Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"You're called Chantulika, right? Did Lord Bishop Keladi specify what food he wanted you to make?" The plump woman working in the kitchen looked at the polite and cute Ning Chan, taking a liking to him and wanting to help him.

This child looked so delicate, with fair and tender hands, just like a spoiled young lord who had never done any labor.

What a shame—now that he’s landed in this godforsaken place, with no one to protect him, who knows how much suffering he’ll endure in the future.

Though the cook Taliusha wasn’t privy to the Lis Church’s secrets, she had been here for five or six years and knew this place wasn’t as rosy as outsiders imagined.

Right now, there were eight candidate Saints in the church, but back in the day, there had been even more. For some unknown reason, they had all died one after another, and the current ones didn’t look like they were doing well either, as if they might drop dead any day.

Though she felt something was off about this, her impoverished circumstances forced her to pretend ignorance. She kept her head down and worked, rarely speaking up.

When Keladi had brought the boy here earlier, it had startled her, fearing trouble was brewing.

Only after hearing that the child was here to prepare food—and that they were to assist—did she work up the nerve to approach. If Keladi had asked them to help, then perhaps this boy hadn’t gotten on his bad side?

But once Taliusha actually spoke up, she grew uneasy again. With so many people around, maybe she shouldn’t have stuck her neck out.

Ning Chan looked at Taliusha, the first to show him kindness, then carefully observed her sturdy figure before deciding to let her "help" him.

"No, Lord Bishop Keladi said I could make anything, but I want to try something new—both as an apology and to thank him for teaching me so much these past days.

Though, I’ve only seen others make it before. I’m not sure if I can pull it off now.

Ah, well, I’ll just have to do my best and hope it turns out well." Ning Chan clenched his little fist, pumping himself up.

Seeing Ning Chan so calm and collected, unbothered by the punishment, the others in the kitchen recalled Keladi’s attitude and decided the boy was worth helping.

"Something new? What is it? Is there anything we need to do here?"

Noticing the others gathering around, Ning Chan tilted his head in thought before waving them off. "Not much. Just this cook’s help will do."

Under everyone’s gaze, Taliusha’s hands trembled slightly as she managed a strained smile and nodded in agreement.

She could only hope her boldness today wouldn’t bring any trouble.

Ning Chan wandered around the kitchen, inspecting the ingredients and seasonings, and thought with a sigh. Though there was rice, the amount was pitifully small. Using such a large pot for so little rice would make it hard to control the water and heat.

Besides, the seasonings were incomplete, making many dishes impossible.

Oh well, today he’d keep it simple. Later, he’d brew soy sauce, vinegar, bean paste, and the like before attempting more elaborate dishes.

"Wash this, then remove most of the meat from it, crack the bones, and put them in the pot." Ning Chan picked out a few beef bones and handed them to Taliusha before hurrying out of the kitchen.

When he returned, he was holding something new.

During the recent plant-gathering, Ning Chan had found wild ginger and wild onions—just what he needed.

After washing them, he sliced some of the ginger and tied the onions into knots before tossing them into the large iron pot with the bones. Then he had Taliusha pour in water.

"Shouldn’t we add anything else to this?" Taliusha asked, concerned that Ning Chan had added so little before walking away.

A broth like this would be too strong-tasting—it needed more spices to mask the smell.

If it were for someone else, bad taste wouldn’t matter, but this was an apology gift for Lord Bishop. If it turned out poorly, wouldn’t he catch hell?

Ning Chan shook his head at the worried Taliusha. "Just leave it like this for now. Let me know when the water starts bubbling."

At this point, it's basically impossible to have this pot of soup ready to eat today—it's all reserved for tomorrow.

He planned to make some pumpkin pancakes, stir-fried carrots, and a simple cabbage meatball soup for today.

"Taliusha, could you heat up more water, then peel this pumpkin, slice it into small pieces, and put them in this basin?"

"No need to stare—just glance at it now and then."

Ning Chan nearly laughed when he saw Taliusha’s serious expression as she stared at the pot of beef bone soup. This isn’t a science experiment—no need to be so serious.

Taliusha jumped when Ning Chan called her, her body giving a little shake as she turned to him in a fluster. "Oh! Y-yes, right away."

After giving Taliusha her instructions, Ning Chan turned away to handle other tasks, not giving her a chance to ask questions. She could only follow his directions.

Ning Chan scooped up some wheat flour and it still felt too coarse, so he sifted it again.

By the time Taliusha finished peeling the pumpkin, Ning Chan had mostly finished sifting the flour. He walked over, inspected the pumpkin, and had Taliusha put the pumpkin basin into the pot.

At that moment, steam was starting to rise from the large pot. Ning Chan tossed two wooden blocks into the water and waited for Taliusha to set the basin in before covering the pot.

As Taliusha lifted the basin to place it inside, a puff of steam burned her hand, making her yank her hand back. If Ning Chan hadn’t grabbed the pot’s rim just then, the entire basin of pumpkin would have tipped into the water.

"Oh no! I—I’m so sorry! You okay?" Taliusha felt a burning sensation on her hand—her dark skin flushed red where it burned. If it hurt her this much, wouldn’t Ning Chan’s delicate skin be injured even worse?

Panicked, she looked at Ning Chan’s hand, only to find it still pale and unharmed, as if nothing had happened.

Noticing her gaze, Ning Chan flexed his fingers slightly and chose to pretend nothing was wrong. "I’m fine. What about you? Did you get burned?"

A little steam didn’t scare him—he’d handled fire before.

Seeing that Ning Chan was truly unharmed, Taliusha rubbed her hands together, the pain easing slightly as she sighed in relief. "Whew, good… I’m alright too. I’m sorry—I wasn’t paying attention and almost ruined what you asked me to do."

"If you’re alright, then let’s keep working. Can you mince the large chunks of meat we set aside earlier?"

"Yes, I can." Still shaken by her earlier mistake, Taliusha worked with extra care, gripping the meat cleaver tight as she chopped the meat into fine pieces.

With the labor-intensive tasks delegated, Ning Chan took out the carrots and began peeling and shredding them.

At first, his motions were clumsy but gradually became smoother.

The other kitchen workers eyed Ning Chan’s busywork, their confusion growing.

They’d never seen anyone cook like this before—they just didn’t know how the final dishes would taste.

But based on their past experience, this stuff probably wouldn’t taste great.

What could a child possibly know about cooking? He could barely reach the stove as it was.

And if he botched this, would they punish him again?

Ning Chan caught whiffs of malice among the onlookers. He pinpointed the source and glanced at those individuals, sneering inwardly.

Good. None of them would get a bite of his cooking.

Once the water for blanching the bones started bubbling, Ning Chan fished them out, rinsed them in clean water, and let them cool.

The cloudy, scummy water got dumped out. Fresh water was added to the pot, along with the cleaned bones, ginger slices, and knotted scallions.

This time, instead of leaving the pot uncovered, he put the lid on and let it simmer over low heat.

The steamed pumpkin was mashed forcefully with a large spoon until it turned completely into a paste, then pushed aside, and the excess liquid was poured out.

Originally, Ning Chan planned to discard the pumpkin water directly, but thinking of how scarce food was in these times, he took a bowl and collected all the liquid.

The squeezed pumpkin paste was mixed with the sifted wheat flour, turning a muted orange.

If high-quality white flour had been used, the pumpkin dough would have been a soft orange, and after frying, it would have turned into a vibrant orange.

The current, less vivid color would have to suffice.

Worried he wasn’t strong enough to knead it evenly, Ning Chan specifically asked Taliusha to knead the dough.

Once the pumpkin dough was ready, it was rolled into long strips, cut into evenly sized portions, and then pressed into round cakes with the palm.

The oil heated up, and one by one, the pumpkin cakes slid into the pan, producing a crisp "sizzle." The buttery sweetness filled the air, and the delicate fragrance of pumpkin seemed to grow richer as the temperature rose.

The people in the kitchen instinctively swallowed their saliva, then glanced at the porridge they were cooking in front of them—now it just looked bland.

While frying the pumpkin cakes, Ning Chan kept an eye on the small pot of boiling water nearby. Seeing it come to a boil, he instructed Taliusha to toss in the torn cabbage leaves while he dropped in a spoonful of lard to melt.

Once all the pumpkin cakes were fried, Ning Chan began prepping the beef meatballs.

With no cooking wine available here, he could only mince wild ginger and mix it in to cut the gaminess.

As the cabbage water bubbled again, Ning Chan reached into the beef paste, squeezed twice, and a pink meatball popped from between his thumb and finger. He scooped it twice with a spoon, shaped it into a ball, and dropped it into the water.

Under the heat, the pink meatball gradually turned white, adding another rich layer to the aroma.

While the beef meatballs bubbled in the broth, Ning Chan heated oil again—this time, lard.

The white fat melted in the black pan, forming golden bubbles. With a "sizzle," the shredded carrots were tossed in, their color deepening to a glossy sheen under the high heat.

A pinch of salt was added, as if it could trigger some magical reaction.

"Gulp"—a loud gulp rang out across the room.

Everyone present nervously glanced around, afraid they had been the one to make the sound.

Under their burning gazes, Ning Chan scooped the shredded carrots into a bowl, looked around, and, finding no chopsticks, had to use a fork to lift some shakily into his mouth.