The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Zhong Li followed Lu Wuxie to escort Madam Liang to the nunnery and returned to the Jinzhou Restaurant alone to pack her belongings, preparing to leave the next day.
Knock, knock, knock.
A rhythmic knock sounded from outside.
Zhong Li put down the clothes in her hands and opened the door.
Lu Wuxie stood at the doorway, wearing an outer cloak and holding a small hand warmer she had given him.
"Young Master, is there something you need?" Zhong Li asked.
"Are you free tonight? How about we celebrate Laba together?" Lu Wuxie looked at her, his eyes devoid of their usual indolence, replaced by a genuine warmth.
Zhong Li glanced at the scattered candlelight outside the window and said, "Wait a moment."
When she reappeared, she had shed her usual practical suit worn for investigations and donned a fine jacket and plain skirt.
Lu Wuxie had seen her in skirts before, but for some reason, as he looked at her cool, serene face, lightly adorned with makeup, and the simple, elegant ruqun, his heart stirred with ripples.
The kitchens at Jinzhou Restaurant ceased operations after the hour of Shen. Lu Wuxie casually tossed some silver to a waiter, and the kitchen was thus commandeered.
Fortunately, everything was in order. Zhong Li prepared yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, red beans, and other ingredients. She tidied up firewood from outside and prepared to start the fire.
"Let me do it." Lu Wuxie washed the rice and took the firewood from her hands.
"Can the Young Master do this?" Zhong Li watched him skillfully place the firewood into the stove, then pick up a pile of dry leaves to lay on top. He then took out a tinderbox and began to ignite the fire.
Lu Wuxie smiled and said, "There are many things I can do, as 'Li'er will slowly discover."
Zhong Li looked at Lu Wuxie's busy back, pondered for a moment, and felt as though his words held hidden meaning.
Laba porridge takes a long time to cook. Zhong Li was responsible for stirring, while Lu Wuxie tended to the fire.
The kitchen remained silent for a long time, both tacitly refraining from speaking, until Lu Wuxie's voice broke the silence: "Li'er."
Zhong Li's elbow paused slightly as she looked at Lu Wuxie.
Lu Wuxie threw the last handful of firewood into the stove, casually took something from his怀, and handed it to her.
Zhong Li, still busy with the porridge, initially glanced at it indifferently and did not take it. It was only when she realized what it was that she dropped the ladle, took the item Lu Wuxie handed her, and asked, "The Judge's Brush? Where did you get it?"
"The Xie Mansion." Lu Wuxie did not look at Zhong Li, his hands still busy.
"The Xie Mansion?" Zhong Li mused for a moment and asked, "Could it have been discovered in your grandfather's burnt study?"
"Mmm." Lu Wuxie nodded heavily and said, "It was under my maternal grandfather's body. When I picked it up, it was wrapped in a pile of charcoal. I suspect the Judge's Brush should have a wooden box for it on the outside."
"Your maternal grandfather's corpse was on top of the box?" Zhong Li understood Lu Wuxie's words and asked.
"So I suspect that Si Xi controlled my maternal grandfather for so long, and the reason she acted at this critical juncture was that my maternal grandfather's health was failing, and the thing she was looking for had no clue. This time, she risked death to kill my maternal grandfather, then searched the study. Perhaps due to her impatient nature, the more she wanted to find it, the less she could.
Moreover, the study had already been ransacked and could no longer be restored to its original state. Coupled with my maternal grandfather's body being in the study, she decided to go all out and burn the study." Lu Wuxie analyzed.
Zhong Li nodded upon hearing this. Currently, the only plausible explanation for the fire in the study was Lu Wuxie's deduction.
She casually tossed a piece of rock sugar into the porridge and said, "Si Xi died earlier, and the spy who killed Si Xi also died. I thought the clues had ended there. Now, with this Judge's Brush, it at least proves that the same group of people killed Consort Xian and controlled the Xie Mansion."
"Yes, and they are the same group who killed your adoptive father," Lu Wuxie added with a smile.
Zhong Li held the Judge's Brush and looked at its gleaming silver tip. Although the path to investigating her adoptive father's death seemed extremely long, with this, it was not an entirely fruitless endeavor.
"The porridge is ready," Zhong Li stirred it a few more times in the pot, ensuring the sugar she had added had completely dissolved, and quickly called out to Lu Wuxie.
Lu Wuxie heard her, got up, and prepared to find a seat. Before his backside could even touch the stool, Zhong Li's hand preemptively stopped his action.
He looked at her with bewilderment.
Zhong Li smiled, pulled Lu Wuxie over to the corner water basin, and pointed at his reflection in the water, saying, "Young Master, you look like a little maid tending a fire. You should wash up before we begin."
The steaming porridge was placed on a small table in the kitchen that could only accommodate two people.
Lu Wuxie washed his hands and sat at the table, slowly blowing on the porridge. When he put the first spoonful into his mouth, he looked up at Zhong Li with surprise.
Zhong Li had not yet put the porridge in her mouth. Seeing the confused expression on the man opposite her, she asked, "Is it not tasty?"
"No..." Lu Wuxie's voice choked slightly. "Did you put sweet potato in it?"
"Oh, you mean this." Zhong Li smiled. She almost doubted her own cooking skills because of Lu Wuxie's expression. "Yes, I happened to see a small one in the kitchen and remembered you saying Consort Xian always secretly put your favorite sweet potato in for you. So I cut it into small pieces and put it in. It's easier to cook and eat. Do you not like it?"
"No... it's delicious!" Lu Wuxie smiled and stuffed the entire spoonful into his mouth.
"Really?" Zhong Li raised an eyebrow. Seeing Lu Wuxie's satisfied expression, she quickly scooped up her own and put it in her mouth.
Perhaps she was too eager and had forgotten that the porridge was hot.
Lu Wuxie heard a crisp clinking sound of a spoon hitting a bowl from across the table. When he looked up again, Zhong Li's eyes were already red, and she was covering her mouth, looking on the verge of tears.
"Did it burn you?" This was the first time he had seen her act so much like a young girl. In his memory, she had always been more strong-willed and somewhat cold than anyone else.
Zhong Li nodded emphatically. She was most sensitive to heat; how could she have been so clumsy?
Lu Wuxie sighed, took her bowl, scooped out a spoonful of the porridge from the top, blew on it, and brought it to Zhong Li, saying, "You shouldn't eat so hastily in the future."
Zhong Li looked at the spoon in front of her, then at Lu Wuxie's slightly upturned lips, and gently opened her red lips.
"Is it hot?" Lu Wuxie asked, watching her swallow.
Zhong Li lowered her head, blushing, and remained silent. She thought her gesture indicated that the temperature was just right.
However, this action meant something different in Lu Wuxie's eyes.
He lowered his gaze to her flushed cheeks, furrowed his brow, took a spoonful of porridge from her bowl, brought it to his lips, and said, "The temperature is indeed still a bit hot for you."
Saying this, he swapped his bowl with Zhong Li's and said, "The porridge in my bowl was scooped out earlier, so it's not so hot. Try it."
As he spoke, Lu Wuxie lowered his eyes and began to eat the porridge from Zhong Li's bowl.
Zhong Li watched his practiced movements, her gaze drifting to the spoon in Lu Wuxie's hand—the one she had bitten before!
"Young Master..." she began to remind him.
Hearing this, Lu Wuxie looked at her with a bewildered expression and said, "Why is your face still so red? Is it still hot? Or should we switch back..."
"No, I haven't eaten yet!" As Lu Wuxie's hand reached for the bowl in front of Zhong Li, she reacted swiftly, protectively cradling the porridge like a treasure. Without thinking, she picked up the spoon in the bowl and put it into her mouth.
Lu Wuxie looked at the woman opposite him, eating porridge with her head down, and a subtle, beautiful curve formed at the corner of his lips.