Chapter 397: Dinner of the Opera Path

When Chen Ling opened his eyes again, the sky outside the window had darkened. He glanced at the clock on the wall and slowly sat up.

He walked into the courtyard and found that smoke was rising from the house of the third senior brother, Wenren You, drifting into the air with the evening breeze of the starry night.

"Is it time to go mooch a meal..."

Chen Ling found a bowl and chopsticks in the kitchen and walked straight toward the third senior brother’s house.

The place where they lived was like some kind of plateau, almost without any pollution. The starry sky above was like crystalline light sand scattered by God, extending to the end of the sky... The outline of the snow-capped mountains in the distance was towering, massive, sacred, and majestic.

Chen Ling felt that this place was a bit like Tibet. Of course, he hadn't been there himself. Before he transmigrated, like most other people, he had thought about going to such a place one day to pursue the meaning of life. Unfortunately, the endless studying in his youth and the endless work in his adulthood had strangled his dream in the cradle.

A red robe fluttered in the cold evening wind, but Chen Ling didn't feel the chill. Instead, he felt a sense of relaxation as if his whole person had been emptied. Here, whether it was the Calamity of Mockery, the fate of humanity, the Realm, or the Nine Lords, they all seemed to be temporarily thrown to the back of his mind...

Here, Chen Ling was just Chen Ling.

The houses were not far from each other, and Chen Ling’s house was in the very center, closest to every senior brother and sister’s house. After walking for only two or three minutes, he arrived at the third senior brother’s door.

Chen Ling was about to raise his hand to knock, but suddenly hesitated...

"Just mooching a meal like this... would that be bad?"

Chen Ling had experienced the "human relationships and worldly wisdom" before his transmigration. In that era, if you went to someone else’s house to mooch a meal, you had to bring something, right? Especially since they weren't particularly close... Even a bag of fruit would do.

But in this place, where could he buy such things?

Just as Chen Ling was struggling, a voice sounded from behind:

"Junior Brother, why aren't you going in?"

Chen Ling turned back and found that the senior brother, Ning Ruyu, was walking over from his own house, also holding a bowl and chopsticks, looking at Chen Ling with some confusion.

Chen Ling looked at the rice bowl in Ning Ruyu’s hand, which was a size larger than his own, and was suddenly stunned:

"Senior Brother, why is your bowl so big?"

"Oh, I usually eat a lot, and that guy, the third, is very stingy. If I take a small bowl, he serves less, and he won't help with refills... So I just take a bigger bowl."

Chen Ling: ...

Chen Ling hesitated for a moment, but still asked: "Senior Brother, I just joined the sect and I’m already bringing a bowl to mooch a meal... Don't I need to bring some kind of gift for the senior brother?"

Ning Ruyu raised an eyebrow, his eyes full of confusion as he looked at Chen Ling.

"Junior Brother, what are you talking about?"

Chen Ling opened his mouth, but didn't know how to explain the four words "human relationships and worldly wisdom" to Ning Ruyu... It seemed that these people in the Ancient Treasury of the Opera Path really didn't know much about this aspect.

Ning Ruyu didn't wait for Chen Ling to say more, but pushed open the door and walked in with big strides.

In the center of the third senior brother’s house was a pure wooden Eight Immortals table. Mo Jiao was already sitting at the edge with his bowl and chopsticks, his head lowered as if he had merged with the table and chairs. Chen Ling almost didn't see him.

Opposite him, Luan Mei sat quietly. Seeing Chen Ling and the others walk in, she nodded in acknowledgment.

Ning Ruyu sat down beside her, and Chen Ling also sat on the other side.

Seeing him arrive, Mo Jiao asked with a smile:

"Junior Brother, is that bed comfortable to sleep in?"

Chen Ling was stunned for a moment, then immediately recalled the bed with the sheets and quilt all neatly arranged, and said sincerely: "Comfortable, thank you, Senior Brother."

Four sets of bowls and chopsticks were placed on the table. Luan Mei, Mo Jiao, and Chen Ling’s bowls were all the same size; only Ning Ruyu’s was a size larger, looking particularly conspicuous.

Just then, another figure walked in happily.

He saw the Master, who had transformed into a beautiful young man, holding a rice basin the size of a washbasin. As he walked, the chopsticks in the basin clattered, as if a beggar had walked in from outside.

"Third! Master is here!" he said with a grin.

The third senior brother walked out of the kitchen with his tall body wearing an apron. Seeing the rice basin in his hand, his face froze, and blue veins appeared on the back of his hand gripping the spatula...

He snorted coldly, turned around silently, and returned to the kitchen. Soon, the sound of washing rice could be heard.

Bang—

The young man placed the rice basin on the table with a crisp sound.

He looked at the small bowl in front of Chen Ling and couldn't help but say, "Sixth, your bowl is too small. Not to mention comparing it to the fifth, at least you should use a basin like Master."

"..." Chen Ling bit the bullet and said, "No need, I can't eat that much..."

Ning Ruyu seemed to remember something.

"Master, where is the fifth?"

"Him? He has something to do, he won't come to eat today."

Ning Ruyu was stunned for a moment, but didn't ask further, just nodded silently.

Chen Ling looked at the third senior brother busy in the kitchen and asked in confusion:

"Doesn't the Ancient Treasury of the Opera Path have the ability to materialize virtual things? Since that’s the case, why do you still have to cook for yourself?"

When he first arrived at the Ancient Treasury of the Opera Path, Ning Ruyu had taken him into the movie "Le Chef" to eat a French steak. And there should be countless food-themed movies collected in the Ancient Treasury of the Opera Path. He should be able to conjure any flavor of dish just by moving his hand.

The young man looked at Chen Ling and answered unhurriedly:

"Opera is opera, life is life. The closer you are to the 'Opera Path' itself, the more you must keep your distance from it... Otherwise, you won't be able to tell the difference between opera and reality."

"Usually, the third does the cooking, but if we get tired of it, we occasionally go into an opera to improve our meals," Ning Ruyu added.

Just as everyone was talking, Wenren You walked out of the kitchen with several dishes and placed them in front of everyone one by one.

To Chen Ling’s surprise, these dishes were not as luxurious as he had imagined. At a glance, they were all home-cooked dishes that were relatively easy to make and wouldn't taste bad. Chen Ling could even make some of them. If there was anything special, it was that the portions of these dishes were very large, definitely enough to fill you up.

Wenren You took away the young man’s rice basin, served more than half of it with rice, and then placed it on the table. The other senior brothers and sisters were the same...

"Give me your bowl." The tall Wenren You reached out to Chen Ling and said calmly.

Chen Ling handed over his bowl, and in a moment, a bowl full of rice was placed in front of him.

"Thank you, Senior Brother." Chen Ling said.

Wenren You sat at the table with his own bowl and chopsticks, and everyone began to eat. Chen Ling tasted a few bites of the tomato scrambled eggs and green pepper shredded potatoes; the taste was indeed much better than what he could make.

The young man sitting opposite Chen Ling grabbed his chopsticks and began to shovel rice into his mouth like a spatula, his eating style extremely wild.

The corners of Chen Ling’s mouth twitched slightly. He silently ate more than half of the rice and dishes in his bowl before tentatively asking:

"Master... when can I learn the secret techniques of the Opera Path?"