Mai gave Han Bing the easy task of cutting up the vegetables as she made a similar soup to the one that she had served to the Emperor. However, this one had pieces of thin slices of pork in it as while."Han Bing you are doing great!" Mai shouted out
"Of course" Han Bing thought to himself. "This isn"t so different from when I have to cut other things, how could motionless vegetables offer me a problem." Continuing on with this train of thought Han Bing realized that it wasn"t as challenging as it first seems. At least the cutting part. To hid how easy he thought it was though he just grunted in reply to Mai.
"We should make something to celebrate winning the contest" Mai said to Han Bing.
"Of course …. As long as you"re making it" Han Bing replied
The servants watched on the sides as they stole glances at Han bing attempting to help in making lunch. In all honesty Zhi Ruo recut majority of the vegetables that came from Han Bing. Not wanting to discourage him though she didn"t say anything.
"We should make a dessert!" Mai almost shouted.
"If that is what you want" Han Bing replied as he watched Mais face visibly brighten and get excited at the idea of dessert. Now that the Emperor already knew about her, he wasn"t as worried about behind the scene plots from him. That wasn"t the Emperor"s style whatsoever.
"Is there any milk?" Mai asked in excitement.
"From a cow?" Han Bing asked in a confused tone. "What would you need milk for? Isn"t it not good."
"It"s for the dessert, the best ones need milk" Mai replied as if it was the most known basic fact of desserts.
Han Bing had a frown on his face as he tried to imagine what food would be like made with milk. He had never heard of such a dessert before. He thought about the few desserts that he had actually had before and only some sort of cookie came to mind. Normally he would avoid sweet foods as he didn"t have much of a sweet tooth. However, watching how excited Mai was getting over the dish, how could he possibly say no? It also helped that Han Bing had the utmost trust in Mais judgment of food.
"If we want to try finding a cow, it might be possible in the Eastern Food Market. All types of products are food there." Han Bing replied after thinking about the best place to acquire a cow would be.
Han Bing was expecting Mai to continue to be excited but watched as her mood fell and her shoulder slouched. "Was there something wrong with the Eastern Food Market?" Han Bing thought to himself.
Unsure of what the problem was Han Bing attempted to think of other places that a cow could be found in.
Han Bing finally couldn"t take it anymore, "What is wrong with the Eastern Food Market?" He asked.
"Nothing" Mai said.
"Then what is wrong?" Han Bing asked in a concerned tone.
"You will send a servant, right? Mai asked as she glanced up at him.
"Not if it will make you unhappy" Han bing replied with. Although, that was his reply he couldn"t understand why sending a servant to look for the cow was a bad thing.
"I want to go to the Market!" Mai exclaimed. "I haven"t been able to go shopping in what feels like years. Even if it is just a food market it is still interesting things to look at."
Han Bing finally realized what the real problem was. It had nothing to do with finding a cow and more to do with Mai wanting to go shopping herself. Han Bing couldn"t help but silently cry on the inside as he thought about being stuck in a market for longer than 15 minutes with all the people around.
Calming down his nerves, he sucked in a deep breath before say "I can take you, if that is what you want. In the future you can go with Zhi Yan if you are truly bored."
Even if he was agreeing to this time Han Bing really did not want to be forced to go again. The very idea actually terrified him.
"Really?" Mais voice had so much joy in it, that Han Bing was starting to think that it was worth going to the market.
He watched as she quickly moved towards him. Unsure of what her intentions were he put down his knife so that he wouldn"t accidentally hurt her with it. To his surprise, Mai wrapped her arms around his body and gave him a deep hug.
"If going to the market is going to get me treatment like this everyday, I wouldn"t mind going" Han Bing thought to himself. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and held her in a rather tight embrace against him. "If only the servants weren"t here, something else might happen" Han Bing thought to himself as he went back to silently crying on the inside.
Han Bing felt his dragon start to stir as they stayed in the embrace for awhile. It was getting hard for him to not do any other action then tighten his arms around Mai. This had its own consequence thought as it brought Mai closer to him. With only being separating by a few pieces of clothing it was getting increasingly challenging for Han Bing not to rub himself against Mai.
If you looked at him though you would see none of the silent struggle Han Bing was having on the inside with his body that desperately wanted more. Instead, you would see a large smile on his face as he looked at the top of Mais head.
Mai glanced up at the man who made her heart beat incredibly quickly. She was amazed at how much he took care of her and how thoughtful he was. She couldn"t help but blush a little when she felt how hard he was, even if he was trying to hide it. "Well this answers one of my questions, he really does find me attractive" Mai thought to herself.
Lifting her arms to rest around Han Bings neck she moved her face closer to his. Hearing a sharp inhale coming from Han Bing, Mai gained the courage to give him a light kiss on the lips.