Chapter 14.2 – Menacing G.o.ddess Worshipper
Nian Bing made seven turns and took eight detours before he arrived at the door of Shui Huo Metal shop. His left hand held green vegetables and meat. He lightly knocked several times on the door. “Feng Nu, are you there?”
There were sounds of footsteps before the door opened. Feng Nu peaked her head out from the doors, and when she saw it was Nian Bing, she couldn’t refrain her laughter. She hurriedly open the door and said, “Come in! Great chef, what’s on the menu today?”
Nian Bing bitterly laughed and said, “I was thinking about coming a few days ago, but there was too many things to resolve, so I wasn’t able to visit you until now. It’s quite embarra.s.sing. Today, I will certainly make you something good to eat.”
Feng Nu’s bright eyes gently blinked. With a smile, she spoke, “I was just teasing you, no need to take it so seriously. Besides, you had matters you needed to take care off. It doesn’t matter what I eat. In fact, up until now, I wasn’t thinking about what you’re going to cook. If I eat too much of your meat, my taste will get spoiled. What would I do when you’re gone then?” After she finished speaking, only then, did she realize the meaning of her words and couldn’t stop from blushing. She hurriedly turned her body and led Nian Bing inside. Watching Feng Nu’s perfect silhouette, Nian Bing secretly nodded his head. When considering appearance and figure, Xue Jing and Long Ling’er had a different charm compared to Feng Nu, especially with her n.o.ble and elegant manners. It even gave people a favorable impression. What’s more, she was gentle and soft, a perfect woman. If it was said that his heart wouldn’t be moved, then that was absolutely deceiving himself. It was just that, right now, he only considered Feng Nu as a friend as his thoughts were all concentrated on how to improve his cooking skills and his magic. Until the matters with the Ice’ G.o.d’s PaG.o.da ended, he didn’t wish to think about others things.
Coming into the courtyard, Nian Bing lifted his head to look upon the colored sky, and said with a slight smile, “I’m going to cook in the kitchen first. It will only take a moment.”
Feng Nu glanced back with a laugh and said, “You don’t need to hurry. You can rest for a bit first. That’s right! Today, you don’t need to do such a troublesome thing. It’s really embarra.s.sing since you are a guest. I should make you something to eat instead. Oh! I’m such a big idiot. Besides congee, I don’t know how to cook anything else.”
Nian Bing watched Feng Nu’s smiling face and couldn’t help but turn silly. He mumbled a reply, “Feng Nu, you’re really pretty. Ah! Excuse me, I’ll go cook first.” As soon as he finished speaking, he ran to the kitchen as if he was being chased by something.
As she watched Nian Bing enter the kitchen, a strange light appeared in Feng Nu’s eyes. Her gentle and soft look disappeared, replaced by a grave and stern look as she seemed to ponder about something. She thought out loud, “Let’s forget about it. As far as I’m concerned, obtaining the Heavenly Flame sword is already sufficient and there is no need to be greedy for his Flame G.o.d’s stone, right? Him cooking something for me, it’s just letting him off lightly. I believe the elders will not blame me for this. This man called Nian Bing is very odd; there are surprisingly so many treasures on his body. If it were Elder Sister instead of me, I’m afraid there would be nothing left on him. Forget about it. It doesn’t matter. Let’s properly make the True Sun knife as it should be considered a favor to Old Man Hua Tian.” Saying so, the cold light in Feng Nu’s eyes gradually faded away and, once again, she gazed towards the kitchen with a trace of perplexity.
This time, the cooking speed was certainly much faster. Last time, the reason why Nian Bing chose to make the extremely complicated pigeon meat dish was just because of the lack of ingredients. This time, he brought fresh vegetables and meat. It was much easier to make something from this. After 30 minutes, the whole Shui Huo Metal shop was already br.i.m.m.i.n.g with an enticing aroma. He made the standard four dishes and a soup, with every dish having their own distinctive appearance. From the color and the smell, it was already enough to determine these dishes were high quality. Nian Bing used a table in the courtyard to put the dishes on. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he smiled and then, yelled towards the room. “Feng Nu! It’s time to eat. Come here quickly!”
“Ah! It’s such a good smell. Finally, I won’t need to drink congee again.” When the faint fragrance a.s.saulted her nose, her speed was extremely quick as she dashed to the table. Nian Bing just thought that she was like a flower in front of his eyes with the chopsticks already in her hand.
Feng Nu dragged a stool towards Nian Bing, but her eyes didn’t leave the table at all. “Wow! Did you cook all of this? How come everything you make looks like a work of art? It makes me not have the heart to eat it.” Although she said that, her chopsticks were already eager to pick up the food. She directly picked from a sparkling and translucent reddish food from a two colored meat and vegetables dishes.
Nian Bing said with a smiling and laughing face, “If no one eats something a chef has produced then that would be his biggest defeat. I don’t wish for that. You can really eat. Knowing your capacity to eat, I especially made much more today. There should be enough leftovers from the Four Element dishes for you to warm up for tonight’s supper. The flavor shouldn’t change too much after warming up.”
Feng Nu held between her chopsticks an unknown golden-colored food and put it into her mouth. When she took a bite, she clearly felt the tender and smooth meat and its juice overflowed throughout her mouth in two bites, spreading a salty taste which forcefully opened up her appet.i.te. Nian Bing handed her a bowl of cooked rice and said with a smile, “This dish is a little bit salty and goes well with rice.”
Feng Nu watched Nian Bing and sighed in admiration, “Extremely wonderful! When I mentioned that someone’s taste in food can be completely messed up by you, it seems like this it wasn’t too much of an exaggeration. Ah! Why are you not eating? What was the thing I ate just now? Such a tender meat. Don’t tell me, is it fish? What’s more, there’s not a hint of a fishy smell!”
Nian Bing smiled and said, “I already ate before coming here. At our place, we need to work until noon so I ate my breakfast a bit before coming here. I’m not hungry right now. Later, when I return, I’ll be just in time for supper and will not be able to accompany you in your meal. What you just ate is not fish meat. This is a very common vegetable, and I used it to make a meat dish called Red Golden Frog. The red-colored food is round, small hot pepper, and what you ate earlier was frog meat. Frog meat is very tender. When it enters the mouth, it’s very fresh and sweet. It’s the best amongst meat. If the fishy smell is eliminated, the meat can become very tasty. Quickly eat it, I prepared more food for you to eat.”
There was no need for Nian Bing to speak as Feng Nu proceeded to stuff herself, placing one mouthful of food after another while expressing her admiration towards Nian Bing’s exceptional cooking skills.
“Nian Bing, you just said our place, could it be that you have someone you know in Ice Snow City?” Feng Nu asked while still eating.
Nian Bing shook his head and said, “No. I had found some work, that’s all. You should also know that place, it’s the Pure Wind House inside the city. It’s not very far from here.”
“Pure Wind House? Ah, that restaurant where everything is very expensive! I have yet to to eat there. But I heard the food is pretty good. For your skills, that place is certainly the best with their big kitchen. Although I have yet to eat there, I can be certain that the food made by the Pure Wind House’s chefs are not as delicious as yours.”
Nian Bing slightly smiled and said, “You have guessed incorrectly. I’m not there to cook. Besides my master, you are the first person to taste my cooking. At Pure Wind House, I’m only chopping firewood.”
Pfft! Feng Nu spurted out the mouthful of rice she had in her mouth and coughed loudly, which startled Nian Bing. Nian Bing gave her a bowl of soup and patted her supple back. The soup pa.s.sed through her red lips and entered her mouth with a certain impatience. At this moment, the way he looked at her was much more affectionate.
As the bowl of warm soup settled into her stomach, Feng Nu slowly managed to cough out the food that went down the wrong way. She gasped with her mouth opened wide and angrily said, “You almost choked me to death! Even if you want to joke, you don’t need to go this far.”
Nian Bing helped her get over her coughing fit by patting her back as he said to her with a bitter smile, “Who’s playing a joke on you. I’m really just chopping logs in Pure Wind House. Your mind capacity to bear is also pretty bad. First, regulate your breath.”
Feng Nu watched Nian Bing in shocked and exclaimed, “Are you really chopping firewood there? You don’t have a fever?” Saying so, she extended her soft and slender hand to touch Nian Bing’s forehead. Following the warm touch of her small hand came a sweet fragrant. Nian Bing’s heart shook from the feeling of the soft hand on his skin. He grabbed her hand and said, “I’m all right. I chose to chop firewood there. It’s just that I unexpectedly revealed their kitchen’s recipe. The skills of the head chef of Pure Wind House, the Clever King of kitchen, Ming Yuan, are excellent. I’m there only to observe what kind of special skills he had. Anyway, why should I need to reveal myself? If they knew I possessed genuine kitchen skills, I fear it will be very difficult to leave.”
Feng Nu’s voice suddenly dropped. She lowered her head and said, “You, you let go of me first. What kind of manner is that?”
Nian Bing’s heart was alarmed as he discovered his right hand was still holding Feng Nu’s hand. As for his left hand, it had long since stop patting her back and currently residing on her waist. Feng Nu’s whole lovably flexible body was already completely leaning onto his chest. In such intimate proximity, Nian Bing couldn’t help but be perplexed. In a flurry, he released both of his hands. Even though he was intelligent, in this kind of awkward situation, he didn’t know what he could say. Mouth agape and tongue-tied, he quickly put back the chopsticks in Feng Nu’s hands. Coughing twice, he then turned his sight onto a tree outside the courtyard.