From a country cook to a master chef

"Father, why isn't Mother coming to town with us? Isn't she afraid to be all alone in the village?"

At the entrance to Yucheng, a little girl of about four years old reached out to catch the falling snowflakes and asked her father, who was about to pay the fee to enter the city, a question.

The man remained silent, simply handing over half a tael of silver, and carrying the girl toward the city.

Behind them stood countless people, all travel-worn, many with chapped lips, swollen ears, and frostbite, all waiting to pay to enter the city.

The queue stretched for miles, filling the main road, and from time to time, heart-wrenching cries could be heard from the crowd.

At this time of year, another snowdrift will appear beside the road.

In the winter of the 28th year of Tianwu, this heavy snow had been falling for five whole months.

Lin Jue had just returned from the mass grave and left the territory of Yulin Town when he encountered a group of bandits who were robbing him on the road.

The leader was a robust young man, who looked to be about the same age as Lin Jue.

The bandits didn't rob money, they just wanted food.

To be precise, they were a group of starving refugees, carrying farm tools such as hoes, picks, and sickles. Their clothes were thin and drafty, and in the snow not far away, pots, pans, and belongings were piled up.

Only the young man leading the group held an incongruous, rusty broadsword.

"Want some food?"

Lin Jue was taken aback; he didn't have much food on him either.

I only had three tea oil cakes that I had taken from the Zhao family's banquet last night, which I planned to save as provisions for the journey.

Seeing that there were only three fried cakes, the refugees, starving, stared at the fat horse behind Lin Jue, their mouths watering uncontrollably.

At night, the aroma of roasted meat wafted through the snowy landscape.

Lin Jue sat on a dried tree stump, holding a freshly roasted horse leg in his hand.

"My name is Zhang Kuang, and I come from Shuangshu Village, Yong'an Town. I will definitely find a way to return your horse to you when we get to Yucheng."

The young man wrapped his tattered coat tighter, gnawed on a piece of greasy horse meat, and sat down next to Lin Jue.

"My name is Lin Jue, and I live in Yulin Town over there. Why is your whole village going to Yucheng?"

"There was no other way. The village was buried by heavy snow. If we didn't flee, we would only wait to die."

Zhang Kuang took a big bite of a piece of lean meat, but felt choked, so he grabbed a handful of snow and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Our place is more than 200 li away from Yucheng. The snow was five feet deep. Along the way, many villagers died, and now only these 30 people are left."

Lin Jue was suddenly stunned, completely unprepared for the terrifying nature of the heavy snow.

Although many people from Yulin Town fled to Yucheng to make a living, the town was still habitable and had not yet reached the point where the heavy snow would bury the village, as Zhang Kuang had claimed.

"Brother Zhang, do you think this snow is due to God's will or human intervention?"

Lin Jue tore off a piece of horse meat and put it in his mouth. Gazing at the still snowy night sky, he asked a question that startled Zhang Kuang.

"Brother Lin really knows how to say something truly outrageous!"

Zhang Kuang shook his head and sighed, "Unfortunately, we are just mortals, how could we possibly know the answer to this question?"

"Brother Zhang, have you been to school?"

"To be honest, I attended a private school for two years, but then my father broke his leg and my family couldn't afford the tuition, so I stopped studying."

Zhang Kuang devoured a whole two-pound piece of horse meat in no time, exclaiming, "I haven't eaten for two days! Brother Lin must be laughing at me!"

"It's alright, you can have this one too."

Lin Jue handed over the meat and casually asked, "With the heavy snow causing disaster, many refugees must be flooding into Yucheng. Do you have any plans once you get there?"

According to Zhang Kuang, Yong'an Town is at least 200 li away from Yucheng. In the current freezing weather, the villagers can only walk 40 li a day with their families, and sometimes they can only walk 17 or 18 li.

It took them six whole days to get here.

Countless villagers froze and starved to death along the way, and many more were lost in the snow, their fates unknown.

Including the money left by Miss Zhao before she left, Lin Jue's entire fortune now amounted to over a thousand taels of silver, which could barely be considered a small fortune.

Besides gold, silver, money, silk, and cotton, there was also the "Beauty-Nourishing Jade Soup" recipe obtained from Zhu Xinghe, as well as the mysterious bronze cube that he mentioned could bring people back to life.

Then there's the Zhao family's "Immortal Book," which even Foundation Establishment cultivators envy.

However, he stuffed all these things into the storage bag left by Wuyanzi, and he only had a bundle containing a few old clothes and three fried cakes on his body.

After seeing off Miss Zhao, Lin Jue returned to the mass grave outside Yulin Town and confirmed that the corpse was related to the corpse under Wufeng Mountain. The two must have had a fierce battle before their deaths, severely injuring each other and dying together.

Whether it's the bronze cube or the recipe for the Jade Purity Soup for Nourishing Beauty, they are all celestial objects.

Add to that the precious gourd he had obtained, and the Zhao family's immortal book, and all of this was far too extraordinary.

That's why he felt that the heavy snowfall was deliberately caused by someone.

……

Don't flaunt your wealth, and don't show off your riches.

Lin Jue plans to go to Yucheng and find a martial arts school to work as a cook, while taking the opportunity to learn martial arts.

Directly becoming a disciple of a martial arts school in the current environment seems too conspicuous, which is not what he wants.

Zhang Kuang brought over a bundle of firewood, shook off the snow, and added it to the fire little by little.

Thirty people, seven or eight people each roasted a pile of firewood, and four fires were lit.

Hearing Lin Jue's words, Zhang Kuang spoke helplessly.

"I don't have any plans. I'm already grateful to have made it to Yucheng alive. From now on, I can only take it one step at a time. As long as I'm willing to work, I don't believe I can go hungry with just my own two hands."

"That's right, as long as you're willing to work hard, you'll always reap the rewards." Lin Jue patted Zhang Kuang on the shoulder, fully agreeing with his idea.

If you can't change what has already happened, then try to adapt to the present and change the future.

As dawn broke, Lin Jue, who hadn't slept all night, got up and stretched.

Zhang Kuang slept soundly by the still-warm campfire, perhaps because he had eaten meat the night before. It was quite some time later, when the campfire had completely died down, that the villagers, feeling the chill, began to wake up.

"Grandpa, Grandpa!"

A boy was crying anxiously because he couldn't wake his grandfather.

The villagers, unfazed by the sight, gathered around and worked together to dig a pit and bury the old man.

The villagers' apathy made Lin Jue momentarily lost in thought.

Following the road, the group traveled together, still ten miles from their destination, Yucheng.

On the uneven, icy road, people slipped and fell from time to time, getting bruised and battered. Perhaps because they were about to arrive in Yucheng, everyone's faces were filled with anticipation.

As noon approached, from a great distance, the group finally saw the colossal city they had longed for, standing on the plain not far away.

"A fairy! Mother, look! That's a fairy!"

The sound of children cheering rang out, and everyone subconsciously looked up, only to see an old man, two children, and three majestic immortals flying overhead on swords.

On the official road leading to Yucheng, countless refugees knelt on the ground in devotion, praying for the protection of the immortals.

"Hmm? That's... Wuyanzi?"

Lin Jue was stunned when he looked up for just one moment.

The person who flew overhead on a sword and was revered and worshipped by the refugees was none other than Wu Yanzi, the alchemist who had parted ways with him not long ago!

"This guy is such a show-off..."

While secretly despising Yucheng, Lin Jue also became increasingly curious about it.