Shepherd's Purse Bun Filling

She glanced at them with the look you'd give a stranger, and said nothing.

The innkeeper hurriedly asked, "Oh right, you two guests—last night you slept in the woodshed, and just outside the woodshed window is the horse pen. Did you see anything out there?"

"Sure did!" Henry Tuoba replied. "I saw... a horse thief. The guy smashed down the wall of the horse pen with one blow, then let the horses out."

"Oh my! I need to report this to the authorities right away! Miss, please... please let me go, I have to go report it!" the innkeeper said urgently.

Grace let him go, secretly cursing her rotten luck.

If the thief really took it, that Silver Dragon Stallion could run thousands of miles a day—by now, it's probably long gone. Reporting it is pointless!

"Reporting won't help. The horse they lost is a Silver Dragon Stallion that can run two or three thousand miles a day—they'll never get it back," Henry Tuoba said, walking straight over to sit opposite Evan Xiao and Grace. He looked at Evan Xiao with a half-smile: "What do you think, brother?"

Evan Xiao glanced at him with a blank expression, said nothing, and simply tossed a pouch of silver to the innkeeper. "Could you please help us buy two more good horses?"

"Oh! Oh! Of course!" The innkeeper saw they weren't going to make trouble for him and immediately broke into a wide grin as he accepted the silver.

Then he turned to Henry Tuoba and his companion: "Gentlemen, sorry about last night—having you sleep in the woodshed like that. What would you like to eat? Breakfast is on the house!"

Henry Tuoba glanced at the food on the table and asked, as if offhand, "Do you have any shepherd's purse buns?"

Grace froze.

Then, she slowly looked up at him.

Right now, Henry Tuoba looked so young—barely in his twenties, maybe.

She still remembered, back when she first arrived in the Vermilion Kingdom, she and Ray lived in the hostage quarters.

The people there always shorted them on food, and most days they didn’t even have rice to cook.

So Grace would dig up shepherd's purse in the garden and use the little flour she had to make buns.

That was the first time in her life Grace had ever cooked anything.

Just then, Henry Tuoba came by the hostage quarters on inspection, saw the buns she made, and got curious enough to try one.

He took a bite, and it took him ages to finally choke it down.

Then he said it was the worst bun he'd ever eaten in his life.

......

After that, they never went hungry again... He always looked out for them.

And now, he was saying he liked shepherd's purse buns?

The innkeeper chimed in, "Sir, what season do you think this is? Winter's almost here—there's no shepherd's purse around. But we've got radish and pork buns, want some?"

"What kind of buns are they eating?" Henry Tuoba asked, looking at the buns in front of Grace.

"They're eating radish and pork buns."

"Radish and pork it is, then."

"Alright!" The innkeeper turned to order the buns and sent the waiter off to buy two good horses...

While they waited for the buns, Henry Tuoba smiled and asked Evan Xiao, "Brother, what should I call you?"

Evan Xiao kept his eyes on his food and said coolly, "I'm not interested in getting to know you."

"Ha!" Henry Tuoba chuckled. "Actually, I wanted to say—I have two Silver Dragon Stallions back home. If you don't mind, I could give you one."

Evan Xiao: "No need."

Henry Tuoba raised his eyebrows and nodded.

After breakfast, Evan Xiao took Grace and left.