Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

...

As Master Qingxuzi and Zhuang walked along the road, snow began to fall again.

"Taoist Master, are we still going to exorcise demons today?"

"Winter is coming, so monsters won't appear as frequently. We'll deal with them when they do appear."

"Then I'd like to go to Taipei first, is that alright?"

Do you remember the way back?

"I remember."

“Then go ahead. I took you around yesterday, and they all recognize you now. If you forget how to get there, just ask someone else. I have to visit some old friends later, so you don’t need to come with me.”

The old Taoist priest felt at ease letting Zhuang Xing go alone, so Zhuang Xing went to the North Market.

He came here mainly to buy a set of everyday clothes. Wearing a Taoist robe on the street would attract too much attention.

Although he knew he was handsome, charming, and loved by everyone, being constantly watched gave him a strange feeling.

When he arrived in Taipei, he found a fabric shop and had a light blue robe made for him.

The tailor took his measurements, collected the deposit, and told him to come back to the store to pick it up in five days.

A new set of clothes costs 150 coins, which is a bit expensive to be honest. A bolt of silk only costs 700 coins. You know, a bolt of silk weighs 20 jin. If you buy the cloth and make your own, you can make a new set of clothes for the whole family and still have some left over.

However, Zhuang Xing didn't have the skill, and could only lament that things in the city were indeed expensive.

After ordering the clothes, he went to the vegetable shop and the butcher shop to take a look.

Once you come to Yidu, there's no canteen as good as Xuanqing Temple, so you can't just go to someone else's house for meals every day.

Yidu has many ingredients that he has never seen before, and he really wants to try them.

After browsing around, he bought a pound of fresh shrimp, a sea bass, and some ginger, garlic, beans, and sesame oil.

The Taoist priest should be having lunch at an old friend's house; he cooked for himself for lunch today.

After leaving Taipei, he wandered through the streets and alleys.

Suddenly he heard a piercing meow. Startled, he thought some naughty child had bullied the kitten, so he quickly turned the corner and came to a narrow alley.

Just as he was about to speak up and give him a good talking-to, he saw a figure wearing a straw hat and a raincoat.

A calico cat broke free from her arms, climbed onto the roof, and ran away as if fleeing.

She looked somewhat lonely in the direction the calico cat had fled, then turned her head and met Zhuang Xing's gaze, momentarily stunned.

Zhuang Xing quickly raised his hand to greet her, and swung the bass tied with straw rope several times.

I thought that after more than half a year, she might no longer be in Yidu, but unexpectedly, I ran into her here.

Chapter 125 An Unusual Snowy Day (Part 2)

Zhuang Xing could roughly imagine what had just happened. Cats are nocturnal animals, and that calico cat must have chosen a secluded spot to lie down and sleep, only to be spotted by Yan Huai'an who happened to be passing by.

The sleeping kitten, fluffy and warm, lay there unguarded within reach.

It's only natural to want to hug it and pet it.

But these days, cats aren't the kind that stay cooped up in rooms all day, acting silly and having almost no wariness of strangers.

Although many people keep cats, most of them let them roam freely. They don't leash their cats or keep them indoors. Rather than keeping cats, it's more like letting them stay at home. Often, house cats will climb over walls and roofs to go out and play. They will only come back inside when they are tired or hungry, and occasionally help catch mice for the family.

Such kittens still retain a lot of vigilance, and if they are suddenly picked up while sleeping, they will naturally be frightened.

However, if an ordinary person wanted to hug that calico cat, they would probably be heard after taking only a few steps. Only the elusive Yan Huai'an was able to pick up the kitten without it noticing.

Then, Zhuang Xing, who happened to be nearby, heard the kitten's screams. The calico cat must have been terrified. It was sleeping soundly when it was suddenly captured by a "giant" many times its own size.

On this day, it finally remembered the fear of being dominated by those guys...

Zhuang Xing knew that feeling: lying in the crib, when his mother wasn't around, he suddenly found a pair of eyes staring straight at him.

It was like a scene from a horror movie; I thought I was going to be eaten.

Poor little cat, I hope it can calm down soon.

However, it was thanks to this little cat that we were able to meet Yan Huai'an here.

"Sister Yan, it's been a long time." Zhuang Xing waved.

Yan Huai'an raised her hand somewhat stiffly to greet him. She must have been very surprised to run into him in Yidu.

To help her recover from the disappointment of being rejected by the kitten, Zhuang Xing invited her inside for dinner.

"Sister, have you eaten? I'm just about to go back and cook. Let's eat together."

Zhuang Xing showed off the bass in his hand and the fresh shrimp he was holding. The shrimp were still alive, their backs arched, and they were placed in the newly bought hollow bamboo basket. Through the small ventilation holes, they were waving their legs.

Sometimes Zhuang Xing wonders, why are there such suitable creatures as shrimp to be eaten?

Yan Huai'an looked at Zhuang Xing for a while. If it were someone else inviting her, she would probably shake her head and refuse, leaving alone.

If talking to other people is a difficulty level of five, then going to someone's house for a meal is a difficulty level of at least twenty.

However, she had eaten many meals at Zhuang Xing's house before, and perhaps because she thought Zhuang Xing's cooking skills were quite good and the food he made was delicious, she finally nodded.

Zhuang Xing took her back to the small courtyard near Baima Temple. On the way, Zhuang Xing explained to her why he was there.

"Master Qingxuzi said he wanted to visit an old friend in Yidu, so he asked me to come along."

"We arrived in Yidu yesterday. We are staying near Baima Temple. The abbot of the temple seems to be a friend of the Taoist priest. He arranged a small courtyard for us."

“It seems like I’ll be spending this winter here. The Taoist priest went to visit a friend again today, so I thought I’d cook something for myself and went to the market to buy fish and shrimp.”

...

She listened quietly. Zhuang Xing didn't ask her what she was doing in Yidu; he just talked about his own things.

There was no way to ask Sister Yan to speak; it would be too difficult for her.

To avoid making the atmosphere awkward, Zhuang Xing had to warm things up himself.

Just like dealing with girls who are shy and don't dare to speak when they come to a host club for the first time, you have to arrange a handsome blond guy with big pectoral muscles to liven up the atmosphere.

The kind of rich women who are regular customers of host clubs and start groping the male hosts right away are the ones who need a cold-faced devilish man with a sword hanging from his waist.

Zhuang Xing led Yan Huai'an into the courtyard. Daoist Qingxuzi had indeed gone out and didn't seem to be coming back anytime soon.

"Sister, please sit inside for a while. I'll go cook right away."

Zhuang Xing brought over a stool, and Yan Huai'an took off his straw hat and raincoat and sat down.

Zhuang Xing went to the kitchen to burn firewood and heat water to cook the millet.

After a while, Yan Huai'an walked in and looked around.

Judging from her expression, it seemed like she wanted to help.

Sitting alone at a table, it's bound to get boring, right?

There are so few forms of entertainment in this era, especially entertainment for one person; there are almost none.

Books and picture books were not widely available and remained relatively expensive. When alone, one could only stare blankly or write or draw something to relieve boredom.

It takes quite a while just to wait for the rice to cook, and sitting alone for such a long time is really not very interesting.

Preparing ingredients and cooking are always more interesting than just spacing out.

Zhuang Xing really enjoyed starting a fire. He would take a fire poker and stack the firewood neatly in the stove, watching the flames dance. He would feel a strange sense of satisfaction.

Yan Huai'an came to see him, probably to ask if there was anything she could do for him.

As for why she didn't speak up first, she was probably afraid of being rejected.

After all, she was a female knight-errant who fought demons and protected the righteous. When she visited other people's homes, she was always an honored guest. Even if she mustered up the courage to ask if there was anything she could help with, she would definitely be refused, and the response would probably be the same old thing.

Anyway, Zhuang Xing is still a child, and children don't understand manners, so it's understandable that he wants to save some effort.

"Could you help me prepare these river shrimp, sister?"

He took one of the river shrimp out of the basin and cleanly and neatly removed its head and vein.

"Okay." Yan Huai'an looked at it and agreed.

So Zhuang Xing handed over the whole pot of river shrimp to her to take care of.

"Just pull out the shrimp vein like this. Don't throw away the shrimp head. Remove the internal organs, stir-fry it, and it will be very fragrant."

Yan Huai'an nodded, and then began to work hard with the pot of river shrimp.

While processing the river shrimp, Yan Huai'an also gutted the bass, removed its internal organs, and scraped off its scales.

He was very skilled at this process. Back in the village, he and Yunling often caught fish to eat together.

By the time the fish was prepared, all the river shrimp were also ready.

Shrimp are indeed born to be eaten. After removing the internal organs from the shrimp head and the shrimp vein, the remaining parts can be used to cook dishes.

Zhuang Xing used sesame oil and salt, mixed with scallions and ginger, to stir-fry the cleaned shrimp heads until fragrant. Then he added water, threw in the sliced ​​sea bass and shrimp meat, and cooked a simple fish and shrimp soup.

Zhuang Xing and Yan Huai'an ate together in the hall. Come to think of it, this seemed to be the first time they had ever eaten at the same table.

He brought the large pot of fish soup to the table.

Zhuang Xing was enjoying a hot meal and soup, feeling quite comfortable on this snowy day.

Towards the end of the meal, everyone held their bowls up and tilted their heads back, the pot of fish and shrimp divided up cleanly.

He decided that the female knight-errant shouldn't be the one to wash the dishes. He put away the dishes and chopsticks, and poured the remaining soup from the pot into a bowl to let it solidify before washing the pot.

With nothing to do in the afternoon, I bought some tea leaves at the tea shop by the door, went back inside to brew some tea, and sat with the female knight under the eaves to drink hot tea.

Later on, Zhuang Xing became too lazy to speak. It wasn't that he had nothing to say, but he just felt there was no need to.

The two of them simply sat together watching the snow fall, fluttering and swirling.

They also ate dinner together.

The old Taoist priest hadn't returned by dinnertime, so he must be being treated to dinner by someone else.

Zhuang Xing took some of the flour out of the box and cooked two bowls of noodles. He specially saved some broth at noon to go with the noodles; it was very fresh and delicious.

He slurped down his noodles, put away the bowl and chopsticks, looked at the snow outside, and couldn't help but sigh.