Chapter 54 – The Love Letters Received
Lu Shifeng thought about it carefully: “It’s too serious.”
Jian Luo: “Well, aren’t you a serious person?”
“Three syllables are usually saved for official names.” Lu Shifeng reminded him: “Nicknames should be more casual.”
Jian Luo seemed to understand. He smiled, got closer, and said meaningfully: “Hey, what about you, Long ge, what’s your nickname?”
“…”
Lu Shifeng buried his head in the book and said casually, “I don’t have a nickname.”
Jian Luo froze. He sat on the bed, looking at him suspiciously, before swallowing the words in his mouth, wanting to ask but not daring to say aloud.
Seeing this, Lu Shifeng simply asked, “What do you want to say?”
Jian Luo got the pardon and simply said: “I thought, perhaps you said you didn’t have one because you didn’t want to tell me?”
Lu Shifeng: “Will I do something that is redundant?”
“…”
Not at all.
Jian Luo was a little dejected. He never expected for the marshal to have no nickname. How boring his life must’ve been!
Lu Shifeng seemed to see through his thoughts and said directly: “Most dragons don’t have nicknames.”
Jian Luo was very curious: “Why?”
“Because there’s no one to call them out.” Lu Shifeng said lightly. There was no excess of emotion on his face, it was plain from beginning to end, but there was an inexplicable sadness: “We’re basically clones. Dragons generally choose to make their replacements when they are dying, so for us, we are not children, but just another self.”
Unlike blood-born children, clones are complete DNA replicates of a person with the same characteristics. Most people have a parent-child relationship with children created via such means and many more feel a sense of disgust psychologically. In fact, most only choose to donate their genetic material for replication during their death as well.
Many dark stars are born without ever meeting their parents. As a matter of fact, they have no parents at all. As such, they are emotionally defective and the absence of familial care of upbringing will lead them to be unable to adapt to the idea of love.
Jian Luo sighed.
He wondered if he should even start talking about this topic, it seemed that he had accidentally stumbled upon someone’s scars, so he simply said consciously: “The cub’s nickname should still be put into consideration…”
Lu Shifeng interrupted him: “They should be named.”
Jian Luo raised his head.
“They are going to be different.” Lu Shifeng flipped through the book in his hand and said slowly: “They will have parents, a loving family, and everything normal children should have. They will have me here to accompany you to take care of them.”
They should take care of them together.
Jian Luo chewed on his tongue when he heard this sentence and felt a little uncomfortable. It was different from his expectations. In his assumption, he should be able to leave after unloading the goods. Why was there another step where he had to take care of the children?
Thinking of this, Jian Luo said, “Even if they have no family, these children will have a good life, after all, they are the hope of this world…”
Lu Shifeng lifted his eyelids and glanced at him. The eyes of the marshal were blood red and because they were serious, those eyes would often give people a sense of urgency of being bathed in a sea of blood.
Jian Luo’s scalp went numb when he heard this.
Half a second later…
Lu Shifeng opened his thin lips lightly: “They are the hope of this world, and so are you.”
The burden seemed to fall on Jian Luo’s shoulders at once. In fact, he did not understand the truth. As the first person in the world who could conceive dark star cubs, he was not without pressure, and he could not help himself and his mind started to race.
The person who was excited just now on the bed seemed to have lost their vitality all of a sudden, and instead became stunned.
Lu Shifeng’s seriousness faded a little, and he looked at Jian Luo: “Afraid?”
Jian Luo pursed his lips and his voice became a little lower: “Who won’t be afraid?”
The corner of Lu Shifeng’s lips lifted and his eyes fell on Jian Luo’s lower abdomen. His gaze was fixed and he slowly said, “That is not something you should consider.”
Jian Luo fell silent for a moment.
“Just take care of yourself.” Lu Shifeng said slowly: “Eat and drink well, and if you want to halt your career, I will take care of the other things. I should be responsible for some things too so you don’t have to be afraid. I will be responsible for it.”
Some things are actually better said out loud rather than kept inside, lest they were to grow suspicious of one another.
Jian Luo felt like he was fed a calming pill and settled down.
“I…” Jian Luo thought about it, and finally said, “Thank you.”
He couldn’t think deeply about many things for now. In the worst case scenario, he will plan to leave the Dark Star and live elsewhere in the future. As long as Lu Shifeng was willing, he could be sent away from this planet and bless him in his old age. After all, he was going to give birth to three dragon cubs for Lu Shifeng and it was something he had to do himself. It was not like Lu Shifeng could help him give birth instead.
The next day…
Jian Luo got up early in the morning, counting the time for the second batch of peppers to be produced.
When he woke up in the morning, he just sat up and felt the cub kicking his stomach. Jian Luo touched his stomach and sighed: “Which Long Batian[/mfn]Troublemaking-dragon[/mfn] is this?”
Lu Shifeng glanced at him when he heard the words: “Is that the nickname that’s been decided?”
“Cough.” Jian Luo shifted his eyes: “The,n I’ll think about it again. Actually, there is a saying on our side that the simpler the name, the easier it is to raise. I have also considered calling them Tie Zhu[/mfn]Iron pole[/mfn]. Let’s think about it later.”
“…”
Lu Shifeng felt that he didn’t need to think about it any more.
Late morning…
Jian Luo went to the planting base.
As soon as he entered the shed, he found a pile of things on the table, and he was very curious: “What is this?”
The things on the table were also very strange, many of which he has never seen before, such as a strange bottle of water, and food that looks like it has expired. One would think that this was a waste collection centre.
Wang Qingqing said: “This seems to be sent by the group of children from the orphanage.”
The young Xiao Wang then followed up with, “Yea, it’s them. I came early today and saw them leave. Luoluo, it’s probably because you donated money to them, so they wanted to thank you.”
Jian Luo felt a little strange.
Just as he was talking, Xiao Wang added: “I remember the Xu Wang we worked together with. He was also an orphan, from the orphanage.”
Jian Luo picked up the only fruit and cucumber on the table that could be eaten on the spot, washed it by the side, turned around and asked, “What happened to the orphanage?”
“…”
Taking a bite of the cucumber, Jian Luo slowly leaned on the table and asked questions.
Xiao Wang didn’t notice anything wrong: “Luoluo, although he is from an orphanage, Xu Wang is a good person, and he doesn’t have any bad habits. I was quite surprised at first that he was able to enter the planting base.”
Jian Luo didn’t quite understand: “Can’t orphans enter the planting base?”
It was time for work now and everyone was gradually getting busy. Wang Qingqing was surprised when she heard Jian Luo’s words. She smiled and said, “Luoluo, don’t you know? The conditions for entering the planting base are very harsh and not everyone can come, you must have certain assets and education. If you’re lucky, you only have to go through several layers of screening, Xu Huang is a special case.”
Jian Luo asked again: “Then what kind of work did those who couldn’t get in do?”
Whether this was a big or small matter, should’ve had nothing to do with him, but when it comes to orphans, Jian Luo can’t help but think about himself and the kind of inhuman treatment he has received. He really did not want others to suffer like he did.
He often thought about how he wished for someone to pull him out of his situation so he could get out of it.
Yes, he often thought of this, but no one ever came to help him, never.
“What do they do?” Wang Qingqing squatted on the shelf to sort out the farm tools, she was adamant about cleanliness: “Well, they can’t come in to plant, they can do some odd jobs. Some dark star factories need some low-level workers. If you are lucky, you can be assigned to the back warehouse of the planting base and to do some physical work.”
Xiao Wang was checking the growth of pepper seedlings as he was in charge of recording the harvest today.
As the device was measuring and recording, he spoke while waiting for it to finish: “Most of these children don’t have very good endings and most always die inexplicably.”
Jian Luo frowned.
Xiao Wang said, “Luoluo, it has not been easy for Aunt Suliang to raise you both.”
Jian Luo finished eating the cucumber, threw the stalk aside and replied, “I know.”
In fact, Jian Luo has always wanted to open a food processing factory. He has thought about recruiting people from the village. After all, cooperating with Dark Stars will cause more of a headache for him. Compared to this, if it can promote the development of human craftsmanship, he will be able to also encourage cooperation of the dark star people. The friendly exchanges between the same clans will be good.
But here comes the problem.
Some people have deep-rooted biases, thinking that farming in the planting base is the safest investment, so it will be difficult to poach the capable shareholders without worrying about recruiting those who are incompetent.
Hearing what Xiao Wang said, Jian Luo suddenly had an idea.
In fact, the group of orphans are not bad at heart. At least they know to curry favor by giving him something to eat. They must be some people who have the capability to carry out higher work. They just need a little chance. He has to go to the orphanage when he finds time. Yes, he doesn’t mind giving these children a chance, so he should definitely give them one.
Wang Qingqing: “Brother Jian, today’s batch of peppers will be available in the afternoon.”
Jian Luo came back to his senses and came over to make a final inspection: “Well, record the growth cycle and the temperature and fertilization dosage for each time period. I will make the final report in the afternoon. If there is no problem with the inspection tomorrow, the pepper will be fine the day after tomorrow to be added to the batch.”
Wang Qingqing’s mouth widened into a smile: “Then, are we going to be promoted in stars!”
Jian Luo patted her on the shoulder: “We must get it.”
“Okay!”
The mass production of peppers has gone unbelievably well. It was the most successful crop harvest in Peace Paradise in recent years.
When Jian Luo came back in the evening, Lu Shifeng hadn’t come back yet.
Secretary Jin said: “Something happened. A team that was out on a mission was attacked and suffered some losses. The marshal has passed a message saying that he may not be back tonight.”
Jian Luo was a little worried. He had been eating the holy dragon fruit, but now it had become tasteless: “Is he alright…”
Secretary Jin smiled and comforted him: “If it’s the marshal, it will be fine.”
Jian Luo was still very worried. In fact, because he had spent these days with the Dragon Clan, he has gradually let go of his grievances. Although he still doesn’t like the Dark Stars very much, he liked the warm and kind soldiers of the Dragon Clan very much. They were sitting together for dinner not long ago and he was now suddenly hearing of them potentially getting hurt.
People’s hearts are made of the same flesh and blood. In the past, he definitely didn’t care about military affairs, but now, he can’t seem to swallow down his food.
Secretary Jin was a little moved: “Luoluo, don’t worry. It’s really okay, there were no deaths, just an injury. The dragon family is actually quite strong, and won’t die too easily.”
Jian Luo laughed out loud.
He still had to rely on Secretary Jin to comfort him. Originally, Jian Luo wanted to go back to sleep, but he couldn’t sleep because of this matter, so he went to the cafeteria.
The uncle in the cafeteria was surprised to see him: “Luoluo?”
Jian Luo leaned against the door and said softly, “Uncle, how many people are there in our kitchen?”
“Why are you asking this?” The uncle took him in as his own: “There are seven or eight, what’s the matter?”
Thinking of the wounded soldiers, Jian Luo took the initiative to say, “I’ll teach you how to cook. Let’s make a few servings so when the Marshal and the others come back, you can eat them.”
The uncle in the cafeteria was very surprised, but he welcomed Jian Luo very much, and Jian Luo’s craftsmanship is enjoyed by everyone. In fact, he has always wanted to be taught, but was embarrassed to ask a young person to teach him. It’s fine now if Jian Luo was willing to teach him instead. He was very willing to learn.
Jian Luo came over and rolled up his sleeves: “Call someone up first, and I’ll cook a pot of soup for you to learn.”
The others arrived quickly.
The dragon clan was good at this. They are very sensitive to the scent of their own kind. Jian Luo has the smell of a dragon all over his body, and he is like their own, so there is nothing wrong with everyone getting together.
When Jian Luo was dealing with chicken, he said: “The most important step in making soup is removing the bloody smell and ensuring that the nutritional value is kept. I saw the uncle make stew before. By boiling the whole chicken quickly, it can be cooked to a good degree too, but it is better to take it slow for a chicken.”
Jian Luo explained the process of making chicken soup in great detail.
The chef asked, “It’s supposed to be cooked thoroughly, so why do you have to simmer it in water first?”
“Because you have to remove the bloody smell first and then marinate it so it tastes better.” Jian Luo’s voice was very gentle: “It’s best not to use a pot that is too big and choose a smaller casserole…”
Jian Luo picked a relatively small one from the shelf: “When adding water, the chicken should not be covered because for simmering it, we will have to put just enough water to cover it, before the soup boils.”
He is different from others when teaching a class. Some chefs will talk about themselves when they teach, but Jian Luo is different. He was always live broadcasting, so he will pay special attention to other people’s feelings, and also remind them of some key points while going through the recipe. He is careful and thoughtful, which makes people feel very comfortable.
The chefs all nodded: “Understood.”
Jian Luo smiled: “Then let’s stew the soup first. I’ll talk about the next dish later, because the soup takes a long time to prepare, so let’s stew it first.”
Several chefs nodded.
Taking advantage of this free time, Jian Luo thought about what he wanted to eat. Lu Shifeng didn’t like to eat barbecued meat, but he tried stewed meat before, and he liked it, so it was easy to decide on the side dishes, that is, for there to be more meat.
After a bit of thinking, Jian Luo decided to make braised pork and steamed lion’s head meatballs. It would be easier to make vegetarian dishes.
The chef said, “Luoluo, are you not going to live stream today?”
Jian Luo remembered that he had just signed the contract, and that it was better if he could live broadcast: “If I live broadcast while teaching you, won’t that expose your privacy?”
The chef smiled: “What’s the matter, we won’t be in the frame so we can just listen from the back.”
That makes sense!
Jian Luo said, “Then I will broadcast this live?”
Several chefs responded: “Let’s go live!”
Jian Luo liked the straightforward character of the Dragon Clan. After deciding on it, he began to prepare for the broadcast before going live. This was his first live broadcast after the potato chip incident. What he never expected was for the response to be so enthusiastic.
The broadcast was just beginning, but the chat barraged in like goodies thrown into a frying pot:
“Anchor, you’re finally here! I was waiting for you!”
“Ah, ah, the anchor is here, I’m crying.”
“I ate a pirated copy made by Lord Chenguang before, but now I have found the genuine one which is so delicious!”
“Yes, I agree, what the hell was that from before?”
Many people have never been to Jinjiang Network and they were all customers of Interstellar Food Network. When they heard the so-called “100% restored taste” from Lord Chenguang, they believed it at first, but after today, when they suddenly tasted the original potato chips, it was as if they had discovered an entirely new paradise.
Jian Luo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Thank you for your support of our potato chips.”
His previous number of fans was probably around 1 million, but now he has 1.5 million of them supporting him. Backstage, it seems his dispute with Lord Chenguang has given him a lot of exposure.
Jian Luo thought about it before changing the subject: “Come on, we have a lot of dishes to make today, so everyone should take notes!”
Some new fans found it strange:
“Anchor, your style of commentary is so refreshing.”
“Yeah, why don’t you advertise some products before you live broadcast?”
“I am an old fan. Not only does he not advertise anything during his live broadcast times, he will also go offline immediately after he’s finished with his cooking.”
Jian Luo didn’t know that he was supposed to advertise these things, so he said dumbly, “No one asked me to advertise?”
He was telling the truth, but who knew that the chat barrage would just laugh it off.
Dark star people don’t secrete dopamine autonomously and often rely on external sources to feel happy. Just chatting with this anchor made them feel very happy.
“Don’t be so honest, really.”
“Hahaha, in the whole network, he is the first to admit that no one is asking him for advertising.”
“Will the merchants come and take a look at this poor child?”
Jian Luo felt at a loss!
But he still remembered what he was here for, so he said honestly, “Let’s cook first, and eat braised pork today!”
His fans are still getting used to his new tricks every day.
Jian Luo put on a mask before taking out the meat so he couldn’t smell the bloody smell. This time, he was well prepared: “The main visage and essence of braised pork is its square and compact shape that boils down to how the meat is cut. There is a particularly artistic way to cut such meat.”
Several military cooks watched him laboriously slicing meat from behind.
The animals eaten by the dark stars are bigger and more difficult to cut than the ones on earth, but the small arms and legs of humans hold enough strength to deal with them.
Jian Luo worked hard for a long time and then started to chop the meat instead of slicing it elegantly: “Forget it, it’s fine if you don’t artistically deal with it.”
The audience in the live room laughed again:
“I’m so delighted.”
“Is this the charm of being a human?”
“Now following.”
Many people paid attention to Jian Luo not because of his food, but for the purpose of stress relief and mental relaxation. It just so happens that Jian Luo’s live broadcasts were always at night, at the same time ordinary office workers get off work. At this time, many Dark Star people are tired. They often go home to drink a bottle of nutrient solution, turn on the live broadcast hologram, and inexplicably turn on his broadcast which has a healing feeling.
Jian Luo continued: “There is always a special formula for cooking meat, no matter what. In order to get rid of the bloody-raw smell, you can always boil it quickly once.”
The braised pork was boiled in water until it turned pale.
Jian Luo began to prepare the seasonings. The first one was the chili peppers. Since introducing chili peppers, he has been inseparable from them almost every day.
A few chefs also felt refreshed when they saw the chili. After all, they really couldn’t control the amount to put in. They often put too much and spiced themselves to death when they should be used in small amounts with salt and oil to be placed together into a pot.
When cooking, Jian Luo didn’t forget to say: “Be careful not to splash the oil on yourself. When pouring the oil, you have to wait for the water in the pot to dry before adding the oil, so that it won’t splash.”
The meat was slowly gaining flavor.
All kinds of seasonings were put into the pot together, and the fragrance was overflowing.
Jian Luo put the peppers first, put the water in the pot, then the sugar and bay leaves. After all the seasonings were placed, he covered the pot for it to start simmering.
Audiences are could already smell the fragrance:
“I’m a veteran meat eater, but this meat is too fragrant.”
“I’ve always been curious about where this kitchen is and how it has everything.”
“The anchor changed the live broadcast location again today.”
Jian Luo simmered the braised pork, turned around and silently mouthed to the chefs: “Try it.”
A cook who could come to work for the military base must at least have some capability, and braised pork is not the most difficult dish to make, so it was more than enough for him to learn how to make it by observing Jian Luo.
Next, Jian Luo quickly finished making the other dishes. He had his own style when cooking and his walkthrough from the beginning to the end was very pleasing to watch. He is not only talented at talking, but cracking jokes so the audience is almost always satisfied.
In the end, Jian Luo simply paused the broadcast: “Thank you for your support, because today’s dishes are for private use, they will not be uploaded for the time being. I have an account on the Interstellar Web. If you really want to eat it, you can vote for it. If I get 2 million votes… Well, I will consider uploading it later!”
After saying this, Jian Luo stopped the broadcast.
The fragrance was everywhere in the kitchen, and even wafted outside. Many dragons who came to eat after training were so hungry. The meal prepared by Jian Luo was placed on the front window, but they could only smell the meat and couldn’t eat it, even if the dragon were so hungry. Waa…. [/mfn]crying noises[/mfn]
The soldiers turned their heads: “Is there a new product..? Is there a new product today?”
The auntie who was serving the rice said, “Yes, but this is not for you. These meals are for the team that came back from the mission today.”
???
The soldiers’ eyes widened!
Why? Why weren’t they the people assigned for today’s mission?!
Jian Luo was sweating after he finished preparing the meal. He talked to the chef and went to take a shower. In fact, he wanted to find something to do while cooking. Otherwise, he would be overthinking things, and he would definitely be worried.
After returning from his bath, Secretary Jin sent him a message: “Luoluo, the Marshal and the others seem to be back tonight!”
Jian Luo was very happy: “Are they alright?”
“Yes.” Secretary Jin replied: “By the way, we suddenly received a lot of packages for you just now. Do you want to come and take a look?”
Packages?
Jian Luo felt a little strange, but nodded anyway: “Okay, I’ll take a look.”
He rarely buys things online, so it shouldn’t be something he ordered, what could it be? With question marks all over his head, Jian Luo went up to the front.
There are a lot of packages next to Secretary Jin: “Luoluo, do you want to open it and take a look?”
Jian Luo nodded, squatted down and entered some information onto a package. After a while, the package was verified to be correct and started to open automatically. After it opened, the contents inside were quite astounding. It was a fully automatic AI-controlled kitchen knife.
On the packaging, it wrote: “No matter how great your cooking prowess is, what is the point if you are afraid of kitchen knives. Just showing off our newest product! We will be very honoured if our dear broadcaster uses it!~”
The store and link of the product was attached below and the sender generally meant for Jian Luo to help them advertise their product if he found it useful.
The corner of Jian Luo’s mouth perked up and he began to unpack his other express delivery items. Who knew that the more things he had unpacked, the more bizarre they became. When he opened another box, he pulled out a set of aprons that was labelled:
“Love your own life and prevent any interference to it by preventing oil splashes; introducing the protective apron that will guard you every day.
Love,
your little boss.”
???
A series of question marks appeared on Jian Luo’s head again.
Secretary Jin was amazed by the side: “Luoluo, isn’t this a gift for you? You are too popular!”
Jian Luo smiled awkwardly: “It can’t be.”
“Why not?” Secretary Jin leaned over and could almost see the love pouring out of the gift and she was amazed: “How brazzen of them to openly declare their love through this letter!”
Lu Shifeng, who just entered the door: “…”
T/N: Hey there! There is plenty more where that came from, so stay tuned! And stay healthy! Straighten your posture, so some stretches and drink some water before continuing hehe~
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If you like cats, check out Revenge of the Garfield
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