"Continue grinding the ink." Nie Huiming had already withdrawn his gaze, letting it fall back on the bamboo scrolls.
Xu Yu stole a glance at him, picked up the ink stick, and continued grinding. Amid the soft scraping of the ink stick, she calmed her mind, but her eyelids gradually grew heavy, and she began to doze off.
Her head bobbed a few times. No one reminded her, and she dozed more and more soundly, until finally her head drooped and she fell fast asleep on the desk.
Nie Huiming took the ink stick from her hand, gently pushed the inkstone aside, and continued reading. Before long, he picked up the blanket beside him, draped it over her, and went back to his book.
The study was warm, and Xu Yu slept soundly, dead to the world, until a maid's voice came from outside the door.
"My lord, it is noon. Shall you take your meal?"
She jolted awake, lifting her head with a start, and swallowed hard. Carefully, she said, "This servant… this servant fell asleep…"
"It's no matter." Nie Huiming responded, then called out toward the door, "Bring the midday meal into the study."
Xu Yu immediately rose. "Then this servant will take her leave first—"
"Sit down." Nie Huiming interrupted. "Have lunch with me."
Xu Yu froze. In the past, when she had served with brush and ink in the study, she would always withdraw when it was time for the midday meal. This was the first time Lord Nie had asked her to stay—let alone to eat with him.
Or had she misheard? Did Lord Nie want her to serve the meal?
When the food arrived, the scrolls were cleared from the desk. Ruyi knelt beside it, arranging the dishes one by one, then filled a bowl of rice and handed it to Nie Huiming with both hands, saying softly, "My lord."
"Give it to her first." Nie Huiming waved his hand.
Ruyi lowered her eyes submissively, not a flicker of change on her face, and handed the bowl of rice to Xu Yu with both hands instead. "Sister Xu."
"Thank you." Xu Yu accepted it, but dared not touch her chopsticks.
"Eat." Nie Huiming also took a bowl of rice, picked up his jade chopsticks, and placed a few pieces of meat in her bowl. "Try this roasted lamb."
She looked up and quietly observed him. After serving her, Lord Nie did not put down the jade chopsticks—he served himself some food and brought it to his own mouth.
Xu Yu swallowed, taking small bites of her food without tasting anything, and spoke at random: "Dingyuan is cold. Come winter, there's nothing good to eat here—nothing like the capital."
"We can't compare in other things, but the lamb here is more tender and fresh than in the capital. However it's cooked, it's delicious. This roasted lamb is quite good—have more of it."
"Yes." She agreed, but did not serve herself any dishes, only taking small mouthfuls of rice. The rice was millet as well, but made with fine polished millet—fragrant, smooth, and delicious, quite unlike ordinary millet rice.
Nie Huiming glanced at her. "Is the meat not to your taste?"
She shook her head quickly. "No, it's very good."
"Then why not have more? Don't you dare?" Nie Huiming served her a few more pieces of meat, adding some vegetables as well. "Eat more."
She looked at the jade chopsticks and swallowed hard again.
Those were the chopsticks Lord Nie had just used. Ordinary families like hers didn't fuss over such things—there were only so many bowls and chopsticks at home; who had spare ones to divide into serving and personal chopsticks? But Lord Nie came from an illustrious family—he surely, surely…
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Nie Huiming looked over.
She shook her head and hurriedly shoveled several mouthfuls of rice into her mouth, stuffing it full, and mumbled indistinctly, "Nothing. It's just this servant's first time eating with a lord like you. I can't help being nervous."
Nie Huiming chuckled softly. "Why be nervous? Like you, I grew up eating the same grains and common food. Eat—no need to stand on ceremony."
Xu Yu nodded repeatedly. Her mind was in chaos, and she had to do something to suppress it—so she could only keep shoveling food into her mouth.
Nie Huiming finished first and sat waiting.
Xu Yu caught sight of this, quickly finished eating, took out a handkerchief to wipe her mouth, and waited for his instructions.
Sure enough, he spoke: "The weather seems nice. Shall we go out for a walk?"
"Huh?" Xu Yu let out a bewildered sound, then quickly swallowed it back. "Yes."