The Heavenly Wandering Sword
Chapter 55
In the morning, Li Jian woke early and rolled up the bamboo mattress before glancing over at Mei Min. She was still dead asleep so he decided to simply leave her be. Shutting the door silently behind him, he sent a mental command to Kon Wang to watch over the room. His only response was as always, meat buns.
Scratching his head as he made his way downstairs, he walked out onto the street where he saw various stalls opening with either produce or ones containing food. He walked along the street and saw that the stalls were much different than the ones he had become used to at Baiyang City. Here, they had bowls of hot noodle soup for breakfast, along with meat buns as well as omelettes. The village was pretty close to the sea, so the omelettes were made with various shellfish. This made him smile, remembering his own childhood digging up shellfish when he had the chance, to add some extra food to his meagre diet. Perhaps this was why now he had been so obsessed with food?
Getting a bowl of hot noodle soup, he sat at one of the small wooden benches and tried it carefully. Throughout his travels, he had learned that noodle soup was never just noodle soup. He found the noodles themselves surprisingly chewy and delicious, while the broth was a light beef broth with the strong scent of coriander. To top off the dish, some beef slices and simmered bok choy completed the dish. With a poached egg on top, he was quite happy with it. He sat there and enjoyed his breakfast leisurely, before ordering another bowl to go, and he returned after speaking to someone from another stall and got a massive wicker basket filled with meat buns.
When he returned, he saw Mei Min sitting in the bed glaring over at Kon Wang who had his sword out while sitting at a chair right beside the bed. “What.” He said with a contemptuous air as he looked at the two of them who still glared at each other. He set the bowl of noodles on the table for Mei Min and simply put the wicker basket down and turned to look at Kon Wang but the sword spirit had already disappeared. So had the wicker basket of meat buns. Typical, Kon Wang rarely enjoyed fighting but he had no qualms using an ancient Heavenly level martial art to take meat buns.
Mei Min looked suspiciously over at the bowl of noodles before looking up at Li Jian. He just looked at her and gestured towards it. “I assume you have to eat. Or at least enjoy eating.” Deities were odd, many did not truly need to eat but ate certain things for the sake of enjoyment. Just like how wine was treated amongst mortals. She cautiously walked over to the table and sniffed at it a bit, before trying some. With a smile that did not match her background as the literal deity of undeath, she picked up chopsticks and ate it quickly.
When she was finished, she set the bowl back on the table and leaned back with a satisfied sigh. “Even if that was poisoned, it was worth it.” Li Jian just snorted. “Why would I need to poison you? Kon Kon can kill you in his sleep.” She glared at him again and muttered an “Asshole” under her breath. He shrugged at the remark, both deities knowing that muttering around each other was the same as just plain simple saying it. “So what do you intend to do now?” She asked him after looking over at him with annoyance still in her eyes.
He stretched his arms out and smiled to himself. The most problematic things have been settled, and now he got to enjoy some time off. “I am going to see what else is in town of course.” She stared at him with mild curiosity, having been used to deities always in pursuit of more power or ever greater number of followers. Instead, this human deity was more concerned with this small town itself. Mind you, the bowl of noodle soup that he had brought in was really quite delicious.
A few moments later, he was wandering around the streets market district where he encountered quite a number of produce stalls. Various vegetables were sold, all a bit different from the ones found in Murk as well as those in the Golden Continent. For as many fresh vegetables were sold, there were also many pickled vegetables were sold as well. Instead of the traditional heads of cabbages, napa cabbages were everywhere. Both fresh and pickled varieties filled the various carts of different vegetable vendors. At the same time, there were daikons and other similar radishes as well as pickled jars of the same.
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Mei Min was quite perplexed as she walked around. “What exactly is the joy in this?” Li Jian smirked to himself. “Have you not noticed? Every man you walk past stares at you as if love struck. Yet none of them have a clue that you might just be the most lethal thing to men ever since housewives discovered what scissors can do to unfaithful husbands.”
She awkwardly looked around to see that indeed, there were many staring at her. Most of the men looked away when caught but some did not, smiling instead at her. She shook her head, causing her hair to shimmer before catching up to Li Jian. “Must you point things out like that? You act like a small child. Aren’t you supposed to be a deity?” He held up a hand to his fingers in a hushing gesture. “Don’t mention that part, do you know how annoying it is being labelled as one? Everyone then starts wanting things.” She shrugged, uncaring about things that annoyed him.
“This is garbage. How dare you serve such a thing here with our family name on the restaurant? I will ensure that my father gets rid of you.” A man dressed in a pale blue coat walked out of a small but very well decorated restaurant, the chef being dragged out by the man’s servants. “Dump him on the ground and send him off. I don’t know why my father believes him to be capable of representing the family.” The owner was a man the same age roughly as the man dressed in pale blue. He wore a white chef’s outfit that was quickly sullied by the dirt on the ground as the servants began laying into him. “You think you can put on a chef’s uniform and be enough to represent the Jin family’s eatery?”
Li Jian saw this and frowned. He understood the importance of food but to beat someone over it, that was over the top. “Young lord, there is no need to beat him over such a thing. I am sure it can be remedied.” He put just the tiniest amount of spiritual essence into his words, the lackeys of the young lord stopping quickly. “Did I say to stop? And who are you to interfere in the matters of the Jin family?” The young man Jin Nansu was quite displeased at the way his henchmen stopped their beating at a single sentence form a strange man. He did however look past the stranger and set his eyes upon Mei Min, his face lighting up.
“But… in front of such a lady, then perhaps… it is best to not show the lady such dreadful things.” He looked at her, finding himself incapable of looking away. Mei Min simply tossed her hair, letting it shimmer which was seen as irresistible by the men all around them. “Please let me introduce myself. My name is Jin Nansu, of the Jin family.” He looked at them as of expecting recognition but Mei Min simply looked at him with a bored expression on her face. “The Jin family is the top family in this village. In the culinary world, we are known as one of the great chef families.”
Li Jian and Mei Min both just stared at him, blinking a few times. “They must be from a smaller village.” He thought to himself. He would however continue on. “The chef being beaten served dishes at our family’s ancestral restaurant that were not up to the high standards of the Jin family.”
Li Jian however tilted his head. “I would be curious to sample his dishes.” Jin Nansu was about to say something when Mei Min turned and bowed slightly. She was a powerful deity of the underworld but she knew when to put on an act. “Master, this junior also believes that it would be prudent to sample his dishes.” Inside Jin Nansu’s soul, he died a bit as he realised he had insulted the woman’s master. This woman seemed to be a servant. How could that be? Why must his heart endure the suffering of karma?
“Well uh.. If the master would like to sample, I cannot refuse. Wang Lusong, get up and prepare the best dishes of the Forever Diner.”
After being seated inside the restaurant, Li Jian looked at the interior carefully. It was done in a very tasteful manner. The trim itself was a light blue colour while the paint used was a gentle light green. Mei Min sat beside him, curious about what sort of dishes the chef would prepare. Across from them, Jin Nansu sat there wondering what sort of responses the restaurant would receive from their new guests. With the beauty and elegance of the woman, this Li Jian must be a high level master. His family’s eatery could ill afford to receive a poor review from them.
After a short wait, multiple dishes were brought to the table. A large bowl of tomato egg drop soup was placed in the center. Beside it were placed sesame buckwheat noodles, sautéed cumin lamb, pork stir fried with napa cabbages and vinegar, steamed egg plants with black bean sauce and black pepper braised beef ribs. Last but not least, stir fried knife shaved noodles with chicken and herbs. “I hope the master and lady will enjoy our offerings.”
Mei Min’s eyes popped out. She had been young when she had been turned into a vampire and after her death; she had gone straight to the underworld. A presentation such as this was not something she had been used to. Even as a deity, the dishes that had been offered to her were more valued for their spiritual essence and value than purely on taste or aesthetics. Li Jian however examined each dish carefully, assessing their initial presentation. If a chef had received a beating due to the quality of their food, then he must give tasting all of his care.