Doomed to be Cannon Fodder

To think was to act, so Bai Xiangxiu had someone prepare brush, ink, and paper. When everything was ready, she spread the paper out on the table and thought as she painted. It wasn’t a sketch this time, but a painting from her imagination, so it took some time to draw. She wasn’t in a hurry either. In any case, the male lead wouldn’t come back that quickly from his hunt.

She actually became so engrossed in her painting that Prince Li was greeted by the sight of her diligently painting when he came back. In his eyes, no matter what masterpiece she stood next to, she would always be the most beautiful of the two. And so, he handed his prey to others to let them clean it properly. He lounged just inside the door, quietly watching her paint as though he’d never seen such a beautiful scene.

Xiao Shi and Xiaohuan were attending to her off on the side. They seemed to know the spellbound gaze that the prince was using to look at their mistress, so they smiled ambiguously at each other. A glare from the prince forced them to turn their heads to the side, afraid to watch further.

Bai Xiangxiu was feeling a little tired after painting for a while, and so raised her head to see how the servants were getting along. What came into view was a very lively scene, full of people slaughtering lambs and chickens. Because she usually lived in the manor, she’d forgotten that she had the problem of fainting at the sight of blood. Even though she was seeing it from so far away, she still felt a little uncomfortable.

She pressed her hand lightly against her head and felt a little dizzy. Xiao Shi hastily went to fetch water. Long Heng also felt something amiss and walked over. “What’s wrong?”

“Dizzy. Blood.”

“...” Long Heng waved his hand and spoke to the servants, “Deal with this somewhere else.” How had he forgotten? She was extremely sensitive to matters that dealt with blood. The servants hurriedly carried the items over to another location to continue their work, bringing over the cleaned meat a short while later. Oddly enough, Bai Xiangxiu wasn’t afraid of meat that had been cleaned properly, even though it was still stained slightly with blood.

She thought that it was probably just all in the mind and had wanted to handle it herself, but Long Heng pulled her aside. “Go inside and rest. I’ll do it.”

“Ah?” Why did she have the type of feeling that she had just missed something?

Long Heng didn’t continue to explain further. He actually washed his hands and started deboning and cutting up the meat. His technique was abnormally familiar and his movements quite graceful.

Except, what did he want to do?

She quickly found out, since he took over the meat to a fire and actually started preparing a stew while grilling the meat. Holy, the male lead was unexpectedly preparing a picnic!

The book hadn’t chronicled this event, despite his appearance clearly showing that he wasn’t struggling and seemed to understand these things very well. Actually, Bai Xiangxiu actually still understood him in this moment. Afterall, he was someone who had spent many years in the army, how would he not know how to do these things?

It was just that he hadn’t had the chance to do anything like this since he’d returned from the army. Then why was he doing this today? Could it be for her?

How was that possible? It must be that he wanted to eat some game.

But it still didn’t seem like that. A faint warmth was rising in Bai Xiangxiu’s heart as she watched him cook. No matter whether he was doing this for her or not, he’d still brought her here.

There likely weren’t that many in this world who were privileged to partake of meat personally roasted by Prince Li. After all, he was the male lead – that violent, deeply affectionate, and overbearing Prince Li in The Lord’s Escaped Concubine. She was slightly moved when she took a few steps back to think about it.

It didn’t take long to finish preparing all the food. Bai Xiangxiu’s plate contained a couple of very very small pieces of meat. The pieces displayed the prince’s superb knife skills, and the plate was personally brought over to her by the prince. Xiao Shi was so moved that she nearly sobbed. The prince truly was too kind to her mistress.

Bai Xiangxiu suddenly had the feeling that she had returned to the modern times that boasted of gender equality. She reached out her hands and hastily plopped a piece into her mouth. The meat had the flavor of modern barbecue and was even more fragrant than that of modern times. She nodded vigorously as she continued to eat and gave him a dazzling smile. “It’s delicious, truly delicious.”

Long Heng watched her manner of talking while eating. Even though it was clearly undignified, it wasn’t repulsive at all, and actually rather cute. He reached out his hand and lightly brushed off a piece of red pepper powder from her cheeks.

Bai Xiangxiu’s face reddened and she extended her sleeves to vehemently wipe at her mouth.

“Don’t use so much force. You’re rubbing it raw...” Long Heng sat down beside her. Contrary to his dignified appearance in the residence, he sat cross-legged beside her with his sleeves rolled up, and used his chopsticks to grab pieces of meat to eat while taking the occasional sip of wine. He looked supremely relaxed and even more of a man.

She hadn’t dared try to understand him before, and only felt that he was just one of those characters in the Peking Opera, completely lacking his own personality. But now, he looked so real.

Unconsciously, she actually became a little lost in thought as she looked at him. When Long Heng turned his head, he saw that a certain woman was staring at him in a daze, her eyes resting on his face. He couldn’t help but reach out to rub his face, his expression growing a bit perplexed.

His reaction caused Bai Xiangxiu to laugh. Only, she didn’t realize her smile now was brighter and more real than before. “There’s nothing on your face.”

“Your smile right now is really beautiful.”

Bai Xiangxiu froze in shock, her face turning red. My gosh, the male lead was praising her smile as pretty! He didn’t even easily praise the female lead. But, it was still good that she was a very quick witted person. She immediately stoppered the thoughts that were threatening to rush out.

“Thank you for your praise.” Bai Xiangxiu had eaten quite a bit of meat and was feeling a little too full at the moment. She rubbed her stomach and an undignified burp accidentally released itself. She instantly covered her mouth, her face turning so red that flushing even redder wasn’t possible.

Long Heng laughed heartily upon seeing her face, but still gave her some face. He covered her entire body with his cloak and said into her ear, “The cloak is thick enough that no one will be able to hear.”

Bai Xiangxiu nearly cried for some reason. She had arrived in this world for a very long time, so long that she nearly believed this was where she was going to spend the rest of her days. But, other than Xiao Shi, this was the first time she’d met another person who truly cared about her.

She fiercely bit her fingers under the cloak. It hurt a little but she was finally able to suppress her burps. Long Heng was also very full. Since he’d drunk quite a bit of wine, he decided to practice his spear skills.

His weapon was a spear that was always hung on his mount. Normally, it was separated into two pieces. Only when it was needed would he take it out, press the spring, and fit it together.

Bai Xiangxiu was still wearing the cloak and curled into a ball when she heard the whoosh of wind by her ears. Xiao Shi lightly poked her, saying quietly, “Madame Xiu, Madame Xiu, His Highness is practicing the spear.”

Although Bai Xiangxiu knew that in this world every man knew a bit of martial arts, she’d never seen any of it other than that battle at night. When she took the cloak off, she nearly fangirled, so handsome!

Fortunately, she’d built a foundation of all sorts of appropriate reactions in this world, so she didn’t cry out in the end. However, she was screaming inside, longing for memorial picture like a fan meeting their idol. Sadly, she didn’t have a phone on her. She could only admire and stare unblinkingly at this rare scene of an ancient martial arts performance.