Later, Leng Ruoli prescribed some Western medicine for Jun Mohan, and by nightfall, his condition had improved considerably.
During dinner, Jun Mohan, Leng Ruoli, and Chu Mingxuan were seated at the dining table. Jun Mohan suddenly became difficult, refusing to eat the food prepared by the royal chefs and insisting that Leng Ruoli cook him instant noodles. This left Leng Ruoli speechless and Chu Mingxuan, who was sitting nearby, dumbfounded.
Was this still the same aloof and proud Cold King? He was actually acting spoiled towards his consort.
At this moment, Chu Mingxuan had emerged from his despondency. He had shaved off his beard, neatly combed his hair, and put on a set of clothes he had bought from Leng Ruoli's Jinxiu Pavilion earlier. He now looked quite distinguished.
He had realized his mistake after hearing Leng Ruoli's words.
The consort was right; he shouldn't let the sins of wicked people weigh him down and make him suffer.
"Your Highness, you are still sick and cannot eat instant noodles. I will cook them for you once you have recovered."
"No! Li'er, I want them now." Jun Mohan immediately refused her.
"Those instant noodles are not nutritious and are bad for your health," Leng Ruoli said, suppressing her anger.
"Li'er, I'll just have a small bowl. Just make me one," Jun Mohan conceded.
"Consort, what are instant noodles? I want to eat them too," Chu Mingxuan said shamelessly.
Leng Ruoli: "..."
This Chu Mingxuan was truly being difficult.
"Chu Mingxuan, Li'er is my consort. She only cooks for me. If you want to eat them, find a woman yourself to cook for you," Jun Mohan said with disdain.
"I haven't even seen what instant noodles look like. Who am I supposed to find to cook them?" Chu Mingxuan retorted fearlessly.
He figured Jun Mohan couldn't use his internal energy right now, so he wouldn't be able to defeat him.
"Alright, both of you, stop arguing. I'll go cook them now, won't I?"
With that, Leng Ruoli turned and headed towards the kitchen of the Cold King's mansion. As she passed through the corridor, she encountered Ye Ying and Yin Chen walking towards her.
"Your subordinate greets the Consort!"
Both bowed respectfully to Leng Ruoli.
Leng Ruoli nodded slightly and continued forward.
Suddenly, Ye Ying spoke again, "Ye Ying thanks the Consort for saving my life and for rejoining my arm."
Ye Ying was genuinely grateful to Leng Ruoli. If she hadn't reattached his arm, even if he had been saved, he would have been a one-armed man.
"Yin Chen also thanks the Consort for saving his life," Yin Chen added.
"Saving lives and healing the injured is my duty as a physician. You two don't need to thank me so much," Leng Ruoli said with a slight smile.
"Oh, right, you two haven't eaten yet, have you?"
They hesitated and shook their heads.
"Not eaten? It's perfect timing, I'm cooking noodles for your Prince. I'll save a bowl for each of you later."
With that, Leng Ruoli rushed towards the kitchen.
"Your subordinate thanks the Consort!"
They bowed as they watched Leng Ruoli's retreating back.
On her way, Leng Ruoli quickly took out ten packs of instant noodles from her system space and carried them in a small cloth bag as she entered the main kitchen.
At this time, only one duty cook was in the kitchen.
When he saw Leng Ruoli swagger into the kitchen, he was startled.
"This commoner pays respects to the Consort!"
The cook respectfully performed a grand bow to Leng Ruoli.
"Head Chef, there's no need for such formalities. You should go home and rest early tonight. I'll be using the kitchen to cook some noodles," Leng Ruoli said with a smile.
"Consort, how can that be? The kitchen is quite messy. This commoner fears it might dirty your clothes. Please let me do it."
The head chef was incredulous that the Consort would personally cook in the kitchen.
"No need. I want to cook these noodles myself. You should go and rest."
"Very well, this commoner shall take his leave then."
A moment later, after the cook left, Leng Ruoli lit the stove. She took a small piece of pork belly from the kitchen, sliced it, fried it in a pan, then fried a few sunny-side-up eggs, and put half a pot of water on to boil.
Once the water boiled, she directly added the instant noodles to the pot. After a short while, she added the seasoning, the fried pork belly and sunny-side-up eggs she had prepared earlier, along with a handful of green vegetables. The entire kitchen was instantly filled with a fragrant aroma.
Upon serving, Leng Ruoli saved portions for Yin Chen, Ye Ying, and her little maid, then carried a large basin of noodles to the front hall.
In the hall, Jun Mohan and Chu Mingxuan were currently glaring at each other across the table. Suddenly, they caught the whiff of a delicious scent and immediately stopped.
They saw Leng Ruoli walking towards the table with a large basin of noodles in her hands and placing it down.
Chu Mingxuan, who had never eaten instant noodles before, gulped uncontrollably, his throat bobbing.
He secretly thought, "Oh my goodness! These noodles smell so good. No wonder Jun Mohan was making such a fuss to eat them even when he was sick."
Leng Ruoli served each of them a bowl of noodles and then ran out to call Yin Chen, Ye Ying, and her two little maids to get noodles from the kitchen.
However, by the time she called them, she returned to the hall to find the entire basin of noodles completely empty. Not a drop of soup was left for Leng Ruoli.
Leng Ruoli's expression instantly darkened.
"Jun Mohan, didn't you say you only wanted a small bowl earlier?"
"..."
"Li'er, the instant noodles you made are truly delicious. Your husband couldn't stop eating once he started... And I didn't even eat the most from this basin!" Jun Mohan said aggrievedly.
His demeanor was like that of a wronged young wife, which made Chu Mingxuan burst into laughter.
"Don't laugh. Both of you have to accompany me out to work tonight."
Leng Ruoli cast a cold glance at the two of them.
Chu Mingxuan immediately stopped laughing.
--
At night, Leng Ruoli, along with Jun Mohan, Chu Mingxuan, and a few guards, went to the fields outside the city to search for venomous snakes.
"Consort, it's winter now. Venomous snakes are all hiding in their holes. How are we supposed to find them?"
Chu Mingxuan grumbled all the way to the fields on the outskirts of the capital.
"Nonsense. If snakes were easy to catch, would I need you all to help me?" Leng Ruoli retorted.
In fact, she had brought everyone to search for hibernating venomous snakes because snakes during this period were the most potent. Extracting their venom to make hidden weapons would be most effective.
The venom from the snakes she had collected in her previous life had already been extracted.
"Li'er, it's difficult to find venomous snakes at night!" Jun Mohan suddenly said.
"We don't need to search directly. I have a special snake-luring powder. You just need to sprinkle it in the fields, and the snakes will come out on their own. Then, you catch them, extract their venom, put it into these small bottles, and then release them," Leng Ruoli explained. With that, she distributed the small bottles in her hands to everyone, along with a packet of snake-luring powder each. Simultaneously, she gave each person a recently made Hundred Poisons Pill, mainly to prevent them from being accidentally bitten by venomous snakes.
Following Leng Ruoli's instructions, they sprinkled the snake-luring powder in the surrounding fields. Within the time it takes for a cup of tea to brew, a group of venomous snakes emerged.
Everyone caught the snakes one by one, extracted their venom using a cup, and then released them.