Chapter 106: Bitterness, Sourness, and Spiciness【4K】
“With such low scores, how can you face your parents?”
“That’s great; if I save enough money this year, I can go back home and fix the house.”
“My mom said that if someone wants to marry me, they must have a car, a house, and a bride price of twenty.”
As the clear water mixed with the flour in the basin, Lu Yibei’s tender white hands had just kneaded it a little. With the infusion of spirit energy, before she could even blend the flour and water completely, the long echo of worldly materials nearly made her faint.
Just a wave of emotions, which could only be considered a prelude, surged through her, making her feel an impulse to hold her head and cry. It was too bitter.
She studied hard and achieved decent grades but received no recognition from her parents.
Watching in the concrete jungle until her skin turned dark and her hands were calloused, yet she could never fit into this land—her soul remained far away.
She met a girl willing to share life with her, but was blocked by the “mother-in-law pit,” never able to become a couple—painful, hard, with unspoken sorrows.
For a moment, she felt like the most unfortunate person in the world.
If her life experiences were written into an online novel, there would be a new plot twist every three chapters. And all of this was just the beginning.
Lu Yibei originally planned to simply mimic what she had done before when cooking the “Living” dish: during the cooking process, she wanted to gradually incorporate fragments of memories filled with intense emotions into the dish.
However, when she actually began cooking, she discovered that she had underestimated the complexity of infusing worldly materials.
Perhaps the sheer number of memory fragments had reached a certain point, causing a qualitative change that made it impossible for her to stabilize and control the emotions hidden within them, let alone weave them into her cooking.
Not to mention, she intended to record the memories of thousands of people for future use.
This operation was akin to playing a game at the highest difficulty setting while adding the challenge of a one-shot completion limit, and even wanting to showcase some skills during the process.
“All that the sun and moon illuminate, and wherever the wind and rain reach, must all submit.”
Lu Yibei softly chanted. As her consciousness neared collapse, she targeted herself and unleashed the power of “Royal Authority” to its fullest.
Using the intimidation effect of “Royal Authority,” among a whirlwind of emotions that could send most spiritual ability users and urban legends into madness, she calmed her own mind, which was the best method she could think of to maintain her clarity at that moment.
Since she had come this far, the path was chosen by herself; she had to finish what she started, even if it meant dragging along a corpse.
If she gave up now, the memories of thousands would truly be wasted. And thus, the cooking continued.
As the impact of those painful memories began to dissipate, Lu Yibei took a deep breath, stabilized her state, and evenly mixed the clear water and flour, skillfully rolling and kneading a soft, moist dough.
Then.
As the spirit energy flowed through her slender fingertips and infused with the flour, the emotions hidden in the worldly materials surged once again.
“Ah, her achievements are all thanks to those shameful methods. I heard she got drunk yesterday and took the manager’s car home.”
“In my lifetime, I’ve lived in vain. In the end, I couldn’t even buy my child a new outfit.”
“Oh dear, your family is about to get rich! When will you take care of us poor relatives? Do you remember how I helped you change your diapers when you were a kid? Well, I won’t say anything else. My son is getting married next month; could you buy him a car?”
Envying colleagues who are mere wage slaves or middle-aged people sick and dying, who find themselves unable to even buy their children a new outfit, some relatives try to exploit the situation with their sarcastic pretenses.
Sour, so sour.
In a world driven by interests, it leaves no room for you to be unaffected, whether bitterness turns into impotent rage or a helpless, humble resignation.
It felt like eating a lime drenched in the brine of old pickled vegetables, or watching others draw good cards in “Love and Magic Girls,” while all you could do was take one big safety net.
Her stomach twisted in spasm, her eyes heated, a strong wave of sourness spread from her nose. Lu Yibei couldn’t control her gag reflex, tears swirling in her eyes.
“d*mn it, I just want to get rid of all this distress!” Lu Yibei thought bitterly.
Although she felt discontent, she knew that for the integrity of earthly materials, these distresses were necessary.
Just like some dishes that often require the addition of certain seasonings that, when taken alone, don’t taste very good, but make the overall flavor of the dish more complete.
“Forget it, I’ll endure and it will pass.”
Once the bitterness and sourness were over, what remained should only be sweetness and spiciness, Lu Yibei thought.
With the support of “Royal Authority,” she could still endure the mental impact of the worldly materials for now, but if it dragged on any longer, she couldn’t guarantee her stability.
She pulled back her mind and continued to knead the dough, and before long, the basin held only a large, snow-white dough, and the walls appeared as if they had been cleaned, shiny as new.
The entire process flowed seamlessly, every move like a dance. Then, she covered the dough with a damp cloth to let it rise.
To create buns that were presentable and tasted decent, the dough needed at least two hours to rise. Lu Yibei initially thought that during this time, she could catch a moment’s respite from the overwhelming mental pressure; however, reality proved her naïve.
Once she stopped cooking,
the worldly materials began to ravage her body and mind. Dizziness set in, a buzzing in her ears, bitter heaviness in her mouth, emotions oscillating uncontrollably, countless little figures causing mischief in her mind.
If intense thoughts waged war in her mind with two or three little figures fighting, what was happening at this moment in Lu Yibei’s mind was a medium-scale modern war.
This war would continue for at least another two hours.
Her internal state was like a pressure cooker with a blocked exhaust, where the pressure continuously built up with nowhere to release. Not exploding was already a success.
“*Cough cough cough—!*”
Suddenly, a wave of heat surged from her chest and abdomen, and Lu Yibei couldn’t help but erupt in a violent fit of coughing, a rich metallic taste instantly flooding her lips.
Before the bl**d could burst from her mouth, she quickly turned her head, letting a stream of thick red liquid spray onto the floor. It would be bad if this splattered on the dough.
She was making these buns to treat the parasitic urban legend on Huaxie Yu, not to treat ailments, Lu Yibei thought. While she pondered, Du Sixian, who had been watching for a while, finally couldn’t help but step forward and asked concernedly, “High Person, are you alright?”
Just now, when Lu Yibei was kneading the dough, she noticed that Lu Yibei seemed off, but upon seeing the bl**d oozing from her mouth, she became increasingly anxious.
“Why don’t you take a break? Is there anything I can help you with? I can take care of it.” “Mm-mm-mm!” Meng Meng nodded eagerly by the side, seeming to want to help.
“No, it’s fine…” Lu Yibei waved her hand, swallowed a mouthful of iron-tasting bl**d, took a deep breath, and forced herself to recover her focus. “If you want to help, find me some paper and a pen. I want to write something.”
“Meng Meng, keep an eye on the dough for me, call me when it’s ready.”
Du Sixian observed Lu Yibei, whose breath was weak, hesitating to speak.
Although she felt what the High Person was doing must have profound meaning, seeing her in such pain made her worry. “Please.”
Du Sixian hesitated for a moment, then nodded, “Alright, I’ll go now.” As she spoke, she jogged towards the office.
“Calamity Shock” is a non-responsible company, although it is effectively an urban legends organization in a city, it is still a company in name, and various office supplies are quite complete.
Before long, Du Sixian returned, holding a thick stack of A4 paper and several pens, handing them to Lu Yibei. “High Person, here are the paper and pens you wanted. Are you okay?”
Lu Yibei was in a daze from the vast memories and emotions swirling in her mind. It took Du Sixian calling her several times to catch her attention. Taking the paper and pen from her, Lu Yibei placed them on the temporary table set up for cooking and began to write.
However, as soon as she put pen to paper, her hand began to twitch uncontrollably, scribbling a series of chaotic lines on the clean white paper.
The sensation was like the legendary pen spirit game, where one accidentally summons dozens of spirits, and then those invisible hands all compete to seize control of a single pen.
“Lu Yibei was silent for a few seconds, turning to Du Sixian. “Never mind, they won’t let me write anyway. You write what I say.”
They? Who does she mean? Du Sixian’s heart raced, her eyes darting suspiciously around. For a brief moment, she felt like there were “people” all around her.
Although there were already a large number of urban legends gathered nearby, the atmosphere was eerie.
After regaining her composure, Du Sixian felt she was right; the High Person seemed to be making buns but was, in fact, engaged in a silent battle.
It was a fight that transcended time and space and the usual understanding of spiritual ability users and urban legends. Countless enemies existed in areas invisible to both the n*ked eye and spiritual senses.
And right now, they were in the very center of the battlefield!
Indeed, it was just like that! Du Sixian thought.
At that moment, Lu Yibei began to speak, “Okay, just write like this.” “To Whom It May Concern:
Dear Mr. Li Zetong, I recently found your lost hair tie and learned about the story behind it. I wonder if you remember the girl who personally put this hair tie on your wrist that summer day.
…
I hereby return this item to Mr. Li, as the memories are precious, hoping you will cherish it. Sincerely.”
Yes, during the cooking process, she would record the stories behind each item in the form of letters, intending to return the lost items along with their corresponding letters in the future. This was Lu Yibei’s compromise.
She had previously worried that the owners of the lost items would no longer remember them once they lost their memories. Thus, she specifically consulted the Proxy Player Sister and, after receiving a relatively affirmative answer, she finally made up her mind to proceed.
Although doing so would mean she would have to help thousands of people bear the pain of memory loss, adding burdens a hundredfold to herself, but
If even half or a third of them could recall those precious memories upon seeing their lost items and letters, wouldn’t it be worth it?
Speaking of which, I was worried about how to find the owners of these lost items! Now that I’ve seen their memories, reaching out will be much easier.
Lu Yibei thought as she looked at Du Sixian and continued, “Come on, let’s start writing the second letter.” “To Whom It May Concern:
Dear Grandma Zhang Guihua.
I understand this golden bracelet is the last thing your husband left you before heading to the battlefield, the only thought that has supported you through the decades, that never left your side even during the times of war and famine. Therefore, I dare not keep it privately and have entrusted it to someone to return.
Sincerely.”
“To Whom It May Concern: Dear Wang Zichen,
Please don’t mind what those bad guys say. Your father is not the thug they say he is, nor a villain, but a true hero.
You must remember, not all heroes can stand under the sunlight. Sincerely.”
At this point, Lu Yibei suddenly recalled Huo Qianli’s figure, furrowing her brow slightly. Once Huaxie Yu wakes up, she must tell her father’s story properly. Lu Yibei thought—
Two hours later. “Alright, the dough has risen!”
As Du Sixian listened to Lu Yibei’s dictation, completing the thirty-seventh letter, Meng Meng, who was in charge of watching the dough, let out a light exclamation.
In an instant, Lu Yibei signaled Du Sixian to stop, then walked to the table, lifted the damp cloth covering the dough, skillfully kneaded it a bit to release the air, tore off a portion, and placed it on the dusted countertop.
At the same time, she activated her spirit energy once more, infusing it into the dough.
Thus, a new wave of emotional impact from memory fragments began to surge in her mind.
“Everyone, listen to me! Although we are three points behind right now, there is still time. As long as we win this match, our club won’t be disbanded. Let’s do our best!”
Youthful years, passionate youths, very good!
“I’m getting married tomorrow; I can’t be your woman any longer. Don’t speak; I know what you want to say, kiss me!”
“Mm-hmm, I’ve made the blanket smell nice. On such a long night, why bother sleeping? Hurry, loosen your clothes, let’s have a good time together?!”
Lu Yibei, “???”
Wait, hold on, why did the mood suddenly shift? Is this really something I can watch without paying?
Beside her, seeing Lu Yibei’s face flush, her breathing quicken, a hint of crimson fading beneath her nose, Du Sixian couldn’t help but clench her fists.
What kind of enemy could injure the High Person to the point of bleeding from her seven orifices? Such a terrifying foe!
High Person, you must hold on!
