Chapter 737: 727. Five hundred years of waiting_1 Chapter 737: 727. Five hundred years of waiting_1 Song Tan truly had great expectations for Ai Tiao.
After all, he had lived half a lifetime and had never tasted anything so delicious elsewhere, so was it not quite normal for him to have raised his expectations a bit?
But why, after earnestly fumigating for half a day, was he still not sleepy?
On the contrary, the smoke from the Ai Cao was really choking; it had cleared his mind completely…
However… maybe he should persevere a bit longer, after all, he hadn’t applied the moxibustion properly yet. Sigh!
His furrowed brows reflected his growing irritability, but soon, his mind suddenly felt blissfully dizzy, as if he were tired and ready to sleep, yet his thoughts were still incredibly active…
Oh no, he couldn’t have been fainted by the Ai smoke, could he?!
The next moment, Song Tan had no memory.
Until his head suddenly dropped, and he woke up abruptly, as if jolted, and the Ai Tiao in his hand accidentally touched the top of his foot–
Although it was just for an instant, it was enough to jolt him fully awake.
However, for a long-term insomnia sufferer like Song Tan, the first thing he did upon waking up wasn’t to feel sorry for the reddened patch on his foot but to lament, “How come I only slept for such a short while?!”
But this also proved that moxibustion did indeed work, right?! He suddenly felt a renewal of faith…
The next moment, the sound of a phone thudding onto the bed came from the room, followed by a low breathing sound, which was quickly covered up by the chirping of insects and birds.
When Song Tan woke up again, the clear summer sunlight had already penetrated the trees by the window, spilling straight into the room.
The dappled light and shadows danced with the breeze, causing a multitude of thoughts to leap around in his head.
… Is there something not quite right here?
He turned over in a daze, reached for his phone, and saw–8:20 AM.
It’s only eight o’clock…
Song Tan sat up in bed instantly, looking complexly at the thick Ai Tiao stuffed into the thermos cup beside him!
The Ai Tiao was long, and a small part of it was still sticking out of the thermos cup, but thank heavens, the smoke in the room wasn’t heavy. Looking down, the prepared ashes had indeed successfully extinguished the Ai Tiao, preventing it from burning all night.
But… that was exactly the problem!
His memory was fuzzy, retaining only an impression of throwing the Ai Tiao into the cup, the rest was all blank.
And he had received the delivery message yesterday at noon and went to pick it up in the afternoon!
Because the host had warned not to do moxibustion at night, Song Tan watched the time and started at just past 5 PM!
But now… it was already 8:20 AM on September 1st!
He had slept for a total of 15 hours!
Tears of joy nearly streamed down Song Tan’s face; his heart was completely filled with happiness.
Who knew that this was the best sleep he had had in the last five years!
He was already in his thirties this year, no longer at an age to fight, compete, or pull all-nighters. But now, as he stood up from bed and stretched, he felt as if boundless potential had erupted within his body–
If someone told him to try a marathon now, he would be bold enough to give it a go!
But then… he looked down at his feet.
What was all this mess on the floor?!
On the reddish wooden floor of the guesthouse, a layer of insect carcasses, both large and small, were spread out. While they weren’t so dense as to be described as swarming, there was still a considerable number.
There were mosquitoes, unnamed little flying insects, black ones, white ones, yellow ones… and even two large moths!
Most importantly, with just a glance, one could count five or six weevils–more than what one might catch in several days with a sticky trap!
Five Hundred was surprised, “Did the mugwort fumes kill these? Holy shit, is the insect-repelling effect really that strong?!”
He immediately stepped forward quickly, cradling his thermos like a treasure, carefully took out the mugwort, and meticulously resealed it in a ziplock bag, fearing that even a whiff of dampness might contaminate it.
These were clearly his lifeline!
Song Tan was unaware that the mugwort from her home was now being treated like a precious gem; she was just continuing in her usual skinflint style, having picked another two overfilled baskets of perilla leaves and delivered them to the mountain that afternoon.
Master Qian’s hands were trembling.
Even though chefs like them possessed extraordinary arm strength, astonishing as it was, it surely did not cover making sauce in the morning and then again in the afternoon!
Hadn’t they just finished making the watermelon sauce? There was truly seamless continuity, leaving no moment of spare time at all.
Master Qian’s gaze involuntarily drifted towards Zhai Xiaofeng.
He saw her squatting there with two large stainless steel basins in front of her, scooping perilla leaves from the basket one handful at a time.
The leaves looked light and fluffy, with little weight to them, but as she grabbed them handful by handful, it seemed to take forever to see the bottom of the basket!
As one of the basins was just about full, Zhai Xiaofeng started to sense that something was off, “These baskets… are they picked too full…?”
Song Tan approached, her eyes filled with traces of bewildered innocence, “Too full? I thought each basket could only hold so much, and it felt wasteful, so I pressed down hard on them.”
Her skin was fair, and she was slim–it was obvious at first glance that she wasn’t cut out for farm work.
So Zhai Xiaofeng didn’t make much of it, instead consoling the capitalist, “No worries, filling them up saves us the back-and-forth trips… Besides, making perilla sauce is quite simple, just wait till I soak these in saltwater, then I’ll lift them out and chop them up directly.”
Song Tan squatted there, watching Zhai Xiaofeng with particular eagerness, and volunteered, “I can help with that!”
She also flattered generously, “Actually, I dared to pick so boldly just because Master Qian is here!”
“Everyone knows seeing a chef like Master Qian is a privilege in itself! I am just seizing the opportunity to taste more of Master Qian’s skill and meanwhile have my brother learn a few tricks…”
When Song Tan spoke, she could flatter a person until they were utterly disoriented.
For instance, at the moment, as Master Qian walked behind her, he couldn’t help feeling somewhat content, yet somewhere deep down, he felt as if something was clogging his heart, and even several rounds around the construction site couldn’t shake it off.
But… what was he clogging on?
Master Qian hadn’t realized it.
At that moment, he was brimming with confidence–Old Song, you might have worked here for quite some time, but when it comes to certain ingredients, you’re just too restricted by your region, and you can’t think of everything. That’s when you need me!
This perilla sauce wouldn’t be the same without him!
Thinking this way, he felt rejuvenated, and even the way he held his knife was particularly proper.
“Xiaofeng, you just soak these perilla leaves in salty water and let them drain, and keep an eye on the stove while you’re at it. I’ll take care of chopping,” he declared.
“To make perilla sauce, you have to chop the leaves finely. You youngsters don’t have the knack for it, so leave it to me!”
Zhai Xiaofeng’s expression was extremely odd–
Just this morning, around ten or eleven, hadn’t she been the one helping to chop the perilla leaves? Nobody mentioned any issues then!
Moreover, chopping leaves finely… isn’t that something everybody can do?