"You mean that little servant? Is his cooking even better?" Nangong Suxin's eyes lit up. She knew Xiaoyao could cook—otherwise, how could he have made that medicinal cuisine? But she didn't think Xiaoyao's culinary skills could reach such a level.
Xiao Ai, Princess Ke Xin, and the others also brightened up. They really wanted to know the answer to this question!
"It's him, but it's not 'even better'!" The Young Miss smiled, keeping them in suspense to see Nangong Suxin's reaction.
"Then is he a little worse, or about the same?" Nangong Suxin asked. She felt that even if there was a difference, it shouldn't be too much, or else the Young Miss wouldn't have this reaction.
"Neither—it's exactly the same!" the Young Miss laughed.
"Exactly the same, that's not about the same... wait, you mean..." Nangong Suxin initially felt annoyed, thinking the Young Miss was nitpicking words, but then she realized the implication.
"That's right, this was originally made by him, so of course it's exactly the same!" the Young Miss said proudly, as if she could cook like that herself.
"How can you be so certain? What if it's someone with similar skills?" Nangong Suxin found fault with her reasoning. Although she felt this question wasn't very meaningful—she could figure it out herself—she still wanted to make the Young Miss uncomfortable.
"There's no one with similar skills to him. Even if someone had comparable culinary skills, they couldn't have his knife work. Just look at the knife work on these dishes and you'll understand," the Young Miss said.
"..." Nangong Suxin fell silent. She didn't want to question it anymore. She had already believed it, and besides, the second dish had arrived.
It was just like the first dish, but the flavor was slightly heavier. According to the pattern of serving dishes, the taste generally gets progressively stronger, though most people can't detect this in some dishes.
When the third dish arrived, everyone could be certain that the previous ones were indeed made by Xiaoyao. No one doubted it anymore, because this third dish was medicinal cuisine, which Xiaoyao had already explained he could make.
The taste of this medicinal cuisine was still incredibly delicious, without any feeling of taking medicine. Very few people could prepare medicinal cuisine to this level!
After that, Phoenix Soaring Tower's own dishes were served. Those signature dishes that Xiao Ai had once drooled over and always wanted to eat again now seemed much more ordinary, no longer giving her that previous feeling.
"Guxing, I'm very curious—how exactly did your Xiaoyao grow up? How does he have so many incredible skills?" Nangong Suxin asked seriously. She believed only Guxing might know something about this; no one else could possibly know.
This question was something everyone present wanted to know, and in the future, the entire continent would want to know. But no one knew—it was a mystery, one of the greatest mysteries in the continent's history.
"Hard work, genius!" Guxing only gave two words. That was all she could answer.
"..."
"We can only say he's a genius, a monstrous genius!" Nangong Suxin sighed.
"What, are you envious of me?" the Young Miss patted Nangong Suxin's shoulder and laughed, her expression somewhat infuriating as she showed off shamelessly.
But—
"Envious of what? If I were to be envious, it would be Guxing. What does it have to do with you?" Nangong Suxin rolled her eyes irritably.
"I'm his Young Miss, he's my servant—that's the relationship! If you don't believe it, you can ask him..." The Young Miss completely ignored Nangong Suxin's eye roll and remained smugly pleased.
"..."
"Forget it, I can't be bothered arguing with you!" Nangong Suxin had nothing to say. After all, on this point, Xiaoyao would definitely acknowledge it, and his special care for the Young Miss was very obvious.
Afterward, Nangong Suxin shook her head and sighed: "It's just a pity that his martial arts have never been able to break through the basic skills level. This is somewhat puzzling. With his aptitude, it's impossible for him to be stuck at basic skills for so long, even if he had qi deviation before!"
"Who knows about that? If he can't figure it out himself, there must be a reason. But there's no need to worry about it. He doesn't really need such strong martial prowess anyway—Guxing and I can protect him! Besides, he'll break through sooner or later and will definitely soar high in the future!" the Young Miss said nonchalantly.
"True, this young miss will also look after him," Nangong Suxin said with a smile.
"Don't meddle, go play somewhere else," the Young Miss said irritably. She didn't like Nangong Suxin interfering here, and she didn't think Nangong Suxin would be of much use anyway.
"You're the one who should go play somewhere else. My protection of him is stronger than yours," Nangong Suxin retorted.
"Hmph, I'm about to catch up to you soon. Very quickly you won't be stronger than me," the Young Miss said disdainfully, thinking Nangong Suxin was referring to martial prowess.
"First, for you to catch up to me will take at least several decades. Also, even if I'm overtaken, my protection of him is more useful than yours,” Nangong Suxin corrected her, her expression becoming serious, as if she wasn't just being stubborn in argument.
"Strong how? Your Nangong family isn't stronger than ours. Our Mo family's martial prowess isn't weaker than yours, and we can also forge weapons. Where exactly are you stronger?" the Young Miss said very directly. She wasn't trying to put down Nangong Suxin, just stating what she believed to be fact.
Nangong Suxin understood the Young Miss's personality and knew she didn't mean anything else by it, but she still wanted to mention something the Young Miss didn't know.
However, at this moment, Xiaoyao happened to enter from outside and heard the Young Miss's words, so he said: "Young Miss, you're wrong about this. The Nangong clan isn't something the Mo family can compare to, otherwise the Mo family wouldn't have been enduring all along."
"What do you mean?" The Young Miss was somewhat confused. She had always found this point strange—why did the Mo family have to endure the Nangong clan when the Nangong clan didn't seem very strong?
"The true power of the Nangong clan isn't in Qingyun City, nor in the Heavenly Wind Kingdom. The Nangong clan in Qingyun City is just a branch family. That is to say, it's one branch of their power, and still a very small branch..." Xiaoyao began to speak, revealing something the Young Miss didn't know but others had some understanding of.
"No way,” the Young Miss said in disbelief. The Nangong clan she knew was actually a branch family, and still a very weak one. Then her Mo family really had nothing to compare with them.
"'No way' your head! Only you didn't know. You don't even know what kind of background your opponent has. I really don't know whether to call you stupid or dumb!" Nangong Suxin said with exaggerated anguish, clearly looking for an opportunity to put down the Young Miss.
"Hey hey, those two mean the same thing. Is there a difference between stupid and dumb?" the Young Miss said irritably.
"Isn't there? Heh..."
"..."
"I'm ignoring you. Xiaoyao, where is the true power of the Nangong clan?" the Young Miss turned to ask Xiaoyao.
"You should have heard of this—that one in the Great Tang Empire..." Xiaoyao said casually while placing the two dishes he brought on the table.
Most of the people present were thinking about the Nangong clan matter. Only Guxing paid no attention to these things and immediately started eating when the dishes were served.
"In the Great Tang Empire... Let me think, I think I've only heard of one Nangong clan, but that's impossible. That one is one of the continent's ten great clans. Looking at her, she doesn't look like someone from the ten great clans..." the Young Miss looked at Nangong Suxin and shook her head, directly dismissing the idea.
"What do you mean by that? Where don't I look like that?" Nangong Suxin said coldly.
"From head to toe, nowhere looks like it!"
"Come out, let's duel!"
"Fine, who's afraid of whom!"
Here we go again. It looked like they'd be fighting for half the day. Everyone shook their heads helplessly. However, they also envied the two of them. Although they seemed to fight every day and were incompatible as fire and water, there seemed to be a special feeling between them.
"Young Miss, aren't you drinking wine?" Xiaoyao asked calmly.
"Ah, yes yes, let's not fight first!" The Young Miss sat back down. If there were anything in this world that could stop the Young Miss from fighting and causing trouble, the first thing would be wine.
"..."
"Miss Suxin, don't rush either. Eat something first. This cabbage is quite good," Xiaoyao said.
"Cabbage?! It looks very ordinary..." Nangong Suxin said, but she had already sat back down and picked up her chopsticks to eat. Although it looked plain in appearance and ingredients, she wasn't averse to it. Moreover, since Xiaoyao had called her attention to it, she wouldn't refuse.
When Nangong Suxin took a bite, surprise appeared on her face again. Although she knew Xiaoyao's dishes wouldn't be ordinary, this cabbage that looked so plain—like cabbage boiled in plain water—actually had an amazing deliciousness.
"What is this?" Nangong Suxin looked at Xiaoyao.
"Boiled cabbage in clear broth—a famous dish!" Xiaoyao answered.
"So it really is boiled cabbage in clear broth. I never expected it. I thought it was just a legend that was too magical. The level of deliciousness makes this the most delicious dish I've ever eaten!" Nangong Suxin generously gave it the highest praise.
"That's just because you haven't eaten enough. If you had eaten something Xiaoyao seriously prepared, then you'd know what truly delicious means!" the Young Miss struck again.
However, this was actually true. This time Xiaoyao was just borrowing someone else's kitchen to cook temporarily. If he had prepared it himself, it would be considerably better, though not by too much.
When culinary skills reach a certain level, one can turn any ingredients into deliciousness, even transforming the mundane into the magical. Environmental factors don't have much impact anymore.
But there's still a tiny bit of difference. Sometimes what differs is just that little bit, but it gives people a somewhat different feeling.
"That's about enough. Why so much fuss over a meal? As long as you can eat your fill, that's fine..." Xiaoyao said casually.
"..."
(End of Chapter)