Chapter 5: Expelled
Expelled
In the afternoon, the hot sun burned like a fire.
Meng Ying Ying sat on the yard swing, gently swaying back and forth. The sun shone down on her smooth flawless skin, highlighting her seductively supple snow-white thighs. However, in stark comparison to this, her delicate face slowly became dirty as tears continued to trickle down like broken pearls on her cheeks. Seeing her weak appearance would make most people get a strong urge to unconditionally protect her.
A heartless voice resounded in the air.
“I finally found you!”
“I am starving to death, do you not also provide meals?”
Chu Tian walked over. His hair was messy and unkempt and his eyes half closed. It looked like he just got out off bed.
Meng Ying Ying turned her head and groaned: “You just woke up? It’s already afternoon!”
Chu Tian righteously said: “The room you arranged for me to live in was small and dirty. I can live with that; however, it did not even have an oil lamp, let alone pots or pans. In addition, the small window barely provided any ventilation inside the room, making it an oven. How do you expect me to sleep?”
Meng Ying Ying was surprised for a moment: “Really?”
“Of course! The mattress was too firm, and when I slept on it, it made my back ache!” Chu Tian stretched out his body, displaying an uncomfortable look : “Fortunately, I was witty and clever. I forced open the warehouse door and got some materials to improve the condition of the room. All of this took the whole night, so by the time I got done, it was already morning. I was tired and sleepy so naturally I would have slept till noon.”
So that’s how it is.
Wait a minute!
He pried open the warehouse door!
This guy is a daredevil!
Chu Tian noticed there were tear stains on Meng Ying Ying’s face: “Hey, why are you crying? Could it be that you are moved by my tragedy and my self-improving, never giving up attitude?”
Meng Ying Ying rubbed her eyes, angrily said: “Nonsense! I am sad because I got expelled by teacher. I couldn’t care less if you live or die!”
Chu Tian waved his hands: “Ai, and here I thought it was something big. Just an ungrateful old man, though he is kind of rude.”
Meng Ying Ying extended her legs, in a flash jumped off the swing; and stood in front of Chu Tian with both hands on her waist: “Don’t talk nonsense. Even though I got expelled, I still got my tuition back. This means I got four years of free education. What did he have to gain?”
Chu Tian made a long yawn, sluggishly said: “Naïve. I’ll tell you this straight. The contents on the homework I helped you with is worth as much as the whole Scrivener Guild. That geezer kicking you aside clearly means that he wants the credit for himself.”
“Can you not lie for once? Zhang Li Qing is a honourable person, why would he do such thing!” Meng Ying Ying stood before Chu Tian: “Also, I got expelled; therefore you are unemployed. I’m going to return you back to the slave market and get my money back!”
Chu Tian got surprised: “What? You can return?!”
Meng Ying Ying humphed: “Of course. Three-day return policy, seven days exchange!”
My god!
What the hell?
Why does the slave market of this era have such a humane service?
“Slow down! Slow down! I can prove to you that I am worth far more!” Chu Tian did not even think: “How about this. I’ll treat you to a feast.”
“You? Treat me to a feast?”
“That’s right. Everything is ready. All we need is food and condiments.”
Chu Tian left Meng Ying Ying baffled: “You don’t even have the ingredients and condiments, and you say that everything is ready?”
Chu Tian continued without feeling any shame: “Oh please, where am I going to find the money? But trust me, you won’t be disappointed!”
What does Chu Tian have up his sleeve?
Meng Ying Ying had not eaten for a long time, so she indeed felt hungry. She decided to eat her fill before discussing the painstaking problem with her sister; as a result, she led Chu Tian to the food storage.
“Two pieces of Moonlight Yak’s steaks.”
“One silver turtle.”
“…….”
Chu Tian finished picking the ingredients.
While they walked back, Meng Ying Ying frowned and said: “All the meat you have picked is from beast. Although their meat is nutritious, it does not taste good; and also indigestible!”
“Oh yeah? Says who!”
“This is common knowledge!” Meng Ying Ying now seriously doubts Chu Tian’s cooking, “Beasts are creatures that can cultivate. Their body contains large amount of magical power. Their toughness is ten to hundred times that of human body. If even a soldier’s sword has a hard time just cutting through it, what will our teeth be able to do?? Because the meat is too tough, a normal person’s stomach cannot handle it. If you eat it but can’t poop it back out, it might result in death!”
“You barbarians, you really do not know how to enjoy life.”
“What do you mean? Calling me a barbarian. What makes me barbarian! Return! Return! “
“Stop yelling return for every little thing. We have slept on the same bed already and have skinship together so you saying all these things makes me sad.”
“Jerk! You dare to speak of that again!” Meng Ying Ying was furious and exploded like thunder: “I must get my return!”
“Calm down! Calm down! I’ll admit my mistakes alright?” Chu Tian soothed the enraged missy: “Now then, I will demonstrate to you what a civilized person can do, in order to compensate for your emotional damage.”
Chu Tian appeased her quite a while; thus, after a long time, he finally got her to follow him to his small room.
It was as Chu Tian had said; the room was hot, humid, and dark.
The moment Meng Ying Ying opened the door, she was instantly petrified. Her eyes widened; she could not believe what she was seeing: “What…..what are these things?”
A few strung up glass casing hung from the ceiling. Each glass ball bloomed with bright light; making the small room luminous and comfortable.
A teapot lay on top of the broken table. Even without fire, it continuously emitted sound without weakening; like it was constantly boiled on boiled on top of a fire.
Hu Hu! (whistling sound)
Wind echoed in the room. It turns out there were four blue magical arrays configured on the four walls in the room. The four magical arrays interacted with each other, shifting the air in the room; creating a gentle breeze. One would feel fresh and cool even if they stayed in the room during a hot summer.
“What is going on with this glass? Why is it so bright!”
“This is called a electric light bulb.”
During Chu Tian’s time, the light bulb had already gone out of fashion.
However, in this day and age, the light bulb had not been invented yet.
Most people used candles or oil lamps while the higher ups used crystal lamps. The former was inconvenient and also not bright enough while the latter’s cost a lot; making it unaffordable for lower and middle class family.
The appearance of the light bulb was definitely a milestone for civilization.
Meng Ying Ying’s eyes were wide opened: “How come light bulb emits light?”
Chu Tian began to explain: “In the principle of conversion between electricity and light. There are a total of five magic arrays. One for collecting magical energy, one for converting magical energy into electrical energy, one for storing electrical energy, one for controlling electrical energy output, one for converting electrical energy into light energy; when you chain all the five together into a single magical array and activate them at the same time, the light bulb will emit light.”
Meng Ying Ying was just about to say something.
Chu Tian rudely interrupted her: “Alright, don’t ask anymore. Even if I were to explain, you still won’t understand.”
Meng Ying Ying did not bother to blame Chu Tian for being rude, she pointed at the teapot and said: “How come your teapot gets hot by itself?”
“Just with a simple heating magical array.”
“How come there is a breeze in the room?”
“Because of the fan magical array. I wanted to create an air conditioner, but the material wasn’t available so I had to make do with what I got.”
Meng Ying Ying was like an inquisitive child, and so she asked about everything in the room: “Aiyaya, so many strange and rare stuff, you really do have some strange abilities!”
Chu Tian laughed: “Now you won’t return me back to the slave market right?”
“That depends on how you perform!” Meng Ying Ying was an exuberant, insatiably curious person. When she saw new things, she would forget all the troubles she had. Her mood became better and she carelessly sat down: “Hey! Did you not say that you will treat me to a feast? I already brought all of the ingredients here, but there is no kitchen!…..Ah! If you dare to troll me, I will return you!”
Chu Tian magically pulled a frying pan out: “Why would you need a kitchen? Watch, I’ll fry you a steak!”
Chu Tian imbued the frying pan with his magical power; the magical array under the pan lit up.
There was no trace of fire at all!
The air above the frying pan started to deform; as if it was subjected to high temperature.
The strangest aspect was, the high temperature was locked within a small region of few centimetres high. The area around the pan and the panhandle remained cold.
Chu Tian threw the moonlight cattle steak into the pan.
Chi La! (sound of frying meat)
The moment the steak made contact with the pan, it made a sizzling sound.
Even though Chu Tian did not use fire; the pan acted like it had thousands of densely packed small fires, evenly heating up the steak.
After about thirty seconds, Chu Tian gently flicked his wrist and flipped the steak. The side of the steak that was on the pan changed colours completely.
Moonlight yak was classified as a beast!
A normal chef would find it difficult to cook this ingredient!
A normal flame would not be able to cook this ingredient!
Beast meat had high toughness and would not conduct heat well. Sometimes when cooking it on fire, even when the outside was burnt, the inside would still be raw. Even if you slice it up and then cook, people would still have a hard time digesting it.
The heat released from Chu Tian’s frying pan seemed to contain a superior penetration attribute. It penetrated into every cell and removed the tough characteristic of the beast meat, bringing out its deliciousness and nutrition.
Chi! Chi! Chi! (sound of frying meat)
The steak was continuously flipped; savoury fat seeped out from the edges.
Chu Tian saw that the meat was almost ready, and added sea salt, black pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, and a variety of seasonings.
The whole process took about eight minutes.
The steamy steak was finally ready to be served.
“Here you go miss, your meal!”
Chu Tian put the steak onto Meng Ying Ying’s plate. The steak was around three centimetre thick, and had a pink centre with juice slowly seeping out. The whole steak was thoroughly cooked and tender. This had gotten Meng Ying Ying’s mouth watery and she could no longer wait to cut it with a knife.
Normally, a beast’s flesh was very tough and unable to be cut; however, she was able to easily cut through the meat with a normal knife.
Meng Ying Ying picked up a piece of meat and put it into her mouth.
“Wu Wu Wu…..”
Meng Ying Ying’s eyes shined like a bright star and could not stop eating; immediately had cut another big piece. Her whole mouth became oily and could not speak clearly: “Wa! I have never eaten such a good beast meat before!”
Chu Tian became tired and exhausted; however, seeing that the missy was so happy, he satisfyingly nodded.
This body is indeed from a noble. Even though the owner had cultivated before, but he did not even reach the realm of the awakened soul, therefore using magical power to cook took its toll on Chu Tian.
Meng Ying Ying noticed that Chu Tian was extremely exhausted, and an idea popped up. She stood up and asked: “Can you teach me how to use this pan to fry steak?”
Chu Tian knew that Meng Ying Ying was being considerate and wanted to help out; he smiled and said: “It is actually very simple, no need to learn at all.”
Meng Ying Ying had put down her utensils and came over: “Let me try it!”
Chu Tian passed the frying pan to Meng Ying Ying: “I placed a ‘micro frying array’ on the bottom of the frying pan. When you imbue your magical power into it, it will activate. Give it a try.”
Meng Ying Ying had the power of 2nd Rank Body Refinement Realm. Even though she did not have a big magic power reserve, her reserve was still few times better than that of Chu Tian’s. She poured magical power into the array; the array absorbed it and immediately began to emit an invisible energy.
Chi La!
A burning sound could be heard as soon as she put the steak in.
Meng Ying Ying’s face was flushed red with excitement, nervously held the frying pan, “Now what? Now what?”
Chu Tian walked over and held Meng Ying Ying’s trembling hands, “No need to be nervous. Stabilize your power output, flip it every 30 seconds. Yup, just like that. Add seasonings in the meantime. Like I said, it’s very simple.”
The little missy’s hands were smooth and tender.
Chu Tian could not help but hold it longer.
Meng Ying Ying’s face was red like an apple. Who knows if it was because she was nervous or if she was shy. She just felt a big hand warmly enveloped her own hands. She did not hate the feeling and just let it held her.
A few minutes later, a savoury steak was ready!
Meng Ying Ying was extremely excited and burst out in laughter: “I Meng Ying Ying, can also make a tasty steak!”
Stupid girl, is it even possible to fail with this frying pan? Maybe if the person is brain dead.
It’s as if she had achieved something great, she looked very happy and joyful. It’s too bad there is only two pieces of steak; if not, we could have more fun.
Meng Ying Ying noticed that there were two tools; one was the frying pan and the other a soup pot. She pointed at the soup pot and asked: “What is this used for?”
“This is for making soup, I put a ‘micro soup cooking array’ on the bottom. Did we not bring a silver turtle? How does turtle soup sound?”
“I like turtle soup, let me do it!”
Meng Ying Ying volunteered for the job.
She personally cut up the silver turtle and cleaned it up. She put the turtle into the pot with some chicken, mushroom, and ginger. Finally she began to pour magical power into the pot. The whole process was very simple and did not require any learning.
Magic powered cooking does not yet exist in this era; or, at the least, it’s still immature.
In Chu Tian’s era, magic arrays had seeped into every aspect of life. Magic powered cooking became very common; even though most people knew a few magic arrays used for cooking, those that were really proficient in this field were still uncommon. Because baking, pan frying, stir frying, deep frying, cooking, and roasting all had at least hundreds of different magical arrays used for each. Only a genuine, top level magic chef that had spent dozens of years in order to learn, could actually use all these skills.
Chu Tian was not a professional magic chef; but he still knew the versatile magic cooking arrays. This way he would not have to be forced to eat raw beast meat during travel and exploration.
Fifteen minutes later.
Chu Tian nodded: “It’s done.”
“This fast? It usually takes us a few hours to cook soup!”
“How can traditional cooking even be compared to magic powered cooking? Ok, open the lid and let us try the soup!”
The moment the lid opened, a strong aroma drifted into the room, which almost made Meng Ying Ying faint. She did not think it was possible for food to give off such an appetizing smell. She quickly brought a bowl over and got a bowl of soup for herself first.
The soup was creamy white, it had exquisite flavour; mellow, fragrant but not greasy, fresh yet not fishy. Even the bones were perfectly stewed; chewy but not hard. The mushroom and chicken were completely dissolved within the soup. This was simply the best the world can offer!
“Hot! Hot!”
Meng Ying Ying looked like as if she had been starving for many days, drank the soup until she is full. Her skin became hot, like her blood was boiling.
Chu Tian on the other hand was very calm and drank the soup slowly: “Beast meat is very nutritious and contains magic power. Magic powered cooking can fully extract these benefits. Your body is still not strong enough so you should limit your intake. It will cause problem if you were to eat too much.”
After filling up her stomach, Meng Ying Ying had a flash of inspiration, suddenly stood up and pounded the table: “Chu Tian, I figured it out! Let’s cooperate and start a business!”
“What?”
“Let’s go earn money together!”
Meng Ying Ying pounced at Chu Tian; grabbed his hands and started rattling. They were separated by a table; Chu Tian was sitting while Meng Ying Ying was standing. When she leaned over, her two naughty big white rabbits became exposed again. Accompanying with her shaking and swaying, the scene was too overwhelming.
Too naughty!
Chu Tian was itching to reach inside and teach them a lesson!
Chu Tian was surprised and asked: “Why did you suddenly think of this?”
Meng Ying Ying did not realize she was exposed, her face red with excitement and said: “I got expelled, so JieJie will be very disappointed. I don’t have the face to tell her. Why not use the tuition money that teacher has returned for business? I have the money, you have the skills, we will work together and earn a lot of money, then give her a surprise!”
Chu Tian asked: “What plan do you have?”
Meng Ying Ying had an impatient personality; she pounded the table and shouted: “Who needs a plan! You come out with me tonight! We will sell steak together!”