I, Qing Huan (Modern Chapter) 8

Chapter 8

Nanyang was ready to go back to sleep after washing the bowl.

　　When she returned upstairs, she suddenly heard a strange movement from next door. She has high martial arts skills and very good ears, so she could hear through the walls. Qing Huan was quietly grunting, as if she was enduring intense pain.

　　She almost instinctively opened Qing Huan’s door, wanting to check up on her. Her hand froze froze just as she was about to open the door. It stayed hovering in the door. Nanyang wanted to open the door, but she didn’t dare to.

　　Would Qing Huan mind her entering?

　　Does she need Nanyang’s help?

　　Qing Huan seemed to take a deep inhale, the voice in her throat was almost insuppressible. Nanyang grew anxious and couldn’t stop herself any longer; she burst into Qing Huan’s room.

　　Zhu Qing Huan was not on the bed. She laid down on the ground embarrassedly, her enchanting curly hair against the floor like drifting clouds. She covered her belly with one hand, her face was pale, her forehead was full of sweat, and her neck was glistening.

　　Nan Yang hurriedly squatted down and helped her up from the ground. Zhu Qing Huan was almost hallucinating due to the pain. She squinted and looked at Nanyang, who was almost hugging her to her chest. Her lips trembled: “You…”

　　Nanyang helped Zhu Qing Huan lie down with furrowed brows. She bent over and placed a hand on Zhu Qing Huan’s forehead. When Nan Yang moved, her long black hair tickled Zhu Qing Huan’s face. The hair was very soft. A gentle sweep made her want to scratch her face.

　　”Gastroenteritis, fever.” Nanyang spat out these two words like gold.

　　Zhu Qing Huan was dizzy with pain. She only knew that she had gastroenteritis, but she did not expect to also have a fever.

　　”I’ll take you to the hospital.”

　　Nanyang turned and left, trying to go back to her room to get the car key.

　　”Don’t…” Zhu Qing Huan called her weakly, “Don’t go to the hospital, I… will be photographed.”

　　”Don’t want to live?” Nanyang frowned at her. She seldom speaks to Zhu Qing Huan in such a serious tone, but even this very tantrum-like sentence is delivered in a soft tone.

　　”No… I have a contract, I can’t get into trouble before the shooting starts…” Zhu Qing Huan’s voice trembled, “My marriage with you has not been released yet, but everyone in the circle knows that I am involved with the Meis. If I go to the hospital with you, tomorrow… tomorrow there will be headlines of us having a child out of wedlock…”

　　Nanyang has never felt so bothered by the rules of the entertainment industry.

　　”Then you just lie down like this, can you do it?” Nanyang felt bad.

　　”It’s okay…you can pour me a glass of water. My gastroenteritis is an old problem, there’s medicine in the drawer.” Zhu Qing Huan curled up into a ball on the bed. Her eyes couldn’t open, but she didn’t forget to add: “Boiled water is fine. Don’t put sugar or salt in it…”

　　That boiled cabbage may become a psychological shadow for her for a lifetime.

　　Nanyang sighed and poured a glass of water downstairs. She found the medicine in the drawer and handed both to Zhu Qing Huan.

　　Zhu Qing Huan got up with difficulty. She was dizzy and her eyes were empty. She stared at the swaying glass of water, coughed dully, and tried to raise her hand but had no energy.

　　”Should I feed you?” Nanyang asked for her opinion.

　　Zhu Qing Huan raised her eyes and looked at Nan Yang a little unhappily, as if expressing displeasure at her transgression. She was ill at this time, with hot flushes around her eyes. Although she made an unfriendly expression, she looked unusually charming.

　　’Qing Huan’ cultivated Taoism back then so her face was always dyed with the coldness that is unique to a monk, which concealed her originally beautiful features. ‘Zhu Qing Huan’ hasn’t cultivated in any way. With her frowns, the enchanting features of her face can be displayed to the fullest, like a vixen that can bring down people and cities with a single glance.

　　The looks of her and Nanyang are two extremes. One is like a flame, while the other is as cold as frost and snow. The inevitable result of frost and snow being close to the flame is to be melted, evaporated, turned into water, and transformed into a degenerate.

　　Nanyang endured it for a long time before forcibly resisting the idea of ​​kissing her.

　　”Open your mouth.”

　　Nanyang held up the capsule.

　　Although Zhu Qing Huan seemed to want to refuse, her eyes were so painful that she couldn’t see clearly so she obeyed and opened her lips a little bit. She waited groggily to be fed. Nanyang pushed the capsule into her mouth. When her hand left, she couldn’t help gently rubbing Zhu Qing Huan’s lower lip with her fingertips. It was moist and soft, with a scorching temperature.

　　Zhu Qing Huan felt the desire hidden in that short touch. She swallowed the pill dry, frowned, and warned Nanyang: “Don’t kiss me.”

　　Her intention was to protect herself, but she said this with a sickly look on her face that only made Nanyang’s indifferent eyes a little more cloudy.

　　Nanyang was silent for a while. Suddenly she stood up and walked out of the bedroom without saying a word, without closing the door.

　　Zhu Qing Huan looked in the direction where Nanyang disappeared. Is she angry? Zhu Qing Huan vaguely wondered.

　　She didn’t have the energy to think too much and the surging illness made her drowsy. She sank herself into a soft bed and closed her eyes to sleep.

　　She didn’t know how long she slept, half asleep and half awake until someone patted her shoulder lightly.

　　Zhu Qing Huan opened her eyes in a daze and saw Nan Yang standing next to her bed.

　　”I made you a bowl of porridge.” Nanyang held a white porcelain bowl in her left hand and a small spoon in her right hand. “Get up and eat something, or you’ll feel uncomfortable in your stomach.”

　　”You went to cook the porridge. Oh…” Zhu Qing Huan rubbed her forehead.

　　I thought you were gone.

　　When the second half of the sentence appeared in his heart, Zhu Qing Huan didn’t think anything was wrong. She might indeed be burnt up and confused.

　　”Yeah.” Nanyang nodded, “Eat some so it’s more comfortable.”

　　Zhu Qing Huan glanced at the porridge and her stomach groaned. She was really hungry, she hadn’t eaten anything all day and the vomiting just now emptied her stomach. As for porridge, no matter how bad her cooking is, it probably won’t be worse than the boiled cabbage.

　　”Give it to me.” Zhu Qing Huan dragged her body and sat up.

　　Nanyang handed it over. Zhu Qing Huan took the bowl, scooped up a large spoonful and move it into her mouth.

　　When her tongue touched the spoonful of porridge, she almost exhausted all her life energy to force her body to not vomit and spray all over Nanyang.

　　The tip of her eyebrows finally wrinkled, “What the hell did you do? What did you put in it?”

　　Nan Yang looked at her forbearing expression and was taken aback. She quickly explained, “It’s just a little sugar.”

　　Impossible. A little sugar can never make such a disgusting taste.

　　”You should stop cooking,” Zhu Qing Huan put the bowl on the table, her eyes lost a little of its light and she corrected a hobby that was not suitable for Nanyang to develope. “You cook really badly. . . ” “

　　”Is it. . . really that bad?” Nanyang stammered for a rare moment.

　　”Are you deliberately retaliating against me?” Zhu Qing Huan narrowed her eyes and scrutinized Nanyang.

　　Nanyang shook her head.

　　The shake was very sincere.

　　Zhu Qing Huan touched her forehead, it was still hot and she was still hungry. She resisted the discomfort of her body and got up from the bed, pulled a blanket over her shoulders, bent weakly to get into her slippers, then whispered to Nanyang in a hoarse voice:

　　”Come with me. “

　　The kitchen should have never expected that it will be visited again in the middle of the night. Even more unexpected, is the extremely odd scene inside of it.

　　A dying ill person stood in the front and was cooking with trembling hands, while the healthy person stood in the back with her hands behind her back doing nothing.

　　Zhu Qing Huan was standing weakly in front of the stove wrapped in a blanket, with a pale face, the color was a burning blush at the end of her eyes. She was still holding her aching belly with one hand, but with the other hand she had to pick up the spoon and stir the water in the porridge pot.

　　Nan Yang just stood quietly behind her, staring silently at her beautifully permed curly hair.

　　She just looked at her like this, as if going back more than three thousand years ago, every time she looked at the back of Qing Huan cooking. Just looking at her, it was as if they were still in their Rongku Pavilion. She was still Nanyang who could not cook well and she was still the Qing Huan who only cooked for Nanyang. It was as if they had just walked for a long period of time, there was no goodbye, no separation, she was always there, waiting for her master to find her.

　　”Go get a piece of paper to write down,” Zhu Qing Huan’s voice suddenly sounded, “The process, the materials used.”

　　”Okay.”

　　Nanyang returned to her senses and walked out of the kitchen to the upstairs bedroom to pick up a paper and pen. When going upstairs, she used her light footwork to complete a round trip as quickly as possible.

　　The water in the pot was ready. Zhu Qing Huan found the rice jar and reached in to grab the rice.

　　She had already grabbed the amount she wanted to eat, and was about to take her hand out of the rice jar when she gave a start. She hung her head and thhe expression on her face was unreadable, but the hand went down again and grabbed the amount for two people.

　　Nanyang returned with a pen and a notebook. Zhu Qing Huan put the rice in the porridge pot, pointed to the pot and said to her: “The ratio of rice to water is almost one to eight. If you want to be thinner, one to ten will do. Any thinner it will become soup. If you use glutinous rice or mung beans, you have to soak it in advance and then cook it. The taste will be much better. In fact, white porridge is very fragrant without any condiments. If you want to put some sugar or salt, you can do it, but don’t put too much. . No matter what the seasoning, if you put too much, it will be bad”

　　With that information shared, Zhu Qing Huan gave up a bit of space, “Come on, you put some sugar, let me see how you put the sugar.”

　　She is really curious about how Nanyang put in her seasoning.

　　Nanyang put down the half-written notebook, walked obediently to the side of the sugar jar, took the spoon in her right hand and took a spoonful of sugar. When she lifted it to the top of the porridge pot, her hands were shaking very violently. With a shake of her hand, all the sugar in the spoon was poured out.

　　Zhu Qing Huan hurriedly reached out and intercepted the falling sugar, making it spill outside the pot instead.

　　Well now she knows why Nanyang’s cooking skills are so devilish. With hands this shaky, the ingredients will never be well placed. How can the cooking be delicious.

　　Nanyang lowered her eyes and said softly: “I’m sorry.”

　　Zhu Qing Huan saw that she was actually apologizing, and couldn’t help curling her lips: “Why do you apologize? You grew up being served, a big boss like you. It’s normal to not know how to do this considering your background”

　　Nanyang is not the big boss, her status is much more honorable than the “big boss”. She was born as the Lord, and later she was appointed as head of the sect. She was worshipped and had offerings. It was indeed never she duty to do these mundane chores. Qing Huan had always served her wheneve she needed anything.

　　Therefore, when Qing Huan left, she never took care of herself.

　　Nan Yang looked at Zhu Qing Huan who was stirring the porridge pot and asked softly: “Have you always been good at cooking like this?”

　　”Yes, I have been very good at cooking since I was a child,” Zhu Qinghuan said. There was a little undetectable complacency in her voice, “But I’m lazy, so sometimes I would rather go hungry than cook for myself.”

　　”Your gastrointestinal problems should be related to you not having breakfast.”

　　”Maybe. But that’s how it is to be an entertainer. When filming is so busy, who will care about eating when you are really busy? Besides, eating this kind of carbon will make you gain weight.”

　　Nanyang said with a hum, ” But you’d better eat breakfast.”

　　Zhu Qing Huan chuckled, “You’re just like my mother”

　　Nanyang closed her mouth and said nothing.

　　”Okay, it’s done,” Zhu Qing Huan gathered the blanket on her body and said to Nanyang, “Bring two bowls.”

　　”…two?”

　　Nanyang was stunned.

　　”What else? Take three?” Zhu Qing Huan tilted her head to look at her, “Are you going to eat two bowls alone?”

　　Nanyang’s ears were a little red and she didn’t answer, she moved to take out two bowls from the cupboard. She rinsed them again in the sink and handed it to Qing Huan.

　　She looked at the appearance of Qing Huan serving porridge and thought to herself, it’s not impossible to eat two bowls.

　　The fragrant white porridge was served in a porcelain white bowl, steaming hot with tempting mist. Zhu Qing Huan walked to the dining room with two bowls of porridge. Nanyang wanted to help her, so she dodged for a while and avoided Nanyang.

　　The two of them sat at the dining table, the living room was dark all around, only the dining room side had a light on overhead, making it look like a separate little world. Zhu Qing Huan was eating the porridge she made, except for the extra bit of sugar, it was delicious.

　　”Why do you put sugar in everything?” Zhu Qing Huan took a mouthful of porridge and asked vaguely, “You want to put it in the cabbage, you want to put it the porridge.” After

　　Nanyang swallowed the porridge in her mouth and replied: “I like to eat sweet things.”

　　”Yes. The first time I saw you, you were eating candied haws. You even ate several of them…” Zhu Qing Huan’s voice was soft and gentle, “Eat less of those things, you are 35 years old and prone to diabetes. If you really like sugar, you can try chocolate. The pure cocoa butter tastes delicious and when you are sad, you will feel better. . “

　　” I will remember. “

　　Nanyang nodded seriously.

　　Zhu Qing Huan held a spoon and secretly glanced up at Nanyang who was opposite of her.

　　Before coming to the kitchen, Nanyang tied her hair up in a hurry. The hair on her temples fell loosely on the side of her face, looking very demure and gentle. She is still wearing a pure white shirt. She seems to wear only white all the time. The shirt buttons are tightly buttoned one by one, revealing a strong sense of abstinence.

　　Actually… she is pretty good. Indifferent to outsiders, gentle and accommodating to only one person, the person herself is good looking and not too old. Apart from poor cooking, there are no shortcomings to pick out.

　　It’s just a pity, how long can this love last?

　　When she was in high school, a girl treated her like this. She would send good mornings and good nights on time every day. She would use her pink water bottle to make a pot of hot water for her in the morning between classes. She would secretly stuff her desk with a lot of lollipops and she would tell her every day : Zhu Zhu, I like you. Although she didn’t have that kind of affection for that girl, she was still moved by her kindness. She yearned for the “like” that was said in her mouth. If one person likes another person, they are willing to do anything for that person. It sounds really tempting.

　　But a person who likes her so much will also like others overnight. One day, she suddenly confronted her and said, Zhu Zhu, a prettier transfer student came from the next class and I decided to like her. Please return my water bottle to me.

　　So she returned the pink water bottle, along with her trust in “like”.

　　She has always been reluctant to fall in love, especially with rich people like Nanyang because she does not want to see such beautiful things as “like” being spoiled. Since childhood, rich children have always loved to spoil things. When they like something, they treat it as a treasure. If they don’t like it, they will throw it away as rubbish because they have more retreats and better options.

　　Like really is the most unreliable thing in the world.

　　No one will always like one person.

　　Nan Yang ate the porridge warmly and said, “Tomorrow, I will make breakfast for you. You have to eat breakfast. Don’t worry, I have learned everything. I will cook the rice and water together without adding any seasoning.”

　　Zhu Qing Huan regained her senses and her gentle tone converged slightly: “I won’t eat it.”

　　”I will make it tomorrow and put it on the dining table so that it won’t disturb your sleep.” Nanyang pursed her porridge-stained upperlip.

　　Zhu Qing Huan did not deny it.

　　Nanyang ate the last bit of porridge in the bowl and said softly, “Thank you for teaching me how to make porridge.”

　　Zhu Qing Huan smiled, looked at the porridge in her spoon and asked casually, “Why do you always want to cook for me?”

　　Nanyang stopped taking the spoon.

　　The ups and downs of chewing on her cheeks also stopped.

　　Her fingers on the handle of the spoon were turning white.

　　Zhu Qing Huan didn’t hear Nan Yang’s answer and didn’t care, she just asked casually. She ate all the porridge left in the bowl, thinking hard whether to wash the dishes immediately or to wash the dishes tomorrow.

　　Just as she was distracted, a word suddenly came to her ear: “I’m just… doing what I should have done.”

Author’s Theater
Whether she has old memories or not, whether she falls in love with Nanyang or not, she will cook for her stupid master. Our Qing Huan is such a gentle person.

TL note
I’m super sorry for skipping two days! I was really dreading 3146 words, esteemed author really went all gung-ho with this chapter. I think my solid schedule will be 1 chapter a day on weekdays. I need weekend breaks. The next chapter has over 4800 words… I’m crying, can I split it?

Do I write their names as Nan Yang and Zhu Qing Huan? Which one is better? Nanyang and Zhu Qing Huan?

Every word that comes out of Zhu Qing Huan’s mouth is ripping Nanyang apart. I’m just collateral damage…

TL’s basement
Editor has escaped basement, is currently MIA.

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