Chapter 239: The Reward of Royal Jelly
Chapter 239: The Reward of Royal Jelly
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
"Grandpa, that uncle definitely doesn’t know how to make noodles. Look, there isn’t even an egg in it," said the little boy behind Yuan Zhou’s back. He was quite considerate and thus didn’t want Yuan Zhou to be upset.
"Just take it as filling the stomach. It doesn’t look bad," the aged man stirred the noodles with the chopsticks and said indifferently. Anyway, they were all noodles and didn’t have much difference from others; therefore, the noodles eaten by them currently wasn’t supposed to be too bad.
"Ok, I’m gonna eat it, grandpa." The little boy started to eat after saying that.
China had been a society of agricultural civilization and people laid much emphasis on cooked wheaten food. Moreover, noodles were one of the featured foods in China as there were always different noodles in different regions. For example, the noodles with thick gravy and noodles with ten side dishes in Shandong Region; the noodles with preserved vegetables and noodles with fried eel slices & shrimps in the Suhang Region.
The noodles were also popular in the aged man’s village where every family stocked up on flour. When Yuan Zhou first came to the village, he was fed with the noodles. Therefore, the grandpa and grandson were surprised once they swallowed the noodles cooked by Yuan Zhou.
"Grandpa, the noodles are so delicious," said the little boy excitedly with a flushed face. After that, he began to eat the noodles quickly without stop following the sound of "Slurp Slurp".
On the other hand, the aged man felt the difference to be even more conspicuous. Having eaten various noodles in his lifetime, he could well distinguish between good and bad. Unlike ordinary noodles that were directly swallowed into the stomach, the noodles cooked by Yuan Zhou needed to be carefully savored for its chewiness.
There was much broth in the bowl and it totally covered the noodles inside. This was just the way to eat noodles in Yangzhou region. Such a way of seeing only the broth but no noodles could be the best way to arouse people’s appetite.
The more they ate the noodles, the tastier they felt the noodles were. The texture became slightly different as the time progressed, but they didn’t feel any sense of softness at all. Instead, what filled their mouth was the rigid and smooth texture.
As for Mr. Ma, he wasn’t that easy-going at all. Even if the dish was very delicious, he wouldn’t say any good words, let alone that Yuan Zhou had demands for him.
"The culinary skills are truly not bad. The taste of the noodles, however, can’t match with this craftsmanship." With only a few words, Mr. Ma cooled down Yuan Zhou’s eager desire of asking for his help.
Compared with the aged man, Yuan Zhou felt his character was undoubtedly pretty good and so was his temperament. Meanwhile, he also understood why Mr. Ma wasn’t liked by the villagers here. He really spoke in a special way that made people feel awkward.
"So would you like to cook that dish now?" without any expression, Yuan Zhou took a deep breath and then said calmly.
"Why would I do that? Just because of the imperfect noodle soup?" Mr. Ma revealed an expression of discontent.
"The food ingredients were unable to meet the requirements. However, my craftsmanship could completely make up for the disadvantage," said Yuan Zhou confidently.
"What do you come here for?" Mr. Ma shifted the subject straightforwardly.
"What do you think I’m here for?" Yuan Zhou likewise didn’t answer him directly.
"Only two things are worth being remembered here. This old man and the royal jelly." Mr. Ma was awfully confident.
"That’s right. Do you like to cook the dish personally?" Yuan Zhou was fairly courteous.
A person that had god-tier craftsmanship deserved people’s respect while an old man with god-tier craftsmanship was worthy of respect and careful treatment.
"I won’t cook," Mr. Ma also answered firmly this time.
Then Yuan Zhou had only to take the empty bowl back to the host family. Despite the refusal, Yuan Zhou still sent to him another bowl of noodles in the evening. Of course, such petty favors weren’t that attractive to persuade Mr. Ma.
Another reason that made Yuan Zhou cook the noodles again in the evening was the request of the little boy.
"Uncle, can you cook the noodles again in the evening? I ate too fast at noon and didn’t leave any for my parents." When the little boy found Yuan Zhou, he appeared pretty embarrassed. The little flushed face made the red spots appear more obvious.
"Humm," Yuan Zhou answered without giving him any positive or negative answer.
"Mum told me good things should be shared. Thank you, elder brother." The little boy was very smart. He directly called him elder brother when he found Yuan Zhou didn’t agree to his request.
It was then that Yuan Zhou understood why the boy called him uncle intentionally. In spite of that, he still agreed at last. After all, he was an aloof person who didn’t bear grudges.
As the proverb goes, he who receives a gift sells his liberty. The aged man informed Yuan Zhou in the early morning next day that he had found a guy who would bring him down the cliff.
"Young man, this is the selected person, Liuzi. He has the best skills in gathering honey. You’ll be safe with him. Pay him 500 RMB and he will guarantee your safety." The price offered by the aged man was quite good.
It was riskier to take a totally inexperienced person to go down the cliff.
"Ok. Thank you so much." Yuan Zhou nodded the head and thanked him.
"Let’s go. Follow me." Liuzi was a man with short spiky hair and swarthy belly muscles. He was short and spoke little and seemed to be an honest man.
"Sorry to bother you. I need to go to the site with the coordinates of 96°28’ east longitude and 25°07’north latitude, specifically, a cliff." Following Liuzi, Yuan Zhou told him earnestly.
"I know. The aged man has told me about that. It’s an abandoned cliff that hasn’t produce the honey for a long time." Liuzi was surprised at first for one second and then calmed down and said peacefully.
"You know the path, right? Fantastic." Yuan Zhou nodded the head. He was quite satisfied that the guide knew about the coordinates.
Nevertheless, the reserved guide Liuzi truly didn’t know what to answer this time. Apparently, this boss had thought that he was clear of the so-called coordinates. Being too lazy to explain to Yuan Zhou, Liuzi just led him to the abandoned cliff that he had mentioned.
The stones were basically lime white in Yanfeng Village. But here at the clifftop, the color was quite different. They were all yellow stones and thus the cliff was very easy to be found. It was the only place that had the largest contrast in color compared to its surroundings. Yuan Zhou stood at the clifftop and almost couldn’t open his eyes due to the strong wind.
"Daub this thing on your exposed skin in case the bees sting you." Liuzi handed to Yuan Zhou a plastic bag which was filled with some black and yellow stuff and had a slight sour taste. Yuan Zhou couldn’t tell what it was in that short time.
"Alright." Yuan Zhou was dressed simply with a gray long-sleeve shirt and canvas pants that was waterproof and smooth. That way, the bees were unable to get inside and sting him.
While Yuan Zhou was daubing the medicine, Liuzi was preparing the ropes at the side quietly. Occasionally, Yuan Zhou went up and helped him. Because of his flexible fingers, he didn’t give any trouble.
Liuzi was a little surprised with that. But since he had seen those professional travelers who also knew about the skills, he didn’t bother to ask Yuan Zhou. Of course, Yuan Zhou learned the skills by watching Liuzi do so.
"Luckily, I don’t have the acrophobia." When they were about to go down the cliff, Yuan Zhou murmured and then followed Liuzi climbing down slowly.
At that time, the system suddenly turned up after keeping silent for a long time and showed him a map. With only a few lines, the map appeared to be very clear.
"System, you know I don’t have a good sense of directions. How can I understand what the map means?" At the moment that he was hanging with a rope by the cliff, Yuan Zhou still couldn’t help complaining about the map of the system.
Then immediately, the map turned into a 3D map. Only by then did Yuan Zhou become clear where the reward of the system lay.
"Liuzi, can we go toward the left?" Yuan Zhou took hold of the rope with one hand and pointed to the left with the other.
"Yes, sure." Liuzi looked around and nodded the head.
Subsequently, he began to climb down toward the left direction with Yuan Zhou. The System, nevertheless, turned on the navigational system that showed only the arrow tip without making any sound in case Yuan Zhou complained again that he was unable to comprehend the map.
Compared with Qiandu’s map, however, this one was really much better. As long as he deviated from the right course, it reminded him at once. It was quite different from the Qiandu map which never reminded anyone even after going in a wrong direction for a long distance. Therefore, Yuan Zhou managed to find a honeycomb smoothly.
It was a medium-sized honeycomb in which the Yanfeng Bees were flying around.
On seeing the flying bees, Yuan Zhou felt rather terrible!