An spent a long time chasing Miku. After catching up, Miku didn't resist much and was held by his hand, but refused to raise his head.
An smiled and pulled her back slowly.
"Are you so thin-skinned? Aren't you still trying to find ways... to tease me?"
He thought for a moment and used the word "tease". In fact, "tease" and "tease" were more appropriate. After the two established their relationship, Miku often used this kind of speaking method to gain the upper hand in conversations with him. Looking at her appearance, she enjoyed it very much.
An didn't have the slightest objection to this, and thought she was cute like this. Especially just now, when what Miku wanted to say exceeded the limit of her shame, her reaction was even more adorable.
To be honest, An could catch up with Miku as soon as she escaped. In order to let her slow down, An deliberately slowed down her pace.
By now, Miku should be almost recovered.
"...This is different." Miku spoke in a low voice. He said it more than once and stuttered a bit.
An still heard clearly and tilted his head back slightly. The morning sunlight made his eyes narrow slightly: "Why is it different?"
"The previous one... was just a different way of expressing it. This time it's a sooner or later meeting... Ah! I'm too anxious! It's because I'm too anxious!" Miku didn't speak clearly, and beat his hands with his other hand in embarrassment. Ann's back.
When An listened to Miku's words at first, she almost couldn't bear it anymore. Unfortunately, it was Miku who couldn't bear it first. Her sudden irritation made An couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah, um, I know, I know." An nodded and said, "If you feel uncomfortable, wait until Mei Ke gets engaged, and we will pay back all the grievances we suffered today."
An understood that Miku's embarrassment and anger stemmed from her thoughts being exposed by Meiko in front of everyone. In this way, it just goes with what she wants. Of course An herself did have this plan.
"No, that's right! Give them all back!" Miku clenched his fists and said decisively.
After thinking about it, she punched An again.
"What's wrong?!" An felt a little aggrieved.
Miku snorted twice: "Pay back half first, who made you her brother!"
"Pfft, haha."
Ann couldn't help but laugh. Anyway, he was in a good mood.
Miku subconsciously raised the corners of his mouth, but noticed An's furtive gaze and quickly controlled himself and turned his head away.
They didn't talk anymore, the atmosphere was very good.
The two walked to the gate of Hutto's mansion, and just in time, An noticed the carriage approaching in the distance. From the outside, the carriage is black as a whole and has no extra decoration. However, it can be judged from the material of the carriage that it is expensive to build.
Strictly speaking, such a simple-looking carriage at first glance is not in line with the style of the royal family. Normally, An would not necessarily think that it was arranged by Liliana, but now this is the only possibility.
Needless to say, it was because Liliana didn't want to be too public.
Ann expected the same.
Mei Ke crossed her arms and looked at the two people returning hand in hand with a smile on her lips: "It was just in time. I thought I had to go find you."
Once again in the sight of his companions, the scene just now came to mind again, and Miku had the urge to hide behind An.
An said to Mei Ke: "How can we be people who don't care about business?"
Mei Ke raised her index finger and tapped An on the forehead: "I'm afraid you guys will elope~"
Miku's grip on An's clothes became much stronger, and An was shocked by her sister's words.
"Okay, let's not wait any longer and leave as soon as possible. You two, the protagonists today, have a lot to prepare for."
The carriage had already arrived, and Mei didn't give Anta or Miku any chance to speak.
An opened his mouth, turned around and saw Miku jumping on the carriage first, and shook his head.
Since the princess escaped first, he had no reason to fight anymore.
An looked at the sun and estimated the time. It was still very early. He didn't rush to get on the carriage, just stood there and stretched.
After a while, Hutto's family came out.
"Let's set off. If you feel sleepy, you can rest in the carriage for a while." Hutto's tone was full of elder care, "You have to cheer up today and don't leave the burden to the lady."
"Do you still need to remind me?" Shaye held Hutto's arm and smiled gracefully, "Encore is much warmer than you were back then."
Hutto glanced at his wife helplessly, motioned to An with his eyes, and said, "Get in the car."
"Um."
An didn't wait any longer, turned around and jumped on the carriage and entered the carriage without looking at the snickering Bai and Shirley next to her.
Possibly due to sleepiness coming back, Miku sat on the side of the car with hazy eyes and had been napping. Seeing An come in, she moved.
An took the opportunity to sit next to her and ignored the looks from Meiko and others.
After a few bumps, the carriage started heading towards today's destination.
An felt a weight on her shoulders and saw Miku leaning over, seemingly about to fall asleep. He moved slightly to allow Miku to lean more comfortably.
From the corner of his vision, he saw his companions look away knowingly.
It didn't take long for her sleepiness to spread, and An slowly closed her eyes.
…
"Wake up, hey, wake up!"
Mei Ke shook An's shoulder hard.
An immediately woke up and her first reaction was to hold Miku's shoulders to prevent her from slipping. Then he replied in a daze: "What's the matter?"
The emphasis on his words was slightly strange.
"How big are you? We're here, get out of the car and get ready!" Mei Ke said angrily, opened the car door and walked out.
"……Um."
An exhaled and adjusted his posture.
Miku woke up at this time and sat up straight: "Are you here?"
An got off the carriage, stood up straight, and stretched out his hand to her: "Let's go."
He looked like a perfect knight.
Miku's eyes glowed with brilliance, an elegant curve gradually appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he calmly took An's hand.
The two of them seemed to have stepped out of a fairy tale.
After both of them got off the carriage, An had a chance to take a look at the place they arrived.
The building in front of me seemed to be a two-story restaurant, and there were many people in waiter uniforms busy at the door. Unlike most of the crowded commercial areas in the capital, the nearby buildings are fairly spacious, and the restaurant itself is also very decent.
I don’t know how much she spent to book this restaurant.
An thought subconsciously, with a helpless smile on her face.
When everyone got off the carriage, everyone walked into the door of the restaurant together.
An suddenly felt that the atmosphere inside was not right.
Although many of the guests received today are important figures in the royal capital, the restaurant staff should not be so busy at this time. Moreover, many people were walking out of the gate with worried expressions on their faces.
Leonhardt stood in the distance, discussing something with a man in a blue tuxedo.
Seeing An and the others coming, Leonhardt paused the discussion and came over to greet them: "You are here. Let's rest inside first. The banquet will officially begin in the evening."
An said to Miku beside him: "You go up with everyone first."
Miku glanced at him with clear eyes, nodded without asking any questions.
When the waiter arranged by the man in the tuxedo took everyone upstairs, An, who was left alone, looked at Leonhardt: "What happened?"
"No!" Leonhardt looked into An's eyes and hesitated for a moment before saying, "One small thing, the restaurant's kitchen staff failed to count the ingredients properly, and early this morning it was discovered that some of the ingredients had gone bad... If it was... It is absolutely impossible for a restaurant in the imperial capital to make such a low-level mistake!"
An understood what he meant and asked concisely: "Is there a shortage of ingredients?"
Leonhart frowned and nodded: "For tonight's banquet, yes."
An's right index finger is bent and placed on the chin, the little finger and ring finger of the left hand are bent, and the remaining three fingers are placed on the waist.
He was thinking about the problem in this manner.
Normally, it is not uncommon for ingredients to go bad due to various factors such as weather changes and storage methods. However, in a restaurant that is located in such a location and is obviously catering to aristocrats, it is a bit unbelievable that there will be a shortage of ingredients.
"Let's go to the kitchen first." An said to Leonhardt, and then looked sideways at the man in the tuxedo behind him.
"Ah, yes!" The man in the tuxedo agreed in a panic, then led the way for An.
Leonhardt was startled for a moment and followed An.
All the way to the kitchen located deep on the first floor of the restaurant, under the watchful eyes of many chefs, the man in a tuxedo opened the storage room for An and Leonhardt, and An scanned the remaining ingredients that had not been cleared out.
There was still plenty left, and even after excluding the requirements for a grand banquet, there was still more than enough.
Looking back at the man in the tuxedo, his face was full of worry, and Leonhardt's brows never relaxed.
An suddenly remembered something.
There is a common problem with banquets among nobles that is not worth mentioning, that is, the food prepared for the banquet usually far exceeds the demand.
Noble banquets put more emphasis on socializing rather than filling the stomach, and many dishes are prepared just to conceal the true purpose and appear to have face. In the end, even if part of the many dishes can be prepared by the servants, countless others will still be wasted.
Thinking of this, An's expression gradually became indifferent.
After thinking quickly, An glanced at the chefs in the kitchen and found that most of them were wearing the same clothes, making it difficult to tell them apart.
"How many chefs do you have here?" An asked.
The man in the tuxedo wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and replied, "There are six well-known chefs in the royal capital."
"How is your learning ability?"
"Well, most of them are chefs who have been cooking for many years..." The man in the tuxedo couldn't grasp what An wanted to do.
"Yeah." An nodded and roughly estimated the number of people, "Are these the people in the kitchen?"
"Well, four of them went out shopping with other employees."
The man in the tuxedo felt stressed and secretly glanced at Leonhardt, only to find that he had been looking at Ann, as if waiting for instructions. This frightened the restaurant manager in a tuxedo, and he quickly focused his attention on An, for fear of missing a word.
"Four are out..." An thought for a moment and looked at Leonhardt, "Company, how many idle men are there in the escort team?"
"Twenty-three people." Leonhardt stood up straight and raised the corners of his mouth.
The remaining sleepiness made An raise her hand and rub her forehead: "How many of you know how to cook?"
"All of them!" Leonhart's tone was filled with pride.
"Call for help." An looked at the manager of the restaurant, "Call back the people who are out shopping. I will give you a few recipes and you can just follow them. I will cook a few on the spot and let the chef here try his best to recreate it. .”
"No, no problem!" The restaurant manager doubted his ears, but he still agreed honestly, "Our chefs here are absolutely first-class, and they will definitely be able to make the same... No, they will definitely be as close as possible to your craftsmanship! "
"Well, I believe you."
After speaking without emotion, An looked back at the storage library.
"It's just a banquet, it doesn't require too many ingredients. Their dignity doesn't have to be wasted."
The owner of the restaurant did not dare to express his opinion on this.
Although Leonhardt did not answer, his eyes were faintly shining.
