Can He Eat Spicy Food?
What? Does that mean he knows?
Duan Wangyue did not ask, simply thinking that his Master’s smile was so gentle. This was the first time in his life he had ever encountered someone who treated him as well as Master did.
Xiao Yuan caught the little dragon cub lunging into his arms and stood up, placing the hood over his head to conceal his little dragon horns and revealing a pair of obsidian eyes with a purplish tint. “Let us go eat breakfast.”
Xiao Yuan, the former doctor who used to be so busy he could only wolf down meals in a hurry, had quickly accepted the setting that he no longer needed to eat, but the little cub in his arms, weighing almost nothing, was still growing, and three meals a day were indispensable.
Stepping onto the Unstained Sword, Xiao Yuan felt it might also be necessary to add a midnight snack. Children looked much cuter when they were plump and fair.
Only, running to the dining hall three times a day was somewhat troublesome, not to mention that midnight snacks could not exactly be requested from the dining hall cooks.
The disciples in the dining hall who had not seen the solitary Immortal Lord Qingyuan carrying a small bundle yesterday were left with blank minds when they saw Immortal Lord Qingyuan appearing with a small bundle dressed in a bright red cloak, completely wrapped up.
The words spoken by their senior brothers and sisters kept echoing in their minds: Immortal Lord Qingyuan has a child!
Their brains knew that Immortal Lord Qingyuan was not someone to be trifled with, but their eyes uncontrollably kept glancing over.
Duan Wangyue was very sensitive to the gazes falling upon him. Even though those gazes carried no malice or hatred, he still felt as though he were completely exposed before everyone, and he couldn’t help but bury himself deeper into Xiao Yuan’s arms.
Noticing this, Xiao Yuan made up his mind to start using the small kitchen in the bamboo house. It would be much more convenient if he felt a craving and wanted to make some modern food.
The child was still small, and his dragon horns and tail could not yet be retracted, so it was best not to wander around outside to avoid any accidents.
Having experienced running around the Sixth Peak without wearing a hood and without having to worry about strange looks from others, the moment Duan Wangyue stepped into the Sixth Peak, he couldn’t wait to take off his hat and obediently sat on the stool waiting to eat breakfast.
Xiao Yuan had not put the food box into his Qiankun bag, carrying it all the way into the Sixth Peak. Seeing little Wangyue proactively take off his hat, obediently sit on the stool waiting for a meal, and look at him with a pair of bright, large, obsidian-and-purple eyes, he felt a wave of warmth.
Remembering the glorious deeds of unruly children recounted by his married colleagues while browsing videos in his spare time, he felt that this disciple of his was truly a cute, angelic baby.
The kind who wasn’t a picky eater either. Even if he were picky, he would obediently finish the vegetables he disliked. Thinking this way, he felt he was even more of an angelic baby.
Xiao Yuan opened the food box. Inside, the dishes were still steaming because they had been kept warm with spiritual power all the way.
The curling wisps of white steam blurred Xiao Yuan’s facial contours, making his entire person appear even gentler.
“Go wash your hands first.”
For a moment, Duan Wangyue was a little entranced, feeling that his Master was an overwhelmingly handsome person. Coming back to his senses in a flutter of panic, he gave a soft acknowledgement, hopped off the stool, and obediently went to the side to wash his hands.
Unaware of why, Xiao Yuan placed the dishes from the food box onto the table one by one.
The outer sect elder responsible for cultivating the spiritual fields was completely bewildered when he received Xiao Yuan’s message paper box, thinking that he or the disciples under his jurisdiction had committed some mistake and caught the attention of the Law Enforcement Elder.
Otherwise, he could think of no other reason for Xiao Yuan to specially send him a paper crane.
With trembling hands, he unsealed the communication paper crane, only to discover that it was not written with instructions to receive punishments or lashes according to sect rules, but rather a request: when delivering spiritual rice and ingredients, send a portion directly to the Sixth Peak, with spirit stones to be settled monthly.
The elder’s heart, which had been hanging in his throat, finally settled securely back in place. He immediately instructed his personal disciple to take spiritual rice and ingredients and deliver them to the Sixth Peak.
However, the very first step of delivering the ingredients got stuck right at the protective barrier of the Sixth Peak, as he had no token and could not enter.
Inside the bamboo house, Xiao Yuan had already finished altering several sets of clothes. Folding the final set of creamy-white garments, he sensed someone standing at the entrance of the Sixth Peak.
With a flash of his figure, he appeared at the mountain gate in an instant.
The personal disciple stood anxiously at the entrance of the Sixth Peak, standing on tiptoe to peer inside. Upon seeing clearly who had approached, he lowered his head and bowed respectfully: “Immortal Lord Qingyuan.”
Xiao Yuan nodded, reaching through the invisible protective array to take the Qiankun bag from the disciple’s hand. In those few seconds, the elder’s disciple caught a whiff of cool floral fragrance, which smelled exceptionally pleasant.
The Qiankun bag containing the ingredients was supported by both hands, and his slightly cool fingertips accidentally brushed against the disciple’s palm when retrieving the bag, causing a slight tickle.
Xiao Yuan had no idea what the young disciple was thinking. After securing the Qiankun bag, he originally intended to give him a jade pendant that could grant entry and exit to the Sixth Peak for convenience in delivering future ingredients.
However, suddenly remembering the little dragon cub at home whose tail and dragon horns could not be properly retracted, along with the paper crane he had sent to the outer sect elder to deliver ingredients only once a month, he decided the jade pendant wasn’t necessary after all.
“Return.”
The floral fragrance tinged with coolness gradually faded away. Only then did the elder’s disciple dare to raise his head to look at the snow-covered path of the Sixth Peak dotted with bright red wintersweet blossoms. The palm that had accidentally brushed against Immortal Lord Qingyuan felt somewhat burning hot.
The outer sect and the inner sect were quite different. Most matters involving the inner sect’s Law Enforcement Elder, Immortal Lord Qingyuan, were things like how Immortal Lord Qingyuan could split seas, was the number one swordsman, and topped the male immortal rankings.
Coupled with the fact that he rarely appeared in the outside world, the top spot on the male immortal rankings had never wavered.
Therefore, when the elder’s disciple returned to the outer sect and his familiar fellow disciples swarmed around him to ask if the Immortal Lord was truly as handsome and peerless as the portraits on the male immortal rankings, he couldn’t help but scratch his palm as he recalled the moment. “The Immortal Lord possesses celestial grace, truly deserving of the top spot among male immortals.”
Xiao Yuan didn’t think much of his current appearance, or rather, having muddled his way into this world, he hadn’t yet had the chance to look in a mirror.
Even if he did see it, he would probably only feel a brief flash of amazement before casting it out of his mind. Appearance had never been a daily necessity for him.
Youth fades like dust and bones. No matter how good-looking a face was, once old age came, it would still end up burned into a handful of ashes.
Though coming to this world wasn’t voluntary, since he knew he couldn’t return for the time being, and moreover had a dragon cub to pet, he wasn’t quite as resistant and even looked forward to life in this world.
He wondered if, when little Wangyue grew up, he would let him experience what it felt like to ride a dragon.
However, the cub was still small right now, let alone whether he could carry his weight. Even in human form he couldn’t fully retract his dragon horns and tail. The matter of riding a dragon…
Xiao Yuan sighed silently. He still needed to raise the dragon cub properly.
“You say… is this true?”
Duan Wangyue still phrased his sentences somewhat awkwardly, but with a straight little face and a deliberately lowered voice, it made people overlook this flaw and instead perceive the little toddler as steady and mature.
Qin Ke sat on the table, his two bird claws feeling somewhat weak. He nodded, patted his puffed-out chest with a wing, and said, “This subordinate saw it with his own eyes!”
Both of his eyes saw the Young Master’s Master meet a little disciple and take the Qiankun bag into the kitchen!
As for what the two of them discussed, he hadn’t dared to get too close and had followed from a distance all the way until he watched Immortal Lord Qingyuan enter the small kitchen, perching on the windowsill to watch the high-and-mighty Immortal Lord wash rice with hands that had likely slain countless demons and monsters.
He had been so startled he forgot to disguise himself and let out a chirp: “Chirp!”
Hearing the sound, Xiao Yuan looked over and saw a plump, reddish-colored little bird with bright, spirited bead-like eyes looking at him.
He grabbed a small pinch of spiritual rice, placed it on the windowsill, lowered his gaze to the bird, and said, “Eat.”
Qin Ke didn’t fly away immediately. On one hand, his wings and legs were still too weak from fear to fly. On the other hand, the sweet fragrance and concentrated energy of the spiritual rice were far greater than the bugs he usually found in the blinding snow, hard wintersweet trees, and bamboo groves.
After pecking up the rice grains in a couple of fast motions, he clumsily flew off to find the Young Master, barely supporting his still-weak wings.
Cooking?
Duan Wangyue rested his chin on one hand, gently poking Qin Ke’s fluffy little chest with the other, his tail swaying leisurely behind him.
To call the Young Master’s strength a gentle poke would be more like a stroke. Qin Ke found the touch comfortable, his bead-like eyes narrowing as he couldn’t help using a wing to press down on the Young Master’s finger, guiding it downward to rub his somewhat over-full belly.
It felt wonderful, and as he was drifting off to sleep, he vaguely seemed to hear the Young Master ask him, “Can Master cook?”
Qin Ke shook his head, trying hard to recall the scene he had witnessed in the small kitchen, feeling that the Immortal Lord’s posture when washing rice was somewhat awkward. Pressing a wing against the Young Master’s hand, he paused for a second and answered honestly, “That… I have not heard of. However, this subordinate saw the Immortal Lord’s rice-washing movements… he can probably boil porridge.”
After all, boiling porridge was simple enough, and saying a few good words about the Immortal Lord in front of the Young Master could serve as repaying the kindness of the food.
Ignoring Qin Ke’s guilty tone, Duan Wangyue frowned slightly before relaxing again. What hadn’t he eaten in the Duan estate just to stay alive?
No matter how bad the meals cooked by his Master tasted, he would still eat them all.
Lunch was eaten at the dining table inside the small kitchen. After serving the final dish of spicy diced chicken onto the table, Xiao Yuan casually formed a paper crane to send a message to the little dragon cub, calling him over to the small kitchen for lunch.
Duan Wangyue had grown up wild in the Duan estate, surviving entirely thanks to his half-demon bloodline. There was no question of attending clan school with other children of his age; considering he hadn’t died, he was already considered lucky.
Therefore, let alone literacy, he couldn’t even speak sentences very clearly. Fortunately, the paper crane Xiao Yuan folded carried direct voice transmission; otherwise, Duan Wangyue and Qin Ke, two five-year-old cubs, would only have been able to stare at each other blankly.
Before even approaching the small kitchen, Duan Wangyue caught a somewhat pungent, spicy scent, causing his brows to knit in worry before he stepped into the small kitchen with a look of going to his doom.
Xiao Yuan placed two bowls of crystal-clear white rice on the table, turned around, and saw the little dragon cub draped in a festive-looking red cloak arriving, telling him to wash his hands and get ready to eat.
Duan Wangyue took off his cloak, hung it aside, obediently washed his hands in the basin prepared by Xiao Yuan, wiped away the water droplets, and sat down on the stool to get ready to eat.
The stool in the small kitchen was the same height as the other stools in the bamboo house and looked no different on the outside.
Only after sitting down did Duan Wangyue discover that across the legs of this stool, there was a piece of bamboo running horizontally between them, present on every pair of stool legs.
Placing his feet on that horizontal piece of bamboo made getting onto the stool much easier, and even once seated, his feet could rest on the bamboo rather than dangling in midair.
Aside from Master, no one would ever notice such a detail.
He pressed his lips together, feeling his heart grow soft and warm.
None of the dishes on the table were ones he had ever seen before, but he would still say they were delicious.
Because of cooking, Xiao Yuan had his sleeves bound with sleeve-ties, and despite the light snow falling outside, he didn’t feel particularly cold. “Can you eat spicy food?”
Spicy?
What was that?
Yet this didn’t stop Duan Wangyue from nodding. He could even eat leftover food and scraps, often having to fight wild dogs for food. How could he possibly be unable to handle spice?