Yang Qing and the celestial nesting weaver fought for close to a quarter of an hour before both felt they had struck enough blows on each other and like always, the fight ended in a draw.
The duo rolled away from each other, as they snorted coldly, trading verbal blows, before walking back together to the center of the courtyard where Yang Qing usually had his als.
No matter how many tis he has seen it, Ma Yuan still couldn’t make heads or tails on the dysfunctional relationship between the two.
They had been at each other’s throats just a millisecond ago, but now they were talking normally with each other as Yang Qing was asking the celestial nesting weaver which dishes it wanted from the spread he had on the table as the celestial nesting weaver excitedly ntioned the transformative changes it had recently made to the nest.
Seeing their interaction, Ma Yuan could only helplessly shake his head, choosing not to give the matter any thought. He couldn’t find it in himself to judge them either, not when he recalled how his relationship with his wife. Because of how stoic she was by default, Ma Yuan didn’t have the chance to see much show of emotion in her except two, frustration and anger.
So, Ma Yuan in his infinite wisdom would trigger intentionally, to get a rise out of her and get so emotion on her face. He loved it. He received severe beatings for his efforts but he never regretted in, not once.
"I miss you," Ma Yuan muttered as he stared at the moon while letting out a nostalgic sigh.
"Ma Yuan, will you and your assistant join us,"
Ma Yuan was pulled from his mory of his wife by Yang Qing’s call who was waving them over. Before he could reply, he paused when he heard a squeak he wasn’t familiar with coming from Ellie. Out of curiosity, he turned his head toward her only to find Ellie’s beak hung loose, eyes wide, showing human-like emotion of shock.
"You’re not hungry?" asked Yang Qing.
It was unclear who the question was directed to, but Ma Yuan almost toppled over as a gust of wind hit him from his back. Luckily the amount of training he had been doing over the past few weeks helped him gain great control over his body which he employed to avoid the embarrassnt, before joining the rest at the table.
"Could you stop looking at like that?" Yang Qing said with a sigh of exasperation when he saw the highly suspicious look Ellie was giving him. Her desire for the food was evident, but along with that was skepticism. Her sharp eyes kept alternating between the dishes Yang Qing had spread out on the table and Yang Qing.
In all her years, the only ti she had seen Yang Qing this generous with her was when she had just hatched. She couldn’t help but chirp somberly as she thought to herself how amazing those days were before Yang Qing turned an. Sothing she blad the puffy bird next to her for.
In her mind, it was all the celestial nesting weaver’s fault for why Yang Qing beca stingy and started rationing her als. She couldn’t help but stare hatefully at the nest hanging at the crown at the green fla tree before her attention was pulled back by the tantalizing aroma of braised pork, stead fish and the sweet and sour ribs Yang Qing had brought over.
She could feel her rationality slip away with every breath she took, however just as her eyes were about to get cloudy with unquenchable desire, they suddenly regained clarity, birthed from extre wariness, and the reason for that was Yang Qing’s actions.
Yang Qing proactively inviting of her for a al was already out of character for him. She could excuse that and say maybe he had finally grown a conscience after all these years, but no matter how much conscience he had, what he was doing now made no sense to Ellie, and in fact it even terrified her a little.
He was actually feeling her plate to the brim. If it was the norm, Yang Qing would kick her out the mont food appeared, and if he did let her partake in the al, the most she could hope for was a few crumbs here and there and a side of unveiled threats with a big helping of how she should be thankful and stop stealing.
When she ca over, that was what she expected. She knew Yang Qing to be a creature of habit, which was why she dared steal from him as she had studied his patterns and routines to map out when he would or would not be around. She has been caught by him a few tis whenever she ca to ’curate’ the quality of the fish, but those tis were far and few in between. A lot of the ti, her timing is almost always perfect. Whenever she does her appraisals, he almost always is not around.
"Why is he nice today?" Ellie suspiciously thought as she alternated her gaze between Yang Qing and the piling hill on her plate.
"Did he do sothing to it?" she thought as she lowered her beak and took investigative sniffs from the steam wafting out of the stead fish.
The sniff turned out to be a mistake. She had overestimated her ability to have self-restraint in front of food, forgetting that she had been under the care of two of the greatest gluttons in the entire Order, and quite possibly the continent.
Ellie wasn’t sure when or how it happened, but the stead fish was already in her beak the instant she lowered her head, and with it, all the doubts and suspicions she had were overridden when the fish’s flavors exploded in her mouth.
She could careless about what Yang Qing’s agenda was, for now, she would eat, and relish the mont. Knowing how stingy the bastard had beco who knew when he would next feed her so openly and generously?
"As thanks for this.. how is this fish this good? Thousand Flavors have really outdone themselves this ti. I can’t wait to reach the palace realm so I can go in there myself.
With the amount of savings, I have now, even with Yang Qing conning of so of it. Those koi fish were definitely not worth a thousand middle-grade spirit stones...
Focus, focus, this fish...." Ellie’s thoughts left her as her eyes closed in pleasure as she drowned in the delectable taste of the fish.
"Because of this flavor, next ti I co, I will just take five of the lunar perch, no six, eight, Yes! just eight! no more! It’s the least I can do to return the favor,"
Unaware of Ellie’s thoughts, Yang Qing played his part as the host as he moved on to serve Ma Yuan, then the celestial nesting weaver, before finally serving himself.
His pile matched Ellie’s, while Ma Yuan and the celestial nesting weaver had roughly the sa size which was a sizeable amount but less when compared to what Ellie and Yang Qing had on their plates. The stead fish, sweet and sour rib, and the braised pork for both were high enough to block their view.
As for why Yang Qing had decided to act out of character and feed Ellie this much despite her thieving nature, it was because he intended to use said al to guilt her later. With the agreent he had already made in the courtroom when it ca to her almost getting kidnapped, and the settlent Yang Qing went for to close the matter, he couldn’t have Ellie acting out.
The only thing that matched her insatiable appetite for food, was being petty and vindictive. He knew for a fact, that Ellie already had ideas on how to get her vengeance against the trio who attacked her in Purple City, and she would be well within her rights to do so.
However, of the three, the only person she could get her hands on was Yao De, but with the characters he had triggered, Yang Qing wasn’t sure if he was even alive right now, which left Lin Duyi and Duan Hu as the remaining two characters that Ellie could have her vengeance, and knowing her, she held the most grudge against Lin Duyi.
Having reached an agreent with Golden Bamboo Pavilion on the matter, Yang Qing couldn’t help but feel guilty for making the deal and potentially robbing Ellie of the chance of payback, even though he knows she would have likely not pursued it, not with two powerful domain parents backing Lin Duyi.
Even though he knew she wouldn’t do it, he still felt bad for robbing her of the illusion of it, and to make up for it, he might as well feed her and allow her free reign of his abode for a mont. Well, she already had free reign as she stole from him no matter how many tis he threatened her. This ti he decided for the next six months, he wouldn’t be complaining no matter how much she took.
"Hopefully she’ll show moderation," Yang Qing worriedly thought, before he shook his head when he saw her inhale three stead fish in the ti it took to blink.
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