Playing Too Rough

"Well....What happened?" asked Chu Fan.

They all panicked a bit while Nian Gao was currently sitting down, ignorant as to what he had done.

"Don't get mad at us, okay Chu Fan? We were watching Nian Gao just like you asked us to. He was being his usual self and begging students for scraps. We took our eyes off him for a minute at most, and then we heard a scream. When we rushed over to see what had happened, Ye Qing was already applying pressure to his bloody palm. He looked very mad....or in pain, I couldn't really tell. He did say, 'I'll be back tomorrow.' though."

Chu Fan knelt down and looked at Nian Gao, just his look was enough for Nian Gao to know what he had done wrong.

"Nian Gao, I thought I told you to behave. I know you're teething, but that's no excuse to be biting others."

Nian Gao began to whine and howl, understanding and expressing his remorse for his actions. He rubbed himself against Chu Fan to apologize. No matter how cute it was, Chu Fan had to resist and act serious, he could not let this happen a second time. Chu Fan thought for a couple of seconds and snapped his fingers, he already had a plan.

"Okay, come what may, I will be prepared. Let's relax and go eat, I'm getting hungry."

"Hahaha!" the others laughed as Chu Fan had returned to his usual self.

Nian Gao and Chun Juan followed behind the group, skipping as the children did when approaching the cafeteria entrance.

"You guys get seated and I'll be back when I'm finished cooking."

Chu Fan headed into the kitchen and started putting his many ingredients away. He began his cooking and emptied his head of any distractions.

Outside, the trouble had just started as, none other than, Ye Qing chose to finally appear. He came with a small group of people.

"Senior Brother, how do you plan to get back at that combat beast?"

"Shut up. Don't question Senior Brother's methods. Just watch."

Annoyed, Ye Qing walked over to the table Da Bao and the others were seated at, Nian Gao was currently performing tricks to amuse them. Seeing Ye Qing, everybody's face turned pale in terror. They all stood up and bowed to their senior.

"Greetings to senior brother Ye Qing. Have you come to eat as well?"

Ye Qing looked down at the cowering children and merely nodded his head. He walked past them and reached his hands toward Nian Gao, who was currently cowering next to Tian Han. As his hand was about to touch Nian Gao's head, it turned its head towards the kitchen as it heard footsteps approaching. Nian Gao, ran over to the kitchen entrance where he sat patiently. Nian Gao was the first to smell the entrancing plate of food in Chu Fan's hand, the others noticed after a while why the combat beast ran to the kitchen.

"Alright, food's ready. Let's eat everyone."

Chu Fan came out of the kitchen holding a serving tray full of food. Nian Gao could not contain his happiness and leapt on Chu Fan, who snapped his finger at Nian Gao and ordered him to be patient.

"Nian Gao, what did I tell you about jumping on people? No jumping on people. Your food is coming. I just need to serve the others first. Just wait."

After scolding his combat beast, Chu Fan walked over to the table and served Yao Lingyan and the others their food. Da Bao and the others could not help but salivate at the food sitting in front of them. Chu Fan gave Ye Qing no attention and turned away to give Nian Gao his food, which was the same food that the others received. Ye Qing was a bit infuriated that Chu Fan did not give him any face, his followers were losing their minds over the matter though.

"Disciple Chu Fan, are you so disrespectful as to forget about senior Ye Qing here?" barked one of Ye Qing's followers."

Chu Fan turned around to finally notice Ye Qing and bowed.

"Ah, senior, it is nice to see you. What would you like to eat today?"

"You've served the others and a beast before you even considered your senior here. How disrespectful?" said a posse member.

Chu Fan looked at the disciple who spoke.

"Even some humans act more beast-like than good natured beasts. Who is to say that we are all not beasts also?"

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

"Well said, Chu Fan. Indeed, some of us can be worst than beasts occasionally. To tell you the truth, I didn't come here today to eat." spoke Ye Qing.

"Oh? Then what business might senior Ye Qing have with me today?"

Ye Qing began pacing around the table with his hands behind his back.

"You should have probably heard by now that I had gotten bit yesterday, right? I came here today to address this issue."

"I would like to offer my utmost sincere apologies for what Nian Gao did. I can make it up to you if you would like; the Little Cupid is indebted to you, should you need him. Nian Gao, apologize this instant."

Hearing Chu Fan's words, Nian Gao looked up and understood, he began rubbing against Ye Qing's leg and licking his wounded arm. Ye Qing pulled an object from his storage ring and everyone jumped back.

"Senior Brother, what are you holding?" asked one of his followers.

Ye Qing tossed the object over at Chu Fan, the latter catching it. He closely examined it for a second before he realized what it was after he pressed it and heard a loud, "Squeak!" come from it. Chu Fan immediately cupped his hands and bowed towards Ye Qing.

"Thank you senior Ye Qing. Nian Gao and I can never thank you enough for this chew toy. I never knew that senior Ye Qing liked combat beasts."

Ye Qing's stern and serious face finally transformed into a relaxed one as he gave Chu Fan the chew toy he had made.

"Haha! It's nothing really, I have my own combat beasts and know the pain of getting bitten. I was playing too rough with Nian Gao yesterday. I love combat beasts, but sometimes I forget that I am not one myself. I figured he needed a chew toy or you would eventually have to start repairing all the wooden furniture here."

He rubbed one of the rings on his hand and a bird came flying out. This was Ye Qing's very own combat beast, a Thunder Swallow.

*Chirp**Chirp* it sounded as it hopped on its master's shoulder. It made eye contact with Nian Gao and the two stared at each other. Ye Qing pointed at Nian Gao and looked at his combat beast.

"Go on Xiao Bai, go play."

Nian Gao had forgotten all about his food as he ran off to play with his new friend. The two began playing chasing after one another outside. Ye Qing turned to look at Chu Fan.

"You've taught your combat beast well, but you've merely taught him tricks. Eventually, you will need to start training him in combat. If you would allow it, I could help teach him in my spare time."

"Thank you senior brother Ye Qing, but I will have to decline. I already have a training regimen thought up. I hope to compete in the inner-sect tournament with Nian Gao also."

Ye Qing was taken aback by Chu Fan's reply. His followers had been getting more and more annoyed with Chu Fan.

"Hmph! Who are you to deny senior brother's offer? Do you think you are better than us?"

Chu Fan paid no attention to this generic posse characters.

"Senior Ye Qing, I do not mean to offend you by any means. But I do feel I am better than most people here. Maybe we will get a chance to compete against one another in the inner-sect tournament."

"Hahaha! I shall look forward to it then. I shall take my leave then, my reason or coming here is done."

Ye Qing cupped his hands and left with his posse that made faces at Chu Fan. Chu Fan waved his hands at the leaving crowd. After the crowd disappeared, Chu Fan turned around to sit at his table and eat. Everyone was currently staring at him, they were shocked by his sudden ability to befriend the, hot-headed, Ye Qing who liked to hold grudges. Not only that, Ye Qing was never mad to begin with.

"Chu Fan, what just happened?" asked Da Bao.

"Yeah, from the information gathered on him, he was supposed to be really angry with you." said Tian Han.

Chu Fan shrugged his shoulder and shook his head. Nian Gao returned after playing and continued to eat.

"I just got lucky I guess. It's rather rare that things go this smoothly."

Chu Fan ate a spoonful of his food and looked down at Nian Gao.

"So Chu Fan, how did your search for ingredients go?" asked Yao Lingyan.

"Oh, it went rather well. I got my hands on a couple of rare ingredients. In fact, some of it went into our food here. Do you guys feel any different?"

"Now that you mention it, my body does feel more refreshed. In fact, I feel like I could run a marathon." said Hun Lian as she finished her serving of food.

Chu Fan nodded his head, "That's good, that means my elixir foods experiment was successful."

The others all looked at him, very confused.

"Experiment? You mean to say you didn't know if this would work, and we could have died."

Chu Fan nodded again as he took a sip of tea.

"That was a possible outcome, yes. But I trust myself to know how to process these magic ingredients before consumption. Alchemists have their refining while I have my food preparation skills; at the end of the day, the results are the same. It's just that my food tastes better going down, and the effects may last longer."

His group of friends were all astonished and amazed. They had served as test rats for the crazy madman of a chef eating with them; and at the same time, they had benefited from Chu Fan's recklessness. Yao Lingyan and Hun Lian both smacked him on the head while his two sworn brothers could only shake their heads.

"Ow! What was that for? I am only doing this in preparation for next year's inner-sect tournament."

"Well, at least tell us beforehand if you plan on experimenting with us."

Chu Fan raised his hand and swore an oath.

"Okay, I promise that I won't experiment on any of you without giving you any prior notice. Now let's get to cultivating before the effects of the magical ingredients wear off."

"Mm, agreed. Let's go and cultivate." said Yao Lingyan.