Chapter 72 - Repaying One's Gratitude
Duan Yuyang wore a pair of thin silk gloves that can’t be stained by oil as he handled the deer, “If you had seen how he used forged stones as a weapon to attack this deer, you would be able to tell too.”
Also, to be able to utilise forged stones with such ease, the user must either be a heaven-defying genius or at least be of a heaven-defying level.
Evidently, Lin Xuanzhi was the former.
If he had just turned into an ordinary craftsman, then it wouldn’t matter much to Duan Yuyang; but if he had turned into a heaven-defying craftsman, then he would definitely be worthy of note.
Duan Yuyang, “…….”
In any case, Duan Yuyang is the Duan family’s young master after all, so he would never neglect any opportunity to rope a craftsman onto his side.
Lin Xuanzhi looked at the pair of antlers on their deer, then cut them off and kept them in his bag.
Yan Tianhen blinked and asked out of curiosity, “Dage, what can those antlers be used for?”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “They can be used to exchange for other items in Profound city. We could also keep it for our own use, infuse it with liquor or use them as raw materials for crafting.”
Yan Tianhen nodded and revealed a look of admiration as he said, “Dage’s so amazing.”
Duan Yuyang almost rolled his eyes up to the heavens. He had finally realised that Yan Tianhen was a brocon through and through; no matter what Lin Xuanzhi does, he’ll always think that he does it amazingly and awesomely.
“Please, I was the one who handled this deer from start to finish, why don’t you praise me?” Duan Yuyang said.
“Because my Dage would definitely handle it even faster and better than you did.” Yan Tianhen said,
Duan Yuyang, “….”
Are you serious?
Lin Xuanzhi couldn’t help but laugh, then raised his hand and lightly knocked on Yan Tianhen’s head.
“Do you know how to cook game meat?” Lin Xuanzhi turned around to ask the Duan Yuyang who was rolling his eyes.
Duan Yuyang hummed softly and said, “I do, but I don’t wanna work.”
Lin Xuanzhi took out three cups and one jar of wine from his storage bag, then pa.s.sed one of his cups to Duan Yuyang.
Duan Yuyang held the cup with a puzzled look, then said, “You’re really well prepared aren’t you, I can’t believe you’ll actually carry this kind of toy around with you.”
Yet Yan Tianhen’s eyes were already gleaming as he immediately unsealed the jar of wine and poured the wine inside into a cup, “This isn’t just any ordinary wine, just try it and you’ll understand!”
Duan Yuyang looked at Yan Tianhen doubtfully. He took a whiff of the wine in his cup and thought that its flavour was alright. But after he drank a mouthful, he suddenly felt like he was going to soar into the sky.
“Lin Xuanzhi, you’re really something else! I can’t believe you managed to get your hands on such a good item.” Duan Yuyang gave Lin Xuanzhi a thumbs up while he wanted to hide the cup that he was reluctant to part with in his storage bag.
Lin Xuanzhi took in this whole sight, then a faint smile appeared on his face as he said, “If you can take responsibility for our clothing, food and shelter during our journey, I’ll give you this cup.”
“Okay!” Duan Yuyang promised without much hesitation. He lacked everything but money, and although his cooking skills used to be rubbish, he can proudly say that his cooking is excellent now — especially when it came to his roasting techniques in the wild.
Duan Yuyang skillfully cut off one of the deer’s leg, stuck a branch through it, then fanned their fire to make it burn even more brightly.
“Let me tell you guys, when it comes to roasting meat, I actually figured out the knack to it all by myself.” Duan Yuyang started up a conversation because he couldn’t subdue his excitement, and began to brag while he roasted, “How would I know how to do this kind of thing in the past? Whenever I went out, I would always be surrounded by servants and guards.”
“Then why do you know how to do it now?” Yan Tianhen blinked as he asked.
“Ei, it was all through force of circ.u.mstance.” Duan Yuyang casually said, “When you find yourself in an awful predicament and neither the heavens nor earth would answer your prayers, you’ll be forced to learn how to survive too.”
Yan Tianhen nodded with a pensive look.
He didn’t know how to cook in the past either. But after his Daddy pa.s.sed away and his brother was severely injured, their family took away their former servants. Thus, he had to learn how to cook for himself.
But his cooking skills…really need not be mentioned.
In any case, Lin Xuanzhi had always respected his skills from a distance.
A fragrant scent began to waft from their meat. Yan Tianhen took a deep breath, licked his lips and said, “It smells really really delicious.”
Duan Yuyang flipped over the roasted meat and boasted, “Of course. Honourable me’s roasted meat is the only one of its kind in this world. If you miss the chance to taste it now, you won’t get the opportunity to savour it in the future.”
Yan Tianhen laughed aloud.
Lin Xuanzhi’s eyes darkened, then his lips curved up as he said, “There’s a stream nearby. If we’re thirsty, we can go there to fetch some water.”
Yan Tianhen nodded and said, “Is Dage thirsty? I’ll go fetch some water for Dage ba.”
“Don’t take too long.” Lin Xuanzhi said.
Yan Tianhen picked up their water bottle, patted his b.u.t.t and ran off.
“I’m really jealous of you for having such a good brother.” Duan Yuyang said with a face full of envy.
“There’s no use for you to be jealous.” Lin Xuanzhi, “He’s the only one of his kind. It’s difficult to find someone like him even just once in a thousand years.”
Duan Yuyang immediately laughed and said, “Can you be any more shameless? Who’s as much of a braggart as you?”
“Isn’t that the case though?” Lin Xuanzhi lightly said, “As a Dao partner, Yuan Tianwen should be quite considerate and gentle as well.”
“Ah?” Duan Yuyang paused.
“Something should have happened between you and Yuan Tianwen ba?”
Lin Xuanzhi just casually threw his question out like this.
Duan Yuyang was instantly stunned. He didn’t even have time to withdraw his smile, so it was currently affixed to his face.
When Lin Xuanzhi changed the topic, he didn’t give any warning nor make a connection with their previous conversation at all. He went straight to the point and had caught Duan Yuyang by surprise.
A trace of fl.u.s.ter flashed through Duan Yuyang’s eyes. He picked up the seasoning jar to rub it on the roasted meat and had intended to calm himself down by doing so. But unexpectedly, he hand shook and half the jar of seasoning was poured onto the meat.
Duan Yuyang, “…”
Lin Xuanzhi laughed, but didn’t say anything.
Duan Yuyang clicked his tongue, kept the jar and decided not to hide anything. He looked at Lin Xuanzhi’s eyes that seemed to be able to see through anything and said, “No matter what you’ve realised, don’t say it. It has nothing to do with you.”
How could it have nothing to do with him? Lin Xuanzhi lightly said, “The one by Yuan Tianwen’s side now is my ex-fiance.”
Duan Yuyang almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
Lin Xuanzhi continued, “And the reason he’s now my ex-fiance appears to be because some young master had incited my family’s Ah Hen to slip me a Sleeping Pill, then took advantage of the situation to steal my marriage contract and went to the Han family to annul my engagement.”
Duan Yuyang almost jumped straight up, then said, “And you dare to bring that up? Didn’t I help you resolve a huge problem?”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “So I intend to repay the favour by helping you resolve your huge problem.”
Duan Yuyang, “You….”
Lin Xuanzhi talked in a very casual and gentlemanly manner. A faint smile appeared on his face as he said, “Or, I could go look for Yuan young peak master now and give him some guidance?”
Duan Yuyang, “…….”
This was definitely a threat of the highest magnitude!
Duan Yuyang immediately retreated. He clasped his hands and said, “You’re too amazing, I admit defeat.”
Lin Xuanzhi smiled, but immediately withdrew his smile and said, “So, what on earth is this all about?”
Duan Yuyang rubbed his nose, then sighed and said uneasily, “Actually, there’s not much to say. When Yuan Tianwen was severely injured, had an unsound mind and was undergoing a Qi deviation, I happened to pick him up and took care of him for awhile. Then afterwards, I left when he had almost recovered. And when we met again he was pursuing that Han Yuran like a madman, so what else can I f.u.c.king say?”
Even though Duan Yuyang had described his situation simply, Lin Xuanzhi could tell that there was some other truth to the matter that Duan Yuyang didn’t divulge.
For example, when Duan Yuyang and Yuan Tianwen were alone together, some sort of emotional friction must have occurred between the two of them. Or else, Duan Yuyang wouldn’t feel so indignant about Yuan Tianwen pursing Han Yuran.
“How did Yuan Tianwen get acquainted with Han Yuran?” Lin Xuanzhi asked.
“How the f.u.c.k would I know.” Duan Yuyang impatiently stabbed the deer’s leg with a knife, then called out in surprise, “Oh, it’s done!”
Duan Yuyang’s eyes lit up. He took the branch off the fire, stuck it into ground and clapped as he said, “Come and try it! This is the Duan’s secret recipe and this is the only shop around, there’s no other branches~”
Lin Xuanzhi took the knife and sliced off a piece of venison.
Right at this moment, Yan Tianhen returned with the water he had fetched. He sat down next to Lin Xuanzhi, pa.s.sed the water to him, then took a deep breath and said, “It smells so good!”
Lin Xuanzhi pa.s.sed the slice of venison that he had cut to Yan Tianhen and said, “Try it.”
Yan Tianhen took a bite and a satisfied expression spread across his face.
There was no need to say it: the taste of this roasted venison was definitely top-notch!
“Yuyang Gege you’re so amazing!” Yan Tianhen praised.
“Of course, and in comparison to your Dage?”
“You definitely can’t match up to my Dage though!”
… Duan Yuyang sighed and said, “Fine. Why did I have to invite my own humiliation?”
Yan Tianhen’s eyes looked like half moons as he laughed, “Hahaha!”
The cheerful sounds of laughter abounded on this side, which contrasted with the cold silence on the other.
Yuan Tianwen had also caught a whiff of the scent of their roasted meat and thought it smelled a bit familiar, but couldn’t tell why he found it this familiar. When he and Han Yuran were on Flying Luan peak, Han Yuran often jabbered on and on into his ears without stopping. Even when his blood and Qi was raging through his body and he hadn’t wanted to hear a single word, Han Yuran still wouldn’t stop talking as a form of distraction.
But now, Han Yuran had quietened down quite a bit. Yuan Tianwen was also a man of few words, so when the two of them were together, it seemed like there was nothing they could talk about.
Yuan Tianwen felt like Han Yuran has changed quite a bit, and didn’t know which was the real him.
Yuan Tianwen sliced off a piece of the meat he roasted and pa.s.sed it to Han Yuran. Han Yuran accepted it, and after he took a bite, he furrowed his brows and said, “Why does it taste so gamey.”
Yuan Tianwen was a bit embarra.s.sed and quickly said, “Recently my skills have turned rusty.”
Han Yuran’s eyes swept over the three people who were laughing cheerfully at the other side, and his gaze especially lingered on Lin Xuanzhi. His heart was distraught as he casually threw away the piece of roasted meat in his hands, then stood up and said, “I’m not eating anymore, no appet.i.te.”
He had been feeling depressed ever since he knew that Lin Xuanzhi had turned into a craftsman.
He had always treated Lin Xuanzhi as a coward who didn’t have much of a backbone. He thought for sure that Lin Xuanzhi couldn’t bear to lose their engagement, which was why he had always righteously demanded for his magic treasures in the past. And as he had expected, Lin Xuanzhi would generously give him anything that he asks for.
But who would have known that Lin Xuanzhi would actually stab him in the back like this.
Lin Xuanzhi had probably thought of annulling the engagement the moment he turned into a craftsman. The funny thing is, he had always been kept in the dark while he a.s.sumed that victory was in his hands, but he didn’t expect….Han Yuran took a deep breath, and his eyes were both cold and grim as if they had been dipped in poison.
In that case, then Lin Xuanzhi would definitely be his opponent in the future.
Looks like he really needed to think about how he could use someone else to get rid of Lin Xuanzhi in advance.
Yuan Tianwen helplessly looked at Han Yuran’s back. It wasn’t the first time that he had an argument with Han Yuran. It’s just that, when they had fought in the past, Han Yuran would openly argue with him and he would be able to retort. But now, Han Yuran only had a cold expression plastered onto his face and wouldn’t say a word. Now, he didn’t even have a way to start a fight with him so that they could get it over with.
Yuan Tianwen thought that he had indeed caused Han Yuran to suffer recently, so he thickened his skin and went over to Lin Xuanzhi’s side.
“Yo, Yuan young peak master, what are you doing here?” Duan Yuyang immediately sneered.
Yuan Tianwen walked right past Duan Yuyang. He only casted a brief glance at him and ignored his jeers.
Yuan Tianwen said to Lin Xuanzhi, “Could I borrow some food? My cooking isn’t very good so he can’t get used to it.”
Duan Yuyang looked like he had just eaten a mouthful of s.h.i.t, then said, “Where did such a pampered person come from? If he’s not used to it then don’t eat it, does he still think that he’s a young master when he’s out in the wild?”
T/N: LXZ MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD when he was forcing DYY to spill the beans omg wheeze