Little Cooking Saint – 0245 – Pacific Saury (f)

Chapter 245 Pacific Saury (f)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

 

We finally get to see the Pacific Saury.

All Gumi could say is: …ha… haha… haahhh….

 

Now that the matter between Xiao Shu and Shen Lingfei has been broken off cleanly, the group promptly dropped it out of their minds altogether. Though it did not look like Shen Lingfei had received the punishment he deserves, the wheels of karma had already begun to turn.

[1] The longer the two entangled with each other, the more difficult it would be to separate. Both are selfish people who love themselves more than anything and knew that separating meant losing more than staying together. Thus, aside from their interest in furthering their Cultivation levels, they had nothing in common.

However… just how much time could one spent on Cultivation? Especially when one’s head is filled with schemes and ambition?

Without talent or hard work, Cultivation could not advance. Even if something good falls into their hands, they might not have the ability to eat it.

Once she understood this, Xiao Shu let go of the final bit of distress that still twisted up inside her.

That’s right. If you’re covered in mud, the best way to get rid of it is to get out of the pit and take a shower. If you continue to roll around in the pit you’ll only get dirtier with time. No matter how you twist and struggle in the pit, it’s not like the mud would suffer for it.

Xiao Shu has achieved enlightenment. However, Meng Li’s thoughts were still unclear.

Today was the closest she has ever gotten to Feng Luo. They were only 10 steps away from each other but one of them might as well be as distant as the sky. Hypersensitive, she knew the precise moment when Feng Luo’s eyes glanced at her.

However, it was only the briefest of glance. Indifferent and casual. As though they were nothing but strangers.

Nowadays, it felt as if… the higher Feng Luo stands, the more pain she felt.

Life is bitter, life is painful: bitter for the unattainable, painful for the loss.

 

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[2] On the way back, Shiyu held Xiao Qi’s hand and began to lecture her on the matters of love.

“Let me tell you, ah. People should practice gratefulness. The more grateful someone is, the happier they are. Xiao Qi, when you meet the person you like, you must cherish them properly, alright?”

Xiao Qi nodded seriously, “I will. What about sister? Do you have someone you like?”

Xiao Qi’s question stemmed from childish curiosity. However, her questioned caused ears around her to prick up.

“Sister is already this old, of course, I have.”

“Ah? Who is it?” this time, even Xiao Qi perked up with curiosity.

“Ye Xiu,” Shiyu paused. “There’s also [3] Zhou Zekai, Huang Shaotian and Yu Wenzhou. Of course, I like Great Lords Er Le and Xin Jie too. Aside from them, there’s Great Male Deity Hu Ge. They are all people I like, ah!”

“… …”

Just who are these random people…

Lin Fan coughed lightly, feeling a little uncomfortable. It was clear that the ‘like’ expressed here was not the kind of ‘like’ he was interested to know… wait. Was he one of those people she casually ‘likes’ too?

He understood that Shiyu was not the type to play with people’s feelings and treated the men in the Villa like brothers. While he is happy that she treated them like that, he… does she sees him like that too? A feeling of disappointment welled up inside of him.

Since the two of them came from Qing Shan City, he had always thought that he would be treated differently… however, it looked like he’s lumped under the same category as the rest of the ‘brothers’…

At that very moment, Lin Fan still has no idea what to call this feeling roiling inside of him. All he knew was that… there was a great sense of unease…

 

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After Xiao Shu had collected her money, she and Lao Er got ready to leave the College for their Cultivation travel. Now that both have tied up whatever loose ends hanging in their minds, it was time to leave. However, since both have relatively low Cultivation realms, Shiyu was not reassured and prepared all kinds of miracle cures and precious herbs for them.

Feng Luo gave them jade pendants that would conceal their identity as Cultivators and appear like mundane people.

The two of them received all kinds of useful gifts and trinkets from their friends and, after a little farewell party, left the College in a very low-key manner.

Just as they were reaching the gates of the Imperial Capital, Xiao Shu suddenly pulled Lao Er into a restaurant.

“Boss, give us [4] 100 sets of Grilled Saury Fish as takeaway,” Xiao Shu said boldly and decisively.

Lao Er looked at her in shock, “What…”

“When we were here last, I noticed that you like the saury here. I thought that you like fish very much. I haven’t been here long and only know this place serves good fish dishes. Now that we’re leaving, it might be a few years before we come back. I thought it might be a good idea to stock up some…”

Lao Er was shocked once more. To be observed so closely and…

To be honest, Lao Er ate fish that day mostly because he thought it tasted good. It turned out she had misunderstood? [5] He had been a beggar once. So long as the food was warm and not too stale, he’d be happy to eat it. It really didn’t matter if he never eats pacific saury again…

[5] “Cough, cough, excuse me, Miss?” the proprietor cleared his throat.

[5] “Yes?” Xiao Shu blinked large honest eyes at him.

[5] “We are very happy that Miss likes our Grilled Pacific Saury,” said the proprietor awkwardly. “Ah, but we have a very limited number of pacific saury dishes…” seeing Xiao Shu’s uncomprehending face, he continued. “We only have about 10 Grilled Pacific Saury dishes each month. Moreover, Grilled Pacific Sauries had to be pre-ordered at least a few months ahead.”

[5] “…ah? Eh!”

[5] “Miss must be from outside the Imperial Capital? We are an inland country and seafood are mostly brought in frozen. Even so, it’s very rare for us to get them. We have a special supplier that brings in fresh-caught frozen saury fish each month but, the amount is… Ah, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have other grilled fishes such as carp, trout, and bass. Would miss like to order 100 sets of those instead?”

[5] “… …”

[5] “Sure, we’ll take 100 sets of assorted grilled fishes. Please decide on the type of fish for us,” said Lao Er, helpfully covering for Xiao Shu’s embarrassment.

[5] It took a while for them to prepare the 100 grilled fish. Eventually, everything was grilled, properly packed up and paid for by Lao Er. He also rented a carriage and the two of them finally left the Imperial Capital.

As their carriage trundled off. A Spiritual Beast ridden by Tan-Tai Chu arrived at the Imperial Capital.

Along the way, she considered many different strategies to kill off that lookalike. However, the more she considered, the more tricky the task seems to be. Unlike the last mission which was backed by the clan and therefore the clan head, she would have to arrange everything by herself this time.

All minor details aside, the biggest hurdle would be that person who had effortlessly shrugged off the Dao of Suppression and freely wielded his power in this world. It would be impossible for her to kill her way in due to this person’s existence.

Since she could not attack head-on, she would have to rely on subterfuge. She knew when she was out-classed and did not bother to try and attack that person. It would only be a waste of effort.

Moreover, aside from that abnormal person, there’s also that youth clothed in black. He was the one who had given Uncle Wang so much trouble even before that powerhouse appeared. Even if she manages to escape the eyes of that powerhouse, she should make sure the youth in black was not around.

Many kinds of thoughts and ideas flashed through her mind. In the end, she decided to scout around the Imperial College first.

The plan was to sneak into the College and observe the situation from inside but, when she got there, she found that the place had been blocked off by various barriers and seals. Even as a Divine Transformation master, she could not break into the place.

Unable to get in, she would have to wait for her prey to come out.

She frowned. Her determination to kill this person increased. From childhood onwards, her life had been fairly smooth sailing ever since her talent was recognised. Whatever even hinted at wanting was handed to her. All her life, people had been falling over themselves to get her what she wanted.

Because of this, she could not get over the fact that she had been denied both the Divine Tea and getting rid of this girl wearing her face.

She was unique, of a kind and brilliant. Perhaps the desire to get rid of this double had already been kindled when she first saw the face that mirrored hers. Curiosity made her hesitate but no more! Regardless of what schemes mother might be brewing, it’s better to kill off that thing.

Tan-Tai Chu did not want to be like the masses. She is unique, special and things will return that way once she has gotten rid of the other.

 

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] I disagree with author-san. I think Meng Li and Shen Lingfei could grow to be a workable, if not meaningful couple with time. Meng Li is willing to apologise and act spoilt when she’s in the wrong. Shen Lingfei is willing to feign at being a doting partner to Meng Li.

Meng Li will never be satisfied with anyone that’s Not Feng Luo, this isn’t Shen Lingfei’s problem but Meng Li’s. She might be tempted to indulge in affairs in the future, but only with people more powerful and influential than Shen Lingfei.

Shen Lingfei may eventually lose his willingness to pretend to dote on her and be a very cold person. However, both would continue to stay with each other and present a united front and support each other superficially.

In a feudal world where marriages are often arranged, this is considered the ‘standard average’. The fact that they are willing to present a good face already meant they are two steps ahead of a lot of people.

If they are the MC of a novel, one or the other would fall in love first and tumbled into a pit of misery and ecstasy of knowing the other don’t love them, but they can’t escape each other either, turning the novel into a yandere story. Then, something big would happen and the other falls in love too and these two selfish people would live a brilliant, if insecure life together. I’d like it if these two have a good ending together.

[2] Adjusted Details for Logistics: Sudden change between Meng Li’s bitter thoughts and Shiyu’s lecturing tone. Set the stage for Shiyu’s condescending lecture.

Since Shiyu is not that intelligent, Gumihou is not impressed by her insight. 

[3] The King’s Avatar: Most likely the animated version since she mentioned their character name rather than actor name

https://the-kings-avatar.fandom.com/wiki/The_King%27s_Avatar_Wikia

Ye Xiu

 

Zhou Zekai

 

Huang Shaotian

 

Yu Wenzhou

 

Er Le aka Zhang Jiele = Bloody hell this guy is hard to track down since author uses his nickname ‘Er Le’ instead of Zhang Jiele. ‘Er’ meaning ‘2’. This guy’s original nickname is ‘Lele’, which was eventually contracted to ‘2 Le’ aka ‘Er Le’. Tch!

(Zhang) Xinjie

Hu Ge 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Ge

[4] Continuity Error, refer Note 5.

Pacific Saury is a SEA FISH. It’s one thing to buy 1 or even 5, but 100? Psh! I doubt the restaurant would have that many in hand.

Gumi, isn’t it just fish? Why the big fuss?

Please see extract from Chapter 68

Unfortunately, the Imperial Capital was an inland city… beyond mere money, you’d need to have special connections with certain suppliers to get your hands on real fresh seafood.

In other words, even if you have the money, it doesn’t mean you could get your hands on Pacific Saury.

[5] Fix the Continuity Error with [HILARIOUS CONSEQUENCE] as per Note 4. 

Original text is ‘After they received their order from the puzzled and surprised owner they left the restaurant, rented a carriage, and drove outside the capital city.’

It’s just tacked on anyway, so Gumi feels it’s perfectly fine for her to fiddle with it. Unless there’s a side story where Lao Er and Xiao Shu encounter a cat demon who became their pet thanks to the 100 Grilled Pacific Sauries, it shouldn’t impact the story at all. In the event they do meet a quest requiring 100 grilled fish, Gumi has prepared insurance in the form of ‘assorted grilled FRESHWATER fish’.

[6] Added Details for Dramatic Purpose: Please give more details to tie in with previous chapters.

 

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