Ten Dishes

Looking around at the decrepit mansion, Lin Dalong asked with a frown, "Just how did you survive here for a week?"

The mansion was completely wrecked. Pieces of roofing were on the ground and even the stone tiles were cracked. Plants that used to sprout beautifully were now dried and dead, leaving only dry dregs behind.

"I have my ways," Bai Shuixian told him as she jumped down from the broken roof.

"Anyways, I've had my servant clear out a hall for you. When do you want to look around the capital? I'm free now if you would like to walk around now," Lin Dalong said while folding his arms as he exited the building with Bai Shuixian next to him.

"Hm… Can you take me to the best restaurant you guys have?" Bai Shuixian asked, brushing off the non-existent dust on her white dress. "After we're done eating, we can go to the palace."

Hearing where she wanted to go, Lin Dalong suggested, "There is a restaurant called the Aqua Cuisine. It has great seafood."

Upon him speaking the word seafood, Bai Shuixian stepped with lighter steps. Her eyes glowed in excitement and expectations. If it was not that she knew they were complete strangers, she would be suspicious that he knew her already for suggesting her favorite type of food.

Though Lin Dalong could not see the happy expression on her face, he could see her steps become lighter as though jumping in excitement. This inflated his ego as he led her to the restaurant, so he picked up his pace. Anyhow, he knew that she was not like other women that walked at snail pace, but someone that traveled even faster than him.

Reaching the Aqua Cuisine, Lin Dalong told the waiter, "Take me to the best private room."

As Bai Shuixian stared around the building, she found that it held lots of grace. The architecture and interior were not grand, but it still gave off a rich feeling. Every piece of furniture was not made just to show the purity of Chinese culture, but it also mixed in textures that represented the sea in order to accompany their main delicacies which were seafood.

After following the waiter to the luxurious private room, Lin Dalong said, "Look at the list of food. Tell me which ones you want to eat."

Listening to him, Bai Shuixian looked at the list and flipped through every page. As she did so, she frowned. How was she to know which dishes were good when the names were fancy with no pictures or ingredients listed?

"Are they not to your liking?" Lin Dalong asked when he saw that she was flipping back and forth through the list long enough that even the waiter was slouching.

Sighing while shaking her head, Bai Shuixian ordered, "I'll have fried shrimps with longjing tea, drunken prawn, phoenix tail shrimp, seafood birdsnest, west lake vinegar fish, braised abalone, oyster omelet, stir-fry shrimps, fish ball, and chinese mitten crab."

Shocked at the amount that she was ordered, the waiter asked, "Uh… Will Your Highness and this lady be having guests?"

"No, just bring us the food that she has ordered," Lin Dalong answered despite also being surprised at the number of food she ordered.

"Did I order too much?" Bai Shuixian asked, a little guilty.

"No. Order as much as you want," Lin Dalong answered when she asked as though his brows were not inconspicuously twitching.

When the food came, Bai Shuixian first smelled each and every dish before grabbing her chopsticks. Once she determined that they smelled fresh and fragrant, she then made sure to look at what ingredients were being used by examining every dish. After she was done, she finally grabbed her chopsticks and tasted the very first dish in front of her - fried shrimps with longjing tea.

"Hm… Not too bad," Bai Shuixian appreciated. "I can cook better than this, but considering the rush at which they have to cook, this is good enough."

Lin Dalong knew that Bai Shuixian was not being arrogant. She was speaking rightfully because he ate only her congee, but he could already tell that it was a delicacy to be fought over. If she was not famous for her medicinal skills, then she would be famous for her cooking.

"Since this prince has recommended it, naturally it will not be bad," Lin Dalong said with a small hint of pride in his tone. "But… Will you be able to finish all ten dishes?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. If I can't finish it, I'll just pack them up and give them to Zhu Jin," Bai Shuixian assured him when he asked.

Although he did not show it in his face, Lin Dalong wanted to flex his face a little. Bai Shuixian did not look poor, but she was not willing to waste food. This was out of his expectations as he never packed up food he could not finish for others before.

While Bai Shuixian was eating with elegance, she warned, "Even though I'll be following you to the palace and living in the hall you let me borrow, I won't be there everyday. There are sometimes where I will disappear for a long time. Maybe just a few hours, maybe a few days, and even a few weeks."

"I'll take care of all the rumors regarding you, so don't worry about it," Lin Dalong told her, thinking that she was telling him this because she was worried about rumors.

"Ah, rumors? I'm not afraid of them. I just wanted to tell you in case you ask for me," Bai Shuixian said.

Once again restraining his brows that wanted to twitch, Lin Dalong asked, "Will you warn me before you disappear then? Just so I can prepare…"

Stuffed from all the eating, Bai Shuixian put down her chopsticks as she answered, "I can't tell you beforehand. Even I don't know when I must leave and come back. Anyhow, we can leave now."

While speaking her last sentence, Bai Shuixian waved her hand and the uneaten food on the table disappeared to who knows where. Seeing this, Lin Dalong frowned, but only for a split second. Since it was so short, she did not see his eyes that were tinted with suspicion when he was frowning.

Walking outside, there was now an emerald carriage at the entrance of the restaurant. The driver was decked out in all black and the horse was a beautiful black mare with red eyes. When Bai Shuixian saw those two, she thought that it would have been a serene sight if not for the gathering crowd that stood behind the carriage.

"Your Highness," the man in black called out when they exited the door of the restaurant.

Waving his hands, Lin Dalong commanded, "Back to the palace."

"Understood," the man replied and bowed as he opened the carriage door for Lin Dalong and Bai Shuixian.

After they got in, the crowd dispersed and the noises that were buzzing loudly became lower. Experiencing this, Bai Shuixian realized how true the novels were when they said that the royal family had no privacy. Only, if she knew that this was great for the royal family since they were able to invent new ways of containing rumors, information, and secrets.

A little while later, they reached the palace entrance. When Bai Shuixian first came to the palace, she entered from the sky, not from the front door, so this was a novel experience for her. Of course, it would be better if her silk cover was not blocking her sight every once in a while since she could not enjoy the view of the sun shining on the golden gate.

Continuing to follow Lin Dalong, the entourage finally reached the hall that he told the servants to clean out for Bai Shuixian. It had a beautiful garden and pond in the courtyard, and when they showed her the master bedroom, it had exquisite designs. From the entrance of the hall to the interior of even the lavatory, effort was made to make sure the building was outstanding and grandiose.

"This is a beautiful place," Bai Shuixian commented when they walked back to the entrance.

"That's good," Lin Dalong replied jokingly. "If you did not like it, I would have had the maids punished."

After a short little conversation to merely say goodbye, Lin Dalong finally left the hall with his men and servants. Bai Shuixian also disappeared to the back garden that grew white daffodils. They were not her favorite flowers, but her name was "white daffodil", so those flowers attracted more attention to her than any other part of the garden.

(A/N: Narcissus and daffodils are the same flowers. Lol It's just that since both of their names were so common, I thought they were different flowers. After a little research, I learned that they were the same.)

Heaving a small sigh of relief, Bai Shuixian started muttering to herself, "Ge, look at how well I did. I talked to a stranger. I order food in a restaurant full of people. I even entered a carriage with someone I didn't know."

The persona that she was talking to - Xuan Yueji - who was still asleep.