Chapter 14: Chapter 14 – Something’s Not Right

Translator: 549690339

“What are you doing cooking chicken soup out of nowhere?”

At dusk, Yin Shi’s voice, filled with anger, echoed in the courtyard,

“A perfectly good egg-laying chicken, and you’ve wasted it!”

“I saw how hard all of you were working, and I just thought it would be nice to have some chicken soup when you get home, so mother, you wouldn’t have to cook.”

Replied the slightly plaintive, childlike voice.

“You can’t just be so casual about it, look, what have you made?”

The volume of Yin Shi’s voice immediately decreased, her speech now devoid of most of its former anger.

“Let it be, let it be, it’s just a chicken. We can afford it now. It’s nice that the boy is trying to help, he’s rather dutiful.”

Feng Shouli quickly responded, trying to assuage the situation. Although he also lamented the loss of the egg-laying chicken, he saw no use in berating the child over a meal that had already been cooked.

“Feng Shouli, don’t pretend to be righteous here. Come and taste the chicken soup your son cooked. I don’t know how much salt he has added – is it even edible?”

Upon hearing Yin Shi, Feng father moved forward, scooped up a spoonful of soup, tasted it a little, and his rough face, weathered by sun and rain, began to scrunch up. It was too salty, truly inedible.

“How much salt did you put in?”

Feng Shouli turned to look at the seemingly innocent child standing aside.

“I’m not sure; I just added it based on feeling. Did I add too much?”

Feng Qing’an was also a bit unsure, because the chicken had exploded suddenly, and he didn’t manage to add the chicken blood in time. Therefore, he added more salt and cooked it for a longer time.

“You might want to add more water to the soup!”

Feng Shouli turned his head and spoke to Yin Shi, then focused on Feng Qing’an, instructing him carefully,

“A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen. You should focus on your studies. Let your mother handle the cooking. Please don’t interfere anymore!”

“The phrase ‘a gentleman stays away from the kitchen’ doesn’t mean a gentleman should avoid the kitchen, its real meaning is…”

Feng Qing’an attempted to enlighten them, however, nobody was listening to him any longer. Feng Shouli might have been comforting Yin Shi, but in his heart, he was genuinely distressed—this was an egg-laying chicken after all.

“I suppose I won’t make it as a gentleman!”

Leaving the kitchen, Feng Qing’an walked to the courtyard, looking at the vibrant lives in the yard, he sighed.

A gentleman has a heart of benevolence and righteousness, but he is definitely going to keep practicing “Spirit Attraction Blood Refinement Skill”, with chickens and ducks being the only viable subjects. There are no other living creatures available for him to practice with apart from domestic animals.

Bark! Bark!

Seeing Feng Qing’an’s figure, a little puppy running around in the yard immediately rushed over. After playing for a while, it was only when Yin Shi called him for dinner that Feng Qing’an entered the house.

“Eat up! You wasted all this!”

A bowl full of chicken soup was served, placed right in front of him on the dinner table—close enough for him to reach even with his short arms.

“Father, mother, let’s eat!”

It was only after Feng Qing’an had eaten a lot that he noticed only him was reaching into the chicken soup bowl, as his parents only picked up some vegetables from the serving dih.

“There’s something off about the soup, you eat it!”

Yin Shi showed a repulsed expression on her face.

“You eat it, I don’t like chicken!”

Feng Shouli grinned while holding his large bowl.

“…”

The child stays silent, continuing to eat from his bowl. He’s heard similar words too many times, always full of excuses. The ten-year-old him from the past might believe, but not this time round.

Feng Qing’an picked up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks, bit into it, chewed for a moment, then his shiny oily face scrunched up. He opened his mouth and spat out the chewed up chicken mixed with rice into the bowl.

“What’s wrong?”

Seeing her son spitting out the food from his mouth, Yin Shi immediately asked with concern.

“There’s something off about this meat!”

“What’s off about it? Is it too salty? Well, that’s because you put too much salt!”

“No, it’s not, it tastes really strange, I can’t describe it, it feels weird, it’s not like what I ate before!”

Feng Qing’an, his brow furrowed, looked rather serious.

“What’s so strange about it?”

Yin Shi was a bit surprised and also took a bite of the chicken herself. After chewing for a moment, she looked at Feng Qing’an and said,

“There’s nothing wrong with the taste at all!”

“There really is something wrong with it, mother. You can’t taste it right, father, try a piece and see, my mother can’t tell!”

Feng Qing’an turned his gaze to his father. Listening to this mother-son conversation, Feng Shouli was also a bit confused. He picked up a piece of meat from the soup bowl and chewed it repeatedly, but he still failed to see any issue,

“What’s not right with it? It’s very fresh!”

“You both just don’t have the right taste buds!”

Feng Qing’an mumbled, and under the watchful eyes of his parents, he picked up another piece of meat. After chewing it for a moment, he frowned deeply and spat it out into his bowl again.

“There’s really something wrong with this meat. It’s not a diseased chicken, is it?”

“Nonsense!”

“Stop talking nonsense, how could it be a diseased chicken?”

The couple immediately reprimanded the child. Both of them, not believing in the accusations, each took a piece of meat from the soup bowl, tasted it carefully, corroborated each other before determining that nothing was wrong the meat.

“Probably because you added more water and boiled it again, that’s why the taste is a bit off. That must be why Er Niu thinks it’s strange!”

Feng Shouli came up with a reason for his son’s unusual taste.

“You’re too picky with your food. If a famine happened, with that mouth of yours, you’d starve to death. Hurry up and finish your bowl of rice, not a single grain should be left!”

Yin Shi rebuked.

“Okay!”

Feng Qing’an quickly finished his meal. After he was done, he looked at his parents and said,

“This bowl of chicken soup, you two eat if you want. I definitely won’t touch it. The taste is too weird!”

“Eat if you want to, don’t if you don’t.”

Yin Shi said impatiently.

“The taste is indeed strange; you two just can’t taste it correctly!”

Feng Qing’an mumbled as he retreated to his room. As soon as he closed the door, he couldn’t help but smack his lips, savoring the taste lingering in his mouth.

Both sets of parents were so similar from his two lives, they would give their child the best of everything if they could.

But really, he couldn’t finish an entire pot of chicken soup! Isn’t it better if the family shared it together?

They weren’t lacking anything now, and Feng Qing’an quickly adapted to the significant improvement in his quality of life since he had experienced a better life in the past. Yet his parents still lived frugally, as they used to.

Take his father Feng Shouli for instance, he could comfortably be a landlord and enjoy the life of a gentleman, but he chose to toil in the field with a hoe.

His mother, Yin Shi, wasn’t much different. Even though they could afford to hire several maids and workers, they chose to do everything themselves.

Feng Qing’an was helpless about this. He could only occasionally use some clever tricks and tactics.