Chapter 12: Dark Cuisine
Little Can jumped through the air, landing on Chu Jiu’s shoulder from the treetop several meters away.
It wagged its tail and explained with meows—
It was the one who had been roaring in the forest.
But it didn’t intend to hurt anyone, it was just too hungry after waking up and couldn’t find food, so it was roaring anxiously.
Chu Jiu was a bit surprised: such a mini rabbit could make such thunderous sounds?
Little Can meowed again: although it was acting unruly, it was a rabbit and should be good at farming. Would you like to take it back?
Chu Jiu: “…Farming? That’s good. But why are rabbits good at farming?”
Little Can: “Because they eat a lot of carrots.”
Chu Jiu: …
Before he could understand Little Can’s logic, the system popped up a prompt:
[A capturable spirit beast has been found!]
[Please use various methods such as violence, coaxing, kidnapping, threatening, and bagging to capture it as soon as possible!]
Chu Jiu: ?!
System, do you know what you’re saying?
This strange prompt flashed for about two seconds and was immediately replaced by a new prompt:
[A spirit beast has been found.]
[This spirit beast has lost its ability to resist, please take it in as soon as possible.]
The little rabbit on the ground, with its red eyes wide open, wiggled its long ears, and let out a pitiful “roar,” indeed looking like it had “lost its ability to resist.”
As for why it lost its ability to resist…
Chu Jiu glanced at Little Can, who was calmly licking its paws on his shoulder, and already guessed the reason.
He sighed inwardly, squatted down, and reached out to the little rabbit:
“I’m Chu Jiu, are you hungry?”
“I don’t have carrots here… but I have some white radish, it’s also delicious, would you like to try some?”
The little rabbit wiggled over to Chu Jiu’s hand, raised its head, almost tearfully, and responded, “Roar roar roar…”
Whether it was because the little rabbit was naturally less wary than a kitten, or because it had been beaten up by Little Can and became unusually obedient, Chu Jiu completely understood its words.
It was saying very quickly: do I have to eat radish, can I eat some meat?
A rabbit that eats meat?
That’s fine. It’s a spirit beast anyway.
Chu Jiu was about to take food out of his bag when Little Can pressed his paw on Chu Jiu’s hand, his eyes saying: don’t touch the dried fish!
Chu Jiu chuckled, “I know, the dried fish is for you, I’ll give it some lamb.”
With that, Chu Jiu handed two pieces of [Cotton Sheep Meat] to the little rabbit.
The little rabbit leaned forward, its pink little nose twitching, but didn’t start eating immediately.
It raised its head, looked at Chu Jiu expectantly, and roared, “Roar?”—”This is raw meat?”
Chu Jiu suddenly realized: “Right, you and Little Can are both spirit beasts, so you probably don’t like raw meat, you want it cooked.”
He didn’t have any ready-made grilled lamb in his bag, so he used spirit power to make two skewers.
As soon as the fragrant grilled lamb skewers were handed to the little rabbit, the little guy revealed a row of sharp teeth that didn’t match a rabbit at all, skillfully tore off the lamb, and swallowed it in large gulps.
After eating two large skewers of grilled lamb, the little rabbit burped, its long ears swaying wildly, its eyes full of “It’s so delicious! Take me with you!”
The system also updated the prompt in a timely manner:
[Capture successful!]
[Spirit beast basic information:
Species: unknown
Skill: wasteland farming
Favorite food: meat dishes
Disliked food: radish]
It’s actually a rabbit that hates radishes!
But it’s just as Little Can guessed, it’s a spirit beast with farming skills!
When they return to Bean Village, they can finally start farming!
Chu Jiu happily held the little rabbit in his hands, wondering where to put this new little guy.
This little rabbit was a bit bigger than Little Can, he didn’t know if the right chest pocket would fit it…?
Just as he was thinking this, Little Can dove into Chu Jiu’s left chest pocket, and growled fiercely, “Mine! No one can take it from me!”
The little rabbit’s body trembled, and it jumped onto Chu Jiu’s backpack, stuffing itself into the shallow pocket on the side of the backpack: “Roar roar roar!”—”I won’t take it, I’m fine here!”
The little rabbit spoke very quickly, with a hint of fear in its voice.
Chu Jiu wondered if it was scared of Little Can.
Chu Jiu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He poked Little Can’s forehead with his fingertip, wanting to say a few more words, but heard the bushes behind him rustling again, and someone shouted, “Is anyone there? Are you alright?”
Chu Jiu quickly replied, “I’m fine!”
After a moment, a person emerged from behind the bushes and asked again, “Was there a troll here?”
Chu Jiu honestly replied, “I didn’t see a troll.”
He really didn’t see any giant monsters, just a mini-rabbit that ate meat.
The person stopped and saw Chu Jiu, and couldn’t help but pause, “Are you… from Bean Village?”
Chu Jiu was also a little surprised: this tall man was the ability-user hired by the unscrupulous merchant Yaris as a guard last time.
He nodded, “Yes, I’m from Bean Village.”
“Last time I heard you say you could bring new products to town to find merchants—we’ve made a new ingredient these past two days, and we want to bring it over to try.”
The tall man first said “oh,” then said to Chu Jiu, “Wait for me.”
After speaking, the man walked around the clearing, carefully identifying the plants and soil nearby.
After a moment, he shook his head, “There’s really no sign of a troll. Maybe someone’s eyes deceived them.”
The man walked up to Chu Jiu:
“My name is Reg, I heard someone calling for help earlier, saying a troll appeared nearby, so I came to check.”
“I just took on a new guard job, this merchant does quite a bit of business, and is willing to go to remote villages to find specialty products. He has several routes like that now.”
“Would you like to try him? I can take you there.”
Chu Jiu naturally agreed gratefully.
*
Emerald Town was much more prosperous than Bean Village. The roads in the town were paved with gravel, and the houses along the roads were mostly two-story buildings with white bricks and red tiles.
If Bean Village’s architecture still retained a bit of ancient Chinese style, Emerald Town was entirely exotic.
However, Chu Jiu didn’t have the leisure to admire the medieval fantasy-style town scenery at the moment.
He was led by Reg through two streets and found the merchant who had hired Reg at the market.
The merchant’s name was Marco, he was burly and had a thick beard.
When Reg found him, Marco was eating lunch brought by his assistant.
Seeing Reg and Chu Jiu arrive, he warmly greeted them, “Have some with us, fine blood sausage and offal, very oily!” “The soup today is very thick, you can stand a spoon in it!”
After being politely declined, Marco wiped his mouth, asked the assistant to take the plates away, and listened to Reg’s explanation with a serious expression.
The assistant hurriedly left with the plates, passing by Chu Jiu.
A rough, greasy smell, with the fishy smell of unprocessed internal organs, wafted into Chu Jiu’s nose.
Chu Jiu subconsciously held his breath, trying his best not to make any rude expressions on his face.
But the two little ones he was carrying didn’t have such good self-control.
Little Can let out an almost mournful “meow,” shouting, “What’s that awful smell!”
The little rabbit said “roar roar,” “That’s a terrible smell, too stinky!”
Chu Jiu walked a little further away, looking calm, and said softly, “Be polite, don’t shout.”
To outsiders, it just seemed like Chu Jiu’s two little pets were meowing.
Little Can fell silent.
The little rabbit whispered quickly, “Roar, roar roar… roar roar roar”—
“It’s terrible, why would good meat be made to smell like that? Did that human making the food forget to use ‘gifts from the forest’?”
Chu Jiu asked softly, “‘Gifts from the forest’?”
Little rabbit: “Roar roar roar.”—”They’re the plants you can dig up in the forest that make meat smell good.”
Chu Jiu understood: the little rabbit was talking about “spices.”
Such as ginger and cinnamon to remove the fishy smell, pepper to add flavor, chili peppers to add a stimulating taste…
When cooking offal and other ingredients, these spices should be essential.
But the dark, bloody dish that was just served seemed to have nothing added except salt?
Was that… “plain boiled offal”?
Chu Jiu shuddered slightly.
Marco had understood Reg’s explanation.
The middle-aged man smiled at Chu Jiu, “What did you bring?”
“As long as the stuff is really good, no matter how far the village is, we’ll open up a trade route.”
Chu Jiu smiled and didn’t answer immediately.
In fact, before coming, his idea was simple:
Like in Bean Village, let Marco taste “tofu chicken soup” and “tofu fish head soup.”
He believed that the merchant would be captivated by the excellent taste.
But after seeing Marco’s lunch, he had another idea.
An idea that might sell tofu at an even higher price.
He coughed lightly and said, “The thing I brought is a precious ingredient cooked with a lost ancient method.”
“Most people probably haven’t even heard of it.”
Even Marco, who had seen a lot, couldn’t help but rub his hands together when he heard the keywords “lost” and “ancient method.”
Chu Jiu didn’t keep him in suspense. He simply took out a piece of tofu from his backpack.
Marco’s eyes lit up: “It’s so white!”
In Marco’s understanding, “white ingredients” were very precious.
Like white soft bread baked with finely ground white flour and fresh milk.
That kind of thing was a top-grade ingredient that could only be eaten on holidays and festivals.
Chu Jiu placed the unseasoned tofu on the plate in front of Marco and said:
“This is called ‘tofu.'”
“It’s warm but not hot, perfect for eating now. Try it.”
“You don’t need a knife to cut this, you can eat it with a spoon.”
Marco was even more surprised: “Warm?”
Why was something taken out of a backpack still warm?
Reg glanced at Chu Jiu’s not-so-big backpack and understood: “Spatial ability.”
Chu Jiu didn’t deny it.
Hearing that the refined young man in front of him was an ability-user, Marco felt a little respect. He said, “No wonder you found lost ingredients,” and pressed the spoon into the tofu.
Sure enough, he easily scooped out a piece of tofu.
The jelly-like paste wobbled slightly in the spoon.
Before putting it in his mouth, he smelled a light and pleasant fragrance.
Marco raised his eyebrows and put the spoonful of tofu into his mouth.
The traveling merchant, the middle-aged man who thought he had eaten countless delicacies, couldn’t help but close his eyes.
The comforting texture, the refreshing taste—
It was so comfortable!
To be honest, the plate of blood sausage mixed with offal and a bowl of bread and onion soup were very satisfying, but after eating them, his stomach and mouth felt a little greasy.
This bite of tofu completely dispelled the dull discomfort and made him feel refreshed!
After a while, the whole piece of tofu was gone, without leaving a trace of residue.
Marco exclaimed, “This is… this is… this is really an excellent after-dinner dessert!”
Chu Jiu suppressed a smile and replied with a straight face, “Yes, before the monster invasion, this was a very high-end after-dinner dessert.”
Marco wiped his mouth and said sincerely, “How much do you plan to sell this ingredient for?”
Here it comes! The price discussion!
