Vol 2 Chapter 7 (2/2)
“Un, to tell you the truth, this is my time cooking too.” Gan Qing said as she shyly lowered her head.
Eh?
Eh?!
The arm which held my chopsticks stopped yet again. But because of my trembling, it didn’t really come to a complete stop.
“Ho, how could this be… Your first time cooking?!” I looked at Gan Qing in disbelief.
“Maa, it’s a little embara.s.sing to be honest. My father has always been afraid of me being burnt or getting sooty so he always did the cooking.”
Un, I should have known looking at that smooth white skin of yours…
(TL: Nah, natural SKII cream. Don’t they make that stuff from rice or something?)
Alright, get it together me. At this stage, I can on,y hope that Gan Qing has some talent in cooking.
I gulped before I placed the meat-like object into my mouth.
*Ahen*…
–*Ou*~~
I held back an intense wave of nausea.
This… This… I actually put this thing in my mouth!
This taste, uwaa… It’s both sour and rancid but not like the taste of rot. Altogether, it tastes like some sort of insect broth. Speaking of which, what is this *gachi* *gachi* crunchy texture I’m getting? What meat is this huh?
“Lord Liu Bei, your expression is a little scary.”
“No, you must have seen wrongly.” I hurriedly hid my face and shut my eyes tightly so they couldn’t see the tears that were forming.
“Then…”
Just like with Yun Chang, Gan Qing was similarly antic.i.p.ating my judgement as expected.
“De… Wu…” I was attacked by another intense wave of nausea mid-sentence and had to hold my breath and steel myself before I could continue. “Delicious!”
“Really! That’s great!” Gan Qing crossed her fingers and looked elated.
Hu, looks like these 2 are satisfied.
… I, on the other hand, had an intense urge to rush to the toilet.
“Big brother, eat these too.”
“Mine as well, I made all these for big brother too.”
(TL: Yes, she changed how she addressed him out of nowhere. Sneaky~)
Just as I was about to get up and leave. these 2 stopped me. And so, 2 sets of dishes which I did not even want to look at were pushed in front of me.
… I actually have to finish these?!
“U, umm, Gan Qing Yun Chang, why don’t you call the others here too and we can eat together.”
I got up as I said so, hoping to escape under this excuse.
“Ah, they’ve all tried it already.” Yun Chang said.
Eh?
They have tried this already?
“But after they did so, they all said they felt very tired and went to sleep. Even Lord Feng Xian and Lord Hua Tuo who just came back gave the same reaction.”
Everyone… I hope I still can see you all tomorrow…
“Big brother, why are you crying.”
“*s.h.i.+ku*… I’m just that touched~”
Today is probably my day of reckoning. And looking at the situation, there is no escape.
But thinking about it from their point of view, I can’t blame Yun Chang and Gan Qing. They did this with good intentions, in the hope of giving me a good meal. In that case, as the one who should actually be grateful to tears, I must finish it all.
A drop of liquid that I could not tell if it was tears or sweat fell down my face. With feelings that could be either happiness or sorrow, I ate 2 plates of what looked to be normal food but was actually mysterious substance X, trembling all the way as I did so.
But by the time I reached my third bite, my consciousness was hazy.
Yun Chang, Gan Qing, I’m sorry. All the rest who have met with a similar untimely fate, I’ll be there soon.
I steeled myself, and swallowed this bite, only to feel faint and lose all feeling shortly after.
(TL: RIP, the end. Thanks for reading~)
By the time I regained consciousness, it was already the next day.
“Un…”
I moaned as I slowly opened my eyes.
“Big brother, you finally woke up! I was so worried!”
“Un? Where is this?” I looked left and right bewilderedly. After surveying my surroundings, I found that everyone was gathered around me.
And the ones right in front of me were Yun Chang and Gan Qing.
“This is your room.” Gan Qing said tearfully. “I’d thought that Xuan De was going to die just like that.”
(TL: So sneaky, leveling up how she calls him. She actually calls him 玄德哥 here but it’s r.e.t.a.r.ded to leave -ge in or translate it so I’m taking it out. This series isn’t that big on honorifics anyway. Not the untranslateable ones in any case.)
“It’s our fault. We should have tried it ourselves first.” Yun Chang’s head was low and she had a look of utter regret on.
Though the rest looked alright, they were all clutching their stomachs and had terrible looks on them as they nodded in agreement to what Yun Chang said.
“Haha, just take it slow. If you practice more, you will definitely get better.” I leaned forward with difficulty and rubbed Yun Chang’s head. I really hoped she wouldn’t forget the part about trying it herself first.
“Speaking of which, does everyone know about the results of yesterday’s negotiations?”
I had come back late yesterday, and was not able to notify everyone immediately then.
“Hua Tuo and my lord had explained to us last night but we don’t really get it.” Wen Yuan said with a helpless smile as she frowned.
Ah… Looks like the communication abilities of these 2 need some work huh…
“But,” Wen Yuan continued, “We understood what transpired after Sun Qian and the other 2 came over and gave us a detailed explanation.”
“So we’re staying here for a while more then?” Yi De said listlessly as she hugged her head.
Looks like everyone is numb to rus.h.i.+ng about already huh~
“Un, we’ll be staying here until Meng De does something.” I got up with difficulty and touched my empty stomach. “Hai~~~ As expected, I’m a little hungry…”
“Then let me…” “I…”
“With your current skills, you 2 probably can’t make something edible yet.” I interrupted the two of them and said as I smiled, “In any case, work hard first. Let me taste it when you reach a level where you can eat it yourself. I’ll definitely finish it then.”
I gave them a thumbs-up to encourage them.
“Okay.”
The 2 of them agreed very unwillingly, but at present, I could only harden my heart and say so.
“Then, why don’t I…” Zhang Liao was midway through her sentence when–
“Lord Liu Bei, Lord Liu Bei.” A small cute voice interrupted from outside. Mi Zhen came squeezing in with a claypot on a tray. “I specially made some porridge for you, please eat it.”
Oh~~~~ Such a mature child for her age.
“No need to trouble yourself then, Zhang Liao. I’ll just have this porridge… Mi Zhen, thanks for your concern.” I smiled as I rubbed Mi Zhen’s head, as she giggled. “Come, let me try it.”
I set the claypot on the blanket and lifted the lid to find a most ordinary porridge.
Maa, it’s already very good to achieve this.
I picked up the spoon, and took a scoop of porridge and just when I was about to put it in my mouth when–
(TL: The spoon here doesn’t refer to the Western one. It’s that one you find in Chinese restaurants, which is typically used for soup and rice.)
“This is actually my first time, so it’s not too good.”
Eh?
My hand which held the spoon came to a stop once more.
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