Volume 3, Chapter 270 – Come Wash My Feet

Bu Lianshuang rolled her tongue around in her mouth. The rich, savory taste still lingered.

She looked at Lu Zhuxin with a pitiful expression. “Let me have just one more bite. Just one.”

The pitiful look on her face left Lu Zhuxin caught between exasperation and laughter.

Where on earth was there any trace of Qu Qingtang in this greedy little creature right now?

Was it all an act?

Lu Zhuxin was genuinely puzzled.

She paused, then asked with a perfectly straight face, “Your Highness, have you forgotten what you promised me before?”

Bu Lianshuang pouted miserably. “Once inside the Chi Residence, I must follow the rules of the Chi Residence. I cannot show the slightest crack, and I cannot act on my own without permission.”

Lu Zhuxin rested her cheek on one hand, leaning sideways against the table, the fingers of her other hand tapping the surface lightly. “Then Your Highness, how exactly would you describe what you just did?”

“Mm…” Bu Lianshuang lowered her head in dejection. “I’m sorry… little fox miss. I’ve disappointed you again.”

Lu Zhuxin watched her, eyes narrowing slightly.

“Pick up the chopsticks.”

“Since you’ve already come into the Chi Residence to serve as my maidservant, you need to act like one.”

“Don’t think that just because no one is watching, you can let your guard down.”

“This is not the demon territory. It is not your wolf clan’s royal court either.”

“One moment of carelessness and everything falls apart.”

Bu Lianshuang opened her mouth slightly but could not find anything to say in her defense.

She picked up the chopsticks that had fallen onto the table, swallowed, and forcibly pushed down the craving gnawing at her stomach.

Lu Zhuxin watched, then said with a cold smile, “Your Highness, I’ve long heard that the wolf clan lives in remote hardship, and that the young of the clan temper their will through cold and hunger.”

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“And yet, for a wolf clan princess, this is the extent of your self-control?”

“Truly disappointing.”

Bu Lianshuang kept her head down and said nothing. Her grip on the chopsticks tightened.

Lu Zhuxin had no intention of letting it go. “What’s the matter? Do my words sting?”

“I am only saying what I see.”

“If you can’t take it, leave now.”

“Not many people in the Chi Residence know you yet. There’s still time to go.”

“Otherwise, serving as a maidservant inside a great family like this, there is far worse waiting for you ahead.”

Bu Lianshuang bit down on her back teeth. She lifted her head, and the resolve returned to her eyes.

“Miss Muxue, what would you like to eat?”

Lu Zhuxin was mildly surprised. The girl had actually held herself together.

Though this was barely an appetizer.

“Don’t ask me.” Lu Zhuxin waved a hand. “Read the situation yourself. That is also something a maidservant must learn.”

Bu Lianshuang reasoned: the little fox miss is testing my ability to observe and respond. She wants me to figure out her preferences on my own.

Fox clan members and wolf clan members were alike in one thing at least. They both liked meat.

With that thought, Bu Lianshuang turned her eyes toward the meat broth on the table.

Then she noticed a problem.

The kitchen staff had apparently only sent over one set of bowl and chopsticks.

The chopsticks in her hand were the only pair.

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And these were the same chopsticks she had just used herself.

If she used these to feed the little fox miss, would that not mean…

A flush crept up Bu Lianshuang’s cheeks. “Miss Muxue, are you really sure you want me to do this?”

Lu Zhuxin said impatiently, “Stop dithering. Are you going to wait for everything to go cold before I get to eat?”

“Mm…” Bu Lianshuang looked at the chopsticks in her hand again.

She could not tell whether the little fox miss genuinely had not thought of this, or whether she was doing it on purpose.

But right now, she did not seem to have any other choice.

Bu Lianshuang picked up a piece of meat with the chopsticks and held it out toward Lu Zhuxin.

“Miss Muxue… let me feed you.”

Did the young ladies of the human nobility really need to be fed when they ate?

Bu Lianshuang had no idea. Luluo had certainly never taught her that.

But things had already come to this point, so she had no choice but to push forward.

Lu Zhuxin half-closed her eyes, leaned forward slowly, opened her mouth, and took a small, deliberate bite of the meat between Bu Lianshuang’s chopsticks.

The Chi Residence’s kitchen staff were highly skilled. The meat had been braised until it was tender and falling apart, and when bitten into it yielded a burst of rich, savory juice.

But Lu Zhuxin’s expression immediately changed. She spat the meat back out.

“Ow!” she snapped. “It’s scalding! Are you trying to burn me alive?!”

“Huh?” Bu Lianshuang looked slightly dazed. “Is it that hot?”

She had just eaten a piece herself and it had not seemed that bad at all.

“Ha!” Lu Zhuxin laughed coldly. “Have you forgotten? I am just a mortal without any cultivation. How would I withstand a temperature like that?”

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“I’m sorry… I forgot…” Bu Lianshuang’s expression flickered with guilt. She had genuinely overlooked that.

“Miss Muxue, did it burn you? Let me blow on it for you!”

A dark look crossed Lu Zhuxin’s face. “Start over. Stop thinking about nonsense.”

“Mm…” Bu Lianshuang pressed her lips together and picked up another piece of meat.

This time she did not recklessly offer it straight away. Instead, she brought it in front of her own mouth first and blew on it gently.

Once she had cooled it a little, she held it out toward Lu Zhuxin again. “Miss Muxue, is this all right now?”

Lu Zhuxin watched her the whole time.

When Bu Lianshuang held the piece out toward her, she gave it a small sniff first, then bit it cleanly off the chopsticks and chewed slowly.

The food at the Chi Residence really was quite good.

Slightly better than Hu Mei’er’s cooking, even.

Though it still fell a little short of Qu Qingtang.

Tch. How was it that even eating a meal made her think of that woman. What dreadful luck.

Lu Zhuxin chewed, and the more she chewed the more irritated she became.

Bu Lianshuang, meanwhile, stood beside her and watched quietly. The warmth in her cheeks was growing more difficult to hide.

She ate it. She actually ate it.

The little fox miss really shared chopsticks with me.

The little fox miss’s words are a little sharp sometimes, but that is only to keep me from slipping up. She does not truly look down on me.

She does not even mind sharing chopsticks with me.

The longer Bu Lianshuang sat with that thought, the more the warmth in her face began spreading slowly into her chest.

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She picked up another piece of meat, blew on it just as she had before, and held it out.

“Miss Muxue, open up.”

“Ahh~.”

Lu Zhuxin gave Bu Lianshuang a strange look.

Why had this girl suddenly become so enthusiastic? Had what she said earlier not been stern enough?

Still, there was nothing technically wrong with what she was doing now, so Lu Zhuxin said nothing and bit off the piece she offered.

A light sparked in Bu Lianshuang’s eyes.

She realized, to her own surprise, that she did not mind this at all.

When the little fox miss was not saying anything sharp, she was actually quite adorable.

She even ate neatly, taking small bites of each piece and chewing at an unhurried pace.

Bu Lianshuang found that simply watching the little fox miss eat, even without eating anything herself, gave her a deep sense of contentment.

Feeding the girl she cared about, she discovered, was its own kind of happiness.

Before long, every dish on the small table had been finished.

Lu Zhuxin had not left Bu Lianshuang so much as a scrap.

Bu Lianshuang was content all the same. She tidied up the bowls and chopsticks, humming softly to herself.

“…” Lu Zhuxin watched her for a moment and then said, “It’s getting late. Are you almost done?”

“Once you’re done, come help me wash my feet.”

“Washing feet is also something a maidservant must do.”