Editor: YuanJun
“Boom!” Another deafening blast occurred in the Song family kitchen!
A youth covered in soot and dust rushed out of the kitchen that was billowing black smog.
The youngster coughed while running. He looked poverty-stricken – his clothes were in tatters and his hair was disheveled. If you did not know this youth well, then you would have mistaken him for a refugee. readonyuritranslations
“Cough, Cough, Cough! How did I fail? It’s impossible! I followed the recipe to the letter!”
I could not contemplate the reason for this failure. I stood outside the smoking kitchen and examined the cookbook in more detail.
An older woman grabbed a broom and hurtled towards me with the intention of devouring me!
“Song Xiran, did you just blast the kitchen again? Do you want our house to be burned to ash? Do you want to sleep in the streets? What are you doing here? Why are you not in school?”
I rubbed my eyes – oh, this woman is none other than my mother. Her eyes were flaming, and from the speed of her sprinting, if you gave her a big round ring and two wheels under her feet, she could become Nezha1 in an instant.
T/N
1 Nezha is the Chinese deity of protectionI realized the situation looked bad, immediately grabbing the school bag nearby, and made my escape.
“Mother, don’t be angry, I’ll go now~”
Her bellow came intense and fierce, “Little rabbit, you better study hard….” Before she could finish, I disappeared without trace.
In school, everyone was nodding their heads as they studied.
‘The scholars who were dressed in a green collar2,
lingers in my heart and fills my mind.
As a king of an empire,
I have sunk into this pit, unable to get out.3‘
T/N
2: Scholars with green collars are people who have passed the examinations3: This poem is written by Cao Cao, a warlord to express his desire for scholars in his empire. The entire poem describes how tormented he is by the lack of scholars and thinks of them for days and nights.
“Urgh…. These are damn boring! Cooking is more interesting. Mother is so domineering, and forces me to study everyday. These books are so stuffy and annoying!”
I sat in my usual seat and took out the book from my school bag. I swayed my head with my classmates and continued to grumble.
“Song Xiran！Song Xiran!”
The teacher saw that I wasn’t focusing on my studies and called my name a couple of times.
I was unaware of this and continued to grumble silently in my heart.
“Xiran, what are you doing? The teacher is calling you!” A good friend of mine pulled my sleeve, and I was pulled back from my daydreams into reality.
Looking at the rigid expression on the teacher’s face, I knew I was in trouble. I immediately stood up.
“Song Xiran, what are you doing?”
At this moment, I discovered that the classroom was lethally silent, and all the students were looking at me. readonyuritranslations
I stammered, “T..teacher, I am reading.”
“Really? Then, please tell me, where did I stop?” The teacher did not let me off the hook easily.
“You read until…. “
I frowned and looked at Wei Qi, who sat beside me, my eyes to begging him for help.
Wei Qi used his book to cover his face as he whispered, “The deer cried out in joy,
as it eats the grass in the fields.”4
“Oh, teacher, I suddenly recalled. You were talking about:
The deer cried out in joy,
as it eats the lotus leaf and duckweed.“
details>I confidently blurted out this answer. To my surprise and amazement, everyone broke out in laughter.
The teacher was very angry as he chided, “Lotus Leaf and Duckweed? You wanted to eat Lotus roots, right? Do you want a bowl of Tremella Soup to cool down your head? Are you even studying? Why didn’t you pay attention in class? You didn’t even finish your homework. Every day you just fool around, thinking of all kinds of rubbish! I think that your heart is elsewhere. All my efforts into teaching you have come to naught!”
“My heart is not in studies.” I softly muttered.
“You….you….you- what did you say? You scoundrel! A good for nothing! A block of wood cannot be used to carve jade. You better go back and tell your mum that your teacher is powerless to guide you, and couldn’t teach you. Please find another teacher. You don’t need to come back again tomorrow.”
The teacher was so furious that he could not say another word for the rest of the day. He just stroked his beard and panted hard. Later, he dismissed the class and left.
“Not needing to come back is good! Do you think that I want to come here? You silly old man~!”
I quickly packed my stuff, and informed my best friend, Wei Qi, as I walked out of the school. readonyuritranslations
On the way, I inhaled the fresh air and strolled around window shopping. I watched the candy seller and examined the cloth that the vendors sold.
Wei Qi looked very worried as he accompanied me, “Xiran, you were expelled from the school. What are you going to tell your mum? Are you not worried that you will get beaten?”
I just shrugged, “No choice. If she wants to beat me, then I just have to bear and grit my teeth. You know that I do not like studying.”
Wei Qi’s house is next door to mine. Since we were young, our two households have been close to one another. He is my ‘brother’ who grew up with me. My mother loves him a lot and often invited him to my house for dinner.
He was born with clear large eyes and a wide forehead. He is gentle, noble and refined, not resembling a commoner’s kid. Rather, he resembles an aristocrat’s son and is the scholarly type.
We are very close. He knows almost everything about me – except the fact that I am a woman.
While walking on the street, I felt hungry and grinned at Wei Qi with a sly smile on my face.
“Wei Qi, are you hungry? Shall I take you to eat something good?”
Wei Qi is indeed my buddy and knows me well!
As soon as he saw my devilish grin, he immediately said he was not hungry and tried to retreat. Even if he was fast, I was faster and grabbed him.
Want to run? No freaking way!
“Do not run away! As brothers, we go through thick and thin together. If we have difficulties, we will face it together. Right now, I have something good.”
Then I dragged him from the street into a decrepit, deserted temple.
“Xiran, what are we doing here?”
He looked at me skeptically. I saw that he is simple and timid, and thought that it would be a piece of cake to bluff him.
“Wei Qi, did you see the wild chickens over there? Catch one for me, I will cook something tasty for you.”
I pointed at the wild chickens just outside this temple.
“Wild chickens? Where? Aren’t these domestic chickens?”
Looks like I had underestimated his intelligence. It is time to pull the wool over his eyes.
“See, there is no one keeping the chickens. The chickens are roaming over there and looking for worms to eat. The chicken lays eggs, and eggs become chickens. That is how there is such a big chicken family. We are here to ensure the survival of the fittest. We will help to eliminate the weakest one and fill our belly. Isn’t this killing two birds with one stone?” I immediately looked at his eyes when I reasoned it out. After all, when it comes to talking rubbish I am the number one.
“But isn’t this stealing?” Looking at the way he hesitated, I was annoyed. Since the ‘easy’ way does not work, I had to retort to the ‘hard’ way.
I put a hand around his neck as I said,
“Damn the ‘buts’. Just say if you will go or not? You are a man! Stop being so wishy-washy! You are too timid. I know that you want to ask me why I didn’t go. But I am the commander and mastermind here, I need to hold the fort and cook dinner. Quick, go, and come back quickly. I believe in you~”
Under my coercion and confounded logic, he had no choice but to catch a chicken, and quickly, he let out the blood, removed the feathers, and degutted the chicken.
I looked at the chicken and was quite satisfied. Now it’s my turn.
I decide to cook a dish called Beggar’s Chicken. Luckily when I was experimenting with the new dish this morning, I had already prepared the seasonings and placed it in my bag. It was to be used for emergencies such as these. Now my efforts had paid off.
I placed the pepper, salt, and other seasonings that I had prepared onto the chicken. At the same time, I assigned Wei Qi the task of finding some wild fruits. Then I stuffed those fruits into the chicken.
Accordingly to my dad’s recipe, the roasted chicken will be more tender and delicious, infused with the aroma of the fruits.
Then I found a broken jar and used it to dig some soil. After adding a bit of water, it became muddy.
I used the mud to encapsulate the chicken and turned it into a ball.
Then I dug a hole in the soft soil and placed the ball into it.
Finally, I ignited a fire on top of it. While watching the fire, I began to chat with Wei Qi.
When the fire finally died out, I dug out the ball of hardened clay and used a stone to break it.
The clay broke apart with ease.
In just an hour, the beggar’s chicken was ready.
We did not have any large leaves, nor did we prepare a lot of things. Therefore, we improvised on the fly. Never did we expect that this experiment would be a success, and the chicken smelled good. readonyuritranslations
After I had taken the chicken out, I used some fruit juice to marinate it and roast it for a short while.
That’s why the chicken is golden in color and succulent. The tastes of the sweet fruits were infused into the meat and gave off a unique aroma that blends the chicken with the fruits. The chicken is tender and ungreasy.
This is something that I had never tried before.
Our stomachs were growling with hunger.
Looking at Wei Qi’s eyes, I first cut a drumstick for him.
Then I cut a piece of chicken meat and place it into my mouth. Oh, it’s super yummy~~
It took us over one and a half hours to cook it, but one and a half minute for Wei Qi and I to finish the chicken.
After eating, I wiped my mouth and rubbed my belly. This is bliss. Even if I were to go home and get beaten by my mum, it would be worth it.
Seeing that it was getting dark, we destroyed all evidence of chicken feathers and bones and intended to return home.
Shortly after, I reached the door of my house. Wei Qi was advised to go home first. I just stood there at the entrance and did not dare to enter.
Although I said I am not worried, and that it is worth it after eating the chicken, I still felt a sense of dread.
The good news was never shared, but bad news spread like wildfire.
I am sure that my mother had heard the news. I don’t know how she would react. When she nags, she could irritate someone to death. And when she is angry, even a tiger would be frightened away.
“Xiran, why are you standing outside the door? You’re so late! Quick, get in,” My mother called.
“Damn it, I am doomed!” I carefully entered the house and closed the door behind. Then I tiptoed to my room.
“I heard that you angered the teacher again and was expelled?” Mother’s face had the characters ‘Not happy’ written on it.
Oh, so it is about me being expelled. I thought it was because I had stolen the chicken and was caught.
As I was saying, how could they discover it so quickly? I wiped away the beads of perspiration from my head and heaved a sigh of relief.
“Tell me, what happens if you go on like this. Can you face your dead father? It is not easy for me to single-handedly raise you, did you know that? To ensure that you could read and write, when you were young, I disguised you as a boy. So that you could bring pride to our ancestors and not follow the path that your dad took. But you….every few days, you would come up with new ways to cook, and do not put effort into your studies. How are you going to survive in the future?”
My mother nagged at me using the same old words. I had heard these words so many times that my ears could hear the worms.
“Mother!” I interrupted her.
“There is no point in studying! I do not want to study. I want to be like my father, and become an Imperial chef, and create the finest cuisines that people have never tasted before.”
“Shut up! I will not permit you to become an imperial chef!”
“But I ….”
“You…what? You better study hard. Did you forget that your father….” Saying up to this, Mother choked up and started crying. readonyuritranslations
My father’s death had always weighed on my mother’s mind.
I heard that my father was one of the most famous imperial chefs in the royal kitchen, but was framed and killed.
My mother carried me by herself and escaped to this place, and single-handedly brought me up.
This is why she opposed me being an imperial chef. But never in her wildest dreams did she expect that I am bad at studies and more interested in cooking.
Since I was a kid, my dream had always been the same – to become an imperial chef like my father.
But this dream of mine always gives my mother a big headache.
She has sent me to several schools, but I have a talent for getting into trouble and being expelled frequently for one reason or another.
“Song Xiran, why are you like that? You angered me to death. You, go to the study and reflect on your actions. Unless don’t reflect on it and regret it, you are not allowed to leave the house! And no dinner for you!” My mother’s eyes were bloodshot as rage swelled within her.
Looks like I have extremely angered my mother this time. Usually, she just nags non-stop. But today, she bursted out in fury.
But I will not be intimidated. If I am not allowed to eat, then I will not eat! But I still want to be an imperial chef!
This is a fan translation presented by Yuri Translations. This novel does not belong to us.
Support the author by donating to the site linked on the synopsis page.
You can also donate to the site: https://ko-fi.com/yurifixation
[ Previous Chapter — Next Chapter ]
Yuri Translations 
Neato
Thanks for reviving this~
LikeLike