Villain Lady

After the eventful journey with Yang Xian, Wei Liuying received lesion from him about the attitude she needed to adopt as Ji Sheng's servant. All she had to do was to serve him or stood by his side all the time. Most of the time, there would be servants that the host had prepared to serve them too, so they only needed to watch everyone else.

"Is that all?" Wei Liuying asked.

Yang Xian tilted his head. "That's all for now. I'm going to fulfill my promise of cooking something for you first."

Cooking?

Wei Liuying did stay under Yang Xian's care for the past few days, but she had never seen him cooking before. There were more than enough servants in Prince Ji Sheng's Residence to take care of such matters.

"Do you have the time?"

"I suppose so." Yang Xian glanced out. It was completely dark but he still could calculate the time by the temperature and also some calculation. "I should have two incense sticks of time to cook and eat dinner."

This time, Wei Liuying was speechless. They already had their dinner after they returned back because Prince Ji Sheng's servants have already prepared the food. Now, he wanted to eat dinner for the second time?

"Come with me."

"En."

Hearing that answer, Yang Xian paused in his steps for a moment. "Don't use soft words like that when you're acting as Liu Ying. It'll be giving the wrong impression to other people."

"Ah, I'm sorry. I won't use it again."

Wei Liuying completely forgotten that it was what normal young ladies usually used. Men would not reply like that because they would be seen as timid. No one would want to face the mocking and jeers.

The two of them walked to the kitchen. There were several kitchens in Prince Ji Sheng's Residence. One was for Prince Ji Sheng and his people while the others were for guests and also for servants. The food served for different people were not cooked in the same place at all.

The one they were heading to was the one for guests.

"Strategist Yang," a servant greeted. He looked at Wei Liuying in hesitation because he didn't know how to greet the latter.

"I'm Liu Ying, Strategist Yang's apprentice," Wei Liuying introduced herself with a smile on her face.

"Ah, Apprentice Strategist Liu," the servant quickly greeted.

Seeing the servant acted politely, Yang Xian waved his hand. "I'm going to borrow the kitchen for a while. Are there some food left?"

"There are still some vegetables and meat, Strategist Yang."

"You can go."

"I understand, Strategist Yang."

Wei Liuying watched as the servant hurried away then to Yang Xian. It seemed that while the servants were under the order to leave Yang Xian alone, they were still highly revering the strategist.

"Liu Ying, what are you doing?"

"Sorry, what do you want me to do?" Wei Liuying quickly snapped back to reality and walked to the table. Yang Xian had taken out several vegetables and placed them all on the table.

"Chop the vegetables while I boil the water."

Wei Liuying took the knife and began to chop the vegetables evenly. She rarely got the chance to cook, but there were times when she had to cook by herself because her mother didn't give her anything to eat. Her handling was a bit slow and clumsy, but it was still pretty good.

On the other hand, Yang Xian prepared the pot and water. He let it boil before helping Wei Liuying to cut the rest of the vegetables. Seeing how he cut everything quickly and evenly, Wei Liuying felt somewhat ashamed.

"You're really good, Strategist Yang," Wei Liuying praised when they were done and Yang Xian was boiling it all. It seemed that he was only planning to make soup for them to eat tonight.

Yang Xian nodded. "I'm used to cook."

"Do you have to cook when you're camping out for military campaign?"

"Of course I'm not cooking by myself." Yang Xian let out a laugh. "Prince Ji Sheng will not give the me the free time to cook. There are rations that some reserve soldiers will prepare for us to eat during military campaign."

Wei Liuying nodded. Not all soldiers were there to head straight to the battle. If they were planning for a long battle, they would have to prepare the necessary supply and also people to take care of it. This was one of the important aspect from military that one had to remember.

"Oh right, since we already ate dinner, it wouldn't do us any good to have anything heavy. Next time, I'll make you something better."

"There's no need for that." Wei Liuying glanced at Yang Xian, where would he even find the time to cook again in the future when they were going to be busy?

Yang Xian chuckled and looked at the pot. There was still some time before it was cooked, so he might as well fill the time talking with Wei Liuying.

Before the two of them could speak again, there was already a servant hurrying over to them. Behind the servant, Shi Yan was coming in their direction with an annoyed expression. His fur robe fluttered along with his hastened speed.

"Strategist Yang, Merchant Shi Yan wished to meet with you," the servant reported.

Wei Liuying looked at Shi Yan behind the servant then to Yang Xian. This was the first time she saw someone reported when the person who wished to come was right behind the messenger. 

"I know. You can leave." At this moment, Yang Xian no longer looked as lazy as he usually was. He looked proper and looked at the servant with a faint smile on his lips that didn't reach his eyes.

"This servant will take his leave."

Shi Yan entered the kitchen while the servant ran away. He looked at Yang Xian with annoyance. "Why didn't you tell me about those people aiming for the same thing? I almost lose in the battle for the right!"

Blinking her eyes, Wei Liuying chose to stay silent. She didn't know what kind of deal Shi Yan was planning to make. Also, he must have come here to ask for Yang Xian's opinion.

"Didn't I tell you that you're hurrying to much?" Yang Xian shook his head. "If we're talking about the north, you're already quite famous. But if you wish to start trading in other areas too, you're basically starting from the very bottom."

"You can at least warn me about the other merchants making their movement."

"I don't have the time to worry about merchants."

"Ugh…"

Pulling a chair, Shi Yan sighed. He felt really tired after securing a deal with an official here. Even though he didn't have any plan to stay in the capital city for long, he was trying to create more connection with others. 

Merchants were at the lowest social strata based on the importance, but there were a lot of people who become merchant. They were usually not respected because they were seen as people who were greedy for money. It was often hard for them to make an open deal because the officials could easily use their influence to suppress them.

The only advantage a merchant has would be the fact that they had a lot of money.

"You're going tomorrow?" Shi Yan asked.

Yang Xian nodded. "As you might have heard from His Highness, I'm going to accompany him to Princess Ji Xiaoli's birthday party."

Since they were not inside that enclosed room, Yang Xian had no other choice but to speak in polite language. Even an idiot like Shi Yan knew that he was not allowed to act impolite when they were outside.

"I see. Can I ask for a favor….?"

"No."

"Why do you reject me even before I finish my word?"

"Because I know it's going to be troublesome. Also, I don't want to stand out more than necessary. The only one that should stand out is Prince Ji Sheng."

Shi Yan opened his mouth then closed it again like a fish. He looked in Yang Xian's direction with resentment. How did this strategist always manage to guess that it would be very troublesome?

Yang Xian ignored Shi Yan and walked to the pot. He turned off the fire and placed it on the table. "Liu Ying, let's eat."

"Alright, Strategist Yang."

"Wait, you're still in the mood to eat even at this time?" Shi Yan was speechless. They were going on a very important party tomorrow, yet they were still very relaxed like this?

Wei Liuying put the soup into two bowls and handed one to Yang Xian. She sat down on the chair and blow the soup in her bowl, pretending that she didn't hear Shi Yan and focused completely on her food. Afterwards, she sipped and tasted the vegetable. It was soft and a bit chewy.

"How is it?" Yang Xian was also eating calmly.

"It's good."

"Good."

Shi Yan looked at the two of them with a dark face. Don't ignore him, ah!

Looking at these two focusing completely on eating, Shi Yan felt that he was left out yet unable to say anything because he came here to ask for favor.