Chapter 14: Eating Venison (2)
A cold glint flashed through the depths of He Changdi’s black eyes. When he recalled how his grandmother had requested a meeting with him in Qingxi Hall, and how she had instructed him to live in peace and harmony with Chu Lian from now on, he had found it laughable.
If he could, he would have told his family everything that had happened in his past life! If only he could do that, then he would make his kind family understand what a shameless and malicious woman that ‘Chu Lian’ was!
Unfortunately, if he did so, his family probably wouldn’t believe him. Not to mention, they would probably think there was something wrong with him.
The hand that He Changdi was gripping his chopsticks with unconsciously tightened, almost snapping them in two.
His abnormal actions attracted Chu Lian’s attention. She watched his handsome face contort slightly as he seemed to be bearing some hidden pain. Chu Lian frowned and asked, “Husband, is anything the matter?”
Chu Lian’s voice was like a hammer knocking on his tightly wound nerves. He Changdi stiffened. It took him a few seconds to recover his calm.
“Hmph! Just eat! These dishes are probably hard to come by in the Ying Household!” His icy cold voice seemed to be emanating frost.
In the past life, when they had just married, he had personally served some food to her. His heart had been filled with joy as he watched his beautiful, young wife pick from the dishes on the table timidly while her mouth never stopped moving. His young wife must have suffered much in the House of Duke Ying. Half of the dishes on the table had all gone into her stomach, especially the two pieces of roasted venison. She had praises aplenty for the meal.
Those memories played out in He Changdi’s mind without bidding, upsetting him and filling with bitter hatred.
When he saw that Chu Lian seemed to be in a daze and hadn’t moved her chopsticks at all, the corners of his mouth raised and he took the two pieces of venison, placing them into his own bowl.
Chu Lian: …
The maidservants: …
Senior Servant Gui: …
Chu Lian’s expression stiffened. She didn’t understand what this young master was trying to do. None of the dishes here were to her liking anyway. Especially those two unappetising pieces of venison. Actually, she was relieved that he had solved her problem and taken both pieces for himself!
With her mood slightly improved, Chu Lian took some of the leafy vegetables in front of her. Although the cook had added some salt and pork grease to them, the fresh, natural flavour of the vegetables still shone through. Mmmm, tasty!
Chu Lian tried a few of the other dishes. There were only two flavours on the table: tasteless or salty. Furthermore, because they had cooked the dishes for too long, the freshness of the ingredients was gone. All the dishes failed Chu Lian’s taste test!
After mentally drawing a line through all the dishes on the table, the only one that she had bothered to keep eating was that small plate of leafy vegetables in front of her.
With Chu Lian’s picky taste buds, she barely managed to finish half a bowl of rice. Her main dish was, of course, the vegetables.
She didn’t seem to think anything of it, but the expressions of the maidservants and Senior Servant Gui changed.
Young Madam had been so frightened by Young Master’s actions that she had only dared to eat the leafy vegetables in front of her. Young Master even took away the best dish so that Young Madam couldn’t have it. How could he be so evil!
Third Young Madam’s looks could be compared to a flower in bloom, and she had just married into the family. She couldn’t possibly have offended Young Master. However, Young Master was already treating her in this manner when they were newly wed. How were they going to continue living out their days with a start like this?!
Senior Servant Gui’s brows drew together as she started worrying about Chu Lian’s future.
On the contrary, Fuyan’s lips curled up into a secret smile. Since Young Master didn’t seem to like Sixth Miss, that meant that she had a chance…
Mingyan and Jingyan, who were standing behind Chu Lian, were shocked silly by He Changdi’s actions.
Those two pieces of venison were rather big; one of them could cover an entire bowl.
The Jing’an Household ate venison regularly. However, He Changdi actually didn’t like to eat venison. He had only taken it to provoke Chu Lian in a moment of impulse. When he imagined how she would have a restless night because of the poor meal, he felt extremely refreshed.
For the sake of making Chu Lian watch helplessly as he ate the venison, He Sanlang held back his disgust and acted as if he was enjoying his meal, forcing down the two pieces with huge, hungry bites.
By the end of it, he was already completely nauseous. He swallowed the last bite while suppressing the urge to vomit.
The dishes weren’t to Chu Lian’s taste, and she had a small appetite. Thus, she simply put down her chopsticks and stopped eating. Without anything left to do, she watched He Changdi eat his venison while she sat idle by his side. Chu Lian gulped. She felt anxious just watching him. Honestly, what was going on in this guy’s head? He looked like he was still determined to finish eating it even though he was clearly in pain. Finally, out of the kindness of her heart, Chu Lian got Mingyan to pour a cup of warm water, and she placed it in front of him.
“Eat a little slower! Why don’t you drink some water?” Chu Lian said sympathetically.