My Lord, my wife said she doesn't have time to talk to you.

After walking around the rice and grain store, I found that there were only sesame seeds and no peppers. I turned around and asked the shopkeeper who was following me, "Does the store have any peppers?"

The shopkeeper heard about chili pepper for the first time and asked back, "Chili pepper? What is it?"

Then he looked at Fu Shiyan who was standing beside him with a questioning look.

"Chili peppers can be red or green in colour, and they taste spicy. They come in various shapes and lengths, and they look like cow horns," Huaying explained while gesturing.

Chili is very important. Food without chili is like food without soul.

After hearing this, the boss shook his head and wondered what spicy tasted like.

"What about garlic?" Huaying asked again.

"You're talking about chili garlic, right? Ask the store at the end of the street, they should have it." The boss pointed in the approximate direction of the store.

He bought some sesame seeds, thanked the shopkeeper, and left with Fu Shiyan.

"The peppers you mentioned look a bit like ornamental bell peppers." After they walked for a while, Fu Shiyan suddenly spoke.

"Yes, yes, its other name seems to be chili pepper. Do you know where to find it?" Huaying turned and looked at him in surprise.

"This kind of ornamental flower is mostly found in wealthy families, and is more common in the back gardens of some ministers in the imperial city. I'm afraid it's not found in this small town." After all, it dies in winter, and the price of the seedlings is expensive, so most people won't buy it.

"Then do you know where to find some frozen or discarded peppers?" It's not the season for peppers to ripen, but they can be dried and stored for a long time. Huaying asked him with a last bit of expectation.

There used to be a lot of this kind of stuff in our house. Every winter, the servants would clean up the frozen-dried pepper vines in time.

It was burned as firewood a few times at first, but the smell was so irritating that it irritated the eyes and nose. The housekeeper had no choice but to ask the servants to use a cart to pull the wood and throw it into a ditch outside the city.

Every spring, the housekeeper would ask my mother if she wanted to buy more of these expensive flowers. My little sister especially liked the horn-like peppers and would always nag my mother to buy some. My mother would always smile and say that my little sister didn't have the manners of a lady...

Fu Shiyan, lost in his memories, said expressionlessly, "I'll ask for you."

Huaying bought garlic and other ingredients. Except for the lack of chili pepper and sesame paste, the other sauces could be used.

On the way home, they bought some carrots and lettuce. When they got home, Huaying put the things in the kitchen, said goodbye to Fu Shiyan, and went into the mountains carrying a small bamboo basket.

Worried about the masked brother's injury all the way, Huaying pretended to dig wild vegetables like other villagers while walking towards the dense forest.

I hurried to the cave and found it empty. I looked around carefully and found no signs of fighting. So did the eldest brother leave on his own? Or did he go to find food?

After waiting in the cave until it was getting dark, Huaying heaved a sigh of relief when she was sure that the masked man had left and would never come back.

After leaving the cave, Huaying walked back, dug some wild vegetables and picked up firewood. Only when the small bamboo basket was full did she slowly set out on the path home.

Fu Shiyan sat beside the flower tree in the yard, tapping the table slowly with his fingers, thinking that Prince Yan should be on the way to the capital with his men at this moment.

With the jade hairpin that had not been given away still in his sleeve, he stood up and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Huaying, who was humming along the way, smelled the aroma of food coming from Aunt Zhang's house before she even got home. She walked closer and called out, "Aunt Zhang, what delicious food did you cook? It smells so good."

Dongxue, who was in the yard, heard the voice and walked quickly to the door of the house. "Sister Huaying, mother is cooking. My brother is taking a day off today. Mother said that the food will be changed. You can eat here too."

Huaying smiled and looked at Dongxue who also had a smile on her face and said, "I won't join in the fun, you guys take your time eating."

He pushed open the gate with a small bamboo basket on his back and saw two servings of vegetable and egg noodles on the table. He called out to Fu Shiyan, but no one answered.

Huaying touched the bowl and found it was still warm, so the person should not have gone far. She thought that she would wait for him to come and eat together. She turned her head and saw a pot of mung bean sprouts on the kitchen stove. She walked over and uncovered the wet thick cloth. She saw that the mung bean sprouts had grown to two fingers long. They would be ready for use in another day.