Chapter 128: 116

Chapter 116 Matcha Ice-cream (c)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

 

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*kisses*

Lin Fan finally sat on the bed.

“… I’m just not used to it.”

He had been sleeping alone all his life, having to suddenly share a bed with someone was too awkward.

Feng Luo did not seem to care. He said, “Why are you talking about? What happens when you get married? Are you and your wife going to sleep in a separate room? I suggest you don’t do that or you’ll be punished to kneel on broken tiles. Mother used to punish my father this way.”

The image of the powerful and dignified Uncle Feng kneeling on broken tiles while crying for mercy suddenly crossed Lin Fan’s mind. Also, would that gentle-looking Auntie Feng really force her husband to kneel on broken tiles?

Speaking of which, what would his future wife be like?

He was still pondering over various matters when Feng Luo decided he was too sleepy to bother with this guy. “Anyway, I shall sleep first. You can sit there and take your time deciding what to do. If you really can’t bear sleeping with me, you can sleep on the floor.” With that, he rolled over to the side and fell asleep.

Lin Fan stared at the lump under his blankets for a long moment. After a while, he lifted a corner of the blanket up and lay down.

It was still early winter. However, it was already cold enough that white fog would appear when they speak. The two of them had been Cultivating for many years now, enough that the changing seasons barely affected their bodies. At most, Feng Luo’s Cultivation rate would increase a little during spring.

Therefore, there was really no need for blankets. However, habits that had been nurtured since young was difficult to break, which was why Lin Fan would still continue to use his blankets despite not needing them.

Since he normally Cultivates in the early morning, Lin Fan lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

The night was quiet. Now and then, a breeze picked up and tossed the leaves outside the window. Beyond the night sky, stars shone faintly until the day began to brighten and hid the light of the stars with its much brighter light.

Lin Fan was used to getting up with the first rays of light to Cultivate on the roof to absorb the Purple Qi at sunrise. Today, despite the odd night, Lin Fan’s eyes snapped open as usual. What was not so usual was his inability to move.

A quick investigation showed that Feng Luo had wrapped all four limbs around his body like an octopus. Lin Fan’s face stiffened. He turned to face Feng Luo, intending to wake the fiend up. [1] Said fiend had tucked his cheek against Lin Fan’s shoulder and when they were face to face, Lin Fan noticed to his growing horror, their lips were barely a centimetre apart.

[1] His body reacted before his mind.

His flinch of horror translated into a reflexive jerk that launched both of them out of the bed. Even then, his battle-honed senses quickly reacted to minimise damage to himself. Unfortunately, that meant Feng Luo ended up taking the brunt of the fall…

[1] But, did Lin Fan care?

[1] Of course not!

[1] Who told Octo Luo to stick himself so close to where he’s not wanted!?

As for Lin Fan, he’s more interested in escaping this ambiguous situation, like, right now!

Therefore, he kicked Feng Luo away from him, rolled twice on the floor and bounded for the door. Once he threw opened the door, he saw something that made even this fearless Male Lead numb.

Meanwhile, Feng Luo was slowly blinking himself awake. [2] He had been dreaming about fighting a giant squid for Chilli Crabs… He rubbed his sore waist and muttered, “What’s going on?”

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[1] Shiyu got up early out of habit.

The sky was barely light outside when she passed by Lin Fan’s door and heard the commotion inside. She barely had time to wonder what was going on when the door burst open and Lin Fan’s wide eyes met her sleepy ones.

Hmm?

Then, Feng Luo’s grumpy voice floated over, “What’s going on?”

Shiyu, “… …”

[2] I am a pure person! A pure and person with a clean mind, unlike those fujoshis! Shiyu screamed internally. I don’t see BL everywhere, but you guys… what are you guys up to, ah, ah, ah!!??

While Lin Fan trembled in place. Feng Luo had pushed himself off the floor. He very naturally and cheerfully greeted Shiyu, “Morning, ah!”

…if only he wasn’t rubbing his waist as he limped passed her…

Shiyu glanced back at Lin Fan’s panicked expression, then back at the slightly bent over Feng Luo.

… …

Whatever. Whatever! This has nothing to do with me!

Deciding not to think about it anymore, Shiyu forgoes visiting her space to do something mindless. Like cooking breakfast! What these two get up to on their own time has nothing to do with her! Let’s just Cultivate, Cultivate and become strong, ah!

While they were having breakfast. Old Gu ‘came back’ from outside and made a good show of sitting down and listening gravely to the 12th Martial Uncle’s explanation about her husband’s illness. Lin Fan had fled to the rooftop without breakfast while Qing Chen was thoroughly focussed on the contents of his bowl. Meanwhile, Shiyu was paying close attention to Feng Luo… who was now taking special care of Xuan Yin.

[2] Shiyu, “… …” are you some kind of playboy? You dare play with the feelings of both Male Lead and Female Lead?!

At first, everything was pretty normal. Xuan Yin was being her withdrawn self and Feng Luo was entertaining 12th Martial Uncle. However, when breakfast arrived, Xuan Yin quickly inhaled three bowls of congee, which fascinated and horrified the people around her. Shiyu, Qing Chen and 12th Martial Uncle had already gotten used to this sight. Feng Luo was especially concerned and kept pushing plates of food in front of Xuan Yin and putting food into her bowl and gently telling her to slow down.

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Rather than seeing her as a potential lover, it was probably Feng Luo’s naggy mommy side showing itself again…

Shiyu was later proven right when Feng Luo cornered her after breakfast to ask about Xuan Yin’s odd eating habits. Shiyu thought for a moment and decided to share her thoughts. “It’s probably the, uh, Starvation and Thirst Disease [3], ba.” She quickly made up this illness to explain Xuan Yin’s odd behaviour. “She must have been starved for a long time. Not having enough to eat makes her feel insecure, which translates into an unusual desire for food.” This was the conclusion she came to after hanging out with Xuan Yin all this while.

Xuan Yin has a space ring on her person. Instead of being filled with weapons, precious herbs or other useful things. It was filled with food. At first, after a couple of days of regular food, Shiyu noticed Xuan Yin began to eat only half of her food and putting the rest away like a wintering squirrel. Finally, Shiyu had to tell her that food kept too long would not taste good. Later, she made all kinds of sweets and dried snacks that could last longer when stored.

Speaking of which, whatever suffering she had gone through in the past must have been painful and distressing indeed to have such an odd and long-lasting effect on her. [4] Despite being in this world for quite a while now, she was still not used to living in a world of abundance.

After hearing about Xuan Yin’s unfortunate past, Feng Luo was even more diligent about caring for this person.

As for 11th Martial Uncle’s illness. To throw off 12th Martial Uncle’s suspicion, Old Gu told them that he would commence treatment after three days. During these three days, he, Old Gu, would gather all the necessary elements needed to cure this illness. Things such as Yang Attribute tools, Fire and even Lightning Attribute precious Herbs.

When 12th Martial Uncle heard this, she insisted on purchasing half of the items on the list to gather everything quickly. Anything to speed up the healing. Shiyu had nothing against this, therefore Old Gu graciously agreed.

Meanwhile, her space was still pretty empty. It’s about time she gets hold of some cheaper, young medicinal herbs and let them grow here.

That very evening, Shiyu went out with every intention to buy medicinal herbs… except, she barely had enough money to buy even the cheapest herb… after looking at her pitiful wallet, she turned away from the Cultivator’s market and headed towards the food market instead.

Tonight, she planned to let everyone have a really good meal together!

After completing her shopping, Shiyu was about to return to the College when she caught sight of some [5] tea leaves at a tea vendor’s stall. The colour was such a brilliant green that she could not help but approach it admiringly. It was clear the tea was freshly plucked. More importantly, it was some kind of Spiritual Tea, therefore Shiyu did not hesitate to buy a handful.

Tea leaves were not only good for making tea but could also be made into snacks. Of course, this all depends on personal taste. Some people don’t like the bitter taste of Matcha, but those who love it would defend it to death.

[5] Shiyu loves Matcha Tea. Making Matcha Tea was kind of labour intensive. The freshly collected leaves had to be steamed for 30 to 45 seconds to stop the wilting process, after which it had to be air dried before grinding into powder form. Shiyu looked at the beautiful leaves admiringly and placed one leaf into her mouth. [6] Blergh! Eww! How could leaf taste so bad when it smelt so nice? Shiyu spat the leaf out. Clearly, she would have to properly process these tea leaves before she could enjoy Matcha Tea.

[5] Shiyu quickly got the steamer going and when the water got to a roiling boil, she scattered the leaves over the bamboo steamer and closed the lid. [7] She silently counted up to 45 seconds before quickly whipping the lid off and up ended the entire basket over a clean cloth. It was time to dry the leaves. Since she only has a handful of leaves, it would be fine to leave them on the table as long as no errant wind blow them away. 

[8] Once she had secured the leaves, Shiyu skipped off to restock her fish pond with some newly bought fish. Hehehe, hope you enjoy your time here, my lovely ingredients. You will be delicious as Sashimi. Oh, and that one would be perfect for Squirrel Fish… Once the fish had been placed in the pond, Shiyu turned around and nearly ran into Xuan Yin.

[8] This girl is like a ghost! After the initial shock, Shiyu smiled, “Are you hungry? I’m in the middle of cooking now, we’ll soon have dinner.”

“No,” Xuan Yin shook her head. “It’s Senior Martial Brother. You make peace with Senior Martial Brother, alright?”

“Err…” come to think of it, she had not said a word to Qing Chen all this while. She supposed it could be interpreted that they had not ‘make peace’?

“Senior Martial Brother must be angry because of other reasons.” Xuan Yin said with certainty.

“… …” Shiyu found herself at a loss. Sister, are you sure you should be persuading your future lover to reconcile with a different woman? You might regret your actions, ah.

“I understand,” Shiyu sighed. “Senior Martial Brother Qing Chen isn’t a narrow-minded person. He certainly won’t blame me for what I had to do during ‘that time’.”

Xuan Yin’s eyes lit up.

“Ah, but I really don’t know why he’s so upset. To be honest, I’m even more afraid of troublesome things than he is. People should just get along with each other and not be entangled with unnecessary things. To me, he’s a friend. How about this, I’ll make him a new kind of dessert. If he accepts it, that shows he’s willing to be friendly with me again. If he doesn’t…” Shiyu shrugged.

Meanwhile, seated at the third-floor window overlooking the garden was Qing Chen. A fan waved under his chin as he studied the girls chatting by the pond. His eyes grew a little distracted as Shiyu’s words dominated his thoughts.

I wonder… what this new dessert would taste like…

[Gumihou: Lol, when you hit him with a rock? Or when you threw him into an icy waterfall? Or are you talking about the time you prodded him with sticks? Also, Qing Chen you dessert foodie!!]

[1] Added Details for Dramatic Purpose: Slow down reading pace to make it more dramatic. 

[2] Added Details for Comedic Purpose: I mean, can you blame me?

[3] Starvation and Thirst Disease (渴食症) – is actually another name for Polyphagia which is more of a symptom of a disease rather than an actual illness.

https://www.healthline.com/health/polyphagia

[4] It is unclear whether Shiyu knows that ‘Xuan Yin’ was actually a transmigrated spirit from an apocalyptic world. The text started with ‘Speaking of which’ which could be interpreted as reader POV or Shiyu’s POV.

[5] Matcha Tea ‘leaves’ – Just so everyone knows. You will never, ever find ‘Matcha Tea leaves’ for sale anywhere. It’s like trying to buy freshly picked instant oats. Don’t be an idiot, Shiyu!

Tea leaves, the so-called tea bush or camellia sinensis have to be stone milled, Stone Milled! Before that, it has to be steamed to stop the wilting process to preserve that brilliant green colour! Before that, the stems and veins of the leaves had to be taken out! And before that, the plants had to be covered in shade for 6 weeks to increase chlorophyll and amino acid content in the plants!!

It’s like feeding superior hens with herbs and sparkling water for six weeks to ensure that they lay exquisite, high-quality eggs before turning said eggs into superior, exquisite high-quality egg custard you twit!

In short, you don’t make matcha tea from matcha plants. You make matcha tea from tea plants, the same tea plants that are made into Chinese tea. The camellia sinensis!

https://the.republicoftea.com/tea-library/green-tea-and-matcha/matcha-vs-green-tea-what-is-the-difference/

 [6] Changed Wrong Fact: Original ‘Shiyu placed one fresh tea leaf into her mouth and chewed. The leaf tasted slightly astringent with a hint of sweet after taste.’

… 

Shiyu, fresh leaves tasted like… fresh leaves. Grassy, green and kind of yucky.

[7] Changed Wrong Fact: NShiyu decided to steam the tea leaves. Which is a good move but ‘Shiyu left the tea to steam while she went to the pond in the backyard to place the newly bought fish there’

Shiyu, how long do you plan to steam the leaves? The maximum steaming time is 1 minute!!! 60 seconds!!

By the way, the original text uses (蒸), which means ‘to steam’ and not ‘to steep’. So, I can be sure that she’s steaming the leaves and not steeping the raw tea leaves.

https://www.teaguardian.com/what-is-tea/green-tea-production-steaming/

[8] Added Details for Dramatic Purpose: Xuan Yin was about to have an important talk with Shiyu. So it pays to give the scene a little more attention.

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