She spun around abruptly, her face lighting up as she looked at Chu Lingzhi. "Miss Chu, you've come at just the right time!"
Chu Lingzhi raised an eyebrow with amusement, watching Lin Ling. Had she come at the right time? Wasn't she interrupting her conversation with Nangong Yehen?
"Miss Chu, I specially made these pastries for Master Nangong. Please help me persuade him to have some."
Chu Lingzhi lowered her gaze to the pastries on the plate. They looked quite appealing.
She picked one up and took a bite. Lin Ling watched her with eager anticipation. "Miss Chu, how does it taste?"
"Delicious—rich, with a subtle sweetness and a faint egg yolk fragrance." Chu Lingzhi smiled at Lin Ling. "I can tell from the flavor how much care you put into these."
Pleased by the compliment, Lin Ling's face broke into a grin. She cast a proud glance at Huo Luan. "But Huo Luan said Master Nangong doesn't like pastries. He was clearly lying to me."
The breakfast and late-night snacks she'd made before—Nangong Yehen had eaten them all, and quite a lot at that.
"It's not that he doesn't like them, but that he can't have them," Chu Lingzhi said with a smile.
"Why?" Lin Ling was puzzled. "There's no poison in my pastries. Why can't he eat them?"
"Having Master Nangong eat these pastries right now would be like feeding him poison."
Lin Ling's smile froze instantly. "Miss Chu, what are you saying?"
She adored Master Nangong—how could she ever feed him poison?
Chu Lingzhi took the plate of pastries and chuckled. "Don't worry, your pastries aren't poisonous. It's just that Master Nangong is injured and shouldn't eat anything too oily for the next few days."
"Is this considered oily?"
"You used lard to fry them, and there's egg yolk too."
Huo Luan frowned at the mention of lard. "Back home, we never use lard."
"He won't eat them, but I will." Chu Lingzhi patted Lin Ling on the shoulder, smiling. "Thanks, Lin Ling."
Lin Ling's expression shifted, irritation bubbling inside her, but she couldn't afford to seem petty in front of Nangong Yehen.
Still, thinking about how her pastries—made with an entire afternoon's effort—had been rejected by Nangong Yehen, she felt deeply aggrieved.
Lin Ling watched as Chu Lingzhi carried the plate over to Nangong Yehen, crouched in front of him, and grinned cheerfully. "These pastries really are good. Once you're better, have Lin Ling make some for you again."
Hearing this, Lin Ling felt a little better.
Once Master Nangong's injuries healed, she would definitely make him lots of delicious food.
As the saying goes, to capture a man's heart, first capture his stomach.
She would make him fall in love with her cooking, and then fall in love with her.
That way, she could become Nangong Yehen's woman.
Lin Ling glanced at Chu Lingzhi, a strange glint flickering in her beautiful eyes.
As long as she became Nangong Yehen's woman, she wouldn't mind competing for his affection, nor would she mind being a secondary wife.
Nangong Yehen looked at Chu Lingzhi indifferently.
She was laughing so happily, like a carefree child.
Though he hadn't known her long, he'd noticed that wherever she was, sunlight seemed to follow.
Sunlight?
Nangong Yehen looked up at the clear blue sky.
Was someone as cold and proud as him really in need of the sunlight a woman could bring?
"Stop eating."
Seeing that she'd already had three pieces and showed no sign of stopping, Nangong Yehen snatched the plate from her hand.
He handed it to Huo Luan, his voice icy. "Take it away. Throw it in the trash!"
"Master Nangong, these pastries are so good. It'd be such a waste to toss them."