The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 488 My Former Senior Brother

"Qin Lang, what's wrong?"

Xie Rui's questioning voice from the side brought Qin Lang back to his senses.

"It's nothing." Qin Lang smiled and made up a reason casually, "I was just thinking about my duel with you."

"I see." Xie Rui looked enlightened. "Your cooking skills are really amazing. That dish was called Steamed Fish Head with Chopped Chili?"

"Yes." Qin Lang nodded.

"It's truly amazing that they can achieve perfect cooking times for different parts of the fish head during the uniform steaming process, while also removing the fishy smell from every angle," Xie Rui said sincerely. "I can taste that the chopped chili peppers and the batter for my fried fish are specially made."

"Indeed." Qin Lang smiled.

The essence of Hunan people's thousand-year-old culinary wisdom lies in this jar of chopped chili peppers, which, even in this world full of delicious food, is by no means inferior to any secret recipe.

However, Qin Lang immediately thought of what Meng Chang had just said and Xie Rui's reaction.

"Xie Rui, do you really want to join that organization?"

“Yes!” Xie Rui nodded emphatically. “I’ve heard of rare ingredients many times, but I’ve never had the chance to try them.”

"If I could use the finest ingredients to cook, my dishes would definitely be able to..." Before he could finish speaking, Xie Rui suddenly widened his eyes.

A flash of red appeared in the crowd not far away.

Before he could say anything to Qin Lang, Xie Rui took off after him.

"Xie Rui?!" Qin Lang exclaimed in surprise. Seeing that the other party was running further and further away, he thought for a moment and simply followed him.

Soon, Xie Rui's voice came from ahead.

"Meng Yan, it really is you!"

As he spoke, he grabbed another person's wrist.

The latter was a tall, thin young man with red hair. He had a somewhat arrogant expression on his face and looked at Xie Rui with a hint of impatience. "Are we that close? Let go!"

"No!" Xie Rui gritted his teeth. "Do you think that by cutting ties with us, everything in the past can be treated as if it never happened?"

"Now, come with me to see the teacher!"

Upon hearing the word "teacher," Meng Yan's expression changed slightly.

He abruptly shook off Xie Rui's grip, his gaze towards Xie Rui now filled with hostility.

"I advise you to mind your own business."

"The Meng Yan of the past is dead. Just pretend I never existed." Meng Yan paused slightly as he said this.

"And another thing, if you dare join that organization that guy was talking about, I'll beat you up every time I see you!"

As he spoke, a food spirit poked its head out from behind Meng Yan, bared its teeth fiercely at Xie Rui, and sparks flew around it, as if it was about to make a move. The surrounding air also began to heat up.

"What do you want?" Qin Lang could no longer sit idly by and rushed forward to block Xie Rui. Danbao glared at him defiantly, its aura as a three-star food spirit on par with Xie Rui's.

"This is not the Food Spirit battle zone. According to the association's regulations, it is forbidden to use Food Spirits to fight here. Do you want to get arrested by the security team?"

"Hmm?" Meng Yan glanced at Qin Lang with a hint of surprise. "You're also from Huo Yan? I haven't seen you before."

With that, he chuckled and looked back at Xie Rui, pointing at him with his finger, "Remember what I said."

After saying that, Meng Yan turned and left.

Watching the other person's departing figure, Qin Lang's heart stirred slightly. The other person wasn't allowing Xie Rui to join the treasure hunting team?
Does he really know something, or is there another reason?
"Qin Lang, thank you." Xie Rui's voice came from behind Qin Lang. His face no longer showed the excitement and joy he had shown before, and he seemed somewhat silent. "I didn't expect to meet Meng Yan here."

"Who is he?" Qin Lang couldn't help but ask curiously.

“Meng Yan…” Xie Rui paused for a moment, “He used to be my senior brother, but that’s all in the past.”

"He was expelled from the school because of some things, and he had a very unpleasant falling out with his teacher when he left."

"After he left, the teacher was depressed for a long time."

"After that, I never saw Meng Yan again."

“Until today,” Xie Rui said in a low voice, “I thought I could take him to see the teacher, but I didn’t expect him to react like this.”

"It's alright." Qin Lang patted Xie Rui's shoulder to comfort him. "Your teacher must be a highly skilled cook to be able to teach a disciple like you. It's Meng Yan's loss that he was expelled from the school."

"Cooking skills?" Xie Rui's expression suddenly became a little strange. "Qin Lang... you seem to have misunderstood something."

"The teacher I'm talking about is the teacher of the Food Spirit Battle."

"...Huh?" Qin Lang's lips twitched slightly.

Does this count as offering comfort but ending up offering the wrong kind of comfort?
“I am an apprentice at the Flame Spirit Gym. My teacher is Zhang Hui, the gym owner of the Flame Spirit Gym and a first-level spirit master in Stringfish City,” Xie Rui explained. “The Flame Spirit Gym mainly focuses on fire-type food spirits, which is why Meng Yan mistakenly thought you were also from the Flame Spirit Gym.”

"I see."

Qin Lang looked enlightened, and then a thought suddenly struck him.

Wait, fire!

He suddenly looked in the direction where Meng Yan had just left.

The opponent's main fighting spirit is fire-type, and they just told Xie Rui not to join the treasure hunting team, could it be...?

"Why was Meng Yan expelled from your sect by your teacher?" Qin Lang couldn't help but ask.

At this moment, he desperately wanted to know the other party's information to verify his guess.

"This... I don't know either." Xie Rui looked troubled. "The argument was between the teacher and Meng Yan. After that, the teacher was unwilling to talk about Meng Yan anymore."

"Perhaps only the teacher knows the real reason."

"Qin Lang! Are you alright!" A shout filled with anxiety and concern came at that moment. Qin Lang looked up and saw Zhao Qian and Cao Dongdong rushing towards him.

They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Qin Lang and the other person were unharmed.

"We sensed unusual fluctuations from a food spirit here just now, and we were worried that something might have happened to you, so we rushed over immediately."

"I thought you and that Meng Chang..." Cao Dongdong almost let slip the secret, but stopped abruptly after catching a glimpse of Xie Rui out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Qin Lang smiled. "I'll explain the details to you when we get back."

“But now, I have something more important to do.” As he spoke, Qin Lang turned to look at Xie Rui beside him.

"Xie Rui, could you please take us to the Flame Spirit Arena later?" Qin Lang paused slightly. "I'd like to visit Mr. Zhang Hui to see if I can learn about what happened back then."

"Visit my teacher?" Xie Rui paused for a moment, then nodded. "That's no problem."

"I'm going to see my teacher later to ask about the mutual aid organization that Mr. Mengchang mentioned earlier."

Qin Lang: “…”

Can you please stop thinking about that organization all the time?
(End of this chapter)