Da Zaojun

Chapter 14 Where the firewood burns out, the world begins to flourish

Song Wuji didn't chat with the two cooks all the time, but he also learned their names. One was surnamed Liu and the other was surnamed Zou. They couldn't stand Song Wuji always calling them sister, so they took the initiative to let Song Wuji call them Aunt Liu and Aunt Zou.

Song Wuji ate the steamed sweet potatoes and found them sweet, much more delicious than stale multi-grain porridge.

Then he lit the fire while practicing the Kitchen God's secret method.

As the Kitchen God's mental method began to work, a warm feeling came from the fire in the stove. It was not the warmth of the body, but the warmth from the soul.

It seems to be a feeling of light, hope, contentment, and family happiness.

The only word that came to Song Wuji's mind was "lights from thousands of homes."

At the same time, the atmosphere of the entire kitchen resonated with Song Wuji, especially the large bucket of rice steaming in the pot, the aroma of rice emanating from it penetrated his heart.

The fragment of the "Fire Deity Stove Grid" in my mind also flickered, and then a series of broken pictures appeared.

Every household enshrines the image of the Kitchen God in the kitchen.

Other gods require special incense burning and offerings, but the Kitchen God only uses the smoke from cooking as incense.

This is the incense that belongs exclusively to the Kitchen God, called the Kitchen God Incense, which is also the so-called aroma of food.

Song Wuji recalled that when he was little, he could smell the aroma of cooking in every household when he returned home from school...

The Kitchen God protects people's kitchens from fire, protects food from being eaten by hungry ghosts, blesses women with ingenuity and skill so that they can cook delicious meals, and blesses family harmony.

Wherever there is fire in every household’s kitchen, that is where the Kitchen God’s power lies.

Now the Kitchen God's power has fallen on Song Wuji. The Kitchen God's miraculous power is weak and he has not appeared in this great change of heaven and earth. It seems that he is just waiting for Song Wuji.

So Song Wuji asked Aunt Liu, "Aunt Liu, Aunt Zou, I heard people say that if you have nothing to do, you can go to the City God Temple to worship and pray. Is it true that the City God appeared? I haven't seen the City God yet!"

"Really? How could it not be true? I went to the City God Temple two days ago and only donated two taels of silver, and I was given a bag of incense ash. They say that if you drink the incense ash, you won't be afraid of ghosts anymore."

Song Wuji said, "I heard that the City God is the god that protects the city, and there are other gods in the house. I wonder if any of these household gods have appeared now. If they have, can they hear us when we speak?"

"Our village has had manifestations of the land and ancestors in the ancestral hall from the very beginning."

Aunt Liu was immediately attracted: "What Xiao Song said makes sense. If we really encounter trouble, who else can bless us besides our ancestors... How about we burn some paper money for our ancestors tonight?"

Song Wuji coughed and said, "I saw a portrait of the Kitchen God here. I heard that the Kitchen God protects the people's homes and takes care of all the big and small matters of the family."

"Kitchen God?" Aunt Liu suddenly realized after being reminded, "That's right! Every New Year, we put up peach charms and couplets and invite the Kitchen God... We also put out some honey and ask the Kitchen God to say nice things... Why hasn't the Kitchen God appeared?"

Aunt Zou said, "I don't understand. If we only go outside to worship gods and don't worship them at home, it will definitely not work. How much money you spend will determine how big a thing you can do, and how much incense you offer will determine how much strength you can offer. Look at the gods we worship at home, whether it's the door god or the kitchen god. Don't we only put up pictures and burn incense during the New Year? Where do we worship them on other days?"

"Here, the most popular temple is the City God Temple. On the first and fifteenth day of every lunar month, people burn incense, make wishes, and fulfill them. That's why the City God appears at the critical moment..."

"A stick of incense doesn't cost much. You have to worship the City God, the ancestors, the door gods, and the Kitchen God. The more you offer, the better! What if it's useful? Isn't it more cost-effective than two taels of silver for incense ash? Two taels of silver can buy a hundred sticks of incense."

Song Wuji was very pleased with the two aunts' understanding and suggested, "I heard that the Kitchen God doesn't need incense. Just put the food in front of him as an offering. The steam rising from the food and the steam from the pot are the incense for the Kitchen God. After all, the Kitchen God is in charge of people's food and drink."

"Really? Auntie, why haven't I heard of it?"

Song Wuji nodded: "Yes, yes, my grandma told me that when I was a kid during Chinese New Year."

"There is a portrait of the Kitchen God on our kitchen stove!" Aunt Liu pointed, and Song Wuji saw the portrait of the Kitchen God, which had long been obscured by the smoke.

Reach out and touch it.

A refreshing aroma of food hits you in the face!

Mmm! Stir-fried pork with chili peppers, braised pork... and steamed bacon!

Song Wuji's mouth was watering.

[Sacrifice stove incense × 10]

Aunt Liu nodded and said, "Let's try it today! The dishes should be kept warm in the steamer first, and then we can send them to Shu Zheng and the others."

Song Wuji nodded vigorously and then worked hard to make a fire.

Making a fire is a relatively easy but technical job. You need to use the least amount of firewood and burn it to just the right temperature. The fire cannot be too big or too small.

Aunt Liu personally instructed: "Just use one piece of firewood and burn it slowly. When it is almost burned out, add another piece of firewood. This way, the rice that is slowly steamed will be fragrant."

After accepting ten portions of incense for the kitchen god, the Fire Deity Stove Grid suddenly flickered, and Song Wuji felt his body getting unusually hot.

So Shen Shen checked the status and opened the first page of the stove book, and saw that there was an "upgradeable" prompt in the fire-starting technique column.

[Fire-Starting Technique. Upgradable]
Upgrade conditions: Collect 10 stoves.

Upgrade material: Stove Sugar 10
Upgrade effect, consume 1 piece of incense to gain the effect of "food fragrance"

Food Incense: The stove fire cooks the smoky aromas of the three realms, bridging the unfinished bonds between the Yin and Yang realms. Using fire-inducing techniques, the incense offerings to the kitchen stove rise, resembling the smoke of old homes. Wandering ghosts, inhaling this aroma, are transported back to the old home, their parents preparing meals.

When Song Wuji saw this, he was happy. This was another use for the fire-starting technique. He thought that this built-in Kitchen God spell could only be used in the early stages, but he didn't expect that it could be upgraded.

To collect the stove fires from ten households, you need to send stove candies to the stove gods of ten households. I don’t know whether it must be sticky malt sugar, nougat, or other sugar cubes.

As for consuming "Kitchen God Incense", it is not difficult to collect it. He has obtained the Fire Deity Kitchen God's Destiny. Although he is not the real Kitchen God, he can still perform his duties and use it directly from other Kitchen God portraits.

This effect of "food fragrance" should be an illusion similar to "The Little Match Girl", which can awaken the ghosts' good memories about food when they were alive.

I don’t know if it can be considered as “enlightenment” or whether I can accumulate some good karma.

But where can I find malt sugar to upgrade my fire-starting skills? Now I have to rely on charity for food!
Including the previous awakening mission of the handyman in the Jiupintian Kitchen, you can only have the chance to complete it if you become a chef. Now it’s a good opportunity to gain some favorability from the two aunts.

Dinner was ready soon. A pot of food was prepared for the doctors in the medical department. Song Wuji and other people who were isolated here for the epidemic had only multi-grain porridge with sweet potatoes to eat.

However, Song Wuji spent a long time lighting the fire and put in some effort to win the sympathy of the two aunts, and then ate something with them in the back kitchen, but it was just some sweet potatoes and rice.

The rice water left over from cooking rice was free, so I drank a lot of it.

Aunt Liu said that this thing is nourishing. Song Wuji is thin, and drinking more of this can replenish his vitality.

Song Wuji also obeyed and drank three big bowls obediently.

Anyway, with the magical power of "taking food", he could eat and digest any amount. However, if there was too much water, he would not be differentiated into a "grain eater", but would have an additional state of "water eater who is good at swimming and can cool down", and his body would become warmer and his face would be rosy.

(End of this chapter)