Cultivating Immortality by Raising a Cat (GL) Chapter 15

Yuan Zhaoyang cared greatly about the strange fragrance on Lin Mianmian. Naturally, she did not hope Lin Mianmian had any emotional entanglements in the mortal world. If Lin Mianmian ended up like Tian Xiaoyu, running off without caring about anything else, that would truly be troublesome.
When Lin Mianmian gave the answer “No,” her face slightly red, Yuan Zhaoyang was very satisfied. So satisfied that she wanted to roll around on Lin Mianmian’s knees… Wait, she was not in cat form! Had the fragrance really muddled her? Yuan Zhaoyang was startled. The heart-clearing mantra spun rapidly, and she quickly sent the person and rabbit outside. At the same time, she transmitted a message to A-Bai to take the girl farther away to play, and not come close unless there was something important.
Yingxian City was only so big. Where else could they go to play?
“Bring a plate of meat!” A-Bai came out of the wooden house, looked left and right, and led Lin Mianmian back to the meat stall… oh, no, the noodle stall.
The Qiao family’s young man, who had been standing with Tian Xiaoyu and talking, swiftly sliced a large plate of sauce-braised meat and brought it over.
Lin Mianmian’s hearing was as sharp as it had been when she was grass, so of course she had heard that Tian Xiaoyu had just been telling the Qiao family’s young man about the lame son of Fengji. After thinking a moment, she spoke to the little rabbit, who had picked up a piece of meat and begun sending meat into another dimension again. “Master Le…”
“Achoo…”
The entire white ball of rabbit shivered, then quickly turned her rabbit face toward a direction with no people and no meat and sneezed loudly.
“Le…” Lin Mianmian had meant to ask whether she was all right.
But the rabbit pressed one paw to her rabbit nose and raised the other, holding it upright before Lin Mianmian’s eyes.
“Do not call me Master Le. Just call me A-Bai.” A-Bai rubbed her nose and shook her fur. No one had ever called her that before, and now that someone had, it felt so unbearably cheesy. Thinking this, the little rabbit could not help shivering again. It was all her own fault for talking too much earlier.
You are the most changeable rabbit in the world, you know that?
“…Earlier, it was said that after entering an immortal sect, there would be a five-hundred-tael subsidy?” Lin Mianmian asked weakly. She could not help being weak. With spiritual root aptitude that poor, how could she still loudly bring up money?
“Yes, a subsidy for family. Didn’t you say you have no family?” A-Bai shook her fur and changed into a more comfortable sitting posture.
“…” A quick mouth was a tragedy. Lin Mianmian glanced toward Tian Xiaoyu, whose face was full of worry in the distance, and lowered her voice to ask the little rabbit, “If there is no family, doesn’t the money go directly to the person?”
“You are going to cultivate. What do you need money for? The currency of the cultivation world is spirit stones. I will give you two. They are much more useful than gold and silver.” A-Bai was as extravagant as ever. She patted the golden bell, and two transparent square stones, each half the size of a palm, appeared beside Lin Mianmian’s hand.
Lin Mianmian: “…”
There was truly nothing she could do about such a rich and adorable rabbit. But she still had to speak.
After Lin Mianmian quietly explained the Tian family’s matter and the five hundred taels, A-Bai naturally took out the money. Lin Mianmian firmly refused the spirit stones, so A-Bai had no choice but to put them away. After this back-and-forth, A-Bai felt that the little girl Yuan Zhaoyang had taken a liking to was indeed rather interesting.
Five hundred taels of silver was a very heavy and very noticeable pile. Fortunately, to make it easy to pay money during recruitment, the Five Elements Sect had prepared silver notes commonly used in Yingxian City. Five one-hundred-tael notes were wrapped in paper. While A-Bai asked the Qiao family’s young man for more noodles, Lin Mianmian pulled Tian Xiaoyu, who was alone, to the side to talk.
The five hundred taels were useless to Lin Mianmian now, but to Tian Xiaoyu, they were money that could save her urgent situation and even her life. Yet on the matter of accepting money, Tian Xiaoyu showed the same stubbornness as when she had refused to test her spiritual roots. Even after Lin Mianmian nearly talked her mouth dry, Tian Xiaoyu would only tearfully accept two hundred taels, exactly the betrothal money Fengji’s shopkeeper had been willing to pay. She insisted it counted only as a loan and wanted to write Lin Mianmian an IOU. Lin Mianmian had to spend many more words before avoiding the trouble of that IOU.
After they parted in Yingxian City, the two of them would likely have no chance to meet again. Lin Mianmian considered this a full repayment of the kindness of the borrowed clothes and coins. Precisely because they would not meet in the future, Lin Mianmian spoke directly. She said that although parents and spouses were close, money in one’s own hands was more practical. If the Qiao family’s young man wanted to marry, he should naturally provide part of the money. If it was not enough, Tian Xiaoyu could add to it. Whatever remained from the two hundred taels, Tian Xiaoyu could keep as private savings in case of trouble.
For Lin Mianmian to say such things, on one hand, it was unfilial. On the other, it could be suspected of stirring up trouble between a young couple. Although she was thinking for Tian Xiaoyu’s sake, once the words left her mouth, she had already prepared herself to be scolded by Tian Xiaoyu.
But Lin Mianmian did not expect Tian Xiaoyu to answer gently and agree.
Did this count as seeing her parents’ true faces? Lin Mianmian felt an inexplicable heaviness in her heart. That innocent little girl from back then had finally grown up, right?
Seven years. When Lin Mianmian looked at Tian Xiaoyu again, her eyes carried a gentleness she did not notice, and she felt a sigh like watching a daughter of her own family grow up.
This scene fell into Yuan Zhaoyang’s eyes as she came out of the little wooden house again.
She had instructed A-Bai to take the person out and walk around, but after so long, the thick fragrance had not weakened at all. Yuan Zhaoyang was already a little irritated by it. When she pushed open the door and looked out, good. What was with that tender, watery gaze, those caring instructions, and that look of not being able to let go?
Was she not supposed to be an orphan? Was this not supposed to be a chance meeting where someone only lent her an outfit? The clothes had already been burned, so why were there still so many things? Good thing Tian Xiaoyu did not test her spiritual roots. Otherwise, if she had also been accepted into the Five Elements Sect and the two of you were like this every day, could I still properly conduct research? Yuan Zhaoyang blamed all that strange fire in her body, which was almost impossible to suppress, on her desire to conduct proper research.
Seeing Yuan Zhaoyang come out again, and with an unhappy face looking at Lin Mianmian, A-Bai, who had also heard the conversation, only thought Lin Mianmian had stepped on Yuan Zhaoyang’s sore spot. She could not help transmitting, “She was talking about the Tian family’s parents. Do not take it too personally…”
Yuan Zhaoyang looked at A-Bai in displeasure. “Who is taking it personally? Am I such a petty person?” After quickly transmitting this, Yuan Zhaoyang turned and entered the wooden house. The door shut with a bang.
A-Bai, biting meat, wiped her face. Heh. You really are not such a petty person. You are such a petty cat.
Although Yuan Zhaoyang had slammed the door on her, the little rabbit was not angry at all. Parents had always been a topic that could not be mentioned to Yuan Zhaoyang. Even A-Bai, who had accompanied Yuan Zhaoyang for nearly a hundred years, did not dare casually bring it up before her. Lin Mianmian had just taught Tian Xiaoyu that she had to learn to protect herself first, then be filial. A parent-child topic like that probably angered Yuan Zhaoyang. While gnawing meat, A-Bai very naturally misunderstood the source of Yuan Zhaoyang’s anger.
By the time the Qiao family’s young man came over, Lin Mianmian had already urged Tian Xiaoyu to put away the silver notes. Thinking of how A-Bai had complained earlier that the noodle stall had too few varieties and she could not eat more, Lin Mianmian could not help asking the Qiao family’s young man whether Yingxian City had any shops selling noodles with fried bean sauce.
After asking, Lin Mianmian discovered that the recipes of this era were rather simple. In Yingxian City, those who made noodles mostly made soup noodles. Only the toppings were different.
Teaching a person to fish was better than giving them fish. Lin Mianmian explained the method for making fried sauce noodles in detail. In truth, it was very simple. Once the Qiao noodle stall made it, imitations would probably appear. Still, being the first to offer something new was always good.
The Qiao family’s young man had managed the family’s noodle stall business for several years. When an expert heard a method, he knew whether it had value. The fried sauce noodles made his eyes shine as he listened, and he wished he could immediately find ingredients and try making them.
When it came to noodles, there were many ways to make them besides soup noodles. After explaining fried sauce noodles, Lin Mianmian thought of a summer treasure: cold noodles. Mm, there were many interesting recipes too. If they made them, this noodle shop would surely be able to establish itself in Yingxian City.
But Lin Mianmian had gotten carried away. Just after she finished the recipe for cold noodles, Tian Xiaoyu interrupted her.
“Why don’t you stay in Yingxian City too? We can open a bigger noodle shop together.” Tian Xiaoyu tightened one hand over the silver notes at her chest and spoke somewhat indirectly. “It should be enough to open one. After all, if you go there, it may be even harder…”
Lin Mianmian understood what Tian Xiaoyu meant. Tian Xiaoyu had seen how poor her spiritual root aptitude was earlier. Tian Xiaoyu’s invitation warmed Lin Mianmian’s heart. Although Lin Mianmian had already decided to step onto the path of cultivation, Tian Xiaoyu… sure enough, even grown up, she was still the kind girl who had always fertilized the little grass back then. Uh. Something about that was not quite right.
“Xiaoyu, that is not right. The immortal has already entered the Five Elements Sect. How could she still be interested in a small noodle shop like ours?” the Qiao family’s young man said with a smile. “Please give us more guidance, Immortal.”
There did not seem to be anything wrong with those words. But… Lin Mianmian narrowed her eyes and looked at the Qiao family’s young man. She no longer wanted to continue speaking with him.
As for recipes, she could write them down later and give them to Tian Xiaoyu.
Nothing was as reliable as oneself.
Lin Mianmian exchanged a few polite words with the Qiao family’s young man, then used going to find A-Bai as an excuse and returned to the little rabbit’s side.
As soon as she sat down, she saw the little rabbit, who had gotten a basin of fruit from who knew where and was gnawing on it, smile at her. “Yo, you do not like the noodle cook?”
This place was some distance from the Qiao family’s young man, so Lin Mianmian did not deny her true mood. In truth, it was not that she disliked him. She only felt that the girl she had watched grow up was better.
“Look at what kind of rabbit this rabbit is. What can escape my eyes?” Receiving confirmation, the little rabbit’s ears stood tall, and her face was proud. “I can also tell that you do not want to talk to him anymore. But you probably still have methods for making food and plan to tell that little girl later, right? You two have a pretty good relationship. You are quite wary of people. Why are you taking such care of Tian Xiaoyu? Just because of the clothes? What is so special about mortal clothes? The outfit you are wearing now was worn by Yuan Zhaoyang when she was young. Never mind the basic functions of being waterproof, fireproof, and self-cleaning. Just its defense alone can withstand one strike from Core Formation, you know? And the embroidery thread was made from… mm, anyway, it is very impressive.”
A-Bai almost said that the black-orange embroidery thread used Yuan Zhaoyang’s cat fur, and silently slapped herself in the mouth with a paw in her heart.
Yuan Zhaoyang… was that female immortal’s name? Lin Mianmian silently repeated the three words in her heart. Then she looked at A-Bai and could not help smiling. “You are a Phantom Silver-Haired Rabbit from the Great Snow Mountain in the Northern Territory… If nothing escapes your eyes, why don’t you look at your mouth?”
Seeing the little white rabbit who had eaten red fruit until her mouth looked as if it were painted with lipstick freeze first, then make a single-sided ice mirror float before her face, Lin Mianmian truly could not help bending over the table and laughing silently.
“Hmph!” A-Bai quickly rubbed her mouth clean on a small piece of ice. Seeing Lin Mianmian laugh like this, she pretended to be embarrassed and angry. “It seems it is time to let you see the power of us Phantom Silver-Haired Rabbits from the Great Snow Mountain in the Northern Territory!”
Wait. I was wrong, great demon. Lin Mianmian’s smile stiffened, and she quickly raised her head. Then she saw the rabbit tremble all over as if… shocked by electricity. Then…
“Hahahahaha!” Lin Mianmian almost laughed so hard she fell off the stool.
Oh my goodness. A one-and-a-half-palm-sized rabbit was already very cute. Now there was a group of half-palm-sized rabbits, furry balls crowding half the table. Who were they trying to kill with cuteness?
Actually, you are not Tuzki. You are Wukong Rabbit, right?
Yes, rabbit, you are the most powerful. Truly the most powerful. Kneeling.