Chapter 26: A Request

After opening the door, Li Si saw a group of people standing at the entrance, including two constables. It seemed that after he was knocked unconscious and taken away yesterday, these neighbors had gone to find the authorities.

Li Si felt warmth in his heart at this.

“Young Master Li, it’s so good that you’re alright,” a young man dressed as a hunter quickly approached Li Si, overwhelmed with excitement.

Li Si recognized this person. He was a hunter from the county named Cao Qing. He was the one who had given Li Si the chopping knife to cut the corpse last time. His son, Cao Meng, was still receiving enlightenment from Li Si.

Others like Butcher Yu and Uncle Zhou also gathered around, asking Li Si if he was well and if he had suffered any mistreatment in the Zhang mansion.

Li Si also mustered his energy, smiling and politely responding to each of them. Then he extracted himself and walked to the two constables.

“Brothers, I have already resolved the bizarre situation in the Zhang family. Please go in and take a look,” Li Si cupped his hands towards the two constables and said.

Hearing this, the two constables’ eyes revealed surprise and disbelief. They apologized to Li Si and quickly walked into the Zhang mansion.

Seeing this, others also became curious and followed the two constables inside.

As everyone went in, Li Si sat on the threshold, planning to rest against the doorframe for a while.

However, he hadn’t rested long when panicked shouts came from inside the Zhang mansion.

A group of people ran out of the Zhang mansion, continuously vomiting nearby, their gazes towards Li Si becoming extremely complex.

Finally, the two constables, with pale faces, came out of the Zhang mansion and hesitantly said to Li Si, “Young Master Li, this matter is of great importance. We hope you won’t move around much at home recently. We may need to find you later for some questioning.”

“Mm, alright,” Li Si nodded, and was about to get up to leave.

“Master Li,” suddenly, as he was turning to leave, someone called out to him. It was the hunter Cao Qing.

Li Si turned his head to look at Cao Qing, and only then noticed that among all these vomiting people, only he seemed to have a normal complexion, his psychological quality seemingly extraordinary.

“Brother Cao, did you call me for something?” Li Si looked at Cao Qing and said with a smile.

“I have an unreasonable request, I hope you can agree,” Cao Qing’s face revealed a troubled expression.

Seeing this, Li Si really wanted to roll his eyes at him. If you know it’s an unreasonable request, then don’t ask.

But he also knew Cao Qing’s character, so he didn’t respond like that. Instead, he continued to muster his energy and said, “Just say it, it’s fine.”

“Master Li, I need to go on a long journey soon. Could my son stay at your place for a while?” Cao Qing said, also revealing an embarrassed expression, then added, “I will pay you.”

As he spoke, he was about to take money out from his bosom.

“Send your son over, no need for money,” Li Si said with a smile. After all, living alone felt empty, and he quite liked this Cao Meng.

“How can that be?” Cao Qing became a bit anxious and was about to stuff the money in his hand into Li Si’s.

Seeing Cao Qing’s behavior, Li Si also felt he had been a bit rash. If he didn’t accept, Cao Qing probably wouldn’t feel at ease.

Thinking of this, he smiled and accepted it.

He had just glanced at it, it wasn’t much, but for a hunter, it was quite a lot.

At this moment, a hunter nearby saw Cao Qing talking with Li Si and walked over, asking Cao Qing, “Brother Qing, have you found that tiger?”

Hearing this, Cao Qing smiled and nodded.

At this point, Li Si also recalled from the original owner’s memories that this Cao Qing was a very skilled hunter in the county town, with some martial arts skills. He often hunted fierce beasts like wild boars and leopards outside the town.

However, once when he went hunting in the mountains, he encountered a huge tiger about five meters long. He killed one of the tiger cubs and wounded the mother tiger’s front leg, but unexpectedly, the beast was very cunning and managed to escape from the encirclement of many hunters.

Cao Qing didn’t take this incident too seriously, but who knew that the tiger had developed intelligence and held a grudge. It ambushed near his home, and when Cao Qing was out hunting, it sneaked into his house and bit and ate his elderly parents and wife.

When Cao Qing returned, only his son was left, trembling in fear inside a cupboard.

This incident left him grief-stricken and more determined to stop hunting and raise his son well. At the same time, he harbored deep hatred for that tiger and had been searching for its traces.

This time, he had apparently found traces of that tiger and planned to seek revenge.

“Stay alive,” Li Si walked up to Cao Qing, patted his shoulder, and said seriously.

Sometimes, men don’t need to say much to each other, just a few words are enough. He wasn’t a intelectual of this world, speaking in flowery language all the time.

After Li Si left, more and more people gathered at the Zhang mansion, but this no longer concerned him.

After all, judging from the corpses, they had been dead for a long time, and Li Si had only come to the Zhang mansion yesterday, so naturally, no one would suspect him of killing people.

At this time, Li Si was buying vegetables at the market. This was his third time buying vegetables.

The first time, he encountered the fox spirit’s mourning act and beheaded the walking corpse, spending all his money on firewood.

The second time, he did buy vegetables, but someone blocked his door and hit him with a club.

He felt a bit stubborn about it, so he came to the market again to buy vegetables. He first bought half a jin of pork belly at the Yu family’s butcher shop, then bought some chili peppers, green vegetables, scallions, ginger, garlic, and such, and also brought some osmanthus cake.

It was similar to what he bought last time, but this time the kind vegetable seller aunty gave him some wood ear mushrooms she had picked today.

After returning home, nothing happened. Li Si started processing these ingredients. He first sliced the pork belly thinly, then marinated it with coarse salt and soy sauce.

Then he washed the scallions, ginger, garlic, green vegetables, and bell peppers clean. He sliced or mashed the scallions, ginger, and garlic, and cut the bell peppers into small pieces.

After all preparations were complete, Li Si poured lard into the wok. After it heated up, he put in the marinated pork and chopped bell peppers to fry for a bit, then poured the lard from the wok into an earthen jar.

After pouring it out, Li Si put the scallions, ginger, and garlic into the wok to stir-fry, then added the wood ear mushrooms, fried bell peppers, and pork belly together into the wok. He then added some seasonings and dried chili peppers, and a dish of stir-fried bell peppers with pork was ready.

Li Si then put in the garlic paste, fried it until fragrant, and added the prepared green vegetables. Soon, the second dish of garlic green vegetables was also ready.

Afterwards, he took out the rice that had already been steamed on another stove and brought it to the main hall along with the two dishes.

To be honest, these two dishes he cooked were very good, especially the stir-fried bell peppers with pork. The green of the peppers, the golden color of the meat, the red of the dried chilies, and the black of the wood ear mushrooms mixed together, making it look very appealing and appetizing.

Li Si sat at the table and started eating. As the thin slices of meat entered his mouth, his eyes revealed a hint of satisfaction.

He found that since coming to this world, his favorite thing was cooking. Mainly because the food in this world wasn’t very good, and eating dishes with flavors from his previous life made him clearly realize that he was living a second life.,

Note: Jin = 500 Grams