Chili Peppers Can't Be Eaten

At sunset, Qin He carried a shovel and headed back.

Passing a collapsed structure that looked like ruins, Qin He was drawn to a patch of green and red fruit.

The fruits were long and slender, pointed at the tips—some red, some half-red and half-green.

They were... chili peppers!

Qin He was overjoyed. He went over for a closer look, and sure enough, they were chili peppers.

Scattered across what was clearly once a small garden, they stood out strikingly against the broken walls and crumbling ruins.

Qin He unconsciously rubbed his hands together. In his previous life, Qin He had been a diehard lover of spicy food; he wanted heat with all three meals every day.

Ever since coming to this world, he had missed it terribly.

Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty.

Sugar went without saying—it was a luxury for wealthy households. Salt was just as expensive. Forget common folk; even restaurants were unwilling to use much salt in their food. Sour flavors mostly came in snacks, and those were not things ordinary people could eat often either.

That only left bitterness. Qin He had long since had his fill of that; coarse-grain steamed buns were bitter.

As for spiciness...

Sorry, but people in this time and place simply did not eat spicy food.

Chili peppers had only recently crossed over from the far side of the ocean. They were ornamental plants, their fruits bright red and festive, and no one had even thought to eat them.

Qin He had thought he would never again taste the spice he missed most. Who would have imagined that he would find a whole patch beneath the Mass Grave?

Looking around, Qin He roughly guessed what had happened.

Though the house was now nothing but broken walls and rubble, the traces suggested that a fairly well-off family had once lived here. For some unknown reason, they had fallen into ruin.

The chili peppers had been planted by the people who lived in the house as ornaments. Ordinary people struggled just to survive; they could never have spared the effort to grow such things.

Later, the Mass Grave expanded, and this place became a land of ill omen. Wild dogs roamed in packs, and few people ever came by.

So the chili peppers had spread and multiplied until they formed a whole patch.

Though Qin He currently had no conditions for stir-frying, he still could not resist picking a huge bundle. He took off his outer robe to wrap them up and also gathered quite a few seeds from the peppers that had fallen to the ground.

He could not help it. Just thinking of all the spicy recipes from his previous life made Qin He's mouth water.

If he could not eat them soon, he could dry them first. One day, he would get to eat them.

Qin He only stopped when his robe could hold no more. Then he hoisted the big bundle and headed back.

It was still early when he returned to the Corpse Burning Facility. The Corpse Burners were all curious about the huge bundle on Qin He's back. When they saw him dump the chili peppers into a bucket to wash them, they gathered around.

"Brother Qin, what's this?" Liu Sanjin asked curiously, picking up a chili pepper.

"These are chili peppers." Qin He grinned.

"Chili peppers?"

"What are those?"

"Never heard of 'em."

"Can you eat them?"

The Corpse Burners began chattering all at once.

"You bunch of firewood, these are Chili Peppers. True Men grow them to look at." Old Liangtou spoke loudly.

Seeing that Old Liangtou had something to say, everyone stepped aside. With his gray-white beard cocked proudly upward, Old Liangtou strode forward, picked up a chili pepper as well, and said, "Look at this color—red, festive as a lantern. Wealthy True Men like looking at these things."

Everyone suddenly understood.

Liu Sanjin asked Qin He, "Brother Qin, where'd you get so many?"

"Picked them outside."

"What'd you pick so many for?"

"These can be eaten. Used in cooking."

"What, you can eat them?"

Liu Sanjin's eyes immediately lit up.

The others also stirred restlessly. The Corpse Burning Facility did not leave them wanting for food or clothing, but they still did not get to eat anything good.

It was all bitter coarse-flour buns, or, at best, a tiny bit of salty flatbread hard enough to break teeth.

"Brother Qin, these Chili Peppers can be eaten?"

Old Liangtou's act was ruined. His beard drooped, and his face was full of astonishment.

In the past, Old Liangtou would definitely have slapped Qin He on the head and cursed, "You melon-skinned brat, Chili Peppers are for looking at, not eating. They're poisonous."

But now Old Liangtou did not dare.

Qin He was now the top man at the Corpse Burning Facility.

A tough character who had burned a vicious corpse and lived.

"They can, but they're very spicy." Qin He nodded honestly.

"I'll try one."

Before Qin He could finish speaking, Liu Sanjin impatiently stuffed the chili pepper in his hand into his mouth.

He chewed once, then twice.

The next instant, Liu Sanjin spat it all out with a "Wah!" His eyes flew open and his tongue shot out.

"Ah!! Fire, fire, fire, fire..."

"It's burning me to death, it's burning me to death!"

Liu Sanjin's outcry frightened the people who had been about to divide up the peppers. They hurriedly tossed the chili peppers back into the bucket.

"You melon-skinned fool, Chili Peppers can't be eaten! Hurry up and rinse your mouth with water."

At the sight, Old Liangtou's beard perked up again, his face brimming with smug delight.

Liu Sanjin hurriedly scooped up water to rinse his mouth. He soaked half his clothes before finally recovering.

Seeing this, everyone shook their heads and left.

Brother Qin was good at burning corpses, but his brain had never worked quite right.

Constables could not be offended. Chili Peppers could not be eaten. When there was nothing to do, sleep more and stop running around outside all the time.

These were all ironclad truths.

Blindly messing around.

"Brother Qin, Chili Peppers can't be eaten. They really can't."

Liu Sanjin left with his tongue still sticking out, but not before kindly warning Qin He once more.

Qin He suddenly understood why chili peppers could not make it onto the table in this era.

First, they really were something new.

Second, it was the taste.

Chili peppers had to meet oil. Only stir-frying them in hot oil could reduce their heat; steaming or boiling them was useless.

But how could ordinary people in this era afford oil? It was even more expensive than meat. A pound of fatty meat suitable for rendering could be worth three pounds of lean meat.

If a family could drip even a single speck of oil into their vegetables, they counted as well-off.

Stir-frying with oil? Sorry, they could neither afford it nor dare dream of it.

Qin He washed the chili peppers clean, then strung them together with rope and hung them beside the stove.

The stove's heat could quickly roast the chili peppers dry.

By the time he finished, it was nearly dark. The Eastern City Marshal's Office corpse transport convoy appeared at the entrance of the Corpse Burning Facility right on time.

There were twenty corpses in all.

There were eighteen Corpse Burners. Sixteen people would burn one corpse each, while two people would burn two.

When Gao Linkun and Li Tie learned the number, they exchanged a glance, then both looked at Ling Zhonghai.

The question in their eyes was practically written across their faces: how should Qin He's share be assigned?

Or, more bluntly, were they still going to mess with Qin He?

"Tch, what are you looking at me for? Am I that petty?" Ling Zhonghai said unhappily.

"Yes, yes, yes. Boss is magnanimous. Boss is the most magnanimous."

"We won't lower ourselves to the level of that foolish kid."

Gao Linkun and Li Tie hurriedly nodded in agreement.

"I, Ling Zhonghai, may not be a good man, but I do things by the rules. That foolish kid offended me, and I stuffed three corpses onto him. That settles the score. From now on, we divide things however they should be divided. I won't make things difficult for him in the slightest." Ling Zhonghai patted his chest.

"Generous." Gao Linkun gave him a thumbs-up.

"Boss truly has breadth of heart," Li Tie said as well. "Then tonight, we'll give that foolish kid one corpse. The other two go to Crippled Li and Liu Sanjin."

"Do it by the rules. One corpse per person; whoever should get the extras gets the extras." Ling Zhonghai nodded.

After settling the distribution, the three instinctively looked toward Room Seven, where Qin He was staying. Just then, Qin He came out.

He headed toward the three of them and asked, "Officer, Officer Xu didn't come again today?"

"His monthly break lasts two days. He'll come tomorrow." Li Tie replied.

"Oh."

Qin He nodded. Then his eyes widened slightly as he looked at Ling Zhonghai. "Officer, don't move!"

"Huh?" Ling Zhonghai froze.

In the instant he was distracted, Qin He struck his face with a lightning-fast slap.

Slap! It rang out loud and crisp.

Ling Zhonghai was stunned senseless. Li Tie and Gao Linkun gaped, unable to react either.

"There was a mosquito."

Qin He smiled and slowly opened his palm. A dead mosquito smeared with blood lay inside.