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Dan Feng and Yingxing were enjoying a homecooked meal in a moment of domestic bliss. Moments Yingxing dreamed of as a child. To eat a meal together with someone he loved. The Vidyadhara do not really have odd diets, though Dan Feng's ability to hold liquor was astounding.
These were rare times that Dan Feng was allowed to step out of the Palace, and wander in the delves above. The presence of the High Elder often turned heads but the Vidyadhara bid them no attention. He was only eager to go visit the man who was on his mind lately.
'He looks so cold.'
'Does he ever smile?'
'Those green eyes of his look...strange. You can drown in them.'
Yingxing promised to cook for him tonight but of course, he's good at forging things and not that he could prepare dishes as flavorsome or fanciful as what was served in the Palace. Not when most of his salary went into purchasing new manuals and materials for his inventions.
But, he did promise, it would be at least palatable. Contrary to popular belief, the Vidyadhara were not vegetarians nor did they only consume fish.
The recipes prepared by Vidyadhara chefs range from the simplest soups to unique dishes like 'Blossoming of Stars' or 'Jade Mountain Cloud Fish'; then again Yingxing attested that he had never ever tried such expensive Vidyadhara cuisine in any of the Xianzhou ships he visited.
To that, Dan Feng only laughed, and said he ate plain meals in the Palace, and seldom asked for pretentious gourmet food though he did enjoy a fine wine or two.
The master craftsman's so-called 'simple, homecooked meal' turned out to be steamed mature roe crabs he caught in the lakes in the Ever-Hunt Plains (with that, Dan Feng wondered when did this man even get time to go fish some crabs when he spent all his waking hours working?), a stew of Puffergoat cheeks which he decorated with Firework flowers and a purple startaro milk-cream dessert.
Dan Feng sat down at the table, just the two of them, and looked at the three dishes in front of him, his face stiff, his brows lowered. It did smell quite delicious. His stomach rumbled.
A bowl handpainted with jadegoldfishes, a pair of chopsticks and a spoon was in front of him. They looked new - the silver-tips of the chopsticks polished, the spoon bright-white porcelain.
He glanced over to where Yingxing was to sit and saw the same bowl, the same pair of chopsticks, down to the same spoon. Matching dinnerware. All new.
Dan Feng blinked. Surely, the man did not have to go through such expense to buy new chopsticks or bowls. Neither did Dan Feng need to eat off such precious-looking plates. But the Vidyadhara kept quiet as Yingxing returned to sit.
The dishes were well-seasoned, but the flavor of course, not as fine as one would expect in a five-star restaurant. The taste was homely on the tongue, and Dan Feng did end up finishing more food than he expected himself to be eating.
Or maybe because he ate more slowly than usual, compared to his mealtimes in the Palace, or that he did not want the meal to end. Caught bemusing, Dan Feng looked up from his bowl and stared at Yingxing.
The man ate messily, probably used to stuffing food into his mouth, and sauce stained his lower lip; a bit of roe stuck at the corner of his mouth.
Dan Feng reached out and scrapped that roe off Yingxing's mouth. The man laughed and apologized for being crude. 'It can't be helped', Yingxing said, artisans worked around the clock in the Commission so it was rare even he's getting this time to sit down for dinner, even cook.
"You were that busy?"
"Every day and night," Yingxing chuckled good-naturedly, "but I promised you a dinner for saving me the other day."
"It was nothing," Dan Feng saw wine on the table, and poured himself a cup. Darkness had fallen outside and he could see changing colors in the horizon as the ship shifted its day-hours to night. Soon, the artificial moon will rise and he had to be on his way. "You were..."
Dan Feng was about to confess but held his tongue back, pouring the whole cup of wine down his throat instead. Yingxing joined as well, and he was soon a little tipsy after several cups.
"You're a good drinker...are all Vidyadhara good with their wine? You don't even have redness on your face, Dan Feng, you're good, huh...you drink like a fish!"
Ah, Yingxing was drunk.
Dan Feng smiled. This man had a silly side too, despite all his seriousness about his craft. He poured himself another cup, and stopped Yingxing from drinking more.
Soon, the craftsman was left, snoring a little, his head on the table. Would this peaceful time continue? Or might it be broken soon? Somehow, Dan Feng felt an ominous feeling in his heart as he watched Yingxing sleep.