CHAPTER 61: STEW, SECRETS, AND SILENT PROMISES

He couldn’t shake the feeling that Im Beomhyeon had somehow noticed him talking to the light point earlier and ignoring everything around him.

Finally, Im Beomhyeon asked in a slow, almost eerie tone, "Did your master make you cultivate some kind of special technique? Something that needs you to absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth?"

Bok Taejin’s heart pounded violently.

Thanks to his previous life’s experiences, he managed to keep a calm expression on his face.

"Brother Im, do you really think I’m capable of cultivating anything?"

"Who knows?" Im Beomhyeon glanced meaningfully in the direction of the Jade Blossom Mountain Range, then turned toward a small clay stove outside the big kitchen. "Can you cook?"

The sudden shift in topic made Bok Taejin even more certain—Im Beomhyeon probably really did know something.

But Im Beomhyeon didn’t pursue it, which suited Bok Taejin just fine.

He played along and asked, "Cook? What dish? Don’t tell me we’re going to make something ourselves?"

It was already this late—surely the big kitchen had finished preparing tonight’s meal by now?

"Can you make stewed goose with radish?" Im Beomhyeon smacked his lips. "Those guys are all cowards. They said the radish you grew was bitten by the windy chubby beast and might carry corpse poison, so none of them dared to eat it. Isn’t this perfect? The radish is small anyway—if everyone shared, how many bites would each person get? Let’s use it to stew a big goose, just for the two of us as a midnight snack!"

"Uh..."

Im Beomhyeon glared at him. "Don’t tell me you’re also afraid of corpse poison!"

Bok Taejin was a little worried about that.

But then he remembered the radish might contain a lot of life energy and right now he was in dire need of it.

Besides, only a small bite mark had been left on the radish and it was going to be cooked thoroughly before eating anyway.

He hardened his resolve and said, "What’s there to be afraid of? Let’s eat it!"

Only then did Im Beomhyeon pat him on the shoulder with a smile. "Now that’s more like it. You know how to cook it? You wanna do the cooking?"

"Shouldn’t be too hard, right?" Bok Taejin recalled the process. "Just chop both ingredients into small pieces, toss them into a pot of water, and once it starts boiling, add some salt and slices of ginger. Then let it simmer on its own?"

This world didn’t have a wide variety of fancy seasonings.

Even the available herbs and spices used for cooking were pretty limited—nothing like the abundance of the future.

So cooking here didn’t require a bunch of complex flavoring agents.

But the ingredients themselves were of excellent quality.

Using simple methods was enough to bring out the natural fragrance of the food.

The authentic, pure flavors of the ingredients alone could create delicious combinations—so the dishes didn’t taste any worse because of it.

Im Beomhyeon had already placed a clay pot on the small earthen stove, and nearby were pre-chopped pieces of goose meat and radish.

Starting the fire and feeding the stove with wood was Im Beomhyeon’s job.

Bok Taejin was in charge of putting the ingredients into the pot.

First, Bok Taejin blanched the goose meat in water, then added the radish.

He poured in enough water to submerge the ingredients by at least an inch, then covered it with the lid.

The stove was already burning fiercely with twigs and dried bamboo.

Underneath the kindling, larger pieces of firewood had also been placed.

Thanks to the strong fire, the water in the pot began to boil.

The steam started rising from the vent in the lid and by then the kindling had burned away, leaving only the slow-burning large logs.

During this time, Bok Taejin went over to the big kitchen and retrieved some ginger and salt.

He reached to lift the lid but quickly pulled his hand back when he got burned—it was scorching hot.

Im Beomhyeon rolled his eyes at him, full of disdain and casually lifted the lid without flinching in the slightest, as if he didn’t feel the heat at all.

The radish, being more aromatic, had already started releasing its fragrance before the goose.

A light fresh radish scent filled the air.

Bok Taejin couldn’t help but take a deep breath, then another, reluctant to stop.

He dropped the ginger slices and salt into the pot and gestured for Im Beomhyeon to close the lid again.

Im Beomhyeon was clearly also enticed by the aroma but didn’t want too much of it to escape.

He quickly sealed the pot once more.

All that was left now was to wait. But of course, there was no need to sit around doing nothing—they still had dinner to eat.

After that, they could chat a bit, and then it’d be the perfect time for a late-night snack.

Tonight’s meal was as rich as ever.

At a glance, the most tempting dish on the table was braised duck.

The duck skin was dark red and glossy.

Thick sauce glistened over the small chunks of duck meat.

Between the meat, you could vaguely spot a few slivers of freshly harvested carrot.

Next to this dish, the sauerkraut duck looked a bit dull and unappetizing in comparison.

Like everyone else, Bok Taejin couldn’t resist trying the braised duck first.

Although the skin looked oily, most of the fat had already been rendered out, so it wasn’t greasy at all.

The thick sauce covering the duck meat contained powdered almond, cinnamon bark, cinnamon twig, perilla leaf, as well as mashed garlic blended with mung bean flour.

The duck’s natural oil was perfectly balanced by the mixture.

There weren’t many carrots, so they didn’t overpower the flavor of the duck and sauce.

But since they had been cooked together in the same pot, the carrots had absorbed the rich aroma of both.

It was so soft that they melted in your mouth, the moment you bit into one, the thick flavor burst across your tongue and lingered long after.