Chapter 156 Rou Jia Mou (e)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

 

What is on Xiao Shu’s mind? As a guest and friend Shiyu could only persuade her to think carefully and not act rashly. Otherwise, she might accidentally incite Xiao Shu to act even more impetuously.

Who knows whether it was due to Shiyu’s advice or not, but in the end, Xiao Shu did not bring up the matter with Madam Shi. Meanwhile, Shiyu was invited to stay at the Shi Estate to heal from her injuries.

Since she was a guest in someone else’s home, it was only proper to prepare some gifts for the host. She did not manage to give anything yesterday, but it was alright to hand the first meeting gifts the day after. Shiyu had already considered the matter seriously and chose three stalks of 500-year-old precious herbs from her space. However, by the time she had packed the herbs into three jade boxes, Xiao Shu was nowhere to be found.

When she asked the maid where the young mistress of the estate was, the maid could only reply that Xiao Shu had gone out.

In the end, Shiyu elected to meet with Madam Shi on her own.

 

Madam Shi received her first meeting gift with a smile. Not thinking that it was anything too precious or valuable, she had her maid put the jade boxes away. That Shiyu was here to gift her with a meeting gift was enough. In her eyes, Shiyu grew more and more pleasing. How polite and well-mannered, ah.

[1] “Make sure to take good care of the young miss’s guest,” she said.

[1] “Yes,”

When Shiyu returned to Xiao Shu’s courtyard, she sat down under a Peach Blossom Tree and began to meditate. [2] Her mental powers were still very weak, making her feel less alert. Her senses felt as though they were covered in a layer of fuzz. However, Fat Cat had already told her that she could not force her mental powers.

In the end, she could only sit quietly under the Peach Blossom tree as the petals fell around her gently and meditate.

 

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Imperial Capital.

Visitors to the Imperial Capital thronged the streets. Before one of the many food stalls in the Imperial Capital stood three young men in brocade clothes. They all stared as the master behind the stall worked quickly.

[2] First, the master reached for a block of stewed meat. The meat was clearly pork belly, in brilliant red-brown colour with alternating fat and lean meat. [3] The master coarsely chopped up the meat and placed it into a bowl. Then, he poured in a little broth from the stew and scattered some chopped cilantro over it. [2] Next, he grabbed one of the toasted flatbread, but a slit on the side and stuffed the chopped up meat in.

[3] The flat bun was mostly white, except for the parts that were pressed against the iron pan. [2] The scent of stewed meat and toasted bun was too irresistible for the passersby and plenty soon stopped to buy one.

[2] The master tucked the Rou Jia Mou into a palm-size leaf and handed it to his customers. “Enjoy,”

[2] While some customers took their Rou Jia Mou with them, some could not wait. They stood just to the side of the stall and took a large bite. Soon, sounds of chewing and smacking of lips could be heard, attracting even more attention to the stall.

Meanwhile, the three young masters were still standing quietly like attractive statues in front of the stall. From their glamorous clothing, the master guessed that these must be some rich young sons out to ‘experience the world’. They had probably never seen commoner’s food like Rou Jia Mou before.

“Would you like some?” he asked politely. [4] It’s best to get rid of them as soon as possible, but in a way that would cause the least destruction.

All three nodded.

“It’s 20 coins each, would you like three?” he continued to prompt.

20 coins?

How much is that, ah?

The three exchanged a glance. Finally, one of them reached into their sleeves and brought out a beautiful stone. It was a Spirit Jade.

[4] Now, the master had no idea what a Spirit Jade was, but he knew right away that he was looking at something very precious and valuable. Too valuable for his old life. Taking it would only bring trouble to himself. “Since you don’t have money, you can pay me next time.”

[4] He was sure he would never see the money, but that’s still better than taking a valuable stone out in the open like this. Greed could ruin a man’s life, he refused to exchange his life for a pretty stone.

[4] Whatever, just consider this his charity work for the day.

The master had his apprentice chopped up more meat while he toasted more flatbread on the cast iron plate. [4] Might as well give them the best service while he’s at it. No harm to hedge his bets. Once the meat was chopped, moisten with broth and sprinkled with cilantro, the master efficiently stuffed three freshly toasted bread with meat and handed them over to the three young masters.

[4] “Here you go,”

The three rich young masters took their leaf-wrapped Rou Jia Mou and stepped to the side, imitating the previous customers. All three bit into their meat stuffed bread and were amazed.

[2] Nothing was heard from them except for chomps and slurps as the broth from the meat oozes over their fingers. The Rou Jia Mou was gone within a few bites and one exclaimed, “That was delicious!”

“Never had anything like that, no wonder the elders did not want us to come to the Ninth Realm. Now that I’m here, I don’t want to go back,” the second one said.

Instantly, the other two covered his mouth. “Ssshhh! If we’re discovered by the humans, we’re dead. Well, not dead, but it’ll be bad! Low profile, we must remain low profile!”

[2] Then, they quickly hurried away.

[2] After these three left, two more extravagantly dressed customers stopped by this master’s stall. Thankfully, they actually have money.

The two customers bought a Rou Jia Mou each and ate them as they strolled the streets. One of them commented, “I guess the lifespan of a person really depends on the place they live.”

“Why do you say that?”

[2] The first person waved his Rou Jia Mou, “The master who made this looked like he’s in 40s, but he has no injuries on him aside from the wear and tear of time. If such a weak, but talented person appears in our world, he would have been crushed to pieces.”

“… …”

 

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Dawn City.

When Xiao Shu came back, she found Shiyu picking through a basket of Peach Blossom petals.

“What are you doing with those? Are you planning to take a flower petal bath?”

Shiyu did not stop shifting through the petals, picking out the withered ones and discarding them. “I plan to make some Peach Blossom Syrup.”

At Xiao Shu’s beaming face, she said, “Did something good happened?”

Xiao Shu was practical bursting with the need to tell, “Lingfei will be coming tomorrow!”

Oh, so the daughter-in-law is coming to see the potential mother-in-law.

“So, you’re taking the roundabout way?” said Shiyu. “Well, I don’t think it will work well. Your mother might still not like him.”

“Why not? Mother is not someone who disdain the poor and revere the rich,” Xiao Shu sounded unhappy. “Lingfei is so talented and strong. He’s always the top at the academy. Even in Dawn City, not many could be compared to him. Even though his family situation is not that good, as long as he’s strong, that’s all that matters.”

Seeing Xiao Shu defend her lover like that, Shiyu nodded, “You’re right, Madam Shi is not someone who disdain the poor and revere the rich. You had best remember that.”

Xiao Shu frowned. Then she turned away to sulk, leaving Shiyu in the garden as she entered the house to wash up.

Shiyu could only shake her head at this girl.

 

The next day, Shen Lingfei came to visit. Shiyu remained in the inner court and did not bother to go and witness the drama. About an hour later, when Xiao Shu came running back to her courtyard in tears, Shiyu could more or less guess what had happened.

Looks like Madam Shi really did not like Shen Lingfei

After a long bout of crying, Xiao Shu rushed out of the house and appealed to Shiyu, “Xiao Yu! You tell me, ah! Lingfei is such a wonderful person, so why didn’t mother like him? Lingfei was so angry that he just left. He must think that I invite him here just to be humiliated. What should I do?”

Shiyu first dried this girl’s tears and said, “Are you asking me? An outsider who knew neither head nor tails of the matter? Whether Shen Lingfei is really angry, why he’s angry should be something you ask him yourself. As to why the Madam would not like him, it’s best to ask the Madam. Crying here won’t solve your problem.”

Xiao Shu sniffed. What Shiyu said seem to make sense. She quickly wiped her tears and rushed out of her courtyard. However, instead of heading for her mother’s courtyard, she left the Shi Estate in search of Shen Lingfei.

 

On Madam Shi’s side, her maid was busy comforting her. “Madam, please don’t be angry. This one also thinks that Young Master Shen is not a good person. If he really has the young lady in his heart, he would have brought a first meeting gift at least.”

As a commoner with no Cultivation skill, she could only judge a person’s character by their actions. Little mistress’s guest, that Shiyu girl came to see the Madam properly and even gave three jade boxes of gifts. Value aside, these represent the young girl’s sincerity.

Madam Shi could not help but sigh. There was nothing to be done about her idiot child, but, “What did Xiao Yu give us? We must return something that’s at least twice the value.”

“This one hasn’t looked yet. This one will go and check now.”

 

[Gumihou: I had to translate this chapter twice because I accidentally deleted it…]

 

Gumihou is keeping track so that you don’t have to ~

 

凝氣	Condensation Stage	Stage 1
化丹	Core Transformation	Stage 2
凝丹(46)	Core Condensation	Stage 3
化神(52)	Divine Transformation	Stage 4
成嬰	Nascent Formation	Stage 5
合體	Unification*	Stage 6
返墟	Revert Decay*	Stage 7
歸真	Original Purity*	Stage 8
成仙	Become Immortal*	Stage 9

 

 

*Changed the words to something more mysterious sounding

[1] Changed Some Details for Dramatic Purpose: Passive sentence to active dialogue

[2] Added Details for Logistic & Dramatic Purpose: Author-san’s writing was starting to become very compressed and looked more like notes than novel style writing. Fleshed it out with more details.

[3] Details of Rou Jia Mou preparation taken from the WoksofLife: Author-san’s description, while not wrong for once, was lacking. Please don’t ask Gumi to explain this.

https://thewoksoflife.com/chinese-hamburgers-rou-jia-mo/

[4] USMiC: Added more thoughts in the POV of the Rou Jia Mou master

 

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