Caiyu stepped forward, took off his outer robe, and hung it aside. With a faint smile, she said, "I don't know if today's dishes suit Your Highness's taste."
Song Yinghuai sat down and looked at the extremely delicate dishes on the table.
Golden Treasures Everywhere, Bitterness Turns to Sweetness, Wrapped Good Fortune, Blanched Double Delight, Treasures from All Directions, Golden Silk Casserole, and an unnamed soup...
On normal days, Song Yinghuai ate simply, mostly home - style vegetarian dishes like tofu and vegetables, just simple home - cooked food.
Chefs in the Lotus Sound Pavilion didn't have the ability to make ingredients so exquisitely like this.
"Who cooked these?" Song Yinghuai looked at the delicate dishes on the table and took the gold - inlaid jade chopsticks that Caiyu handed over.
Caiyu avoided his question. Standing beside him, she picked up a piece of bitter melon stuffed with tofu and said, "Your Highness, try it first to see if it's delicious, and then guess who cooked it."
She seemed particularly naughty and obedient today.
Song Yinghuai gave her a deep look. Since he had warned her after detoxifying on Fragrant Hill last time, this girl had become more distant and well - behaved towards him. He couldn't tell if he was sad or happy, but he just let it be.
But today, when she suddenly got closer to him, he just realized that such a lively girl could make him feel happier.
He picked up the bitter melon stuffed with tofu in the bowl and put it into his mouth.
The bitterness of the bitter melon was handled just right. There was almost no bitterness left, only a bit of sweetness after the bitterness. The beany smell of the tofu was removed. He didn't know how it was done, but Song Yinghuai could actually taste a hint of meat flavor.
It was really much better than the usual dishes.
Song Yinghuai praised sincerely, "The bitter melon has a lingering sweetness after the bitterness. It's neither ordinary nor tough. It can still remain green after cooking, looking like emerald. The vegetarian meat made of tofu and mushroom filling lingers in the mouth, smooth and delicious. The person who cooked this dish has excellent skills."
Caiyu covered her mouth and giggled, "Your Highness has overpraised. Caiyu is flattered to receive such praise from Your Highness."
"So it was really you who cooked." Seeing that she was in a good mood today, Song Yinghuai also shed his coldness of many days and smiled gently, "Why did you suddenly cook?"
He had entrusted the Lotus Sound Pavilion to Caiyu to manage, but this girl only thought about how to climb into his bed all day long and didn't care much about his daily life.
Today, she suddenly cooked for him attentively. Song Yinghuai felt elated.
"Does Your Highness remember that this servant once said that besides my body, I have other skills?" Caiyu pursed her lips and smiled. Then she continued to serve him dishes busily, "The meal this servant promised Your Highness was postponed until today because of the successive events. Please forgive this servant, Your Highness!"
As Song Yinghuai ate the dishes, he remembered that half - joking remark that day. He didn't expect that she had always remembered it.
After Caiyu served him for a while and thought it was about time, she picked up a green asparagus from the last dish on the table and placed it in front of Song Yinghuai's plate. "Your Highness, try this last dish."
The tip of the green asparagus was slightly tilted up. Song Yinghuai had a strange feeling in his heart.
This asparagus tip seemed a bit like...
As Caiyu gently pinched the middle of the asparagus with her chopsticks, Song Yinghuai suddenly felt a twitch in a certain part of his body, and a flame quietly rose from his lower abdomen.
Song Yinghuai quietly clenched his fist on the table and sat up straight without moving.
The tip of the asparagus was sticking out just like a certain part of his body, which made Song Yinghuai think of some inappropriate scenarios.
Caiyu said coquettishly, "Your Highness, if you're satisfied with today's dishes, will this servant get a reward?"
She was standing right beside Song Yinghuai. When she spoke and smiled faintly, the sweet fragrance of lotus came floating from beside him.
Maybe it had been a long time since Caiyu had been so close and seductive to him. The heat that had just risen quickly flowed through his body. Like a raging fire, it made his skin tremble slightly.
Song Yinghuai suppressed the agitation in his body and calmly smiled, "Just tell me what reward you want."
Caiyu held the long asparagus and waved it gently in the air. "This servant wants nothing. Please just let this servant have a taste of this dish!"
Song Yinghuai's eyebrows twitched violently. His eyes involuntarily followed Caiyu's hand. He watched as she opened her rosy mouth, and her white teeth bit a section of the asparagus and gently closed.
Song Yinghuai felt a pain in his body. His cold pupils were instantly filled with lust, as if Caiyu was biting not the asparagus but him...
"How is it?"
His voice was hoarse, low, and a bit broken. He stared at Caiyu's red lips opening and closing. The asparagus was wrapped in her lips and was being slowly swallowed inch by inch. It was getting shorter bit by bit. He was so fixated that he couldn't move his eyes at all. He felt his body was extremely tense.
Caiyu put down her chopsticks. Her light - red tongue seemed to unconsciously moisten her lips for half a circle. "It's really good."
A string in Song Yinghuai's mind snapped.
Caiyu calmly observed the man's reaction.
Asparagus was similar in shape to a man's private part and was often used by couples to add spice and create fantasies.
Caiyu had heard from the madam in Yangzhou and had also watched the slender horses from Yangzhou who were sent to various noble officials perform on the painted boats.
She didn't expect that this small food could actually arouse a man's desire.
Men were really lustful beings. Even a Buddhist - practicing man like Song Yinghuai was no exception.
Caiyu's confidence gradually grew. She struck while the iron was hot and moved the soup that had cooled to just the right temperature over.
She scooped up a bowl of soup and pushed it in front of Song Yinghuai. Smiling mischievously, she said, "Your Highness, this soup is called Zhenren Yangzang Tang. It comes from Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang and has the effect of warming and tonifying the spleen and kidneys. Your Highness can try it."
When she smiled, she was like a blooming demon flower. The corners of her eyes, mouth, and cheeks were all showing her beauty, like peach blossoms dancing in the moonlight, innocent yet charming.
Song Yinghuai lowered his eyes and saw that as she shook the soup spoon, she fished out a spice. Suddenly, his pupils shrank slightly.
This was...
"This servant put more than a dozen spices like ginseng, angelica, atractylodes, nutmeg, cinnamon, licorice, white peony root, costus root, and myrobalan in the soup. This one - "
Caiyu pointed at the spice she had just fished out of the soup bowl. "This is nutmeg, just one of them. This servant fished it out for you so that Your Highness can enjoy the soup better."
Song Yinghuai's fingertips were almost burning.
The two thin shells of the nutmeg were open like a shell, revealing a meaty part like an abalone in the middle. The layered meaty part was like a blooming flower, like a young girl showing her pink mystery.
It was not only similar in appearance but also in shape.
Especially in the very center of the meaty part of the nutmeg, there was a small opening like a mouth slightly open, just like that day in the cave on Fragrant Hill when Caiyu desperately opened and closed her mouth to please his fingertips.
Song Yinghuai's mind exploded. His rationality on the verge of collapse snapped.
He couldn't even hear what Caiyu was saying later. He only saw the two charming petals on the plate slightly opening and then closing in his hallucination...
Caiyu brought the soup bowl in front of Song Yinghuai. "Your Highness."
Song Yinghuai took it and tilted his head to meet Caiyu's gaze.
A wisp of moonlight floated gently, faintly covering her face, making her look like a fairy in a light veil.
Her lips were as red as blood, as fresh as the nutmeg on the plate. In a daze, Song Yinghuai couldn't tell the reality from the illusion.
Caiyu watched him drink the soup in one gulp and then bent down to take the bowl.
Her lips were right next to Song Yinghuai's cheek, clearly visible.
Like a man possessed, Song Yinghuai reached out and pinched her cheeks, pulling her towards him.
Caiyu's legs went weak, and she sat down in his arms.
Her head was a bit hot. With her amorous eyes, she looked at Song Yinghuai's wet fingers.