"I knew you'd forget to eat when you got busy. Guang Bai is more useless than no attendant at all. I saved some food for you, it's being kept warm in your kitchen. You can have it brought over in a bit. Go wash up first."
Xie Jiang leaned back on the couch and waved at Xu Hengyan.
Guang Bai silently shed tears. He couldn't control the young master. His advice was useless; the young master simply didn't listen!
Xu Hengyan asked, "Have you eaten?"
Xie Jiang replied, "Of course I have. I wouldn't starve myself waiting for you."
Xu Hengyan smiled and headed towards the bathing room, "Then wait for me a moment."
~
When Xu Hengyan emerged from the bathing room, the meal was just being laid out on the table.
Four dishes and one soup, it looked appetizing. "This is quite a feast?"
Xie Jiang immediately sought credit, "Am I treating you very well?"
Xu Hengyan smiled and nodded, "Yes, thanks to Young Master Xie's thoughtfulness, otherwise I wouldn't be able to eat."
Guang Bai felt as though he was being subtly insulted. Since Young Master Xie appeared, his status in front of the young master…
What status did he have left! He could be dragged away to feed the dogs at any moment.
Xu Hengyan tossed aside the ghost mask and sat down to eat, "Have Xu Hengyi and the other two returned to the inn?"
Xie Jiang propped herself up on the couch, staring at Xu Hengyan, "Yi Yan Geng wouldn't let them stay at my place."
Xu Hengyan said, "If the three of them stayed at your place, how would you recover from your injuries?"
A servant entered with a food box, "Young Master, Miss Shen has sent over medicinal cuisine again."
Xu Hengyan frowned slightly, "Didn't I tell them not to send any more?"
The servant said nervously, "I did tell Miss Xue Song, but she sent it again…"
Miss Xue Song pushed the food box into his arms and ran off. He couldn't just throw the food box away. Besides, Miss Shen was the young master's intended wife, so sending him food shouldn't be a problem, right?
Miss Shen was also well-intentioned. Why didn't the young master accept it? Miss Shen coming to Ninghe to take care of the young master was also instructed by the old madam and madam. There was no need to deliberately avoid suspicion, was there?
Xu Hengyan said, "Take it down and eat it."
Don't waste good food; he already had enough to eat.
The servant looked at Guang Bai for help.
Guang Bai gestured for him to take it down and eat it without worry.
Between the food sent by Young Master Xie and the food sent by Miss Shen, which would the young master choose? It was obvious.
Logically, the young master should choose the food sent by Miss Shen. The medicinal cuisine sent by Miss Shen clearly showed her thoughtfulness, and according to Xue Song, Miss Shen had personally cooked it all.
The food sent by Young Master Xie was made by the cook.
Young Master Xie only cooked when he felt like it.
Young Master Xie wouldn't specifically cook thoughtful medicinal cuisine just because the young master was injured, and because his injuries were sustained because of her.
But the young master was just that biased, what could be done?
In the young master's eyes, the food sent by Young Master Xie was the most pleasing.
The servant carried the food box out.
Xie Jiang rubbed her chin, "Did I meddle too much? Overstep my bounds?"
"Is saving food for me meddling?" Xu Hengyan didn't like that. "Whose bounds did you overstep?"
"Didn't I interfere with your good deeds?"
"Not at all."
"I heard your family is already arranging a marriage between you and Miss Shen. This marriage is basically a done deal, right? According to Xu Hengyi, the wedding date might not be too far off."
Xu Hengyan started eating and didn't respond.
It wasn't that he was unwilling.
It was just that he didn't have much expectation.
Xie Jiang rolled over and lay flat on the couch, crossing her legs and gazing at the ceiling, lost in thought.
Seeing that she remained silent for a long time, Xu Hengyan looked up at her. He saw her crossed legs and quickly averted his gaze, unable to bear looking.
"Xu Hengyan."
"Hmm?"
Xie Jiang's tone sounded particularly worried, "After you get married and have a beautiful wife, will you neglect me for her?"
"Why would you have such a bizarre thought?" Was he the type of person to indulge in the inner chambers?
"You're one of a kind. Once your wife takes up your time, I'll have none left."
Xu Hengyan asked, "Have you ever seen anyone who abandons their friends after getting married?"
Xie Jiang immediately fabricated a friend, "I had a buddy, we were very close, just like us. Later, he got married. When I asked him out for drinks and food, he had to accompany his wife back to her parents' home; when I asked him to go out for a spring outing, he had to accompany his wife to admire flowers… Later, I stopped asking him out. Since I couldn't get him to come anyway, I just asked others."
Xu Hengyan thought about it seriously and finally confirmed, "I won't."
Seeing her lying there with a worried expression, looking somewhat insecure, Xu Hengyan couldn't help but find it a little amusing, "Who was it that was urging me to get married before?"
Xie Jiang asked, "Is it still too late to regret it now?"
Xu Hengyan replied without hesitation, "It's too late."
Even if he had no expectations for married life, he couldn't joke about a young lady's reputation.
After finishing his meal, Xu Hengyan stood up and walked to the soft couch, "I still need to go to the study to handle some matters. It's getting late now. Are you going back to sleep, or will you come to the study and sit with me for a while longer?"
Xie Jiang immediately got off the couch, put on her shoes, and they went to the study together.
Guang Bai had already come ahead to light the lamps.
Xu Hengyan sat down at the desk.
Two tall stacks of letters were piled on the desk. Besides being the magistrate of Ninghe and handling county yamen affairs, he was also the heir of the Duke of Wei's manor.
Xie Jiang lay on the floor mat, rolling around playfully.
Xu Hengyan picked up his brush and wrote a reply, sealed it with wax, and called Guang Qing to send it out first. He didn't notice Guang Qing glancing at him.
He continued to pick up other letters to read, but when he reached out, he touched…
A foot.
Xie Jiang had rolled next to him at some point, propping her head on a thick bolster, flipping through a travelogue, but her legs were resting on his desk.
The two neat stacks of letters on the desk were kicked by her, scattered messily everywhere.
Xu Hengyan called out.
"Guang Bai."
Guang Bai entered from the doorway. Upon seeing the letters all over the floor and Young Master Xie's domineering posture, he understood immediately and quickly crouched down to tidy up.
Why couldn't Young Master Xie read his storybooks on his own bed? Wasn't it more comfortable than here?
Guang Bai found it truly incomprehensible.
Xu Hengyan moved Xie Jiang's foot away and felt that something was not quite right, but…
But Xie Jiang soon put her leg back up.
Xu Hengyan moved her leg away again.
Xie Jiang stepped on his back twice. Remembering he had a wound on his back, she withdrew her leg and placed it霸气ly on the desk.
Xu Hengyan said helplessly, "As a scion of a noble family, is this appropriate?"
Xie Jiang showed no shame, "Can't I be a prodigal son of a noble family?"
Xu Hengyan asked, "Does your father know about your great ambitions?"
Her father?
That Xu dared to mention her father!
Xie Jiang put down the travelogue in her hand, stared at him, and suddenly kicked him hard on the back of the head.
Xu Hengyan, who was standing steadily, was kicked forward and landed face-first on the desk, splashing ink everywhere.
"Young Master!" Guang Bai exclaimed.