. To avoid getting involved, he suppressed his laughter, pretended not to know, and went straight to the point: "I would like to go for a walk in the snow to find plum blossoms. Would you like to come with me, young lady?"
Mo Xi hadn't left her house for several days. One reason was that she was injured and couldn't practice swordsmanship, and another was that the Tang Clan's main products were poisons, mechanisms, and hidden weapons—too many trade secrets. As a guest here, it wasn't convenient for her to wander around. However, if she continued like this, she would become a reclusive assassin, which would be quite a laughingstock. Therefore, she readily agreed.
The two walked through flowers and brushed against branches, with Tang Huan always lagging behind Mo Xi by half a step.
The plum grove of the Tang Clan is located on the back mountain, in front of the cemetery. At the top is a pavilion called "Jihe" (Gathering Cranes). Looking out from there, the plum grove resembles smoke and snow. Although it doesn't have the vast sea of flowers like the Shu Mountains, it is valuable for its complete variety. According to the color and shape of the flowers, there are the delicate pink ones, the vermilion ones, the pure white ones, the gold-sprinkled ones, the water-reflecting ones, and so on.
Tang Huan asked with a smile, "I heard from Lvyun that you drive the sea eagle out of its burrow every day, leaving it to spend the night in the freezing cold, which is quite pitiful. Why is that?"
Mo Xi turned around and said calmly, "It was originally the king of flight, soaring through the sky. How free and proud it was. If my taming and care for it were to extinguish its raptor nature, it would be no different from breaking its wings with my own hands, and would only harm it."
Upon hearing this, Tang Huan thought to herself: Aren't you the same? I want to shield you from all the hardships, but I'm afraid you'll become a burden because of me.
Mo Xi, unaware of Tang Huan's thoughts, continued down the path, heading deeper into the plum grove.
When she came to a tree of green plum blossoms with flowers as green as jade and calyxes as green as emerald, she was particularly pleased with its fresh green color and snow-like appearance, and couldn't help but stop to admire it carefully.
Tang Huan gazed at her figure in the woods, took out his jade flute, and softly played "A Glance Brings Joy".
As Mo Xi turned around, he saw a flute playing, which startled a clump of snowflakes that gently landed on his hair. He couldn't help but secretly admire the scene: "What a beautiful picture of a beautiful woman playing the flute." Suddenly, he remembered the line, "Fallen plum blossoms on the steps are like snowflakes in disarray, brushing them off only to find them still covering him." He then felt playful and pushed the plum tree trunk with a bit of force. Instantly, plum petals and snowflakes fluttered and flew together.
Perhaps because someone was present last time, the sound of the flute this time had a more lingering quality than when it was first played by the Yaohe River.
As the music ended, a few petals of cool fragrance lingered on both of them. Tang Huan, however, did not brush them away, but simply looked at Mo Xi with a smile in her eyes.
For a moment, the world fell silent.
Suddenly, a loud crack, like a firecracker, shattered the silence. Immediately afterward, a white-tailed eagle swooped down from low altitude like an arrow, diving straight down at Mo Xi and hiding behind her, like a frightened child seeking shelter.
Mo Xi caught a faint whiff of gunpowder smoke in the wind and frowned slightly. She thought to herself: Could someone be hunting a hawk? After a few quick glances, she felt somewhat relieved; thankfully, apart from its small eyes darting around in surprise, it was unharmed.
The immediate plan was to let it fly to a safe distance first. The eagle, upon hearing her clear cry, soared into the sky, quickly becoming just a small black dot.
At this moment, a colorful figure swept over from a distance. Before the person arrived, the voice had already reached them. A delicate shout was heard: "Is this your eagle?" It actually carried a bit of internal energy, so it traveled quite far.
The girl wore a cloak woven from peacock feathers, a crepe-colored snow hat, and a long, pale yellow dress embroidered with butterflies and gold threads. A long tassel of pearls adorned her waist. Beneath her willow-leaf eyebrows were a pair of almond-shaped eyes that looked at Mo Xi with a hint of pride. She continued, "I like this eagle. Name your price."
Seeing that Mo Xi did not answer, she leaned over to take Tang Huan's arm. Her voice was still as sweet as spring willow, but she changed her tone and said, "Brother Tang, who is this person? How can he be so rude as to not answer my questions?"
Mo Xi knew that Tang Huan had gotten himself into trouble with other women again, so he looked at him with a half-smile.
Tang Huan simply stepped aside and said calmly, "This is Miss Mu." After a pause, he said to Mo Xi, "This is Miss Ouyang Jin from the Thunderbolt Hall."