Luo Qingqing thought about it again and again and decided that it was better to meet the other party in the room outside the bedroom.
This wasn’t the right time to meet a guest, let alone a young male, but she had her own considerations. The other party wouldn’t fail to understand this. In fact, even for the reason of avoiding suspicion, he shouldn’t appear within ten steps of her. But he knew this and still did so. Therefore, he must have a plan in mind.
As a genius disciple of the new generation of the Luo family, she had seen a lot of malicious people. Although Xia Fan’s attitude at the beginning was good, it didn’t mean it would always be so. A change of heart in less than two days was fast, but it wasn’t beyond her worst expectations.
If the other party had changed his attitude and wanted to use last night’s incident as a bargaining chip to get something from her, she needed to let him know that this was a fool’s errand.
And he would have to pay for breaking his promise.
Under Luo You’er’s “watchful eye”, Xia Fan walked in with a porcelain basin. “Good evening, it’s good that you’re still awake.”
What kind of greeting was this? Luo Qingqing couldn’t tell whether he was teasing or really greeting her. “I don’t think this is an appropriate time to make a house call. Can’t you just come tomorrow…”
Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly stopped as a tantalizing scent of food caught her attention.
This had nothing to do with determination, but a human’s instinctive reaction. Due to the evacuation of the town residents, the flood supply had been completely interrupted. Although the Luo family usually bought more food as a reserve, that little reserve food was only used for emergencies and was simply not enough for everyone’s daily needs. Considering that there were still two more days to go, Luo Fengqing had pooled the food together and intended to distribute it to the people left behind on the last night.
In other words, she hadn’t eaten for almost a day.
It was fine when she was busy, but once she stopped and the strong fragrance blew at her face, her body gave the most appropriate reaction.
“Gulp.”
Luo Qingqing’s stomach growled.
The moment this sound came out, the momentum she had built up dissipated.
The source of the fragrant smell was undoubtedly the porcelain basin in the other party’s hands.
“Why are you…”
“I guessed that you haven’t eaten dinner yet, so I made more.” Xia Fan placed the basin on the table and uncovered the lid. “This is suitable for eating and talking at the same time. If you think it’s good, you can call everyone over to try it.”
Luo Qingqing wanted to question his intention, but when the lid was uncovered, her words suddenly changed.
“This is… crab?”
“You’ve eaten it before?” Xia Fan was a little surprised.
“No, but I’ve heard about it.” Luo Qingqing surveyed the angular, golden crab in the basin carefully and said, “It’s said that the upper echelons of Yong Country once had a popular method of eating crab. The northern green crab is suitable for pounding and mixing with sugar to make crab sauce; while the southern lake crab is large and more suitable for steaming. As far as I know, three ancient books mentioned this matter, but because of its ugly and horrible shape, it was only used as a seasoning or seafood accompaniment and didn’t spread afterward.”
“You should stop being called Luo Qingqing and simply be called Luo Encyclopedia in the future,” Xia Fan muttered in a low voice.
“What are you talking about?”
“Ahem… I said that the Luo family is worthy of having a universal knowledge of all things. You even know how to prepare crab.”
“But those books haven’t recorded your preparation method,” Luo Qingqing said with interest. “It’s neither a lake crab nor green crab, but more like the small mountain crabs commonly found by streams… Can this thing really be eaten?”
Hey hey, that’s not what your convulsing throat says.
Xia Fan didn’t answer, but directly pinched a crab and put it into his mouth.
With only slight chewing, the charred and crispy shell broke in response to the sound.
Anyone who heard that click-click-click sound could imagine how crispy it was.
Luo You’er simply couldn’t hold back. Following Xia Fan’s example and stuffing a whole crab into her mouth, her eyes lit up.
“Senior sister, it’s delicious!”
Once her junior sister started, Luo Qingqing couldn’t stop her. While silently reciting that this was to verify the history books and never to satisfy her personal appetite, she reached for the porcelain pot.
When half of the crab was sent into her mouth, a thick aroma of grease instantly blossomed and spread over her entire mouth. After the golden crab shell broke apart, the juice inside poured out, presenting a different taste altogether. The last thing to be felt by her tongue was the crab meat — after the salty impact, it still maintained its original sweet taste. The delicate shreds of meat could be said to melt in the mouth, and the triple mix of flavors made the freshness of the crab reach a new realm.
Her junior sister’s statement, although simple, most directly expressed her feelings about the dish.
“This preparation method… is it deep-frying?”
Although food cooked in hot oil was uncommon, Luo Qingqing happened to have eaten one or two kinds. In the entire Qi Country, only the big stores in the capital would sell similar meals. However, whether it was spring rolls or fried strips, they were essentially noodle and vegetarian dishes. It was the first time she had seen a live creature like a crab cooked in oil.
Xia Fan said with approval, “Exactly. The rice jars in the back kitchen of the inn were all moved away, but there was a little seasoning left. Probably because these things cannot fill the belly, the townspeople didn’t take them away. When I went to the back of the mountain, I found a stream with a lot of crabs in it. I found a jar of vegetable oil in the kitchen, so I used it to make this.”
More than just a lot. With the basket he made using vines, he easily caught close to a hundred of them. The crabs of this era obviously hadn’t tasted the horrible beating of the upright apes, and they crawled in groups into the basket when he turned over the rock where they were hiding, so he didn’t have to spend much effort to make today’s dinner.
In contrast to the original steaming practice, you could grab several of these kinds of small crabs in one hand. Not only did it not have much crab yolk, but it also didn’t even have much meat. When he was young, only street vendors would skewer it together, fry it up and sell it. The high-fat and high-calorie approach that was scorned at the time, however, was food that ordinary people were eager to eat in ancient times. Driven by their genes, the satisfaction brought by the rich fat was far better than the taste of the ingredients themselves.
As for some modern cooking techniques such as high-temperature water locking and secondary re-frying were just the icing on the cake for this already attractive dish.
Luo You’er’s exaggerated admiration soon drew the others’ attention, and in a short while, all the female disciples of the Luo family guarding the large compartment gathered over. The women who hadn’t eaten for a day were defenseless in the face of this golden dish, and one by one, they became captives of the fried crabs.
Luo Qingqing was surprised to find that in less than a quarter of an hour, the junior and senior sisters who had been treating Xia Fan coldly were now talking to him.
This inevitably increased the pressure in her heart. In the current situation, the matter of threatening her with her reputation and innocence should be her own overthinking. After all, that matter itself was the biggest bargaining chip. Whether he brought food or not wouldn’t help the situation at all. But the other party’s late-night visit was obviously not to give them food. As they say, gifts blind the eyes. If the other party took advantage of the opportunity to put forward some moderate demands, such as making the Luo family take him through the Night of Great Desolation, she would probably need to spend more effort to reject him.
“All right, tell us what you came for.” Luo Qingqing cleared her throat and said squarely towards Xia Fan, “This fried crab of yours is really good. However, compared to the Luo family’s interests, the latter is more important. I believe you won’t make it too difficult for me.”
“Unless you make crabs for us every day.” Luo You’er followed closely and added.
Luo Qingqing slapped her head wordlessly.
“Aye aye…” The latter held her head in aggravation. “Isn’t negotiation just bargaining? I see the master and others all talk like this.”
“Some things cannot be compromised. Go to the side!”
“Ok…” Luo You’er held a crab leg in her mouth and squatted honestly in the corner of the room.
Xia Fan couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He spread his hands and said, “I said it before. Because I caught too much, I brought you a portion. So, technically, I didn’t come empty-handed. As for what I want to talk about, it doesn’t have much to do with crabs. The main reason I came this time is to tell you that having most of the people evacuate is not the best option, and in fact, I have a better way to deal with the Night of Great Desolation.”
“You?” Luo Qingqing frowned in confusion. She didn’t expect the conversation to unfold like this.
“That’s right. However, that method requires keeping everyone in Qing Shan Town. The power of each candidate is vital, and cohesion into a single group can bring out a strength closer to the upper limit of the crowd than splitting into families or squads to fight.”
Typical empty talk. Luo Qingqing didn’t even want to ask what his method was. Ten people were naturally stronger than one, but the premise was how to make the interests of ten people consistent. This was also the reason why the disciples of the families were able to take advantage of the first opportunity. “You’re not without reason, but the others may not listen to you. The candidates’ choice to stay or leave is by no means the Luo family’s intention, but out of their own will. I’m afraid I can’t help you much.”
“I know. I don’t intend to convince them, either,” Xia Fan said frankly. “We just have to leave them with no choice.”
This straightforward answer was a bit surprising to Luo Qingqing. She had thought that the other party was the kind of person who liked to make plans based on wishful thinking, but these words seemed to imply that he wasn’t like that.
For some reason, a slight uneasiness suddenly sprang up in her heart.
“What exactly do you want to discuss with me?”
“Not to discuss, but to tell.” Xia Fan slowly shook his head. “Since the evacuation plan was started because of the Luo family, I thought you should be the first to know.”
“…”
Something I should know?
This statement seemed a bit arrogant.
She had envisioned a scenario where the other party didn’t know how to threaten her and had also considered whether the Luo family really had the spare capacity to bring one more person through the exam, but whichever she imagined, it didn’t include this situation.
Luo Qingqing didn’t know how to answer for a moment, and a strange silence permeated the room.
What broke this silence was the sound of hurried footsteps outside the compartment, as well as the panicked shouts of the Luo family disciples.
“Bad news, Senior Sister Luo, bad news!”
The door of the room was opened, and the female disciple who rushed in looked at a room full of people chewing crabs and full of fragrance. She couldn’t help but stare, but quickly remembered her mission and looked at Luo Qingqing. “Senior sister, both the release platform and the wooden kite are on fire!”
“What?” Hearing this news, everyone couldn’t help but slow down their swallowing.
“How did the fire start? There shouldn’t be any fire sources, right?”
“How is it burning? Where are the people in charge of guarding it?”
“Did anyone put out the fire?”
“I’m not sure… I saw the fire from a distance before I realized something was wrong!” The reporting disciple said eagerly, “Just from the fire, I’m afraid it can’t be saved!”
The room suddenly exploded, with only Luo Qingqing motionless and with a cold heart.
Her ears suddenly rang with what Xia Fan had said.
“I don’t intend to convince them, either. We just have to leave them with no choice.”
“Not discuss, tell.”
She slowly looked at Xia Fan with disbelief.
And the latter gave an affirmative answer. “I started the fire.”