Translator: Henyee Translations
Editor: Henyee Translations
Outside the Small Study, Lu Xun simply stood in a spot, this was because he didn’t know where to go to look for food at the moment.
Even though Rear Mountain was large, only a few people lived here. Sadly, Lu Xun was the only one that needed to eat three meals a day amongst these people, he was no different from the outer sect disciples.
There was a dining hall at the place of residence for outer sect disciples, but Lu Xun couldn’t possibly pass over mountains and ridges everyday just to eat his fill, right?
Not to mention, his culinary skills weren’t half-bad, he only needed the ingredients because he preferred making his meals himself.
In his previous life, he and his sister, Lu Yu, depended on each other. Between the both of them, he was the one who usually cooked.
When he was working part-time while studying, he once went to a certain restaurant to help out in the kitchen, and secretly learned quite a lot.
Afterwards, the cook saw that Lu Xun was pretty talented in the culinary arts, whenever he was in a good mood, he’d let Lu Xun watch at the side, this could be considered as teaching him a few dishes.
This cook had a rather dirty look on his face, due to this, the people in the kitchen were all afraid of him. Since he saw Lu Xun as the most unpleasant one in his eyes, he would frequently scold Lu Xun whenever he could.
At often times when the others were finished with their shifts, he would keep Lu Xun behind to criticize him harshly alone, pointing out where he did wrong, and then before leaving, he would then throw him a lunch box filled with food that was still warm.
His sister, Lu Yu, especially loved to eat the cook’s dishes. Everytime Lu Xun brought back the lunch box, she would eat it very happily.
Lu Xun had always thought of this cook as a half-master.
‘Gulugulu.’ The continuing cries of his stomach pulled Lu Xun from his thoughts and back to reality.
After considering it shortly, he knocked on Cat Southnorth’s door and asked her if there were any ingredients he could use in the Rear Mountain.
As a person, the most important thing was to be ingratiating and black-hearted. With Lu Xun readily calling her ‘Fourth Senior Sister’, Cat Southnorth was unexpectedly duped into catching wild animals with him.
In the eyes of Cat Southnorth, she was a good-natured senior sister.
In the eyes of Dirty Dog, she became an imperial hunting cat.
In the end, Cat Southnorth caught two fishes and a pheasant.
Rear Mountain actually had quite a lot of living animals, however, apart from the posse of fireflies that flew everywhere at night, the other animals all tacitly didn’t get too close to the Small Study at the top of the mountain, who knew for what unknown reason it was?
After bringing the two live fish and pheasant back to the Small Study, Lu Xun started to cook.
Fortunately, the kitchen wasn’t lacking anything. According to what Cat Southnorth said, It was because the Third Senior Brother liked to cook, however, the things he usually put out were especially unpalatable and he always invited others for a taste test.
“Is there any wine?” Lu Xun looked at the two fish as he asked.
The fish caught in the brook was considered as a stream fish, this type of fish had a little earthy and fishy smell. Upon using fresh ginger and wine to get rid of the fishy smell, it would be a lot more delicious, but sadly, there was no wine in the kitchen.
“There’s definitely some in the Third Senior Brother’s room, I’ll go steal some.” Cat Southnorth ran off energetically.
She was originally not that interested in cooking, but Lu Xun’s detailed description of the meal was too enticing.
His use of words and phrasing were filled with imagery, as she continued to listen to his words, she actually felt that she had already tasted it!
Mouthwatering… slurp!
Shortly after, Cat Southnorth carried a small wine jar and jumped in from the window.
Children didn’t like to walk through the front door, not to mention that she was also a small cat that was inclined to jump around windows.
“Stealing it directly… isn’t it a problem?” Lu Xun asked.
“No need to worry, there’s no problem. Third Senior Brother’s temper is really good. He even said that I could play with anything as I please in his room. Plus, his memory is terrible. He might not even remember how many jars of wine there were in his own room.”
“That isn’t some sort of celestial wine, right?” Lu Xun asked, he really didn’t dare to use it hastily.
Some celestial wine brewed with precious ingredients were greatly tonic, and considering his current cultivation, rashly tasting it could possibly result in being ‘too asthenic to nourish1’.
While skillfully opening the wine jar, Cat Southnorth said, “Don’t you worry, Third Senior Brother is very conventional, all he has is normal wine.”
For some reason, under Cat Southnorth’s description of him, Lu Xun already had a rough character image of the Third Senior Brother even though he had never seen him: good-tempered, terrible at cooking, bad memory, and particularly conventional.
However, something felt strange. This stately Small Study’s Third Senior Brother—also a character he had never seen before transmigrating—was he just like that?
Nevertheless, the most important thing to do right now was to eat, he wasn’t going to be needlessly argumentative at the moment, he then immediately began to reveal his craftsmanship.
The fish that was caught was a silvery pomfret, this is why he planned to prepare a certain Fujian cuisine—the soy sauce braised fish.
After the fish went into the deep fryer, it shouldn’t be moved too much. This was the taboo of cooking fish.
The fish shouldn’t be turned over often when cooking, or else, its look would become something of beyond recognition all of a sudden.
After putting in the condiments, the aroma came out immediately, the broth’s color and luster was rich, it looked especially enticing.
Lu Xun asked, “Fourth Senior Sister, do you eat spicy food?”
“I do, slurp.”
“Then, does Second Senior Sister eat spicy food too?”
“Yes she does, slurp.”
Surprisingly, there was actually Sichuan pepper inside the Small Study’s kitchen, however, Lu Xun didn’t put in too much.
After the fish was finished cooking, it was now the chicken’s turn.
After deliberating for a moment, he decided to make vinegar cooked chicken.
In the corner of the kitchen, there was actually a large jar filled with rice inside.
Alongside the large jar and those Sichuan peppers, there were even scallions, ginger, and garlic. These ingredients were contained in small boxes that had spells casted on them to prevent the rice and ingredients from going bad.
‘It seems that Third Senior Brother is truly engrossed with the culinary arts…’
After he cooked all the food necessary, Lu Xun turned and saw Cat Southnorth carrying a small wicker basket, she waited anxiously on the side.
Upon seeing that Lu Xun had finished preparing the meal, she hurriedly placed the food in the wicker basket.
They were going to bring the food to the bamboo forest, sending the Second Senior Sister the dishes first.
But since Cat Southnorth was in a rush this time, she quickly flew there while bringing Lu Xun.
However, she didn’t have the guts to just land on the rock that the Second Senior Sister sat cross-legged on, and instead, landed on the narrow and winding road.
“My respect to Second Senior Sister,” Lu Xun and Cat Southnorth both said this together.
“Second Senior Sister, Little Junior Brother cooked two dishes. We brought it over to eat it with you,” Cat Southnorth said loudly.
At his current position, Lu Xun could only see Second Senior Sister’s slim back, he saw her lower her head slightly.
Cat Southnorth placed down the wicker basket and started to divide the food.
The rock that Second Senior Sister sat cross-legged on simply couldn’t fit three people. It was as if she was confined within a drawn circle, this was the reason why they ate separately.
There were only two fish, yet there were three people. How could it be divided?
Even though she was the one who caught the fish, she really didn’t think much about it at the moment. Mainly because she didn’t expect Lu Xun’s cooking to be so aromatic, if she had known this earlier, she would have caught more.
After hesitating for a brief three seconds, she directly gave a fish to the Second Senior Sister.
It could be seen that despite her being afraid of Second Senior Sister, her relationship with her was very good.
Cat Southnorth still had a bit of childish temperament and many children were like this, “You can hit me, scold me, but you’re prohibited from touching my cookies!”
If children were willing to share half of their favorite snacks with you, then this meant that they genuinely liked you.
Not to mention, it was fish given to you by a small cat that loved to eat fish.
In the end, the Second Senior Sister ate while sitting on the rock, Lu Xun and Cat Southnorth sat on the narrow and winding path.
The fish’s meat and chicken were both delicious. Lu Xun’s skills didn’t decline at all. Cat Southnorth’s eyes lit up as she ate and her cat ears moved about contentedly, this made him want to touch them.
Lu Xun smiled at the scene. He only took a snippet of the fish and let her have the rest.
The wind blew by the mountains and the rustling sounded in the bamboo forest.
In this familiar yet strange world, Lu Xun felt a little bit of comfort for the first time even if everyone was preoccupied with eating and no one was talking.
Perhaps, it truly complied with that certain saying:
‘Earthly fireworks1, consoled the hearts of ordinary men the most.’
It could be assumed that this saying was still the same even for cultivators who could no longer be considered as ordinary people.
…