At some point, Soupmaster had taken out two more stoves, preparing three pots at once.
Mei watched in awe as he practically juggled the ingredients from his bag, tossing them into the pots with incredible precision.
As she watched the parade of ingredients land in, the pots, she suddenly heard Wang Wei squeal.
"He, he threw a bug in there! In the fire pot!"
"Ehhh?!" Xiuying gasped.
Hearing them, Mei couldn't help but smirk to herself. Having lived sheltered lives with higher class families, it seemed they were rather squeamish with bugs. Till now, she didn't have many chances to show it, but now was time for her "peasant pride"!
"It's just a bug isn't it?" Mei said, not dropping the smug look. "Have you not eaten them before?"
"Y...you eat bugs?" Wang Wei was stunned.
"Hm-hm, yes. Centipedes, ants, crickets, cicadas, you name it! Oh, and silkworm chrysalis! Cheap and tasty!"
Wang Wei had a look full of horror, which then switched to pity. He reached into his bag and handed a green jade to her. Mei was speechless for a moment. A conflicted look appeared on her face for an instant, before she reached out and took it gingerly. Losing a little face was better than working hard for days...
Xiuying laughed awkwardly.
"Well... I've heard of it. My mom and dad are merchants, and I've seen they take in stock of chrysalis. The silk you get from silkworms is actually from when they spin a cocoon and prepare to turn into butterflies!" she said. "They cut open the cocoon of silk and toss the poor little guys out, which are then sold as food..."
She coughed.
"To be honest, I thought they were for feeding chickens..." she muttered, then had a look of panic. "Oh! Not to insinuate anything! Sorry!"
Mei: ...
Wang Wei gasped.
To the side, Yingyi looked extremely annoyed.
"You don't need to be so shocked about it. Meat is expensive, and bugs are a cheap source of protein." he turned to look at Mei. "And you, Mei Xiu! Why are you so proud of it?"
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"Eh?" said Mei. "You were a peasant too, so shouldn't you get it?"
"This is exactly what I hate! People like you, who accept their lifestyle, and find pride in being something as lowly as a peasant!" he shouted. "And at your age too! Are you a senile geezer? You should have AMBITION! To work hard and get yourself out of peasant life!"
"Hmph! If not for this one in a million, no, in a billion chance, I bet you would be a peasant your whole life! No ambition! And now that you're in the sect, you still dare to slack, without heavenly talent? Did you know how much I've wanted to shout at you this whole time? HUH?! HUUUHHH!?"
Seeing Yingyi, his eyes full of anger, Mei was stunned. This was the first time she had seen the soft-spoken and aloof boy like this. Around them, disciples had turned to stare at him, even Soupmaster.
"Now, now... calm down!" Xiuying said. "She still has many years ahead, so relaxing a little now is fine, isn't it?"
"It will become a bad habit," he said curtly.
"Well... I wasn't that poor, but a friend of mine who worked in the fields told me they were tasty, so I tried them. And they weren't that bad." Liu Qiang tried to change the topic.
Yingyi shot him an annoyed look.
"It's not about the taste."
"Why talk about this now anyway?" Wang Wei frowned. "I mean, you have a point, but is now really the time for this?"
"Hmph." Yingyi let out a cold snort.
"Disciples! Let's argue outside if we have to, alright? Keep it civil." Soupmaster finally spoke up. "And Wang Wei, if you don't want bugs, I can make a separate batch with different ingredients."
"Ah, no. I'm fine!" Wang Wei said. "As a cultivator, how can I let something as small as this shake me?"
As if he had heard a funny joke, Soupmaster laughed heartily before returning his focus to the pots. Wang Wei pouted.
----------------------------------------
In her hands, Mei held a wooden bowl filled with steaming green broth, a pleasant herbal scent wafting into the air from it. She took a sip. It was good.
Though right now, she wasn't quite in the mood to enjoy it, after Yingyi's words.
Working hard... it was harder than it sounded. It wasn't as if she was completely incapable, was she? Back then, she put in 3 days of hard work, without a second of sleep, so so she could catch up with her friends.
It wasn't just that either. After being motivated by Su Qing being forced to go to school, she spent about an hour a day cultivating too! It wasn't as if she was literally lazing around all day... Hmph, though she was sure he would say that wasn't enough.
Actually, screw his logic! Cultivating non-stop day and night, could that even be called life? If someone spent all their time cultivating and finally died, only spending 1% of their time doing other things, could that truly be called life? They might even have less life experience than a mortal!
Even if she only lived half as long as that person, if she spent 90% of her time having fun, she would effectively have lived countless times longer than him!
And with that logic, Mei finally shook off her doubts, happily drinking her soup contently. Hmph, screw Yingyi! Clearly, her approach to life was far superior!
Mei did not realise that if she spent more time cultivating, in the crucial junction of life known as "youth", she would progress much faster and have more time to slack when the "boost" wore off. Nor was Yingyi implying that she should cultivate day and night without rest.
If any rogue cultivators, away from the protective embrace of a grand sect were to hear her thoughts, it would not be unreasonable for them to curse at her, coughing up blood.
This had to be the worst way to dispel a potential inner demon, ever.