"Miss, don't be angry. Perhaps His Highness the King of Xian really has your best interests at heart. He just didn't use the right method. Please sit down and have a calm conversation with His Highness. Maybe there will be a turn for the better!"
When Yuzhu came out of the kitchen, she saw Yun Xi with a gloomy face all the time. She couldn't help but feel worried.
Although His Highness the King of Xian wanted her miss to practice martial arts out of good intentions, he should never have tampered with her "weak point".
Now that he had angered her miss, she was worried that her miss would clash with His Highness the King of Xian because of the issue of eating meat. Once her miss got angry, things would be hard to handle!
Listening to Yuzhu's earnest persuasion, Yun Xi's face was still gloomy and her tone was angry:
"Has his best interests at heart? Does forcing me to practice martial arts mean having my best interests at heart? Does going to great lengths to cut off my meat supply mean having my best interests at heart? And he even deceived my grandmother! Has his best interests at heart? I think he has ill intentions and is deliberately targeting me!"
Thinking that her old lady was already old and had experienced the rise and fall of the Prime Minister's Mansion before, he deliberately sent a Taoist priest to the Prime Minister's Mansion to play tricks and make alarming remarks. Wasn't he afraid of scaring the old lady out of her wits?!
If the people in the Prime Minister's Mansion knew that they couldn't eat meat for three months because she had refused to practice martial arts with Qi Rong, they would probably complain about her like the people in the King of Xian's Mansion!
How could she ever hold her head up in front of these people in the future?
It would already be polite of them if they didn't secretly scold her!
"Miss, maybe things aren't as you think."
Yuzhu frowned and tried to persuade her again, but Yun Xi raised her hand to stop her and said firmly:
"Yuzhu, don't try to persuade me anymore. I've already made up my mind! He has gone too far. If I keep letting him bully me like this, I'll surely go crazy! I might as well make things clear to him now. This way, I can avoid further humiliation and stop suffering this injustice!"
Hearing this, Yuzhu's heart skipped a beat:
"Miss, please don't do anything impulsive!"
Yuzhu quickly reached out to hold Yun Xi's arm, but Yun Xi deftly dodged.
Yun Xi looked at Yuzhu seriously:
"Yuzhu, it's time to put an end to this!"
After saying that, Yun Xi stormed out of the mansion gate. Sure enough, she saw Qi Rong still standing not far from the gate, looking at her calmly.
Yun Xi was furious, her eyes blazing with anger. She put her hands on her hips, lifted her chin, and shouted coldly at Qi Rong:
"Qi Rong, come here! There are some things I must make clear to you right now!"
Yuzhu watched Yun Xi's furious appearance nervously, feeling a dull pain in her head.
"Miss, don't be impulsive."
Yuzhu tugged at Yun Xi's sleeve, her face full of worry.
She could only pin her hopes on Qi Rong and looked at him pleadingly with her eyes.
She hoped that Qi Rong would avoid her miss for a while and not come up when her miss was in a fit of rage.
Facing Yun Xi's fury, Qi Rong ignored the pleading in Yuzhu's eyes. He smiled warmly and walked slowly towards Yun Xi.
"Madam, you didn't have breakfast this morning. You must be hungry by now, right?"
Before Yun Xi could say anything, Qi Rong held out a paper bag in front of her. A delicious smell immediately wafted over.
Smelling the familiar smell of roasted meat, Yun Xi's eyes widened in shock. She immediately looked at Qi Rong warily.
"What do you mean by this?"
Did he think that by offering her food, she would forgive the past and shake hands with him with a smile?
Was she such an easy person to buy off? How naive!
Although Yun Xi thought so, her eyes couldn't help but be fixed on the bag in Qi Rong's hand. She thought to herself:
Qi Rong is really hateful! That big bag must be filled with a lot of roasted meat, right?
Even from such a distance, she could smell the aroma, which was dozens of times more fragrant than usual!
If she hadn't been pinching her palm hard to remind herself to stay rational, she would have already surrendered to her crazy appetite and given in to Qi Rong!
Watching Yun Xi struggling to control herself, Qi Rong smiled sincerely and held out the paper bag to her again.
"Are you really not going to eat? I bought this specially from the 18th Street to apologize to you. It's your favorite roasted meat. I've been keeping it close to my chest. It's still warm."
As Qi Rong did this, Yun Xi's face changed. She jumped back several steps instinctively, as if avoiding a snake or a scorpion.
She stared at Qi Rong and pointed at him:
"Don't come any closer! I won't be deceived!"
Qi Rong had been so despicable and gone to so much trouble to force her to practice martial arts. How could he be so kind as to buy her roasted meat?
However, when she calmed down, she suddenly realized what Qi Rong had just said. She frowned and looked at him:
"Did you say you want to apologize to me?"
She stared intently at Qi Rong's face, as if trying to see if his intention was genuine.
Seeing Yun Xi's series of reactions, Qi Rong almost burst out laughing. However, for Yun Xi's sake, he held it back and just hooked the corner of his lips.
"Yes, I'm here specifically to apologize to you."
Qi Rong looked at Yun Xi with a smile and walked up to her:
"I've figured out why you're so opposed to practicing martial arts."
Hearing Qi Rong say this, Yun Xi was confused. What other reason could she have? Wasn't it just because she was lazy and afraid of hardship?
Moreover, she was such a lazy person who loved sleeping in. Asking her to give up her beautiful dreams of meeting delicious food and get up early to practice martial arts regardless of the cold or heat made her head ache just thinking about it!
But since Qi Rong had said so, for the sake of the roasted meat in his hand, she decided to give him a chance to explain.
"I'd like to hear the details."
To control her hand that instinctively wanted to reach out, Yun Xi folded her arms across her chest and looked at Qi Rong.
She wanted to see what brilliant answer Qi Rong could come up with!
"Madam is worried that she doesn't have the perseverance to keep practicing martial arts. She's afraid of being laughed at and losing face if she gives up halfway!"
As soon as Qi Rong said this, Yun Xi immediately stared at him and retorted angrily:
"Who doesn't have perseverance? Who's afraid of being laughed at? I'm the most perseverant person and I don't care about face at all!"
In response to Yun Xi's angry question, Qi Rong just smiled faintly and didn't answer. Taking the opportunity, he stuffed the bag of roasted meat into Yun Xi's arms and continued:
"Moreover, practicing martial arts requires nutrition. You need to eat meat to have the strength. From now on, I won't restrict you from eating meat. Instead, I'll ask the kitchen to cook all kinds of meat dishes for you. How does that sound?"
Qi Rong looked at Yun Xi with a gentle smile.
Yun Xi looked at the roasted meat in her arms, then at Qi Rong. Thinking about what he had just said and smelling the almost suffocating aroma, she gritted her teeth and quickly took a skewer of roasted meat and took a big bite.
While eating, she glanced at Qi Rong out of the corner of her eye:
"When will we start practicing martial arts?"
Yuzhu almost stumbled and fell. She stared at her miss in disbelief: Where was her face?!
Was this what her miss meant by not caring about face?!
In contrast to Yuzhu's excitement, Qi Rong was calm. He smiled and gently wiped the grease from Yun Xi's lips:
"Early tomorrow morning."
"Okay."
Yun Xi buried her head in eating and didn't care about anything else.
Asking her to practice martial arts only gave her a headache, but if she couldn't eat meat because of it, she would die of heartache!
So, choosing the lesser of two evils, she decided to practice martial arts!