Be Modest,My Master of Imperial Guards

Chapter 33 Sweet Date Steamed Bun

Just when Leng Qingtang was about to kiss Gu Yunxi on the lips, he suddenly saw tears sliding down her cheek. He immediately stopped.

"Yunxi..."

He was dazed. Before he could ask her what happened, she started crying fiercely.

"Do you have to be so petty?"

"Me? Petty? What makes you think that?"

Leng Qingtang was confused.

Gu Yunxi huddled herself in the corner of the wall. She sobbed and complained off and on,

"I didn't mean to upset you... If you are mad and want to kill me, could you not do it by twisting my head? It hurts."

Leng Qingtang didn't know whether to get angry or laugh. While explaining to Gu Yunxi, his ears also turned red,

"Yunxi, I wasn't trying to kill you!"

"Then why did you twist my head?"

Gu Yunxi mumbled in discontent. She wiped her tears away with her sleeves.

"I..."

Leng Qingtang let go of her in haste. He helplessly put down his arms. Watching her sobbing sadly, he felt bad yet didn't know what to do.

It looked like she was scared badly. He could do anything, but he shouldn't scare her like this.

But then again, Leng Qingtang felt like he was the one being wronged.

He only wanted to ask Yunxi for a kiss, yet she was too simple and innocent and couldn't see what he was doing, so she misunderstood him.

"Yunxi, I was wrong. It's all my bad."

The person who just made her apologize was now repeating what she said and apologizing to her.

"I spend almost six hours making flower cakes. If I knew you would get mad because of it, I..."

Gu Yunxi stayed in the corner and continued crying and complaining. Before she could finish the sentence, she was pulled up by a strong force and landed right in the Master's arms.

"Silly girl!"

Leng Qingtang said it with adoration. Holding her tightly, he put his smooth chin gently on top of her head. He looked sentimental. He felt his heart was filled by unnamable warmth. The feeling made him feel enriched.

Putting her soft cheeks on the Master's chest, Gu Yunxi slowly stopped crying.

After a while, she looked up at the Master. Her charming almond-shaped eyes were still watery.

"Master, are you really not angry with me anymore?"

She asked tentatively, still looking a bit scared.

"No, I'm not."

Leng Qingtang firmly shook his head with a smile. He touched her cheeks with his slim and pale fingers and wiped out the tears for her.

"How would I be mad at you when I couldn't even adore you enough?"

Gu Yunxi finally smiled. Her nose was red and wet because of all the crying. She looked like a little kitten.

Leng Qingtang held the back of her head with his hand and pressed her head onto his chest. He held her in his arms with adoration.

The room was all quiet as if the air had stopped moving, and the atmosphere had become sweet and loving.

"Master, Lord Ming from the Western Depot has asked servants to bring his gifts."

It was Sun Bing's voice.

Leng Qingtang looked at the door and realized the door had been open. Who knew when this depot worker came and stood in the yard watching.

Sun Bing was an honest man. He stood outside the door and looked down in a great manner. He didn't look up once. He didn't look like he had seen what had happened in the room.

Sun Bing had been serving in the Southern Residence for many years. He had always been honest and dull. Even if he had seen anything, Leng Qingtang wouldn't have felt uncomfortable. At least he believed that Sun Bing wouldn't go around and talk about it.

Leng Qingtang let go of Gu Yunxi and kept a safe distance between them. Looking at the brocade box and green jade jar in Sun Bing's hand, he ordered,

"Take these inside."

Sun Bing entered the room as ordered. When he walked past Gu Yunxi, he secretly raised his eyes and quickly glanced at her like an imponderable wisp of air passing by her body.

"Master, the chrysanthemum wine is Lord Ming's gift to you for the festival. In the brocade box is his gift to Lord Yun."

"Lord Yun" was a respectful form that Sun Bing used to call Gu Yunxi, even though he had already known that she was a girl.

Chrysanthemum wine was a low degree sweet wine that was made by brewing chrysanthemum, glutinous rice, and wolfberries with the distiller's yeast. In Dayi, drinking chrysanthemum wine and eating osmanthus flower cakes were indispensable representative cultures during the Double Ninth Festival.

Glancing at the jar of wine carelessly, Leng Qingtang looked away and opened the lake blue brocade box with willow leaf patterns.

His black pupils narrowed. He fixated his eyes on the thing lying in the brocade box.

A pair of gilding chrysanthemum earrings was lying in the middle of the red satin. It was delicate and beautiful and obviously came from the Palace.

Today was the Double Ninth Festival. The concubines in the Palace all had the habit of wearing pieces of jewelry that were shaped like the chrysanthemum on this day. It wouldn't be hard for Ming Lan to get some.

Leng Qingtang squinted his eyes. He slightly curled his lips, smiling contemptuously at the jewelry in the box.

Nice try!

Ming Lan was not just giving Yunxi a piece of jewelry. He was actually telling the Master that he had already known that Yunxi was a girl.

Leng Qingtang gritted his teeth in hatred,

"Ming Lan, who gave you the balls to challenge me when you had just climbed to the seat of the Commander-in-chief in the Western Depot?" He thought.

"Master, Lord Ming, Lord Ming knew that I'm a girl! What should we do?"

Gu Yunxi saw the earrings in the brocade box, too. She immediately panicked. Her face turned pale because of the shock. She grabbed onto one of Leng Qingtang's sleeves.

"Don't worry! I'm here. No need to be scared of him."

Leng Qingtang was quite calm at this moment. He turned his head and asked Sun Bing,

"Are the people from the Western Depot still here?"

"No, Master. They went back as soon as they dropped the gift."

"Good," Leng Qingtang nodded and said to him,

"You're done here. Leave."

"Excuse me."

Sun Bing replied respectfully and left the room.

Gu Yunxi couldn't wait to come closer. She looked scared,

"Master, he really knows. I didn't feel quite right when he dragged me and looked at me that day. He..."

"Yunxi, do you believe me?"

Leng Qingtang suddenly bent over. His face was in parallel with hers. He looked straight into her eyes.

Gu Yunxi looked back at him. She saw the sparks shinning ceaselessly in his eyes. They were deep yet warm, making her pounding heart peaceful again.

"Of course, I believe in you more than anything!"

She gazed into his eyes and said assuredly.

"Great! Don't worry. I won't let Ming Lan act wildly! I'll find the time to teach him a good lesson. I've said before, I can protect you!"

Saying it calmly, Leng Qingtang grabbed Gu Yunxi's hand and held it in his palm.

"Don't get mad because of him. Come on, let's eat the dim sum!"

Sitting next to Gu Yunxi, he picked up the plate of cakes. He picked up one flower cake with the chopsticks and looked at it carefully.

The pink plump flower cake, complemented by a bunch of bright yellow osmanthus, was too delicate to eat.

Leng Qingtang turned to Gu Yunxi and glanced at her cherry lips. He smiled meaningfully and put the flower cake in his mouth.

He just bit it, and some sticky honey osmanthus jam immediately rushed out of the flower cake, rolling onto the tip of his tongue. The fresh smell of bean flour was perfectly mixed with the fragrance of osmanthus jam. The unique sweetness rolled in his mouth and landed on his heart.

"How is it? How is it? Does it taste good?"

Gu Yunxi looked forward to his reply with eager expectancy. She asked him eagerly after he just had half of the cake. She was desperate to get his compliment.

"So sweet and so delicious! It's really tasty!"

He complimented. Leng Qingtang smiled and looked up at her lips.

"Try some yourself."

Leng Qingtang gave the rest half to Gu Yunxi with the chopsticks.

She didn't know much about inappropriateness, so she opened her mouth and caught the cake. In this way, they quickly shared all the cakes half by half.

After drinking some tea, Leng Qingtang took out the handkerchief and wiped Gu Yunxi's mouth. He looked at her quietly, looking satisfied and gentle.

He stretched his arms and put her on his lap. She was light. Sitting on his lap, she wasn't too heavy. Yet the small pressure made his blood run faster. Every nerve of his was passing the signal of love to his brain.

"Master..."

Gu Yunxi felt a little bit uncomfortable when they were so close. She instinctively rejected, yet she was not making much of an effort. The elegant smell filled her nose. She looked down slightly, and the Master's handsome face was right in her sight. She was intoxicated and a little bit shy.

"Stay still. I held you like this when you were little..."

Leng Qingtang held Gu Yunxi's waist tightly, so she wouldn't slip away. His deep voice was magnetic and luring. His eyes were blurred. It looked like he was tipsy after drinking.

Gu Yunxi heard him and stayed still, letting the Master hold her.

"When I was little?" Gu Yunxi thought.

Her memories were a bit messy. She clearly didn't remember a scene like this.

In this position, Gu Yunxi was a head taller than Leng Qingtang. If he had moved his eyes, the first sight he would have seen was the charming curves hiding underneath the purple robe.

He suddenly had a thought. He smiled cunningly and said,

"Yunxi, next time when you make the flower cake, can you make it white and just put a peach blossom flower on top? It would be pink and adorable!"

"Peach blossoms? Who puts peach blossoms on a Double Ninth Festival dim sum? The bean flour was white itself. That would surely save the procedure of dyeing."

She was dazed in confusion.

"Yeah. You can improvise and do whatever you like! You don't have to spend all that time carving. You can just make a white dough and put a red cornel on top. It would look nice, too."

Gu Yunxi's face was full of confusion and innocence. Leng Qingtang looked at her and smiled calmly.

"Then, it would become a sweet date steamed bun!"

Gu Yunxi looked at the Master in bewilderment. She explained patiently,

"If you steam the flour mixed with milk, you would get white steamed bun. And normally people would put a sweet date in the middle of the dough. Master, if you want to eat date steamed bun, I'll make it for you right now."

"When you are free, just try to make a plate of flower cakes as I said. Come on!"

Leng Qingtang held Gu Yunxi's tiny hand and said gently.

She nodded and agreed in confusion.

"OK. I'll try it next time."

"Remember, you have to give all to me secretly. Don't share it with anybody else..."

Looking at the clear almond-shaped eyes in front of him, he smiled and repeatedly advised her.

"Sure!"

Gu Yunxi followed all Master's orders. Even though she didn't understand what he meant at all and didn't connect the dim sum he described to anything else. Since the Master said so, it wouldn't be wrong to do it.

Right now, Leng Qingtang was laughing in his heart.

Yunxi was so adorable and obedient. At her age, when she seemed to understand the relationship between a man and a woman yet not quite, it was the best time to make people fantasize.

It had been ten years. Even though he asked others to raise her, he did watch her grow up.

Seeing her growing into a graceful and elegant girl form a weak and sick five-year-old, Leng Qingtang's heart was filled with senses of achievement.

Besides, Yunxi would make him all kinds of delicious food, and he can also kiss her and hug her. It really felt nice.

"Let's invite all the captains to the Southern Residence tonight," Leng Qingtang suddenly had a thought, "It's festival today. It would be nicer to eat with everybody!"

"You want to have a banquet?" Gu Yunxi opened her eyes wide and looked at Leng Qingtang. She was so thrilled that her eyes were all lit up.

"Yes. Go tell the kitchen to prepare!"

"OK!"

Gu Yunxi jumped off Leng Qingtang's lap and ran out cheerfully.