Chapter 8

The young man with slicked-back hair and powdered face suddenly darkened, “Are you looking for trouble?”

Cen An’s eyes cooled as he reached back to grip the iron sword hanging at his waist, a system-issued weapon. Since understanding the dangers of this world, he never left home without it, so he wasn’t afraid of these few people.

Tian Yuan also stood up and positioned himself behind him protectively.

Cen An said coldly, “Hello, money not in my hand doesn’t count as payment. Money and goods must be exchanged simultaneously—that’s how buying works.”

The young man’s face flickered between red and black, utterly unaccustomed to such an argument. The other party’s “hello” came with swords drawn—“Hello” my foot!

The small market was not large, and a circle of onlookers had gathered.

Under everyone’s gaze, a few of the young man’s followers were momentarily stunned but quickly tried to back him up. “How dare you talk to our boss like that? Do you know who our boss is?”

“Yeah, our boss is Shi Jie! The younger brother of Shi Long, the captain of the Ability Squad!”

“Hurry up and apologize!”

Cen An’s tone remained unchanged. “As far as I know, the captain of the Ability Squad’s surname is Liao.”

Shi Jie’s face darkened further. The crowd whispered, as if ready to trample on his pride. He couldn’t help but roar, “That old man named Liao hasn’t shown up in ages—he might be dead already! My brother will be the captain sooner or later! You all better stay away!”

Cen An lowered his gaze, guessing that his brother was the deputy captain the elderly couple had mentioned. He didn’t think the deputy captain’s position was secure—he hadn’t even become captain yet, and his brother’s arrogance suggested he wasn’t well-liked.

He pondered for a moment, and Shi Jie mistook his silence for fear, smugly declaring, “See, you’re scared now! I won’t make things hard for you. Wrap up these cabbages and the mouse skins below, give them to me, and I’ll let you go.”

Cen An remained calm. Before he could reply, a fierce female voice cut in, “Shi Jie, who the hell do you think you’re scaring?”

Hearing the voice, Shi Jie shuddered instinctively. “Y-you guys are here?”

Cen An also found the voice familiar and looked up to see Qu Yue, accompanied by Zhao Wu.

Qu Yue rolled her eyes at Shi Jie without so much as a glance.

Shi Jie, who had been arrogant moments ago, shrank back, even dodging aside like a frightened quail. He dared not utter a word, his body aching—he had long suffered beatings from this couple.

His brother was an Ability user too, a level-three, considered an expert in the village. But the couple were both level-three Ability users! Even his brother had warned him not to provoke them.

Qu Yue approached Cen An. “My daughter told me a new guy was selling stuff here. I thought it might be you, and sure enough!”

Zhao Wu came forward with a simple smile to greet him.

Cen An held fond feelings for the couple. “Are your injuries healed?”

“Completely!” Qu Yue replied cheerfully. “The medicine you gave really works, better than ours by far. We owe you one already, and that’s a debt we haven’t even repaid!”

Shi Jie perked up at the keywords—“owed a life? Medicine?”

Just as he was pricking up his ears, someone grabbed them. “Ouch, ouch, Qu Jie, easy! I won’t do it again…”

Qu Yue yanked him over. “And you, punk, acting tough just now, huh? Do you know who this is? This is the person who saved me and old Zhao! Apologize!”

Shi Jie’s face turned sour; his earlier swagger disappeared. He obediently bowed to Cen An. “Sorry, benefactor, I was wrong.”

Cen An nodded lightly. “I guess you don’t want the vegetables anymore. Don’t forget to take your crystal core.”

Shi Jie’s face darkened even further. He tried signaling his followers but feared Qu Yue’s watchful eyes, so he reluctantly fished through the mud.

Qu Yue’s anger grew as she realized this, delivering a sharp kick to his backside as he searched for his crystal core.

Shi Jie wallowed in the mud like a dog eating filth, utterly humiliated.

When he and his gang fled in defeat, Qu Yue said, “This kid is the younger brother of Shi Long, deputy captain of the Ability Squad. He’s a bit foolish and often makes small mistakes but hasn’t done anything truly bad. If he ever bothers you again, tell me—I’ll deal with him.”

Cen An smiled gently. “It’s not so easy to provoke me.”

“That’s true. You seem like a good-tempered guy,” Qu Yue’s cheerful voice carried across half the market. Then she glanced at the stall. “Oh, these are cabbages, right? They look great. My daughter said she wanted fresh vegetables a few days ago—I’ll take them. Old Zhao, pay up!”

Old Zhao happily agreed and took out crystal cores.

Cen An hesitated a moment but wrapped the cabbages with dry grass. “Fresh vegetables don’t keep long; eat them soon.”

Qu Yue nodded. She wasn’t as foolish as Shi Jie—she immediately realized such tender cabbages couldn’t have been found in the mountains. Though most land was uncultivable now, occasionally someone managed to grow something.

She didn’t pry and said straightforwardly, “There’s still someone farming properly. Going up the mountain is too dangerous. I was going to ask if you sell your medicine. Since you want to sell vegetables, I’ll help find more buyers.”

Cen An chuckled, “Thank you.”

The couple carried off the vegetables, and Cen An noticed a young girl at another stall, who waved a chubby little hand at him with a clever expression.

The crowd dispersed. From this distance, Cen An could still hear people cursing the deputy captain. He wondered if the man was foolish or simply careless—wanting to be captain yet allowing his brother to ruin his reputation.

Using the basket as cover, Cen An took twenty more cabbages from his backpack and laid them out.

When he turned, he nearly jumped at the sight of a dark face. “What’s wrong?”

Tian Yuan stroked his chin. “You’re pretty familiar with those Ability users?”

Cen An shook his head. “Not really, just ran into them once in the mountains.”

Tian Yuan nodded. “That’s fine then. In the Ability Squad, except for the guy named Shi, the others are okay.”

Cen An inwardly scoffed. Sounds like you know the Ability Squad pretty well yourself.

But Qu Yue hadn’t recognized him just now, which felt odd.

“By the way,” Tian Yuan asked curiously, “why did you say ‘hello’ to Shi Jie? His face went so dark, haha, it was hilarious!”

Cen An smiled slightly. “Maybe I’m just polite.”

Orphans had no one to teach them, yet bore many labels. Showing even a hint of anger invited accusations of being uneducated and unruly.

Cen An disliked such words from childhood, so he learned to be a decent person. Over time, it became a habit, even when angry.

But deep down…

He tapped the iron sword at his waist and smiled at the customer approaching to buy vegetables.

—

As dusk fell, the small market closed. Cen An returned home. He had sold over fifty cabbages today, twenty of which Qu Yue bought, earning him over twenty crystal cores.

He calculated that without Qu Yue’s help, he could sell about thirty cabbages a day, so it would take around five days to sell out.

That wasn’t bad, though he felt sorry for the unused fertile land. If only he could plant seeds sooner.

But then again, if he grew too many vegetables, he might not sell them all and lose money… Running a farm in reality wasn’t as simple as in games.

Rubbing his temples, he decided not to overthink it. After several meals of just making do, tonight he wanted something good to eat.

—

In the basket, besides the mouse skins, there was half a wild pheasant and a bamboo shoot.

He had exchanged five cabbages with Tian Yuan for the pheasant.

Tian Yuan was keeping a pheasant for himself until the end of the market. Hearing Cen An wanted some, he cleaned it by the river and split it in half. The bamboo shoot was a gift, wrapped cleanly with the bird’s innards in leaves.

Cen An skillfully started a fire, set an iron pot, and scooped out some yellow chicken fat from the pheasant’s cavity to gently heat at the bottom of the pot.

The shimmering oil pooled at the base. The chicken pieces had to be stir-fried first to evaporate moisture and turn golden before adding water.

Today was the first time he used his new chopping board. The tender bamboo shoots were cut into suitable chunks and combined with wood ear mushrooms and fresh shiitake to fill a large bowl, then thrown into the pot to simmer.

Tsk, what isn’t a perfect match for chicken?

After half an hour simmering, the large iron pot was already emitting an irresistible aroma.

The rich meat fragrance filled the small room, chasing after the owner and making his stomach rumble.

Cen An busied himself to distract from his hunger.

Eating only meat wasn’t good; he should try the first harvested cabbage too.

With that thought, he took a cabbage from his backpack and soaked a silver fungus.

Cold dishes paired well with stewed chicken, and though his ingredients were limited, cabbage mixed with silver fungus was tasty.

He quickly blanched the fungus, tore it into pieces, shredded the cabbage finely, added a little soy sauce and salt, then mixed everything evenly.

Missing vinegar and garlic, the natural freshness of the ingredients still made a delicious dish.

Once the cold dish was ready, the chicken stew was done.

Cen An moved the entire iron pot to the table and steamed a full bowl of ground fruit paste.

The chicken was indeed succulent—each strand of meat soaked in rich sauce. The bamboo shoots were even sweeter, absorbing the meat broth while retaining their bamboo fragrance, almost tastier than the meat.

The little bit of brown broth at the bottom, infused with chicken, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots, was so aromatic it could make one’s tongue tingle.

No wonder the dog owner last time wiped the sauce clean with rice. Cen An poured the sauce into the fruit paste and mixed it—far more flavorful than mashed potatoes back in his past life in Kaifeng.

The cold dish was refreshing, the cabbage crisp and tender, the fungus smooth and tasty. After the rich stewed chicken, the fresh cabbage was a perfect palate cleanser, leaving him completely satisfied.

Speaking of the dog owner, he hadn’t come for several days; he wondered how the little puppy was doing. The last time they met in the woods, they didn’t get a chance to see each other.

After eating, Cen An washed the pots and bowls, then cleared the fire pit’s ashes. The blackened scorch mark on the ground was growing deeper.

Maybe he should gather some stones and lime to build a hearth at home to avoid cleaning up every day.

With that thought, Cen An climbed into bed to sleep.

But he hadn’t slept long before someone woke him with urgent calls outside the yard.

In the darkness, he instinctively reached for his iron sword and paused at the voice. “Qu Yue?”