Chapter 2021 - 2001:

Chapter 2021: Chapter 2001:

He Wenyu was quite surprised, but still shook her head. Come on, this kind of thing should be really important to Di Jun, right? How could he just hand it out casually for the sake of studying? Wouldn’t that be ignoring his elder’s feelings?

"I don’t want it, you take it back." He Wenyu said helplessly.

"It can block indiscriminate attacks, it’s a Talisman Stone. Wear it on you and it’ll keep you safe. I... also have other things." Di Jun said awkwardly.

He Wenyu: "..." So he’s a rich guy, huh? And it blocks indiscriminate attacks?

Long Tu glanced over from the side and didn’t say much. After all, someone like Di Jun, who basically has no offensive means, definitely has people arranged to follow him to protect his safety. But that still can’t stop some people from maybe trying something nasty, can it? So it’s not strange at all that he’d have treasures on him.

Just that instant recovery from a severe injury alone—who knows how many people would be jealous of that.

Di Jun didn’t care, still chuckling foolishly as he leaned forward: "So, Teacher Shiliu, is there anything you need me to do?"

"Then, go take over Shiqi’s job..." Hearing that syrupy "Teacher Shiliu," He Wenyu also shivered. There’s a word that fits perfectly here, and that is... her tiger’s body trembled.

She really did shiver. If it weren’t for all the people around, He Wenyu suspected she might have jumped up by now. Isn’t this a bit too much? Are they here to learn cooking or to give her a heart attack?

But seeing Luo Qianqian looking like she really hoped He Wenyu would accept it and have something for self-defense, she still agreed.

Even so, being called "teacher" by Di Jun like that—she just couldn’t accept it from the bottom of her heart...

Long Tu was over there snickering again.

"Yo, so lively?" Yan came back with the meat and, seeing Di Jun and Long Tu, also smiled. They’d met before, after all, so it wasn’t like he had no impression of them at all.

Especially Di Jun. Pretty entertaining.

"Right, I just saw someone I know over there, he also knows you guys, so I told him to come along. He’s gone to look for ingredients now."

They all know him? Who?

For a moment, they all looked at each other, unable to figure out who would know them and also know Yan.

So when Kuang Xiao showed up, the group very tacitly all wore suddenly-enlightened expressions.

Kuang Xiao was also from the Inner Court, so of course he knew Mo and Yan.

Kuang Xiao’s elder brother was a Yellow Class tutor, so naturally they knew him too.

So the instant they saw who it was, all the questions vanished.

They’d been worried it might be someone unfamiliar, or someone they’d had a falling-out with. That would definitely make things uncomfortable, wouldn’t it?

Internal gathering, outsiders keep out—that’s pretty necessary. But since the newcomer was quite familiar to them, and more importantly, he’d even taken the initiative to bring ingredients and personally handle them, they decided to forgive him for coming without notice.

"Shiqi, go help pick out the parts we usually eat." In simple terms: skin off, bones out, no offal.

Honestly, offal can taste pretty good. But ever since one time when He Wenyu was cutting meat and found the innards all rotten and giving off an incredibly pungent smell, she stopped bothering with them.

Because... psychological trauma and stuff are pretty hard to get over.

Most importantly, that meat was being slaughtered and eaten fresh. If even that was like that, how would she dare try it again? What if it was some kind of poison? That’s kind of a big deal, okay?

Luo Qianqian was also very careful while handling it. She’d witnessed that last time, after all, and really didn’t want to smell that odor ever again.

Seeing Luo Qianqian’s cautious manner, Yan was silent for a moment. Once he understood what she was doing, he took out a scalpel and skillfully skinned and deboned another piece.

"We also need to take out the stuff inside..." Watching Yan’s efficiency, Luo Qianqian was slightly stunned, then hurriedly reminded him.

With the two of them working together, the processing went very quickly. With Yan there, all the unwanted parts were directly cremated and buried under a tree, since just burying them as-is would stink.

For environmental reasons, this was better.

"Uh, Mier, we’ve got enough fish, don’t catch any more." He Wenyu suddenly realized the wooden basin she’d just taken out to hold meat had vanished, so she looked around, then was shocked to find... it had appeared next to Luo Mier. Three whole wooden basins, all packed full of fish that were still wriggling energetically. He Wenyu was dumbfounded. Is this for a full fish feast or what? Even if there were a few more people, they wouldn’t be able to finish this many fish, right? And they still had so much meat...

Compared to fish, Luo Qianqian declared that she preferred meat. Di Jun also declared he preferred meat, and He Wenyu was no different.

After all, there are more ways to cook meat than fish, and it doesn’t have bones.

Every dish made with meat has a different flavor depending on what you cook it with, but when it’s with fish, it all just turns into fish flavor.

If the fish is done well, that’s fine. If not, it has that fishy smell—really hard to tolerate.

"Ah? It’s enough?" Luo Mier put down her fishing rod and smiled sheepishly. "I often go fishing with Grandpa, so I forget the time and don’t really keep track of how much we need."

"That’s amazing, I don’t even know how to fish." Luo Qianqian hurriedly laughed. "With this many fish, we can send some to our class later. They’ll definitely be a huge hit—especially since they’re caught by our class beauty. They’ll be snatched up in seconds."

"Exactly, exactly, nothing’s going to go to waste, don’t worry. We never knew you were so good at fishing; you kept that secret pretty well, huh?" He Wenyu also laughed.

Yan gave them a couple of looks and slightly nodded. Purely fishing, this many fish—it really is kind of impressive, isn’t it?

At least, their self-awareness tells them that they couldn’t do it.

Especially since Luo Mier never even changed spots.

It was like the fish had gone stupid, blindly letting themselves get hooked and pulled up, totally brainless.

Yan thought to himself that he could also do it—and even guarantee they’d be ready to eat as soon as they left the water—but... that probably doesn’t count.

So he did look at Luo Mier with a bit of newfound respect.

Noticing Yan’s gaze, Luo Mier grew increasingly embarrassed. She was a little shy and flustered, suddenly not knowing what to do with herself, but soon Yan looked away.

While that made Luo Mier let out a breath of relief, she also felt a little disappointed.

Still, she knew she was probably falling for him.

Yan was what kept her heart restless.

He Wenyu didn’t deliberately observe her odd behavior. They were all grown-ups, after all; having a few little thoughts was perfectly normal, wasn’t it?

She herself had "dated early" before. As long as it didn’t go overboard, she’d pretend not to see anything.