Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
"Did you promise to go gather herbs?"
Duanmu Xue was pleasantly surprised. She had already lost hope; she wasn't a fool and could tell that Lufan had been brushing her off before, but she still held onto a glimmer of hope in her heart.
Unexpectedly, Lufan suddenly came to find her, saying he was willing to go to the mountains with them to gather herbs. Although she didn't know what had caused Lufan to change his mind, it was clearly a good thing.
For a moment, it felt like a lot of money was swirling around her, and her eyes sparkled with the light of gold.
"However, I have a few conditions." Once Duanmu Xue calmed down a bit, Lufan said.
"No problem, go ahead!" Duanmu Xue waved her small hand and said boldly.
"I need a good set of soft armor, ten taels of silver, and finally, help me prepare everything here; I will need it," Lufan handed over several sheets of paper filled with writing.
"Okay, I'll get right on it. Here are ten taels of silver; take it."
Duanmu Xue didn't even look at him as she stuffed the papers into her pocket and hurriedly pressed ten taels of silver into Lufan's hand before rushing off.
Lufan watched Duanmu Xue's retreating figure and weighed the silver in his hand with a wry smile. Wealthy people are indeed wealthy; they casually carry so much money around. In this world, the purchasing power of gold and silver is quite strong—ten taels of silver is equivalent to about one hundred thousand on Earth.
Holding the silver, Lufan walked out of the schoolhouse. After leaving the school, he crossed several streets and turned into a narrow alley, finally stopping in front of a dilapidated house.
This was Fatty's home. Fatty was originally from Qingyang City; this house was left by his parents who passed away in an accident when he was eight years old, leaving him to take care of his five-year-old sister.
Over the years, in order to support himself and his sister, Fatty had endured countless hardships. He had resorted to all sorts of means—stealing, conning—but he had also been caught many times. Fortunately, others took pity on the siblings and generally did not make things difficult for them. However, their lives remained extremely tough.
Fatty had considered begging, but ironically, no matter how hard life got, he had always been this fat. People simply did not believe he was starving, so begging was not an option for him.
At the age of ten, Fatty accidentally learned that the kitchen of the academy was hiring helpers. He wanted to apply, but jobs at the academy in Qingyang City were highly sought after, and Fatty had no real advantages.
In the end, with no other options, Fatty repeatedly bowed to the recruiter in front of everyone, staining the floor red with his forehead. Finally, Old Man Xing's heart softened and he decided to give him a chance to temporarily work as a helper in the kitchen.
The kitchen at the academy was different from other places; it was responsible for all the dining needs of the academy, especially concerning the meals for students and teachers. Some dishes were very important medicinal meals, and any mistakes during their preparation were unacceptable. Therefore, the requirements for helpers were particularly high.
Although Fatty was allowed to enter the kitchen temporarily, what did a ten-year-old know? He had no understanding of knife skills, cooking times, ingredient combinations, or pharmacology. After just a few days in the kitchen, he made numerous mistakes. The head chef and master herbalist was extremely angry and threatened that if Fatty made another mistake, he would be kicked out immediately.
After yet another error, accompanied by the herbalist's furious shouts, Fatty fled from the kitchen in embarrassment and ultimately hid in a corner of the academy, too afraid to go home.
He couldn't face his sister because she always regarded him as a hero. Especially after learning that he could work at the academy, her admiration for him grew even more.
Every day, his sister would carefully fold his helper's uniform and send him off. Now he couldn't bear to go back and tell her that he had messed everything up.
Thinking about his incompetence and his sister's disappointed expression made Fatty —who hadn't cried even upon hearing about his parents' death—finally break down in tears.
Fatty just wanted to find a place where no one was around to vent his grievances from the past two years. So he hid in this corner, but unexpectedly, as he cried harder and harder, he suddenly heard a voice.
"Hey, Fatty, why are you crying?"
Fatty looked up to see a child about his age looking at him calmly from an open window of a nearby dilapidated house.
This was Fatty's first encounter with Lufan.
For some reason—perhaps because Lufan was his peer, perhaps due to that calm expression, or maybe because he felt embarrassed about being seen crying— Fatty impulsively shared everything with Lufan.
Lufan listened quietly to Fatty's story, thought for a moment, then told Fatty to follow him.
Although Fatty didn't know why, he had nowhere else to go, so he followed Lufan closely.
Lufan took Fatty to the back kitchen to plead with the Master Alchemist for another chance for Fatty. Initially, the Master Alchemist was ready to explode upon seeing Fatty, but due to Lufan's plea, he decided to give him one last opportunity.
The reason was that the Master Alchemist owed Lufan a favor. It wasn't a big deal; Lufan had shared some cooking methods for Earth’s delicacies that he knew, which the Master Alchemist treasured greatly. This significantly improved his skills in making medicinal dishes.
Because of this favor, Fatty was allowed to stay in the back kitchen, but the Master Alchemist made it clear that if Fatty made another mistake, no one would be able to save him.
Lufan agreed but hoped to give Fatty three days. He said that if Fatty still made mistakes after three days, he wouldn't need to be chased away; Fatty would leave on his own accord.
Since they had decided to give Fatty a chance, the three days didn’t matter much, and the Master Alchemist agreed.
After making the arrangement, Lufan left with Fatty. Throughout the entire process, Fatty couldn't say a word; he was simply shocked to see this boy around his age calmly conversing with the Master Alchemist and pleading for him. It was unimaginable to him.
Once they arrived at Lufan's small house, Fatty couldn't hold back any longer. He didn't know how he could learn the essential skills required in the kitchen in just three days, so he began to ask Lufan.
Lufan didn't answer directly but instead brought out several books from inside and tossed them in front of him, telling him to memorize them within three days and to ask if he didn't understand anything.
Fatty was dumbfounded; he never expected Lufan's method would be this. It seemed impossible.
However, Lufan's next words left him speechless: aside from working hard, did he have any other options?
This statement awakened Fatty. Without saying another word, he picked up the books and started memorizing them. There were many characters he didn't recognize, so he went to ask Lufan.
In the end, he managed to cram those books into his memory within three days and barely gained the Master Alchemist's approval. Eventually, he slowly found his footing in the back kitchen.
In fact, Fatty was quite lucky. Due to the pressure of death during that time, Lufan's personality was reclusive and cold. Normally, he wouldn't bother with such trivial matters; it was only because Fatty's situation touched him that he ultimately decided to lend a helping hand.
However, this was also Lufan's luck. Ever since he met the siblings Fatty and Xiao Ling, their mutual support and optimistic attitude towards everything had been inspiring him, and later on, Lufan's Personality gradually returned to normal.
Standing in front of the door, Lufan did not hesitate and pushed the door open. Inside was a small courtyard where a tiny figure dressed in grayish-white linen was bending over to wash clothes. It was Fatty's younger sister, Xiao Ling, looking delicate and frail.
Hearing the noise, Xiao Ling turned around and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Lufan, you're here!"
Xiao Ling was small in stature with a somewhat pale complexion. Due to frequent hunger in her childhood, she had a weaker constitution. However, she was still much stronger than the previous Lufan.
"Um, where's Fatty?"
"Brother hasn't come back yet. You can sit for a while; you haven't come to see me much lately," Xiao Ling said, pouting as she pulled Lufan into the house, forgetting about her laundry.
"I'm sorry; I've been quite busy recently and didn't have time to come by," Lufan replied apologetically. Xiao Ling didn't have many playmates; it had always been just Fatty and Lufan keeping her company.
"It's okay! I know Brother Lufan has been busy with your treatment. Once you're better, will you take me out to play?" Xiao Ling was always very understanding. She knew that her two brothers were working hard and that there were many unavoidable circumstances behind it.
"My health is fine for now. I came over this time to discuss something with your brother."
Upon hearing that Lufan was fine, Xiao Ling's eyes widened in surprise. Just as she was about to ask more questions, the door suddenly swung open again, and Fatty walked in, holding a piece of meat in his hand while shouting loudly, "Xiao Ling, I'm back! Look what I brought you..."
Before he could finish his sentence, he spotted Lufan and exclaimed joyfully, "Lufan, you're here! Does that mean the piece of Primordial Meat really works?"
Seeing Lufan nodding, Fatty immediately jumped up with excitement.
Comment 0 Comment Count