The moon had risen. Full and bright.
The lingering taste of braised pangolin had yet to fade from the back of his tongue.
Shi Hou sprawled in the Grand Marshal's Chair, both legs propped on the armrests, and raised his fingernails to his nose for a sniff. Caramelized fat. Still fragrant.
Black Pig lay on his chest, belly rising and falling, snores flowing steadily.
Contentment.
But after that contentment, a rather troubling thought surfaced.
Once, roasting a rabbit had kept him happy for half a day. Then came One-Horned Pig trimmings, braised Demon Ape meat, Five-Colored Peacock essence soup, and Titan Python soup. As he ate his way up, his palate grew ever pickier.
Pangolin counted as a top-tier ingredient.
What about the next meal?
What a cook feared most wasn't having nothing to cook. It was having his threshold for flavor pushed so high that he could never bring it back down.
Shi Hou let out a long breath.
Creak.
The sharp crack of breaking wood came from next door.
Shi Hou's breathing stopped for a beat.
Thump!
Something slammed into the doorframe of Shi Linhu's house across the way, making the entire wall shudder three times. Then came Auntie Lin Hu's hushed scolding. He couldn't make out the words, but her tone was both fierce and panicked.
Shi Hou covered his face.
Six men in the Cave Heaven Realm, plus a dozen or so young men from the Hunting Team, had each stuffed a great handful of mutated leek into their mouths alongside the braised pangolin. They had wolfed it down, thumping their chests and declaring it delicious.
He should never have gone soft on them.
Crash!
This time, it came from his own house.
Shi Hou sprang out of the Grand Marshal's Chair.
Shi Shoushan's muffled voice