That night, Xue Huai went back and called the green bird to help deliver the medicinal herbs he needed.
Also, because he was feeling unwell and didn’t want Murong Jinchuan to worry, he asked Cai Yi for a day off, only saying that he had encountered a bottleneck in his martial arts and wanted to take a break.
If someone else asks for leave and says they have encountered a bottleneck, it must be an excuse for laziness. But if Xue Huai says he has encountered a bottleneck, it must be a huge problem for him, and Cai Yi approves.
Xue Huai went back to sleep for a while, feeling drowsy and pitch black, and had a dreamless night. He’s in a better spirit, but he still feels chill inside him. Seeing the Immortal Sect’s fresh fruits and melons, he actually lost his appetite and didn’t eat in the morning or noon.
He also went for a walk to relax around the Immortal Sect. When he passed by the entrance of the academy, he happened to see Cai Yi and another immortal master examining the pharmacology of the disciples of this lineage. After he got excited, he waited and looked around the place, but he did not find anyone who seemed to be keeping treats and snacks for themselves when writing a cheat note.
But it was Cai Yi who saw him and asked him how he diverted himself from boredom and whether or not his martial arts had improved.
Xue Huai said, “There’s progress. I won’t take the bull by the horns and get sidetracked. You don’t have to worry.”
Cai Yi grabbed him by the hand and pulled him to stop him from leaving. “That’s good, Xue Huai. Can you come and help me record the homework ratings of these children? After finishing, you can put them on the table in the Cao Mu Hall, okay?”
Xue Huai was idle but also seriously memorized it. He learns quickly and early, and many of the assessments were helped by Cai Yi and several other masters, his progress has left the others far behind.
A few girls who had finished their assessment saw how good he looked and came over to chat with him with a smile. Xue Huai talked to them one by one, and in the end, he didn’t know what those girls had heard. They became bold and came over to ask him, “Xue Huai, it is said that you have been engaged to the Young Immortal Lord Yun Cuo. Is that true?”
Xue Huai put down the brushes: “?”
“Others have said so. Last time, you didn’t know that someone claimed to be the Young Immortal Lord and came to visit, he said you were his person. Is that why you don’t play much with others?”
Xue Huai tried his best to imitate the childish tone that young people should have, clarifying, “No, I just didn’t have much time to play with you because the tasks assigned at home were too heavy, it wasn’t intentional.”
“Then, that’s to say, is it true that the Young Immortal Lord is chasing you?” These girls became even more curious and asked him, “Did he come to find you last time? That person is dressed in black clothes and looks particularly handsome.”
“Is it fake?” Xue Huai hesitated as he recalled his experiences these days. “He didn’t come to see me, and… no one told me about this. Maybe what you saw was a fake one? He should be very busy and not have time to date.”
This is also true, after all, the fact that he came to the Immortal Mountain to practice was hidden from Yun Cuo. Yun Cuo was originally surrounded by complicated relationships, and he was preparing for an uprising a year later. It is unlikely that he will have the time to come and find him, a small cultivator.
After all, Yun Cuo is low-key and doesn’t appear in public often. It’s not like there’s no one using his name to deceive people before—without exception, they were all cleaned up.
Xue Huai thought about it for a while and thought it was strange. He planned on keeping an eye on it, next time he would ask the green bird about Yun Cuo’s recent movement.
The few girls next to him were still waiting for him to continue speaking. Seeing him pondering, they chuckled meaningfully and said, “Xue Huai, you even know so well that he’s busy! You haven’t told me if it’s true that he’s after you or not ah?”
Xue Huai has never been surrounded and teased like this before, let alone a group of innocent little girls. He can’t be fierce, nor can he beat them. He has never experienced romantic love before, and he is a thin-skinned person. He stood up and casually evaded a few words, only saying that he wanted to write the assessment results for Cai Yi, and then warned, “Don’t spread rumors that are not based on anything, got it?”
“Aiya, saying a few words also won’t make you lose a piece of meat, right? Don’t be shy, Xue Huai Shixiong.”
Xue Huai pretended not to hear and returned to the Cao Mo Hall like a gust of wind. He sat down and began to copy the assessment rating that Cai Yi asked him to write.
The group of little girls happily ran away.
Xue Huai seemed lost in thought.
Chasing… begging?
Yun Cuo, is that considered chasing after him?
His father took the initiative to accept the marriage certificate for him. But first, he has not declared it, and second, he has the right to refuse it. In fact, he didn’t really understand what it meant—in the end, isn’t it useless?
He couldn’t understand.
After writing down what Cai Yi wanted, he went to the immortal master in charge of medicinal herbs and asked for a few hawthorn and tangerine peels to eat. He wanted to stimulate his appetite but still felt uncomfortable in his spleen and stomach, so he gave up.
Instead, because they were tinged with a bit of acid, there was a bit of a heartburn-like pain in his stomach that could not be suppressed even after drinking water. One of the side effects of Soul Calming Soup is that it hurts the spleen and stomach. Last time, he couldn’t feel it clearly because he was sleeping all the time, but this time he felt it was really unbearable.
It started to drizzle outside and suddenly became cold. He baked his hands over the charcoal fire in the Cao Mo Hall and fell asleep without realizing it.
There were people coming and going in the midst of it, he vaguely felt that Cai Yi had come to pick up something and also noticed him, but she didn’t say anything and just added a blanket for him. The fellow disciples around him, whether they knew him or not, also softened their footsteps and voices. Finally, as dusk approached, there was no one in the Cao Mo Hall, and the setting sun left the quiet room.
Xue Huai was awakened by the sound of the window closing.
There was no one in the room, only his place had a light on, and under his feet were scattered charcoal fires. The rain had not ceased, and one of the windows nearest to him had been pushed shut from the outside, the sheaths were loose. This time, because it was not closed tightly, the wind got in, causing the flame to jump once or twice.
Xue Huai slowly woke up, not bothering to go over and check for a moment, only catching a glimpse of a shadow flashing past, followed by hurried footsteps.
Perhaps some fellow disciples were afraid of rainwater drifting in and casually closed it.
Xue Huai stood up and stretched lazily, wanting to go over and tightly close the sheath—he was also ready to go back.
However, before he could reach out his hand, he just stood still and looked at the table with some surprise.
There was a bowl of porridge in the place where he left the note the day before, still steaming hot. There was a huge piece of paper under it, and it was written in illegible handwriting: “You’re welcome, do you often have no food? A bowl of seafood porridge is one piece of golden melon seed, and last time’s snacks are for you. You can take credit. If you don’t eat it, just leave it there. I’ll sell it to someone else.”
Xue Huai：“……”
He picked up the note and smiled. “How can people do that? I understand now. This disciple didn’t come to practice pharmacology for the assessment last time, he just likes to make things, right?”
He still kind of understands this kind of pleasure. When he was a child, he also enjoyed using pots and pans, pounding things like a mortal, and spending time with his friends. When he made something delicious, he happily held it for his mother to eat, and when it wasn’t delicious, he stuffed it for his father to eat.
Xue Huai looks at this bowl of seafood porridge. It’s in a silver bowl. He’s sure it must not be poisonous.
The hot seafood Congee suddenly aroused his appetite. He put a spoonful of it in a spoon and sent it into his mouth. It almost melted inside his mouth. The rice was fragrant and soft, the ingredients were fresh and sufficient, and there was also some barley and lotus seeds mixed in to nourish the stomach. It was salty, sweet, and fragrant, so delicious that he hardly heard anything and ate it clean in the blink of an eye.
Xue Huai was still unsatisfied and used purification techniques to wash the bowl. Then, he placed five golden melon seeds under the bowl and added a voiceover spell: “Thank you very much.”
Xue Huai has always been generous in his actions, but to his surprise, the person returned a small note to him at night.
The note was stuffed under his door crack and pulled out by the gluttonous ghost. It read, “You get what you pay for, I won’t give you any change. You give me four more gold melon seeds, and I will prepare food for you and put it in its original place in the next four days.”
Xue Huai couldn’t figure it out and said, “So, I’ll have some hot food for the next four days. I wonder if I can order food ah.”
He flipped through the note and immediately saw the note on the back: “If you have something you really want to eat, you can leave a note for me as well.”
Xue Huai：“……”
It seems that this fellow disciple really enjoys cooking.
In the next few days, Xue Huai returned to class as usual, but the speed of practicing the Water Spiritual Root and Mind-Viewing Technique had to be slowed down. The side effects of the Soul Calming Soup are significant, and he needs to rest.
In this situation, the stranger who gave him nothing to do for lunch had become his moral support—their lineage has always practiced not eating grain to stimulate their potential. The vast majority of people only eat cold, immortal fruits and flowers, but he has already reached the Yindan stage, so there’s no need to refuse to eat grain anymore. Eating is also one of the few pleasures in his life as well.
He also considered whether to hire this fellow disciple to help him cook, but obviously it was for fun, and there was no intention of meeting him. He put the plan aside and began to think about when to train the gluttonous ghost to cook for him.
After a few days, a mysterious understanding formed between the two sides. Every evening, Xue Huai goes to the window, where there must be a food box waiting for him. It is filled with silver bowls, often a pile full of food. Xue Huai can’t finish it, and sometimes he takes it back as a late-night snack.
Xue Huai’s requirements are not high, as long as he has hot food to eat, that is fine, so he has never left any comments or notes. The person gave him more and more tricks; however, all of the materials used are from the Cao Mo Hall and Zhenqin Pavilion, almost all of them were things that Xue Huai loved to eat, or things that Xue Huai used to love in his previous life but later got tired of eating.
In short, this man’s tastes match his.
Xue Huai thinks it’s very necessary to make friends with this person—even if they don’t want to cook for him every day, maybe they can still be friends in the future.
After washing the dishes that day, he left a note for that person: “Can we be friends?”
The next day, this note was gone.
The food was still delivered, but the taste was a bit strange compared to a few days ago. It seems that the cooking has lost its previous level.
Xue Huai thought that there was no reply this time because the other party didn’t see it or forgot it, so he wrote again, “Can we be friends?”
The next day, there was still no response, and Xue Huai understood. It was probably because this person didn’t like to make friends, therefore, there was no response.
And he didn’t mention it anymore.
On the fourth day, the man made a duck and winter bamboo shoots. Xue Huai was thinking about the end of this short collaboration, but the person sent him another note and asked, “Do you still want to eat? If you still want to, one golden melon seed per day.”
Xue Huai happily left behind fifty golden melon seeds and began to ponder how to develop this friendship into a long-term, stable relationship… How about keeping him with thousands of golden melon seeds next time?
After finishing, he washed the dishes and put the food box back in its original place.
He met Cai Yi as soon as I went out.
Cai Yi saw him and greeted him again: “Xiao Huai, come on, do me a favor. The senior uncle in charge of medicinal herbs is sick, and there are a few items out of stock now. Can you please ask the green bird to order a batch? Please come to me for reimbursement later.”
Xue Huai said, “Okay, what’s kind of?”
Cai Yi thought for a moment, “Just three things: Snow Ginseng, Lianshi and Winter Bamboo Shoots.”
“?”
Xue Huai’s menu today was duck meat with winter bamboo shoots, and yesterday’s was snow ginseng chicken soup.
Xue Huai hesitated for a moment and keenly sensed something was wrong. Then he asked, “Shizun, how many days have these things gone out of stock? Do you want to order more at once?”
Cai Yi replied, “It’s been out of stock for a while already, let’s say for ten days. Recently, the disciples in the sect have collectively assessed the pharmacology, and they used it quickly without considering making up for it. However, they have all finished the assessment now, so there’s no need to order so many at once.”
Xue Huai said, “Okay, I understand. Shizun, please go ahead and get busy.”
The disciples in the sect have certain limits on medication and supplies, as well as regular student supplies from the Murong Mountain Manor. Using these supplies to cook is nothing new, and it is also common to sell rice made with them for money.
Xue Huai always thought that the other party was just doing it casually, and he ate it on the way, benefiting both sides. But who would have made such delicious food for him even when the materials were out of stock?
Would a normal person spend far more than this cost to search for those difficult-to-find materials for a golden melon seed?
And the other party came too promptly.
Coincidentally, just as his condition had relapsed and he needed to drink Soul Calming soup, he was given this dose of medicine.
Xue Huai rubbed his face and took a deep breath. There’s no need to think, he already knows who the person who cooked dinner for him for four days already is.
The author has something to say: Messages from Xue Huai:
Be friends x1
Be friends x2
Are you here? Are you here? Hello? Can we be friends?
Yun Cuo (with mixed feeling): Wife, what are you doing ah? quq
