30 Chapter 30: This Venerable One Doesn’t Want to Eat Tofu

"Hey, hey, did you guys hear? The Yuheng Elder's gonna be kneeling at Yanluo Hall for three days as punishment for breaking the rules."

At morning classes the next day, the disciples gathered at the Platform of Sin and Virtue to meditate. These disciples were all rather young, teens and twenty-somethings. For them, a task like sitting in meditation, heart at peace like still water, was impossible. As soon as the teacher looked away, they chitchatted in hushed tones.

The news of Chu Wanning's punishment had spread like wildfire. The disciples who'd witnessed it the day before shared the gossip without reserve.

"Wow, how do you not know about it? Ohh… Had to go collect night dew flowers in the mountain with the Lucun Elder yesterday, huh? Well, let me tell you what you missed! Last night at Clear Sky Hall, blood splattered the ground—it was utter carnage! The Yuheng Elder took over two hundred strikes! Over two hundred! And every hit was brutal too. It was totally ruthless!"

That disciple punctuated every sentence with an exaggerated expression. He was quite pleased with himself amidst the gasps of the shidi and shimei gathered around him.

"Can you even imagine two hundred-something strikes of the rod? Even a big sturdy man might not survive that, much less the Yuheng Elder. He passed out right then and there! That young master of ours nearly lost his shit. He ran right in there and started brawling with the Jielü Elder. Wouldn't let him touch so much as a hair on the Yuheng Elder. Man, what a scene that was." His face scrunched up like a meat bun in animated excitement, and in conclusion, he held up a wagging finger. "Tsk, tsk, tsk."

A little shimei instantly paled. "Oh no! The Yuheng Elder fainted?"

"The young master seriously fought with the Jielü Elder?"

"No wonder the Yuheng Elder wasn't at morning classes today… That's awful… Which rule did he break, though?"

"I heard he beat up a client in a fit of rage."

Everybody was left speechless.

Now and again, the idle gossip drifted into Xue Meng's ears. The young master of Sisheng Peak had inherited his shizun's terrible temper, but unfortunately for him, it wasn't just one or two people chattering about the Yuheng Elder's punishment, it was everyone on the Platform of Sin and Virtue. The clamor ruffled his feathers, but he could do nothing about it.

The vein on Xue Meng's forehead throbbed incessantly as Mo Ran yawned nonstop, having not slept a wink all night.

Xue Meng had no other outlet, so he grumbled spitefully at Mo Ran. "Morning is the most important time of the day—what are you doing, being a lazy mutt first thing after sunrise?! Is this what Shizun taught you?"

"Hah?" Mo Ran, bleary-eyed, yawned again. "Xue Meng, are you bored or something? Shizun lecturing me is one thing, but who the hell are you? Show your older cousin some respect, you cheeky brat."

"My older cousin is a dog, but hey, if you insist!" Xue Meng said venomously.

Mo Ran laughed. "What a bad child, being rude to your big bro like this. If Shizun knew, he would be so disappointed."

"How do you even have the nerve to bring up Shizun?! Why didn't you stop him from going to the Discipline Court yesterday?"

"Mengmeng, that's Shizun you're talking about. Yuheng of the Night Sky, the Beidou Immortal? I'd like to see you stop him."

Xue Meng exploded with rage, eyebrows drawn together in anger as he leapt to his feet and drew his sword. "The fuck did you just call me?!"

Mo Ran grinned, cheek in hand. "Mengmeng, be a good boy and sit back down."

"Mo Weiyu, I'm going to kill you!" Xue Meng roared.

Caught between the two and their bickering routine, Shi Mei let out a long-suffering sigh and rubbed his temples, trying to focus on his book. "Fill the vessel day and night; the spiritual core shall be formed in due time. The heavenly order is absolute; life and death shall remain separated as the stars of Shen and Shang…"

Three days passed in a flash. Chu Wanning completed his punishment of kneeling in reflection.

In accordance with the rules, next came three months of confinement, during which he could not leave Sisheng Peak. He would also perform odd jobs like helping out with the chores at Mengpo Hall, cleaning the pillars of Naihe Bridge, sweeping the stairs at the gate, and other such tasks.

"Yuheng Elder, to be honest, I think you should just skip this part," the Jielü Elder fretted. "You are an eminent zongshi, after all. Things like washing the dishes and wiping the floor…are truly beneath you."

He tactfully opted not to voice the rest of his thoughts: Most importantly, this old man really doubts whether you even know how to do basic tasks like sweeping floors, cooking meals, and washing clothes!

Chu Wanning, on the other hand, went to report at Mengpo Hall without even a hint of doubt in his own abilities.

Upon hearing that Chu Wanning was coming to do chores as part of his punishment, everyone at Mengpo Hall—from the attendants to the supervisor—turned pale in fright and alarm, as though a formidable foe approached.

Chu Wanning arrived, white robes billowing. His handsome face was calm and composed, completely devoid of any expression. If you'd added a cloud beneath his feet and a horsetail whisk in his arm, he would have looked no different from the immortals in paintings.

The Mengpo Hall supervisor felt exceedingly awkward and uneasy about having to assign such a beautiful man to things like washing veggies and cooking. But Chu Wanning, totally unaware of his status as a beautiful man, simply stepped into the kitchen. The people working within it couldn't help but take a step back as his cold gaze swept over them.

Faced with this silence, Chu Wanning got straight to the point. "What should I do?"

The supervisor fiddled sheepishly with the hem of his clothing and thought about it for a while before carefully saying, "Would the elder mind washing the vegetables?"

"Sure," said Chu Wanning.

The supervisor let out a sigh of relief. At first, he had thought Chu Wanning's elegant hands were in no way suited for grunt work and that he might be unwilling to do things such as cleaning. However, all the other work that didn't involve getting dirty required some level of skill, and he feared that Chu Wanning wouldn't be able to manage the tasks well. As Chu Wanning agreed to wash the vegetables so candidly, he assumed he had no more need to worry.

As it turned out, this supervisor had been far too naïve.

There was a small, clear stream in front of Mengpo Hall. Chu Wanning hauled a basket of deep-green cabbages to it and rolled up his sleeves to start washing them.

Since this area was the domain of the Xuanji Elder, his disciples occasionally passed by. When they saw that Chu Wanning was actually in the stream, washing vegetables, they were all shaken to the point of being unable to do anything but stammer out incomplete sentences. After rubbing their eyes three or four times and confirming that, yes, their eyes were not mistaken, they stuttered out, "Y-Yuheng Elder, m-m-morning."

Chu Wanning glanced up. "Morning."

The disciples of the Xuanji Elder shook in place and then frantically fled.

Chu Wanning didn't bother wasting his time with them. He just focused on his cabbages, rinsing and then tossing them into the basket. He washed with utmost seriousness, carefully peeling the cabbages open leaf by leaf and painstakingly rinsing each one over and over. The result of this method was that, by the time noon came around, the basket of cabbages had yet to be cleaned.

The attendants waited in the kitchen, pacing back and forth in distress. "What should we do? If he doesn't come back, neither will the cabbages. How are we going to make sautéed beef and greens?"

The supervisor looked at the height of the sun in the sky. "Forget it. Don't wait any longer. Just change the dish to braised beef."

And so, by the time Chu Wanning returned, Mengpo Hall's beef was stewing in a savory pot and absorbing all those rich flavors. There was clearly no more need for the cabbages. Chu Wanning cradled the cabbages on which he had worked so long in his arms and frowned unhappily.

"Why did you have me wash cabbage if you weren't even going to use it?" he asked icily.

The supervisor broke out into a cold sweat and grabbed some paper to wipe his forehead. In his panic, he said words that he would end up forever regretting: "Because we were hoping the elder would make a pot of tofu and cabbage stew!"

Chu Wanning held his cabbage expressionlessly, saying nothing, but contemplating this in silence.

"If the elder does not wish to, that's absolutely fine—" the supervisor added hurriedly.

"Where is the tofu?" Chu Wanning bluntly interjected before he could finish.

"Yuheng Elder, do…you know how to cook?"

"I'm not completely ignorant of it. I can try."

When noon came, the disciples sauntered into Mengpo Hall as they usually did, cheerful and talkative. They found their seats in groups of three to five and went up to the counter for their meals. The food had always been delicious and rich, and they had no reason to expect today's would be any different.

The braised beef had the perfect fattiness, the yuxiang pork was rich in color and fragrance, the crispy pork were golden and crispy, and the steamed fish with chopped peppers was a luscious and appetizing red. The disciples rushed to line up to grab their favorite foods, hoping the chef would give them an extra sweet and sour rib, or sprinkle some gravy or chili oil on their rice.

The fastest in line were always the disciples of the Lucun Elder. The youngster in front sported a huge zit on his face but still eagerly anticipated his mapo tofu. He gingerly carried his tray to the end of the line and said, without even looking up, "Chef, I want a bowl of tofu."

The chef's pale, elegant fingers doled out a generous serving of tofu. However, it wasn't the mapo tofu the disciple was used to. Rather, it was a bowl of some black substance—an indiscernible mass that could only be called an abomination.

The disciple stared at it in alarm. "What the hell is this?"

"Tofu and cabbage stew."

Mengpo Hall started to fill with murmuring.

The disciple neglected to take the time to recognize the voice of the person who replied. "Were you trying to make some kind of immortality potion?!" he asked angrily. "In what world is this substance tofu and cabbage stew?! I don't want it—take it back!"

In the middle of his tirade, he looked up to glare at the chef. But as soon as the disciple saw who was standing behind the counter, he shrieked in terror and almost knocked over his entire tray.

"Yu—Yuheng Elder!"

"Mn."

The disciple was nearly in tears. "No, I… That is… I didn't mean that, just now… I…"

"If you won't eat it, give it back," Chu Wanning said, utterly expressionless. "Waste not."

The disciple mechanically picked up the bowl and stiffly handed it to Chu Wanning, then awkwardly shuffled away.

By now everyone knew that Yuheng Elder stood at the end of the counter, so the once-lively Mengpo Hall descended into silence.

Like dogs being pulled along by their scruffs, the disciples stood properly in line and filled their plates in a panic. They walked deferentially to the end of the counter, stammered out broken greetings to the elder, and then ran off as fast as they could.

"Greetings, Yuheng Elder."

"Mn."

"Good day, Yuheng Elder."

"Good day."

"Thank you for your trouble, Yuheng Elder."

The Yuheng Elder fell silent.

The disciples were to a one respectful and extremely cautious, so Chu Wanning accepted their nervous greetings… But not one of them asked for the tofu and cabbage stew in his pot.

Slowly, the line grew shorter and shorter, and the food in front of all the other chefs was almost gone. Only the pot in front of Chu Wanning was filled to the brim, the food inside gone cold. No one wanted any part of it.

Chu Wanning's face betrayed nothing, but in his heart, he felt some kind of way. All morning, he'd worked hard to wash those cabbages…

At this moment, his three disciples walked in. Xue Meng, wearing his usual uniform of silver-blue light armor, came over energetically. He happily sidled up to Chu Wanning and said, "Shizun! How are you doing? Do your wounds still hurt?"

"No," Chu Wanning said calmly.

"Then—then that's good," Xue Meng replied.

Suddenly, Chu Wanning glanced at him and said, "Would you like to eat my tofu?"19

Xue Meng had no words.