Why am I, a cook, always involved in cases?

Apart from its unique geographical location, this village is actually just an ordinary hot spring town.

Simple wooden houses are scattered around, and people in yukatas and holding wooden buckets are walking back and forth among them.

Among these people, one person stood out.

(Could it be a chef from a foreign land?)

The person was wearing a light veil, but from her graceful figure and slightly curly hair, one could tell at a glance that she was a foreigner.

What is even more striking is that she wears Western accessories.

Especially the red headband that was faintly visible from the veil, which reminded Lin Zhiruo of an envoy from a certain country she had met before.

(How can this be?)

Just as Lin Zhiruo was looking around, she suddenly bumped into someone.

“Why don’t you look where you’re going?”

The person who was hit was a child about ten years old, who looked like a spoiled young master.

"You don't know how to behave, you're just running around recklessly."

Lin Zhiruo said while suppressing her anger.

If they were in some brothel, she would have taught him a lesson long ago, but at this moment she endured it and showed her self-control.

However, before Lin Zhiruo could react, a knife-handed blow had already hit the young master on the head.

"Ouch!"

"This is all the result of your recklessness!"

Hu Lan'er scolded.

"elder sister!"

Hu Lan'er seemed to recognize the child.

The young master had long forgotten about the beating he had received and was circling around Hu Lan'er like a puppy.

"Hey, isn't this Sister Cui Ling? Why are you dressed like this? It really suits you."

“Stop talking nonsense.”

The imperial chef looked displeased, but the child was oblivious.

"I heard that I'd never see my sister again. Turns out the old lady was lying, wasn't she?"

Although this child is naughty, it can be seen that he is the son of a wealthy family.

He was wearing exquisite silk clothes and his hair was combed meticulously.

He was just missing two front teeth, which made him look a little funny and cute.

"Ah! Is it because of the food festival? That's why you all came back. The festival is tomorrow."

"Yeah, I didn't expect to catch up."

Hu Lan'er smiled innocently and looked around the entire village.

Only then did Lin Zhiruo notice that there were fragrant herbs and lanterns hanging under the eaves of every household.

Apart from the tourists taking a hot spring bath, other villagers were busy preparing something.

“Are the ingredients for the ceremony ready?”

“We just got back, can we still catch up with the preparations?”

"follow me."

The child took Hu Lan'er's hand and walked deep into the village.

Lin Zhiruo had no choice but to follow behind.

The place they came to was completely different from the simple houses in the village.

This is a quaint restaurant with an old sign carved from a whole piece of wood.

It looks particularly grand compared to the surrounding farmhouses. It must have been a place where dignitaries enjoyed delicious food.

The imperial chef seemed to have already booked a place to stay and bowed to the innkeeper.

The shop owner seemed flattered and quickly greeted the imperial chef.

(Was that person just now really the foreign envoy?)

An exquisite sedan was parked in front of the restaurant. Lin Zhiruo recognized that the attendant looking after the sedan was one of the envoy's guards.

(Why did the envoy come to such a place?)

"You're wondering why the envoy is here, right?"

The imperial chef took the key from the shop owner and walked to Lin Zhiruo.

Lin Zhiruo was so surprised that she almost jumped up, but she managed to remain calm.

"You knew that was the envoy?"

Lin Zhiruo didn't want to admit it honestly, but instead asked back in an arrogant tone.

"Even if I died once, there would still be a lot of things to deal with."

The imperial chef made a rare joke, saying that he would not have a peaceful life even after his death.

Lin Zhiruo felt that she was completely different from Cui Ling whom she had met in the palace before. Perhaps it was because she had seen through certain things after experiencing life and death.

Lin Zhiruo pondered as she followed him into the restaurant.

She was taken to a luxurious room, the decoration of which was so exquisite that it was unbelievable that such precious utensils could be seen in this remote mountain village.

The room is divided into three parts, two bedrooms and a living room.

One of the bedrooms has a large bed and the other has two smaller beds.

The one with curtains should be the master bedroom, and the other one is for servants to rest.

Hu Lan'er walked briskly towards the child's room.

"Lin Zhiruo, come along too."

Although Lin Zhiruo wanted to lie down and rest for a while, since Hu Lan'er said so, she had to follow.

The imperial chef seemed to have other matters to attend to and was unwilling to leave Lin Zhiruo alone in the room.

They came to the backyard of the restaurant and saw the child directing the servants to prepare various sacrificial supplies.

"Master, is this enough?"

"Well—that should be enough."

Lin Zhiruo looked at it curiously and found that it was a pile of masks and decorative ingredients.

The masks are all in the shape of foxes, and although they vary in size, they are all plain white.

In addition to seasonal wild vegetables and fruits, the decorations also include some rare and out-of-season ingredients.

Although some of them have dried, the color is still attractive.

Hu Lan'er squinted her eyes and picked a bunch of dried wild fruits.

Seeing this, the child laughed and touched his nose embarrassedly.

"I knew my sister liked it, so I asked someone to collect it for her."

(That's not right. It should have been prepared by the servants, right?)

Lin Zhiruo thought about it while looking at the white fox masks.

The mask is made of high-quality wood and polished to a smooth and fine finish.

There are also paints and brushes next to it, which seems to be for people to decorate it themselves.

"Well, thank you. But weren't these found by Xiang Yu?"

Hu Lan'er said what Lin Zhiruo was thinking.

The child named Xiang Yu looked at the servant shyly this time and thanked him in a low voice.

(I see.)

It wouldn’t hurt to upgrade this child from a “nasty kid” to an “ordinary kid”—Lin Zhiruo thought.

The child seems to have an innocent nature.

"very good."

Hu Lan'er hugged the child and rubbed his hair hard.

“It hurts—it hurts—sister!”

Although the child was shouting like this, he was obviously very happy because he could lean on Hu Lan'er's arms...