The distance was so short that the serving women didn’t manage to follow, so they couldn’t act as Li Xuanba’s means of transportation. He had only run a few steps before he had to stop, already a bit out of breath.

This damn body! Li Xuanba cursed inwardly a few times, then slowly walked to the small kitchen next door.

The lunch they had just eaten had been delivered from the main kitchen.

The main kitchen occupied an entire large courtyard by itself. Besides the stoves, there were also open-air kilns in the yard.

Given the dietary habits of Sui–Tang aristocrats, without large outdoor kilns, it would be impossible to cook the bold, hearty dishes they liked to eat.

Around the large courtyard were warehouses and cellars storing wine, vinegar, vegetables, fruits, and various ingredients and seasonings. Carriages went in and out through the side gate like a flowing stream—no modern high-end restaurant could compare to how busy it was.

However, if Li Xuanba wanted to make something lighter for his mother, there was no need to go all the way to the main kitchen. In the courtyard where he and Li Shimin lived, there was a small kitchen, meant to deal with Li Shimin’s overly large appetite and Li Xuanba’s daily, uninterrupted medicinal decoctions.

The small kitchen was right next to the courtyard, less than fifty meters away on foot. Even over such a short distance, Li Xuanba had to take several breaths after arriving before he could speak.

“Mother suffers during the summer heat. Make something light to eat. I’ll say it—you do it,” Li Xuanba ordered with a straight face.

The servants who had been chatting idly in the small kitchen immediately sprang into action. No one dared to look down on this young and sickly Third Young Master of the Duke of Tang’s household.

Someone had looked down on him before.

Li Shimin and Li Xuanba were both precocious children. When they complained to Lady Dou or Old Madam Dugu, their logic was clear and their evidence solid. Those servants who had tried—and failed—to bully the two because of their young age had been dealt with miserably.

Now everyone knew that Second Young Master Li and Third Young Master Li were prodigies. Any petty schemes had better be tucked away. They had to be served carefully, or they might be sold off.

Li Xuanba ate very little each meal, but he got hungry quickly. So he always had the kitchen keep rice porridge ready so he could fill his stomach at any time—though in the end, most of that porridge went into Li Shimin’s belly.

Li Xuanba had them add fresh seasonal leafy vegetables to the white porridge simmering in a clay pot, without any seasoning at all. Once the leaves changed color, it was taken off the heat.

He then had them bring freshly picked cucumbers, blanch the skins with boiling water, smash them lightly and cut them into chunks, add mashed garlic, and soy sauce diluted with water and a little sugar, making a simple smashed cucumber dish.

Beef was sliced so thin it was translucent and cooked together with a large amount of pickled cabbage, without adding any other seasonings.

In less than a quarter of an hour, a bowl of porridge and a small plate of cold dishes were placed on the table. Lady Dou was quite surprised. “Which cook made this?”

Before Li Xuanba could speak, Li Shimin, acting as his brother’s mouthpiece, immediately said, “It was A-Xuan. When A-Xuan is sick, he can’t handle heavy, greasy flavors, so he figured out how to make these shabby little dishes himself. Last time, when big brother was drunk, he even sent some over—and big brother scolded him for being unpresentable.”

Li Xuanba: “?!”

He shot a glance at his second brother.

Li Shimin kept chattering on. “I think so too. What kind of household cooks such simple food? It’s fine if he eats casually himself, but he even eagerly went to give it to someone—of course big brother scolded him. At least he gave it to big brother first, so big brother only lectured him in private. If he’d given it to outsiders first, other families would definitely have laughed at A-Xuan.”

Li Shimin shook his head, his face full of helplessness. “Mother, you really should scold A-Xuan properly.”

Seeing the sadness in Lady Dou’s eyes, Li Xuanba felt utterly speechless.

His mother managed such a large household and had to serve the grandmother as well. Naturally, she couldn’t pay meticulous attention to every single person. The fact that she could spare time to come see them and ask the other servants about things already meant she was very responsible.

In slightly well-off households, children were usually raised by servants, not personally cared for by their parents.

So the little things he did in private, and the small details of how he got along with his eldest brother Li Jiancheng, were things Lady Dou didn’t know about.

He knew, of course, that his second brother didn’t mean any harm. He truly thought Li Xuanba had done something wrong, and now that he had the chance, he was reporting him.

But his silly big brother hadn’t realized at all that although the food he made was “shabby,” he was only a six-year-old child. Even handing his brother a piece of candy he’d licked halfway was an expression of respect and affection—it shouldn’t have been scolded.

Big brother really looked like a naturally black-bellied little green tea now.

“Who says it’s shabby? I like it,” Lady Dou said hurriedly. “Your eldest brother must have been very happy too. It’s just that as the eldest, like a father, he was stricter with you. Don’t be upset.”

Li Xuanba said, “Mother, I know. Big brother is doing it for my own good.”

Li Shimin nodded vigorously. “Exactly!”

Li Xuanba: [Brother, please just shut up.]

Li Shimin continued tattling. “Mother! He told me to shut up!”

Li Xuanba ground his teeth. “Are you going to let Mother eat or not? Shut up!”

Li Shimin immediately covered his mouth with both hands, though his eyes were still continuing to accuse his younger brother.

Mother! Look at him!

Lady Dou picked up the small spoon brought by the servant and said with a smile, “Second Son, aren’t you still not full? Hurry and eat. It won’t taste good once it gets cold.”

Li Shimin put his hand down and picked up the meat again.

Watching the way his second brother ate, Li Xuanba couldn’t help feeling a little hungry as well. He asked for a small bowl of vegetable porridge and ate together with his mother.

Because of customary reasons, Li Xuanba’s food really was “simple, crude, and unpresentable,” unfit for refined company. But when Lady Dou scooped up a spoonful of the unsalted, tasteless vegetable porridge and put it into her mouth, the rice grains—already cooked down soft—mixed with shredded vegetables slid smoothly down her throat. The natural sweetness of the rice blended with the fresh taste of the vegetables, and after just one swallow, her appetite was unexpectedly stirred.

Lady Dou put down the spoon, picked up her chopsticks, and ate a piece of smashed cucumber.

Li Xuanba had been afraid the cucumber might not be washed clean, so he had the cook blanch it briefly. As a result, the skin wasn’t very crisp. But the flesh was still crunchy, and the raw cucumber core carried a hint of coolness, making it very refreshing.

Lady Dou took another sip of porridge and felt that the nausea stirred up earlier by the roasted meat and flatbread had completely disappeared.

Only then did she pick up a slice of sour-cabbage beef.

The beef slices were very thin, cut into pieces just the right size for the mouth. There was no need to tear or gnaw—after chewing lightly a couple of times, the beef broke down into fine bits. With the sour cabbage juice, it went down easily.

When Lady Dou had eaten roasted meat earlier, she’d had to chew for a long time before swallowing with difficulty.

“Very tasty.” As her appetite opened up, even the weariness on Lady Dou’s face faded a little.

Li Xuanba wiped the porridge from the corner of his mouth and said, “Mother, don’t talk. Eat quickly. Afterward, sleep for a bit.”

Lady Dou nodded lightly and sped up her meal.

The corners of Li Xuanba’s mouth unconsciously curved upward. He lowered his head and drank half a bowl of porridge in one go, then pushed the bowl in front of Li Shimin.

Li Shimin wiped the grease from his mouth with the back of his hand, picked up Li Xuanba’s bowl, and gulped down the remaining half bowl of porridge in one breath, as if he were drinking water.

Li Xuanba’s newly lifted smile immediately drooped in disgust. He had someone bring warm water and wiped Li Shimin’s face, mouth, and hands now that he was finally full.

“Why not just take a bath?” Li Xuanba frowned, staring at the grease stains on Li Shimin’s chest, his little face scrunching up.

Li Shimin replied irritably, “If I wash now, you’ll still make me wash again before bed tonight. I’m not washing.”

Lady Dou suppressed a laugh. “If you don’t wash, you can at least change clothes.”

Li Xuanba dragged Li Shimin off to change. Li Shimin kept sighing, clearly having a terrible headache over his younger brother’s cleanliness obsession.

Even as Li Xuanba pulled him away, Li Shimin didn’t forget to turn back and say to Lady Dou, “Mother, hurry and take a nap. Don’t worry about indigestion or anything.”

Lady Dou smiled and nodded. “Alright.”

Li Shimin and Li Xuanba went to change clothes, while Lady Dou lay down for a short nap, still dressed, on the bed where the two sons usually slept.

About half an hour later, when Old Madam Dugu sent someone again to urge her on, Lady Dou had already recovered some energy. She lightly fixed her hair and then hurried off to attend her mother-in-law.

Li Shimin and Li Xuanba were practicing calligraphy.

Seeing that Lady Dou was about to leave, Li Xuanba shot Li Shimin a look. Li Shimin put away his brush, climbed down from the couch, and put on his shoes.

“Mother, I want to go visit Grandmother too,” Li Shimin said, lifting the paper in his hand. “A-Xuan and I copied Buddhist scriptures for blessings. A-Xuan needs to recuperate, so he won’t go.”

Lady Dou immediately understood why the two clever children had done this.

She rubbed both their heads and said happily, “Alright.”

Li Shimin held the copied scriptures in one hand and Lady Dou’s hand in the other, hopping along as they left.

Not long after Li Xuanba watched his mother and his endlessly bouncing second brother leave, a servant came to report that the eldest young master had summoned him.

The corner of Li Xuanba’s mouth twitched. Pressing his temple, he said, “Tell him I’m sick.”

“Yes,” the servant replied.

Li Xuanba could guess why Li Jiancheng wanted him over.

Clearly, before returning to Grandmother’s place, Mother had gone to see Li Jiancheng and, incidentally, mentioned the matter of sending vegetables earlier.

Mother was gentle with all her children, and since Li Jiancheng, as the legitimate eldest son, had grown up by Old Madam Dugu’s side according to great-family customs, their mother–son relationship was rather formal. So Mother definitely hadn’t scolded Li Jiancheng—she had only tactfully hoped he could treat Li Xuanba a bit better.

But clearly, that proud elder brother was still displeased at heart.

That was why he hadn’t wanted his second brother to mention this to Mother! The entire Li family, top to bottom, was narrow-minded! Such a pain, don’t they know?!

“Third Young Master, the Eldest Young Master has personally come to visit you! He even brought friends!” the wet nurse rushed in, panting.

She had just spotted Li Jiancheng arriving in the courtyard and had immediately run over to inform Li Xuanba.

Li Xuanba tossed aside the book in his hand, scrambled off the couch, and rushed toward the bed.

“Quick, bring hot water!” Li Xuanba burrowed into the blankets and ordered.

The wet nurse stood at the doorway to temporarily block Li Jiancheng and the others. A servant woman dipped a cloth into boiling hot water, shook it twice to cool it slightly, and carefully pressed it against Li Xuanba’s forehead.

Before long, Li Xuanba’s face became burning hot and flushed red.

At that moment, Li Jiancheng pushed the door open with his friends. A wave of mixed smells—alcohol, sweat, and the sharp bitterness of medicinal stones—rolled in like a massive tide of hangover stench.

Li Xuanba’s face went pale, his breathing catching.

In this sweltering heat, even if you lot passed out drunk last night and slept straight through, do you seriously not bathe after getting up the next day?!

Though Li Jiancheng felt unhappy after Lady Dou’s tactful admonishment, he still put on an expression of concern for his younger brother. He bent down and tucked in Li Xuanba’s blanket. “Third Brother, are you al—”

As soon as Li Jiancheng opened his mouth, a breath of overnight hangover fumes blasted straight into Li Xuanba’s face.

Already somewhat overstuffed from eating earlier, Li Xuanba didn’t wait for Li Jiancheng to finish speaking. He struggled to crawl to the edge of the bed and stuck his head out.

“Ugh↗—bleh↘—”

(Mosaic) rainbow waterfall (mosaic).

Li Jiancheng and his companions all turned green.

Just then, Li Shimin returned, carrying a box of gems and beads bestowed by Grandmother.

“A-Xuan?! Don’t bully A-Xuan!!”

Li Shimin burst into loud wailing.