Daily Survival After Inheriting a Harem (GL) - Chapter 18

Qiu Qi herself temporarily did not know that she had already been scheduled by others. Right now, she was hugging a stone pot and crouching in a little grove, secretly eating.

Out of consideration for Pei Yuqing’s tastes, the dishes she had made these past two days had not even had much salt added. But with her nature as a happy fat nerd, how could Qiu Qi forget the temptation of heavy oil and spicy flavors?

She found a divided stone pot, washed it clean, then set up a fire by the lake in the grove. Afterward, she poured in the bone broth that had been stewed for a long time.

First, she used a spoon to test the saltiness. Once satisfied, she took out the chili oil she had fried and added it in, only stopping when the spicy smell became somewhat choking.

Once the water boiled, she added a slice of mutton and impatiently tasted it.

“Mm! This is the taste.”

The old master’s knife skills were very good. The mutton was sliced evenly, neither too thick nor too thin. Added with how fresh the meat was, a brief scalding was enough to make it full and rich in the mouth. The mutton fat, carrying a faint milky fragrance, filled her tongue. Every breath she inhaled carried the aroma of meat. And that chili—she had specially picked it from dozens of pepper varieties, then dried and fried it. This spicy flavor was simply much more satisfying and stimulating than fresh chili!

Qiu Qi narrowed her eyes happily. This was too delicious. She could eat an entire sheep by herself!

Just as she was eating happily, the bushes to her front left made a rustling sound. Qiu Qi protected her bowl and raised her head warily to look.

“I smelled this choking fragrance from far away and wondered who it was. So it turns out my lord is here…”

Xu Zishe swallowed back the words “secretly eating” and changed to another phrasing.

“…researching a new dish.”

Qiu Qi sized up Xu Zishe’s appearance. Her neck was especially eye-catching and different from others. It was thin and long, held upright like a swan’s, carrying a natural sense of superiority.

Her long hair was coiled high and casually fixed behind her head with a bamboo hairpin. Beneath willow-leaf brows, the corners of her eyes tilted upward slightly, making her look very hard to provoke. When those eyes stared at someone, it gave that person the feeling of having become prey.

Qiu Qi shrank her neck, somewhat uncomfortable with Xu Zishe’s gaze.

“Right. I was afraid of choking Madam. She can’t stand these stimulating smells.”

Xu Zishe suddenly laughed. Very quickly, she also removed that aggressive and frightening expression. She walked to Qiu Qi’s side and crouched down.

“My lord, I’m different from her. I… happen to especially like stimulating things. Would you like to find a time for us to try?”

“Oh? Is that so?”

Qiu Qi pretended not to understand the teasing layer in her words. She picked up a tofu puff full of soup and held it in front of Xu Zishe with a smile.

“Then try this and see whether it’s stimulating enough.”

Xu Zishe’s smile paused, but she still opened her mouth and ate it.

The instant her teeth bit down, the scalding hot soup wrapped inside the tofu puff burst out. Not only was the temperature burning, but there was also that perversely spicy heat, directly raising the pain level by several stages.

“Mmph—”

“Eh?”

Qiu Qi raised her hand and blocked Xu Zishe’s mouth.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you especially like stimulating things? Or is my cooking not good enough?”

Xu Zishe thought to herself that she had truly underestimated Qiu Qi. Her lips trembled, but she forced herself to swallow that mouthful. Afterward, she even strongly raised a smile.

“My lord jokes. Of course it is delicious.”

Actually, it was not as if she was lying. Aside from being burned when it first entered her mouth, the ordinary-looking tofu puff became more fragrant the more she chewed. Aside from the meaty taste of the soup, there was also garlic, sesame, and some other flavors she did not know. Although the combination was complicated, the texture was very wonderful.

It was the kind of feeling where one bite made you addicted.

Seeing Xu Zishe staring at the dipping sauce in her bowl, Qiu Qi took the initiative to explain.

“This is my homemade secret dipping sauce. No matter what it is, as long as you dip it in a little, I guarantee it’ll all become super delicious.”

The things in this bowl were the ingredients she had loved most for hotpot in the past: sesame oil with chili, a little crushed peanut, and the minced garlic that was essential for eating meat.

Of course, there was also a bowl of sesame paste on the other side, ensuring she could switch between two flavors at any time.

Sesame paste was something people might not be used to the first time they ate it and might find it greasy. But just like durian, once you ate it enough times, you really could not quit.

When Xu Zishe had been in beast form in the past, she had no sense of taste. Only after cultivating into human form did she gradually learn that eating was such a great pleasure in this world.

When talking about foodies, she could truly be called a senior-level one. She never went out, yet she had a little vegetable garden planted in the courtyard and had handwritten over a hundred recipes copied from the human race. Whenever she had time, she holed up in her room experimenting. Her room was far from the main courtyard, so no one noticed what she was making.

“What is this dish called?”

Xu Zishe became interested.

“I can be considered quite knowledgeable about human delicacies, but I have never seen any household cook food this way. Since everything needs to be cooked, why not pour it all in from the beginning?”

If you poured it all in from the start, wouldn’t that become malatang? Qiu Qi roasted inwardly.

However, she did not say that directly to Xu Zishe.

“Because what you’re eating is the fun of it. You can come over and try. During the time when you put the ingredient into the pot and wait for it to float up, your appetite and anticipation will both be pulled to the fullest. At this moment, when you eat a bite, that feeling is just unbelievably happy.”

Perhaps Qiu Qi’s description was too tempting, because Xu Zishe really picked up an unused pair of chopsticks from the side and placed a vegetable leaf into the pot.

When the leaf had been cooked in the red soup until it became glossy, soft, and translucent, she picked it up, took some of that secret sauce that left her wanting more, blew it cool, and put it into her mouth.

“Mm.”

Her eyes lit up.

“This vegetable leaf actually tastes a little like meat. How wonderful.”

Qiu Qi furrowed her brows and discovered that things were not simple.

“Did you clip away the slice of meat I put in just now? My pot is empty!”

Xu Zishe looked as if she had only just realized it. Pretentiously, she covered her mouth.

“Oh? Is that so? I apologize, my lord. This little one’s eyesight is not very good. You know that.”

Qiu Qi knew she was deliberately getting revenge for the tofu puff from earlier. She rolled her eyes and was too lazy to argue with her.

A one-person portion of ingredients, eaten by two people, instantly hit the bottom.

“Were you reincarnated from a starving ghost? You ate even more than I did.”

Although the fun of hotpot was fighting over food, never being able to beat the other person made Qiu Qi feel very uncomfortable.

Having eaten her fill, Xu Zishe was elegantly wiping the chili oil at the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief. When she met Qiu Qi’s angry gaze, she only pretended not to see it and smiled lightly.

“I’ll remember you. Next time, I’ll specifically hide from you while eating.”

Qiu Qi picked up her little stone pot, planning to destroy the evidence.

“Wait.”

Xu Zishe called Qiu Qi back and took out a porcelain-white bottle from her robes.

“This is my gift to my lord. Consider it a small repayment for the golden snake statue and the hotpot just now.”

Qiu Qi was puzzled.

“What is this?”

Xu Zishe deliberately kept it mysterious.

“You do not need to know what it is. You only need to know that you will use it very soon.”

“Acting all mysterious…”

Although she complained like this, Qiu Qi still accepted it.

According to experience, at times like this, it was better to believe it than not. The key point was, how could she throw away a prop given by an NPC?

…

After eating red-soup hotpot, the happiest thing was, of course, immediately having an ice pop!

Qiu Qi washed the pot clean and jogged all the way into the icehouse, taking out the ice bars she had put in there earlier.

The milk here was especially rich and had a faint sweetness of its own. It was especially suitable for making ice cream. Qiu Qi had made many flavors. She took out an osmanthus-flavored one, put the rest back into the ice box, and walked out with cold air surrounding her whole body.

Biting an ice pop like this while leisurely strolling around near home was her favorite thing to do in the past when she lacked inspiration. In another world, this comfort seemed especially precious.

After walking until she was tired, Qiu Qi sat down in a small pavilion to rest. This courtyard was as large as a scenic area. Just casually walking around, the scenery entering her eyes could be rated five-star.

She ate the ice pop while looking at the lake surface beneath the sunset. The more she looked, the more she felt inspiration bursting forth. So she simply picked up a tree branch and began drawing on the ground.

The moment she started, it was the human body she was best at. With only a few rough strokes, she outlined the general form. Then Qiu Qi focused her attention on the character’s face. Because there was no other image in her mind for the time being, she unconsciously placed Pei Yuqing’s face onto it.

Tightly pursed lips. Lashes always lowered so one could not clearly see the expression in her eyes. A high nose bridge, but delicate and pleasing to look at. As for the figure…

Qiu Qi blushed and recalled it for a moment. Then she quickly moved her wrist, adding emphasis to the upper body of the person in the drawing to increase its “three-dimensionality.”

“Mm, that’s more like it.”

She snapped her fingers and smiled in satisfaction. Just as she was about to lower her head and take a bite of ice cream, she lowered her eyes and discovered that only a stick was left.

“Chirp chirp chirp… so sweet…”

Her gaze fell, and Qiu Qi finally saw the little blue sparrow on the table beside her, sticking its butt up while licking the melted ice pop syrup.

“Little Fat Chirp, when did you get here?”

Little Fat Chirp’s body stiffened, and its tail feathers trembled. It turned around.

“It was… Master. Master told me to come find you and pass on a message.”

“Oh.”

Qiu Qi propped up her chin and looked at it.

“What does Madam want me for?”

Seeing that Qiu Qi did not seem to intend to scold it, Lan Tang happily licked the syrup again.

“Master didn’t say. She only told me to come call you back.”

“Then all right.”

Qiu Qi held out her finger.

“Little Fat Chirp, come up. Let’s go find your master together.”

“Chirp…”

Lan Tang reluctantly looked at the syrup, unwillingly moving forward two steps.

Qiu Qi found its greedy little appearance funny.

“We can’t delay business. Let’s go back first. On the way, we’ll stop by the icehouse, and I’ll get you another one.”

Lan Tang’s mung-bean eyes instantly widened.

“Really? Chirp chirp chirp! Lan Tang likes eating icy-icy!”

“Really.”

Qiu Qi developed some wicked thoughts.

“Then if I treat you to an ice pop, can you let me touch your little belly?”

“Chirp!”

Lan Tang was so frightened it covered its belly with its wings.

“Big pervert.”

“What are you thinking? I just think your belly looks like it feels really nice.”

Qiu Qi explained,

“Otherwise, you can touch mine back too.”

“Lan Tang doesn’t want to touch your belly.”

After the two of them developed a friendship over ice pops, Lan Tang was not so timid anymore, and its speaking voice grew much louder too.

“But if it’s only just a little, and you’re willing to give me lots and lots of ice pops…”

“Okay, just a little.”

Qiu Qi raised her finger.

“Really, only just a little.”

Lan Tang shyly moved away the wing covering its belly. This was the first time it had shown its belly to someone other than its master to touch, but that sweet ice pop was too delicious. It truly could not resist the temptation.

“Okay, I’ll just touch it. Very quickly.”

When Pei Yuqing came looking for them, she happened to see Qiu Qi looking excited as she coaxed her own mount into letting her rub its belly. Meanwhile, the proud and withdrawn Lan Tang surprisingly did not resist and lowered its little head, seeming a little shy?

Her gaze brushed over Qiu Qi’s fingers touching Lan Tang’s body, and her expression darkened by a few degrees.

“Lan Tang.”

A familiar voice sounded behind them. The clear, cold voice was faint, yet it was like thunder beside their ears.

“I asked you to call my lord. What are you doing here now?”

Both person and bird stiffened. They turned their heads at the same time.

“Madam/Master, she/it forced me. It has nothing to do with me.”

After saying that, Qiu Qi glared at the blue sparrow.

“Little thing, you’re pretty good at making excuses?”

Very quickly, Qiu Qi discovered that Pei Yuqing’s attention was not on the two of them at all. Instead, it passed over her shoulder and landed on the sand, on the restricted-color human body drawing she had made with a tree branch.

Those brows and eyes looked familiar no matter how one looked.

Pei Yuqing’s expression instantly sank, and the emotions in her eyes surged.

“Madam, I… is it still in time for me to explain now?”

Author’s Note:
I’m planning to let Sister Qiu make use of her professional specialty and earn a little money to subsidize the household, hhh.

P.S. Next chapter, the rings are finally coming off, finally coming off, finally coming off.