161 The Honorable Guest Arrives

Xiaoguo picked up the pickled crispy fish with chopsticks and plated it. Every piece of the crispy fish was coated with the fragrant sweet sauce. On top of the aroma from the soybean paste, the sauce derives its fragrance from fruit juice that Xiaoguo had added. That was why there was a refreshing sweetness to its taste.

Xiaoguo and the chefs brought all the dishes to the hall. Jiang Danhe was already seated in the hall with Li Shouji, Zhuang Zhuang, and Xiaoyi, but they were not at the dining table.

Seeing this, Xiaoguo guessed that the person who was coming might not be here yet.

As soon as Xiaoguo placed the dishes on the table, the two adults remained pretty calm. However, Zhuang Zhuang and Xiaoyi were not like them. The two kids followed Xiaoguo closely and kept sniffing at the food.

From the minute she brought the food in, the two children could not take their eyes off the plate in her hands.

Xiaoguo put down all the dishes and touched the plates. She was relieved to find that they were still warm.

“Sister-in-law, your culinary skills are really top-notch!”

Jiang Danhe glanced at Li Shouji proudly. “That goes without saying.”

Li Shouji looked eagerly at the hot dishes on the table. How he wished that he could eat with his eyes first.

After ensuring that everything was in order, Xiaoguo got ready to leave with Zhuang Zhuang and Xiaoyi. After all, Jiang Danhe was expecting guests, it would be better for her to stay out of the way.

“Hey, Sister-in-law, where are you going?”

Li Shouji saw Xiaoguo turning to leave with the two children and immediately called out to her.

Jiang Danhe also saw her and knew what she was thinking at a glance. He couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. It seemed that she was still treating him like an outsider…

“You don’t have to leave. You’re the hostess.”

Jiang Danhe said each word firmly. Xiaoguo was stunned when she heard him. It was as if something had struck her heart, and she was stunned for a moment.

After a moment, Xiaoguo avoided his eyes. “Okay, I’ll bring them to wash their faces first.”

She pulled the two children back into the house. Time was of the essence. They couldn’t let the guest wait for them.

Xiaoguo wiped the boys’ faces first. She wondered if the two children had been fooling around in the study. Why were their faces stained with ink?

Using a towel, Xiaoguo tried to clean their faces as gently as possible. However, time was running short, so she had to exert a bit of strength while cleaning them up.

When she was done with the kids, she sent them to the hall.

She had to wash up too. It would be impolite for her to meet the guest when she was smelling like grease and smoke.

Xiaoguo quickly washed up and combed her hair. Then she quickly changed into a fresh set of clothes.

After confirming that she looked okay, she quickly went to the hall. When she got there,she was glad that the guest had not arrived yet.

Jiang Danhe had been waiting for Xiaoguo for a long time. He was afraid that she would not come over. When he saw her at the door, he was relieved.

“Come and sit down.”

Jiang Danhe let Xiaoguo sit beside him and massaged her shoulders. “You’ve worked hard.”

Xiaoguo felt a little uncomfortable as Li Shouji and the two children were there. Xiaoguo blushed when she saw the look in their eyes.

“I’m fine. Stop it.”

Xiaoguo dodged left and right, but she could not get away from Jiang Danhe’s big hands. His hands seemed to be glued to her shoulders.

Jiang Danhe held Xiaoguo’s shoulders and gently pulled her into his arms. “Stop fooling around.”

Xiaoguo was startled by his actions. Before she knew it, the sound of Jiang Danhe’s breathing and his voice sounded in her ear.

Xiaoguo’s ears turned red. Her heart was thumping non-stop. She could feel his strong and powerful heartbeat with his chest pressed against her back. The rhythm of his thumping heart was engulfing her heartbeat gradually. Slowly she could feel their hearts beating at the same frequency.

Xiaoguo felt a little strange. She had no intention of getting up, although reason told her that there were people around and she had to get up quickly. But she wasn’t responding to the rational reminders in her heart. “This is nice…”

“General.”

The soldiers at the door came in and interrupted Xiaoguo’s thoughts. She immediately stood up and avoided eye contact with Jiang Danhe.

Actually, she was secretly looking at him…

As Jiang Danhe felt the little body leave his arms, he looked resentfully at the soldier who just came in and vented his anger on him.

Xiaoguo saw his expression and blushed…

Jiang Danhe took a deep breath. “You may leave.”

“The guest is here,”

Jiang Danhe said gently to Xiaoguo. Then he looked at Li Shouji and said, “Go and get him.”

Since he couldn’t vent his anger on the soldier, he could only vent it on Li Shouji. Who would have thought that the soldier would barge in to smell the food?

Jiang Danhe had said four words to both Xiaoguo and Li Shouji, but Li Shouji could clearly hear the difference in his tone. He was so gentle to her, but when he spoke to him, it was just, “Go and pick him up.” Would it kill him to say another word?

“Hmph…”

Li Shouji followed behind Jiang Danhe with a melancholic expression. However, he turned around midway, and looked at the dishes on the dining table. “Little dishes, I’ll come and eat you later…”

Xiaoguo stood at the door with Zhuang Zhuang and Wen Xiaoyi, waiting for the guest to arrive.

Zhuang Zhuang and Wen Xiaoyi looked at each other in confusion.

“Mother, why are your ears red?”

When Xiaoguo heard this, she looked down at the two of them. Unexpectedly, Xiaoyi nodded in agreement and looked at her with a puzzled expression.

“I, I, I…”

Xiaoguo couldn’t answer for a long time.

Just then, a figure walked over from afar. Xiaoguo heaved a sigh of relief as if she had been saved. “Someone’s here.”

As expected, when they heard this, the two children were distracted by the person approaching.

Xiaoguo took the opportunity to rub her ears. “Stop blushing, you little things!”

“Aye?”

Xiaoyi was familiar with the figure of the guest. “Why was he here? Feeling unhappy…”

Zhuang Zhuang also recognized the man. “Wasn’t this Xiaoyi’s father?”

“Mother.”

Zhuang Zhuang tugged at Xiaoguo, urging her to look.

Xiaoguo looked up and saw a familiar face. It was the emperor!

Xiaoguo didn’t know that the emperor was coming. When she saw that it was him, she felt nervous. She wasn’t nervous about him coming for dinner. Instead, it was because of her cooking. Were the home-cooked dishes too simple for the emperor? She should have made a few more dishes.

“Hmph…”

Seeing that he was approaching, Wen Xiaoyi snorted and returned to the hall. He sat himself down at the dining table first. If he had known, he wouldn’t have told him about the delicious food here.

“Oh my, I can smell the fragrance all the way from the main entrance. I didn’t expect it to smell even better here at the door!”

Once Shao Zhan was out of the palace, he did not put on any airs. From the minute he arrived, he did not stop smiling. Xiaoguo was quite puzzled.

“So the Emperor is a chatterbox?”

Shao Zhan had seen the look on Xiaoyi’s face just now. He snorted. “This brat was really a brat!”

“Let’s go into the house.”

Xiaoguo was afraid that the food would turn cold, so she invited them in to chat.

Shao Zhan strode into the house and sniffed at the fragrance in the air. “Not bad, not bad. It smells really good. I must eat more tonight.”

Jiang Danhe led Xiaoguo to sit beside him. Zhuang Zhuang followed Xiaoguo and sat beside her and Xiaoyi.

Li Shouji also found a seat and got ready to eat.

Shao Zhan started eating first. He had been skeptical when he heard from Xiaoyi that the food here was delicious. Now that he had tasted it, he really couldn’t blame Xiaoyi for not wanting to go back. If only Xiaoguo was the one preparing food in the palace.

Shao Zhan couldn’t stop eating. Seeing him like this, Xiaoyi couldn’t help but feel indignant. Everytime his father took one bite, Xiaoyi would take two. He could not lose out to him.

Seeing that the emperor was eating well, Xiaoguo was relieved. She picked up some fish meat with her chopsticks and picked out the bones. She then divided the meat into two portions for Zhuang Zhuang and Xiaoyi.

The two children ate the fish without any fuss. It was obvious that they were used to Xiaoguo helping them with the food.

Li Shouji did not stop eating. Even though the emperor was beside him, he did not care anymore. Food was the most important thing now.

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