"Mr Ming… please, do it for me"
Xuelan pleaded, her voiced cooed as she whispers lightly at Ming desperately with tears forming under her longing eyes
She spoke as if Ming was the only person in the world that needed to know her plead
"I'm afraid that I can't miss Xuelan… I am loyal to my promise with Zhu Lian"
Ming pulled away, shook his head and replied in a grave tone
"Please… I'm begging you… just once"
Xuelan's voice with dripped with honey as she reached out and gently held Ming's hand
"I-I mustn't! You know that we shouldn't be doing this miss Xuelan! Let me go!"
Ming shouted passionately, fiercely trying to push Xuelan away but she held on tightly to his warm hands
"Just this once…" tears streamed down from her storm grey eyes as she stared into his very soul, Ming could feel that the dainty hands wrapping around his were shaking, they were as fragile as porcelain
Ming turned away hurriedly, his teeth clenched, feeling as if he'd fall for her temptation had he kept looking into those baby dolled eyes
"Just this once… COOK SOMETHING FOR ME, PLEASE, I MISS YOUR FOOD, WAHHHHH"
Xuelan grabbed Ming's shoulders, shaking them vigorously with throwing a tantrum like a kid
"I'm sorry, Lian told me not to serve any of you in any ways until she said otherwise, I have to uphold my promise" Ming said melancholically as a single dramatic tear streamed down his left cheek
=================================
This mayhem all started after Zhu Lian's outburst at Li Wei and Xuelan for freeloading off Ming's kindness to the bone
Ming diligently kept his promise to Zhu Lian, only setting up his part of camp, picking up after himself and cooking for himself and himself only
Ming felt conflicted all throughout though, all this time, he was so used to serving others and prioritizing them over himself that he felt quite a bit of guilt now that he's leaving on their own
He knows that it's irrational to be thinking like this, his companions are all fully capable martial artists and are more than able of taking care of themselves, well except for the anomaly named Zhou Xuelan that is
Li Wei, ever responsible, had been doing quite well in terms of doing his part, he's been setting up camp, making fires, planning their routes and even helping Ming with training. Although not as effective as Ming in terms of doing chores, Li Wei's experience with traveling was extremely apparent
Zhu Lian, who Ming expected to struggle a little, was doing surprisingly well, a little bit too well. She was responsible for doing the group's laundry, rationing, foraging, packing supplies, and she even feeds Ming whenever they sit down to eat, she does it all with such confidence and knowledge that it's hard to believe that she grew up as a closeted noble lady
When Ming asked her about it she simply replied with "Well, I've watched you do these things countless times growing up, it's inevitable that I picked up a trick or two"
While her words were heart warming at firm, Ming felt like something was afoot in her statement, she had watched him countless times? Wouldn't she have spent most her days training and studying, Ming recalled very little instances of her watching over him doing menial chores growing up
Something felt very wrong but Ming decided to not think too deeply into it, he trusted Lian, so he's sure that it's just him misremembering things
On the other hand of the spectrum, Zhou Xuelan was doing… terrible, to say the least
She was given the task of cooking, prepping ingredients and hunting for meat,... except for hunting which she excelled at, nothing else went well for her
She doesn't know to how properly prepare the ingredients nor does she knows how to cook at all, so the rest of the group end up just cooking for themselves
Seeing her lack of cooking skills, Ming became increasingly curious and asked her how she prepared her food when she was still traveling solo, only to be astonished by the fact that she ate them RAW and that her whole concept of a soup is stuff thrown willy nilly into water and boiling them
It makes Ming wonders what miracles had to happen to keep this sloppy girl alive until now
Needless to say, Ming could imagine how good it felt for her to eat proper home cooked meals from him for once. And yet, all that was taken away by her own carelessness and inability to realize how much it she burdened Ming
Ming couldn't help but feel pity for her, in his eyes, Xuelan was no longer that formidable martial artist that could easily crush him, but a helpless gerbil in need of a caretaker. M
Something about her just makes him instinctively want to help, but alas, under the ever watchful eyes of Zhu Lian, he could only pray that Xuelan survives on her own
All of this culminating in Xuelan desperately pleading to Ming for him to cook her one meal, just one meal to satisfy her hunger for rich and deep flavors
After Ming's firm rejection to cook for her, Xuelan slumped down to her knees, her eyes brushed by dried tears, she couldn't take another day of her own terrible cooking, not after being constantly fed delicious meals by Ming
"I'm so sorryyyyy, I shouldn't have taken your help for granted, wahhhh" She apologized and kept throwing a tantrum
Ming found it quite endearing, after seeing her like this, how could he not help her? This crying little helpless gerbil in front of him
So Ming turned to Lian, who was closely observing the situation, he gave her pleading eyes, unconsciously mimicking Xuelan's
Signaling "Can I help her? Pleasee"
Seeing that, Lian sighed and walked towards Xuelan, who was still slumped on the ground, her knees dirtied
"Have you learned your lesson? Miss Xuelan?"
Lian asked sternly, narrowing her eyes, her voice soft yet overwhelmingly intimidating
Xuelan's spine jolted up upon hearing Lian's voice, it seemed that Lian's scolding a few days back had left some scars
"Y-yes, I promise I won't take his help for granted again! I'll be good! I swear" Xuelan pleaded with baited breath, feeling hope that her suffering will end
"Mhm, alright"
Lian nodded and turned to Ming, cupping his face and smiling at him
"You can take care of us again, but you can't burden yourself with everything alone again, okay?" She said sweetly, her voice like melodies to his ears
Ming blushed and replied hurriedly "O-okay, I won't"
Seeing this Xuelan's mouth twisted into a smile of relief, finally, she can escape the hell of her own making (her bad cooking)
But as the group was interacting leisurely by the fire
Li Wei, who was patrolling the area, abruptly ran towards them from the dark, his cloth fluttering as he shouted
"Be on guard everyone! Bandits are surrounding us!"
He said as an arrow flew past his long black silky hair, hitting the ground next to the campfire as two dozen bandits approached from the darkness, completely surrounding their camp
"Looks like some bandits came to look for some trouble" Ming chuckled
Li Wei quickly arrived at their side and turned his back to them, facing West
"I'll handle this side"
Lian let go of Ming's face, cracked her hands and faced North, her stance wide and confident
"I've been dying for some practical experience"
Xuelan, who had been kneeling and throwing a tantrum this whole time palmed the group with her Qi, gracefully bouncing herself into her battle stance as she faced South
Her expression now serious as she stared down the bandits with ferocity, all of the earlier helplessness instantly melted away as if it never existed in the first place
Seeing the bandits, Ming yawned, casually stretched his limbs and step forward to face East
"Finally, I've been dying to throw some hands"
Ming chuckles, his pupil dilated and consumes his whole eye like an endless abyss while he wore a jovial grin
His expression causing some bandits to step back in caution