My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 44
by Little PandaA Luxurious Feast
For a 5th-order esper like Mu Ning, moving a round table was no trouble at all. It was the two injured patients—one with a shoulder injury, the other with an arm injury—who were the problem. It wasn’t just that Mu Ning would find them in the way if they tried to help; more importantly, she was worried one of them would accidentally tear their wounds open again.
After stopping the two from their counterproductive attempts to help, Mu Ning easily lifted the round table and walked straight outside, which Ren Chenxi and Sun Jia found a little strange.
“Boss, where are we eating?”
“We’ll eat at the new building. We can have our housewarming meal1 at the same time.”
“…” Do you really need a housewarming meal for moving such a short distance? Well, whatever. It was still a move from the old building to the new one.
Just as Mu Ning carried the round table out the door, Chen Gu came out of the kitchen. He was stunned for a moment seeing Mu Ning with the table, then he hurriedly called out, “Boss, you’re taking the table away! What are we supposed to eat on?”
“You guys can just take your food up to the third floor and eat like you usually do,” Mu Ning replied, sparing him a moment.
Wu Tong happened to come out just then and was delighted to hear Mu Ning’s words. “That’s great! I didn’t want to eat with you stinky men anyway!”
“…What is it now!” The men had been looked down on by the girls all day. Besides the hygiene issue, Chen Gu had no idea how else they had offended them. Besides, the men had even helped make lunch today!
“Your table manners are awful! Smacking your lips2 when you eat is one thing, but you don’t know how to be considerate during hot pot either. You just focus on snatching up all the good stuff without any regard for the girls!”
“…Big Sis, this is the apocalypse! Don’t you know how precious food is? Besides, it’s not like we’re that aggressive! You girls are clearly way fiercer when you’re grabbing food!”
“So isn’t it better to eat separately? You men can take your food up to the third floor, and we girls will go to the new building… Oh, right, since we’ve all moved to the new building, you can eat on the first floor now~”
Hearing Wu Tong put it that way, Chen Gu had to admit it made sense. When they ate with the girls, the men never complained that the girls had bigger appetites and were more vicious when grabbing food, yet the girls were complaining about the men first? As expected, eating separately was better. And without the Boss around, they could be a bit more relaxed at mealtime~
“Yes, yes, let’s listen to the Boss and eat separately! But she took the table, so are we supposed to sit on the stairs on the first floor, each holding a bowl? Forget it, let’s just go to the third floor. At least there’s a big coffee table! Once you girls have moved out, this whole building will belong to us men!” The thought of no longer having to endure the girls’ constant criticism, nagging, and hounding about cleaning made Chen Gu feel instantly lighter.
“Pfft!” Seeing Chen Gu’s eager expression, Wu Tong started to look down on him again. “Just you wait. In a few days, the old building will be as filthy as the Tin Shacks!”
“Alright, alright, what are you two chatting about out here? The food’s almost ready, hurry up and help out!” The kitchen door opened again, and as a tantalizing aroma wafted out, Zhang Tongqi poked her head out and yelled at Chen Gu and Wu Tong.
“Coming, coming!”
They had said lunch would be a bit more sumptuous, but in reality, it was just a collection of home-cooked dishes that the young men and women were good at making. However, even ordinary home-cooked food was extraordinary in this Villa Area, which was home to many espers.
The staple food was a large basin of egg fried rice. The eggs were ones they usually bought to feed Tantan. Someone in the base was raising mutated chickens, whose eggs were larger and edible, but a single egg cost four 1st-order crystal cores! It was only because the Boss was treating them so generously that everyone had the good fortune to share the eggs that were normally reserved exclusively for Tantan.
As for the main courses, there was a plate of vibrant green stir-fried vegetables, a plate of stir-fried mushrooms with chunks of meat, a plate of steamed pork ribs with potatoes, and a large pot of fragrant braised dishes.3 For soup, there was a big pot of radish, corn, and beef soup.
All the dishes were divided in half, one portion for the girls and one for the men. When Jian Dan and the other two came out from their showers and saw so many dishes laid out on the large round table, their eyes widened, and they nearly started drooling.
Before the apocalypse, some young masters and misses from wealthy families might have complained that such a meal was too plain, too rich, or too oily. But this was the apocalypse! Vegetables and meat were equally precious! Their prices in the base were at a point where they could basically be exchanged one for one. So this spread could be considered a super luxurious feast! If they were to trade it for crystal cores, they could get quite a lot!
Ah! As expected of a 5th-order esper bigshot’s treat. So extravagant!
The aroma of the food in the main hall not only made Tang Ying and the others still in the bathroom scrub themselves faster but also prompted some neighbors in the Villa Area to pretend to casually walk past the door several times, craning their necks to look inside.
“Little Wu, did you all have a big haul? It’s not a holiday, why are you eating so lavishly?” A plainly dressed auntie called out to Wu Tong, who was helping carry dishes. Don’t be fooled by the woman’s ordinary appearance; she was a 2nd-order “Lion’s Roar Skill”4 esper. To put it simply, her ability was similar to Jian Dan’s, capable of attacking with just her voice, but while Jian Dan needed a musical instrument, this woman just needed to shout.
“Ah? We’re having a housewarming party and welcoming new companions, so we’re eating a little better~” Wu Tong felt a headache coming on. Once you got tangled up with these aunties, you’d be questioned endlessly.
Sure enough…
“Oh? New companions? What kind of companions are so impressive that you’d welcome them like this? Are they…”
However, before the auntie could finish her question, she was coldly interrupted by Mu Ning, who was carrying a few chairs. “Wu Tong, what are you still standing there for? It’s past lunchtime, stop dawdling!”
“Oh, oh, oh! Sorry, Boss, I’ll go help right away!” With that, Wu Tong quickly ditched the auntie and ran towards the new building.
The auntie watched Wu Tong run off, a little unwilling to give up. She turned to Mu Ning, but after meeting Mu Ning’s icy gaze, she swallowed hard, forced a smile and a greeting, then turned and fled. She couldn’t help it; the only person in this Villa Area who intimidated her was this cold girl. It wasn’t just because she was a 5th-order esper. More importantly, her entire family’s essential drinking water had to be bought from this girl! Although there were other water-system espers in the base, this girl would give you a discount for being a neighbor. If you pissed her off and she refused to sell you water or cut your discount, the loss would be immense.
Although the round table Mu Ning had brought over was large, it was still a bit of a squeeze for ten girls. As a result, Ren Chenxi was squeezed into the seat right next to Mu Ning. Jian Dan, knowing that Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning didn’t get along, had thoughtfully intended to sit next to Mu Ning to act as a buffer. But as soon as she got close, the cold air radiating from Mu Ning made her unconsciously shuffle one seat over.
When Ren Chenxi came out after familiarizing Tantan with its new toilet, she saw that the only empty seat at the round table was the one next to Mu Ning. The food was served, everyone was seated, and they were all waiting for her. Ren Chenxi naturally couldn’t be so melodramatic as to say something like, “Oh, but I don’t want to sit with Mu Ning.” She wasn’t a child anymore. There was no need to do something stupid without regard for the occasion that would annoy others and embarrass herself just because she was feuding with someone.
Ren Chenxi took the initiative to sit next to Mu Ning, which inexplicably put Mu Ning in an even better mood. She picked up her chopsticks, gestured towards the table full of food, and said to Ren Chenxi, “What dishes do you like? Don’t be polite, eat whatever you want.”
“…” Ignoring a whole table of people just to talk to your boyfriend’s sister? Boss, that’s not right!
Zhang Tongqi’s smile froze for a second before she quickly played host to everyone else. “From now on, we’re all neighbors in the same building. Please, don’t be polite! Eat whatever you like~”
“Okay, okay~”
“Thank you, Mu-xuejie~”
At first, everyone was a bit reserved and restrained, focusing on the white rice in their bowls. But after Ren Chenxi broke the ice by unceremoniously grabbing a huge chicken leg from the pot of braised sauce, they all began to pick up their chopsticks and go for the dishes they had been eyeing for so long.
They couldn’t help it. This was the apocalypse, and they had been subsisting on dry rations on the road. No matter how demure the girls were, they couldn’t maintain their composure in the face of such a sumptuous lunch. Their mouths and stomachs simply wouldn’t allow it!
Ren Chenxi didn’t share the girls’ struggle between craving and restraint. She was annoyed with Mu Ning, and now Mu Ning was sitting right next to her, so she was going to eat a lot of this incredibly precious post-apocalyptic feast right in her face. Besides, she had been eating dry flatbread with plain water for the entire journey. Right now, even the simplest plate of stir-fried greens on the table was immensely tempting to her. Seeing Ren Chenxi eat so happily, Mu Ning’s own appetite improved, and before she knew it, she had gotten another bowl of rice.
With Ren Chenxi and Mu Ning leading the way, and with Zhang Tongqi, Wu Tong, and Sun Jia helping to liven up the atmosphere, the girls who were still a bit shy finally let loose. They all began to eat cheerfully, even managing to chat naturally as they ate.
As they talked, Chang Ling suddenly blurted out, “That’s strange. I would have thought that in a coastal city like H City, the most common food in the base would be seafood~”
Chang Ling’s comment made Ren Chenxi realize it too. That’s right, H City was a coastal city. Looking at the map, Zuoning Town was even a seaside town. And given the base’s name, Nanhai Base, wasn’t it named after the South Sea that bordered the town?
So… where was the seafood? The shrimp, crabs, scallops, squid… how come there wasn’t a single one?
Ren Chenxi turned her head and gave Mu Ning a strange look, waiting for an explanation.
Meeting Ren Chenxi’s questioning gaze, Mu Ning put down her chopsticks and answered calmly, “Because we’ve never been to the seaside, and very few people in the base go there now.”
??? They’d rather gnaw on dry rations and eat wild vegetables than touch the ocean’s bounty of delicious seafood? Then why don’t they go to the seaside? Is it because they don’t have boats? But you don’t need a boat to catch seafood, do you? Aren’t things like crabs and clams all over the beach at low tide? You could just pick them up, right? Why would you need a boat?
For a moment, everyone stopped their chopsticks mid-air and looked at Mu Ning with curiosity. With such a feast before them, they shouldn’t have been distracted, but… the thing distracting them was another, incredibly delicious type of food! So, it was only natural for them to be concerned about why they couldn’t eat fresh, tasty seafood, right?
The author has something to say:
Seeing everyone’s confusion, can you really not drink water or milk or eat on an empty stomach? It’s fake, fake, fake! It’s just some fake experts spreading misinformation online, the author was really just mocking it!
Also, I see some of you cuties can swallow capsules whole. While you may be a badass, I don’t recommend doing this. What if it gets stuck… And for those of you who open the capsules and take out the powder, you really can’t do that! Some medicines can irritate the lining of your stomach and esophagus. If you remove the shell, the local concentration of the drug powder could be too high, burning your esophagus and stomach! So please take your medicine properly, just as it is. Don’t mess around!
Footnotes
- Original: 乔迁饭 (qiáoqiān fàn). A celebratory meal held after moving into a new home.
- Original: 吧唧嘴 (bājī zuǐ). A term for making loud smacking or chewing noises while eating, which is considered very rude in China.
- Original: 卤味 (lǔwèi). A style of Chinese cooking where ingredients are simmered in a master stock, resulting in deeply savory and aromatic dishes.
- Original: 狮吼功 (shī hǒu gōng). A classic trope in Chinese wuxia (martial arts fantasy) stories, referring to a powerful sonic attack generated by a shout.
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