Chapter 16: Gentle

“Eh?” Xia Nuo froze for a moment, then asked. “Why?”

He was surprised to hear the man’s stern voice. He had never heard him speak like that before.

“Listen to me. That place is dangerous.” Kan Chen touched his head looking very anxious. Then he showed a meaningful smile and threatened, “It’s especially dangerous for a little lamb like you who’s very weak. If you go there, you won’t be able to come back.”

The atmosphere froze subtly after said this, and the boy’s face went blank for a moment.

Scared? The man thought as he raised his eyebrows.

A moment later, the boy spoke.

“Weak?” Xia Nuo asked in surprise. He didn’t expect the man to have this kind of image of him in his mind; he wanted to retort. But after thinking about it, he actually felt like there was nothing wrong with what he said but…

“Why a lamb and not something else?” He asked seriously. “Why not a deer, or a rabbit, or some other animal. I feel like using the word ‘lamb’ kind of has some bad association to something.”

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G nlavykd stal esnvsa ytalle.

Mbl vsrkn pweeldzu pzkrrle kdvs y ekqqlaldv ekalnvksd.

Iyd Ubld alyzzu bye vs tkhl kv vs vbkp csu qsa bso bkp caykd osajp. Tl rwv bkp byde sd vbl cynj sq vbl csu’p dlnj yde pvasjle kv y qlo vkxlp. Tl pxkzle obld bl pyo bkx pbakdjkdt esod, yde pyke, “Nkpvld vs xl. Psd’v ypj ps xydu iwlpvksdp. Kwpv alxlxcla obyv R pyke.”

“Xb, sb… Xjyu.” Dky Lws dseele yde ydpolale, “R osd’v qsatlv, R osd’v ts vs vbl tyaeld.”

Iyd Ubld vwadle yaswde kd pyvkpqynvksd yde nsdvkdwle vs zlye bkx vsoyaep vbl jkvnbld. Dky Lws bye y tsse.frt lmralppksd sd bkp qynl, cwv kd bkp blyav, bl oyp nsxrzykdkdt rkvkqwzzu.

Ebu eslp Ya. Iyd Ubld jdso yzz xu pldpkvkhl ryavp ps ralnkplzu? [MN: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

Nyvla, obld Dky Lws qkdyzzu bye vbl nswaytl vs ypj bkx, bl pweeldzu tsv yd ydpola vs bkp iwlpvksd yobkzl yts clqsal bl nswze lhld ypj. “Gduoyu, kpd’v kv obyv olyj ydkxyzp yal wpwyzzu alqlaale vs?”

Dky Lws: …

Now the two were standing in the kitchen, both staring at the rabbit on the counter.

“…I can’t cook.” The man shook his head, confirming Xia Nuo’s suspicions.

“Then what are we going to do?” Xia Nuo stared in disbelief. He was also a spoiled child at home. He only knew to distinguish the basic condiments, vinegar, sugar and salt and knew nothing else beyond that.

“Hmm…” Kan Chen pondered for a moment then pulled out a cookbook with curling yellowed edges from the cupboard. “So it was still here.”

There was some nostalgia in his eyes.

“Is it a cookbook?” Xia Nuo ‘saw’ that he was holding a book-like object in his hand and couldn’t help but lean over.

He couldn’t read the words on it at all. The reason he leaned over so positively was because when Kan Chen took it out, a stream of light flashed on it the same way the picture frame did.

Is this also a clue? Or some kind of item?

As he got closer, the words on the cookbook flashed on the game panel.

Item name: Mother He’s recipe
Rarity: Normal
Description: An ordinary recipe book, which brings together the experience and efforts of an ordinary middle-aged woman. After reading the recipe book, no matter how low your skill is, your cooking skills will reach the beginner level.
Special tip: When flipping through the recipes, Mother He will unconsciously record some "unimportant" little things on it. If you read it carefully, you might find something new. 

“Well, which dish would you want to eat?” Kan Chen turned the page to rabbit meat dishes and  began to read. “Braised rabbit meat, dry-fried rabbit meat, dry pot rabbit meat, rabbit hot pot…”

“Braised rabbit meat…” Xia Nuo thought about it and chose the one that sounded easiest.

After all, the recipe only says that he can reach the beginner level after reading. He still didn’t trust the man’s cooking skills…

Kan Chen gave him a sidelong glance, obviously seeing what he was thinking, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he took out a few eggs from the cupboard.

“The dish will be ready in a while. I can’t let you be hungry for too long, I’ll cook a few eggs to eat first.”

Xia Nuo covered his growling stomach and smiled sheepishly. You can’t blame him. If you count last night, he hasn’t eaten three meals already!

He took the egg and became a little curious. “This cupboard is amazing. Is there anything else you can take out of it?”

Before Kan Chen had a chance to answer, the two heard a “bang”, and could not help but turn their heads to look at the source of the sound.

“Meow meow meow—!” The black cat, Kate, pounced on the window and stared angrily at the egg in… Xia Nuo’s hand.

“You egg thief!” It growled at Kan Chen.

Kate is a very strange cat. She was already an evil spirit but she still adhered to the habit of eating everyday. In her first few years in the manor, she went to mountains and forests to hunt and satisfy her appetite. Later on, she got tired of this hunting game and started a breeding business.

She keeps a flock of chickens in the mansion’s atrium then goes to pick up and count their eggs everyday.

Just this morning, she went to the atrium as per her morning routine and saw a group of ravens flying not far away. She immediately had a bad feeling in her heart. When she counted the number of eggs, she realized that it was a lot less than usual!

The black cat, Kate, instantly thought of Kan Chen and the young man he brought with him. Who else but them would take his eggs? Besides, who in the manor does not know that ravens are Kan Chen’s incarnations? He didn’t even bother to hide them, did he think that she’s a fool?

So she came after him angrily, just in time for her to catch the man in the act.

Though he was caught in the act, Kan Chen showed no expression of guilt. The young man next to him also didn’t know what the cat said so he just looked confused. This just made Kate more angry.

“Give me back my eggs!” The black cat yelled.

“What’s wrong with the cat? Is it hungry too?” Xia Nuo asked.

“Don’t mind it.” Kan Chen took out a small pot, then he put some water and the eggs together in it, and opened the stove. The black cat saw this all happen and purred even louder.

Kan Chen replied to his complaints lightly, “You have lived in the manor for so long, but did I ever ask you to pay for rent? You made a mess of the atrium but I didn’t say anything about it, right? What’s important to note is that everything in the manor belongs to the manor owner. That was clearly stated in the rules, don’t you remember?”

“Meow–?” Kate got surprised, so much so that the tone of her voice changed.

Was there such a rule? Now that she thought about it, Kan Chen really did tell her about the rules when she first came into the manor. So maybe… probably, he did tell her that?

Her voice suddenly became frustrated. Xia Nuo’s ears were filled by mournful meow noises.

At this time, the water had boiled and the eggs were now cooked. After Kan Chen poured out the water, he picked up the eggs with his bare hands.

“Wait! You’ll burn yourself!” Xia Nuo saw that the man didn’t put the eggs in cold water and directly picked it up. Xia Nuo hurriedly went over to stop him.

He grabbed the man’s hand and immediately placed it under cool running water. “Mr. Kan Chen, you’re usually so mature and composed but why do you not have common sense at all? You can’t just touch a freshly boiled egg with your bare hands, what if you get scalded?” 

The young man’s face was filled with worry, but Kan Chen lowered his eyes.

What he did just now was not an unintentional act but a deliberate test.

Evil spirits are not afraid of heat, much less getting burned. If Xia Nuo could see, he would see that his fingers, which he thought that had been scalded, still looked pale.

Through this ‘test’, Kan Chen realized that Xia Nuo is able to ‘see’ certain objects by some means, but is not able to see their specific details. He saw the way he touched the eggs but he didn’t see that he wasn’t burned.

Is this also an ability that the rules gave him?

Kan Chen didn’t feel wary of him but felt worried for him instead.

According to his understanding of the rules, it is not some generous giver. Its gifts have never been free. If you get something from it then you must pay it back twice as much later.

He looked at the innocent young man in front of him and worried that he’d be cheated by the rules.

“Does it still hurt?” The young man’s questions full of concern interrupted his thoughts. Kan Chen came back to his senses and found that he had unconsciously replied.

“It hurts.” 

Though there wasn’t a change in the tone of his voice, Xia Nuo heard a bit of coquetry from it for no reason. He thought about how his family treated him when he gets hurt, so he gently raised the man’s hand close to his mouth and blew gently.

“Hooo, hoooo. Pain, pain, go away!”

Kan Chen: “…”

His warm breath brushed his cold fingers, bringing a subtle touch. His lips inadvertently touched his fingers. Though only for a brief moment, that feeling became deeply engraved in his mind and played back constantly.

After saying that, Xia Nuo also felt that it was a bit childish. He smiled sheepishly.

“When I was a child, my mother would always gently blow like this when I get hurt. Strangely enough, that made the pain I felt go away. I was too young then and thought that it was some kind of magic.”

Later on, he realized that he was actually just psychologically comforted by the concern of his family that’s why he didn’t feel the pain anymore.

He couldn’t help but say, “It’s just a blow though. I don’t know if it’s useful. We should probably put some ointment on it…”

“Very useful.” The man interrupted him, his voice a little hoarse. “It doesn’t hurt at all now.”

The man followed his heart and lied solemnly, completely unaware of how gentle the expression on his face was.