Chapter 33: Who Are You?
He was a handsome young man with a pale complexion and sharp
eyebrows. Though his appearance was agreeable, it was a pity he was a thief.
Luo Sheng furrowed her brow and wanted to look away, but the man abruptly opened
his eyes. They were as dark as lacquer, with an unfathomable depth.
At that moment, every hair on Luo Sheng's body stood in
shock.
However, she was the type of person who excelled under
pressure. Rather than hindering her movements, her fear propelled her to roll
up her sleeves swiftly. Like lightning, she threw out the chili powder
concealed within them. Then there was a muffled grunt of pain.
Luo Sheng felt relieved upon hearing it, but then she
noticed Xiuyue repeatedly retreating, scrambling to her feet in a panic and
fleeing. Startled, Luo Sheng stood there for a moment and started to give
chase. She couldn't let Xiuyue escape like this. The world was vast, and her
stay in Nanyang City was temporary. If she missed Xiuyue tonight, finding her
again would be exceedingly difficult.
However, she couldn't call out to stop Xiuyue for fear that
the man in black would remember her voice.
Xiuyue ran very fast and within a short time, reaching the
base of the wall in no time and vanishing from sight. Luo Sheng followed
closely behind, pushing aside the waist-high weeds, and suddenly came across a
hole at the bottom of the wall. It was no wonder Xiuyue managed to slip into
the palace secretly.
Luo Sheng bent over and crawled out of the hole in the wall,
acutely aware of a gust of wind indicating an impending attack. She swiftly
dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding it. Xiuyue, who had been wielding a
wooden stick, realized her attack had failed and threw it aside before turning
and fleeing.
Luo Sheng's lips twitched in frustration, but she suppressed
her urge to shout and increased her pace to catch up. It was late at night, and
the sound of heavy and erratic breathing grew louder from the person ahead.
The gap between them gradually narrowed, and just as Luo Sheng
reached out to grab the edge of Xiuyue's clothing, Xiuyue abruptly dashed into
a residence and forcefully closed the courtyard door.
Luo Sheng quickly reacted, placing one hand on the wooden
door to prevent it from closing completely.
On the other side of the door, Xiuyue's strength had worn
thin as beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. Struggling to speak, she
managed to utter with difficulty, "Why... are you chasing me?"
Luo Sheng didn't answer, seizing the opportunity while
Xiuyue questioned her intentions. She pushed the door open and stealthily
slipped inside, promptly securing the door from within.
Xiuyue picked up the hoe standing on the corner of the wall
and held it in front of her, sternly warning: "If you don't leave, I will
strike!" Luo Sheng adjusted her breathing slightly, took out the
gem-encrusted dagger, and played with it in her hand: "You can't beat
me."
The gems' radiance and the dagger's sharpness exuded an air
of ease around the woman, who concealed her face with a black scarf, revealing
just her eyes.
Despair overwhelmed Xiuyue as her trembling hands struggled
to maintain a firm grip on the hoe.
Luo Sheng surveyed her surroundings and inquired, "Is
this where you live?" Xiuyue simply stared back at Luo Sheng, remaining
silent.
Luo Sheng sniffed the air, picking up on a slightly sour
scent of soybean dregs. "You sell tofu for a living, don't you? Well, it
should be douhua..."
Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Xiuyue asked,
"Who are you exactly, and why are you chasing me?" Luo Sheng studied
Xiuyue intently. Xiuyue's head, too, was wrapped in a cloth scarf, leaving only
her eyes visible. They were a pair of eyes that were both familiar and
unfamiliar to Luo Sheng.
"Who is that man?" Luo Sheng inquired further.
Xiuyue momentarily froze, her fear resurfacing as she
recalled the sudden appearance of the man in black behind her just now.
"He's got his eye on you. Perhaps he overheard your
words and will soon find his way here," continued Luo Sheng.
Xiuyue stood frozen, overwhelmed by despair from the depths
of her being. The man in black, who had already instilled fear in her, was
nothing compared to the mysterious woman standing in her courtyard. At best,
the man in black might find his way to her residence, but this woman was
already right before her!
"Who is that person? And who are you?" Xiuyue
asked, her voice trembling. She could hardly imagine the consequences of her
words being overheard by others, and she lacked the means to eliminate them to
ensure her secrets remained undisclosed. She was indeed the most foolish of the
Princess's four maids.
Luo Sheng shook her head. "I don't know who that person
is. As for me..." she trailed off, stepping into the house and leaving
behind a statement, "I want to make a dish." Until Luo Sheng's back
disappeared through the door, Xiuyue still couldn't react, unable to comprehend
what she had just witnessed.
She had asked about the woman's identity, and in response,
the woman talked about making a dish. Could it be that the mysterious woman
chasing her was actually a lunatic? Filled with both curiosity and fear, Xiuyue
decided to follow her.
The stove was situated in the main room. Luo Sheng inspected
it momentarily before pointing at the stacked pieces of tofu on a bamboo tray
beside her. In a surprisingly familiar tone, she instructed Xiuyue, "I
will use this tofu to make a dish. You, come and light the fire."
As Xiuyue squatted in front of the stove, adding firewood to
it, she couldn't quite comprehend how she had ended up taking on the task of
starting the fire. Perhaps it was because the woman's commanding manner
resembled the Princess's, or maybe... Maybe there was some other reason she
couldn't comprehend. While tending to the fire, Xiuyue carefully observed Luo
Sheng's every move.
Luo Sheng seemed to have forgotten the presence of anyone
else in the room. After washing her hands, she kneaded the tofu with salt,
pepper powder, and other ingredients until it formed a sticky paste. Adding a
touch of green onion and thoroughly mixing it, she shaped the paste into
uniformly round balls.
Xiuyue couldn't help but widen her eyes, showing a look of
disbelief. Why did the woman's movements while cooking resembles those of the
Princess? And why was she making tofu balls? Yes, at this moment, Xiuyue could
already tell that the mysterious woman would make tofu balls.
Tofu balls were not a local specialty in Nanyang. It was a
dish introduced to the Zhennan Wang Palace by a cook who had fled from
Qiancheng City. That cook had taught Princess how to make them. However, on the
day the palace fell, the fate of the cooks residing within its walls was no
different. Xiuyue, who had survived the ordeal, resorted to selling douhua but
never dared to make tofu balls. She feared that anyone seeking to erase any
traces of the Zhennan Wang Palace would discover her and eliminate her. Yet,
here was the woman in black, actually making tofu balls!
Luo Sheng glanced at Xiuyue and reminded her: "Increase
the fire. The oil temperature for frying tofu balls must be high to ensure they
retain shape." "Yes," Xiuyue instinctively responded, then
momentarily paused, surprised by her own compliance.
Once the oil temperature had risen, Luo Sheng placed the
tofu balls into the pan. As soon as she saw them rapidly expanding, she
promptly removed them. When the oil temperature dropped to roughly 70%, she
fried the balls once more until they floated on the oil surface, then
skillfully retrieved them and arranged them on a plate. The tofu balls were now
ready to be served.
Of course, at this point, they still don't know if the tofu
balls turned out well or not.
Luo Sheng delicately picked up one of the round tofu balls
with her chopsticks and gave it a light shake, causing a faint sound to emanate
from within.
"It was a success!" Xiuyue shouted these remarks.
The most challenging part of making tofu balls lay here.
Initially, before they were cooked, the tofu balls were solid spheres. However,
once cooked and removed from the hot oil, they magically transformed into
hollow spheres with soy juice flowing inside. When dipped in the accompanying
sauce, the balls became hot, crispy and burst with soy juice, creating an
exceptionally delicious experience.
Before Luo Sheng could utter a word, Xiuyue grabbed one of
the tofu balls, lifted the cloth scarf off her face, and took a big bite,
consuming half of it instantly.
"The tofu paste should have been left to rest for an
hour before shaping and frying into balls. The ones we made now are slightly
saltier and not as good as they should be," commented Luo Sheng as she
handed the prepared dipping sauce to Xiuyue. Speaking neither quickly nor
slowly, she added, "Eating the tofu balls by themselves doesn't do them
justice. Try them with this dipping sauce. I added a few extra drops of
vinegar. I think you'll enjoy it..."
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