Pearl Su gave a faint response without looking at him and walked forward, which meant she agreed.
The two of them took a small path, going around several mountains until they reached the stream where she had previously caught fish and shrimp.
Pearl Su rolled up her pants, revealing her fair, smooth calves.
Standing beside her, Alaric Yun's eyes darkened when he saw her legs. His heartbeat sped up and he stared blankly, unable to speak before Pearl Su stepped into the water.
She placed the fish basket back where it had been, then came back up.
"Miss Su, are you going to catch fish?" Alaric Yun asked.
"Yeah." Pearl Su answered calmly, keeping her distance as she walked ahead.
Alaric Yun watched her walking away, feeling as if a heavy stone weighed down on his heart.
She wasn't like this yesterday. His gaze deepened and his hand slowly clenched into a fist.
When they reached the foot of the mountain, Pearl Su began climbing. Along the way, they came across many herbs. Alaric Yun offered to help and skillfully dug them up. Pearl Su let him do it without saying anything.
They circled the mountain and gathered quite a few herbs. They also found some wild fruits, though not in large amounts.
Seeing the time was about right, they started heading down and returned to the stream. Pearl Su rolled up her pants again, stepped into the water, and picked up the fish basket to check.
They were lucky today. There were about ten small fish and more than a dozen shrimp.
As she was about to leave with the basket, she noticed movement near a rock in the water and quickly went to check.
The stream rippled gently, and under the surface, she spotted something moving that looked like a crab leg. Pearl Su quickly squatted down and turned the rock over.
Sure enough, there were three crabs crawling around. She caught them quickly and dropped them into the fish basket.
After that, she began flipping over the other rocks she had arranged earlier.
Almost every rock had several crabs underneath. She ended up catching a lot.
Pearl Su was happy, and her bad mood from earlier started to fade.
After getting out of the water and tidying up a bit, she carried the fish basket and walked back. Alaric Yun quietly followed beside her with the herb basket on his back.
On their way home, they passed under the tree where they had picked nightshade before. But it had only been a short time since then, so the new shoots hadn't grown much yet.
Pearl Su felt a bit disappointed and looked around. In the distance, she spotted a patch of short plants that looked good.
She walked toward it. From afar, it looked like a type of vegetable she recognized.
Her steps quickened. As she got closer, her eyes lit up. It really was the purple-backed vegetable she knew, and it was growing very well.
She quickly started picking it. Alaric Yun saw her and came over to help.
Soon, they had picked all the vegetables in that patch. It was enough for two meals.
Once everything was packed, Alaric Yun carried the basket and also took the fish basket in his hands. Pearl Su walked back empty-handed.
When they got home, Alaric Yun volunteered to cook lunch.
Pearl Su said he didn't know how to cook and told him not to bother, but Alaric Yun said she could teach him while he did it.
Pearl Su didn't want to argue, so she stayed quiet, which meant she agreed.
While Alaric Yun prepared the fish and crabs, Pearl Su had already started boiling rice porridge.
She told Alaric Yun to add the fish and shrimp, then add seasonings. The fish and shrimp porridge was soon ready. After that, she told him to boil water.
When the water was boiling, she asked Alaric Yun to steam the crabs. Meanwhile, she went to prepare a dipping sauce for them.
Once the crabs were steamed and the porridge had cooled, it was time to eat lunch.
Pearl Su took her first bite of porridge, then started eating the fish and shrimp from her bowl.
Pearl Su heard Alaric Yun say beside her, "Miss Su, the porridge you made is truly delicious."
Pearl Su's expression stayed calm. "It's alright."
"Miss Su, how do you eat this?"
Just as Pearl Su was enjoying her food, she heard him again and looked up. He looked at her like a curious child.
She replied in a flat tone, "This is called crab. Just open the shell and dip the meat into this sauce before eating it."
"Like this?" Alaric Yun pinched a crab leg, cracked it open with ease, and revealed the meat inside.
"Yes." Pearl Su lowered her head and continued drinking her porridge. While sipping it, she heard him again.
"Dipping it into the sauce really tastes great."
This time, Pearl Su ignored him. After another spoonful of porridge, she picked up a crab.
She first pulled off the legs, then opened the crab's belly, removed the back end and the gills, then used a wooden stick to scrape out the meat into her bowl.
She picked up the crab leg from earlier. Without scissors, she put it in her mouth and bit it open. Then she used the wooden stick to dig the meat out.
Just as she finished cleaning the leg meat, Alaric Yun's deep and gentle voice sounded again.
"Miss Su, let me help you with that." Without waiting for her response, he took the remaining crab legs.
He easily cracked the crab legs open, revealing the meat inside.
"Miss Su, it's ready." Alaric Yun looked relaxed as he placed the crab legs back in front of her.
Pearl Su said nothing. She picked up the crab legs and scraped out the meat, dipped it into the sauce, and ate.
After finishing one crab, she picked up another and repeated the process.
Alaric Yun didn't speak this time. He directly took the crab legs, cracked them open, removed the shells, and only gave her the meat.
After Pearl Su finished eating the crab body, she glanced at him, picked up the crab meat, dipped it in the sauce, and started eating.
Across from her, Alaric Yun's eyes filled with warmth. When she picked up another crab and removed its legs, he quietly took the legs again, cleaned them, and handed only the meat back to her.
With Alaric Yun's help, they quickly finished all the crab and the shrimp and fish porridge too.
After lunch, Alaric Yun took the initiative to clean up.
Pearl Su let him do it while she sorted out the herbs she had dug up earlier. After finishing, she went back to her room to rest.
When she woke up, the sun was already setting. As usual, she strapped on her bamboo basket and went to cut fresh grass.
After returning with the grass, she saw smoke rising from the kitchen chimney in the distance. Once home, she fed the rabbits.
She collected the herbs that had been drying outside and finished all her chores before walking to the kitchen.
The moment she stepped inside, a mouthwatering smell greeted her. She turned and saw Alaric Yun rotating a chicken over the stove. The chicken had already turned golden brown.
Remembering the roasted piglet and roasted pigeon from the last two times, Pearl Su's mouth began to water. She quietly turned around to wash the purple-leaf vegetables she had picked at noon.
After washing, she started the fire and stir-fried the vegetables. Just as she finished, the roasted chicken was done too. Alaric Yun chopped it into pieces.
Pearl Su scooped the rice into bowls and waited as Alaric Yun brought the roasted chicken over and sat down.
The first thing Pearl Su picked up with her chopsticks was a piece of roasted chicken. She placed it in her mouth. The skin was crispy, and the meat was tender. As expected, it was delicious.
She felt very satisfied with his cooking skills.
She ate a few more pieces of chicken, savoring the flavor before finally taking a bite of rice and her stir-fried vegetables.