Unlimited estates for rural beauty-Chapter 632 Arriving at the Imperial Palace of the Sunset Kingdom: The Violent Side (2)

Feng Xuxu nodded in agreement and then several more dishes arrived, including the rare sea cucumber, which piqued Feng Xuxu’s curiosity, "Sea cucumber?"

Lou Qianyu smiled and nodded, "Sea cucumber? Hehehe, what a nice name."

This made Feng Xuxu even more suspicious, and she pointed at it with her chopsticks, "You don’t call it sea cucumber, what do you call it?"

"Oh, we call this thing Black Thorn around here."

A long line crossed Feng Xuxu’s forehead, "This Black Thorn, don’t tell me, just because it’s black, and these things on it look like thorns, you named it Black Thorn."

Lou Qianyu watched her with delight, "Right, fishermen started harvesting this a few years ago. Initially, nobody knew what it was, and it was all thrown away. Some fishermen couldn’t bear to discard it, so they secretly cooked it, and lo and behold, it tasted quite good. They brought it to the taverns in the town to sell, and after the cooks tinkered with it, they made this dish you see now. Everyone thought it looked odd, so they named it Black Thorn."

At this moment, Feng Xuxu really felt like banging her head against a wall. Looking at the sea cucumber on the dining table, she forcefully picked up a piece with her chopsticks and ate it. It was alright—she appreciated that the ingredient was not wasted.

Throughout the meal, besides having some squid strips and sea cucumber—oh no, Black Thorn—Feng Xuxu just sampled a little of everything else. Even the bowl of white rice was left unfinished, and she already felt slightly overfull.

"Sister-in-law, have some more. It’s rare to find dishes that you like," Lou Qianyu noticed that she had thinned down from the journey and hadn’t seen her eat much along the way. Now that she was finally eating a fair amount, he couldn’t help but encourage her.

After rinsing her mouth, Feng Xuxu shook her head, "No matter how tasty something is, you can’t eat your fill all at once, or else what would you do next time? Better to leave some desire for later."

Lou Qianyu had never heard such a saying before. He chuckled and shook his head, then his gaze gently shifted to Xiao Jiazhen, who had also set down her chopsticks, and he tenderly suggested, "Jiazhen, have some more, this Black Thorn is quite good." He reached out with his chopsticks to pick up some Black Thorn.

"Qianyu, I can’t eat anymore," she pulled his arm, her face red with embarrassment as she looked up at him, realizing that she had actually gained weight over the past few days instead of losing it.

Feng Xuxu watched them with envy, "Hey, could you two not be like this? I’m still here, you know. It’s as if I’m invisible."

Lou Qianyu and Xiao Jiazhen exchanged an awkward glance and then went back to their respective activities, drinking tea and eating food, leaving Feng Xuxu quite speechless.

After finishing the meal, feeling somewhat energetic and a lot warmer, she dragged her slightly overfilled stomach to the window and pushed it open, looking out at the white blanket covering everything, a fairyland of snow. The passersby below hurried along, all of them sprinkled with a light dusting of white snowflakes.

Lou Qianyu noticed his sister-in-law gazing out the window in a daze. He came up beside her, glancing at the distant Loka Town and sighed, "Sister-in-law, the cold wind outside is chilly, beware of catching a cold."

Feng Xuxu snapped back to reality and turned to give a faint smile, "It’s okay."

"Still, it’s better to be careful. I repeatedly promised Brother Dugu that I’d ensure you wouldn’t come to even the slightest harm. Seeing you so haggard, I’m already quite uneasy. If you were to fall ill, then I would truly feel guilty."

Feng Xuxu considered that she was still quite weak and should probably avoid the cold wind. Heeding his advice and feeling full from her meal, she nodded her head and went back to her seat.

They rested in Loka Town for an hour before setting out again for the next Prefecture Government.

The carriage slowly started moving. The falling snow, though not heavy, still affected their progress. They were supposed to reach the Prefecture Government before nightfall, but, contrary to their wishes, they only made it to the county town as darkness was about to set in.