Chapter 26: When I first met you

As the sun rises, more and more people come to the inn for a quick stopover, and Mo Ran, disgusted by the noise downstairs, asks the waiter to bring all the dishes to his room.

In the end, he invited Chu Wanning, after all, his master was the greatest, and he was not a human emperor now, so he had to follow the rules.

On the beech wood table are three steaming bowls of noodles in soup. The noodles are homemade, not like the ones you buy outside, and they are smooth and al dente, topped with thickly sliced beef, fatty sausages, tender peas, full bok choy and golden shredded eggs.

But the best thing about these three bowls of noodles is not the watery leaves, nor the large chunks of meat or the rich ingredients, but the bone broth that has been simmering for four hours, poured over the noodle bowls, the creamy white broth floating with sesame seeds and red oil, and the spicy, fresh and fragrant seasoning that Mo Ran has worked out for himself in a stone bowl, simmering in the soup, which is aromatic and full of flavour.

He thinks Shi Mei likes spicy food, and he puts in plenty of red oil and spicy oil. Seeing Shi Mei burying her head in her food, the curve of Mo Ran's mouth became more and more relaxed, and after a few glances, he couldn't help but ask, "Is it good?"

Shi Mei said, "It's particularly good."

Chu Wanning did not speak, still wearing the sombre expression that God owed him a hundred mountains of gold and silver.

Mo Ran showed some smugness, "Then tell me when you want to eat and I'll make it."

Shi Mei's spicy eyes are misted with a thin layer of water, and she looks up at Mo Ran with a smile and a soft brow. With a beautiful woman in front of him, Mo Ran is not sure whether he should eat Shi Mei or the noodles in his bowl, if not for the icy Chu Wanning sitting next to him.

While Shi Mei ate little of the pea sprouts and fatty sausages, the beef and greens quickly reached the bottom.

Mo Ran, who had been watching unmovingly from the side, reached out with his chopsticks and scratched the pea shoots and fatty sausages into his own bowl, and filled in the gaps with several pieces of beef from his own noodle bowl.

The disciples at the Top of the Dead eat at Mengpo Court, often swapping dishes with each other, so Shi Mei didn't find it strange and smiled, " Mo Ran doesn't eat beef"

"Well, I love pea shoots."

He said, burying his head and purring. The tips of his ears, still slightly flushed with red.

Chu Wanning expressionlessly picks at his bowl of bean sprouts with chopsticks and drops them all into Mo Ran's bowl.

"I don't eat bean sprouts."

He threw all the beef in his bowl at Shi Mei: "No beef either."

Then frowning, he stared at what was left in the bowl, pursed his lips and was silent.

Shi Mei cautiously: "Is it not to your liking, Master?"

Chu Wanning :""

He didn't answer, lowered his head, silently took a vegetable, took a small bite, his face became even more ugly, and put down his chopsticks with a crisp "pop".

" Mo Weiyu, you spilled the jar of hot sauce in the soup"

Not expecting such a snide comment on his hard-earned breakfast, Mo Ran looked up with a noodle still hanging out of the corner of his mouth. He blinked innocently at Chu Wanning, not believing his ears, and swallowed the noodles with a gulp before saying, "What?"

Chu Wanning was even more defiant this time: "Is that human food you're making?"

Mo Ran blinked a few more times, finally sure that Chu Wanning was scolding him, and said indignantly, "Why is it not human food?"

Chu Wanning's brow twitched and he said sternly, "It's really hard to swallow."

Mo Ran chokes on the fact that he is at least a master of Zuiyu Building's craft.

"You're a bit too picky, too, Master."

Shi Mei also said, "Master, you haven't eaten for a day, so even if you don't like it, you should at least eat some."

Chu Wanning got up and said coldly, "I don't eat spicy food."

After saying this, he turned and left.

The two people who remained at the table fell into an awkward and uncomfortable silence. Shi Mei was a little surprised: "Master doesn't eat spicy food How come I didn't even know Mo Ran, you didn't know either"

"I"

Mo Ran stares at the noodles Chu Wanning has left on the table, almost untouched, for a moment, then nods.

"Hmm. I don't know."

This is a lie. Mo Ran knows that Chu Wanning does not eat spicy food.

Only he forgot.

After all, having spent most of his life with this man in a previous life, he knows exactly what Chu Wanning likes and dislikes.

But he wasn't on top of it and always didn't remember.

Back alone in his room, Chu Wanning lies down with his clothes on, facing the wall, his eyes open but unable to sleep.

He had lost a lot of blood, lost a lot of spiritual energy, and had not eaten any rice all night plus the morning, in fact, his stomach had been empty for a long time and he was uncomfortable.

This person doesn't know how to take care of himself in the slightest, and when he's in a bad mood, he simply doesn't eat, as if he thinks he can fill his stomach with anger.

He didn't know what he was angry about, or rather, he didn't really want to know.

Only in the silence, a face emerged in a blur, with a broad smile, a slight curl at the corners of its mouth, and eyes that were dark and lustrous, a somewhat gentle deep purple.

It looks warm and flushed with some laziness.

Chu Wanning gripped the mattress tightly, too hard. His knuckles were slightly white. Unwilling to fall into this, he closes his eyes and tries to get rid of the face that is laughing so freely.

But after he closed his eyes, the past came flooding back. He first met Mo Ran in front of the Tongtian Tower at the top of the Dead and the Living.

On that day, the sun was shining and all twenty elders were present, talking in whispers to each other.

Elder Yu Heng was naturally an exception, he wasn't so stupid as to be willing to stand over there and bake in the sun. Instead, he had long since taken refuge under a flowering tree, absentmindedly lifting one tail of his fingers to gauge whether his newly made basalt nail set would stretch freely.

Of course, he himself had no need to use the nail set, which was specially forged for the lower ranked disciples of the Top of Death and Life.

The Lower Fairy World is adjacent to the Ghost World and is often dangerous. It is not uncommon for junior disciples to be injured and killed.

Others were discussing it with gusto on the sidelines.

"Have you heard that your lord's long lost nephew was rescued from the fire? In the building where the water went, everyone else died, and if Your Holiness had been a step later, I'm afraid that little nephew would have become a handful of ashes.

"It must have been his father who blessed the child in the underworld. Poor him, he was separated from his childhood and suffered so much, alas"

"The boy's name is Mo Ran. He's fifteen years old, isn't he? It's time for him to get a name. Does he have a name?"

" Elder Xuan Ji, you don't know, this child grew up in a music hall, it's not bad to have a name, where would he have words."

"I heard that His Holiness had drawn up a few words for him and was choosing them, and I didn't know which one would be chosen in the end."

"Your Holiness is really paying attention to your young nephew."

"Isn't that so? Not to mention His Holiness, even Her Ladyship is heartbroken and distressed about him. Hey, I think the only one who is not happy at the top of this death and life is probably our pride of heaven"

"Elder Greedy Wolf this is not something to say."

"Haha. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but our pride and joy son is so unrestrained that he doesn't take his elders into account, he fights all day long, and he looks like he was born to be rich and powerful."

"Elder Greedy Wolf, you've had a bit too much wine today," the man next to him winked at him, his chin pointing to the Chu Wanning standing in the distance, the meaning of which could not be clearer.

Xue Meng, the pride of heaven, was a disciple of Chu Wanning, so to say that Xue Meng was out of control is to mock Chu Wanning in a roundabout way

This Elder Yu Heng, don't look like he is usually slow and gentle, with his Taoist bones and immortal style, as if he is floating in the world, a style of a senior person. But everyone knows that he has a very bad temper, and if anyone accidentally touches his scales, he will be smacked to death.

Chu Wanning had already heard their words.

But he didn't bother, he probably wasn't as interested in what people said about him as he was in the patterns on his own nail sets.

The armour is good, but it is not tough enough, so if you encounter a thick-skinned demon, you may not be able to tear the flesh of the opponent with a single blow.

The elders were slightly relieved to see no reaction from Chu Wanning and began to whisper again.

"Your Holiness has summoned us here today to choose a master for that Duke Mo, right?"

"How strange, why does His Holiness not teach himself"

"It seems to say that that little nephew's roots are not suitable for practising His Holiness' Heart Method." Someone muttered, "But then it's not so bad as to gather all the elders over and let that little male pick them one by one"

Elder Lu Cun sighed quietly, ruffled his long, elegant and silky hair, and said sadly, "I feel that I am like a cheap cabbage at the moment, sitting on the table, waiting for Little Sir Mo to pick it out."

All: ""

So can this sissy not just blurt out such big truths like that

After waiting for some time, His Holiness finally arrived. He walked up the thousand steps to Tongtian Tower, followed by a young boy.

Chu Wanning only glanced at it casually, and before he could even look at it, he turned his eyes away and went back to studying his nail set. He didn't even bother to take a second look.

When it comes to worshipping a master, it is necessary to talk about how innovative and destructive the Top of Death and Life is. In other schools, it's all about the master being on top, touching a new disciple's head and saying, "Young man, I see that you have a lot of wisdom, from today onwards you are my disciple."

The disciple did not even have a chance to say "no".

Either that or the master, with a cold and contemptuous look on his face, waved his sleeve and said, "Young man, your cranial gate is too high, your eyes are godless, and the back of your head is bony, not the proper appearance of my disciples. You are not meant for me, and I will not accept you as a disciple."

Then before the disciple could even show himself, the master flew away with a whoosh of his sword, running faster than a dog.

The summit of death and life is not the same; the master and the disciple choose each other.

What does it mean?

There are twenty elders at the top of death and life, and all disciples, after being initiated, can reverently hand in their obeisance by spending some time together and comparing them, expressing their wish to practise under that elder.

If the elders accept it, then all are happy.

If the elder does not accept, the disciple can soften and pester until the elder softens, or the disciple gives up.

Chu Wanning's skill and good looks should have made him a popular disciple. But this was not the case.

Chu Wanning's face was good-looking, but his temper was so bad that it was said that he could beat his female disciples as if they were male disciples and sink them into a pond. Not many people would have the courage to worship such a master.

As a result, under Elder Yu Heng, the horses are cold.

He did not accept anyone but Xue Meng, the pride of the sky, and Shi Mei, Xue Meng's best friend.

They would rather call him "Elder" with respect. They would rather call him "Master" than "Master".

Chu Wanning, with a high-flown face, said he wasn't upset, scowled with disinterest and went back to pouring cold mech weapons. What with the sleeved arrow magazines and the martial law posts, they were all designed for others. The sooner they are made, the sooner more people can be spared the misery.

So he did not expect that Mo Ran would not hesitate to choose himself.

He was frowning at that moment, fondling the sharp thorns on his knuckles, pondering how to improve them, and not bothering to pay attention to what His Holiness was saying to everyone.

At some point, however, there was a gradual silence around.

Chu Wanning, who had finished thinking about the improved recipe for the sharp spikes, suddenly realised that the buzz of people around him just now seemed a little too silent.

So he finally lifted his gaze from his finger-ring and, with some impatience and questioning, lifted his eyes.

Then he saw a face.

It is brilliant in the sunlight almost a little blinding.

It was a clear, handsome teenager who was looking up at him. The corners of the teenager's mouth were curled in a lazy, if unmistakable smile, and the dimples along his cheeks were deep, somewhat urbane and innocent. A pair of dark mid-purple eyes were staring unblinkingly at himself, half-mixed with eagerness and curiosity.

He was new to the city and did not know the rules. Standing close enough to be almost called rude.

Chu Wanning was taken aback by the sudden appearance of a man a stone's throw away, and as if he had been burned, he subconsciously took a step back and hit his head on the trunk of a tree with a thud.

The teenager's eyes widened slightly, "Ahhhh"

Chu Wanning :""

Teenager: ""

Chu Wanning: "What are you doing?"

The young man laughed, " Your Mightiness Your Mightiness, I've been looking at you for a long time, why don't you just ignore me."