Pale complexion, sharp eyebrows—an extremely young and handsome man.

His appearance was passable, yet he was acting like a thief.

Luo Sheng frowned and was about to withdraw her gaze when the other party suddenly opened his eyes.

Eyes like lacquer dots, unfathomably deep.

In this instant, every single hair on Luo Sheng’s body stood on end in alarm.

However, she was the type who performed extraordinarily well when most nervous. Not only did fear fail to hinder her movements, it actually made her quick as lightning as she flicked her sleeve, and the chili powder hidden in her sleeve scattered out.

A muffled groan full of pain sounded.

Luo Sheng relaxed upon hearing it, but saw Xiu Yue retreating repeatedly, scrambling up in panic and running away.

Luo Sheng was stunned for a moment before chasing after her.

Of course she couldn’t let Xiu Yue just run away like this.

In the vast sea of humanity, she could only stay briefly in Nanyang City. If she missed Xiu Yue tonight, finding her again would probably be hopeless.

But she absolutely couldn’t call out to stop Xiu Yue, in case the black-clothed man remembered her voice.

Xiu Yue ran very fast, and before long reached a certain section of wall, crouched down, and vanished from sight.

Luo Sheng followed closely behind. Pushing aside the waist-high wild grass, she discovered a hole.

No wonder Xiu Yue could quietly slip into the manor.

Luo Sheng bent down and crawled through the wall hole, keenly sensing a strong wind attacking, and hastily dodged to the side.

Xiu Yue, holding a wooden stick, discovered she had struck at empty air. She threw down the stick, turned around and ran.

Luo Sheng’s lips moved, but she still swallowed back her shout and increased her speed in pursuit.

The night was very deep. She could hear the gradually heavy and chaotic breathing of the person ahead.

The distance between them gradually closed. Just as Luo Sheng’s outstretched hand could reach Xiu Yue’s robe hem, Xiu Yue suddenly rushed into a residence and forcefully shut the courtyard gate.

Luo Sheng pressed one hand against the wooden door, preventing the courtyard gate from completely closing.

Xiu Yue gradually couldn’t hold on. Large beads of sweat rolled down from her forehead. She spoke with difficulty: “You, why won’t you stop chasing me?”

Luo Sheng didn’t answer. Taking advantage of Xiu Yue’s questioning, she forcefully pushed open the courtyard gate and flashed inside, bolting the door from within.

Xiu Yue grabbed the hoe standing in the corner and held it in front of her, warning sternly: “If you don’t leave, I’ll attack!”

Luo Sheng slightly adjusted her breathing and took out the jewel-encrusted dagger to toy with in her hand: “You can’t beat me.”

The jewels were brilliant, the blade sharp. The woman whose face was covered with black cloth revealing only a pair of eyes exuded relaxed ease throughout her entire body.

Xiu Yue gradually despaired, her hands trembling until she could barely hold the hoe steady.

Luo Sheng glanced around and asked: “Is this your home?”

Xiu Yue stared fixedly at Luo Sheng without uttering a sound.

Luo Sheng sniffed. The air was filled with a sour smell of bean dregs.

“You make your living selling tofu? Mm, it should be tofu pudding…”

Xiu Yue couldn’t help but demand: “Who exactly are you? What’s your purpose in chasing me?”

Luo Sheng looked deeply at Xiu Yue.

Xiu Yue’s head was wrapped in cloth, likewise revealing only a pair of eyes.

They were a pair of familiar yet strange eyes.

“Who was that man?” Luo Sheng asked.

Xiu Yue was startled, thinking of the black-clothed man who had suddenly appeared behind her with lingering fear.

“He’s set his sights on you. Perhaps he heard those words of yours. He’ll find his way here very soon.”

Xiu Yue stood rigidly in place, exuding despair from inside out.

Compared to the despair that black-clothed man brought her, what made her even more desperate was this mysterious woman before her eyes.

At most, the black-clothed man might find his way here, but this woman was standing in her courtyard right now!

“Who is that person? And who are you?” Xiu Yue asked in a trembling voice.

She could barely imagine the consequences if those words were overheard by others, yet she didn’t have the ability to silence witnesses.

She really was the most foolish of the princess’s four chief maids after all.

Luo Sheng shook her head: “I don’t know who that person is. As for me—”

She walked leisurely toward the house, leaving behind one sentence: “I’m going to make a dish.”

Watching Luo Sheng’s figure disappear at the doorway, Xiu Yue still couldn’t quite react.

She asked who the other party was, and the other party actually said she was going to make a dish?

Could this mysterious woman who pursued her relentlessly be a lunatic?

With both curiosity and fear, Xiu Yue followed inside.

The stove was in the main hall. Luo Sheng looked around and pointed at the tofu blocks arranged on a winnowing basket to the side, speaking to Xiu Yue who had followed in with an extremely familiar tone: “I’ll use the tofu to make a dish. You tend the fire.”

Even as Xiu Yue crouched before the stove adding firewood inside, she couldn’t figure out how she had started tending the fire.

Perhaps it was because the way the other party ordered her around too much resembled the princess, or perhaps… perhaps something else she couldn’t articulate clearly.

While tending the fire, Xiu Yue observed Luo Sheng’s actions.

Luo Sheng seemed to have forgotten the existence of others. After washing her hands, she kneaded and squeezed the tofu with salt, Sichuan pepper powder and other seasonings into a paste. Once the tofu paste had become sticky, she added a little chopped scallions and mixed evenly, forming uniform balls.

Xiu Yue couldn’t help but widen her eyes, revealing an expression of disbelief.

Why were the other party’s every movement while cooking so similar to the princess?

Why could the other party make tofu balls?

That’s right—she could already tell that what the mysterious woman was making were tofu balls.

Tofu balls were not a Nanyang snack, but rather a dish brought by a cook who had fled as a refugee from Qian City. With this dish he had entered the manor and taught it to the princess.

That day the manor collapsed, the cooks the manor supported equally couldn’t escape. She, who had survived the disaster, made her living selling tofu pudding but never dared to make these tofu balls.

She feared that those who had harmed the manor would discover any trace and eliminate all threats.

Yet this black-clothed woman before her eyes was actually making tofu balls!

Luo Sheng glanced at Xiu Yue and reminded: “Make the fire bigger. The oil temperature for frying tofu balls must be high, otherwise they won’t form properly.”

“Yes.” Xiu Yue responded instinctively, then was startled again.

The oil temperature had risen. Luo Sheng put the tofu balls into the pot. Seeing each ball rapidly expand and set shape, she immediately scooped them out. After the oil temperature dropped to only seventy percent heat, she continued frying them. Once the balls floated on the oil surface, she scooped them up and placed them in a dish. The tofu balls were fried.

Of course, whether they were successful or not was still hard to say.

Luo Sheng used bamboo chopsticks to pick up a plump round ball and gently shook it. Inside, a sound immediately rang out.

“Success!” The one who shouted this was Xiu Yue.

The most difficult part of tofu balls was precisely this—when going into the pot they were just ordinary solid balls, but after coming out of the pot they became hollow, with soy milk flowing inside. Dipped into prepared sauce, these plump balls that were hot, crispy on the outside yet allowed you to bite into tender smooth soy milk—their wonderful taste went without saying.

Before Luo Sheng could speak, Xiu Yue picked up a ball, lifted the cloth covering her face, and bit off half.

“The tofu paste should be left for a full hour before being formed into balls and put in the pot. Eating it now, the alkaline taste is a bit strong and the flavor is somewhat inferior.” As Luo Sheng spoke, she passed over the prepared dipping sauce, saying unhurriedly, “Eating tofu balls plain has no real flavor. Try it with the dipping sauce—I added a few extra drops of vinegar. I imagine you’ll like it…”

Xiu Yue couldn’t hear Luo Sheng’s following words. The half tofu ball on her chopsticks fell down. She stared straight at Luo Sheng and asked: “You, who exactly are you?”