raknovel Chapter 4 Food and the Journey
Chapter 4 Food and the Journey
How do you train a female warrior to become a traveling frog?
Lin Xiu thought about it seriously for a moment and said, "In that case, why don't I cook dinner? There are quite a few wealthy families in Mengzhou City, and who knows, there might be other good places where they've hidden things. Why don't you take another look, heroine?"
The woman glanced at Lin Xiu, wrinkled her nose, and laughed, "Sir, you've got a good plan. Are you going to run off with the stuff the moment I leave?"
Lin Xiu said, "Heaven have mercy, heroine, you've wronged me! Am I that kind of person?"
The woman easily lifted the sack and carried it into Lin Xiu's house. Despite her delicate appearance, she was surprisingly strong, which made Lin Xiu envious.
After putting her things down, she patted them and said, "Alright, sir, no need to say more. The world is in chaos, how can I easily trust you? And you won't easily trust me either, will you?"
Since you said you were to cook, then you should cook it.
I'll have to keep an eye on you while you cook, lest you put something poison in it.
Besides, it's so dark now, I can't see where the living dead are and where they aren't. Exploring rashly would be too dangerous. Sir, please understand, wouldn't you?
As she spoke, she blinked her eyes a few times, trying to gain sympathy from Lin Xiu.
Unfortunately, there was a donkey next to us who loved to ruin the atmosphere.
This guy kept shoveling and shoveling for a while, and finally licked up almost all the wine that had spilled on the ground. He also scooped out all the wine left in the wine jar and drank it all. Even so, he still felt that there was not enough wine to drink, and started acting crazy while drunk.
It muttered a couple of curses and "hmm" sounds, then raised its hoof to kick the woman, complaining that there wasn't enough wine.
The woman quickly dodged, annoyed, "That donkey has such black feet!"
Lin Xiu laughed and said, "It's a bad drinker, just ignore it." He then kicked the donkey's rump and said, "No more wine, go to sleep, or I'll find you a millstone to pull."
"Pfft pfft pfft—"
The black donkey snorted and complained to Lin Xiu before obediently returning to the backyard.
Lin Xiu stopped arguing with the woman and started making dinner.
During his time living alone in Mengzhou City, he collected a lot of things, including food, various seasonings, bedding, clothes, pots and pans.
Among them was an iron pot, which he had commissioned a blacksmith in the city to make.
Before the apocalypse, he originally planned to become a transmigrator proficient in all skills, to broaden the horizons of the native inhabitants of this world.
They'll get a set of everything: iron woks for cooking, storytelling and poetry writing, glass and cement, perfume and soap.
But little did he know that his extraordinary life in another world had just begun when the apocalypse arrived. He only had time to ask a blacksmith to forge an iron pot, which he retrieved from the blacksmith's shop after the disaster struck.
But Mengzhou City was deserted, and his invention of stir-frying remained unseen by anyone.
Now, a female knight-errant has arrived in the city, and her amazing cooking skills are finally going to see the light of day.
Moreover, if I can use my cooking skills well and win over this female warrior, wouldn't that be the first step in my travel frog raising plan?
He then used a tinder he had found in the constables' quarters to start a fire, cooked the rice, sliced the smoked meat, heated oil in a wok, stir-fried the smoked meat slices, added the wild vegetables he had picked outside the city the day before, and added the seasonings as he estimated.
—Of course, no salt is needed. Smoked meat is already salted and has a good salty flavor, so it will become even saltier if left to sit for too long.
The woman followed him into the house and watched from the stove. She even offered to help Lin Xiu. Seeing Lin Xiu's cooking skills and the aroma and color of the dishes wafting out due to the Maillard effect, she was somewhat surprised and couldn't help but ask, "Sir, what kind of magic trick is this?!"
The dishes were ready. Lin Xiu took two bowls and filled them with the cooked rice. He then put the stir-fried wild vegetables and smoked meat directly into the bowls, covering the rice. He handed one of the bowls, along with the chopsticks, to the woman and said, "Don't talk, just eat."
The woman glanced at Lin Xiu and then quietly ate her food.
Her eyes lit up as soon as she started eating, and she couldn't stop picking at her food with her chopsticks, showing no signs of being a lady.
Of course, Lin Xiu wasn't much better off either.
In the past, he would never have eaten this stuff if I cooked it myself.
His cooking skills weren't bad, but he just couldn't handle cured foods like bacon and smoked meat well. The food he made was always a bit off, too salty, tough, and dry.
This meal was slightly better, but still not as good as the other dishes he cooked.
But things are different now.
Rice and meat, that's great!
After the meal, the woman took the initiative to wash the pot and said to Lin Xiu, "Sir, when we set off tomorrow, we must take this pot with us. If we can catch some pheasants or rabbits along the way, this pot will come in handy."
"No problem!"
Lin Xiu smiled and replied.
It seems the first step of the Travel Frog raising project has been successfully completed.
The woman asked, "We still don't know your name, sir."
Lin Xiu said, "My surname is Lin, and my given name is Xiu. As for you, with such excellent skills, do you have some kind of reputation in the martial arts world?"
The woman smiled sweetly and said, "My name is Yao Rongrong. I'm just an ordinary person, so I don't have any special title."
After she finished washing the pot, she said to Lin Xiu before leaving, "From now on, you can just call me Rongrong."
Lin Xiu said, "Then you don't need to call me 'sir' anymore."
Yao Rongrong said, "Sir is a storyteller, what else should I call him? I'm used to calling him that, so I won't change it. See you tomorrow morning, sir."
After saying that, he left on his own.
Lin Xiu closed the doors and windows and went to check on the black donkey at the back. The donkey was already standing in the shed, fast asleep. He must have been dreaming about something wonderful, because it let out a "humph" and grinned, revealing its front teeth.
Silent all night.
When Yao Rongrong woke up the next day, she gave Lin Xiu another piece of dry biscuit to eat. After that, she followed Lin Xiu and toured the entire city of Mengzhou. They visited all the government offices and wealthy households in the city, but they could not find any secret compartments or cellars that were the same as the day before.
Inside the county government office, they found maps and county chronicles, but nothing of any use. The descriptions of the Wolong Mountain Star Gazing Sect on them were rather ordinary, vague, and meaningless.
There was nothing of value left in this empty city, so the two of them came out from the north gate together and, led by Lin Xiu, headed towards Wolong Mountain.
Before leaving the city, Lin Xiu went to the outside of the Mandarin Duck Tower for a final look, as if to say goodbye.
Yao Rongrong couldn't help but ask, "Sir, is there anything special about this place? You were here yesterday, telling stories to a group of living dead."
Lin Xiu then briefly explained his situation. After listening, Yao Rongrong sighed softly and said, "Sir, you are truly a man of great kindness and loyalty."
She glanced at the proprietress sitting at the very back and said, "The proprietress here is really pretty, it's a pity..."
"Let's go."
Lin Xiu didn't say much, and led the way to the North Gate.
Yao Rongrong followed and asked, "Sir, when you have time in the future, could you tell me a couple more stories? Don't laugh at me, but I'm trying to get you to guide me to the Star Gazing Sect. Actually, I'm just really craving the stories you tell."
Hmm... I'm craving your cooking again now.