After staring blankly at the rear courtyard for ages, the two humans and one snake decided to head to the dining hall.
In Bai Yujun's words, this meal was called recalling past bitterness and cherishing present sweetness, reminiscing about the old days. They ambled along, crossing stone bridges, passing waterfalls and abysses. The dining hall was still as welcoming as ever. The rich scent of food was the finest smell on the mountain besides incense and candles. A squirrel lived in the pine tree by the entrance, hugging pine nuts all day until it had grown round and plump.
The pangolin Ironball trotted after them. Nominally, it was now Xu Ling's demon-beast little brother. Since pangolins were neither venomous nor bloodthirsty and liked eating ants, nobody rejected it. They simply treated it like a pet cat.
Recently, Bai Yujun had been teaching it not to dig through Mount Hua whenever it had nothing to do. If it really dug through the mountain, disaster would strike. Whenever its claws itched, it was to scratch iron instead.
There were not many people eating in the dining hall, and the two humans and one snake took a table.
Bai Yujun resisted the urge to go to the rear courtyard and eat meat from a huge wooden basin. Then she spotted the plump middle-aged chef, whose legs were somewhat lame. He was delighted to see Bai Yujun and decided to cook personally.
Before long, several dishes were brought out, fragrant and steaming, along with a small basin of tender beast meat with the bones removed.
"Thank you, Uncle."
"Eat, eat. Why be polite? If it's not enough, I'll make more."
As always, the plump chef uncle enjoyed feeding others—or snakes. It was as though watching people and snakes eat the food he made brought