The Dragon Lord lifted his hand, signaling everyone to step back. The attendants one by one placed the gift boxes in neat rows before finally withdrawing.
Watching them leave, the four finally let out a breath of relief.
'So this is what they call "when novel plots break into reality," huh.'
Jing Yuan was the first to step forward. He examined the gift boxes, but couldn't make sense of them, and asked, "What's inside these?"
Dan Feng began straightening his sleeves, saying, "It's fine, just open them directly. These are the ingredients I just had people purchase."
Jingliu hesitated to speak.
She wanted to say, it's not necessary, really not necessary.
Dan Feng tried to reassure Jingliu, "No need to worry, it was only six figures of patrol coins, nothing more."
"Master, let's handle these ingredients together."
Before Dan Feng could finish his words, Jing Yuan cut him off.
Jing Yuan first glared at Dan Feng, then carried several food-filled gift boxes over to the cutting board.
Yingxing was staring at a carp laid out on satin, falling into thought.
'How do you handle fish again?'
Seeing this, Jingliu smiled lightly and picked up a gift box.
"Your hands should be saved for making fish paste, don't let fish bones injure them."
Yingxing thought about it, that was true, Jingliu definitely knew best how to handle ingredients. So he turned to Dan Feng, "Dan Feng, sorry about that ginseng… seems I broke it while washing."
Dan Feng didn't even twitch his brow, just shook his head and said, "It's nothing, only something left behind by the previous Dragon Lord. Mm, it seems it was meant to be a gift for the former Arbiter General."
The five had sharp ears, and sharing the same room, each heard the words clearly.
Yingxing immediately set a pot to boil water for the ginseng.
Hearing this, Jing Yuan's curiosity was piqued. Yesterday at the General's Manor he'd burned the midnight oil, and before leaving was reminded by General Tengxiao not to leak this matter.
But he had already told Zero early on, then thought about the other's modest character and so only messaged a single reminder, asking him not to mention it to anyone.
Now, hearing "former Arbiter General," Jing Yuan felt like a cat scratching at his heart.
"Former Arbiter General? What kind of person was he? Did he not get along with the Dragon Lord at the time?"
'If they didn't have a poor relationship, then why give such a cheap gift?'
"No, they were close friends. It must have been a gift prepared by someone else." Dan Feng paused a moment, then added, "Strictly speaking, everyone was the former Arbiter General's close friend."
Jing Yuan, "…Why does this sound just like Baiheng?"
Baiheng, who was beside Jingliu helping with ingredients, was suddenly mentioned for no reason. She gave Jing Yuan a puzzled glance, then went back to lending a hand.
Jingliu, holding a kitchen knife, looked at the fish, now head and body separated, and asked Baiheng, "What should I do next?"
Baiheng was handling vegetables, hesitating, "Cut into sections?"
Jingliu, "Then what about these fish scales?"
Yingxing leaned over, glanced, and patted his chest in assurance, "No problem, we can smash them."
Baiheng was confused, something didn't feel right.
Yingxing thought for a moment, "Once it's cooked, it should all be the same, right? No problem, we've got a strainer."
Jingliu found this very reasonable, nodded, and continued handling it, chopping the fish into a mess of scales and blood.
Meanwhile, Jing Yuan kept asking questions. Seeing his curiosity, Dan Feng pulled more memories of the former Arbiter General from his mind.
"He once suggested to Yubie that all dissenting clansmen should be killed. That way, when they reincarnated, they would forget everything and turn to support him."
Jing Yuan, 'What kind of living drama is this…'
"The former Arbiter General once drank by the Ambrosial Arbor tree. When the wine was at its height, that man called in his subordinates, tied up more than a dozen rich abominations, and actually invited the Aeon of the 'Hunt' to appear in person, "
Jing Yuan, 'So the storybooks were true after all! You really can summon the Aeon of the 'Hunt'!'
His mouth twitched, and he pressed on, "Summoning the 'Hunt' was for…?"
Dan Feng fell silent a moment, then with difficulty said, "To handle the abominations."
Jing Yuan, "…"
Dan Feng continued, "After that feast, the clan formally allied with the Xianzhou."
Jing Yuan, "..."
'What kind of bizarre person would, in the middle of negotiations, right in front of a prospective ally, summon abominations and the 'Aeon of the 'Hunt''?! That's not negotiation, that's intimidation!'
While Yingxing worked at the fish, he listened to Jing Yuan and Dan Feng's talk, and exclaimed at the man's audacity, before calling them over to help.
Dan Feng was in charge of preparing ingredients for the tonic soup. Jing Yuan took a look at the fish paste mixed with scales and guts, and fell silent.
'This doesn't look right at all! If Zero eats this, it'll kill him!'
Jing Yuan quickly pulled out his jade tablet to search cooking tutorials, hoping to stop the other four.
Cautious as always, Yingxing didn't dump the fish paste straight into the ginseng pot. He used another pot.
The two pots sat side by side, the four stared at them in unison.
Soon, fish scales floated up in the fish paste pot. At the same time, the air filled with a pungent fishy stench.
The four, "…"
Dan Feng was the first to raise a sleeve over his mouth and nose, hurrying outside.
Jing Yuan gave a sharp screech, "That's not how you cook fish, it needs to be descaled, gutted, then you add scallions, ginger, garlic, and cooking wine to get rid of the smell…"
Jingliu silently turned off the fire and put the lid on the pot.
Yingxing, "…Uh, that sounds like too much trouble. Should we try again?"
Baiheng pulled out her jade tablet, "I'll just order hotpot delivery right now. Later we can make Zero his own pot. Jingliu, what do you think?"
Jingliu still hadn't recovered from the failure. Hearing her name called, she sighed, "Order delivery. What do you all want to eat?"
"Berry mead."
"Shrimp paste."
"Oh, and crispy pork too."
The four clamored to place their orders, and also picked out dishes Dan Feng liked.
By the time the delivery arrived at the Dragon Lord's estate, Dan Feng had also returned in a new set of clothes.
His hair tips were damp, probably from another round of cleansing.
This man first combined the ginseng water with a butter hotpot base, then let Jingliu add plenty of meat and vegetables, and finally had the Swordmaster herself pack it up.
Yingxing nodded, "Why wouldn't that count as Jingliu's cooking?"
Baiheng agreed fully.
Dan Feng summoned attendants, instructing them to personally deliver it to Zero.
Only after that was settled did they start cooking their own hotpot base.
Since Jingliu couldn't handle spice, they specially chose tomato broth, adding the ginseng water.
Yingxing cheerfully helped pour drinks, scolding Jing Yuan when he tried to sneak some.
Jingliu was in charge of putting ingredients in, while Baiheng kept her eyes on the meat rolls.
Dan Feng sat staring blankly at the four, dazed.
"Imbibitor Lunae?"
"Imbibitor Lunae..."
Dan Feng didn't respond.
"Dan Feng!"
Hearing his name, the Dragon Lord belatedly looked over.
Yingxing wondered aloud, "What's wrong with him?"
Baiheng smiled serenely, urging, "Come eat, or the meat will get tough, truly worthy of the Dragon Lord, the broth is nearly perfect, aside from a bit of herbal taste!"
So the group ate and drank. Before long, their minds grew fuzzy, as if drowsiness was overtaking them.
Jingliu poked Baiheng, who had slumped face-down on the table, then glanced at half-asleep Yingxing and Jing Yuan, forcing herself to ask Dan Feng, "…Was it because of the thousand-year ginseng? Or was the wine too strong?"
Dan Feng said nothing, his head tilted and he collapsed onto the table.
Jingliu, '???'
Before she could call for help, her vision went black, and she too followed her friends into unconsciousness.
———
Zero, receiving the food box delivered by a Vidyadhara clan member, wore a dumbfounded expression.
After hearing their explanation, he understood.
Jingliu treated him like a junior just as she did Jing Yuan. As long as she had food to eat, she wouldn't forget Zero.
She even specially chose his favorite, spicy butter broth.
Zero thought for a moment, snapped a photo of the hotpot, and sent it to Jingliu.
[Zero: Received it, still hot]
Zero waited and waited, but no reply came. So he just lowered his head and dug in.
Eating as he went, an irresistible drowsiness swept over him.
Zero quickly grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth, then stumbled and fell into bed. As soon as he closed his eyes, he saw the familiar Great Ice Man.
The Great Ice Man was silent for a moment, then said, "You've been poisoned."
Zero, '???'
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