"Chop, chop, chop-"
Master Shen sliced the radish expressionlessly. Evenly sized slices, each as thin as a cicada's wing, gradually piled up on the cutting board.
Xiangling ladled a spoonful of rich soup from the tall stockpot and tasted it, nodding in satisfaction. But when she looked up and saw that the youth had only sliced two or three carrots after all that work, she couldn't help urging him on.
"The soup's almost ready, A-Luo, hurry up! You're so slow even Guoba's quicker than you."
Just then, Guoba ran past with a basket of greens on his head. Hearing Xiangling's praise, he proudly went "Lulu" twice.
"Almost done, almost done," Master Shen replied offhandedly, though he continued slicing at the same unhurried pace.
Sigh, why had he been dragged here to do this kind of work anyway?
As a gourmet, shouldn't he have been sitting comfortably in a VIP seat, leisurely waiting for delicacies to appear on the empty table?
Eating food he'd cooked himself was no fun at all.
"Forget it, forget it, I'll help you! At your pace, the soup will have boiled dry by the time you finish slicing the carrots." Xiangling rolled up her sleeves, revealing a wrist fairer than frost and snow, grabbed another cleaver, and stood beside Shen Luolun to slice the carrots.
"Tap, tap, tap, tap-"
She was literally several times faster than someone else! The blade flashed so quickly it left nothing but afterimages.
Slice after slice of carrot flew neatly onto the plate, forming a beautiful little mountain in the blink of an eye.
The carrots in the basket rapidly dwindled.
Master Shen watched from the side, secretly amazed. With knife skills like that, even the legendary Butcher Ding carving an ox couldn't have done much better, right?
In just five minutes, the entire basket of carrots had been sliced.
"Ah, I really worked hard," Master Shen remarked as he stood with his hands on his hips, surveying the results and wiping nonexistent sweat from his brow.
Xiangling picked up the plate and rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. If it weren't for her, there was no telling how much longer he would have kept slacking off.
But the girl evidently couldn't be bothered to fuss over such a small matter, so she didn't call him out.
Xiangling tipped the whole plate of carrots into the stockpot and put on the lid.
"Mm, everything's done. Now we just have to wait for it to cook."
"Guoba, remember to watch the fire."
"Lululu."
Guoba: (=^▽^=) (waved his little hand)
"It's all done, right? Then I'll go take a bath first. I worked up a sweat in the kitchen."
Shen Luolun took off his apron and hung it on the wall.
He and Xiangling were currently staying in a clean old house.
It was the home of Xiangling's late maternal grandmother. Every year, Master Mao and Madam Mao came to clean it and stayed for a while.
He had originally planned to find an inn, but Xiangling had dragged him here on the grounds that they needed to prepare for the Cuisine Machine Test.
There were two bedrooms and a living room, just enough for each of them to have a room.
Shen Luolun hadn't objected and had gone along with her.
They had come here to prepare for the Cuisine Machine Test, but with evening approaching, making dinner and filling their stomachs took priority.
So the two went to the market for groceries and started cooking when they got back.
"Mm, go ahead. Oh, right, I put a change of clothes in the basket outside the door. Don't forget." Xiangling reminded him, casually pulling out a tissue to wipe the water from her hands.
She still had to prepare fruit for after the meal.
"Okay, okay, my dear little chef. Love you!" Touched by his bestie's thoughtfulness, Master Shen blew her a kiss from across the room.
Smack-!
Three carrot slices landed squarely on his eyes and mouth.
"Less chatter! Go take your bath!"
"Okay, okay."
Master Shen hastily covered his face and dashed out.
Where no one could see, the girl's translucent earlobes quietly turned pink.
The sun was setting in the west.
Lumine, Yelan, and Lan Yan arrived at Cuijue Slope.
Just as Yinyue had said, a large number of Treasure Hoarders had appeared in and around the once-dilapidated, deserted ruins. Dozens of them, by the look of it, guarded the various checkpoints, patrolling and keeping a tight watch.
"There are so many Treasure Hoarders hiding here," Lumine said in surprise.
"I received a report a few days ago saying there were signs of large-scale Treasure Hoarder activity here, but something delayed my investigation. I didn't expect this to be the mastermind's hideout. What a coincidence," Yelan said calmly after observing the place for a while.
Lan Yan unfolded the route map. "To reach the entrance, we have to go through the main gate. We need to find a way to deal with the Treasure Hoarders there."
"The defenses on the right are relatively weak. Lan Yan, use your paper figures to draw their attention later. Lumine and I will take the chance to sneak in and deal with the guards inside. Be very careful during this operation. This is the enemy's hideout, so if anything seems wrong inside, withdraw immediately. Lan Yan, you'll stay outside and cover us," Yelan instructed.
Lan Yan and Lumine nodded.
The three set off.
"Boss, what do you think the meaning of life is?" asked a young Treasure Hoarder with a tuft of yellow hair on top of his head. He was looking at the wiry man leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, resting.
"Why have you been asking all these weird questions lately?" the wiry man said calmly without opening his eyes.
"I just think it's so boring standing guard here all the time. We can't do anything, and it feels like I'm not making any progress." The youth looked glum.
"What more do you want out of being a guard? You're still not satisfied with a million Mora a month? Do you know how many people out there would get on their knees and beg for a job like this and still not get it?"
"Come on, I just think doing this for too long will make a person useless. Boss, why don't we learn a skill? If we get fired or something happens one day, at least we'll have a skill to make a living with. You know how unstable our line of work is, Boss. The Ministry of Civil Affairs is on our tail every day. The pay's high, sure, but actually getting to keep all of it is another matter."
"If we learn a skill, then even if we leave the Treasure Hoarders one day, we won't have to worry wherever we go. At least we won't starve."
The wiry man opened his eyes and gave him a somewhat surprised look.
"You're aware of that?"
As he recalled, the youth had done plenty of sneaking and stealing.
For him to come up with reasoning like that, the sun must have risen in the west.
"Hehe, Old Lin told us about it. I learned a little from him." The youth scratched the back of his head.
At the mention of Old Lin, the wiry man immediately lost the desire to talk.
"You'd be better off listening to opera singers and storytellers than him."
"That old guy goes around every day shouting that young people should learn skills, learn skills, and stop lying flat. He likes looking down on young people like you who earn less than him through your own labor."
"When someone humbly asks him what skill they should learn, he tells them to find their own way without giving them a single hint. He even says they have nothing to do with him, so why should he help?"
"Hah, that prison Jobs bastard made a bit of money for his medical bills and really started thinking he was somebody. He even dares to act all respectable and lecture people on how to do things. Shameless."
The youth's face flushed red.
"Boss, how can you say that about Old Lin? He's from the older generation, at least. He has experience."
"Experience, my ass. After muddling along for decades, he still had to shamelessly join the Treasure Hoarders. And he calls himself the captain of a civilian archaeology team. Pah!"
It was clear the wiry man deeply resented Old Lin.
The youth didn't know how to respond.
On one side was his beloved boss, and on the other was a respected elder. He couldn't easily take either side.
Just then, he suddenly spotted several green glowing specks swaying back and forth not far away. They were especially conspicuous.
"Boss, Boss."
"What now?" the wiry man asked impatiently.
"Something's wrong!"
"Huh?!"
"Over there!"
The wiry man followed the direction of the youth's pointing finger and saw the strange specks of light.
"What the hell is that?"
The wiry man frowned.
"Boss, what should we do? Could the enemy be here?"
"Not sure. To be safe, send four people over to take a look first."
"But Boss, there are only six of us here. If four go, that'll leave just the two of us on guard. Wouldn't that be bad?"
"Why don't you go?" The wiry man glanced at him.
"Hehe, naturally, I want to stay by your side and learn more from you, Boss." The youth gave an awkward laugh.
"Just say you're afraid of dying."
"I'm afraid!"
"..."
The wiry man was speechless.
Damn, you're really something.
"Then send one person to take a look."
"Who?"
"Whoever has the clearest eyes. Send them!"
"The clearest? Oh, oh, got it."
The youth nodded with a wicked grin.
As he turned around, the wiry man suddenly called him back.
"Wait!"
"What is it, Boss?"
The wiry man thought for a moment and said:
"...Forget it. Let's all go take a look together."
"Together?"
The youth looked utterly bewildered.
"Then what about this place?"
"Don't worry. The area we're guarding isn't that important. Even if enemies get through here, they'll still have to face the people at the gate."
"Is that really okay?" The youth was a little hesitant.
"If I say it's fine, it's fine. You can't go wrong listening to me!"
"We're all going to check. No one gets left out!"
The wiry man's tone was firm.
It was as though this were a lesson he had learned from experience.
"Okay, Boss!"