Book 3: Chapter 8: A Budding Baker |
Jun stood there with her arms crossed within the kitchen of the large temporary abode. Her brows crossed and a hum escaping her every few moments.
Before her sat an array of ingredients that all made sense when she thought about it. Flour, sugar, fatty butter, two eggs, a large bowl of milk, and even a couple lemons she was supposed to grate their peels. All of which had been given to her by the lovely housewife that was their neighbor.
Yet, it had been four days of continuous labor and not an ounce of success.
Never had she thought making something as simple as a cake would be so hard. Even cultivation paled in how confusing this was.
She could meditate and make obvious improvements. Study the Dao and strengthen her own. Fight and spar with others and grow her experiences.
None of that helped with this concoction.
What am I doing wrong? Is the stove too hot? Is wood the wrong material for fire? Does the milk go before the eggs? How much flour do I put in?
These questions and more plagued Jun for these past days. She had assumed that cooking, or baking in this instance, would have been a basic task beneath her. One she considered doing for only one purpose and one purpose only. She wanted to be the first person to give back to their master after he kept gifting them with miraculous items without blinking once.
Jun wanted to bake him the sweets he so salivated for, but never found a source worthy of his greatness. It was an honorable cause.
Hu Shui had been her main assistant in the process until she caused two explosions in a row. She was subsequently regulated to observer and idea provider. Many of which Jun had discarded before ever attempting to do any of them lest she hurt herself or worse, make her Master upset that she tore down the back wall of the house they were living in temporarily.
“It has to work,” Jun decided on the sequence she wanted. Milk first this time, then half a bag of the flour, one egg, and grated lemon peels. Mix and then place the fatty butter and last egg afterward. “Or we keep trying things until we discover something that gives us enlightenment. We were not raised to be quitters. Nor would master look at us with pride if we never solve this.”
“You don’t get it, Jun.”
Jun paused from mixing the first set of items, messing up her perfect sequence. She looked back at Shui.
“Think about it,” Shui said as she raised her hand. “Shao Yating’s elder showed up with Heavenly treats and it was as bad as dirt to master–”
The older girl frowned, understanding where the younger girl was going with this.
“The bounty hunter with the fat disciple and thin disciple gave him Heavenly Tea and it was trash too. Don’t you see a pattern forming? It’s not the sweets and tea. It’s master’s cultivation realm. Whatever rank he’s at, it's so much higher that they are horrible to his tastes. We’re dealing with the same thing. That sweet treat I bit into last time was horrible because we’ve been eating the Heavenly Rice this whole time.”
Shui shivered.
Jun had run for her life when the younger girl tried to make her eat some.
She also remembered vividly how disappointed and disgusted Yin Hu looked after both the Cai Xuefang incident and YagWan incident. He had been shattered when he showed up after guiding her from a distance. He refused to talk about it until now. Her master had threatened to level their entire mountain for such a grave insult under his breath the entire walk to find Shui in that fog. Jun kind of assumed it had not been good rather than what Shui was saying now.
“I’m done. I’ll find my own way to make something tasty and then be the best one!” Shui jumped down from her seat and marched toward the door.
“Hold!” Jun shouted, vanishing from her position and reappearing in front of the younger girl. “You can’t go out. It’s too dangerous out there. This city especially is filled with evil men and women that would kidnap you without hesitation–”
Jun stopped talking and blinked at the incredulous expression Shui was giving her.
“Big Sister. Be honest with yourself–”
Who the hell is this person and what the hell have they done with my little Shui? What the hell is going on lately?
Jun paled as a thought crossed her mind. She could hear Shui speaking in the background, but could not listen to those words. The thought wasn’t something she wanted to consider, yet she had to.
She looked back down and looked Shui up and down.
It's been two years since Ancestor found us, right? H-Has Shui started mentally growing up already?!
“–Seriously. In case you haven’t noticed, but kids our age shouldn’t be at the Liquid Core Realm, Jun. You shouldn’t be fully established and I shouldn’t be a half step away. Both of those are things old men in their century mark would finally achieve to keep alive and break through if all your stories are correct. And seeing how we only meet old people in that Core Realm, I’m starting to believe it too!
Father was only a Core Realm above you! Think about that. Do you honestly think any of these people here can hurt us? Half of them are fakes and the other half just suck.”
Jun stared at her for what felt like an eternity.
She couldn’t even argue that logic. The Twenty Seventh Grand Patriarch of the Hu Clan, Shui’s father, had been a monster that held back Zi Zhen for a decade after the Great Seclusion happened. At their pace, it wouldn’t take them a decade to reach such heights while neither one of them crossed their twentieth birthday. Such progress was insane by any metric now that she thought about it.
No! She’s trying to trick me so she can cause havoc in the city.
“That has no bearing on how careful we must be. It is paramount we keep together and–”
“And what? Do you really think anyone can hurt us while Ancestor watches in the background? Do you really think anything passes by his senses when it has something to do with us? He turned our little sapling into a fully sentient Demonic Spirit Tree, for crying out loud. How is that even possible?” Shui shook her head and walked past.
Jun was left stunned in her spot. Unable to figure out how she had lost the argument to her little charge.
She looked out of the window and saw her talk to their master under the watchful gaze of the Demonic Spirit Tree for a few seconds. She laughed at something he said, hugged him, and then jumped over the walls to get out of the courtyard instead of using the large doorways. She heard the ox shout in terror, likely being dragged into whatever machinations the little Hu calamity was about to bring upon the world.
A shiver ran down her spine. Jun closed her eyes and let out a low prayer for anyone who ended up crossing her path.
Then she looked back at the ruined mixture sitting on the kitchen counter and the fire in the stove. Shui’s words rang true even if they had been used to manipulate her into giving up and letting her escape to the outside world without a guard.
She’s right. This isn’t enough. I need to find me a master cook with the highest tier ingredients possible. Only then can I possibly make something worthy of master.
Jun sighed and cleaned up the mess she made.
Her escapades into baking would need to wait for another while.
Yet, she would not give up. Giving up was not something a Hu would ever allow themselves to fall to.