Chapter 28: Heard There Was A Time Where You Ate Tofu Every Day?
“By the way, do you want to guess what I ordered for you? I’m sure it’s all food you like,” Meng Jingzhou whispered, afraid of attracting the attention of the five senior brothers eating the pig-killing dish.
Lu Yang was confused. How could Meng Jingzhou know what he liked to eat?
“How do you know what Senior Brother Lu likes?” Peach Blossom Leaf asked in an even lower voice.
Meng Jingzhou gestured a thumbs-up, revealing a radiant smile with eight teeth: “I specifically asked the eldest senior sister.”
Lu Yang immediately had a bad premonition.
“Stuffed tofu is here!”
“Fresh tofu brain!”
“Cold tofu with scallions.”“Mapo tofu.”
The waiter announced each dish while serving them. One by one, the exquisite tofu dishes were placed before Lu Yang. Even Peach Blossom Leaf, who wasn’t particularly interested in tofu, was tempted by the aroma.
With each announcement, Lu Yang’s face turned paler.
Meng Jingzhou seemed quite pleased with himself: “The eldest senior sister said that there was a time when you ate nothing but tofu, meal after meal, and even talked about ‘Tofu Celestial’ in your sleep.”
“So I thought you must really like tofu.”
“Don’t be too touched. My family taught me that when inviting someone to eat, it’s important to inquire about their preferences to show sincerity. Although I don’t always agree with my family’s views, I agree with this one.”
“I specifically came to Hundred Fragrances Pavilion and ordered a table full of tofu dishes for you. Don’t underestimate these dishes. Although they seem ordinary, the soybeans used are all top-grade spirit beans, the side ingredients are all aged spiritual herbs, and even the water used is the pure essence of ice from the far north…”
Lu Yang’s face turned as pale as tofu in an instant.
What kind of preference did you find out!
…
After the diners had their fill and left Hundred Fragrances Pavilion, patting their bulging bellies, the waiter swiftly cleaned the tables and dishes. Once he had a moment to himself, he remembered Lu Yang’s question.
Eating Fasting Pill, does it count as eating or fasting?
Seemingly a simple question, it was actually deeply philosophical. The more the waiter thought about it, the more he found it intriguing.
It seemed that among the new disciples this year, there were some with high comprehension skills, destined for great achievements in the future!
“Hey, chef, I have a question for you.” The waiter went to the kitchen and threw the question to the pig-slaughtering chef.
In the scorching kitchen, even a Qi Refining cultivator would suffer severe burns if not careful. To cook heavenly and rare ingredients, common fire was not sufficient. At least a flame cultivated by a Golden Core stage practitioner was required for such powerful cooking fires.
The waiter ignored the terrifying heat of the kitchen, casually fanning with the towel on his shoulder to dissipate the heat, replacing it with a refreshing coolness.
“What’s up? Want to learn how to slaughter pigs?”
The waiter glared: “Why would I learn that? I’ve thought of a philosophical question related to cooking. Let me test you.”
No longer cleaning the stove, the chef laughed, setting aside his brush and leaning back: “Ask away.”
“What do you think, eating Fasting Pill, does it count as eating or fasting?”
The chef scoffed, about to answer without thinking, but then found himself speechless.
Yeah, what does it count as?
The chef looked suspiciously at the waiter: “Wait, everyone knows your intelligence. How could you come up with such a question?”
The waiter angrily retorted: “I’ll have you know, pig-slaughterer, don’t underestimate people!”
“So, did you think of this question?”
“No.”
After discussing, the waiter and the chef decided that pondering such a question was too advanced for their brains. So, they brought the question to the proprietor.
Surrounded by the fragrance of exquisite tea, forming ancient, obscure characters, the proprietor handled the teapot and cups gracefully as if moving clouds and flowing water, pleasing to the eye.
The proprietor was an elegant lady with fair skin and a star pattern faintly visible on her forehead. She looked helplessly at the waiter and the chef, feeling that they must be too idle to think about such trivial questions.
“Don’t be misled by the name of the Fasting Pill. Its purpose is not to avoid eating, but rather to slowly dissolve food refined into a pill in the stomach, achieving the effect of not eating for a long time.”
“The Fasting Pill is essentially food.”
“Understood?”
The chef contemplated: “Understood. So the alchemists who refine Fasting Pills are actually my colleagues.”
The waiter scoffed: “Don’t flatter yourself. At best, you’re on the same level as the boys fanning the alchemy flames.”
The chef, enraged, grabbed his pig-slaughtering knife and lunged at the waiter.
The waiter, not one to be trifled with, flicked his towel, which turned into a white iron rod with a clang of metal.
The two fought fiercely, resembling street thugs with all sorts of dirty tricks. The proprietor, exasperated, thought these two were only kept around because they were cheap labor.
The proprietor gently blew across her tea, the rich aroma wrapping around the two combatants, confusing them. By the time they regained their senses, they were downstairs.
They heard the proprietor’s slightly annoyed voice: “Go downstairs to fight. Any damages will be deducted from your wages.”
…
Unaware of the events in Hundred Fragrances Pavilion after their departure, Lu Yang returned to Heaven’s Gate Peak looking as pale as if he had been dead for three days.
The eldest senior sister, dressed in indigo, sat cross-legged, floating three feet above the ground, like an ethereal fairy untouched by worldly dust.
Yun Zhi opened her eyes slowly, her gaze as dazzling as a starry sky. Lu Yang rubbed his eyes, seeing Yun Zhi calmly looking at him, the extraordinary vision nowhere to be seen.
An illusion?
“Why is your face so pale?”
Lu Yang replied irritably: “You’re pretending to be ignorant. Meng Jingzhou heard from you that I once ate tofu every meal, so to celebrate my foundation establishment, he invited me to a table full of tofu dishes.”
Lu Yang suspected the eldest senior sister was doing it on purpose.
“Meng Jingzhou asked me what you ate the most. In my memory, you ate several jars of tofu while practicing with tofu. I just told him what really happened. What’s wrong with that?”
“And about the ‘Tofu Celestial’…”
Before Lu Yang could finish, Yun Zhi replied in her unvarying tone: “In your dreams, you shouted about receiving a legacy and called out ‘Tofu Celestial’. I was merely repeating it.”
Lu Yang silently looked at Yun Zhi’s detached and innocent eyes, admitting defeat.
He always suspected the eldest senior sister was playing tricks on him, but he had no evidence.