"No way."
A sharp rebuke rang out, the voice as clear as jade colliding. It was Pei Xia who had returned.
The sea breeze still clung to him. He strode over quickly, took Qi Jiao's hand in his and told her to go and rest. Then he drew out the dagger from his waist and replaced the broken porcelain piece.
Guo Sanlang almost soiled his pants in fear.
Pei Xia glanced at Qi Jiao, then turned to stare at Guo Sanlang, his face as cold as ice. "So you're Guo Sanlang?"
Before Guo Sanlang could say a word, Pei Xia kicked him hard.
He had felt an uneasiness in his heart today. Halfway out to sea, he had hauled in the nets and rushed back.
As luck would have it, as soon as he got off the boat, he heard that a carriage had followed Uncle Zheng's cart to his home.
Pei Xia's first thought was that Jiao Niang was in trouble.
When he got home, he saw Guo Sanlang, who had tried to take someone hostage but ended up being the one in a bind.
Looking past this nuisance and seeing Jiao Niang safe and calm, Pei Xia felt all the fear in his heart vanish. He had been so afraid something would happen to her.
Facing Guo Sanlang, the culprit, Pei Xia was extremely ruthless. Guo Sanlang felt a sharp pain in his knee and instantly knelt on the ground.
His face as white as a sheet, he quivered his lips and said, "Hero! Don't kill me! I'm the young master of the Guo family. I'm rich!"
After the young and strong men in the village understood what had happened, they swarmed forward, each holding a hoe or a sickle, their looks menacing.
On one side were the numerous and sturdy villagers, and on the other were the two lonely servants. Yin Bao looked like a weak chick in comparison.
Cold sweat poured down Yin Bao's back. He thought despairingly that these peasants were going to take their lives today.
Suddenly, he leaped forward to shield Guo Sanlang, hugging Pei Xia's leg and sobbing, "It was me who instigated the young master to kidnap Jiao Niang on the way. If you want to kill someone, kill me!"
He didn't care about his own life. If the third young master died here, with his old mother at home, Madam Guo was sure to take revenge.
Yin Bao closed his eyes and waited for a long time, but there was no sign of Pei Xia's blow.
After a long moment of daze, Yin Bao opened his eyes and couldn't believe what he saw. Pei Xia and Pei Li were smoothly stripping the jade pendant, the sachet, the belt, the gold hairpin and even the brocade robe off the third young master...
What a bunch of robbers!
Pei Xia pressed Guo Sanlang against the stone table in the courtyard, handed him a pen and paper, and said angrily and clearly, "Write! Confess your bad deeds today, and then write a guarantee that you'll never do it again! You're not allowed to take any revenge, and you're not allowed to get anywhere near Qi Jiao or any of my Pei family members. Otherwise, you should know the consequences. We peasants kill people without thinking. We don't care if your family name is Guo or whatever!"
"If you dare to turn things around and report this to the authorities, I'll drag you down with me even if I have to die!"
After a series of threats and intimidation, Guo Sanlang wrote down everything with a trembling hand, his face looking like he was attending a funeral.
After he finished writing, Pei Xia pricked his finger and pressed it on the paper, leaving a bright red fingerprint.
After putting away the items that could represent Guo Sanlang's identity and the guarantee, Pei Xia threw Guo Sanlang back to Yin Bao.
Yin Bao caught Guo Sanlang with a strange expression that was half crying and half laughing.
Guo Sanlang looked weak, as if he had lost too much blood. The three of them staggered out of the Pei family courtyard, still in fear and not daring to look back.
After the commotion, seeing that Qi Jiao and Pei Li were unharmed, the villagers gradually dispersed.
Qi Jiao showed no sign of emotion on her face. She simply told Tang Guiniang and Pei Jin what had happened, not wanting them to worry.
"We're lucky that A Li was smart and Uncle Zheng helped us. That's how we managed to escape," Qi Jiao comforted the Pei family. Looking up, she saw Pei Xia leaning against the door, staring deeply at her.
Although this incident had ended without serious harm, Pei Xia's face had been very gloomy, as if someone owed him a huge debt.
Qi Jiao went into the house to tidy herself up and wash her hands. When she came out, she saw Pei Xia sharpening a knife.
The knife was already sharp enough to reflect a person's face.
Seeing Pei Xia like this, Qi Jiao felt sad.
To be honest, Qi Jiao wasn't completely fearless when facing Guo Sanlang and his servants.
With the overwhelming advantage in numbers and strength, she and Pei Li had no way to escape.
If it weren't for Guo Sanlang's stupidity and their quick reactions, it would have been hard to say whether they could have survived intact.
"Pei Xia."
Qi Jiao called him softly. "I'm hungry."
Pei Xia finally looked up. His eyebrows were still knitted, but his expression had softened significantly.
He stood up. "I'll make something for you right away."
Pei Xia didn't cook at home very often, but he had a few signature dishes, one of which was fern root noodles.
Fern was a common sight on the villagers' dinner tables.
Since fern was everywhere, the smart and creative villagers had discovered many ways to cook it.
Fern root noodles were similar to sweet potato noodles in principle. They were made by extracting the starch from plants - collecting the roots of wild ferns, then washing, mashing, filtering and drying them to get the fine, blackish fern root powder.
There was some fern root powder at home. Pei Xia took out two handfuls, folded them into four sections of suitable length.
He boiled some water and put the noodles in. After blanching them until they were cooked, he took them out.
Then he ground the salted chili peppers, garlic cloves, scallions, sesame seeds, crushed peanuts and other seasonings in a stone mortar.
Pei Xia fished out the fern root noodles. They had expanded in the hot water and filled a large bowl.
He also boiled two chicken legs and quickly shredded them into half a bowl of chicken. He carefully arranged the shredded chicken on top of the fern root noodles, added the ground seasonings on top, drizzled some vinegar, and finally poured a ladle of hot oil over it.
There was a sizzling sound, and the aroma filled the air.
The fern root noodles were a colorful mix of green and red, and the aroma of the chicken was also brought out. It looked very appetizing.
Pei Xia lowered his head, mixed the noodles with chopsticks and handed them to Qi Jiao.
After taking the first bite, Qi Jiao felt the sour, spicy and smooth taste. The soup, condiments and fern root noodles were perfectly combined. The shredded chicken was tender and delicious.
She slurped the noodles while smiling and looking at Pei Xia.
Qi Jiao ate the noodles very heartily, and all the unpleasant feelings in her heart disappeared.
However, Pei Xia had cooked too much, and Qi Jiao couldn't finish it. In the end, the two of them ate it together, their heads close to each other.
After eating the shredded chicken and fern root noodles, Qi Jiao suddenly got in the mood to make a bowl of spicy and sour noodles for Pei Xia.
He had been out early in the morning and had been running around all day. He hadn't eaten much, and the little bit of fern root noodles wasn't enough to fill his stomach.
There was half a bag of dried sweet potato starch at home.
Since Qi Jiao didn't have a special strainer to make thin noodles, she added water to make a wet dough and then rolled it into thin strips.
The rich taste of the spicy and sour noodles depended on the side dishes.
Qi Jiao grabbed a handful of black fungus, soaked it thoroughly in warm water, washed it clean, then blanched it until it was half - cooked, fished it out and shredded it.
There happened to be some bean sprouts that Aunt Ye had sent in the kitchen. She blanched them once and set them aside.
She used the boiling water from blanching the black fungus to cook the prepared sweet potato noodles until they were 90% cooked. She fished them out, drained the water, added some sesame oil and stirred them to prevent them from sticking together.
Then she washed the coriander and cut it into sections; washed the chili peppers after removing the stems and seeds and cut them into thin strips.
Next, she fried a handful of crispy peas and peanuts as toppings.
Finally, she poured the shredded black fungus, bean sprouts, sweet potato noodles, coriander, chili strips and minced garlic into a large clay pot, added vinegar, soy sauce, salt, sugar and red oil, stirred them evenly, and sprinkled some scallions on top.
Just then, there was still half a jar of chicken broth left from the shredded chicken that Pei Xia had made earlier. Qi Jiao scooped up several large ladles and poured them in. For a moment, the sour, spicy, pungent and fresh flavors were all there.
The spicy, sour and flavorful spicy and sour noodles were ready.