Chapter 30: Wild Yam Clear Soup Part 2

Hearing this, Ruan Ming felt joy in her heart.

Of course, she hadn’t forgotten; she just hadn’t felt it was her place to bring it up.

At the same time, she also realized the convenience wealthy people had in getting things done. Still grateful, she said: “Thank you. I don’t have many credits right now. I’m afraid I won’t be able to pay for the cost of the conditioner.”

Ye Fengwan turned her head to glance at her. “Are you suffering from amnesia? We already settled the matter of the neutralizer long ago. And now you’re bringing up credits again.”

This person’s words were never particularly pleasant, but Ruan Ming didn’t take it to heart. She glanced at a fairy peach on the cactus beside her—fully ripened to a deep red—and casually plucked it.

Seeing this, Ye Fengwan asked: “Not cooking dinner tonight? Just eating this?”

Ruan Ming replied: “This one grew too well. It can’t escape the eyes of the mutated birds in the sky. If I don’t pick it, they’ll eat it anyway.”

Ye Fengwan, whose usual experiments never accounted for airborne predators, merely said “Oh.” She added, “The one you picked is especially red. It should be very sweet.”

Ruan Ming, whose stomach just happened to be growling, casually peeled back a layer of skin. She removed her mask and took a bite. As the juice entered her mouth, she nodded. “It is pretty sweet.”

Ye Fengwan stood up and walked over. “Let me have a taste.”

As she spoke, she unfastened her own mask. Her long hair cascaded down, revealing a face of delicate, exquisite beauty.

Ruan Ming subtly averted her gaze.

She felt a little embarrassed to hand over what she had already bitten into. But such a vibrantly red fruit was the only one. She could only peel the skin on the other side and offer it to her, saying: “Bite this side.”

Ye Fengwan didn’t take it. Instead, she suddenly leaned in close.

A fragrance wafted over, and Ruan Ming felt momentarily dazed.

This person, using Ruan Ming’s own hand, turned her head and took another bite right over the spot Ruan Ming had just bitten.

Ruan Ming looked at the teeth marks overlapping one another on the fairy peach. She recalled the photo of the bitten peach sent that day. A rush of heat shot straight up to her forehead. She stood frozen, not daring to look up at the woman in front of her.

“Mmm, sweet,” Ye Fengwan said, swallowing it down without chewing. “Just too many seeds. See if there’s a way to develop a variety like dragon fruit—lots of flesh, few seeds, almost negligible.”

Ruan Ming made no sound. The fruit in her hand wasn’t finished, yet she couldn’t throw it away. She could only turn her back and eat it in small, tiny bites.

When she turned back around, her lips were stained red from the juice, as if she’d applied a layer of lipstick, appearing strikingly vivid.

Ye Fengwan found her gaze suddenly impossible to tear away. It took a long while before she looked aside.

She asked: “Day before yesterday, you suddenly became very cold towards me. Did something happen?”

Ruan Ming’s heart leaped violently in her chest. She had thought Ye Fengwan wouldn’t notice, but not only had she noticed, she had come to confirm it with her.

“Was there? Haven’t I always been like that?” She kept her expression completely composed.

Ye Fengwan stared at her for a long moment without speaking. Only after quite a while did she tilt her head slightly. “I’ve finished taking samples. Let’s go home and make dinner.”

Ruan Ming murmured an affirmation and walked on ahead.

Ye Fengwan followed behind and asked: “I heard that some days ago, a relative of a Patrol member was bullying you?”

Without turning her head, Ruan Ming replied: “Do I look like someone who’s easy to bully?”

Ye Fengwan looked at her retreating figure and said, “Pretty easy to bully.”

Ruan Ming halted her steps and turned around to glare at her.

Ye Fengwan also stopped, smiling. “You look soft and delicate—exactly the type that seems easy to bully.”

Ruan Ming gave a light snort. “The soft and delicate person you speak of actually saved you just the day before yesterday.”

Ye Fengwan softened her voice. “That’s right. How should I repay such a life-saving grace?”

Ruan Ming was afraid she would bring up repaying kindness by offering herself in marriage or some such thing—after all, back when Ye Fengwan saved her, something exactly like that had happened between them. In a way, that had also been about repaying with one’s body. Now, inversely, this time it was she who had saved Ye Fengwan—

She hastily cut off her chaotic thoughts and changed the subject. “Why did you come to New Land? Don’t tell me you volunteered to be stationed here for months to monitor soil conditions.”

Ye Fengwan: “Would you believe me if I said I came because I wanted to see you?”

Ruan Ming: “I wouldn’t.”

So Ye Fengwan honestly replied: “It’s because of the truck hijacking. They couldn’t find any damning evidence against me, so they could only temporarily transfer me out of the Safe Zone to prevent me from being at irreconcilable odds with Qu Wu.”

Upon hearing this explanation, Ruan Ming turned back around and continued walking home.

“That must be hard for you,” she said.

Ye Fengwan’s gaze lingered on her retreating figure as she replied: “It’s not hard. My sister originally wasn’t going to let me come. It was me who said I wanted to.”

Ruan Ming bit her lip and said nothing more.

When they got back to the house, she removed her mask and said: “I’ll go cook.”

Ye Fengwan murmured an assent: “If there aren’t many ingredients, keep it simple. I’m not picky.”

Hearing this, Ruan Ming recalled yesterday at dinner when she mentioned Aunt Geng’s cooking—it hadn’t seemed like that was the case at all.

After thinking for a moment, she picked up the two eggs from the table and went into the kitchen.

Nowadays, she got up early every morning without fail to carry water from the mountain. All the water she drank each day was pollution-free spring water from the mountain. What she couldn’t finish drinking, she used for bathing, or else watered the vegetable patches.

Ye Fengwan went to the car to get her own water bottle, then headed into the kitchen as if she’d always been doing it.

Ruan Ming had already started the rice cooking and was peeling wild yams. Seeing her come in with the water bottle, she gestured with her chin towards the pot on the stove. “Boiled water’s in there. Help yourself.”

Ye Fengwan: “Okay.”

First, she scooped out a large ladleful, drank several big gulps, and only then filled her bottle.

Afterwards, she asked: “Are you thirsty?”

Ruan Ming could well imagine that if she said yes, this person would certainly lift the ladle to her lips to feed her. So she shook her head.

Only then did Ye Fengwan let it go. She fetched a small stool, sat next to the stove, and helped watch the fire.

“What’s the yam being cooked with?” she asked.

Ruan Ming replied: “Originally, I was planning to make yam congee. But since you brought eggs, I’ll make a clear soup instead. I picked some wild greens this morning. Stir-fried, they’ll be enough for the two of us.”

Ye Fengwan felt like she might have a brain malfunction. The mere phrase “the two of us” was enough to make her heart flutter. Overjoyed, she said: “Having enough to eat is fine. I don’t eat much.”

Ruan Ming: …

Who was it last night that ate almost a full half of the dishes?

She washed the pre-soaked shiitake mushrooms, trimmed off the stems, and sliced them thickly. She cut the yam into irregular chunks and placed them into the pot along with the spring water.

Ye Fengwan tended the fire.

Once the soup came to a boil, she watched Ruan Ming meticulously skim the foam bit by bit. Unable to resist, she reached out and tucked the lock of hair that had fallen beside Ruan Ming’s ear behind it.

The fire was strong, making Ruan Ming’s ear burn hot.

Seeing the yam and mushrooms were nearly cooked through, she added salt and a few drops of sesame oil. Then she cracked two eggs into a bowl, swiftly beat them with chopsticks, and poured the mixture into the bubbling soup. A gentle stir with the ladle, and it was ready to be served.

Ye Fengwan couldn’t stay seated any longer. She crouched by the stove, sniffing.

“Fragrant.”

Ruan Ming glanced at her sideways. Where was the noble, refined air of a city young lady now?

“Just stir-frying one more green vegetable and we’re done.”

Ye Fengwan eagerly helped ladle out the soup.

Ruan Ming heated the wok, adding a bit more oil than usual. Mountain wild greens absorbed oil; too little and they’d be no better than pig slop. You couldn’t skimp here.

As the greens hit the wok, the oil sizzled and spattered. The spatula flipped them quickly a couple of times. A pinch of salt, a little MSG, and in just a few flips, it was ready to plate.

Ye Fengwan handed her the plate, then turned right around to scoop out the rice.

Although there was no meat, the tender wild greens had absorbed the oil, releasing an irresistible, fragrant aroma. She had long forgotten her earlier claim of not eating much, heaping both bowls of rice high until they mounded at the top.

Ruan Ming brought the greens to the table. Seeing those two large, roundly domed bowls of rice, she couldn’t help but feel both amused and exasperated.

“So hungry,” Ye Fengwan urged. “Hurry, sit down and eat.”

Ruan Ming said: “If you’re hungry, start first.”

Ye Fengwan: “We should eat together.”

Ruan Ming untied her small, homemade apron. “I’ll get two empty bowls for the soup.”

Ye Fengwan watched her eagerly as she went for the bowls. Rising to take them, she poured two large bowls of soup for them both.

Finally, she abandoned all restraint. She lifted the bowl to her lips for a small sip and immediately scalded her tongue, causing her to stick it out.

Ruan Ming said: “How old are you? Don’t you know to blow on it first?”

Ye Fengwan replied: “I’m twenty-six this year.”

Three years older than herself. Ruan Ming averted her gaze. “I didn’t ask how old you are.”

Ye Fengwan: “I just wanted you to know.”