An Attempt of the Artist to Find the Young Master

Yujia stumbled back and into the crowd, a bit taken aback by the sudden appearance of this young master Rong. 

Her impression of him was fairly negative in the past. There was that time where Yunhe told her about Rong Yuan's background, about how he had numerous concubines at eighteen years old. Though Yujia tried adapting to some of the beliefs in this time period, it still made her somewhat uncomfortable to think of an eighteen year old boy running around and having fun with so many girls. Bo Zhizhong was eighteen as well, but he only had one wife. In comparison to this singular number, Rong Yuan… 

Honestly, Yujia could care less about the personal matters of other people, as long as it didn't bother her. 

Yet that was when Rong Yuan went and tried to court her in a very direct manner, which at the time, made Yujia quite uncomfortable, and definitely involved her in these personal matters. In retrospect, Yujia realized that she may have acted a bit excessively back then when she rejected him— she could've been kinder with her words, a bit more patient with her tone— but just his sudden choice of grabbing her wrist in front of the whole wide world distressed Yujia a little too much. That was why she acted so harshly in the past. 

Yujia gave this matter a bit of thought after that wrist-grabbing situation, coming to the conclusion that regardless of what Rong Yuan did in the past, she was willing to set it all behind. She wanted to establish good relationships with all of her fellow disciples, so although she would try to avoid Rong Yuan when she could, she promised herself that she would try to be kinder the next time they had a conversation. It was pointless to start unnecessary conflict or to turn Rong Yuan's positive impression of her into a negative one, which may harm Yujia in the future. 

Except now, Yujia found it awfully difficult to keep herself polite when Rong Yuan was practically throwing himself at her face. 

It was just… uncomfortable to get her personal space violated so unexpectedly. 

She put a comfortable distance between the two of them while Rong Yuan pressed onwards. The crowd of disciples naturally parted as Yujia stepped back more and more. At least they understood that a decent amount of space should be kept between them and Yujia, especially in a time where contact between men and women were deemed a bit taboo. 

Yujia ended up making her way to the table where the steamed buns were stacked, all the while greeting Rong Yuan and the rest of the disciples in what she presumed was a polite manner. 

Once she bumped the edge of the table, she quickly slipped to the other side of it, putting a solid distance of one table between her and Rong Yuan. It wasn't much, but it would suffice. 

Yujia leaned back, straightening herself. "Senior Brother Rong," she greeted once more, "hello. Are you here to eat?"

"Yes!" he nodded eagerly, eyes shining as he replied, "I heard the news from my villa and came here as soon as I could, just to taste Junior Sister's cooking!" Giving her a slick smile, he added on, "Would it be too much of a stretch to ask if you perhaps cooked these because of me?"

Yujia didn't want to lead him on. She gave him a very clear answer that he could not possibly warp. 

"No. I made them for practice, and decided to give them to my senior brothers because I could not possibly eat so much by myself."

It was a lie, but it would work. 

One of the disciples who Yujia couldn't remember the name of, called out in between a bite of a steamed bun he held in his left hand, "Junior Sister is such a fairy! To make so many and give them to us is an act of true kindness!"

A small smile spread across Yujia's lips. "Hopefully, the steamed buns suit everyone's taste." 

"Definitely!" another one said, "How could we not like what Junior Sister makes for us?" 

These words were too flattering. All the self-esteem that Yujia had lost during her session of manual labor came piling back on her now that people were complimenting her like so. 

Nevertheless, Yujia shook her head quickly to disperse those thoughts. An inflated ego wouldn't be a good thing to have.

Rong Yuan, the prime example of an individual with an ego that extended on towards infinity, jumped in the conversation once more, asking, "Even though I came late, surely Junior Sister still has some left for me to sample?"

Yujia glanced over at the two baskets. By her side, the one who had distributed everything earlier was Lili, the kitchen-worker who offered to help Yujia earlier. Chef Hong probably sent her to carry the baskets over, and while she was here, she facilitated the distribution of the steamed buns. 

From just a glance, though, many of the layers in the two baskets seemed emptied. 

"Sister Lili," Yujia began, "there are still some left, right?"

Lili nodded, pulling two empty layers off and gesturing at a few steamed buns left at the bottom. These were the ones that Yujia called ugly earlier— the worst steamed buns of the batch. 

"Here's all that's left. The left basket has the pork filling, and the right basket has the sesame filling," Lili explained. 

Yujia took both of the half-empty layers from her, showing it to Rong Yuan. "You can take your pick," she stated. 

Seeing the ugly-looking steamed buns, not at all like the fluffy buns that everyone else had, Rong Yuan's face morphed into a frown immediately. Yet he knew enough to not complain, observing the steamed buns and searching for the best one of the bunch. His eyes then traveled to the side, where on one layer sat the steamed buns intended for Yu Zixu. 

Of course, not knowing this, he jumped and gestured to those. "Junior Sister, why can't I have those?"

Yujia glanced over at the direction he pointed to, realizing what he was referring to. 

The steamed buns meant for Yu Zixu? 

No! He could not possibly eat those. 

Protectively, Yujia grabbed that layer and pulled it away from anywhere within Rong Yuan's reach, asserting, "Those… I made for my Master," she came up with a lie quickly, "You can't have those."

Rong Yuan stared at the perfect steamed buns, stared at her, stared at the deformed steamed buns, then back at her. "So… Junior Sister… I can only eat the ones that look like… that?" He pointed at the deformed ones.

Yujia nodded. "I had better ones, but I suppose that since you came late, the better ones got eaten already. Next time, you will just have to arrive earlier. These steamed buns will still taste good though. Have a try."

Unable to think of a response to that, Rong Yuan sighed, reaching forward for two of the distorted steamed buns. He took his share, then gingerly placed it in his mouth, taking a wary bite.

Seeing his exaggeratedly disappointed actions, Yujia couldn't help but laugh on the inside. The worst bunch of her steamed buns were a bit ugly, but they weren't as bad as Rong Yuan made them seem, alright?

She watched his expression carefully. Even though she couldn't say that she liked this Young Master Rong, she was curious if the disfigured steamed buns still tasted alright.

Rong Yuan's eyes lit up the moment he bit down. He chewed slowly, swallowed his first bite, then looked up at Yujia, a grin on his face. "Junior Sister, these actually don't taste that bad! They might look a little— well— misshapen, but the taste is still good!"

"What did I say?" Yujia couldn't stop her proud smile from surfacing again. 

Ah. It was nice to receive validation, even if it came from Rong Yuan.

…

Soon enough, once there were no more steamed buns to pass out, and people weren't actively trying too hard to pursue Yujia in conversation, Yujia found herself looking through the crowd, searching for any signs of Yu Zixu.

She looked towards the sides and corners of the pavilion the most. Based on what she knew about Zixu, he didn't seem like the type who would throw himself in the middle of the group. He tended to stick to the sides. 

Yet despite how hard she looked, Yujia couldn't quite find him in the pavilion. 

For a moment, Yujia wondered if he was perhaps in his villa, and he didn't hear the news. Maybe that was why he didn't come to eat the steamed buns she made. But that didn't make sense— the Yu Villa was so close to Lingxin Pavilion, and if Rong Yuan in the further away Rong Villa managed to hear news and arrive during this time, then Zixu should've found out as well. 

Maybe Zixu was too busy to come eat. Or maybe he didn't have any interest in tasting Yujia's cooking. Both seemed like valid reasons. 

Yujia thought for a moment about that. 

If she couldn't get Zixu to come eat the steamed buns she made in Lingxin Pavilion, then maybe she needed to go and deliver the steamed buns to the Yu Villa herself?