Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 462 Relying on Favor (7)

Yan Zhen said, "I have taught him, but not how to dress and bathe a man."

Zhao Yuan asked in confusion, "What are they teaching?"

The two were quite different in height, and Yan Zhen looked up at him.

Zhao Yuan felt a slight flutter in his heart when he saw her gaze filled with a gentle smile.

"Teaching you how to control your husband in bed, and also..."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yuan abruptly pushed Yan Zhen away, his ears turning bright red: "You...you are simply...you are simply..."

"Shameless." Yan Zhen replied lightly, "You asked the question, and you're unhappy after I answered it. My lord, why are you like this?"

Zhao Yuan: "..."

He was speechless for a moment, glared at Yan Zhen, picked up his sword and strode out the door.

Yan Zhen raised an eyebrow, quickly chased after Zhao Yuan to the door, and called out to his retreating figure, "My lord, won't you have breakfast before you leave?"

Zhao Yuan didn't look back and ran even faster.

After leisurely finishing his breakfast, Yan Zhen went to the front yard to see Fu Xue.

Only after making sure the girl was settled did she return to the backyard.

Zhao Yuan did not restrict Yan Zhen's freedom. Except for not allowing her to leave the manor, she could go anywhere in the manor as she pleased.

Yan Zhen spent the entire morning in the kitchen, watching the oxcarts delivering vegetables enter through the side gate, and the servants carrying the vegetables and meat needed for the day into the kitchen.

The meat is mutton and pork, and there are not many kinds of vegetables. The staple food is only millet, sorghum and soybeans.

When Yan Zhen first arrived in this world, she knew that Tingzhou was barren, but seeing that even a prince was eating such high-class food still refreshed her understanding of the word "barren".

Proverbs such as "food is the first necessity of the people" and "an army marches on its stomach" all prove that food is essential for both people's livelihoods and military campaigns.

To give Tingzhou the confidence to expand its territory and fight Xie Ying, the food problem must first be solved.

As Yan Zhen was pondering this question, the steward came over: "Miss Tan, His Majesty wants to eat noodles for lunch."

Yan Zhen didn't react for a moment, and said "Oh" and "Then let's eat noodles."

Steward: "..."

He put it more directly: "The Lord wants to eat the noodles you cooked."

Yan Zhen: "...Me? Cook noodles?"

“Yes.” The steward looked at her with a hint of pity. “The master said that no one else is allowed to interfere with the noodles you cook.”

Yan Zhen understood; this kid hadn't given up on playing pranks on her yet.

"Row."

Yan Zhen agreed, and seeing that it was getting late, she went straight to the kitchen.

It took Yan Zhen fifteen minutes to ask the cook about the detailed process of making noodles. She scooped flour from the flour bin onto the cutting board, rolled up her sleeves, and began to add water and knead the dough.

The first time, too much water was added, and the dough became sticky, so Yan Zhen added an extra spoonful of flour.

The dough quickly became hard again, so she added water.

Add more flour if there's too much water, add more water if there's too much flour, and repeat this process several times until the dough on the work surface becomes as big as a basin.

The cook standing nearby, who was in charge of providing guidance, had a rather complicated expression.

Yan Zhen was quite satisfied with her work. After rolling out the dough, she cut it into noodles of varying thicknesses and started a fire to boil water.

But after squatting in front of the stove and fiddling with it for a long time, the stove was still completely dark.

Frustrated, Yan Zhen pulled out all the firewood that was just smoking and not catching fire, preparing to start a fire again.

She was working up a sweat, while wisps of smoke silently rose from the pile of firewood beside her.

And so, not long after—

"Oh no! The kitchen is flooded!"

"Help! Someone, put out the fire!!"

"Quickly! Grab buckets and fetch water from the pool to put out the fire!!!"

Upon hearing the news, Zhao Yuan, who was discussing the war with his subordinates in the front yard, rushed to the back yard with his group.

The fire in the kitchen had been extinguished, the door was wide open, and you could vaguely see the kitchen, which was half burned, and the roof, which was blackened by the fire.

A long line of servants stood outside the kitchen, all sweating profusely. Yan Zhen, standing at the very edge, was the most conspicuous among them—her long hair was disheveled, her hands were as black as if she had been mining coal, and her face was as dirty as a cat that had crawled into a furnace.

"What's going on?" Zhao Yuan's face darkened.

As soon as he said this, all the servants turned their gazes to Yan Zhen.

Yan Zhen met the gazes of everyone and Zhao Yuan, and bowed to Zhao Yuan without changing his expression: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I was cooking noodles for Your Majesty in the kitchen when I accidentally set the kitchen on fire."

Zhao Yuan gritted his teeth: "An accident?"

"Hmm!" Yan Zhen, as if worried that he wouldn't believe her, took two steps forward and showed him the hem of her skirt that had been burned and curled up by the flames. "Look, it almost burned me. If I hadn't run fast, the Prince's mansion would have become a haunted house."

Zhao Yuan turned his head to look at the steward, questioning him with his eyes.

The steward stepped forward and whispered in his ear, "I've asked the cook, and it was indeed an accidental burn."

Zhao Yuan: "..."

He was furious.

He was annoyed by Tan Junzhuo this morning, and the more he thought about it, the more upset he became. He wanted to make things difficult for her, so he deliberately asked her to cook noodles.

Unexpectedly, she did something quite different: she set the kitchen on fire.

"You clumsy servant, get back to the courtyard and kneel as punishment!" Zhao Yuan said angrily. "You're not allowed to get up unless I tell you to!"

"Oh."

Yan Zhen left with a look of "reluctance".

Once in the courtyard, Yan Zhen found a shady spot, knelt down, and casually picked a blooming chrysanthemum from a nearby flowerpot, idly plucking off the petals one by one.

On the other side, Zhao Yuan was about to return to the front yard when his personal guard suddenly rushed in and whispered, "My lord, Miss Hong Fu has arrived."

Upon hearing this name, Zhao Yuan felt a chill run down his spine.

Hong Fu is his junior sister. She has a fiery personality and has been clamoring to marry him since she was a child. She even chased after him to Tingzhou after he left the mountain. She is currently one of his female generals.

Because she had feelings for him and considered herself to be the future Princess Consort of Zhao, Hong Fu couldn't stand any woman appearing around him.

Every female servant around Zhao Yuan had been disciplined by her.

Zhao Yuan was pondering how to avoid seeing Hong Fu when, as if he had just thought of something, he said to his personal guard, "Go, lead Hong Fu to the backyard, and make sure she sees Tan Junzhuo."

The guards immediately realized what Zhao Yuan was planning to do, silently lit a candle for the Liang princess in their hearts, and left to carry out their orders.

Yan Zhen was kneeling in the courtyard counting flower petals when footsteps suddenly came from the courtyard gate. Judging from the noise, there were quite a few people there.

She turned around and her eyes met those of the woman who walked in.

The woman wore a narrow-sleeved red dress, black boots, and a long sword at her waist. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail with a red ribbon fluttering in the wind. Combined with her heroic features, she exuded an indescribable air of valor.

Hong Fu also noticed Yan Zhen kneeling in the courtyard at a glance. The moment their eyes met, she was stunned by his incomparably beautiful face.

The woman was young, with messy long hair and a dirty face. She was wearing the most ordinary servant's uniform.

Even so, her graceful figure and innate nobility were still undeniable.

When did Zhao Yuan hide such a stunningly beautiful woman in his courtyard?

A sense of crisis suddenly arose in Hong Fu's heart. She took two steps forward, placed one foot on the edge of the flowerpot next to Yan Zhen, rested her arm on her knee, and leaned closer to examine Yan Zhen: "Who are you?"