Chapter 1011 - The Lazy Ren Xiaosu (1/2)

Yang Xiaojin's culinary skill was at the master level. Initially, Ren Xiaosu wondered what the dishes prepared by a master chef would taste like. Would it taste different from those that were whipped up by normal people?

But when he tasted the food, he realized that Yang Xiaojin's heat control while cooking was extremely precise.

Ren Xiaosu was a little curious. ”Why are you such a good cook? You don't look like someone who was specially trained in cooking.”

”My aunt hired someone to teach me during my assassin's training,” Yang Xiaojin said.

Ren Xiaosu was shocked. ”What does this have anything to do with assassination?”

”I could go covert either as a chef or kitchen help to kill a target by lacing their food when I get the chance.” Yang Xiaojin said, ”But I didn't even manage to put my culinary skills to use after my training as my aunt didn't allow me to go undercover in such a way.”

”Why's that?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.

”When I first started learning how to cook, I was still young and growing,” Yang Xiaojin explained. ”I became prettier as I grew up, so Aunt said that I wouldn't pass as a cook with my looks.”

Ren Xiaosu was left speechless for some time. The girl in front of him was praising her own looks, and she said it as naturally as sipping water.

”Can't you be a little more humble?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

”Aren't I telling the truth?” Yang Xiaojin replied.

”Alright, alright, you're not wrong.” Ren Xiaosu said, ”It's Tuesday today, so it's your turn to wash the dishes.”

Yang Xiaojin corrected him, ”I cooked, so you should wash the dishes. From now on, I'll cook at home and you'll wash the dishes.”

Ren Xiaosu carried the cutlery into the kitchen while Yang Xiaojin remained seated at the table. She leaned her chin on her hand and gazed at Ren Xiaosu's back as he washed the dishes. ”I think the peach trees are gonna bear fruit soon. I estimate we can eat them in another few weeks. These two trees have really been well taken care of, so they should bear lots of fruit. We definitely won't be able to finish them all.”

”If we can't finish them, let's set up a stall to sell the excess. We can buy you a new wok with the money after that,” Ren Xiaosu said.

”That'll be great. The current wok is way too small to cook with,” Yang Xiaojin said.

”But when I went shopping for groceries today, I realized the prices of vegetables and other foodstuffs have increased by quite a bit. I thought that it was because the prices in the Northwest were different. But after I asked around, I found out it was due to the poor harvests in the past two years either due to floods or droughts in many places.” Ren Xiaosu said, ”I wonder if Mr. Zhang took any measures to mitigate the effect of the natural disasters.”

Yang Xiaojin thought for a moment before saying, ”I'm afraid it won't be easy to solve. I heard that in the trade agreement between the Northwest and the Central Plains, the goods provided by the Wang Consortium don't include food. The Wang Consortium had probably taken into consideration the situation in the Northwest at that time. Of course, there's many minerals in the Northwest that weren't made accessible to the Wang Consortium either. This was the strategy adopted by both sides against each other.”

”I wonder if their wasteland recultivation efforts are proceeding smoothly or not.” Ren Xiaosu muttered, ”Didn't we see a lot of refugees cultivating the land on our way here?”

”I doubt it'll be easy.” Yang Xiaojin analyzed, ”You see, there's not many stable river basins in the Northwest, and the terrain has many gullies running through it as well. Crops planted in a place like that don't have any good growth conditions, so they'll have to work hard to solve the irrigation issues first.”

”Yes, it's a heavy price to pay to recultivate the land. But even so, if we want the residents to have enough food to eat, we'll have to challenge the natural environment.” Ren Xiaosu sighed.

…

While the two of them spent their days at home and enjoyed the peace together, all of the Northwest's higher-ups were thinking, 'Where has our future commander gone?'

It had been more than half a month since the assassination of the Zhou Consortium's three figureheads, so logically speaking, the future commander should have already come back.

Some high-ranking commanders had never seen Ren Xiaosu before. Although they heard stories about him, they did not have a chance to meet him yet. As a result, they were really looking forward to seeing him.

Therefore, they wanted to wait for Ren Xiaosu to return to Fortress 178 before rushing there to meet him. It wasn't exactly important, but they just wanted to get to know him first.