Chapter 62

Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly held the secret letter given to him by his mother.

In the midst of cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written there.

The two maids who had followed Zhuge Qing and Liu Qingyun from the main house to serve them were the ones who had been pestering Zhuge Qing since she woke up in the morning, asking her to tell them about the dinner she had with Liu Qingyun. They had been watching the two from a corner of the garden while they were drinking tea, and as soon as they confirmed that Liu Qingyun had left, they rushed over to pester Zhuge Qing.

The reason they were so eager to hear about the dinner was that Yashu, Zhuge Qing's concubine, was a type of man they had never heard of before.

Zhuge Qing's concubine department.

Yashu, the nickname given to her by the maids and Zhuge Qing in secret.

Their thoughts were similar.

While they were happy that Yashu liked Zhuge Qing so much despite her appearance being different from others, they were also secretly worried that his reaction might be too excessive and wondered if it was genuine.

However, the behavior Yashu had shown during the past few days while showing Zhuge Qing around the city was truly special.

It went beyond being excessive.

He would subtly hold up his parasol to shield Zhuge Qing from the sun when it was too bright, and when they were about to sit somewhere, he would fuss and lay out silk cloth, treating Zhuge Qing as carefully as if handling precious jade.

Thus, they were very eager to know what had happened during their dinner yesterday.

As Zhuge Qing blushed and recalled the incident at the wrong restaurant they had entered yesterday, the maids, who were pestering her, leaned in closely and exclaimed in surprise.

"R-really!?"

"Hmm?"

"R-really! L-lips... did you... k-kiss...?"

"No, no! W-what are you talking about!"

Startled by the maids' exclamations, Zhuge Qing waved her hand and put on a serious face.

Then she explained to the maids what had happened yesterday.

"I went to a restaurant with him... but..."

"We know that. What did you eat? What happened?"

Unable to contain their curiosity, the maids asked urgently, and Qing cautiously replied.

"We went to a house where a basket was placed on a citron lantern."

As Zhuge Qing answered with a trembling voice, the maids exclaimed in surprise.

"R-really? Without the elders knowing... Miss, you're bolder than we thought!"

"R-really? The two of you?"

"But even if you were in a hurry, that place... it's a place where people of high taste go. If you were in a hurry, you could have just gone to a guesthouse room..."

"That's not it!"

As a flood of misunderstandings poured out, Qing couldn't help but shout at the maids and explain.

While they had mistakenly entered a restaurant where the old man had often gone in the past, she had dared to show her disappointment, but instead of scolding her, Yashu confessed that he had lied to make a good impression on her, which made her heart race.

Yashu's confession that he wanted her to see him as more handsome made her heart race.

As soon as Zhuge Qing finished speaking, the same words poured out of both the maids and Zhuge Qing.

"How cute."

"Isn't he really cute?"

"He's so cute!"

When Tang's sister, who had come to the wedding, said she wanted to pinch and cuddle him like a puppy, Qing didn't understand why being cute would make someone want to do that, but now she understood.

She wanted to grab and shake Yashu's cheeks because he was so cute.

Gently closing her eyes and imagining grabbing and shaking Yashu's cheeks, a sound was heard.

*Crack*

Startled, she looked down to see an empty teacup shattered in her hand.

"Oh my!"

Having accidentally used her inner strength and broken the teacup, Zhuge Qing was flustered and quickly handed it to the maids.

***

While following Liu Qingyun, I tried to probe a few times, but it was impossible to ask him outright if he had learned martial arts or what kind of martial arts he had used to injure the palates of the experts, as he subtly emphasized that he was just a cook and had never learned martial arts.

Unable to ask directly, Gelun decided to check Liu Qingyun's appearance to see if he had learned martial arts.

First, he checked the Taiyang point (太陽穴), where the traces of martial arts practitioners are most evident.

When one starts to cultivate inner strength, the widened blood vessels make the Taiyang point, which has the thinnest skin, stand out prominently.

This is a criterion for distinguishing between those who have learned martial arts and those who haven't until they reach the realm of Fanpu Guizhen (返朴歸眞), so Gelun decided to check Liu Qingyun's Taiyang point first.

While checking Liu Qingyun's temple, Gelun asked Wengai Chobalang (楚八郞), who had followed him, in a whisper.

[The Taiyang point is flat. It doesn't look like he has learned martial arts, does it?]

Chobalang, who had been looking at Liu Qingyun's profile, was startled and replied cautiously.

[But what if he has reached the realm of Fanpu Guizhen?]

[For a young man to reach Fanpu Guizhen? I don't think so.]

[But the fact that the Poison King allowed him to use the nickname 'Dragon Slayer' suggests he has some skill, doesn't it?]

[But didn't he say that people at the banquet called him that because he cooked well? What kind of information did you get?]

[Well, that...]

Gelun, expressing his frustration by tapping his chest silently, decided to check Liu Qingyun's hands next since the conclusion wasn't clear.

[Just check his hands. I'll check his left hand, and you check his right.]

[Understood.]

While checking Liu Qingyun's right hand, Chobalang's urgent voice was heard.

[There's a sword callus on his right hand!]

Startled by Chobalang's exclamation, Gelun switched places with him and checked Liu Qingyun's right hand, noticing the sword callus, a distinctive callus that appears on the hands of those who wield swords.

[So he could be a master of Neigong, or he could have reached the realm of Fanpu Guizhen, or he could be a swordsman?]

As the doubts kept piling up, Gelun muttered in a difficult manner, and Chobalang asked him.

[What should we do?]

[I don't know what he's hiding, but we need to test his skills.]

[How do you plan to test hidden skills? Just let him eat his fill and go...]

Chobalang, who seemed to have no interest in Liu Qingyun and only cared about food, looked at him with a disdainful expression, but Gelun hit him on the back of the head and said.

[I'll test his skills and fill your belly, so don't worry. Who do you think I am?]

[I know. Chao. The Chao who eats even in the grass. Chao. Chao.]

Hitting Chobalang on the back of the head again, Gelun started to think.

***

I decided to take the beggars, no, the members of the Beggar Sect, to the kitchen.

Whether their purpose was to beg or not, these people were the media and reviewers of this era.

In any era, the media is a natural disaster for small business owners like me, as my image is determined by their reviews, regardless of the truth.

On the way, I stopped by the garden and asked my wife to come along.

"Madam, the Beggar Sect has come to test my skills."

"Really? Test your skills?"

She was a bit surprised by my question.

"They want to see if the title of Dragon Slayer fits. Madam, you didn't know about this?"

"I learned about the martial world from Father, but I didn't know the Beggar Sect had such a practice. So, are you going to show them a dish?"

Since this was Zhuge Qing's first time in the martial world, she couldn't have known the details.

"I think I should. Will you come with me?"

"Of course. Old Master. I'm your ginger soy sauce."

Zhuge Qing blushed and confessed shyly.

I had taught her that ginger soy sauce and I were a pair, and she remembered it and used it against me.

Using my own words against me.

'Is this the famous Qiankun Danya (乾坤大挪移) of the martial world?'

A fatal blow to my heart.

"Ugh..."

As I clutched my chest and frowned, Zhuge Qing rushed over, supporting me and asking in alarm.

"Old Master! Why, why are you like this!?"

Clutching my chest, I replied to her alarmed question.

"You... are too..."

"Too?"

"Too cute..."

As I answered, Zhuge Qing's face turned as red as a burning log, and then an oblivious someone's stomach growled.

*Gurgle*

"Ahem..."

Turning around, I saw a tall beggar coughing and a short beggar rubbing his stomach and giving an awkward laugh.

They should have some sense if they want to survive by begging, but these senseless beggars were really annoying.

'If only it wasn't the Beggar Sect...'

Taking away the precious time with my wife and making faces of hunger, I led the beggars into the kitchen and asked them.

"So, what dish would you like to see?"

"Oh, that dish you served at the wedding, the one with the beef tendon. What was it called?"

"Oh, Xiaolongbao?"

"Yes, yes. Xiaolongbao."

The beggars of the Beggar Sect, who had heard about Xiaolongbao from somewhere, asked for it, but Xiaolongbao requires boiling and solidifying beef tendons, which takes half a day to prepare, so I couldn't make it right away.

Even if I could, the beggars, who had been showing signs of hunger since earlier, might starve to death while I was making it.

"However, Xiaolongbao might be difficult."

"Why, why is that?"

The beggars were taken aback by my answer.

I explained the reason to the beggars.

"It takes a long time to prepare, so even if I start now, it won't be ready until tomorrow."

"Oh, I see..."

"Then, just show us any dish. Oh, and can we watch you cook?"

"Of course."

After finishing the conversation with the beggars, I realized that since they had come to test my cooking skills, I should show them a dish that demonstrates my skills. The only cooking technique that can show skills in a short time is stir-frying.

Stir-frying is the most basic cooking technique that demonstrates Chinese cooking skills. For those who start cooking from washing dishes in a hotel, after a few months of washing dishes and preparing ingredients, the first proper dish they make is stir-frying.

It's the first real cooking process and the one that takes the longest to master.

Among them, vegetable stir-frying.

Vegetable stir-frying in Chinese cuisine is a standard for measuring cooking skills because it allows one to check the control of heat, the use of the wok, and the understanding and handling of ingredients all at once.

If vegetables are stir-fried for too long, they become soft and release water. If they are stir-fried for too short a time, the seasoning doesn't penetrate, and the dish becomes tasteless. Proper heat and time control are the key to vegetable stir-frying.

Vegetable stir-frying is a pure demonstration of skill, created through countless practices and trials.

So, I immediately used the ingredients in the kitchen to make three types of vegetable stir-fries.

Chinese broccoli, bean sprouts, and bamboo shoots.

These three vegetables have completely different characteristics, so if one can stir-fry them well, it guarantees that they can stir-fry any other vegetable without problems.

Careful heat control and divine wok skills.

And the perfect harmony of cooking time and seasoning, accumulated through experience.

"Here, try these. Three types of vegetable stir-fries. The timing of the cooking and the use of the wok..."

"Oh, I get it! Come on, let's taste it, Chief!"

As I presented the three vegetable stir-fries to the beggars, they did something strange.

They took the plates from me, took out the bowls tied to their waists, and broke the warm buns I had given them to eat into pieces, putting them in the bowls. Then they mixed in the three vegetable stir-fries and started to mix them together.

'What, what are they doing? These beggars!'

They were suddenly making a dish called "tsukadon" (a dish where rice is mixed with various toppings).

The taste of the knife.