"We really don't know how to cook, but we can learn on the spot!"
Yingxing refused to give up. Since they had already come, Dan Feng had long had the attendants prepare a whole set of kitchen tools.
Besides, it's just cooking a meal, how hard could it be?
He even kind of wanted to see his friend fall in love and get married.
A sudden idea struck Yingxing. He turned his head to look at Dan Feng, "You're the Dragon Lord, that makes you a close relative of fish, right? You must know how to cook fish?"
Dan Feng slowly typed out a question mark.
Yes, he was a dragon, but he was an immortal dragon-blood. How could you connect him with fish?
And forced connections aside, what was this about cooking your relatives?
Baiheng complained, "Give me a break, the noble Lord of the Moon didn't even know fish had bones before! The attendants always picked them out for him!"
Jing Yuan kept pace with the fox-girl, "Dan Feng is the Pill Cauldron of the Alchemy Commission. He must know how to brew tonics, right? Four legs and five bodies means he can definitely make medicinal soups!"
Dan Feng's eyes flickered. His cold face didn't show the slightest crack, still that same all-capable Dragon Lord.
The Dragon Lord wanted to say he couldn't brew medicinal soups.
But Jing Yuan's words… the more Dan Feng listened, the more reasonable they sounded.
Too reasonable. He was the Dragon Lord. He was Lord of the Moon.
Would he really be stumped by a mere soup? Surely it was about the same as brewing medicine.
Dan Feng kept his cold face, nodded proudly, and agreed with Jing Yuan's reasoning.
Jing Yuan's brain was about to overheat, "And Yingxing! Since he can forge iron, then he must be able to make hand-chopped shrimp paste and fish paste, right?"
Those hands of Yingxing's usually forged divine weapons, yet now Jing Yuan had him doing ordinary kitchen work.
If the people of the Artisan Commission heard about this, they'd curse Jing Yuan with a "why use a butcher's knife to kill a chicken."
But Hundred-Forges himself had no objection. He cheerfully agreed.
Come on, he was Yingxing. If he could forge iron, how could he not handle a little shrimp paste or fish paste?
Jing Yuan slowly turned his head to look at his master. His once-confident attitude melted away, and he asked softly, "Master, how about you try handling the ingredients?"
Cutting vegetables and cutting down monsters, shouldn't be much different.
Jingliu saw through Jing Yuan's idea. Looking at her excited friends, she swallowed the words at the tip of her tongue, smiled lightly, and nodded.
Baiheng's ears went airplane-flat as she leaned in, tugged Jingliu toward the door, and instructed the other three, "Me and Jingliu will step outside for a bit, you guys start with the prep work."
Baiheng dragged Jingliu at a jog all the way to a spacious, empty courtyard. She proactively offered her fluffy tail to her friend, stammering, "Y-you can touch my tail, just don't be sad, okay?"
The fox-person cherished her tail more than anything; no one was allowed to touch it.
No matter how close the friend, none had ever been treated the way Jingliu was now.
Jingliu froze on the spot. Almost unconsciously, she touched Baiheng's soft tail once, then let go.
The Swordmaster wanted to say she wasn't sad.
But this was Baiheng, with eyes sharp to the finest detail, how could she hide it?
Unlike the other three, Baiheng saw right through Jingliu's thoughts. She felt sad for her friend until even her ears drooped flat.
"Don't give up, Jingliu…"
The fox-person pressed on, "J-just treat what I said that day as nonsense. Things like age, generation, none of it matters at all..."
The more she spoke, the more fired up she became. She clenched her fist, as if to cheer Jingliu on.
"If Zero refuses, then we'll just tie him up!"
Jingliu couldn't hold back and laughed out loud, "Baiheng, don't you think you're exaggerating a bit?"
Baiheng clung on relentlessly, "Just promise me first!"
Jingliu didn't promise, only said, "Let it be natural."
After hearing that, Baiheng took it as her friend's agreement. She happily lifted her tail, grabbed Jingliu, and jogged back.
"Let's hurry back, otherwise who knows what kind of nonsense those three might cause, "
As soon as the two returned, they heard Jing Yuan shouting.
"Yingxing, your grip is too strong… how did you manage to wash the ginseng in half?"
Yingxing held in one hand a thousand-year-old ginseng shaped like it had claws and teeth, and in the other a root thinner than a pinky finger, lost in thought.
Was his strength really that great? Or had the ginseng already been broken?
Yingxing quickly ruled out the possibility of the ginseng being faulty.
After all, this was taken from Dan Feng's private treasury. Any piece could fetch a sky-high price at auction.
He really had washed it broken.
At that thought, Yingxing's hand holding the ginseng trembled slightly.
Jingliu was silent for a moment, then questioned, "Weren't we cooking? Why are you washing ginseng?"
Jing Yuan rolled up his sleeves and answered, "Dan Feng said he was too lazy to put it back in the treasury."
"Since we already had it, we might as well use it. How about we boil a few pots of ginseng water? Then at night we can add some hot pot base and eat hot pot?"
Though Jing Yuan was the pampered young master of the Alchemy Commission's ruling family, when it came to wealth he was nothing compared to the Dragon Lord, who had accumulated resources for countless generations.
That was thousand-year-old ginseng. He wanted to taste it too.
Yingxing carefully set the ginseng on an empty plate, then turned to complain, "Then what are we busying ourselves with? Make it simple, just cook with the hot pot base!"
Baiheng looked down on that, "How's that any different from ordering takeout? That's just lazy, no heart in it at all…"
Jingliu felt at a loss.
It was just a meal; there was no need for Dan Feng to go to such extremes.
She glanced around. Not seeing Dan Feng, she asked, "Where is he?"
Jing Yuan took the ginseng that Yingxing absolutely refused to touch again and replied, "He said he went to fetch ingredients. I figure after that, he'll also change into another set of clothes."
Jingliu, "…"
'Dan Feng, that's so like you.'
The Swordmaster recalled the ever-irritable Dan Feng on the battlefield and understood everything in an instant.
The noble Dragon Lord had severe cleanliness issues; he couldn't stand having dust on him.
Even if he washed with magic, he still felt uncomfortable all over.
Especially when he saw the dirt-covered Jing Yuan and Yingxing after battle, Dan Feng got even more irritated and directly used Cloud Chant to wash them clean.
As for Jingliu and Baiheng after a fight, Dan Feng, mindful of male-female propriety, would only stand there with a cold face, as if about to say something but holding back.
The Dragon Lord changing clothes just to cook a meal…
'Yes, very reasonable, very Dan Feng.'
The only actual "ingredient," the ginseng, was surrounded by Baiheng and the other three. With nothing else to do, Jingliu also leaned in to look.
Not long after, the four with their keen ears caught the sound of Dan Feng's footsteps.
And it wasn't just Dan Feng, his numerous attendants came too.
One attendant quickened his steps to open the door for him.
The four looked and called Jing Yuan a prophet.
Dan Feng really had changed clothes.
Once the Dragon Lord entered the kitchen, the others followed in order.
Eight attendants, each holding a delicate gift box in their hands, every movement seemingly measured with a ruler, stood perfectly in sync at Dan Feng's sides. Then they bowed slightly in greeting to the four.
The four fell into an awkward silence.
Yingxing's mouth opened and closed, "Ah…"
Baiheng stammered, "…Every time I see this, it's still so overwhelming!"
Jing Yuan couldn't bear to look, "The Dragon King was at my side all along."
Jingliu, helpless, rubbed her forehead and urged Dan Feng, "Hurry up."
Dan Feng, "…"
Why did his friends always make that face? The Dragon Lord's minimum standard retinue was sixteen attendants, he had already cut it down by half.
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