Chapter 70 Stir-Fried Clams (a)
Translated by Gumihou
Edited by Gumihou
Of course, she was just joking. [1]
The fact that her friends could breakthrough was something to be celebrated. That means the two thighs she had chosen to hug had just gotten a lot bigger and stronger, ah!
There’s no need for pointless jealousy here.
To celebrate their double breakthroughs, Shiyu served up a more sumptuous breakfast congee than usual. Although it was made from the usual Spiritual Rice and vegetables, she had added quite a bit of medicinal ingredients plucked straight out of her own space. She was not entirely sure how old these were, but Fat Cat had mentioned that she could now use medicinal ingredients to forge her own muscle and bone. Though she was still a little unhappy about not breaking through, Shiyu still decided to share her largess with everyone.
Hence, though the vegetarian congee looked as plain as usual, its texture was gentle and seemed to melt into one’s mouth. Moreover, the essence of the hundred years plus medicinal materials had been infused into it.
Old Gu, who usually joined them for breakfast, refrained himself this morning. Perhaps he noticed the extra ingredients and wanted his charges to have the maximum benefit?
Anyway, once breakfast was over, Shiyu felt especially refreshed. The exhaustion from last night was pretty much gone. She felt like she could keep on dissecting Ginseng Fruit all day and night and into the next day.
In fact, she was so absorbed in her moving meditation that San Pang had to remind her several times that it was time to make lunch. [2] He still remembered yesterday when he had risked life and limb for their food. It was thanks to him that they had that huge crab thing yesterday and he was very proud of his achievement. However, he was also curious about those hard little fan shape things Shiyu made him collect.
After experiencing how delicious that huge, insect-like water creature from yesterday, he was kind of looking forward to seeing what the little fan-shaped things tasted like. After having followed Shiyu, San Pang had developed quite a palate for delicious things and would pester Shiyu for his three meals plus snacks all day. Cloud Beast was by far the more obedient Spiritual Beast companion. The only thing it did was stay on Shiyu’s hair in its miniature form, pretending to be a hair ornament and nibbling on Cinnabar Fruit now and then.
Nevertheless, now that Shiyu had been shaken out of her meditation, she rolled up her sleeves and began to work her magic on the clams. She was just rinsing the clams out of their saltwater bath when she heard a chime from outside. A glance told her that the people at the door were the two Elder Lius coming in for a visit.
After several days of negotiation, Elder Liu and the College have finally come to an agreement, allowing Shiyu and Lin Fan to enter the third floor of the Treasure Pavilion to pick out one item each.
What the Liu Clan had paid the College for the privilege of taking out a second item was unknown. However, no matter how one sliced it, the College would not be at a loss. Because Lin Fan was an exceptional Cultivation student in all sense of the word, sooner or later he would have won the right to enter the Third Floor of the Imperial College Treasure Pavilion anyway. They could consider this as an advancement of the item that would have eventually ended up in his hands.
The cunning fox of a headmaster had gleefully made all the calculations on his abacus, and Elder Liu knew that he was negotiating from a disadvantageous position. Nevertheless, he could only grin and bear it for the moment.
Once the negotiation was over, he brought his brother up to speed and together, they came to the Villa. He was afraid that if the matter was left too long, something else might come up and prevent him from getting his hands on the Immortal Lotus. It’s better to get the goods quickly. Who knows, that crazy little girl might decide to cook chicken soup with it again…
Just as his finger left the bell, Elder Liu suddenly thought of something, “Wait, did we ever verify if he actually has the Immortal Jade Petal Lotus…”
The last time, he confirmed the girl has it through fragrance alone. [3] However, though they had laid eyes on the girl’s master, they had never confirmed the existence of the Immortal Lotus. The two blinked at each other. They had been so excited by the prospect of getting their hands on the item that both had forgotten the most basic step of negotiating for precious items. Confirmation of the existence of the said item.
Patriarch Liu’s eyebrow twitched, “He shouldn’t deceive us. However, if he dares to play with us, I don’t mind letting him have a taste of our skills.”
With that, the two Elders entered the Villa.
Knowing that some major thing was about to happen, Shiyu replaced the water for her clams and [4] hurried over to show the two elders to where Old Gu was seated in the garden, this time shrouded in his black robes.
[4] Lin Fan was also there, standing respectfully behind his teacher.The Elder Lius sat on the opposite side of the garden table. The time for negotiation was over, so Elder Liu did not preamble much as he opened the conversation with, [4] “We agree to the conditions proposed by Old Gu. However, before any exchange is made, may we confirm the presence of the Immortal Jade Petal Lotus with our own eyes?”
Old Gu smiled benevolently at [4] this slightly rude demand and said to Shiyu, “Little disciple, go upstairs and bring that little pot of flower down.”
Shiyu made a sound of agreement and ran off, [4] passing by a curious Feng Luo as she thumped upstairs into her room where she had left most of the empty flower pots. She took a nice jade bowl meant for water plants and had San Pang put some water in it as she disappeared into her space and randomly picked one of the Immortal Lotus growing in her pond. She placed the flower in the water, steadied the stem with a few nice looking rocks underneath before bringing it carefully downstairs.
Feng Luo, who had been loitering downstairs to see what was going on, blinked in surprise at the flower in the bowl.
So… there really was a second one?
He looked incredulously at Shiyu, who winked at him. She must want him to keep quiet about the previous Immortal Lotus she had sold him earlier. However, the thing that was occupying his mind now was the existence of this second flower, ah! Although the Immortal Jade Petal Lotus was currently useless to him, his father could make use of it! Well, as soon as he reached the Great Perfection Level of Core Condensation, which would not be long now.
He had no idea what the Liu Clan had offered Shiyu, but what if he made a counteroffer? Was it worth the risk of bringing the wrath of the Lius down on his head?
For a moment, Feng Luo was in a dilemma.
Shiyu pretended not to notice anything as she gently placed the bowl of flower on the centre of the table. She smiled, “Elder, is this the one?”
“This is it!” Elder Liu was so excited that he was practically trembling. M*therf*cker, after searching for over a hundred years this was the first time he actually laid eyes on the real thing! Finally, after so long, people could no longer call him the black devil or unlucky anymore!
“Then, when should we make the exchange?” Shiyu boldly asked. With Old Gu’s thigh right there for her to hug, she felt oddly confident.
“Right now!” Elder Liu never took his eyes off the Immortal Jade Petal Lotus, “I can bring you to the Treasure Pavilion now.”
Shiyu exchanged a look with Lin Fan. She respectfully picked up the bowl and placed it before the two Elder Lius, “Then, we shall trouble Elder Liu to bring us to the Treasure Pavilion.”
Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~
Elder Liu waited until his elder brother had put the flower away and was on his way back to the Liu Estate before escorting Shiyu and Lin Fan to the Treasure Pavilion.
“The agreement is for two items only. Remember that. There are powerful hidden guards at the Treasure Pavilion and your every move will be monitored. So make sure you don’t get greedy.” Though Elder Liu was sure that these two kids have a fairly good temperament, anyone would be tempted when they enter the Third Floor of the Treasure Pavilion. It’s best to warn them now.
“Thank you, Elder Liu, for your advice,” Shiyu said respectfully. Lin Fan nodded. Old Gu declined the invitation to accompany them. However, when Lin Fan said that he wanted to go upstairs to fetch his jade pendant, the old man took the opportunity to enter the pendant and followed along anyway.
The Treasure Pavilion was the same as the last time she visited the place. There were more people inside, but not a lot. However, when Lin Fan and Shiyu entered with Elder Liu, they immediately attracted every single eye in the room.
“Elder Liu, you’re finally here. We have been waiting for you,” these poor students have been hanging around waiting to exchange CP for goods, but Elder Liu was the only one qualified to make the exchange. Now that he’s here, of course, they’d come looking for him.
However, Elder Liu merely waved his hand and shooed them away. “Out! Everyone out! The Treasure Pavilion is closed for today. If you want to exchange for something, do it tomorrow.”
Why tomorrow, you ask?
As soon as Lin Fan and Shiyu are done picking out whatever they wanted from the Third Floor, Elder Liu planned to fly home immediately and have a good long stare at the Immortal Jade Petal Lotus. After searching for this thing for so many years he wanted to at least hold it in his hand until he warmed it up to his body temperature, you know?
While Elder Liu was busy thinking about going home, the other students wailed their protest. Among them were the sisters, Xue Qingge and Xue Qingruo.
When Xue Qingruo spotted Lin Fan, she tugged at her sister’s sleeves to get her attention. However, her eyes soon strayed towards an annoyance standing right next to Lin Fan and her expression grew ugly.
“What is the matter with that woman? Why is she always sticking to Lin Fan? Has she turned into a stalker?!”
[Gumihou: Lol, I can’t wait for her to find out that Shiyu is Lin Fan’s Sister Disciple.]
[1] Structural Change: Split the paragraphs for dramatic purpose [2] Adjusted Words and Information: Gave San Pang a little more introspection using more appropriately amateurish languages for food he had no experience with. [3] Structural Adjustment: Show don’t tell, switched out passive languages for more active, interesting action-related sentences. [4] Added Details for Transitional Reasons: Text just went from Elders entered the Villa > Shiyu stopped cooking > “We want to see the Lotus”.
Nothing about crossing the front lawn, where they sat down and no small talk. Also, no news of who was in the house until much, much later. Only knew that Lin Fan was there too, after Elder Liu excitedly declared to make the exchange right away and Shiyu ‘exchanged a look with Lin Fan’ So I put them in the garden and filled in other details.
If you love my translations, do consider putting a review at novelupdates!
Or Supporting me via Patreon or Ko-fi ~
໒( ́ ́ )७
