I became the God Brother of the Regent King after Transmigration!-Chapter 259 - 185: A Flavorful -

At the end of the year, Rong Baoyi, who had been a city guard for nearly half a year, was finally promoted to Centurion due to various reasons such as helping an old man cross the road, guiding Minister Zhou’s lost grandson home, returning the heirloom treasure sword of Vice Minister Fu to its rightful owner, and not keeping fifty taels of silver found from Manager Sun of the pharmacy.

In fact, with her diligence and martial arts skills, she could have been promoted much earlier. However, her identity as a woman had always been met with hostility by some people, and her superiors were wary of making any moves for fear of upsetting those in court who despised women joining the army.

In half a year, Rong Baoyi transformed from the frail and pampered County Princess Changle in the eyes of her colleagues into the admired and beloved sister of the City Defense Army.

To celebrate her promotion to Squad Leader, Baoyi held a banquet at her rented house and invited Gu Lan, Rong Heng, and Rong Miaoyan to join her.

Just having these three people together made Rong Baoyi particularly excited and satisfied, happier than her own promotion.

However, as soon as Miaoyan arrived, she spotted Jiu.

"Aren’t you, aren’t you the little eunuch who died in Xiaoxiang Palace!" Miaoyan was extremely shocked, and she couldn’t help but look at Rong Heng, frowning.

Jiu: "If I say that person was my twin brother, would you believe me?"

Miaoyan: "Didn’t Rong Heng say you were parentless and already thrown into the chaotic burial mound?"

"..."

"Jiu is actually alive, Rong Heng, you had him fake his death to leave the palace, covered up the truth, and secretly colluded with Minister Zhou of the Ministry of Justice. Just how many of your people are in the court, and what is your ultimate goal?" Rong Miaoyan asked in a deep voice.

Rong Heng looked at her indifferently: "My only aim is self-preservation and to protect others, that’s all."

Miaoyan bit her lip, suddenly thinking of the solitary figures she’d seen over the years in the Imperial Palace, and felt a pang of heartache.

Oh well, she wasn’t the Emperor, so why worry about these unnecessary things?

With her father’s suspicion and shrewdness, if Rong Heng had any intention of wrongdoing, like usurping the throne, he’d probably be dead by now.

At this moment, Gu Lan and Rong Heng suddenly turned around, simultaneously looking toward the courtyard’s wall: "Who’s there?"

Su Zixiao awkwardly popped his head over the edge of the wall and then climbed down: "I saw you two always leaving the barracks early, so I wanted to know what you were up to."

Having come all this way, and as they were all once classmates, Rong Baoyi couldn’t very well send him away.

The next moment, Su Zixiao pointed at Jiu, who was setting the tableware nearby, with a look of shock and asked the same question as Rong Miaoyan: 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"You, aren’t you Jiu! Weren’t you dead?"

Rong Heng twitched his mouth, asking: "You didn’t recognize me before, but now you recognize Jiu?"

Jiu explained awkwardly: "Uh, there was once when I was punished to kneel in the palace by the Second Prince, and Young Master Su passed by and saved me."

Su Zixiao nodded: "I was really sad when I heard you died."

Rong Heng remembered that Su Zixiao had once been a companion to the Second Prince.

Gu Lan exchanged a glance with Rong Heng, while Rong Baoyi stepped forward, pulling out a short knife, her eyes darkly gazing at Su Zixiao: "You know our secret, so, sorry, only the dead don’t spill secrets."

Su Zixiao shuddered, involuntarily stepped back two steps, raised one hand high, and exclaimed excitedly:

"I’m willing to join you, to share in your sorrows and joys, to live and die together!"

There was no way he could win against Rong Heng, let alone with Gu Lan present, and especially with Rong Baoyi, who he had always thought had potential back in the days of the Imperial Family studies, so Su Zixiao thought it best to preserve his life.

He quickly sought help from Miaoyan: "Sister Miaoyan, help, I am your cousin after all."

Rong Baoyi and Rong Miaoyan had been classmates with Su Zixiao before and knew his silly nature well, so when they saw him plead, they couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Su Zixiao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Once everyone was seated, Rong Baoyi stepped forward and said helplessly:

"Originally, today was meant to be a celebration of my promotion, so I wanted to host a banquet for all my friends. But unfortunately... both cooks in the house suddenly fell ill. Although all the ingredients are fine, we’ll have to cook ourselves."

Gu Lan hadn’t expected that being invited for a meal meant having to do the cooking herself.

The group went to the "Rong Mansion" kitchen, where they saw flour and raw meat prepared on the counter, and Gu Lan asked in confusion: "These aren’t hotpot ingredients, what are you making? Why not... we go to the Marquis Mansion for food, I’ll find my aunt."

The Young Master Gu only knew how to make hotpot and noodles and was afraid of making anything else.

Baoyi coughed a little and first looked at Miaoyan, her tone softened a bit: "My cook said it’s good to eat dumplings in winter. These were all prepared by them, we just have to make them."

Seeing Baoyi look at her like that, Miaoyan nodded, unwilling to refuse: "I... okay."

Rong Baoyi then looked pitifully towards Gu Lan; this was a team building activity she had carefully thought over—making dumplings!

Making dumplings requires kneading the dough, seasoning the filling, wrapping them, and finally cooking them.

It’s much more complicated than the hotpot that Gu Lan ate every day!

Such a complex activity, allowing for bonding, work as male-female pairs, male-male pairs, female-female pairs, anything was fine.

Hmm, as the host herself, she just enjoyed watching everyone get active.

Gu Lan: "But, I don’t know how to make dumplings."

Rong Heng: "I can’t either."

Miaoyan: "Do I look like someone who can?"

Jiu: "I’ve seen the palace maids in the Imperial Kitchen making dumplings, maybe, possibly, perhaps, I can..."

Rong Baoyi’s dream shattered.

In the next moment, Su Zixiao laughed wildly: "I can!"

With a "you wouldn’t have guessed" expression, he skillfully poured water into the flour and quickly began kneading the dough.

Rong Baoyi’s dream could continue, as Su Zixiao not only knew how to make dumplings but also started teaching Rong Heng and the others.

Gu Lan watched Su Zixiao’s skilled kneading and couldn’t help but ask while playing with a piece of dough in her hands: "Why can you cook?"

Su Zixiao replied: "When I was young, my dad forced me to study. If I skipped class or couldn’t answer the teacher’s questions correctly, he wouldn’t let me eat. Thank goodness Xie Yun often brought me buns. But I couldn’t just eat buns. I couldn’t swallow them, so I’d sneak into the kitchen late at night to cook. Later, because my cooking wasn’t tasty, I secretly learned the recipes from the Imperial Kitchen."

Gu Lan: "You can read recipes but not books?"

Su Zixiao: "Exactly, why didn’t I realize that back then? Anyway... once I started reading, cooking became really interesting and captivating."

Su Zixiao revealed an eternal truth that has stood for millennia.

During the second time of letting the dough rest, Su Zixiao didn’t let others help him and started preparing the filling.

He was making chicken and bamboo shoot dumplings. His knife skills were so impressive that he quickly chopped the chicken into mince and the bamboo shoots into neat little cubes, stunning everyone.

Gu Lan suddenly remembered that Tang Zhan was also Prince Rui’s trusted aide and chef, and both Tang Zhan and Su Zixiao were Rong Heng’s brothers in the original story.

She understood now; it seemed Brother Hang befriended people based on their cooking skills.

Maybe she should learn to cook too!

Young Master Gu tried to help, but after accidentally getting her hands covered in sticky dough, she gave up and ran to the side to wipe her hands quietly.

Rong Heng walked over, looking at Gu Lan who was squatting and seriously wiping her hands, coughed, and pointed at his nose.

"Brother Hang, is your nose blocked?" Gu Lan looked puzzled.

Rong Heng sighed, reached out, and wiped the white flour off Gu Lan’s nose with his forefinger.

His fingers were slightly cool, causing Gu Lan to sneeze involuntarily, with a hint of tears in the corner of her eyes.

Rong Heng’s eyes darkened, and he suddenly turned his head: "So... is the dough fun?"

Gu Lan’s heart skipped a beat, and she nodded: "Fun—Brother Hang, seeing how amazing Su Zixiao is at cooking, don’t you want to be his brother?"

Rong Heng looked indifferent: "No, I just want to hire him as a chef."

Rong Baoyi’s imagined scene of everyone making dumplings together didn’t happen. However, in the corner, Gu Lan and Rong Heng’s heads were almost touching as they made little dough figures while others helped Su Zixiao.

Rong Baoyi watched them, feeling satisfied.

Soon, Su Zixiao finished making the dumplings. While Jiu went to cook them, he managed to use the limited ingredients in the kitchen to make a few more dishes like barley and red date soup and three-flavor meatballs, all of which were perfectly aromatic, colorful, and delicious.

The group sat around the table, and after Baoyi took the first bite, Gu Lan excitedly picked up a dumpling and placed it into her bowl.

Although dumplings existed in Yan Country, they were only dipped in vinegar without any other condiments added.

So, Gu Lan added garlic paste and sesame oil into the vinegar bowl, dipped a dumpling, and only one word came to mind: superb.

The chicken and bamboo shoot dumplings were fragrant but not greasy, with thin skin and a generous filling. After dipping in the sauce, they were even more flavorful, making Gu Lan devour her meal with gusto.

Rong Heng ate quietly, and seeing Gu Lan’s excitement, he frowned: "It’s just a meal, why are you so happy?"

Should he learn to cook?

Gu Lan stuffed another tender three-flavor meatball into her mouth, gave Su Zixiao a thumbs up, and understood that for such a domestic and handy guy, she’d want to be sworn siblings with him.

Hearing Rong Heng, Gu Lan nodded with a grin, mumbling: "Happy!" Who wouldn’t be happy eating!

Rong Heng sat right next to Gu Lan, and she blinked, suddenly turning her head to blow a breath at him.

—A strong garlic smell hit straight on.

Rong Heng: "..."

You could visibly see Rong Heng’s face turn green for a moment.

After Young Master Gu had previously farted in Rong Heng’s direction,

she once again reinforced Rong Heng’s impression of her as an exceptionally smelly person.

Rong Heng clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and sighed in frustration.

He actually fell for an exceptionally smelly person!?