Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1707 Late Night Snack
"I really won't eat it! I won't eat any at all!" Han Xingzhi learns from his mistakes. He won't repeat them.

"What are you doing wandering around here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?" Shang Luo poked his head out from the kitchen.

"Hey? Big brother, what are you doing here? Are you hungry too?"

"So you're hungry?" Shang Luo looked him up and down. "Alright, since you're hungry, have something to eat."

"Wait a minute!" Han Xingzhi immediately jumped back a step. "You're not my older brother! How could my older brother be so easy to talk to?"

"Eat it if you want, or don't if you don't."

“Then let’s give each other a code,” he asked in a low voice. “What does a fox call?”

"The Great Chu will rise, and Chen Sheng will be king."

"You're for real!" Han Xingzhi was finally relieved.

This code has been used before, many times, because people who haven't studied this text wouldn't understand it.

Shangluo and he both knew this because both sides had just included this text in compulsory education—Sima Qian's writing was indeed excellent, and he wrote many historical details very vividly, making it suitable for inclusion in textbooks due to its historical and literary value.

"Why are you suddenly being so kind as to offer me food?"

"Well, I saw you worked hard catching the mummy, so I'm treating you to something."

Don't you feel any guilt saying that? Why don't you just tell him directly?

"If I told you, would you eat it?"

I won't eat it.

"That settles it. A sampler just happened to come by—I didn't originally intend to approach him, but he came to me himself, so it's quite a coincidence."

Good advice won't help a damned fool, and compassion won't save someone who's already killed themselves. Oh well, let him eat first.

"So, big brother, what are we going to eat?"

"Don't move around here, I'll be right back." Shang Luo recited a joke he had never heard before.

"I keep getting the feeling you're taking advantage of me. Well, I'll wait and see." He found a seat in the kitchen and watched Shang Luo walk into an inner room. Steam rose from the room, as if something was being simmered. A closer sniff revealed the aroma of butter, cinnamon, and boiled beans.

"Here it is." Shangluo scooped a spoonful of food into a plate, then brought it out and placed it in front of Han Xingzhi.

Since they were all acquaintances, he didn't care about the plating.

A plate of pale yellow porridge was placed in front of Han Xingzhi.

"What is this thing? It looks like you grabbed a lump from the flower bed."

"If you're not going to eat it, I'll take it away."

"Hey! No, I'll eat it." A lump of paste was placed in front of him.

He's from Beijing. People from Beijing generally eat two kinds of dishes.

There were banquet dishes and street food. Among the banquet dishes, he often got to eat Huaiyang cuisine and Shandong cuisine, such as sunflower-shaped minced pork and braised pig's face. Ordinary people couldn't get to eat these, but his family were members of the Imperial Guard, and the Imperial Guard had many duties, so he actually often got to eat at banquets from a young age. Not everything was to his liking, but it was all good food.

Jianghu cuisine is basically the same as local roast duck from Yingtian. It's entirely based on taste; if it's not delicious, the business simply won't survive.

But no matter which side he was on, he couldn't accept being served such a lump of unidentified paste.

It looked like some kind of bean paste. It was all the same color, without any variation. The smell was also quite monotonous, mainly the aroma of beans—just a hint of carbohydrates. The other spices, while wafting from the kitchen, smelled rather strong, but their aroma didn't seem to belong to this bean paste; it seemed to belong to some other dish. Clearly, there were other dishes, but Shang Luo hadn't let him eat them, only this bland bean paste.

"Ugh"

He recalled the time he had eaten at the banquet in Kalinga with Shangluo. The mayor had prepared that meal as his last meal, so it was exceptionally lavish. Although sausages and cured meats made up a large proportion of the food, he actually quite liked them, and he ate all kinds of smoked, boiled, and honey-preserved dishes.

All those wonderful days were gone, and all that remained before him was this lump of mush. He was hungry, but it seemed this was all he could eat now—yet even this was all he could eat, as he picked up his spoon, a black cat appeared out of nowhere and leaped onto the table. The cat stretched out its paw, aimed at the edge of the plate, and stared intently at him.

As long as Han Xingzhi dared to put a spoon on the plate and pretend to eat, the black cat would overturn the plate. This was the curse from Yaru, which had tormented him so much that he could never eat his fill.

"Brother, I'm already willing to eat this, why is the cat still eating it?"

"Wait a minute." Shang Luo reached out and patted the black cat's head. The black cat turned around and looked at him.

The human and the cat exchanged glances.

After all, the curse is currently being monitored by Shang Luo—in fact, Master Sa also requested Shang Luo to control his diet. In other words, the only person preventing him from eating right now is Shang Luo.

Previously, Shangluo couldn't keep an eye on him all day long, but now there are Egyptian cats to supervise him.

Since Shangluo himself had no objections, the black cat naturally agreed.

It retracted its paws, jumped off the table, and strolled away to another spot.

"Alright, you can eat now."

"I have such a miserable life, I have to eat this stuff."

"It's good enough that you have something to eat. Logically speaking, we shouldn't give you a late-night snack in addition to your regular meals."

"Want to try it? I think it's pretty good; I had this for dinner too."

"Okay, I'll try it."

He picked up the spoon and scooped a spoonful of bean paste from the plate—

Then he heard a familiar, shrill, ghostly howl.

The black cat that had threatened him at the dining table was now leisurely strolling out of the kitchen. Running away from the cat was a mummy covered in bandages, reeking of spices and wearing a chef's hat—it was clearly him who had prepared the dishes.

[Oh no, he saw it. You've been exposed.]

This is why Shangluo cooks in the kitchen late at night, but he doesn't eat it himself—mummies are more active at night, and he wanted to study whether mummies could live a normal life, so he discussed cooking techniques with them in the kitchen.

"Aaaaaah!!!" The mummy, who had just been in the kitchen, screamed as it fled from the dining table.

Only a few people remained in the same spot.

The priest didn't say a word from beginning to end.

Han Xingzhi glanced at Hu Hu, then at Shang Luo.

商洛
He glanced at the kitchen: "Oh dear, it seems the gas is still on. I'll go check it."

He was a little embarrassed. But after he came out of the kitchen, the situation didn't seem to have changed.

(End of this chapter)