Chapter 241: Girl, Feed Me
From that day on, Nan Xun kept feeling that the Grand National Preceptor—this big boss—was secretly observing her. Yet every time she suddenly turned to look, the boss would be staring straight ahead, those beautiful eyes still like two pools of stagnant water, without the slightest ripple.
Could it be that on the night of the full moon, she hadn’t shown even a hint of curiosity about his abnormal state, so he now found her a bit strange?
“Little Eight, was the big boss looking at me just now?” Nan Xun asked.
Little Eight replied calmly, “Yes. He was looking at you. More than three times today.”
Nan Xun suddenly got excited. “Damn it, something this important—why didn’t you tell me?!”
Little Eight snorted. “Not a single point of Malice Value dropped. What was there to tell you?”
Nan Xun instantly deflated.
“Say, is this whole ‘boiling a frog in warm water’ strategy really useful? What if we casually boil it for ten or twenty years?” Little Eight asked doubtfully.
Nan Xun was just short of pounding her chest in assurance. “Definitely not!”
Even though Gong Mo Ran neither ate the meals Nan Xun brought nor drank the tea she brewed with her own hands, she continued doing it as usual. When the tea went cold, she would brew a fresh pot. When the food could no longer be eaten, she would personally go to the small kitchen and make all kinds of pastries—especially the kind with an intense, irresistible aroma.
A few days passed like this. When Nan Xun once again brought freshly made pastries and set them in the outer hall, the handsome man resting in the inner hall suddenly strolled out.
The way he walked was as if he were stepping on the tips of clouds—his footsteps light, his bearing elegant and unhurried.
Gong Mo Ran gave her a faint glance, then his gaze slowly fell on the plate of pastries. His calm, unruffled voice seemed to lift slightly. “Locust flower cakes?”
Nan Xun smiled brightly. “Replying to my lord, they’re locust flower cakes I made myself.”
Before this Grand National Preceptor of supreme status, very few people dared to refer to themselves as “I.” Yet Gong Mo Ran seemed not to notice anything inappropriate about her wording. He looked at the richly fragrant locust flower cakes for a moment, then suddenly reached out, picked one up, and brought it to his lips.
Watching him chew the pastry lightly, Nan Xun sighed inwardly. Even the way he ate was so elegant and pleasing to the eye. It seemed he wasn’t putting on an act—he truly was someone who naturally exuded an immortal aura.
After finishing one piece, Gong Mo Ran actually took another and ate it. Nan Xun found this rather surprising.
She excitedly said to Little Eight, “I know my cooking’s good, but I didn’t expect it to be this amazing—even the dignified Grand National Preceptor ate two pieces!”
Little Eight said skeptically, “…Are you sure the big boss’s sense of taste isn’t malfunctioning?”
After eating two pieces, Gong Mo Ran didn’t take any more. He tilted his head and looked at Nan Xun, for the first time examining her so seriously.
After a moment, he even gave her faint praise. “Girl, your cooking is pretty good.”
The very next second, Little Eight screamed in excitement. “Aaaah! It dropped, it dropped! Just now, the big boss’s Malice Value actually dropped by one point!”
Nan Xun: …
“So after all this, the Grand National Preceptor is a foodie?” Nan Xun exclaimed in disbelief.
From that day on, Nan Xun made various pastries every few days, nearly draining herself dry.
But aside from that first batch of locust flower cakes, none of the pastries Gong Mo Ran ate afterward caused his Malice Value to drop again. Nan Xun’s seduction route was stuck once more.
Fortunately, Gong Mo Ran’s attitude toward her had changed noticeably.
For example, at first, he would come out to eat the pastries himself. Later on, he actually had Nan Xun bring the pastries directly into the inner hall.
The first time Nan Xun entered, he was lounging crookedly on a soft couch. His jet-black hair was spread loose, half of it cascading down onto the cushion beside the couch. The lapels of his snow-white robe were slightly disheveled and open, and his whole person exuded a casual, languid air completely different from his usual self.
Nan Xun placed the pastries on the small wooden table beside him and noticed the incense burner sitting there.
Smoke carrying the scent of sandalwood drifted lazily around the man, making him look even more like a mysterious deity from the celestial palace.
“Girl, what time is it?” the man on the couch asked suddenly, his thin lips moving slightly.
He didn’t open his eyes, still lazily resting with his lids closed, reclining in the most comfortable posture.
Nan Xun replied softly, “My lord, it has just reached the Shen shichen (3 p.m. to 5 p.m.).”
“Only the Shen hour, yet smelling this locust flower cake, I find myself a bit hungry,” he said, slowly opening his eyes, still looking utterly relaxed.
Then he tilted his head slightly, looked at Nan Xun, and said calmly, “Girl, I haven’t washed my hands yet. Feed me.”
Nan Xun let out a startled “Ah,” thoroughly shocked.
“What are you spacing out for?! Such a great opportunity! Hurry up and feed the big boss!” Little Eight roared excitedly in her head.
Nan Xun thought back to whether she had washed her hands earlier. The answer was—no.
But the big boss didn’t know that. Whatever.
She picked a smaller piece and held it to Gong Mo Ran’s lips, admiring the sight as those rosy, thin lips closed around the pastry… the one pinched between her fingers.
The distance between the pastry and her fingers was incredibly small. If he bit just a little deeper, he could have bitten her fingers as well.
It was… deadly.
If she didn’t know that this handsome man was cold and indifferent by nature, Nan Xun would have thought he was deliberately teasing her!
The man let her feed him three pieces in total before stopping, after which he tilted his head and continued to nap.
Nan Xun carefully carried the remaining pastries back to the outer hall table, then crouched beside him and gently fanned him with a small fan.
Gong Mo Ran’s eyelashes trembled slightly, then soon went completely still again.
After hearing his breathing become even and steady, Nan Xun began to stare shamelessly at his sleeping face.
Oh my—he was just too good-looking. Those picture-perfect long brows, that high, straight nose bridge, those rosy thin lips slightly parted in sleep, and that smooth, flawless skin.
Tsk.
Nan Xun felt that this man’s beauty had reached an entirely new level—one she could stare at for a day and a night without ever getting tired of.
And she really did stare at Gong Mo Ran for several hours, eyes blazing, while continuously fanning him until her hand grew sore and weak.
The handsome man slept for a full two hours, all the way until the Xu shichen (7 p.m. to 9 p.m.).
“Gurgle—” Nan Xun’s stomach growled again. This was already the eighth time since the boss had fallen asleep.
She was reluctant to leave Gong Mo Ran’s side, but once she was so hungry she felt dizzy, she finally stood up with some regret and went to the outer hall.
On the small table in the outer hall were the remaining locust flower cakes Gong Mo Ran hadn’t finished. Nan Xun stuffed all of them into her mouth and finished them in just a few bites.
Though she was of the lowly status of a Gu servant, she was still the Gu servant beside the Grand National Preceptor. As a result, the servants in the small kitchen treated her very politely. She could freely eat leftovers, and when she said she wanted to make pastries for the Grand National Preceptor, they assumed it was his personal request and hurriedly agreed, though they watched her closely, afraid she might cause trouble.
Thus, this time, Nan Xun had been so busy making pastries that she didn’t even get to eat leftovers—let alone sneak a bite of the pastries themselves. She was truly starving, her chest practically stuck to her back.
Little Eight sighed. “You glutton. Luckily this is Mo Ran Hall, which can afford to feed you. If it were an ordinary household, they definitely couldn’t raise you.”
While Nan Xun was wolfing down food in the outer hall, Gong Mo Ran opened his eyes in the inner hall. His gaze was crystal clear—hardly like someone who had just woken up.
