Pearl Su let go of her assumptions, took a sip of porridge, then picked up a piece of stir-fried pork intestine.
She chewed slowly. It was oily and slightly crispy, also a bit chewy. Like the sausage, it needed more bites to break down, but overall, the flavor was good.
Finally, she quickly picked up a piece of pork stomach and popped it into her mouth. It had a crunchy texture, a bit chewy but not too much. Alaric Yun liked the pork stomach best. That was the conclusion he came to after tasting everything. After another sip of porridge, he picked up another piece of pork stomach to enjoy.
Pearl Su saw he was eating with as much enjoyment as she was. Her lips curved slightly as she picked up a piece of roasted pork and quietly continued savoring the meal.
After finishing lunch, the two started marinating the remaining wild boar meat. Once that was done, they returned to their rooms to rest.
Pearl Su woke up and opened her door in the late afternoon. It was still hot outside. She noticed a pile of pinewood with needles stacked in the courtyard and was a little surprised.
But in an instant, she knew who had done it. Her lips curved again. That annoying man was surprisingly efficient.
Since it wasn't time to make dinner yet, Pearl Su went to the grassy slope to cut some grass and also picked some watercress by a small creek.
When she got back, she fed the rabbits and then hung the marinated wild boar meat from earlier to begin smoking it.
When she came out of the kitchen to get some fresh air, she saw that the pinewood now covered half the courtyard. There was also a good amount of dry firewood.
Now she was even more satisfied. That annoying man had really thought things through. With all this wood, she wouldn't need to climb the mountain for firewood for a while.
Seeing it was time to make dinner, she got busy again. First, she cooked the rice. Then she took the pig lungs and watercress left from lunch and stewed them into a soup.
The remaining pig lungs and pig heart were stir-fried. By the time she finished, the sky was already darkening. Alaric Yun had also stopped working, and the two sat down for dinner.
After the previous experience, when Alaric Yun saw the stir-fried pig lungs and heart, along with the lung soup, he was stunned for a moment but didn't overthink it. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating.
He even complimented her, "Miss Su, your cooking is really impressive. I didn't think these things could taste so good. I'm honestly amazed!"
Pearl Su replied calmly, "It was just something I made casually. As long as it's edible."
After dinner, Alaric Yun cleaned up the dishes while Pearl Su added more firewood to the smoker to continue curing the meat.
After a long day of work, Pearl Su fetched water, took a bath, washed her clothes, hung them out to dry, and went to bed.
The next morning, she was woken by the chirping of birds on the window.
They kept chirping non-stop, which was quite irritating.
Pearl Su opened her eyes angrily. Her first reaction was to glare at the bird with a look that could kill. If her eyes were weapons, that bird would've been blown away to the ends of the earth.
Disturbing someone's sleep should be considered a serious crime.
She stared at the bird with deadly eyes for a while, then suddenly had another thought.
A bird chirping outside the window early in the morning… wasn't that a sign of good luck? There was an old saying: if a bird sings outside your house in the morning, something joyful is coming.
Now a bird was chirping right outside her window. Could it be… a sign?
Maybe it meant that annoying man was finally leaving today!
Maybe he was going back to fetch gold for her so she could start living like a rich lady in this world!
Thinking about it made her mood instantly better. She no longer cared about the bird disturbing her dreams and let it chirp all it wanted.
The louder it chirped, the happier Pearl Su felt.
She stayed in bed for a while, then got up in a great mood. She walked to the door and opened it.
Sure enough, the first thing she saw was that annoying man, Alaric Yun, doing his morning training. His posture was firm and sharp, graceful like a startled swan.
Even a rough and plain robe couldn't hide his striking presence. He looked amazing.
That bastard was leaving. After this, she might not get another chance to see such a handsome man again.
What a shame. She decided to steal a few more glances… She kept staring at him until Alaric Yun finished his practice.
"Miss Su, good morning." Alaric Yun stopped his morning training and walked toward Pearl Su with a gentle smile.
"Morning, sir," Pearl Su snapped out of it and quickly replied.
In the end, she couldn't resist what was on her mind and smiled faintly. "Sir, does your sect accept female disciples? Or do you have any martial arts techniques for women?"
Seeing her smile made Alaric Yun's heart skip a beat. A soft joy rose from deep inside him.
Hearing her question, he looked a bit confused. "Miss Su wants to learn martial arts? But our sect has never accepted female disciples, and we don't have martial arts techniques meant for women."
"Yes, I'd like to learn some self-defense." Pearl Su replied. Honestly, she thought that once she learned it well, maybe she could travel the world one day.
"I'm afraid that will disappoint you. What you're asking for, our sect can't offer. But if you truly want to learn, I can teach you a few moves for self-defense."
He would teach her himself?
Pearl Su's heart jumped with fear. She quickly said, "That won't be necessary. Thank you for your kindness, but I wouldn't want to trouble you."
Was he joking? She had worked so hard just to finally get rid of him. She wasn't going to walk into danger by getting closer to him again.
"As you wish. That's fine too. Learning martial arts requires hard work. It's no big deal if you don't want to learn," Alaric Yun nodded in agreement.
"I was just asking. I'll go make breakfast," Pearl Su said calmly and turned to walk toward the kitchen, not wanting to speak more with him.
Behind her, Alaric Yun watched her leaving figure. His dark eyes were deep and unreadable.
Pearl Su got busy in the kitchen. First, she lit the fire under the smoked meat to keep it going.
Then she made millet porridge and boiled two eggs. Once the porridge was done, she poured it out to cool in fresh water and took out some pickled papaya slices.
After breakfast, Pearl Su got back to her chores. She fed the rabbits, laid out herbs to dry in the sun, and worked in the storage room sorting the dried herbs.
From time to time, she checked on the smoked meat. The whole morning passed quickly.
Alaric Yun came back carrying a roe deer and two wild chickens.
Pearl Su was surprised to see him. She hadn't seen him all morning and thought he had left without saying goodbye.
Seeing him holding wild game, she realized she had overthought it. This bastard wasn't planning on leaving today.
Alaric Yun smiled lightly and told her to take the chickens to raise for later meals.
Pearl Su didn't want to raise them. She thought it would be a waste of her grain, so she told him to process the chickens and the deer together and make more smoked meat.
Alaric Yun heard her and had no choice but to start preparing the chickens and the deer for smoking.
Pearl Su went to cook rice while Alaric Yun handled the animals.
For lunch, they had roasted deer meat and stir-fried water spinach with garlic. After the meal, Alaric Yun cleaned up and even volunteered to stay and watch the smoking fire.
Pearl Su let him do it. She told him how to keep the fire going and what to pay attention to, then went back to her room to rest.
The afternoon passed quickly while watching over the smoked meat.