Gourmet Live Room

The capital of China, a high-level banquet hall.

“Ye Mu, how is the time?” A fat old man with his big belly in a chef uniform came in with his hands behind his back. He nodded with satisfaction when he saw the large kitchen in an orderly way. Especially when he set his eyes on his little apprentice, and when he saw him cut, carve, throw and stir fry. His movements were neat and handsome, he nodded again with satisfaction.

“Master, there’s no problem.” Su Yemu is doing the final process of Xiaoyao Chicken1; take a casserole, dip it in the cold chicken soup, ginger, onions, peppers, Hua Diao wine, a small spoonful of sugar, moderate amount of oil and salt, boiled chicken, press down with heavy weight, covered with lid, simmer slowly for 40 minutes. The chicken came out tender and smooth, one bite and the umami exploded in the mouth, it’s a rare delicacy indeed.

Su Yemu is a close disciple of master Huang, who comes from a distinguished family. However, due to his eating addiction, he would always stay in the kitchen and refused to come out. He was even chased out by his father with a feather duster countless times. Even if he bounced up and down from the beating, he still refused to follow his father’s path. His father beat his chest and feet countless times and roared at him, but he could not return his determination to eat.

Su Yemu’s mother personally pitched in as well. First she tried crying, then she threw a tantrum2 and then lastly threatened to commit suicide. But Su Yemu just indifferently said: “Mom, the ginger smell is too strong.”

Su Yemu has an aloof and elegant face. From afar, he looks like a reliable but unreachable flower3. However, his words can make people angry. Even his mother often wished to put him back into his stomach and recreate him.

It’s just that……

“Bang!”

Here we go again, Su Yemu bangs his head on the corner of the kitchen cabinet door above, that he had opened earlier. Even master Huang who just witnessed it, felt the pain. This stupid thing only has two brain cells4. The first one is eating. What goes into his mouth must be at the level of Palace Banquet– the second brain cell is cooking. The food that comes from his hands makes people want to eat their tongue in a fraction of a minute.

“Alright, alright, go take a break. It’s now two o’clock in the afternoon, in three hours the VIP guests will enter, you better seize the time to have a good rest.”

Holding his head, Su Ye Mu said alright, and went to the lounge next door. The state banquet is being held today, and they have been preparing the ingredients since midnight. After cooking for such a long time, if they don’t rest for a while, they wouldn’t be able to last till the end of the banquet.

……

“Brother, don’t scare me, wake up.”

Su Yemu was slapped twice on his face. Feeling slight pain, he half squinted and looked up. Before he could see clearly, he felt a sudden pain in his temple and he slammed his head again onto the table.  A memory that didn’t belong to him suddenly appeared in his mind, and hurt his temples so much that he groaned.

The host of this memory, also known as Su Yemu, is a fool. He is 23 years old and has a sister. His parents have passed away, leaving only two people to fend for themselves. What shocked Su Yemu most was that it is now in the year  2120 on this star’s calendar. Earth had experienced global radiation 2000 years ago, from a meteorite. Humans could no longer live on Earth, and so they quickly left Earth on their spaceship with a few unpolluted materials and seeds. In the end, they left the galaxy and leaped for more than 10 light years before finding a new habitation, Neptune. They landed and settled down there.

At present, the human regime is divided into two, the Federations and the Empires. The Federation primarily consists of eighteen stars, with countless small planets attached to it. The Empire followed the succession system of the Chinese Emperor, with a cabinet under it, which was as powerful as the Federation.

As of now, the planet where Su Yemu is located is called Selstar, which is not far away from the main star of the Empire. However, its geographical location is a little bit out of the sea galaxy system, so its ownership becomes a bit subtle. After the war, because of its small size and lack of resources, neither the Empire nor the Federation had planned it, so it can be regarded as a no care zone. However, because it was close to the main star of the Empire, and no one dared to say that it was independent, it can only be let alone in this way.

“Older brother, wake up!”

Su Yemu, who was still digesting the memory, had his collar lifted and pressed back. A hand extended out and slapped Su Yemu’s face twice. Without mercy, Su Yemu’s cheek immediately turned red.

“Tssh, ouch!” Su Yemu covered his face and frowned at the skinny girl in front of him. She seems to be only eleven or twelve years old. She has a melon face and a protruding cheekbone. Her eyes are black and bright. She is very beautiful, but she is too thin.

This is Su Yemu’s little sister, Su Xiaonan, and Su Yemu seems to have transmigrated to the world two thousand years later. But what about the original host? Is he dead?

Seeing that Su Yemu’s awake,Su Xiaonan sighed in relief, and went to sit next to her older brother. She touched her brother’s head as she said: “In the future, if I’m not home, don’t go outside alright?”

Today, she went to the garbage dump to rummage. Then, their next door neighbor, Jiang Xiaoyu, came running to tell her that her older brother got into a fight with a tall fool. She was so scared that she dragged the robot that she had picked up, and ran back. When she came back, she saw her older brother lying on the ground motionless, which was very frightening.

Su Yemu has not yet fully digested the memory and can only nod. According to the memory of the original owner, the 12-year-old was a very precocious girl. When their parents died, she doted her older brother as her younger brother. This slightly touched Su Yemu’s heart. Not only was it because she is only 12 years old, and has to support her 23-year-old brother, but also because Su Yemu was too fat. This kind of fat is not really fat, but compared to his little sister, he is too fat. His little sister only has two bumps to see.

Su Xiaonan didn’t notice her brother’s eyes. She pulled up the one man high robot that she had previously left on the ground, and made it stand: “Older brother, look, this is the robot that I picked up from the garbage. ”

Su Xiaonan is a little happy, but her expression is still light. Not sure if it’s because she was forced to mature early as a child; since this child had started raising her foolish older brother for four years since she was eight years old.

Su Xiaonan pulled the robot to the corner of the wall, connected it to the power, and turned it on.

“Dear master, how do you do? I am the 3rd– 33rd generation of royal power – My, my serial number is 0333…”

“Even if you break your arm, how can you stutter? “Su Xiaonan circled the robot. After nagging, Su Xiaonan directly began to play with the display frequency on the front of the robot’s chest, which was a little unfamiliar in technique. However, she often studied mecha on the satellite network, but she still knew how to do it. In addition, she had a strong understanding ability and was a genius who was able to fight three at one stroke.

Su Xiaonan fiddles with it herself, while she also explains it to Su Yemu; even if she knows that Su Yemu doesn’t understand.

The one who doesn’t understand here of course refers to the former Su Yemu, and now Su Yemu is somewhat worried. He used to be stupid, but now how can he restore his memory? He can’t just keep pretending.

“Older brother?”

Su Yemu’s worries are unnecessary. Su Xiaonan, who had just turned her head around, noticed that something was wrong, because his brother’s eyes were not so smart before.

“Xiaonan, I…” Su Yemu did not know how to explain. In the middle of his words, he saw Su Xiaonan’s eyes turning red. Finally, she burst into Su Yemu’s arms with a cry, “Older brother, dad was right. You will be able to be clear-headed one day.“

Su Ye mu helplessly hugged Su Xiaonan. He didn’t know how to comfort her. He is the only child and is the favorite of the family. It has always been him getting consoled by others, never did he ever console anyone before. In the end, he could only pat Su Xiaonan on the back.

Su Xiaonan cried for a long time before she recovered her breath. She took him to Dr. Ali’s house and said that she wants him to examine him. In this place, it’s very expensive to see a doctor. Most of them go to Dr. Ali’s to get examined. If he says that nothing is wrong, then nothing is wrong.

After examining Su Yemu, Dr. Ali asked Su Yemu a few times on what  one plus one equals. What finger is this, and  other mentally retarded problems. He told Su Xiaonan that his brother was ok. Then he moved around Su Ye Mu and clicked his tongue, that gaze, made Su Ye Mu feel chills in his back .

Su Xiaonan has recovered her mood and become that mature little girl again. Knowing that  her brother is alright, her eyes filled with happiness. She did not  cry or laugh.

After thanking Dr. Ali, the two siblings went back home. Just as they stepped into the house, Su Yemu’s stomach began to growl. He’s obviously hungry.

Su Xiaonan pressed her brother to sit down in front of the table, “Older brother, wait, I’ll get you something to eat. “

Leaving behind those words, she skipped away in a rush; Su Yemu looked around the hall, and the robot on the side caught his attention. The robot’s eyes flashed, and the screen on his chest flashed waves. His mouth was still introducing himself “I am the Royal 033333… I’m Royal 033333”

Feeling annoyed by it saying “third” repeatedly, Su Yemu slapped it on the forehead. The glass eyes of the robot flashed a few times, and finally it was quiet.

Su Xiaonan ran out, holding a transparent, green liquid tube in her hand and handed it to Su Yemu, “Older brother, drink!”

Su Yemu looked at it, his face was a little green, and the taste in his memory told him that this thing was really not delicious, “Is there no other food at home? “

“No, and other nutrient fluids with good taste are very expensive. “

“No, the food I meant is rice, vegetables and so on. ”

Su Xiaonan gave a strange answer, “No, it’s very expensive to buy it on the interstellar network, and even if we buy them, we don’t know how to cook!”

Su Yemu thought about it, and decided at once, “Xiao Nan, I will cook it.”

Su Xiaonan with nutrition fluids in her mouth, speaks vaguely, “How is it that you can cook?”

Su Yemu thought about it , then with a cold face, he began to make up. Actually, since he was a child, his soul wandered in space and time, and had learned a lot of skills; one of which is cooking.

Su Xiaonan stretched out her hand to touch Su Yemu’s forehead, and then touched her own, muttered to herself, “No fever ah!”

Then she got up and pulled Su Yemu up, “Older brother, be good. Go back to sleep. You will be alright after some rest. Listen to me.”

Su Xiaonan forcefully pressed Su Yemu down on the bed, covered him with blankets, pulled out the nutrient fluids and stuffed it into his mouth. She then went out, closing the door tightly, and ran outside thinking, Mom, brother is not stupid anymore, he has gone crazy.

Su Xiaonan intuitively ran to find Dr. Ali, but on the way, she stopped abruptly. No. If someone took it seriously, what should she do if his brother was taken away to be researched?

Dr. Ali, it’s not like she doesn’t trust him, it’s just that her brother is very important to her.

In the dark, her thin body curled down and stood in the darkness for a long time. Then she started walking back home, while giving herself some encouragement that she can do it. She can and she must protect her brother.

Su Yemu saw Su Xiaonan run out , but she had disappeared before he could call her. He has no choice but to suck the nutrient fluid, and almost vomit it out. He has been picky with his food since young. He would never eat anything that was not delicious. To him, the nutrient fluid is simply anti-humanity.

Translator’s Note:

Xiaoyao Chicken

Cao cao

xiaoyao chicken / caocao chicken

Footnotes

Xiaoyao Chicken/Xiāoyáo jī/ Getaway chicken : is also known as “曹操鸡/Cao Cao Chicken” . The An Wei cuisine was created during the Three Kingdoms period. Back story of the dish: During his expedition, Caocao fell sick, and then the chef followed the doctor’s advice and added some herbal medicine within the chicken and steamed the medicine with chicken. Caocao felt a lot better afterwards and would eat the dish so often that it got popular/named after him.一哭二闹三上吊 yī kū èr nào sān shàng diào :  first, cry, then (second) try screaming, last (third) threaten to kill oneself. This is basically someone throwing a tantrum to get others to do things for them. So in this case, his mother is throwing a tantrum for him to get out of the kitchen.高岭之花Gāo lǐng zhī huā : is a metaphor for things that can only be seen from a distance and cannot be touched. It’s things that one longs for, but they are out of reach. So it’s like “unattainable” and “unreachable”. For this, the sentence was translated that he was an “unreachable flower”.两根筋 Liǎng gēn jīn: In this context, we will translate this as “brain cells” as the Master is basically saying how this person is clumsy, and only have two things that he focuses on.