Bah, the stinky scent of romance!

Calm down, I must stay calm!

Wei Renshi immediately returned to a normal expression, continued turning the meat skewers in his hand, and sprinkled various seasonings on them.

Accompanied by wave after wave of exotic fragrance, Wei Renshi wore a smile and said to her, "Li Daizong'er? Oh, what a concise yet comprehensive, simple yet elegant, and catchy name! Truly a rare and wonderful name! Come, your barbecue is ready, have a taste, my exclusive specialty barbecue."

Wei Renshi acted as if he had completely forgotten what he had just blurted out, as if that brief moment had never existed and what just happened had never occurred at all.

The people around looked at each other in dismay, seeing Wei Renshi's expression as calm as usual. The two young women also looked at each other, and Li Daizong'er, in particular, looked at Wei Renshi with a somewhat bewildered expression. At that moment, his demeanor almost made her wonder if that shout just now was just her own hallucination.

Li Daizong'er looked at Wei Renshi, then at the barbecue in his hand, not knowing whether it was better to take it or not.

After hesitating for a moment, she was finally seduced by the rich, alluring aroma of the meat wafting towards her, and couldn't help but reach out and take the skewers.

"Wait!" Wei Renshi snatched the skewers back from her hand, quickly grabbed a plate, used a pair of chopsticks to strip the meat right off the iron skewers into the plate, and then handed over two pairs of chopsticks. "Eating directly from the skewers is inconvenient for young ladies like you. Doing it this way is much easier. Have a taste first, you two!"

Just as the two of them took the plate, they saw Wei Renshi pick up a skewer himself, directly pull off a piece of meat with his teeth from the iron skewer, and chew on it with gusto. While chewing, he proudly said, "Not bad! It seems this young master still has his edge and hasn't lost his touch over the years!"

Seeing Wei Renshi's smug look and hearing what he said, the two couldn't help but find it amusing, bursting into a chuckle.

They quickly picked up their chopsticks, each picked a piece of barbecue from the plate, covered their mouths with their hands, and popped it into their mouths. Their expressions instantly turned to shock, and then they cried out in pleasant surprise, "So delicious!"

The two young women could no longer care about their decorum or covering their mouths. In just a few strokes of their chopsticks, they wolfed down the barbecue in the plate completely, and then looked with glowing eyes at Wei Renshi and the barbecue grill.

Wei Renshi let out a secret sigh of relief.

Damn, that was way too close!

"Haha, the joy of barbecue is that you grill whatever you want to eat. As the saying goes, work with your own hands for ample food and clothing. Come on, everyone give it a try!" Wei Renshi called out to the surrounding people. "Pick whatever you want to eat, grill it yourself, try seasoning it yourself, and after a few tries, you'll be able to make something delicious on your own. Come, come, don't be shy!"

Wei Renshi knew that Fan Zhiyi had called quite a few people, and this was a great opportunity for him to develop his social circle in Chang'an City. Therefore, Wei Renshi had prepared plenty of ingredients.

With that, Wei Renshi grabbed a handful of meat skewers and handed them to the two women in front of him, smiling. "Two maidens, come and give it a try. Food you grill yourself tastes infinitely better, I bet neither of you has ever tried it."

The two hesitated slightly before reaching out to take them, imitating Wei Renshi's earlier actions and placing them on the wire grill.

With someone taking the lead, the others also gathered around and began imitating the two of them, picking their own items to grill.

When Fan Zhiyi returned, he found a group of female guests gathered together with wisps of smoke rising from their midst, stirring his curiosity.

He cast his gaze around, but couldn't find the person he wanted to show his hunting trophies to, so he had no choice but to ride his horse over there.

When he got closer, he discovered to his surprise that Wei Renshi was surrounded right in the middle.

So he dismounted and walked over, followed by the others behind him.

Everyone tossed their hunting spoils to the side, drawing exclamations from the female guests, and put on proud expressions—much like naive young boys eager to show off and catch the attention of the girls in their class.

Wei Renshi seized the opportunity to slip away from the crowd.

"Miss Du, look what I hunted!" Fan Zhiyi spotted Miss Du in the center at a glance, but then his expression shifted to shock, and he hurriedly demanded, "Where are the servants? How could they let Miss Du herself be subjected to smoke and fire?! Audacious!"

With that, he raised his riding crop.

The group of servants off to the side had been watching in terror, practically trembling like leaves in the wind.

"Master Fan, working with one's own hands brings ample food and clothing!" Miss Du looked up at him, smiling as she said, "Young Master Wei invited everyone to grill things themselves, and this young lady actually finds it quite interesting. It's just that these meat skewers are about to run out."

"Why aren't you going over quickly to help skewer the meat?" Wei Renshi nudged Fan Zhiyi from behind, whispering, "Brother can only help you up to this point!"

Fan Zhiyi was stunned for a moment, then his face beamed with joy. He turned his head and whispered to Wei Renshi, "Brother! Thank you so much!"

With that, he hastily drew a sharp-looking small knife from his waist, grabbed the game he had hunted, and rushed forward, calling out as he went, "Miss Du, I've come to help you skewer the meat!"

Ah, what an enlightened dynasty!

Wei Renshi shook his head. *Bah, the sour stench of romance!*

The group of pampered young nobles had hunted plenty of wild game, and naturally, their respective servants were on hand to clean and dress it. The young masters themselves only needed to slice the meat, put it on skewers, place it on the grill, control the heat, and sprinkle the seasonings.

Even so, everyone found it immensely entertaining.

During this process, people continually came over to make acquaintance with Wei Renshi. Wei Renshi responded warmly and befriended each of them.

To live a good life in Chang'an City, and indeed throughout the Great Tang, a solid network of relationships was indispensable.

To establish a firm foothold in Chang'an, Wei Renshi also needed to carefully weave such a network.

Having spent the whole day reveling and playing, Wei Renshi felt genuinely happy. This was probably the most enjoyable day he had spent since arriving in Chang'an.

Human beings were indeed social animals. Even those who preferred solitude and enjoyed loneliness ultimately needed moments of playing and interacting with others to maintain balance.

After this outing, upon returning to the Chongwen Academy, the relationships among everyone were visibly closer.

Wei Renshi had also grown familiar with the other students of the Chongwen Academy beyond the few under Liu Zhao's direct instruction.

These students were not very old, and due to his background in a later era, Wei Renshi understood the psychology of people this age extremely well. Thus, he quickly established good relations with everyone.

Especially Fan Zhiyi, who treated Wei Renshi with even greater warmth and introduced him to many aristocratic scions from both academies.

Study life at the Chongwen Academy continued, and in a flash, a few more days passed.

On this day, after class was dismissed, the classmates left together. When they reached the entrance to part ways, Quan Qiaoqiu said to Wei Renshi, "Renshi, I heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is coming to the Chongwen Academy tomorrow. Since you are newly enrolled, by convention the Crown Prince will certainly want to grant you a private audience and offer some words of encouragement. You'd better prepare yourself well."

Wei Renshi was slightly startled upon hearing this. *So, I'm finally going to meet Li Song.*

The others assumed Wei Renshi was worried, so they chimed in to comfort him. Gu Pengju said, "Rest assured, His Royal Highness is magnanimous and benevolent, not frightening at all."

Wei Renshi chuckled, amused.