Dragon Clan: My Dad is Ange

Lu Mingfei smiled bitterly twice, then adjusted his breathing and continued to climb up.

This time, his movements were more precise, every grasp and step was just right, as if there was a sophisticated navigation system in his body guiding him.

When his fingers finally touched the edge of the cliff, Lu Mingfei pushed hard and flipped onto the platform.

The sun shone on him unobstructed, and in the distance were rolling mountains and winding rivers.

He succeeded.

"One hour and seventeen minutes," Ye Fan's voice came from behind him, "faster than I thought."

Lu Mingfei turned around and saw Ye Fan sitting on a flat rock with a stopwatch in his hand.

The sunlight reflected a dazzling light on the alloy sword in his hand, making him look like a swordsman from an ancient legend.

Chapter 41: Hollowing out the forest just for a barbecue!

"How does it feel?"

Ye Fan put away the stopwatch and handed Lu Mingfei a bottle of water.

Lu Mingfei took the water bottle and gulped it down. The cool liquid slid down his throat, moistening his parched mucous membranes.

"It's...amazing," he gasped. "It's like there's another person living inside me, someone much more powerful than me."

Ye Fan smiled: "That person has always existed, but you didn't dare to face him before."

He stood up and patted Lu Mingfei on the shoulder. "Rest for ten minutes, then we'll go back to camp. We have one last test tonight."

Lu Mingfei nodded, walked to the edge of the cliff and sat down with his legs dangling in the air.

Looking down from this height, the entire forest was in sight, and the paths he had just crossed now seemed so small.

Five days ago, he was still the loser who couldn't even speak clearly at the literature club event; but now, he can climb cliffs with his bare hands, swim upstream in a turbulent river, and block Ye Fan's attacks with an eight-sided Han sword...

The wind messed up Lu Mingfei's hair and took away the last bit of heat from his body.

He suddenly realized that he was actually beginning to enjoy the feeling of challenging his limits.

Every breakthrough brings not only an improvement in physical ability, but also a spiritual liberation - it turns out that Lu Mingfei is not the invisible person who always hides in the corner.

"Time's up." Ye Fan's voice interrupted Lu Mingfei's thoughts, "It's time to go back."

On the return trail, the mottled sunset cast amber spots of light through the treetops.

"Since it's the last day, why not try something you haven't eaten before?"

Ye Fan suddenly stopped and proposed to Lu Mingfei.

"Something you haven't eaten before?"

Lu Mingfei was a little confused. Was there anything in this mountain that he hadn't eaten? Was Ye Fan going to hunt a wild boar?

In response to Lu Mingfei's doubts, Ye Fan just smiled, and his nostrils moved slightly, like a wolf smelling prey.

He parted a thicket of ferns, revealing several clusters of mushrooms with golden caps.

"Chanterelles." He knelt on one knee and carefully cut the roots with a dagger. "I have the ingredients for tonight's soup."

"So this is something I haven't eaten before. Isn't it mushroom?"

Lu Mingfei squatted beside him and watched Ye Fan put the mushrooms into a makeshift bark basket.

The mushroom caps are concave and funnel-shaped, with edges curled like petals, and they exude a faint apricot scent.

"You might be forced to experience things like deserted island survival when you join the Executive Division in the future, so get used to it now."

"The guys in the executive department are all monsters."

Lu Mingfei sighed, but also squatted down and listened carefully to Ye Fan's explanation.

Ye Fan taught him how to identify the characteristics: "Remember, real chanterelles have gills extending all the way to the stem, while fake ones have gaps separating them. If you can avoid eating fake ones, try not to eat them."

After passing a birch forest, we saw large patches of emerald green wild onions growing on the moist sand beside the stream, with water droplets hanging on their slender leaves.

In Lu Mingfei's opinion, these wild onions were not much different from ordinary weeds, but Ye Fan could tell the difference at a glance.

He pulled up a clump, and the milky white bulbs were covered with fresh soil, and a spicy scent immediately filled the air.

"You're lucky," Ye Fan handed Lu Mingfei a small shovel. "Leave one-third of the roots when you dig, so they can grow more next year."

"There are only a few of these wild onions in the woods. If you pick too many, you won't have a chance to enjoy them."

Lu Mingfei also followed Ye Fan to dig. As they dug, they suddenly found several similar plants, but the leaves were wider and thicker.

Just as he was about to pick it, Ye Fan grabbed his wrist and said, "That's lily of the valley. The whole plant is poisonous."

As she spoke, she crushed a leaf and let him smell it. The sweet aroma was completely different from the pungent smell of wild onions.

At the bend of the stream, a few clumps of reeds swayed in the wind.

Ye Fan took off his shoes and socks and waded into the shallows, pulling out a few tender white rhizomes from the mud.

"Reed root clears away heat and relieves summer heat." He shook off the water droplets. "Eat it raw, it tastes like sugarcane, and stewing it in soup can remove the fishy smell."

When they passed by a forest burned by a wildfire, Ye Fan's eyes suddenly lit up.

Around the charred tree stump, there were plump, dark brown mushrooms with caps as thick as steaks.

"Charcoal mushrooms only grow in burned forests." He carefully plucked the largest one, and a blue-green sap immediately oozed from its cut surface. "Look at the color change, it's definitely a genuine Lactarius pine."

"So that's how it is. I'll remember that."

Then Lu Mingfei was surprised to find that his memory had also become unusually sharp.

He could remember the characteristics that Ye Fan only mentioned once, and could even identify similar species by analogy.

"Dragon blood not only strengthens your body, but also optimizes your nervous system." Ye Fan explained, "Reaction speed, memory, spatial perception...all of these will gradually improve."

"What I'm saying may be a little abstract, but you'll understand when you start class next week. Learning with your current brain will be much more enjoyable."

“Is learning really enjoyable?”

Lu Mingfei expressed disbelief. He was happy to learn extracurricular knowledge, but he found it difficult to accept boring textbooks.

When they returned to the camp, the sun had already set. In the open space in front of the tent, Ye Fan built a simple campfire and roasted a few fish on it.

It seems that Ye Fan was not idle during their training.

Their bark baskets were already overflowing with golden chanterelles, tender green wild onions, snow-white reed roots, and a few unexpected wild peppercorns.

The bright red fruits that Ye Fan found in the cracks of the rocks look like miniature lanterns and can be used as seasoning for tonight's dinner.

Ye Fan took out a folding pot from his backpack like a magic trick.

"Just eating grilled fish is definitely not enough. Let's make some soup tonight."

He first built a stove with stones, then instructed Lu Mingfei to prepare the ingredients: "Brush the mushrooms clean with pine needles, chop the wild onions, and peel the reed roots."

As the bonfire crackled, Lu Mingfei watched Ye Fan put the ingredients into the boiling water one by one.

First, reed roots and dried shiitake mushrooms are used as the soup base, followed by shredded charcoal mushrooms, and finally wild onions and sansho peppers are sprinkled in.

The milky white soup noodles soon floated with golden mushroom oil, mixed with the spicy aroma of wild onions and the fruity aroma of sansho pepper, which whetted one's appetite.

"The secret to cooking outdoors is layers."

Ye Fan stirred the soup pot with a wooden spoon. "Reed root provides sweetness, charcoal mushrooms add richness, wild onions add fragrance, and sansho pepper adds the finishing touch."

When Ye Fan dug out the roasted snakeberry tubers from the embers, Lu Mingfei's stomach growled.

Peel off the charred skin and you will find light yellow flesh inside that is as sticky as taro and has a nutty aroma.

"Try this."

Ye Fan handed over a piece of roasted reed root. Lu Mingfei bit into it, and the sweet juice and the texture similar to water chestnuts surprisingly gave him the flavor of lotus root.

When chewing charcoal mushrooms, an aromatic oil similar to pine wood bursts out between the teeth, which, combined with the spiciness of wild onions, forms a wonderful trio.

Chapter 42 Two young men sucking in a deserted place!!

After nightfall, they held steaming wooden bowls, and the delicious aroma of mushroom soup was particularly tempting in the cold night.

Lu Mingfei took a sip, and all the fatigue in his body seemed to be smoothed away. The soup first hit his throat with the punch of wild onions, followed by the richness of mushrooms, and finally the slight numbing taste of sansho pepper on the tip of his tongue, with the sweet aftertaste of reed root.

"How does it compare to fast food?"

Ye Fan asked with a smile. Lu Mingfei looked at the golden mushroom oil floating in the bowl and suddenly remembered the old hen soup cooked by his aunt.

The most extreme flavor is never on supermarket shelves.

This picnic under the stars became the most delicious meal in Lu Mingfei's memory. It wasn't because the ingredients were precious, but because every bite of food carried the scent of earth, the warmth of the sun, and the sense of accomplishment of having gathered them with one's own hands.

When he bit into the wild pepper, the spicy sensation that rushed straight to his head made his eyes well up with tears, but he still couldn't help but pick up the second one.

Ye Fan brought out another pot of steamed indigo berries like magic. The purple-black berries cracked in the heat, and gem-like juice flowed out.

"Dessert after dinner."

As he spoke, he sprinkled a handful of pine nuts on top. The sweet and sour, hot flesh wrapped around the crunchy nuts created a wild symphony in his mouth.

Lu Mingfei licked the juice on his fingers and suddenly understood why the ancients said "live by the mountain and eat by the mountain".

This forest is like a generous grandmother. As long as you are willing to learn her language, she will open her storage room and give you the most authentic taste.

"Nature is a beautiful thing. Loneliness in the city is unbearable. But here, loneliness becomes the best companion."

Ye Fan mentioned it casually.

In his previous life, he was also a loner, otherwise he wouldn't have gone cycling alone in remote Tibet. Then he got lucky.

"Maybe when I'm in my sixties or seventies, I'll come live in the woods. But right now... young people always yearn for the prosperity of the city."

Lu Mingfei paused, sighed at the beauty of the forest, but then told about his current situation.

"This kind of thing is perfectly normal. Otherwise, how did this society develop to this day?"

"Society progresses because young people are unwilling to listen to the old. You're still very young, so there's no need to think too far into the future."

"Now let's focus on the final test tonight."

"The final test is simple," Ye Fan said as he flipped the grilled fish. "Use all the techniques you've learned to attack me. No matter the weapon or method, as long as you can break my defense once, you win."

Lu Mingfei swallowed his saliva.