The two people who disappeared into the darkness came back after about an hour carrying along a few games that had been killed and cleaned.
"What did you bring?" Yuan Fang stood up to help, looking somewhat envious.
He had been left behind to guard the girls while his brother was experiencing the thrill of following behind a top cultivator and watching his moves.
Tian Shan smiled widely and said somewhat smugly showing off the prey," 'We' took down the whole nest of pheasants hiding behind the bushes. It took 'us' some time to clean them up."
Yuan Fang heard his low-key boasting, the emphasis on the word 'we' and 'us' was so deep that it couldn't be ignored.
He snatched the rope from Tian Shan where the cleaned pheasants were dangling neatly. And was just about to send away the guy with a mild 'oh' when heard him continue.
" Just now I was telling brother Wei to let me do all the cooking tonight. We have quite a few new members joining us this time, it's worth celebrating. Tonight I'll let them taste my craftsmanship."
Yuan Fang:"????" Did he hear correctly?
Tian Shan was going to cook tonight?
Yuan Fang's eyes turned strange instantly at that moment.
It was not only Yaun Fang who was behaving strangely. The reactions of Tian Lan and Xiang Qingling weren't any less. Tian Lan's hand which was holding a broken branch poking into the fire shook violently.
What great sin did they commit today?!
Tian Shan couldn't see the other two, however, Yuan Fang's change was clearly seen by him. However, he got the meaning wrong.
" What?~ Are you envious?" Tian Shan smiled even more broadly, baring all his gums, " If you are envious you can just tell me I won't laugh at you. After all, you are my brother." He was saying he won't laugh but he was clearly twitching uncontrollably with wild laughter.
What a scumbag!
Yuan Fang looked sullen as he watched Tian Shan's shoulders move up and down. He didn't respond to all his teasing instead turn around and left.
His feet were so quick that Tian Shan had an illusion that the guy was escaping a plague.
Tian Shan shook his head completely unaware of the fact that his guess had hit the mark. Not only Yuan Fang, Tian Lan and Xiang Qingling also had the urge to look for a place to hide themselves. They wanted to stay away from Tian Shan as far as possible currently.
The farther the better!
They didn't want to die of poisoning. Staying to close Tian Shan when he was practising his dark cooking skill was only looking for self-abuse.
Tian Shan couldn't understand his teammates' difficulty. He was happy to show off his skill in front of new members. After all, it wasn't every day he had the chance to cook.
While the two were messing around Wei had already walked up to Jiang Ying Yue's side.
" Are you alright?" Although Jiang Ying Yue knew nothing would happen to the two of them she still worried. It was not just her others also started getting anxious when the two hadn't returned for a while.
Wei's always cold face seemed to have softened a bit when he felt her concern and lightly comforted her, " Hmm, we didn't go far." So, don't worry, we are alright.
However, his words were as usual very few and stiff.
But Jiang Ying Yue didn't mind, she had known this dead man for a while now and understood his meaning.
Wei sat down beside her and took out the neatly cut branches he prepared for roasting meat.
Piercing a whole peasant with the branch, he was about to place it above the fire to roast directly when Jiang Ying Yue hurriedly stopped him.
Wei looked back at her in confusion not understanding what she wanted to do.
" Brother Wei, you should take some rest. Let me do it." Tian Shan ran over and sat back in his place while gesturing at Wei to leave this matter in his hand and that he should just sit back waiting to taste his delicacy.
The other three:"..." He was going too far with his misunderstanding.
Their faces were tragic, they regretted it very much. The flickering light that danced in the middle of the growing night cast a heavy shadow under their grim contours making their faces look even more terrifying.
Jiang Ying Yue was startled.
However, the person who had caused all this wasn't at all self-aware. He continued to brag.
Tian Shan turned to Jiang Ying Yue and said somewhat smugly, " You guys just wait, I'll let you taste my craftsmanship today. And I am not bragging--my roasted meats are not bad at all--You can ask my brothers they are moved to tears whenever I cook for them."
Moved to tears?.....
Obviously, they cried out of misery. How come in his world did it turn into a different meaning?!
The regret shot to its peak.
They shouldn't have indulged Tian Shan and encouraged him to continue his dark cooking. No matter how much it hurt from the very beginning they should have been frank with him.
Endless complimenting and secretly discarding behind his back, not letting the person know how horrible of a cook he was. All this snowballed into this big disaster that was coming to get them.
The three looked at the pile of meat at the side and shivered violently. Their urge to escape grew even stronger.
Jiang Ying Yue who was facing them saw the reactions that were visible to the naked eye and looked back at the man who was already moving his hand seriously. To and fro, after a few times, she had an inkling.
She didn't speak anymore, exhaled and watched from the side.
Others who didn't know the dark history were obviously happy to eat freshly roasted meat than to eat cold and stale pancakes they waited impatiently.
Tian Shan didn't say anymore, he was set to impress them with his cooking.
Everyone watched helplessly as he moved his hands to roast the meat not letting anyone rob him of his job.
They watched and watched some in anticipation and some nervously and it wasn't until a quarter of an hour that Jiang Ying Yue finally retracted her gaze from the lump of charred meat that was still being turned over the fire.
Jiang Ying Yue finally sighed and turned to Wei, " Wei, please build another fire over there. Let brother Tian Shan play here. We won't disturb him."
"....." Play...Play?....
Did he hear it wrong?
Tian Shan looked up in disbelief.
"Pfft..." Someone from Tian Shan's original camp was caught off guard and lost control. It was too late to regret.
Tian Shan turned his head sharply to the side and looked fiercely.
Among the three of them, he didn't know who was the culprit but now all of them behaved innocently.
He gave them a look that said 'you won't have anything to eat tonight' then returned to work with full concentration.
Now Tian Shan was even more determined to prove his talent for cooking. Especially when he saw the doubtful gazes of others.
The three glanced at their leader who appeared more like fighting a fierce battle than cooking and couldn't help scooting their butts farther away from him.
Wei immediately build another fire beside the previous one and moved the stones he found nearby according to Jiang Ying Yue's request.
Under everyone's curious gazes, Jiang Ying Yue swiped her hands and took out things like pot, ladle, chopping board, bowls, etc.
Everyone:"!!!!"
Even the two maids who followed the two sisters had no idea their First Miss was carrying so much.
Was their Eldest Miss going to open a kitchen?....
Jiang Ying Yue ignored their strange gazes and worked to set up the stove around the fire. Then took out the rice she brought from home and the vegetables she stole...no she exchanged from Elder Mo.
She first washed and cleaned the large pot with clean water from the stream and poured some rice enough for everyone to eat and started cleaning it. Her actions were neat and fast as if she had done it countless times.
Seeing her work hard to prepare dinner for them others woke up suddenly and came forward to help.
Jiang Ying Yue wasn't one to be polite, after all, she was cooking for everyone and handed them easy tasks like washing vegetables, and watching the stove.
The people who were handed the job of washing the vegetables looked at the fresh and crisp cabbages and carrots and couldn't help wondering aloud, " These vegetables are the ones we ate in Lan Quan, right?..."
"Xiao You, did you buy them from Elder Mo?"
Cultivators never ate normal vegetables. They mostly ate herbs that aided them in their cultivation and maintaining a physique fit for cultivation.
From their childhood, the vegetables they knew were only these herbs. What ordinary people ate they had never seen. That was why they were very surprised and curious when Elder Mo gave them those dumplings to eat.
Besides, ordinary people could only live at the edge of the countries, the least developed and border places. They were very hardly seen in the Capitals and big Cities. And even if you happened to see some of them they were mostly slaves of the lowest rank of some big families.
Capital didn't sell these kinds of vegetables. And Jiang Ying Yue must have 'bought' them from Elder Mo.
Bought....yes, this was what they thought.
Jiang Ying Yue, who had a guilty conscience towards that mischievous yet warm Old man felt a bit bad and nodded reluctantly.
She just hoped the old man had enough strength to endure the shock.
If he was alive and well when they returned she would definitely compensate double.