None of these were what Yang Shen was interested in though. So what if the architecture was beautiful to look at? What Yang Shen cared about right now was finding where the damm kitchen was in this maze!

Walking through almost the entire courtyard before finally finding the kitchen, Yang Shen felt like crying upon seeing the table which was covered in countless dishes.

Ranging all the way from simple congee to noodles and even dumplings, every single item looked so delicious that Yang Shen wanted to devour every single one of them.

In that case, why did he feel like crying?

It was because Lin Meng had finished cooking and was sitting at the table waiting for him.

'This stupidly huge courtyard! I missed her cooking for me because of you!'

Blaming the courtyard instead of his poor sense of direction, Yang Shen dragged his body near the table and sat opposite to Lin Meng.

"You sure took your sweet time in coming."

Smiling wryly since he was the one who was truly disappointed due to how long he took to find the kitchen, Yang Shen could only hope that he'd come here sooner tomorrow and manage to feast his eyes on a beauty cooking for him.

But… Was Elder Lin going to cook for him tomorrow as well?

Looking uncertainly towards Lin Meng, Yang Shen decided to find out right now.

"If I don't eat breakfast tomorrow as well, will the beautiful Elder Lin once again cook for me?"

Narrowing her eyes towards the boy who was growing more and more frivolous by the day, Lin Meng said, "Taste my cooking first before asking me to cook again."

"Huh? What do you…"

Looking towards the food which despite smelling delicious no longer looked appealing to the eyes due to what Lin Meng said, Yang Shen who spotted the grinning snake felt like scolding it for jinxing the situation.

"Elder Lin is surely joking. How can someone like you be bad at cooking."

"If you're so sure, why not eat some?"

Once again feeling like crying due to how the smile on Lin Meng's face was backing her words, Yang Shen felt like he was right now stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If he chose to not eat after talking so much, things would definitely turn sour between him and Lin Meng. But if he ate the food and found the taste bad, he would have no choice but to say that he liked it and end up eating the same untasteful food every day.

'No! Stop thinking too much!'

Calming himself, Yang Shen picked up one of the dumplings to eat.

So what if the food tasted bad? The one who cooked it was beautiful!

Muttering to himself on the inside as if he was hypnotizing himself, Yang Shen bit into the dumpling while doing his best to not look like he was only doing so since he had no other choice.

Lin Meng however could easily see through the barely maintained facade of calmness on Yang Shen's face causing her to smile delightfully.

Looking towards how charming Lin Meng looked right now with that smile on her face, Yang Shen's plan to swallow the food before his tongue could figure out the taste had ended up failing.

Caught stunned with the dumpling's skin and stuffing right on top of his tongue, Yang Shen could only get ready to be a.s.saulted by the food's bad taste.

Time slowly pa.s.sed by, but the bad taste Yang Shen waited for never arrived.

Instead, a mild yet savoury flavour soon spread through his mouth which caused him to instinctively start chewing on the juicy stuffing.

"Delicious!"

With tears filling his eyes from how tasty the simple dumpling was, Yang Shen who never tasted anything so good until now in both his lives stuffed his mouth with the remainder of the dumpling in his hand.

Chewing for a very long time due to how the savoury juices kept on flowing out of the juicy stuffing into his mouth, Yang Shen very reluctantly swallowed the food before looking towards Lin Meng with eyes full of adoration.

Ignoring the fact that she had played a prank on him, Yang Shen in that instant felt like asking her to marry him.

'Huh? What's with that look in his eyes?'

Feeling shy from how fervent and borderline pa.s.sionate look in Yang Shen's eyes, Lin Meng who didn't know what to say could only watch him as he began consuming everything she prepared for breakfast like a hungry ghost.

"You have quite a big appet.i.te, boy. Want me to cook some more?"

Nodding his head without the slightest reservation, Yang Shen made Lin Meng roll her eyes at him for not even treating her like an Elder anymore.

Despite wanting to remind Yang Shen of her status, Lin Meng found herself moving towards the kitchen to cook some more food.

After all, even if not for him, she needed to cook food to feed her own stomach.

Saying such words so that she wouldn't have to admit she was developing a soft spot towards the Outer Disciple whom she knew for less than a few weeks, Lin Meng who started cooking more food got rid of the regret Yang Shen had from not being able to witness her cook for him.

'Smart, funny, gentle, caring, kind, patient, talented, strong, knowledgeable, and even an excellent cook. She's...perfect.'

Looking towards Lin Meng who was a complete package of everything he ever wanted in a woman, Yang Shen's feelings towards her changed from infatuation and to love.

At the same time, he was now no longer throwing the word marriage around carelessly even inside his head. He truly began considering marrying Lin Meng.