ARLQLCC chapter 45

At the entrance, disciples were coming in in twos and threes. Su Ji, together with the apprentice disciples, stayed in the back kitchen, waiting with them for the reactions after the others ate the dishes.

Good feedback was very important to people like them who had long been suppressed and looked down upon. If the disciples’ evaluations today were good, it would definitely help this group of apprentice disciples regain their confidence.

Su Ji had seen their efforts all morning, and he was confident the feedback today definitely wouldn’t be bad.

In the dining hall, apart from the disciples who hadn’t received the news that Su Ji was giving lessons to the chefs of Yunxian Sect, the others who had caught bits of the rumor all came quickly. Those who originally had no expectations for the dining hall’s food finally had faint smiles on their faces today.

The group of disciples who had witnessed Su Ji’s cooking skills had absolute trust in him, especially the disciples of Yunxian Sect. They sincerely hoped Su Ji could bring the strange, messed-up food of Yunxian Sect back onto the right track.

After all, once the Sword Trial Tournament ended, everyone else would leave, but they would stay here for a long time. Although they could take teleportation arrays to Linggu Mountain, Linggu Mountain could only solve lunch. Breakfast and dinner were still a big problem.

Yun Xicheng and the others were especially supportive. The four of them grouped together and rushed into the dining hall, lining up at the very back.

Yan Shao was big and tall. Looking around, he spotted Su Ji, who was showing half his face from the back kitchen, at first glance, and immediately grinned foolishly and waved at him.

Su Ji didn’t expect him to see him from so far away. As the saying goes, the higher you stand, the farther you see—by that logic, being tall also worked.

He tilted his head and showed his whole face, waving back at Yan Shao. Over there, Yun Xicheng and the others also noticed him, each of them sticking their heads out of the queue and making faces at Su Ji.

Su Ji smiled. Just as he was about to signal Chu Zhaoye to look at them, he turned his head and saw that familiar gloomy, cold, resentful gaze again, staring at him from who knows how long ago.

Crap.

He’s jealous again.

Although he didn’t know where Chu Zhaoye’s hostility toward Yan Shao came from, Su Ji had already gotten used to coaxing him. Before his brain even reacted, the hand closest to Chu Zhaoye had already shoved itself into Chu Zhaoye’s palm and was held.

As for why it was “shoved” into his palm, it was purely because Chu Zhaoye’s hand was twice his size. Su Ji was more than willing but physically unable to fully wrap around it.

Chu Zhaoye had been sulking alone. He knew Su Ji was only greeting Yan Shao out of politeness, but his possessiveness made his mood uncontrollable when jealousy rose.

He was no longer that cute little cat who would be properly coaxed no matter how much he threw a tantrum.

After he once used a glare to intimidate Yan Shao and got flicked by Su Ji, he belatedly realized that after revealing his true identity, every action of his would be magnified. If he kept getting jealous like he did as a cat, over time it would probably arouse Su Ji’s suspicion.

If he couldn’t control his temper and showed hostility toward everyone who tried to get close to Su Ji, one day Su Ji would eventually lose patience with him.

The probability of that was extremely small, but Chu Zhaoye still kept it buried in his heart.

This time he was also secretly jealous without letting Su Ji know, but he still underestimated Su Ji’s attention toward him. That low pressure had only just risen for a few moments before Su Ji noticed it.

When he was still a cat, even before his jealousy fully formed, Su Ji would always detect it immediately.

Sometimes Chu Zhaoye even suspected that Su Ji had stuck some kind of emotion-detection talisman on him.

When their eyes met, Chu Zhaoye was feeling guilty and trying to change the topic when something soft and warm slipped into his palm.

He looked down and saw Su Ji’s slender, pale hand holding his hand. When he noticed it, it even shook a little in a flattering way.

Chu Zhaoye stared at that obedient little hand that had actively nestled into his large palm and went silent for a moment.

After a while, a silly smile appeared from his lips.

Every time Su Ji coaxed him, all his unhappiness would instantly disappear. This time was the same—not only was he no longer jealous, he even felt a bit smug and pleased.

So he had been overthinking. Su Ji didn’t find him annoying at all and even took the initiative to let him hold his hand. Who else had this kind of treatment?

Chu Zhaoye tightened his grip on that hand a little more and looked at the big guy standing in the queue outside the door waiting for food, his gaze shifting from resentment to disdain.

Su Ji’s hand only greets you, but I’m different.

I can hold his hand.

……

Chu Zhaoye got jealous easily, but he was also very easy to coax. Su Ji didn’t even say a single word, and just holding hands was enough to make him happy.

As expected, whether human or cat, Ma Tuan all like holding hands.

Chu Zhaoye kept holding onto him, and Su Ji didn’t pull his hand away either, just quietly letting him hold it.

The dining hall was already crowded. The queue had reached the entrance and was still extending outward.

The disciples who reached the serving area all looked surprised, as if they hadn’t expected that Yunxian Sect, which always insisted that food could taste terrible but must have a wide variety of dishes, would only serve three dishes at lunch today.

Although the dishes smelled very good, the disciples who had been deceived by fragrance-enhancing powder were somewhat cautious, worried that the group of apprentice disciples in the back kitchen hadn’t properly learned from Chef Su and were using underhanded tricks like Chef Lin just to make the food look good.

A serving disciple noticed their expressions and said while distributing the food, “Young friends, there’s no fragrance-enhancing powder in today’s dishes. The First Elder just gave us a stern warning—no matter how bold we are, we wouldn’t dare do something like that. These dishes were all made by the apprentice disciples after learning from Chef Su, put together with full effort. They’re definitely much better than before!”

That disciple said, “We absolutely trust Chef Su’s skills. Whether there’s powder or not, I’ll know after one bite. If it really is cutting corners, that would truly be failing Chef Su’s teaching!”

He was a disciple with a doubtful attitude. His fellow disciple had already taken the food and sat down, starting to eat before him. The first dish he tried was also the apprentice disciples’ entry dish—tomato stir-fried eggs.

A simple dish, but with an extraordinary taste.

After Su Ji’s morning guidance, the apprentice disciples had already become relatively skilled at adjusting seasoning based on ingredient amounts. Even when cooking for several sects at once, they were able to properly handle seasoning ratios, and there was almost no case of the flavor becoming weak due to increased ingredients.

This bite of tomato stir-fried eggs was juicy, the eggs were smooth, and the sweet-sour balance was just right. The moment it entered the mouth, it immediately opened up the disciple’s taste buds.

The doubtful disciple had just sat down when he heard his companion, who had already started eating, exclaim, “Damn, this is so much better now!”

He was startled and quickly picked up a piece of tomato and egg and stuffed it into his mouth. Unlike the food he used to see once and immediately lose his appetite for, this dish looked delicious—and tasted even better.

Without anyone teaching him, he instinctively put the tomato egg over rice, mixed it with a spoon, and began eating heartily.

The doubts he had just held were completely shattered by the fragrant food.

Not just them—voices of surprise and praise rose from all directions.

“Good heavens, is this really the same chef? It’s way too different!”

“Before this, the dining hall was so bad, but now it’s a total comeback—it’s so good!”

“I’m guessing these three dishes were taught by Chef Su this morning. I’ve eaten at Linggu Mountain before. Even though it can’t compare to Chef Su, the improvement is huge—it completely outclasses our sect’s dining hall!”

“I’ve been forcing myself to eat bad food these past few days so I’d have energy for the competition. Today I finally see the light!”

People even started recommending their own ways of eating.

“This tomato egg over rice is amazing! Everyone who hasn’t tried it should try it!”

“No, tomato egg mixed with mapo tofu and dried tofu over rice is even better!”

“Am I the only one who loves this mapo tofu? I love spicy food—this is exactly my taste!”

“Chef Su is amazing. In just one morning he made them feel like completely different people!”

“I request Chef Su to come teach cooking at our sect too!”

“Our sect wants him too!”

“Why doesn’t Chef Su just start a sect himself? Call it the ‘Delicious Sect’ and train top chefs in the cultivation world hahaha!”

“Not a bad idea honestly. The cultivation world really needs a leader like Chef Su—chef skills here are so uneven!”

The topic gradually drifted from “the food is delicious today” to “Chef Su should start a sect.”

Su Ji, who was in the back kitchen, couldn’t help laughing when he heard it.

That idea wasn’t bad—he was actually a little tempted.

But it was still too early to think about that. The priority now was to rebuild these apprentice disciples’ confidence.

He curved his eyes and praised the excited apprentice disciples in the back kitchen, “Everyone did really well today. I told you, you could do it, right?”

Qu Ming turned around. He was so moved by the praise outside the door that his eyes were already watery. Hearing Su Ji’s encouragement again, he choked up and said, “Chef Su, thank you so much. Since becoming an apprentice disciple, I’ve never been praised like this before. I… I’m so happy!”

Not just him—everyone here was young. Because their families were poor and they didn’t have talent for cultivation, they were sent to Yunxian Sect early to work as servant disciples and earn some money each month to survive.

Servant disciples had low status in the sect and did all the dirty and tiring work, while earning very little.

Although Yunxian Sect offered five cultivation lectures a month for servant disciples, these people were also the lowest in talent among them. Even though they tried hard under the elders’ teachings, they still couldn’t grasp it.

It took them several years just to reach the Qi Refining realm.

Finally, when the dining hall reopened recruitment, they gathered courage to leave their previous odd jobs and came to Lianshuo Peak to learn cooking. But expectations only led to disappointment.

During this month as apprentice disciples, what accompanied them every day were insults and belittlement.

This was the first time they had received so much recognition for their persistence.

The more Qu Ming thought about it, the more grievances he felt, and suddenly he burst into tears. Emotionally overwhelmed, he bowed deeply to Su Ji while crying, “Chef Su, you are like my reborn parents!”

Under his influence, the other eighteen apprentice disciples also had tears in their eyes. Just when Su Ji felt something bad was about to happen, the back kitchen rang out in unison—

“Chef Su, you are also our reborn parents!”

The sound was deafening and echoed through the entire dining hall again and again.

The disciples in the front hall eating all curiously looked toward the back kitchen.

Su Ji’s expression cracked for a moment, and he buried his head into Chu Zhaoye’s chest.

If I didn’t see it, it didn’t happen. If I didn’t see it, it didn’t happen.

Chu Zhaoye happily hugged him and couldn’t help teasing, “Covering your ears while stealing a bell.”

The next second, his expression also twisted.

—Su Ji pinched his lower back.

And even used spiritual energy.

Author’s Note:

Chu Zhaoye’s jealousy = occasional insecurity + frequent self-admiration

Chu Zhaoye: he held my hand, he must like me

Su Ji: he’s jealous again, better coax my cat son

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