Outside, it was a world of ice and snow; inside, an air of awkward intimacy hung between them. The two sat in silence, neither saying a word for a long while. Night had fully fallen when the landlady brought their meal. Lan Ningzhen stepped out to receive it and thanked her. Xie Jue spread the small table on the heated bed; evidently, eating and sleeping both took place here. Though Xie Jue disliked it, he begrudgingly adapted to the local customs.
The meal consisted of lump soup made from yellow wheat flour, along with piles of beef and lamb. There was not a single vegetable—completely unsuited to Xie Jue's tastes. Since arriving in Beiman, he'd suffered from excessive heat more times than he could count, all due to the incessant eating of beef and lamb. But there was no alternative; the meals here were what they were. He avoided the meat entirely and picked at the lump soup instead.
