Chapter 84 Crab Soup Dumplings (a)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

 

If this had been the past, Xue Qingruo would definitely have objected to her great and talented sister’s desire to marry a nobody from a tiny city in the middle of nowhere. After all, they were the great ladies of the Xue Clan. Only the best blood and connection could match with them. However, Lin Fan’s powerful talent soon conquered her doubts.

The Xue Clan has very good prospects and talents, but no sons. The current Patriarch Xue only has these two daughters, with the elder daughter getting the lion’s share of talent, looks and brains. So, they had plenty of powerful families seeking to make connections came knocking at their door. However, too many of these families only sought to swallow the Xue Clan through marriage.

Xue Qingge understood her position well, and has her plans in place. As a proud and arrogant woman, she had no intention of attaching herself to people she looked down on. Nor did she wish to become a tool for marriage. Therefore, the plan was to scheme for the most advantageous match for herself.

The more she saw of Lin Fan, the more she felt that he could be the solution to all of her problems. With his powerful talent, Lin Fan has the potential to advance further than most of the troglodytes in the Cultivations world. With him there, the Xue Clan would prosper as well. In fact, his origin from a small Cultivator family in a little known town could only benefit her Xue Clan too.

After turning the facts over and over again in her mind, she resolved to use the pretext of going to Spiritual Beast Mountain Ranges to come to Qing Shan City.

This was, after all, a world where the strong feasted on the weak. Romance has nothing to with blood-drenched stories like theirs.

Regardless of what the Xue Sisters were plotting, they were all very warmly welcomed by the Lin Family. Lin Fan introduced the three guests to his father and the elders, before bringing them to meet with the rest of his family.

Feng Luo has requested that Lin Fan not reveal his identity as the main son of the Feng Clan, as his purpose was to personally convey his thanks to Shiyu and not attract the attention of others.

Therefore, while the Lin Family were busy admiring and entertaining the Xue Sisters, he had someone guide him to look for Shiyu.

 

To be honest, when Shiyu threw open the door and saw Feng Luo, she was quite taken aback. “What are you doing here?” she asked. She tipped her head to look behind him, “Is Lin Fan back too?”

“If he isn’t, how would I know where to find you?” Feng Luo had already strode past her into the courtyard. He looked around the area and exclaimed, “So this is where you live, ah! That’s right, is your grandfather alright? I’ve brought a lot of medicinal herbs, the best type to help a weak body recover. Come, find me a place where I could take them out and show you.”

By now the little radishes had also heard the commotion and ran out to see what was going on. At the sight of the slender and handsome Feng Luo, they couldn’t help but crowd admiringly around him, “Big brother? Are you also Elder Sister’s friend?”

One has to admit, this Xiao Qi was quite the attractive little minx. Even Feng Luo could not resist her large eyes and cute aura as he picked her up in his arms and exclaimed admiringly over her.

At the sight of Xiao Qi surrounded by boys, Shiyu had the sudden image of Xiao Qi being the magnificent protagonist of a reverse harem. Feng Luo and Lin Fan drawing their swords to fight for the right to hold a beauty’s hand. In the end, both were badly defeated, turning into pitiful male pets of Xiao Qi…

This kind of ending could be quite tragic, but also funny, ah…

Soon after Feng Luo arrived, Lin Fan also appeared at the courtyard. As for the Xue Sisters, whether by guile or by accident, neither were here.

“I heard from father that your grandfather is now out of danger. How is he now?” asked Lin Fan.

“He’s much better than before.” San Pang’s blood was very effective. Grandpa’s condition had gotten better and better every day. The grey and withered face from before now have a trace of colour in it. This morning, when he woke up, he was able to stay awake for a much longer time. All in all, his prognosis could only get better.

She brought the two of them to Grandpa’s room to see him. Shiyu felt that these two young men were practically her little brothers and did not feel the need to treat them as guests. She urged them to sit wherever they like as she sat on the bed right next to Grandpa. [1]

The chatter eventually led to talk of food. [1] The little kids, bless their hearts, all declared that they wanted her meatbuns and fresh mushroom soup. These two things stood out clearly in their memories as the most delicious things they had ever eaten when they were at their most wretched. Even now, after they have access to all the meat, rice and vegetables of a clan pantry, they would never forget the taste of these simple food.

All the things for the soup and buns were readily available in the courtyard pantry, so Shiyu cracked her knuckles and went to the kitchen to start on the dough. Feng Luo followed her out of habit, having developed an interest in cooking [2] ever since he assisted her at Ling Xiaoxiao’s birthday banquet.

As he watched Shiyu punch and kneaded a large pile of dough, he said curiously, “[3] May I help you? I’d like to try.”

“Sure,” Shiyu let him try. [3] Who was she to discourage such healthy curiosity?

Still, healthy curiosity or not, Lin Fan did not feel comfortable letting a guest work while he stood aside. [3] Also, it looked kind of fun…

Anyway, it turned out that he need not have to worry, there was plenty of work to be done in the kitchen. Since she has so many willing hands, Shiyu decided to knead more flour and make more steambuns, maybe even some fancy dumplings for the Patriarch Lin to express her gratitude for taking such good care of her family.

She has two large sacks of flour, [4] so there’s plenty of dough for everyone to play with.

After setting the two heirs of major clans, Lin Fan and Feng Luo, on either side of the table to knead flour, Shiyu concentrated on mincing pork, mushrooms and vegetables for stuffing. Still, no matter how delicious something is, having too many of it would be boring. Therefore, she planned to make other things.

In truth, she had been craving Crab Soup Dumplings for a while now. [5] It was similar to regular Soup Dumplings but with crab as an added ingredients. Unfortunately, she did not have any crab on hand, so she could only dream about it for now. Ah, but there were some shrimp here. So, let’s make some Shrimp Soup Dumplings first. She could always make dumplings with other fillings as well as other steamed snacks.

Once the dough had been kneaded and rested. Shiyu’s fillings were ready. Her little helpers had all washed their hands and were waiting to help wrap meatbuns and dumplings. As they all cheerfully sat around and wrap the first hundred meatbuns and dumplings, Feng Luo asked, “Your sister is so good at cooking, why do you all want meatbuns instead something more interesting?”

“That’s because when we were beggars, the best thing we got to eat was Elder Sister’s hot meatbuns. It was soooo delicious! Sometimes, we even dream about the smell of it in our sleep and wake up with they taste of it in our mouths. That was the first time we were able to really eat our fill.” They all said, their faces beaming with happiness as they thought back to that very first, juicy bite of meat-filled bun dripping with hot meat juice.

“Beggars?” Feng Luo was aghast.

“That’s right, ah,” Shiyu openly admitted. “In a way, I’m worst off than my brothers and sisters back then. Not only was I a beggar, but I also used to be an idiot too. If Grandpa had not taken me in out of pity and looked after me, I’d probably be pushing up two meters worth of grass now. Later, I was granted a second chance and clarity of mind by a [6] great master. It was truly amazing.

Nevertheless, we barely had any money and almost nothing to eat. Luckily, I was able to make soup with wild vegetables and mushrooms we foraged from the mountains. It was the first good, hot meal that we could remember. When we had a little more money, I was able to purchase the ingredients needed to make meatbuns. That was the first time we had as much meat as we like. It’s no wonder it stayed in their hearts.”

“Elder Sister’s meatbuns are the best!” plumped little Xiao Wu said.

“En!” The other three children nodded firmly. Even the normally taciturn Lao Er.

As the young master of a powerful and prosperous house, Feng Luo could not imagine the kind of life they had led before. The world of the privilege and that of a beggar was just too different and he could not be blamed for his lack of imagination.

Once the first batch of meatbuns was done, he took the time to taste his portion. Indeed, the bread was soft, the meat fragrant and the piping hot meat juice burnt his tongue a little. All in all, it was a good meatbun. That was it. [7] He had to admit, he was more moved by Shiyu’s crab dish that had shaken him out of the despair he had fallen in after hearing about the ‘downfall’ of his family’s fortunes. What amazed him was not bun itself, but the expressions of blissful satisfaction on the children’s faces around him.

That’s right, people are naturally moved by dishes that brought them out of despair. They ate this piping hot bun when they were at their poorest and most wretched. [8] Perhaps he too, in some small way, understood some of their mysterious satisfaction for something as simple as a meatbun?

 

[Gumihou: …um, I’d just like to clarify something here. Meatbuns, dumplings and steamed cakes are all steamed things. I don’t think you’re bad at steaming food, Shiyu. I think you just haven’t used the correct techniques to get rid of the stink from your Peacock Fish]

 

[1] Additional Information: To fix messed up timeline – Guys arrived > went to see grandpa > Kids want meatbuns > Bought ingredients and was about to knead dough when guys arrived? When? How?> FL watch her knead the dough. What.

Delete ‘therefore, she immediately went shopping for the ingredients to make these dishes. When she was about to make the dough. Feng Luo and Lin Fan appeared’’ Since it was kind of awkward and just mess up the timeline for no good reason.

[2] Additional Information for Character Development: Give Feng Luo a stronger reason why he wants to help Shiyu.

[3] Change Details: Because Ridiculousness: Original text is ‘Why don’t I help you? I’m much stronger.’ Uhhhh, chauvinism aside, Shiyu is a Cultivators, you know? Even the weakest Cultivator is stronger than normal humans, so what the eff, Feng Luo? What the eff, author-san?!

Anyway, change motive from ‘help the helpless female’ to ‘dough kneading looks fun’ because they are basically kids too.

[4] Change Details: Original ‘She was not sure if two bags of flour was enough’ was probably meant to be funny, but it fell kind of flat, so I just went with ‘two bags of flour is plenty’ and continued with ‘kneading dough is fun’ approach

[5] Add More Details: Gumihou might as well let the readers know what Crab Soup Dumpling is right away.

[6] Add More Details: Shiyu, don’t forget your cover story from Chapter 2

[7] Added More Details: The conclusion seemed a little lacking, so added more to Feng Luo’s introspection.

[8] Changed Detail: Change ‘could not understand’ to ‘could understand’ their satisfaction after comparing it with Shiyu’s crab dish.

Reason: If Feng Luo continues to insist on being Shiyu’s friend, I’d prefer it if he has more reason to feel indebted/grateful to her beyond sticking to her because he’s a ‘nice guy’.

 

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