Cheng Yao stole several glances at her. Seeing her dejected, heartbroken expression, she secretly reveled in it. She sat down in a corner beside Zhan Haoting and quietly slipped him a piece of soft cake.
“Eat up. Mother and the others have some too.”
During the day, with the situation still unclear, she had not dared take any food out. She had things to eat, but the Zhan family had gone hungry for an entire day.
Zhan Haoting took a light bite from her hand.
It was not the cloying sweetness of coarse sugar, but a perfectly balanced, delicate sweetness. It was so soft that it melted in his mouth the moment his teeth touched it, carrying a faint wheaty fragrance as it slid down his throat.
“Is it good?”
Cheng Yao’s eyes were bright and clear. She blinked her large eyes at him like a little beast waiting to be praised.
Everything that had happened today had left everyone unsettled. A little something sweet was just what they needed to soothe their bruised spirits.
Zhan Haoting’s eyes were as deep as an ancient well.
In this desolate mountain wilderness, on a rainy night with ghosts supposedly haunting the place, even immortals might not be able to procure such food.
Yet she had managed it.
She was clearly someone extraordinarily capable, yet before him she was sensible and obedient, thoughtful and gentle. She truly held nothing back from him, treating him as the person closest to her.
With that thought, tenderness overflowed in Zhan Haoting’s gaze. He laboriously raised his hand and pushed the cake toward her lips.
“You should have some too.”
Hm?
He wanted her to eat something he had already bitten?
A mischievous glint flashed in Cheng Yao’s eyes. She stuck out her small pink tongue and lightly licked the cream, making the gesture deliberately suggestive and greasy, then waited to see how he would react.
Zhan Haoting lifted a brow. Without changing expression, he opened his mouth and took another small bite. He ate while looking at her, his eyes full of teasing amusement.
Cheng Yao’s face heated. A few decidedly inappropriate images popped into her mind at the worst possible moment.
“Well... take your time eating.”
She fled in embarrassment.
There was no helping it—his skill level was simply higher than hers!
After taking a deep breath, she crouched low and made her way over to Madam Zhan and her daughters, as well as Hongxiu, giving each of them the same cream cake.
Madam Zhan accepted it curiously.
The “cake” was only a little larger than a rouge compact, white and soft, with a glossy golden-yellow paste drizzled over the top. It looked like snow about to melt in winter, yet gleamed with a rich, oily sheen.
Warm, soft, and smooth in her palm, it felt even softer than the finest silk from Jiangnan.
The instant she put it into her mouth, her eyes flew wide open.
So fragrant, so sweet, so soft!
That layer of “cream” left behind a milky aroma as she swallowed, reminding her of the milk pastry she had once sampled by chance in a tavern in the capital ten years ago.
But this “cream” was even silkier than milk pastry, as though she were chewing on a cloud.
Meanwhile, Zhan Qingrou held her cake in her hand, hesitant to eat it.
“Wh... what is this? It’s all soft and floppy.”
Madam Zhan’s expression relaxed with pleasure as she ate. Smiling, she said, “Your sister-in-law says it’s called ‘cream cake,’ a rare delicacy from the south. In this lifetime, we may only get to enjoy such a treat once.”
“But Mother, it’s raining, and we’ve been trapped here for a day and two nights. Where could Sister-in-law possibly have gotten food like this? If its origin is unknown—”
Before Zhan Qingrou could finish, a piece of cake was stuffed into her mouth. The light, sweet, melt-in-the-mouth texture immediately conquered her taste buds, and she was instantly astounded.
This was far too delicious!
She held it in her mouth, reluctant to swallow. Suddenly, her eyes stung with tears. In the past half month of exile, all they had eaten was moldy coarse grain or wild vegetables gritty with sand. Her tongue had long since gone numb from it all.
Every now and then, her sister-in-law would secretly give her a steamed white-flour bun. She remembered every kindness; compared with everyone else, she had eaten far better.
But this unexpected sweetness moved her so deeply that she nearly cried. For a moment, she thought she must be dreaming.
“Eat it quickly,” Cheng Yao urged.
Zhan Qingrou suppressed the turmoil in her heart and swallowed. There was still a smear of cream at the corner of her mouth; she licked it away with her tongue, then could not help looking down at the cake in her hand, secretly swallowing another mouthful of saliva.
“Eat, Rou’er. Don’t let anyone else see,” Lady Zhan urged as well.
“Mother, I can’t bear to…”
“Silly girl, you haven’t eaten properly for two days. Filling your stomach is what matters. What is there to be reluctant about?”
Madam Zhan coaxed her daughter into eating, while carefully wrapping the remaining half of the cake back in its paper and tucking it into her sleeve pocket. Cold wind poured through the broken window, yet her chest felt warm—this bit of sweetness was like a ray of light suddenly piercing the days they had spent soaked in bitterness, a hope that helped them endure.
Cheng Yao watched her actions, her feelings complicated.
They had once worn fine clothes and eaten lavishly. What delicacy had they not tasted before?
And now, even such a small piece of cake had to be hidden away. It was heartbreaking.
She said, “The cake has to be finished now, or it will spoil.”
“I see…” Madam Zhan said regretfully. She took the cake from her sleeve pocket and handed it to Zhan Qingrou.
“Rou’er, this pastry is too sweet. Mother doesn’t like it. You eat it.”
She had hidden it away only to save it for her daughter.
Without saying a word, Zhan Qingrou took it. Cheng Yao frowned, about to say something, when she saw her unwrap the waxed paper and hold the cake to Madam Zhan’s lips.
“Rou’er?”
Zhan Qingrou’s eyes curved into crescents, making her look especially sweet and obedient. “Mother, this is your share. You eat it.”
“Mother doesn’t like it…”
“If you won’t eat it, then neither will I.”
Zhan Qingrou made as if to throw the cake away. Madam Zhan hurriedly said, “I’ll eat it. Mother will eat it.”
Zhan Qingrou fed it to her again.
“You child…”
Madam Zhan’s eyes shone with affection, full of motherly love and indulgence.
Zhan Qingrou smiled too. When her gaze met Cheng Yao’s, she grew a little bashful and said softly, “Thank you, Sister-in-law.”
It was the first time she had smiled at Cheng Yao.
Cheng Yao’s lips curved into a smile as well.
Earlier, she had secretly given meat buns to Zhan Haochen, Hongxiu, and the others. As for this muddleheaded little sister-in-law, she had only occasionally given her a plain steamed bun—just enough to keep her from starving to death.
When she had noticed that this little sister-in-law seemed to have become more sensible, she had wrestled with herself for quite a while before finally giving her a piece of cake.
Now it seemed it had not been wasted.
Very good.
Just as the family was enjoying this warm moment together, a discordant voice suddenly cut in.
“Eldest Sister-in-law, what delicious thing are you hiding here and eating?”
Feng Xianxian approached with a torch in hand as she spoke.
The moment her words fell, everyone turned to look in their direction. Their eyes glowed green with hunger as they began drifting toward them uncontrollably—they were simply too starving.
Cheng Yao felt as though the entire family had been placed beneath a spotlight, their every move magnified countless times.
“Finish quickly,” she urged Zhan Qingrou. Rising to her feet, she shielded them from those prying stares.
Zhan Qingrou swallowed the cake in a few quick bites, though her eyes quietly reddened.
Something so delicious ought to have been savored slowly. But Feng Xianxian’s shout had forced them to wolf it down. It was simply infuriating!
She had once thought Feng Xianxian virtuous and gentle, kind-hearted and considerate toward everyone. Only during this journey had she realized it was all an act.
Hypocritical and affected, putting on a show of kindness while being narrow-minded—she was not worth even one of her sister-in-law’s fingers.
She hated Feng Xianxian to death!
By the time Feng Xianxian arrived, Lady Zhan and the others had already polished off every last crumb of cake. She noticed nothing unusual, but a sweet fragrance still lingered in the air. Her mouth instantly filled with saliva, and the hunger in her belly became even more unbearable, cramping and twisting painfully.
Hatred surged in her heart as she said, “Sister-in-law, everyone is practically starving to death. If you have food, can’t you share some with us?”
