Chapter 183: Acknowledge One’s Own Deficiency

 

Translated by Gumihou

Please read this at kitchennovel dot com

 

The moment the matter was brought up, Su Dong Lou became incensed. He growled, “It’s not actually difficult to sway that idiot, the problem is the evil advisor that hovers around him. For some reason, King Xiangyang trusts this treacherous, sinister, deceitful evil creature, and this villain is suspicious of me. I’m not sure if it’s because of my age or some other reason, no matter what I did, he refused to put in a good word for me. He is the main obstacle to my getting close to King Xiangyang.”

“Why didn’t you just get rid of him?”

Duan Tingxuan frowned, he felt there was something fishy going on. Su Dong Lou was not the type to stay his hands when it came to completing missions. So why would he allow such a ‘deceitful evil creature’ stick around until now?

Su Dong Lou rolled his eyes, with a hehe laugh he said, “He’s the main person King Xiangyang depends upon, not some random pig in a pigsty I can just pull out and chop for dinner. Moreover, he’s always spouting bad remarks about me. If he suddenly died, who do you think King Xiangyang would suspect first?”

“Just because of this? Isn’t this excuse a bit flimsy?” Duan Tingxuan noticed that Su Nuan Nuan was currently tasting the tea, so he picked up his own cup. After a sip, he focussed sharp eyes at Su Dong Lou, as though he was trying to look into the man’s heart.

“Fine I’ll admit it, though this man is bad to the bone. I am still a little reluctant to see him killed. I want to beat him fair and square, have him kneel under my feet and beg for mercy. Therefore, no matter how much anger or hate I have against him, I refuse to have him die just like that.” Su Dong Lou punctuated this last statement by tossing the remains of his tea into his mouth.

Suddenly, a faint [pu chi!] caught his attention. He turned in time to see Su Nuan Nuan spitting out the tea she had just sipped.

He stared at Su Nuan Nuan for a long moment before asking, “Sister-in-law, have I just said something odd?”

“No, no, oh no. It’s nothing, really, haha. It’s just… this attitude of yours is… not too good, don’t you think so.” Su Nuan Nuan elegantly patted her mouth. At Su Dong Lou’s uncomprehending stare, she said, “Surely you haven’t… fallen for that guy?”

“Poof! Cough, cough, cough…” Su Dong Lou nearly coughed a lung out.

Duan Tingxuan eyed his wife and said, “Nuan Nuan, enough with your nonsense. How could this be? What kind of person do you think Su Dong Lou is?”

“Just pretend I never said anything.” Su Nuan Nuan also felt that she must have been over thinking it. Even though Su Dong Lou’s way of speaking was in keeping with the style of a ‘Certain Type of Novel’ popular with rotten women, this was still reality. Surely this kind of universally offensive kind of relationship wouldn’t happen in reality, right?

Right.

“I… I must say that sister-in-law’s imagination is quite powerful.” Su Dong Lou cupped his hands in salute. “Dong Lou admits his deficiency.”

Su Nuan Nuan became even more awkward, she bent down and focused her attention on the snacks waving a hand and saying, “No need to bother about me. Just continue with your talk.

Su Dong Lou mind, which had been made a sudden mess by Su Nuan Nuan’s unexpected words, soon calmed down. After sorting out his thoughts, he said to Duan Tingxuan, “As per your plan, I’ve made all the arrangements. This is how we’ll get you hired as a chef at Lu Feng Yu’s kitchen…”

“Hold on. That… might not work anymore.” Duan Tingxuan sighed, “We can’t use this plan anymore.”

“Why not?” Su Dong Lou was astonished, “Lu Feng Yu is incredibly treacherous, highly suspicious and wary. The only chink in his armour is that he values gourmet food above his life. When you outlined your plan to me last time, I was very excited, aside from a chef, there is no way he’d let anyone else get close to him. Let alone get close enough to get information off him.”

“Wait a second, a person who values gourmet food above his life is… a bad person?”

Su Nuan Nuan asked with a raised hand. She was incredibly suspicious, as far as she knows, no foodie can be truly evil. Especially those who value good food over life. The best example was herself, Duan Tingxuan and the old madam. Every single foodie within the An Ping estate, such as second miss, Concubine Jing, Concubine Lin and Duan Tingfang were all not bad. Even Duan Tingye and Shi Yurou, that treacherous couple who had fallen in love with money, somehow seemed cute now.

Of course, the opposite was true as well. Xu Ran Yun and Xue Zhi Lan both never did pester her for snacks and therefore Su Nuan Nuan had always been suspicious of these two baskets of poisons.

(Author White Pear Flower: Wei! The reason they never look for you for snacks is because they just don’t like you, okay?)

“You can’t really say that he’s bad,” Su Dong Lou’s eyebrows scrunched together, as though he doesn’t know what to say. After some hesitation, he said, “At any rate, it’s like this… en, sister-in-law, you’ll know when you see him. This man is clearly the treacherous type, as treacherous as a poisonous snake, and cunning too. But, he values good eating above all else, didn’t like to kill people… however, he is determined to become a Dragon Official[1]. He knew all there is to know about King Xiangyang’s private matters, you may call him King Xiangyang’s most trusted aide, therefore…”

Su Dong Lou stopped at this, in the end he was unable to call Lu Feng Yu a bad person. After all, loyalty was a virtue. It was just too bad that it had all been given over to an unworthy subject.

Finally, he could only spread out his hands and say, “Anyway, once you come into contact with him. You’ll know what kind of person he is. Only, I really don’t know how we should proceed from now on. Duan Tingxuan, what do you think?”

“This question is too difficult,” Duan Tingxuan sighed. “To be honest, I really have no idea that I would be so bad at cooking. This is really a disaster, ah.”

Su Dong Lou fell silent, aside from the position of chef, it was too difficult to get hired into that household. Finally he said, “You really can’t strive on a bit more? Use that enthusiasm you have for martial arts and literature to just…”

Duan Tingxuan sighed, waving his hands, “I started instructions at age three, memorized three sheets worth of poem at age four; started martial training at age six, a month of breathing exercise later learned the basics of internal energy control. However, when I tried to learn cooking from Su Nuan Nuan, in less than two hours the kitchen had been set on fire twice. Luckily everyone was able to work fast and put them out before anyone outside noticed it. If I were to continue, I might set the whole building on fire…”

Su Dong Lou was speechless. This Duan Tingxuan was a proud fellow. For him to be able to speak out this black chapter in his life meant that he had probably given up on trying to cook. Well, if he had not given up on his own, they might have to actually deal with a burnt kitchen… finally, he could only say, “This is really problematic, ah. What should we do?”

“Since he’s someone who values gourmet food over life, why don’t I become the cook? After all, all we need is someone who can cook well right? It doesn’t matter who does the cooking, right?”

The two men in front of her frowned simultaneously. She was about to promote herself as a potential candidate when Duan Tingxuan cut in with a decisive, “No.”

“Why not? When it comes to cooking skills I’m 800 miles ahead of you, right?” how rare it was to be able to look down on Duan Tingxuan? There was no way Su Nuan Nuan was going to just let go of this opportunity.

“So what if you’re 800 miles ahead of me? This is no fun and games, it’s too dangerous.” Duan Tingxuan refused to give in. He glared at his wife, “You think this is just some job at a restaurant?”

“Then why did you bring me to Jiang Nan?” Su Nuan Nuan frowned. “Is it to cook your last meal? Then what? You’ll go out and risk your life and limb while I wait here?”

“The reason why I brought you here is to have a fun tour, and not to put you in danger. I will find a way to deal with this. Womenfolk should just stay out of this.”

 

[Gumihou: *puffs out cheeks* this brutish MCP!!!]

 

[1] Dragon’s Official – Emperor’s right hand man

 

 

  ^_^

Translated by Gumihou from kitchennovel dot com.

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