ARLQLCC chapter 9

 

As Yun Xicheng’s words fell, the entire cafeteria was instantly plunged into an indescribable awkward silence. Yun Che felt the hint from his embarrassing cousin and turned his head away, pretending he saw nothing.

Yun Xicheng blinked so hard his eyes were about to cramp, but he still didn’t get any help from Yun Che. He cursed inwardly for being disloyal, while on his face he forced out a smile uglier than crying.

“S-sorry… I just meant I’ve never seen a chef as good-looking as you, and it’s also rare to see such a young chef. I was just feeling emotional about it, there’s no other meaning.”

At this moment, Yun Che spoke up. “Yeah, he just likes running his mouth. No other meaning.”

Su Ji said understandingly, “It’s fine. Guests are welcome. What would you like to eat?”

“Mm…” Yun Xicheng lowered his head upon hearing this. He had been focused on the cafeteria decoration earlier, and only now clearly saw the dishes on the table.

Getting closer, the aroma of the food hit him directly. The dishes were fresh, each one releasing its own fragrance—something their sect cafeteria would absolutely never have.

Even Yun Xicheng’s favorite braised chicken drumstick wasn’t as fragrant as one of the vegetarian dishes here.

But even though the smell filled the air, Yun Xicheng still remained skeptical about the taste. A friend from a neighboring sect once told him that on the first day their new cafeteria chef arrived, the whole room was filled with fragrance, and all the disciples were excited, thinking they would finally have good meals in the future.

But in reality, that “fragrance” could just be spice powder used to enhance smell. The more fragrant it was, the more ordinary it tasted.

This was common in the cultivation world. Those with spiritual energy all went to cultivate. If cultivation didn’t work out, they could still refine pills, draw talismans, or craft artifacts. If none of those had talent, then only a few would choose to become chefs.

So most cafeteria food was ordinary, and everyone gradually got used to it.

But there were always people like Yun Xicheng—his mind had adapted, but his tongue never could.

Looking at the various fragrant dishes, Yun Xicheng asked in hesitation, “It’s my first time here. Do you have any recommendations?”

Su Ji thought for a moment and joked, “If I say everything is recommended, would you take everything?”

After hearing that, Yun Xicheng actually considered it seriously. Under Su Ji and the little cat’s intense gaze, he finally decided, “Then I’ll take one of everything. I’m eating with my cousin anyway—we can try every dish!”

Yun Che fell silent upon hearing this. He was about to suggest ordering less so that if it didn’t taste good, they wouldn’t leave too much behind and embarrass the chef.

But Yun Xicheng had already taken the food Su Ji prepared and walked over to the little cat. After the round disc artifact announced in a clear voice, “Mid-grade spirit stone, five pieces,” he counted out six spirit stones instead and handed them to the cat.

“First time seeing a cat collect payment. I’ll give you one extra stone. No need to thank me, little kitty~”

Yun Che: “……”

Chu Zhaoye: …Who cares.

Having made their first sale, Su Ji was in a good mood and reminded them, “There’s winter melon pork rib soup and sour plum drink in the barrels up front. They’re free, you can serve yourselves.”

Yun Xicheng was holding his tray when he heard this. He nudged Yun Che with his foot. “I’ve got no hands. Go get it. I want both.”

Yun Che said speechlessly, “Are you a pig? Eating this much.”

Yun Xicheng chuckled. “I’m paying for your meal and you still talk about me!”

Yun Che stuck out his tongue at him and resignedly went to get soup.

However, just as he scooped the second bowl of winter melon pork rib soup, Yun Xicheng’s voice suddenly rang out behind him.

“Holy crap! What is this food? It’s so good!”

Yun Che was startled and quickly turned back. He saw Yun Xicheng, after shouting that line, rapidly using his chopsticks to taste each dish, one after another. Every bite was followed by strange exclamations that normal people couldn’t understand.

Yun Che: Help… has he finally shown his true colors?

Seemingly noticing his gaze, Yun Xicheng quickly called out, “Yun Che hurry up! If you don’t come soon, I’ll finish everything!”

Yun Che returned with the soup, looking at Yun Xicheng’s mouth full of food, puzzled, “What’s wrong with you? Why are you eating like you’re possessed?!”

Yun Xicheng pointed at the dishes and introduced them one by one.

“Tomato egg—delicious! Twice-cooked pork—delicious! Spicy chicken—so damn good!”

“……”

Yun Che suspiciously picked up a piece of egg coated in tomato sauce and put it in his mouth. The moment it entered, the sauce flavor exploded—sweet and sour taste fully awakened his appetite.

His eyes lit up, and he quickly tried a piece of twice-cooked pork—fragrant, juicy, endlessly rich in aftertaste!

Yun Xicheng said proudly, “Told you I wasn’t lying, right? It’s really good. Oh my god, this is too fragrant. Our sect cafeteria can’t even catch up in a hundred years!”

Yun Che nodded while eating. “Good thing you were curious enough to come here. Otherwise we wouldn’t have discovered such good food!”

A piece of sour fish was placed into Yun Che’s bowl. Yun Xicheng eagerly said, “Try this! This one’s also great!”

Their commotion was too loud, especially since the entire cafeteria only had them as customers besides Su Ji and Chu Zhaoye. Any noise stood out clearly.

Su Ji and Chu Zhaoye exchanged a look, both feeling confusion and a bit of sympathy.

Just how long had their tongues been abused to make them react like that?

Su Ji could still understand it—after all, he had eaten sect cafeteria food before and knew most of them weren’t good, some even barely edible.

But Chu Zhaoye, who had grown up in nobility, always ate food prepared by excellent chefs across the continent. Even his first meal after being attacked by his inner demon as a cub was cooked by Su Ji. So he truly didn’t understand their reaction.

Su Ji noticed the confusion in his big eyes and explained, “Maybe their sect food just isn’t very good, so they’re a bit excited.”

Chu Zhaoye twitched the corner of his mouth. Just how bad does it have to be to get this excited?

Over there, Yun Xicheng and Yun Che were eating rapidly, sweeping through the dishes like a storm. If not for some side dishes being inedible, they would’ve swallowed the plates too.

Their bellies were round, and they leaned back in their chairs, rubbing their stomachs, letting out satisfied burps.

Yun Xicheng said emotionally, “It’s been so long since I’ve been this full. The last time I burped because the food was so good was back then.”

Yun Che also couldn’t hold it anymore, but still forced himself to finish the last sip of sour plum drink.

“The sour plum drink is amazing, the winter melon soup is so fresh, I don’t even know how to praise it anymore. Our sect’s soup is like plain water. I’ve never drunk anything this rich and flavorful!”

After eating, people tend to go blank. Yun Xicheng leaned back and looked at the ceiling, even the previously disliked decoration now seemed pleasing.

As expected, one cannot judge by appearance. So what if the chef was young and good-looking? His cooking alone could crush all the old chefs in their sect who collected monthly pay but didn’t cook properly!

After sitting for a while, Yun Xicheng suddenly jumped up and rushed to Su Ji.

“Chef, is the cafeteria open at night? I’ll come again!”

Su Ji smiled apologetically. “I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. I’m the only one running this place, so it’s not open at night.”

Yun Xicheng showed disappointment. “You don’t know, because the sect cafeteria is so bad, I’ve been eating snacks for several meals!”

His expression was quite ferocious, and Su Ji asked, somewhat embarrassed, “Is it really that bad?”

Yun Xicheng almost slammed the table. “Bad! Too bad! Compared to your cooking, it’s complete dog shit!”

Su Ji: “……”

Yun Che added, “It’s true. The current cafeteria chef is a relative of an elder in the sect who pushed out the previous chef. Not only is the food bad, it’s also expensive. Before, the old chef’s food was at least decent. Ever since he took over, we haven’t had a single good meal.”

Yun Xicheng continued, “Today there was braised chicken drumstick in the cafeteria—it’s his best dish, still somewhat edible—but after class we were kept behind by the Discipline Elder and missed it. Then we saw your teleportation formation light up, so we came to check it out.”

After hearing their tragic eating history, Su Ji felt sympathetic and suggested, “Even though I don’t open at night, you can pack some food to take back. Though it’ll get cold by then.”

Yun Xicheng’s eyes lit up. “Good idea! Good food is still good even when it’s cold. I can just heat it up with a fire talisman!”

He took out a bowl from his storage artifact, cleaned it with a purification spell, and handed it over.

Yun Che also had the same kind of bowl. The two of them packed their favorite dishes one after another. Su Ji even gave each of them a cup of sour plum drink.

Holding bowls full of fragrant food, both of them smiled sincerely at the thought of not worrying about dinner anymore.

Su Ji then asked, “I’m Su Ji. May I ask your surnames?”

Yun Xicheng said, “Hello Chef Su, my surname is Yun, given name Xicheng. Just call me Xicheng.”

Yun Che said, “My surname is also Yun, and my given name is Che.”

Su Ji asked, “Are you disciples of Yunxian Sect?”

Yun Xicheng replied, “That’s right! Chef Su has heard of our sect too?”

Su Ji smiled. “Your sect is ranked second among the four major sects. It would be hard not to know.”

“Haha, just a reputation. May I ask where Chef Su learned his craft?”

Su Ji shook his head. “My master has passed away. I have no sect, just a rogue cultivator.”

Time was getting late. After some more casual small talk, Yun Xicheng and Su Ji agreed to come back again tomorrow. Then they stepped onto the teleportation formation and returned to Yunxian Sect together.

But what they didn’t expect was that the moment they stepped out of the teleportation formation, they were immediately surrounded by a group of disciples who had been waiting anxiously.

Yun Xicheng was startled and instinctively protected the bowl in his arms.

Seeing this, the disciples became even more curious and started chattering noisily:

“Is the food good? Is it better than the sect cafeteria?”

“What’s in your arms? Why does it smell so good? Why are you hiding it?”

“Yun Che, how many people are there? How does it taste?”

“You both have something in your arms—is it food from that place?”

“Stop hiding, let us see!”

“Ah!” Yun Xicheng panicked. “Quiet! Let me speak!”

Everyone immediately went silent.

Yun Xicheng said, “Let me tell you, this is really a treasure I found. At first I thought the decoration was shabby so the food would be too, but after one bite—it was heaven! I’m not lying. This dish only exists in the heavens; how often can you taste it in the mortal world?”

A female disciple said, “Isn’t that a bit exaggerated? Are you tricking us?”

Yun Che joined in. “Although my cousin usually jokes around, this time he’s not lying. That cafeteria doesn’t open at night, so we packed some back.”

He lifted his bowl proudly in front of everyone. The fragrance drifted out, causing stomachs to growl.

Yun Xicheng said, “You haven’t eaten yet, right? The chef is young and good-looking, most importantly the place just opened so there aren’t many people and there’s still a lot of food. They even give free winter melon pork rib soup and sour plum drink. Go try it before class starts. If I’m lying, may I never form a Nascent Soul in this lifetime!”

Hearing such a vow, the disciples looked at each other and immediately rushed into the teleportation formation.

On the other side, in Linggu Mountain cafeteria, the teleportation formation flashed with bursts of light.

 

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