Strange World Little Cooking Saint

Chapter 57 Squirrel Fish (d)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

The mob attracted more and more people as they marched through the school like an impromptu marathon.

When news that the people they were seeking were just around the next building, they marched over furiously, thirsting to knock a few heads around. However, what they saw was something completely unexpected. [1]

Shiyu was sitting by one of the raised flowerbeds, chewing on something as she yelled, “This is the 8th lap. Keep going, ah, Wen Xian! You’re about to breakthrough soon! If you’re caught by those punks just think how miserable your fate will be! They’ll beat you up for sure, but you might explode from inside too… ahem, I mean. Work hard! Run fast, ah!

Lin Fan looked at this ridiculous scene with a stupefied expression. Here he was, thinking that she was being bullied. However, from the appearance of the tired and dehydrated people scurrying after one lone person, it was clear who was the one being bullied.

When Gan Ping saw this absurd scene, he had elected to join the mob in the end, he too began relaxed.

“What is going on?” asked Feng Luo as he stepped up beside Shiyu.

When Shiyu saw him, his companions as well as the mob behind them, she had to blink her eyes to make sure that she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. “Why are you all here? I’m just disciplining a bunch of hooligans who tried up gang up on people who couldn’t fight back.”

“If they knew they couldn’t catch their victim, why are still chasing him?” Feng Luo decided to address a different issue. He had heard that this was the 8th lap, right?

“This is why the art of languages is very important,” she said cryptically. She was basically just shaming them into moving whenever it looked like they were going to give up. Making sure that the humiliation of giving up was worse than keeping to the chase. She must have been quite successful as they kept running after Wen Xian at the slightest hope that they could catch him and take their frustration out on him. They had already given up on Shiyu much earlier.

“Is there a purpose behind this?”

“Of course there is.” Wen Xian passed by them once more, his face was bright red, but he still looked like he could go on. Shiyu waved at him while saying, “That guy has always been rather thin and weak, his body had been supplemented by medicines before this and the remnants of it are still in his body. It’s better to burn the remaining medicines in his Meridians by pushing him to break his physical limits. He should have some unexpected gains on his next breakthrough.”

This was something that had occurred to her while they were in the middle of running away.

Rather than getting revenge on behalf of Wen Xian, Wen Xian should gain his revenge on his own. She could protect people for a time, but could not protect them for a lifetime. Therefore, it’s best that he developed his strength and advance his Cultivation as much as possible to improve himself.

With so many witnesses, chief among them the more influential College students, how could those bullies dare to continue chasing down Wen Xian? At the first opportunity, they slipped away and Wen Xian was left to run alone in the park. Shiyu narrowed her eyes and guessed that Wen Xian must be close to his limit now. He was visibly slowing down. Without the threat, cough, incentive of people chasing him, the relief he felt might be heavy enough to collapse his body.

“Just one more lap! This is the last lap!” Shiyu called out. “Persevere, ah!” If you give up now, all the effort you’ve put in before this would be wasted, ah.

Fortunately, though Wen Xian was young, he has plenty of determination. Though he had slowed to a jog, he went on determinedly, gritting his teeth against fatigue and kept moving forward.

Feng Luo and Lin Fan studied his exhausted form, their eyes flashing with approval.

“While breaking the limits via body training like this is good for one’s Cultivation, it runs the risk of overstraining one’s body. It’s best to combine body training with pills that invigorate blood to prevent injuries to the meridians. Otherwise, the gains one gets from harsh body training is not worth the risk.” said Liu Yi as he strolled up to Shiyu’s side. He held out a jade pill bottle, “There are blood pills here that will remove blood clots and improve circulation. Please give it to your friend later.”

His offer was not surprising, Shiyu was sort of expecting something like this to happen considering the whole Elder Liu wanting something from her ‘master’ incident.

It’s just… the moment Liu Yi started speaking to her, Mo Yin’s eyes burned with fire you know!? Shiyu wanted to have nothing to do with this guy or accept anything from him. Please go away and leave me alone.

When Feng Luo saw this, he took the bottle on Shiyu’s behalf and took out some medicinal herbs from his space ring. “I don’t have any refined pills, just some medicinal herbs.”

Behind him, Meng Li’s eyes burned with jealous fire.

Since the other two prominent guys already expressed their support for Shiyu’s friend, Lin Fan naturally did not want to fall behind. He also added some high-grade medicinal herbs to the pile.

Xue Qingge, looking perfectly at ease and not at all jealous, smiled slightly and added something onto the medicinal pile as well.

Once the ‘gifts’ reached Shiyu, it was very difficult for her to reject them without seeming boorish. Therefore, she accepted them with open arms on Wen Xian’s behalf. The guy was running the last few dozen metres now. “How generous, in the future, you may order whatever you like from the Soup Shop for free!” Then, she turned to the peanut gallery behind these prominent people and said, “I’ve received a lot of valuable gifts today so my mood is very good. So good in fact that I want to treat everyone to lunch. Everything from the Soup Shop is free this afternoon!”

This announcement drew great cheers from everyone who was now staring at Lin Fan and Co with teary eyes. This caused a bitter smile to appear on Lin Fan and Feng Luo’s lips. Who would have thought that the favours they had just conferred to Shiyu would be returned so swiftly? Shiyu was clearly unwilling to owe anyone even the slightest bit of favour.

Gan Ping was well aware of the value of those magic pills and medicinal herbs, and therefore did not begrudge the free food offered from his Soup Shop. Moreover, these were all the customers who had been supporting his shop all this time and even came out to beat up whoever hurt Shiyu and Wen Xian. Even if this treat turned him into a pauper, it would still be worth it.

Wen Xian was finally done with his ten laps. He looked tired, but not in as much pain as before, therefore Shiyu knew that he had finally broken through his limits. He was even running a little faster towards the end. When he reached them, Gan Ping was there to catch him before he fell to the ground and helped him to the Cafeteria.

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After they returned to the kitchen, Shiyu sent Wen Xian off to rest at the back of the kitchen while she and Gan Ping got busy. Gan Ping did the prep work, scaling, cutting and filleting the Mandarin Fish while Shiyu did the frying and saucing up. All they had to do next was put up the food on the counter. There’s no need to collect money or CPs since it was all free anyway.

Lin Fan sat with Feng Luo and his friends at one table. Looking at the Squirrel Fish with admiration, Feng Luo could not help saying, “Is this another new dish? I haven’t been here for a while and out comes a new dish without my knowing. I must come by more often.”

When Meng Li heard this, she was immediately upset.

It’s just food, how could it possibly be compared to Cultivation?

“Lin Fan sure is lucky. He must eat so well every day while living with Little Miss Shi. I must say I’m kind of jealous,” said Xue Qingge. It was unclear whether she was jealous of Shiyu or Lin Fan.

Lin Fan thought back to the meals Shiyu made before she came to work at the Soup Shop. Every meal was very delicious indeed, however, ever since she started working there… just the thought of his current meals now nearly made him shed bitter tears.

Liu Yi also ventured to say, “Little Shi’s cooking has always been very excellent.”

“It is quite unfortunate that her talent for Cultivation is too low,” said Mo Yin snidely. “Perhaps it is the unfortunate result of wasting her time on pointless hobbies. It is too late now, she would probably never cross over to the Core Transformation Stage [2]. Culinary skill is only good for entertaining others and gain a little flattery here and there. Once everyone is bored with her food, who would give a mere cook a second glance? Lin Fan, ah. You had better advise her to spend more time on her Cultivation. That is the only path one should focus on.”

She had always hated Shiyu ever since Liu Yi showed interest in that woman. Just the thought of that slut set her stomach on fire. Therefore, how could she miss this opportunity to step on her?

“Well, it’s not like anyone could breakthrough even if they gave their all. Perhaps this is her way of letting herself down the pedestal she had put herself on?” Fei Yue wondered aloud. Meng Li’s pitiful face prompted her to say something to score points off Shiyu.

When she had finished speaking, Lin Fan’s face darkened. However, the opponent was nominally Feng Luo’s friend. Since Feng Luo was one of Shiyu’s trusted friends as well, it would be impolite at best to retaliate. In fact, he could see that Feng Luo’s expression was not good either. Feng Luo had naively believed that the girls’ opinion of Shiyu had changed a bit, but it looked like he had been too optimistic. However, he could not reprimand them too openly either and make it difficult for them to save face.

While the guys were mulling over how to express their disapproval without offending anyone, suddenly, a girl in red appear. She very casually scooped up two plates full of Squirrel Fish [3] and slapped both Mo Yin and Fei Yue’s face with it. Everything was smushed onto their faces, fish quills, sauce and all. Just as well Gan Ping had taken out all the spine and body bones, but an errant fish head happened to roll into a place where it was really unwanted…

Just as suddenly, the girl in red whipped the plates away with a flourish and a crash like a magician. She clapped her hands in satisfaction and declared, “Perfect!”

[Gumihou: … Now I really what to know who this Red Chilli Pepper is!]

[1] Detail Change for Dramatic Issue: Author-san (In the Prime of Life) immediately revealed that Shiyu was not being bullied. I thought it would be more interesting for the readers to come to this conclusion themselves.

[2] Core Transformation Stage: Second Stage for Noobs and Gumi. Shiyu has already at this stage back at Chapter 52, thanks to the Bamboo Chicken.

[3] Rant (?): I cannot bear the idea of wasting perfectly good food like that, but if the next chapter is any indication, those were two full plates of food…