“Dust Lao, come quick. There’s good stuff to eat!”
The speaker was Ao Kuo. Though younger than Ao Chen, he always acted mature and refused to call the perpetually childish Ao Chen “cousin”, so he just called him Dust Lao.
“What good stuff?”
Ao Chen pulled Ao Yue closer. He saw several large fish and smelled waves of rich fragrance.
“Good heavens. Which famous chef from the Central Plains did you kidnap to the dragon palace? Or is the palace kitchen replacing its cooks?” Ao Chen could not help asking. “The ten-year term hasn’t ended yet, has it?”
For the palace kitchen, besides aquatic demon clans learning culinary arts to serve as cooks, they also hired chefs from the Central Plains lands, one term lasting ten years. Upon departure, they were gifted gold, pearls, and jade, ensuring a life of ease.
“It’s not the palace kitchen. Those who boast of being famous Central Plains chefs produce food far inferior to Brother Lu’s.” Ao Kuo said loudly.
“Brother Lu?”
Ao Chen had naturally noticed Lu Zheng’s group. He immediately pulled Ao Yue down from the clouds. “Greetings, Brother Lu. Ao Chen at your service!”
“Greetings, Brother Ao!”
Ao Yue stepped forward two paces and said softly, “We heard from Friend Zhuge that Qian Bao’er was picnicking on this island, so we thought to come mooch a meal. We did not expect Young Master Lu to be cooking. It is rather presumptuous.”
Liu Qingyan came forward and took Ao Yue’s arm. “Not presumptuous at all. Back in the Central Plains, I often heard Qian Bao’er speak of Young Master Ao Chen and Miss Ao Yue. It simply wasn’t convenient to disturb your private time together. Today is perfect for gathering. Please sit and try Lu Lang’s skills.”
Ao Chen and Ao Yue were seated beside Ao Kuo and Ao Yun. After Zhuge Ye and Xue Li hurriedly paid respects, they were placed nearby.
After all, guests from afar. Zhuge Ye was Ao Chen’s friend, and they had arrived just in time for the meal. With enough ingredients, they were invited to join.
“Our apologies for intruding! Apologies!” Zhuge Ye cupped his hands repeatedly, very polite.
Xue Li also sat with a smiling face, accepted chopsticks from Wang Xiaowan, then raised his cup in a distant toast to the group.
Lu Zheng glanced at him. It seemed the divine dragon grass had been obtained.
“Young Master Lu, superb skills!” Ao Chen raised his wine and clinked with Lu Zheng. “The palace kitchen’s usual dishes are bland as bird food.”
“This is merely a new variation from me. Nothing worth mentioning.” Lu Zheng smiled.
“Sister’s husband also knows a dish called Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. It looks quite plain, but it’s especially delicious!” Ao Qian said.
Zhuge Ye and Xue Li were secretly astonished. They had not expected Lu Zheng to be the Jade Dragon clan’s son-in-law!
In this world, marrying a dragon maiden was not as easy as in picture book tales. After all, dragon clans had few offspring, and at similar cultivation levels, their lifespans far exceeded humans.
Yet those who truly married dragon maidens were invariably extraordinary, absolute peerless talents standing at the pinnacle in some aspect.
So this Young Master Lu…
Zhuge Ye and Xue Li sized him up thoroughly. Could he be the world’s foremost cook, having captured a dragon maiden’s stomach?
But after Ao Qian spoke, Ao Chen, Ao Kuo, and the others did not respond.
How could they? Responding would seem like asking Lu Zheng to demonstrate.
Yet Lu Zheng did not mind. He simply called to Yue Honghai, “Old Yue!”
“At your command, Young Master!”
“Go into the sea and catch some seafood suitable for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. Get plenty.”
“Right away!”
Yue Honghai had eaten Buddha Jumps Over the Wall before, so he could not help licking his lips. He stood and leapt into the sea.
The other two guests naturally could not let Yue Honghai work alone while they waited, so they laughed heartily and plunged in one after another.
…
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall requires slow simmering over low heat to let the fire gradually penetrate the ingredients, making them tender but not mushy, rich and fragrant on the tongue.
With Lu Zheng using magic, he could save much time, of course.
If Tang Niu in The God of Cookery could do it, there was no reason Lu Zheng could not.
So…
“So fragrant!”
“Really delicious!”
“Why call it Buddha Jumps Over the Wall? I think it should be called Dragon Drools.”
“I’m eating here. Are you disgusting or what!”
“Ahahaha!”
…
The picnic ended with hosts and guests thoroughly delighted.
Zhuge Ye and Xue Li also cleared their misunderstanding. After all, only Ao Qian called him brother-in-law. Others addressed him as Brother Lu Zheng or Brother Lu.
As dusk fell, Zhuge Ye and Xue Li took their leave. The group returned to the dragon palace.
…
In the following days, Lu Zheng’s party thoroughly toured the dragon palace and surrounding beauties.
Coral forest.
Red coral, yellow coral, blue coral, green coral, purple coral…
Colourful and varied, spanning nearly a hundred li. Not only intricate in terrain, but with schools of colourful small fish darting through, like a maze that shifted and changed.
To truly view it all would likely take a year. It was an excellent spot for dragon palace members to court and whisper sweet nothings.
Pearl river.
A stretch of clear, transparent true water distinct from ordinary seawater, home to countless varieties of shellfish, exhaling innumerable pearls of every colour.
When shellfish died, pearls flowed out. Some large as fists, some tiny as fly heads, some black as ink, some white as moonlight.
They sank and floated in the true water current, drifting gently. Dragon palace members often came here to pick a few beautiful pearls and leave.
Unable to refuse the warm hospitality, Lu Zheng’s group each gathered some pearls.
Lava lake.
Several hundred li north of the dragon palace lay a fissure leading straight to the earth’s veins, with a perennial, churning expanse of lava.
The lava lake contained earthly baleful qi from the core. Spiritual materials occasionally erupted forth. It served both as the dragon palace’s site for refining artefacts and a source of materials for some spiritual tools.
Additionally, the occasional magma fountains were a dragon palace sight. When Lu Zheng’s group visited, one happened.
A column of magma several zhang in diameter shot hundreds of metres toward the seabed… Well, compared to the hundred-li lava lake, it truly was a small fountain.
Multicoloured waterfall.
Besides pearls and coral, in the vast boundless sea and countless submarine mountains, there were naturally many fine things.
Emerald, agate, crystal, tourmaline, gems, various jades…
Sometimes an entire cliff face was a single massive yellow crystal or red jade.
Under the seabed’s illumination, with seawater flowing, it shimmered with multicoloured splendour, like a waterfall of five colours, light shifting and transforming.
…
“They say the dragon palace is the richest under heaven. The ancients did not deceive me…” Wang Xiaowan murmured.
In Tonglin County, a piece of pure yellow tourmaline could sell for dozens or even hundreds of guan. But the dragon palace’s tourmaline stones…
By the mountainful!
Several, a dozen mountains of tourmaline!
Varied colours, pure and translucent, radiant and magnificent.
It truly… took one’s breath away…
Staying long would numb one to wealth.
Lu Zheng had casually asked why there was no gold or silver. The answer was…
Too vulgar!
Thinking of Western fantasy films where dragon lairs were piled with gold and silver wares, Lu Zheng could not help sighing. They truly lost face for “dragons”!
