Shen Qingchen said helplessly, “I’ll go catch another one.”
“What kind of fish is this? Is it hard to catch?”
“Cod. It’s not that it’s hard to catch, it’s just that we might not get this lucky again.” Shen Qingchen didn’t know where the cat had come from, but since not many people lived on the main peak, animals tended to run rampant.
Jiang Qianxun thought for a moment and said, “Master, I have an idea, but I still need some staple foods and vegetables to accompany it.”
Shen Qingchen’s eyes lit up. “Let’s hear it.”
Jiang Qianxun said, “In our world, there’s something called a cod burger. It’s incredibly delicious and not hard to make. It’s made by sandwiching vegetables and a meat patty inside bread. Even though this fish is torn apart and can’t be steamed, we can still mash it up to make a fish patty.”
“A fish patty… but fish meat is so loose, how will it hold its shape?”
“That’s easy. Minced the meat, mix it with various spices and beaten egg, then coat it in batter and deep-fry it in hot oil until it’s crispy…” Speaking to this point, Jiang Qianxun’s mouth began to salivate. She could only say that it truly deserved to be a world famous fast food, its ability to capture the hearts of so many people naturally had its reasons.
However, although she knew the general preparation method, she wasn’t clear on the exact proportions and selection of ingredients, and she didn’t dare to fry things in hot oil.
“Then I will handle the specific preparation,” Shen Qingchen said, seeing her hesitation and knowing that a novice naturally wouldn’t dare to attempt such a complex process.
The two settled on various details, using salt since they lacked black pepper, peanut oil because there was no butter, and steamed buns instead of bread. A burger seemed simple, but it actually involved many details. This era lacked semi-finished products, and even the salt crystals were coarse, requiring them to find a way to crush and refine them.
Of course, Shen Qingchen could accomplish this instantly by channeling her spiritual energy.
Jiang Qianxun could not use spiritual energy, so she could only do some assistant work, like cracking eggs and washing vegetables, oh, there was no lettuce in this era, so it could only be replaced with tender Chinese cabbage leaves.
After bustling about for most of the day, when the cod patties came out of the pan, the whole room was filled with a fragrant aroma. Jiang Qianxun stood to the side watching eagerly, while the kitten hid on the stove, meowing and crying non-stop.
Shen Qingchen couldn’t help but curl her lips into a smile. She cut off a piece to share with the two eagerly waiting little creatures. The freshly fried patty was both scalding and fragrant. The kitten couldn’t wait and ate while swearing, and one could tell it was swearing very colorfully.
Jiang Qianxun, on the other hand, held it in her hand, turning it over and over, blowing on it for a long time before carefully taking a bite. With that single bite, the crispy outer batter broke open, and the fresh, savory meat juices exploded completely in her mouth.
It was too delicious!
Jiang Qianxun still had food in her mouth, but she couldn’t resist wanting to convey her praise to her Master. How should she put it? She had eaten cod burgers so many times, yet she never knew that a freshly made one could taste this good, it completely defeated all the fast-food chains!
This was only natural. Those fast-food joints used semi-finished products, and the meat was entirely processed from a cold chain, let alone flavor, even the quality wasn’t necessarily guaranteed.
But what she was eating now was fresh fish paste.
Half an hour ago, this fish was still alive and kicking.
Seeing her looking at her with sparkling eyes, anxious to say something but unable to speak, Shen Qingchen knew her first attempt was a success. This sense of achievement was incomparable. Even when breaking through a cultivation realm, she could remain calm, but developing a new dish allowed all the flowers in her heart to bloom completely.
She really loved cooking.
And she really loved the satisfied expressions of her diners.
She had never predicted that this secret, which she had desperately gambled to exchange with her disciple, would serendipitously bring her such immense joy.
That night, Jiang Qianxun ate so much she had to lean against the wall to walk.
Shen Qingchen, on the other hand, experienced a massive shift in her state of mind. Following the grand joy was an endless yearning for the future. She knew she had already opened a door to a new world, and this door was an onslaught of culinary delights from the real world that only Jiang Qianxun could bring to fruition.
The existence of a transmigrator wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It even made looking at those storybooks seem less detestable.
A few hours ago, she still felt those storybooks had corrupted her disposition. But thinking about it now, a storybook wasn’t just a storybook, if she looked at them with an investigative eye, perhaps she could discover many clues about fine food.
Under the flickering candlelight, Shen Qingchen read storybooks all night.
The next day was the day Nangong Jiang delivered medicine. When she knocked and opened the door, she saw Shen Qingchen with dark circles under her eyes, looking as though she had stayed up all night, and it wasn’t from staying up to cultivate, as cultivation wouldn’t cause dark circles.
“Oh, why didn’t you sleep all night?” Nangong Jiang asked inquisitively. “What did you do? There couldn’t be someone else in your room, right?”
In her mind, staying up all night could only mean one of two things, cultivating or being intimate. Since it wasn’t cultivating, only intimacy remained. But someone who could be intimate all night was definitely no ordinary person, only couples in the honeymoon phase possessed such passion. She estimated that right now, the disciple was probably paralyzed in bed, unable to get up.
“What ‘someone else’?” Shen Qingchen asked, completely bewildered.
The two entered the room and sat down one after the other. Nangong Jiang immediately spotted the scattered storybooks next to her desk, and sensing that there was indeed no one in the bedroom, she suddenly felt a bit sad for her sister-disciple who had been single for so many years, as it turned out, she hadn’t been intimate all night, she had been reading storybooks all night.
This was simply too tragic.
Many women with no way to vent their desires would use reading storybooks as an outlet. If it were anyone else, it would be fine, but this was her sister disciple, a genius who possessed both beauty and capability. Finding a bed partner would be as easy as turning over a hand, yet her mind simply wouldn’t awaken to it, forcing her to stay single for all these years.
Look at how pent-up the poor child was, practically using her life to read storybooks. She didn’t even know why she left a perfectly good disciple unused, insisting instead on miserably engaging in these illusory things by herself.
“How did things go with your disciple last night? Did you reconcile?” Nangong Jiang tapped the table and asked.
“We reconciled.” Shen Qingchen couldn’t be bothered to correct her interpretation, so she just went along with it.
“That’s good. As the saying goes, Master and disciple have no grudges that last overnight, don’t damage your affection over such a small matter.” Nangong Jiang clapped her hands and smiled, adding, “But speaking of which, I really do have a serious matter to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Did you hear Lianyu mention her desire to recruit Qianxun into the Executive Council?”
“The Executive Council?” Shen Qingchen was stunned, then shook her head. “I haven’t heard her mention it.”
“She didn’t agree at the time, saying she wanted to think about it.” Nangong Jiang said, “This matter isn’t a big deal, but I still wanted to ask you first. As you know, members of the Executive Council are the backbones of each peak. Now that Qianxun has not officially taken a master, if she wants to join, she must first pass the Foundation Establishment stage, not to mention entering a lineage. Do you have the intention to take her into your lineage?”
Shen Qingchen hadn’t expected this question to be placed before her so early. Before this, she had mentioned the matter of taking her as a disciple to Jiang Qianxun, and the other party’s response at the time was indeed that she wished to acknowledge her as Master, but because of various concerns, she had said they would discuss it later.
Perhaps because of this, Jiang Qianxun hadn’t confessed the matter of the Executive Council to her, and the topic of taking her as a disciple had also been raised by herself, which meant the other party hadn’t even intended to probe her.
This made Shen Qingchen feel even more that she was somewhat indebted.
But no matter what, the problem remained unresolved.
That was her special status. Her taking a disciple meant she was selecting the successor to the sect. This was by no means a good thing, at least for a tender sprout like Jiang Qianxun.
Jiang Qianxun could not withstand the covetous eyes of so many people.
If someone set their sights on the position of Sect Master, wishing to put her to death and replace her, Jiang Qianxun would also become one of the targets. The so-called cutting the weeds and eliminating the roots, that was exactly what it meant.
Once she explained her thoughts, Nangong Jiang said worriedly, “True. Looking at it this way, taking a disciple is indeed not a matter to be treated lightly. How about letting her first apprentice under my lineage, and then transfer her back to you once her wings are fully grown?”
What she suggested was indeed a method, but she didn’t know if Jiang Qianxun would be willing. Shen Qingchen said, “I will ask her about it later. The Executive Council is a place that can temper a person, and Qianxun’s strength is absolutely worthy of it. We cannot delay her future because of this.”
“Alright, you handle this matter as you see fit.” Nangong Jiang said, “Anyway, there’s no rush. After she recovers from her illness, she still has to wait for Foundation Establishment, which will take at least half a year to a year.”
The two chatted a bit more about idle matters, and then Nangong Jiang left.
Shen Qingchen escorted her out the door. After her immortal phoenix flew away, she slowly returned to the courtyard. For some reason, she suddenly felt an emptiness in her heart.
Was it because Jiang Qianxun would eventually leave this place?
The future was still far off, and parting would only be temporary, but just the mere thought of it was enough to make her feel uncomfortable. Although they said it was temporary, to become strong enough to stand alone would require at least a hundred years of effort. During this time, the other party would be learning skills at Qianyu Peak, and the time they spent meeting would be even less.
When that time came, she would be left alone in this courtyard once again.
Shen Qingchen stood in the morning light, her skirt swaying slightly with the clear breeze. Not a single trace of emotion could be seen on her face, only between her brows did there seem to be a hint of sorrow.
After a short while, the sound of a door opening came from behind her.
Jiang Qianxun had woken up early again. As soon as she opened the door, she saw her Master standing in the courtyard, looking as though she were troubled by something.
“Master?” she asked carefully. “Who came just now? Did they… make you angry?”
“It’s nothing.” Shen Qingchen believed she didn’t have the habit of revealing her emotions, and didn’t know how the other party had seen through her. She added, “Why are you up? It’s still early before class time.”
“Yesterday I only swept the front yard, I’m going to sweep the backyard.”
“Just use magic, there’s no need to labor like this.” After Shen Qingchen said this, she suddenly remembered that the other party couldn’t use spiritual energy right now, so she said, “Go back and sleep a bit longer, I will handle the tidying up.”
“It’s fine, Master. I eat so much food every day, how can I feel right if I don’t do some work?” Jiang Qianxun patted her forearm and said, “I have a lot of strength, if you don’t believe me, feel it.”
She just said it casually, but who would have thought it matched perfectly with the lines in the storybook. The disciple in that storybook had also said the exact same words, though it wasn’t for cleaning, but to let the Master see whether she could make her cry out in pleasure on the bed.
The suspicion that had finally been dispelled faintly resurfaced. Shen Qingchen didn’t know if she was doing it on purpose. Looking at that nearly innocent face, her face ultimately flushed red, and she flicked her sleeves and walked away.