Little Cooking Saint – 0192 – Lardon Noodle (b)

Chapter 192 Lardon Noodle (b)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

 

When Shiyu looked up, she saw what had caused her companions to stop moving.

[1] That face…

The girl standing at the top of the stairs had stopped moving too.

Though she had stopped moving, Shiyu’s mind zoomed ahead.

The person in front of her has the same face as the body she’s occupying…

Coincidence?

[1] “Tan-Tai, is that your sister?”

Shiyu said nothing, she kept staring at the girl in green above the stairs. Could this body’s past be even more complicated than she had initially believed?

[1] Unsure what to do, she could only stand in place and stare at the identical face. Finally, the girl called ‘Tan-Tai’ said, “I have no sister.”

Her way of speaking, her manner, as well as her confidence, was so overwhelming that it reeks of arrogance.

Well, it was natural for such a young Divine Transformation master to be proud or arrogant.

They have nothing in common with each other, the gulf between them was too wide. What’s the use of standing in a stalemate like this? Everyone should just go their separate way and not interfere with one another.

Shiyu lifted her foot and placed it firmly on the first step. Pretending that she had just spent half a minute staring at the other person, she called out, “Come on, come on, let’s go and eat. I’m starving.”

Though still curious, her friends followed Shiyu’s cue and did not say anything. While passing the other group, both sides eyed each other cautiously.

On one side, the members were mostly Divine Transformation Stage Cultivators, on the other were mostly Core Condensation Cultivators. Though Shiyu’s group was an entire realm lower than the other, their sharp demeanours and identical clothes gave them an aura of power that represents not just the individual, but the organisation behind them.

These were the highly talented and powerful students of the Imperial College.

Ordinary people who could not sense Cultivation levels were naturally more impressed by the uniformed bunch. With envy and admiration in their eyes, they stared and whispered praises to each other about the greatness of the Imperial College students.

When Tan-Tai Chu’s group stepped through the first floor of the restaurant, these whisperings naturally reached their ears. The sneer on Tan-Tai Chu’s face deepened.

Just a bunch of Core Condensation bugs, what’s to be proud of?

All those below Divine Transformation could only be considered ants. It’s doubtful whether that bunch would ever breakthrough to Divine Transformation even after they’re old and wrinkled.

With the Dao of Suppression over them, no matter how amazing their talent is, there is no point if they could not cross that threshold.

Even if they could crossover, so what? Over a few dozen years would have passed. By then, she, Tan-Tai Chu would have moved from strength to strength, throwing this group of bugs further away from herself. It’s such a pity that these lowly ants treated fish eyes as though they were pearls.

With a final scornful laugh, she stalked out of the restaurant.

 

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When Shiyu sat down, she noticed that everyone was staring at her. Even Qing Chen and Xuan Yin.

“Twins?”

“They should be twins.”

“I bet this chopstick that they are twins!”

“… …”

The first thing that came to a person’s mind when seeing two people who looked so alike was ‘twins’. These two really looked too much alike, ah.

“So what if we are twins? What does that have to do with me?” said Shiyu. After all, she was a spirit from a different world who had somehow invaded this person’s body. Her past has nothing to do with Shiyu.

“If she’s really your twin, you might be able to find your family. Isn’t it good to have a family?”

“I guess that depends,” Shiyu picked up a piece of cake and began to fiddle with it. “What if the other side wants me dead? I was abandoned as a baby, you know?”

There might be a convoluted reason behind the abandonment, but it has nothing to do with her. She came here as a spirit and have already decided to live out this life the best she could. Whether this body has relatives or not, well, she could only let nature take its course.

When Shiyu said that she was an abandoned baby, the others fell silent. In the end, Feng Luo was the one who broke the tension by slapping Shiyu on the arm in a very bro manner, causing her to drop the cake. He declared, “It’s all fine! After all, heaven has the good sense of letting you meet us. I’d say we make excellent compensation as family.”

Shiyu eyed her cake, which had rolled a couple of feet away and picked it up again, “Why do I get the feeling that knowing you is more like a curse instead?”

That final remark broke the pressure and everyone laughed.

After chatting for a while, the waiter soon came back with their noodles. Since everyone’s order was the same, it was sent up very quickly.

The noodles were served in very ordinary porcelain bowls topped with a layer of lardons [2] and plenty of chopped green onions. It was very fragrant.

Since Shiyu was not afraid of heat (Psh, she habitually set herself on fire in the name of Cultivation), she ate first. Not standing on ceremony, she scooped up her noodles with a good amount of lardon and spring onions and shoved them into her mouth.

The fragrant lardon coupled with the crispness of the spring onions was too irresistible, especially when matched with hearty and springy noodles. Lardons were great as a beer snack or side dish. It could be crushed and sprinkled over noodles or mixed into dumpling stuffing to give your cooking an extra oomph. When sprinkled over noodles, it served as a crispy topping that gives the noodles an added texture that could not be found with ordinary meat. [3] The crisp, fresh taste of spring onions balanced out the lardon’s savoury fragrance well and prevented it from becoming too greasy.

After three mouthfuls, Shiyu took a sip of the piping hot soup before sighing contentedly. She looked around the table and saw that everyone was ravenously eating too.

Though this shop’s noodles could not be considered fine cuisine, it was tasty and hearty. As a southerner, Shiyu did have quite the appreciation for noodles as northerners. However, these Lardon Noodles were quite tasty and for an ordinary shop. [4] It had achieved a fairly good balance of taste, texture and aroma.

After having their fill of food and drink, the group left the noodle shop and marched their way back to the College.

Now that they have played their part as walking advertisements for the Imperial College, they headed straight for the Dean’s office to claim their reward. The sooner they have their CP, the sooner they could exchange it for items from the Hidden Treasure Pavilion.

The little group entered the Dean’s office and blinked. They had been expecting the Dean, of course, but he was not the only one waiting for them.

Elder Feng, Elder Gu, the Elder Liu brothers as well as the Divine Transformation Elder from the Imperial Palace were there too. [5] In fact, it was as though every Divine Transformation elders they knew had gathered here. Oh wait, there was one elegant looking gentleman seated next to the Dean who was not a Divine Transformation person.

[5] However, considering how comfortably he sat among these elites, his position could not be low…

“Imperial Father!” Dong-Fang Zhen called out.

The rest of the College students stiffened.

As expected.

[6] Since most of them had gone over to Dong-Fang Zhen’s East Palace to ‘rescue’ Xuan Yin the last time they were at the Imperial Palace, they had missed seeing the emperor at the Hall of Ceremonies. For most of them, this would be their first encounter with the Emperor of the Imperial Capital.

The Dean beamed at them, “What are you all standing there for? Come in, come in,”

They all trooped in obediently, too stunned to make any smart remarks.

“Has something happened outside?” asked Dong-Fang Zhen. It was rare for the Emperor to leave the palace. For him to suddenly appear at the College right now, surely something must have happened?

“No, no, we’re all gathered here just for you,” the smirk on the Dean’s face reminded them of a fox’s smile.

Just for us?

The young people exchanged wary glances with each other. Just what kind of idea is brewing inside the Dean’s head now, ah?

Suddenly, they realised that all of the elders were smirking at them…

What do all these wily old foxes want, ah!?

 

[Gumihou: Ufufufu. Gumi deleted a couple of sentences after that last bit for maximum impact. Sometimes, you must know when to stop writing.]

 

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

 

[1] Adjusted Details for Dramatic Purpose: Gumi is just… going to write this from Shiyu’s POV and remove any unnecessary faffing about with the ‘green-robed person’ and flex her creative writing muscles a bit.

[2] Lardons – Pork fat residue that had been fried until crispy. First appeared in Chapter 6 as an extra snack

[3] Changed Details because Wrong Info: “Lardon is not greasy”. Ah, while I love lardons and will eat them when I find them, they could easily become greasy and horrible if eaten too many in one sitting. It’s basically crisped up pork fat. If done well, these lardons could be as crisp and light as pastry casings, but eating too many of them is not recommended.

[4] Breaking the Monotony: For a chef, Shiyu’s vocabulary for ‘delicious’ is basically, good, quite good, quite successful, not greasy and full of meat juice. There’s no meat juice here and we’ve already exhausted the rest so Gumi generously lent her some extra vocabulary. Did not use the ‘successful’ because it made Shiyu sound very arrogant, which Gumi could not stand since she knows that Shiyu’s cooking skill is mediocre at best.

[5] Adjusted information for Dramatic Purpose: Please introduce new people dramatically, since there’s a possibility that it’s the only time they get to be in the limelight.

[6] Insert inconspicuous Summary: Done unobtrusively to remind readers what had happened before.

 

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