The cat must have ate it

When she was little, Xia Junling's master once told her.

"Xia'er, listen well. The way to get into a man's heart is through his stomach."

He also dubiously spoke about how easy it would be to stop his heart after adding poison into his meal, but fairy Xia ignored it for now because it was not necessary.

As she looked at the skinny boy who resembled a log of wood recovering in the bed, fairy Xia felt that it was her responsibility as his master to fatten him and break the ice between them.

A normal master would consider knowing about their names and background before thinking of deepening their relation or even taking them as disciple. But since Xia Junling was out of ordinary, she had forgotten about it.

To be exact, she 'had forgotten' about it. But she remembered that she did not know their names when she wanted to ask the sibling about their favorite meal.

She changed into her cold aloof mode and asked the siblings. "What are your names."

The siblings silently stared at her.

'Sister, it is too late to act. You are not going to convince anyone with your cold and aloof bearing anymore.'

The young boy was the one to speak. "My name is Chen, her name is Ling'er. Since we are commoners, we have no surname."

Although he only spoke a few words, fairy Xia could infer important information from his blunt introduction.

Still, she nodded and nonchalantly said. "From now on, you will be named Xia Chen and she shall be named Xia Ling'er. Both of you are now my disciple and hence members of the Profound sect in the cultivation realm."

The siblings paused for a while before deeply nodding at her.

They were grateful in their heart. This was because they could understand the true meaning of her words.

Being given a surname served as a reminder that they still had familial bonds existing in the world.

Being a part of the sect meant that they were free from the uncertainty of dying of hunger.

These few words may be useless for those who had everything yet were everything for those who had nothing.

Perhaps it was because she understood this, or because she had experienced it, fairy Xia did not try to ruin the moment and gave them a time to cry their heart out.

They cried, not only because they realized that they had long lost their original family, but also because they were happy to be able to gain a new family.

She quietly moved out of the room to give them some time alone as well as to gain some ingredients for their dinner.

When she moved outside the room, she realized. "Wait, I forgot to ask them about their choices of meal. Whatever, I will make food similar to the local cuisine of mortal realm."

.....

In a certain house near the northern street of Qing Shan Capital, a married couple were about to celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary together.

The husband was guiding his wife into the kitchen.

"Honey, I have spent the entire afternoon to prepare you the best dish possible. I spent my entire monthly budget to buy the expensive fire chicken and vegetables for today. You can taste my love in those dishes."

The wife blushed at his cheesy statement.

"You did not need to prepare such expensive dish. I already know how much you love me."

"Tada, here is the di-"

The young man froze.

The previously filled table was currently empty. There was no sign of any chicken or vegetable in the table anymore.

"Honey, didn't you say that the dishes represented your love for me. But why do I only see empty plates in the table." The young woman had a bright smile in her face, but a certain gloomy aura began to surround her.

"N-no, some cat must have stolen it. Right, it must be a cat." The young man sounded flustered.

The young female continued to smile sweetly. "Ah, a cat ate all the food without leaving a trace behind."

Her face immediately changed, and she shouted. "The cat is that b*tch from the coffee shop isn't she? I knew something was wrong when you smiled at her. You could not even break up with me face-to-face. Get out from my sight."

"Didn't you say before that you knew how much I loved you?"

"Yeah, your love is worth empty dishes."

While the (former?) happily married couple were arguing with each other, the 'cat' was innocently sampling all the dishes.

"I see, so they used a combination of sweet & hot spices to cover the chicken. The vegetables were used to act as salad."

"Still, I feel like the taste is too bland. I should try to give the best quality dishes to my disciples."

"I should change the fire chicken into lava chicken I have stored in my storage ring, similarly I should replace all the vegetables with their higher quality product."

Like that, fairy Xia began to replace and construct a new recipe for her disciple.

...….

At nighttime.

The siblings had already recovered from their previous tear outburst.

Since it was nighttime, and they did eat any food throughout the entire day, the siblings were feeling rather hungry.

They gazed across their room, where they saw their newly appointed master 'Xia Junling' cooking in the kitchen.

A female cultivator in Daoist robes cooking homemade dishes was a visually strange sight to see.

"Tada, I have prepared the dishes. Did you wait long." Xia Junling imitated the speech of the young man she had borrowed the recipe from to present her dish to her disciples.

The dish gave out a strong flavor and had appealing color to it.

The siblings could not help their mouth from watering.

"Ah, since Ling'er has a weak constitution, I prepared a separate dish for her with fewer spices and mortal exclusive ingredients."

Ling'er happily took the plate from Xia Junling and began to feast on the dish.

"It is so yummy." Linger's eyes turned crescent moon.

When Xia Chen looked at his sister, he felt that the spicy dish he was about to eat should be even more better.

He lightly smirked and took a bite.

The moment he took the bite, he understood.

'F*ck, she used me as a guinea pig for her dishes.'

His chicken tasted like mud, his vegetables had a weird taste which could not be described in words.

Xia Chen began to have light seizures before he fainted.

Despite being faint, his face was pale. It almost looked like his soul had left his body.

Seeing this, fairy Xia lamented. "To sleep directly after eating, such bad manners. The new generation really have no respect for their elders."

"…"