Chef God of the Wuxia and Fantasy World

"What's the problem?" Lu Wushuang didn't think there was anything wrong with her thinking: "Brother Ling is such a good man, being his bed warmer is better than marrying an ordinary man." She paused: "Cousin, you've been living here for a month now. Think about what you eat every day, what you drink, and what you do. Compare that to the life you used to live."

"..." Cheng Ying remained silent.

“Big brother is the best man in the world.” Lu Wushuang finished a handful of peanuts and said, “Except for his looks… well, he’s not bad, just not as handsome as Yang Guo, but everything else is impeccable. I spent three years wandering the martial arts world and finally understood what life was like without big brother. I spent three years searching for the answer, and in the end, I still felt it was better to stay by big brother’s side. Although I’m a bit lazy and always get scolded by big brother, he still cooks delicious food for me and indulges me in everything.”

At this point, Lu Wushuang's eyes were full of smiles: "I can't think of any man in the world who could treat me better. Even if you don't have romantic feelings for me, I'm still a beautiful woman! I'm more than enough to be his bed warmer. Anyway, I'm going to stay by your side, even if you kick me out, I won't leave."

"..." Cheng Ying sighed: "Aren't you afraid that Sister Long will be angry?"

“She won’t.” Lu Wushuang pouted. “Sister Long is aloof by nature. Besides practicing martial arts and raising bees, she doesn’t care much about Big Brother’s affairs. Every year on Big Brother’s birthday, it’s Sister Shuang’er and me who prepare it. All she knows is to eat. It’s only because Big Brother can put up with it. If it were any other man, he would have beaten her eight hundred times over.”

"Don't talk nonsense." Cheng Ying frowned slightly: "To Brother Ling, Sister Long is his wife. How they get along is their family matter. What right do you have to say anything bad about Sister Long?"

"Hmph!" Lu Wushuang snorted lightly, "I've known my older brother longer than her. If she hadn't married him, what would she have to compare with me? You ask me what our status is? How about 'family' who have lived together for many years?"

Cheng Ying pinched the bridge of her nose: "Wushuang, I'm afraid you'll end up playing with fire and getting burned."

"No way!" Lu Wushuang stretched, displaying the beauty of her delicate young body, and said, "I just want to eat and drink with my big brother, I don't want any official status. Besides..."

Lu Wushuang beckoned to Cheng Ying with her finger, looking mysterious.

Cheng Ying leaned closer and heard Lu Wushuang whisper, "Big brother and sister Shuang'er have the secret to immortality. If I follow them, I can also live forever."

Cheng Ying was utterly shocked: "You mean...really!?"

“It’s absolutely true.” Lu Wushuang nodded and whispered, “Cousin, you’re the only family I have left in this world. Come with me! That way we’ll never be apart.”

"..." Cheng Ying's mind was in turmoil. She said, "Let me think about it."

"It's alright, take your time to think about it." Lu Wushuang smiled and said, "Anyway, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Putting aside everything else, just look at how your appearance and figure haven't changed at all over the years. Aren't you envious?"

Thinking of Ling Chi's unchanged appearance and figure over the years, Cheng Ying's heart fluttered, but then she thought of Shuang'er.

"..."

Cheng Ying patted her chest, pinched her waist, patted her buttocks, and breathed a sigh of relief.

……

From that day on, Cheng Ying stopped interfering in Lu Wushuang's affairs, but at the same time increased her observation of Ling Chi and Shuang'er.

After months of observation, she finally confirmed that the two people's physical appearances had been frozen in time. The strongest evidence was that their hair hadn't grown at all over the past few months, and even the length of their fingernails hadn't changed. For ordinary people, this was absolutely impossible.

The biggest piece of evidence is that the two of them never lose hair and never go to the toilet.

Hair was easy to find; she just had to sneak a peek at their pillows every day. She had secretly observed them more than ten times and had never found any hair on their pillows.

And the toilet...

She spent several days with Shuang'er and found that Shuang'er had not gone to the toilet. She then secretly observed Ling Chi for a few days and found that he had not gone to the toilet either.

With all the evidence irrefutable, she believed Lu Wushuang's words.

Ling Chi and Shuang'er do indeed possess the secret to immortality.

Chapter Fifty-One: The Price of Immortality

In mid-June, Huang Rong arrived with Guo Xiang and Guo Polu.

When Guo Xiang saw Ling Chi, she happily hugged his leg and said, "Godfather, I want to eat an ice pop."

Guo Polu stood behind Guo Xiang, his face full of longing.

Ling Chi picked up the two little ones and said with a smile, "I prepared it for you a long time ago. Shuang'er, take them to get popsicles."

Shuang'er nodded with a smile, holding one of the little ones' hands in each: "Come with me!"

The two little ones went to the ancient tomb with Shuang'er. There was a cold jade bed in the tomb. In the past few summers, Ling Chi would store some popsicles there, just to wait for Huang Rong and the others to come and escape the heat.

After watching the two children leave, Huang Rong smiled and said, "Brother Ling, I have some good news to tell you."

"Oh?" Ling Chi asked with a smile, "What good news?"

"Fu'er is pregnant."

Ling Chi was taken aback, then smiled broadly and congratulated her, "Congratulations, congratulations, Mrs. Guo, you're about to become a grandmother."

"That last sentence is superfluous." Huang Rong rolled her eyes, but sighed helplessly, "Yes! Time flies so fast, I'm about to become a grandmother."

Ling Chi smiled and said, "Being a grandmother is great. The Yang family will have an heir now."

"It's good, but I'm getting old!" Huang Rong touched her face, thinking back to her youth and then to herself now, and sighed, "I am not the same person I used to be."

"That's life," Ling Chi said, cutting a watermelon. "Birth, aging, sickness, and death are inevitable for everyone."

Huang Rong looked at his face, narrowed her eyes, and smiled, "Brother Ling, how many years have we known each other?"

"It's been four or five years!" Ling Chi placed the sliced ​​watermelon on a tray and carried it to the coffee table: "Try it, it's a new variety, a seedless watermelon."

"Oh?" Huang Rong looked at the sliced ​​watermelon and, sure enough, there wasn't a single seed. Curious, she asked, "Watermelons can be seedless? How is that done?"

"Of course, it will require a lot of time and effort to research and experiment." Ling Chi picked up a slice of watermelon and took a bite. "It's also sweeter than ordinary watermelons. Madam Guo, please have a taste."

Huang Rong was also a little thirsty, so she ate three slices of watermelon in a row, which not only quenched her thirst but also made her feel very satisfied.

"How is it?" Ling Chi asked.

"Delicious." Huang Rong nodded and said, "It has no seeds, so it's very refreshing to eat, and it's even sweeter than a regular watermelon. Brother Ling, I really admire you more and more; you can even grow watermelons in a beautiful way."

"Haha, as a top chef, of course I need top-quality ingredients to show off my status. But that's nothing. If we're talking about something truly impressive, I have to mention the hybrid rice I've researched," Ling Chi laughed.

"Hybrid rice?" Huang Rong blinked.

"This is a high-yield rice variety. If it is well cared for, a yield of over 2,000 jin per mu is not a problem."

"Two thousand catties!?" Huang Rong was extremely shocked: "Brother Ling, you mean...two thousand catties?"

"Don't get agitated." Ling Chi gestured for him to sit down. "Sit down and talk."

"Ah!" Huang Rong sat down again and said, "Sorry, I got a little excited, but is it really possible for rice to yield two thousand catties per mu?"

"That's assuming it's taken good care of," Ling Chi said. "If it's not taken good care of, it'll only weigh around 1,500 jin."

"That...that's really tall!" Huang Rong exclaimed excitedly. "If we had rice with such a high yield, wouldn't the people of our Great Song Dynasty be able to say goodbye to hunger?"

“We can’t rely on hybrid rice alone.” Ling Chi shook his head. “If we really want to say goodbye to hunger, the best food is potatoes and sweet potatoes, and corn is also good. The yield per mu is about the same as that of hybrid rice.”

"This...so much!?" Huang Rong became even more excited: "These yields per mu can all be around two thousand jin?"

“No, I meant that corn and hybrid rice have similar yields, not potatoes and sweet potatoes,” Ling Chi said.

"Oh." Huang Rong was a little disappointed, but then smiled and said, "It's not bad, with rice and corn..."

“Madam Guo, you’ve misunderstood.” Ling Chi shook his head and said, “I mean, potatoes and sweet potatoes have a much higher yield than corn and hybrid rice. To feed more people, the best food is actually these two.”

"..." Huang Rong's mouth was a little dry: "How much sweet potato and potato are produced?"

“Conservative estimate…” Ling Chi stroked his chin: “5,000 jin or more is no problem. If taken good care of, 10,000 jin is also a possibility.”

Huang Rong's body went limp, and she slumped into the chair, unable to utter a single word.

Ling Chi smiled and said, "When Madam Guo leaves, take some seeds with you. I will also write you a planting and management guide. You can give these to Master Guo and have him present them to the Emperor. I think Master Guo will be able to make further progress."

Huang Rong stared at him intently, her eyes holding a strange expression.

"What's wrong?" Ling Chi touched his face. "Is there something dirty on my face?"

Huang Rong shook her head and said, "Brother Ling, are you really a deity descended to earth?"

"You're overthinking it. I'm not a god." Ling Chi waved his hand and said, "There's no god as down on his luck as me."

“Brother Ling is far from destitute.” Huang Rong brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and said, “You dare to sell a piece of cake for ten taels of silver, so you're definitely not short of money. You've also married a woman as beautiful as a celestial being, and you possess unparalleled martial arts skills and unheard-of culinary expertise. I really can't imagine any mortal being able to do all of this. Moreover…”

After a pause, Huang Rong stared at his face and said, "Brother Ling, you may be able to say that you have a knack for preserving your youthful appearance after four or five years, but Shuang'er is still sixty years old after four or five years, which is a bit too unusual."

“…” Ling Chi chuckled and said, “I can only say that Shuang’er and I are indeed different from ordinary people, but we are certainly not gods.” He paused, “Maybe in the future, but not now.”

"Currently?" Huang Rong sighed softly, "It's only a matter of time, Brother Ling, you've kept this from me for so long!"

“I didn’t intend to hide it from anyone.” Ling Chi shook his head, then suddenly laughed and said, “If Madam Guo is envious, I do have a way to ensure that your appearance remains unchanged from now on, and that you can enjoy longevity.”

Huang Rong's heart raced as she stared intently at him: "Brother Ling, are you teasing me?"

Ling Chi laughed and said, "It seems that Madam Guo is very concerned about immortality. You would never have asked such a silly question before."

"..." Huang Rong took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, and smiled self-deprecatingly: "Yes! Faced with immortality, I also find it difficult to remain rational. But how many people in this world can?"

“That’s true.” Ling Chi nodded and said, “But immortality comes at a price, and I’m afraid you, Madam Guo, can’t afford it.”

Huang Rong's heart tightened, and she asked, "What is the price?"

"The price of losing freedom." Ling Chi smiled slightly: "You can only live in a hundred acres of farmland and can't go anywhere."

At this point, Ling Chi looked at Huang Rong, who was struggling with her emotions, and asked, "Madam Guo, can you afford this price?"

"..."

After a long silence, Huang Rong sighed and shook her head.

Chapter Fifty-Two Recruitment

Huang Rong is an extroverted, unconventional, and unrestrained person. Although she became more reserved after marrying Guo Jing, her core nature remained unchanged, as evidenced by her annual summer vacations at the cabin.

Whenever she has the chance, she will try her best to relax outside. If she were in modern times, she would be the kind of person who would definitely go out shopping, travel, or even take a spontaneous trip whenever she has free time.

This kind of woman, or rather, this kind of person, is hard to be tied down by family. Ling Chi admires Guo Jing precisely because Guo Jing managed to keep Huang Rong bound, and Huang Rong was willingly bound by that bond.

"I am willing to spend my whole life with my family, but I am not willing to be bound to one place after achieving immortality." This is Huang Rong's truest thought: "I would rather be reincarnated after death, at least I will forget all the things of my past life and be born without any burdens."

After listening to Huang Rong's story, Ling Chi nodded and then asked, "What if Master Guo were with you?"

Huang Rong smiled and said, "A lifetime is enough."

"Where are Xiang'er and Po Lu?" Ling Chi pressed.

"..." Huang Rong thought for a moment and shook her head: "A lifetime is enough."

Ling Chi looked at her; her eyes and expression were calm and composed.

"I understand." Nodding, Ling Chi said, "What a pity."

"No," Huang Rong smiled. "Although my life has had regrets, sorrows, and pains, it has also had joys, happiness, and bliss. At least for these past thirty-odd years, I have been very content. Of course, it would be wonderful to live forever, but what I yearn for even more is freedom. Immortality that is bound by constraints is meaningless."

Ling Chi smiled slightly: "I still have one spot for unbound immortality."