ARLQLCC chapter 25

In the afternoon, with the help of Yun Xicheng and the others, Su Ji quickly prepared different flavors of broth.

The Sǎozi was simple to make, but it required time to stir-fry. The ingredients were continuously chopped and delivered without stopping, and finally it was finished before dinner.

The sun was setting in the west, the sky gradually darkened, and the fading sunset cast its last dim glow over Lianshuo Peak before slowly sinking behind the mountain and disappearing.

The sound of fighting from the distant martial arena gradually stopped, meaning the afternoon matches had ended.

After being busy all afternoon, the group quickly finished dinner. Seeing that it was getting late, they pushed the small stall cart prepared by Yun Xicheng’s attendants out and went outside the courtyard, occupying the most eye-catching spot where people came and went.

Although it was called a small cart, it wasn’t really small at all. The cart combined frying, stir-frying, cooking, deep-frying, and boiling. It was a long setup, and even five people could stand on it at once. It was basically a mini kitchen.

There were also a row of shining night pearls embedded on the cart, making it especially eye-catching.

Su Ji assigned each of them a task.

Yue He was a girl, so she was arranged to handle the sǎozi step, scooping with a ladle—an easy job that wasn’t tiring.

Yan Shao was big and strong, so the task of handing out the finished food was given to him.

Yun Xicheng volunteered and took over boiling noodles and pouring the dough into the pot. He stood in front of two soup pots, looking ready for action.

Yun Che was responsible for adding different flavors of broth to the noodle soup. Four buckets of broth were neatly placed on the cart, quietly waiting for disciples from various sects returning from the competition to come and eat.

The round disc spiritual artifact, which hadn’t been used since Linggu Mountain hired workers, finally appeared in front of Chu Zhaoye once again. As the mascot and cashier of the stall team, he lay next to Su Ji full of energy.

Su Ji stood in front of the wok. To prevent the ingredients from running out, he was always ready to start cooking fresh batches. The ingredients had been placed under a barrier to prevent contamination from insects.

Everything was ready, only waiting for the returning disciples.

The nearby dining hall was also emitting waves of food aroma, still the familiar scent of fragrance-enhancing powder. It seemed that Chef Lin still didn’t know that the dishes he made at noon had been suspected of tasting like shit, and he was still cooking his expensive meals with a dark face.

Not far away, three disciples in the same sect uniform were slowly walking toward this place.

Behind them was the larger group returning from the Sword Trial Tournament.

But whether it was the main group or these three people, their pace was unusually consistent: they all walked as slowly as possible.

Yun Xicheng ran to the middle of the road to observe for a while. When he came back, he said with a sigh, “So pitiful. They’ve all been poisoned stupid by Chef Lin’s food, all listless like this.”

Yun Che said, “They probably just don’t want to face the same dinner as noon. That’s why they’re walking so slowly.”

Yue He smiled lightly. “I’ve already informed our sect disciples. They’re rushing here—Chef Su has come to save them from suffering.”

While they were talking, the three leading disciples had already arrived nearby. Several pairs of eyes stared at their strangely shaped cart.

One of them, upon seeing Su Ji, immediately lit up and quickly walked over. “Su Ji! Why are you here?!”

Su Ji looked toward the sound and saw that it was Xie Qinghuai, wearing a different outfit from that morning, waving as he walked over.

Su Ji recognized it—he was wearing the uniform of Kunlun Divine Palace.

Since he was a disciple of Kunlun Divine Palace, and like Xie Yao also had the surname Xie, he was at least a direct disciple of the sect master. No wonder he had said so confidently in the morning that Fang Que could just go find him.

It was clear his background was strong—but who would have thought it was this strong.

He withdrew his thoughts and greeted Xie Qinghuai. The other party blinked and instantly appeared in front of him, asking in confusion, “What are you doing here?”

Su Ji smiled lightly. “Very obvious—we’re setting up a stall selling dinner.”

Xie Qinghuai looked suspiciously at the pots, bowls, and utensils in front of him. “All of this was made by you?”

Su Ji nodded.

Xie Qinghuai turned to look at the dining hall that had left him with a deep psychological shadow, then looked back at Su Ji. Seeing that Su Ji looked very reliable, he cautiously asked again, “It shouldn’t taste bad, right?”

Yun Xicheng cut in, “Absolutely delicious. If it’s not good, you can beat me up.”

Yun Che added, “Absolutely delicious. If it’s not good, you can beat Yun Xicheng up.”

Su Ji: “……” Is that really necessary?

Xie Qinghuai was somewhat familiar with Yun Xicheng’s face and knew he was the only son of the sect master of Yunxian Sect, so he felt even more reassured.

He pointed at the very appetizing minced sauce (sǎozi). “One portion of this.”

After receiving their first customer of the day, the three responsible for the sǎozi noodles immediately got to work. Boiling noodles, blanching vegetables, adding minced sauce, and handing it over to Xie Qinghuai—all done in one smooth motion.

At Chu Zhaoye’s urging, Xie Qinghuai didn’t even look and directly threw a large handful of spirit stones over, which was naturally swept into the money bag by the little cat cub.

Sigh, if all customers today were like Xie Qinghuai—stupidly rich… no, generously wealthy—then they could probably close the stall after just a few sales.

On the other side, after paying, Xie Qinghuai took the minced sauce noodles handed over by Yan Shao.

From afar, the minced sauce looked decent, not much different from ordinary minced meat sauces, but up close the aroma was overwhelming. After the sauce was poured over, the noodles soaked in red oil looked extremely appetizing.

Swallowing his saliva, Xie Qinghuai picked up his chopsticks, mixed the noodles, and eagerly took a bite.

He had only eaten a single bite of food at noon before vomiting and hadn’t eaten a single grain of rice since then.

All afternoon, just thinking about food made him nauseous. He originally didn’t plan to eat dinner either and intended to have a friend from Kunlun Divine Palace who wasn’t at the Sword Trial Tournament send him dry rations by flying sword. He didn’t expect that when he came back, he would actually run into a familiar stall on the side of Yunxian Sect’s road, and the helper was even the sect master’s son.

The moment the noodles entered his mouth, the spicy richness of red oil, the texture of the fatty-lean minced pork, and the chewy smoothness of the noodles all exploded on his taste buds. His doubtful expression instantly turned into amazement.

“This is way too delicious! Su Ji, you really have skills!”

As he spoke, he kept slurping noodles. Having not eaten at noon, he was extremely hungry and finished half the bowl in just a few bites, then pointed at the dough soup he hadn’t tried yet and ordered another portion.

The Kunlun Divine Palace disciples beside him exchanged looks and each took out spirit stones, ordering a bowl of minced sauce noodles and a portion of dough soup.

Their junior brother was usually extremely hard to please and never ate at the sect dining hall. Instead, a dedicated chef cooked for him alone.

Normally, the food he ate was made from carefully selected premium ingredients, and the chef’s skills were far beyond ordinary canteen cooks. In the past, he would only give those meals a “barely edible” review and show little interest.

Yet now he was eating roadside stall noodles with obvious enjoyment.

If even he said it was good, then it must truly be good.

In no time, the three of them stood by the roadside holding bowls, eating dinner with obvious delight.

Someone recognized Xie Qinghuai as the disciple who had caused the earlier commotion at noon, instantly attracting the attention of the crowd behind them. A group quickly surrounded the stall, looking at the ingredients on the cart and asking noisily:

“Is it really that good?”

“They seem to be disciples of Kunlun Divine Palace. If they say it’s good, it probably isn’t bad, right?”

“How bad could it be? Could it be worse than lunch?”

“Hey, that looks familiar… Chef Su?! You’re here for the Sword Trial Tournament too!”

“Chef Su!!! Great, you’re here! Otherwise I was planning to survive these few days on roasted sweet potatoes!!”

“It’s Chef Su! Then we’re saved this time, it must be delicious. I want a bowl…”

Before he could finish, the sound of rapid running came from outside the crowd, followed by repeated calls of “make way.”

Yue He, standing behind the cart, lit up. “You’re here!”

A group of Yunxian Sect disciples pushed through the crowd. Seeing Su Ji, their eyes lit up.

“Chef Su! It’s really you, great!”

“Wuwuwuwu Chef Su, seeing you feels so comforting. Little cat, you’re here too!”

“No more suffering tonight. Chef Su, what are you selling? Give me one of everything!”

“I want one too!”

“Me too, me too!!”

“Who is it? Don’t push me! I didn’t eat at noon, I’ll buy first!”

“Line up! Everyone go to the back!”

They squeezed forward quickly. The other disciples who had been watching immediately couldn’t hold back anymore and rushed to the back of the line like a storm.

So what the disciples coming out of the martial arena saw was—a cart with several disciples moving so fast they were almost afterimages; a cat cashier collecting spirit stones with a fierce expression; and a group of disciples excitedly shouting while holding spirit stones: “I want shrimp broth!” “I want minced meat noodles!”

Meanwhile, the luxurious dining hall stood cold and empty, only its candlelight swaying alone in the night wind.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

In the crowd, An Jingcheng instinctively kicked Yuan Chenxin and said in shock, “Look, isn’t that stir-frying guy Su Ji?”

Yuan Chenxin looked up in confusion.

The two stared at each other.

It really was!!!

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