The next day, Ye Chen thought to himself that even if he went to find Pei Guanjing again, he probably wouldn’t get the answers he wanted. So he decided to change his approach. As soon as he had a break at noon, he headed towards the Canteen.
Fortunately, the medicinal ingredients he had left over from stewing Ginseng for General He last night could still be used. Ye Chen found a food container, put the herbs into a bowl, and then took the container with him to the Canteen.
At that moment, the Canteen was bustling with people preparing lunch. The air was thick with smoke and the strong spicy aroma filled the room. It was cold outside, and everyone craved something spicy to warm them up.
As soon as Ye Chen stepped into the Canteen, he placed the food container on the table and sat down beside it, resting his head on the table and sighing repeatedly.
Chef Wang was lifting the lid of a large pot, taking out freshly steamed buns one by one and placing them into a wooden basin nearby. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Ye Chen’s forlorn state and tossed a bun towards him.
“What’s wrong? Did your Doctor Pei find someone else and abandon you? Why else would you have time to come back to the Canteen?”
Ye Chen quickly caught the bun that was thrown at him and continued to sigh, “Chef Wang, it’s not like I’ve been assigned to memorize texts by Master again. I’ve been so busy with those Medical Books every day that I barely have time to come back. I’m just afraid he’ll find out. Why are you teasing me? I’m just a Zhong Yong, and he’s a Tian Gan; what could he possibly see in me?”
Chef Wang was momentarily taken aback by this remark and tossed another bun at him.
“Stop being so glib. Since you have time to sneak out, why don’t you come over and help? Can’t you see that Fu Gui and I are running around like headless chickens?”
With a bun in his mouth and another in hand from being tossed at him, Ye Chen lazily walked over and tossed the bun into the wooden bucket where they were collecting buns.
“What do you want me to do, Chef Wang?”
Chef Wang tilted his chin towards the side, gesturing: “Can’t you see Fu Gui is cooking? Go add some firewood to the stove.”
“Okay.” Ye Chen mumbled around the bun in his mouth, making his response sound unclear.
He sat down next to the stove and began tossing pieces of neatly stacked firewood into it one by one, the bright flames illuminating his profile.
Fu Gui suddenly stopped waving the shovel in his hand, picked up the cloth towel around his neck, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and gasped, "Ye Chen, I heard yesterday that Captain Li went to the Medical Camp to find Doctor Pei to treat General He's old injuries. Did you go with him?"
Ye Chen tossed another piece of wood into the stove before replying in a low voice, "I went. The general's injuries aren't as serious as you think; he probably woke up last night."
Upon hearing there was gossip to be shared, Fu Gui immediately paused his work and fired off a series of questions, "Hey, how do you know so much? Did you go into General He's Main Tent? I heard there's a Kun Ze pet concubine living in General He's tent. The brothers guarding the camp said she's a Wolf Tribe member and really beautiful, unlike our Tianqi people—she's all snow-white. Is that true?!"
Ye Chen, feeling frustrated, ran his fingers through his hair and said, "She is quite beautiful, but..." He lifted his head from the stove. "But why would there be a Kun Ze in General He's own room?! And she's a Wolf Clan member!"
He recounted in detail how he had accompanied Pei Guanjing to treat He Mu Ming yesterday. Fu Gui and the others couldn't help but burst into laughter, even Chef Wang, who was usually composed, couldn't suppress a smile.
"Haha, Ye Chen," Chef Wang chuckled while rubbing his belly, "you really are something else. What else could it mean that there's a Kun Ze in General He's tent? Isn't it obvious that Tianqi and Kun Ze are together for that reason?"
"Hey, maybe Ye Chen is still young and doesn't understand these things. How about someone takes him to the Pavilion of Floral Pursuit one day?"
The laughter echoed throughout the canteen as everyone began to tease Ye Chen.
What had started as a discussion about the Kun Ze in He Mu Ming's tent somehow shifted focus entirely onto Ye Chen.
"Ye Chen," Fu Gui finally managed to stop laughing and added, "are you hiding out at your Maternal Home today because you want to find out who that Kun Ze is?"
Ye Chen felt he should really give Fu Gui a good beating for that comment.
As a grown man, he certainly didn't look like a girl. Besides, after spending so long in the military, his face had become roughened. Yet this group still found ways to make fun of him and even suggested he return to his Maternal Home.
The implication was clear—they were insinuating that he and Pei Guanjing were an item.
Pei Guanjing was clearly his Master, so what were these people thinking?
Ye Chen picked up a nearby piece of firewood and charged forward.
Fu Gui ran while dodging, laughing loudly as he shouted, “Oh my, Ye Chen is shy!”
Just then, Chef Wang, who had just walked in carrying a pile of firewood, quickly stepped in front of Ye Chen and advised, “Ye Chen, you should head back to the Medical Camp. You can’t just stay here all afternoon, and the Canteen has enough hands right now. You should go back.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Fu Gui chimed in from behind Chef Wang, poking his head out with a grin. “Hurry back to find your Master. He might know something about that General He and the Wolf Tribe Kun Ze in the camp.”
Ye Chen helplessly rubbed his forehead.
This was simply talking past each other. He came here to inquire about Kun Ze, not to be teased by them.
And of all things to joke about, they had to bring him and Pei Guanjing into it. He was truly speechless.
Here he was, a perfectly fine straight man, inexplicably being paired up with someone.
Though he bore the appearance of a thirteen-year-old boy, he actually had the heart of a mature man.
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