Chapter 123: You Are Husband And Wife?
Ye Xiaoxian gave some thought to it and then decided to let Xiao Baoshan accompany her. Bringing Xiao Baoshan along, she at least did not have to worry about her personal safety.
To get to the provincial capital city, they needed to go to the dock and take a ferry. On the day they were due to set out, Xiao Baoshan took Ye Xiaoxian to the dock.
Quite a few men there knew Xiao Baoshan. Seeing him take a girl along some began to whistle at him.
“Baoshan, finally you’re taking a girl to go sailing.”
This was a kind of bad habit of some sailors.
Some of the sailors could not put up with the loneliness and were afraid of being found out by their fierce wives, so they would take one or two women like widows from other places or some old and unpopular hookers. Those hookers were cheap and nobody would care even if they had been away for days.
Hearing these people taunting Xiao Baoshan, how could Ye Xiaoxian not know what they meant. Still, she pretended that she did not know. “Baoshan, what did they say? Why don’t I understand? What does “finally you’re taking a girl to go sailing” mean?”
Xiao Baoshan said, “They usually take some.”
“What about you? You didn’t?”
“You’re the first one. Oh, I mean, you’re not that kind,” said Xiao Baoshan.
“What kind am I then?” urged Ye Xiaoxian.
“You’re my wife. You’re not any kind.”
Ye Xiaoxian smiled.
Xiao Baoshan did not bother himself with this mockery and just protected Ye Xiaoxian, boarding a passenger ship to the provincial capital.
Ye Xiaoxian found that taking Xiao Baoshan with her was a wise decision. As Xiao Baoshan was familiar with staff aboard the ship, they had been given two nice seats inside, so they did not have to sit on deck and bear the cold wind.
Ye Xiaoxian seldom traveled by ferry. She did not get motion sickness but would feel dizzy being on a ship. Perhaps it was because there were many people in the compartment. There was no cold wind inside but it was also sealed. Some people took all kinds of dried food on board like dried fish, smoked bacon and so on.
Xiao Baoshan noticed that she looked a little drowsy and tapped her shoulder, suggesting that she lean on his shoulder to take a rest. Ye Xiaoxian did not try to be polite and refuse it as it was time for her to make use of her husband.
After she leaned on his shoulder, Ye Xiaoxian closed her eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep.
The ship suddenly rocked which alarmed Ye Xiaoxian and she sat still all of a sudden, asking Xiao Baoshan, “What’s wrong? What happened to this ship?”
Xiao Baoshan looked at Ye Xiaoxian’s chin and suddenly smiled. He then raised his hand and wiped her drool away for her.
“This ship is fine. It’s docking now.”
Ye Xiaoxian: “…”
Passengers were walking out in turn. Ye Xiaoxian and Xiao Baoshan also walked out.
She only now felt embarrassed. It was okay for her to sleep soundly but why should she drool?
When they got outside Xiao Baoshan asked Ye Xiaoxian, “Are you still dizzy?”
Ye Xiaoxian shook her head. “I’m okay now. I perhaps did not rest well last night. I feel fine after taking a nap just now.”
“You sleep really soundly,” Xiao Baoshan said.
Ye Xiaoxian once again felt her face was burning.
…
There were far more people in the provincial capital than in the town. When Ye Xiaoxian walked along the street she was constantly having to make way for others walking towards her. There were more horse-drawn carriages and ox-drawn carts. If she did not avoid them carefully she may easily get knocked down.
Xiao Baoshan saw that Ye Xiaoxian was having difficulty and he quickly walked to her side, protected and escort her with his tall and towering figure.
It was really strange because it was Ye Xiaoxian who avoided bumping into others before but since Xiao Baoshan walked behind her, others began avoiding bumping into them.
“There are so many people in the provincial capital,” said Ye Xiaoxian.
Xiao Baoshan said, “Yes, there are.”
“There are already so many people here. It must be even more crowded in the capital city, right?” asked Ye Xiaoxian.
In this dynasty, it was almost like the modern era. It was ranked from capital, provincial capitals, counties to villages. The provincial capitals were also called counties.
Xiao Baoshan said, “The capital…perhaps.”
When he said this he did not look at Ye Xiaoxian. Ye Xiaoxian somehow felt that he seemed to have been to the capital before. He dodged her eyes as if he was trying to avoid something.
Xiao Baoshan was in charge of asking for directions. After a serious of inquiries they finally found their way to “Wufu Restaurant”.
This cooking contest was hosted by the Wufu Hotel.
Ye Xiaoxian went to hand the register card to them. The manager of the hotel looked at Ye Xiaoxian and then at Xiao Baoshan. He did not think either of the two standing there looked like a chef.
The manager checked the register card thoroughly and rubbed the red stamp on it. It was somehow indeed the register card given out by their hotel.
As they had the register card, he had no reason for not letting them check in because this time the cooking contest only recognized the card instead of the people.
“Which county are you from?” asked the manager.
“Qinghe, Ye Xiaoxian,” said Ye Xiaoxian.
“Are you two husband and wife?” the manager further asked.
“Yes.”
“As you’re husband and wife I’ll give you one room,” said the manager plainly.
“Can we have two?” Ye Xiaoxian said. “He and I have only got engaged and aren’t married formally.”
They were sleeping separately back home and it would make her uneasy to sleep with him here.
The manager said, “Our hotel provides accommodation for you for free. One register card only covers one room. There are no extras.”
“What if we pay more?” asked Ye Xiaoxian.
“It still won’t be possible. Or one of you can stay here and the other one will have to go out and look around. Perhaps you can book a room somewhere else, but I tell you what, it’s still not very likely. It’s almost new year now and the city is packed. I can’t guarantee you’ll find an empty room.”
Ye Xiaoxian was still thinking but Xiao Baoshan walked over and said, “We’ll take one room then. Thank you.”
Ye Xiaoxian did not know what to say.
After they checked in and walked upstairs Ye Xiaoxian still felt nervous. One room…they were never that intimate before, even back home.
Although they had a new house in town they still lived in separate rooms. Now Xiao Baoshan offered to sleep in the same room with her, so she wondered what was on his mind? If he wanted to consummate she guessed she had to agree since after all he was her spouse.
Ye Xiaoxian did not feel relieved until they walked in the room.
It turned out that in such a hotel of the provincial capital there were two big beds the room, placed in the shape of the number “7”.
Ye Xiaoxian firstly threw her bag on one of the beds and said, “I’ll take this one then.” After she threw it she realized Xiao Baoshan was about to speak but said nothing.
Ye Xiaoxian thought to herself if she had terminated all the possible happenings. What she meant just now was so obvious that she did not want to sleep with him and only wanted to sleep alone.
How awkward…
Luckily, after Ye Xiaoxian and Xiao Baoshan settled down, an attendant of the hotel came to them and gave her a recipe. They were required to cook three courses for this contest. One course was a compulsory one from the host; Pearl and Emerald Soup. The second course was pork belly, which they could prepare in their own way, as long as the ingredient was pork belly. The third was a dessert which was at the discretion of the chef. The ingredients were not limited, as long as the judges were satisfied and found it tasty.
The contest began the following morning but the participants could prepare their ingredients now if they needed.
Ye Xiaoxian did not have time to deal with Xiao Baoshan. She only thought about the contest for tomorrow. As for the dessert, due to the limitations she decided to bake a chiffon cake. As long as she managed the fire well she could bake it with an iron wok.
As for the Pearl and Emerald Soup, the pearl and emerald actually referred to white and green vegetables but it was not sufficient to use only vegetables. Meat was needed also. Most of the others would choose pork balls to be the “pearls” but Ye Xiaoxian was thinking of using fish balls.
For the pork belly, she might as well make a Braised Pork Belly with Taro.
All these meats had to be prepared in advance but not too early, otherwise they would go off.
Ye Xiaoxian decided to get anything she could buy. She could buy meat the next morning. She had enough time anyway.
…
Ye Xiaoxian was going shopping and naturally she had to take Xiao Baoshan along. Ye Xiaoxian did not have much sense of direction, especially when coming to a big city such as this. All the construction styles in the provincial capital were similar with black bricks and tiles. There were many stall keepers and vendors and fewer rules. One could find every kind of thing sold there. In this case, Ye Xiaoxian found every street of the city looked similar. Without Xiao Baoshan she would surely get lost while wandering around.
Xiao Baoshan then said, “There were many snacks in the city. Do you want something to eat?”
Ye Xiaoxian looked around and then said, “Then, I want some of the rice noodles.”
The two of them went inside the eatery and asked for two bowls of noodles. Ten coins each and the bowls were huge. Ye Xiaoxian reckoned that she could not finish the whole bowl herself, so she shared half of it with Xiao Baoshan.
She was quite comfortable acting this way, as if he was someone intimate with her.
After they finished eating the noodles they wandered elsewhere. They mainly looked for where the fish and vegetables were being sold and inquired when the sellers would come around. If they came a bit late Ye Xiaoxian would get the ingredients ready tonight.
These grocery sellers assured Ye Xiaoxian, saying that they always opened up shop early in the morning and closed up after dark. They would come to sell food ingredients before the day began.
Ye Xiaoxian just bought some seasonings and a new kitchen knife. Chefs were picky about their knives. They had to use the ones they were familiar with. The sharpness and weight had to suit their touch and only in this way would the knife be handy.
When they came back to the hotel they saw some others eating meals on the first floor.
Just as Ye Xiaoxian came inside, they asked, “Is this couple also here for the contest?”
The manager said, “That’s right. Don’t you see they’ve got a kitchen knife?”
“Oh, you’ve already got your ingredients? What did you buy?” a short guy among them asked.
Ye Xiaoxian answered, “Just some seasonings.”
“Let us have a look, will you?” said the short guy.
Ye Xiaoxian smiled politely. “I’m sorry but this is a private recipe and it’s not convenient to show others.”
“Huh, are your recipes a heritage from your ancestors? Which of your ancestors, eh?” the short guy again asked.
Ye Xiaoxian just smiled and followed Xiao Baoshan to go upstairs.
The short guy mumbled, “They bother me. They’re guarding their recipes so closely.”
He then asked others, “You’ve all prepared your ingredients?”