Who Made This Mantou? (2)

His walk towards the Qingshan Foothill seems lighter than yesterday for an unknown reason. Perhaps it was a side effect from his recovering wound, or his stamina was getting much better than before.

But there's something Long Yuan was sure, and that's he's getting used to this world.

The benefit from eating properly made food was also beneficial to his body. The increasing Spiritual Essence would gradually strengthen his muscle, vein, and tendons. At the same time, the frequent application would also familiarize his body further with the generic Spiritual Essence inside his body.

It was said that while the Spiritual Essence's primary source comes from Treasures, Pills, and Food, it would quickly adapt to a person's body after it was assimilated. Of course, the percentage of absorption relies on the individual's body.

"Boy! You're pretty early today." said one of the farmers that seemed to be frequenting this place all the time. From the number of plants he gathered, this farmer must have been here for a while.

"Did you waste the grains collected yesterday? That amount should be enough to be made into three meals, correct?" another farmer said. The hint of him looking down at Long Yuan's young age and immature Spiritual Essence was emphasized within the farmer's mentions.

"It wasn't enough, unfortunately. That's why I came here about the same time as yesterday to harvest a little more. What about you, senior?" Long Yuan remained humble while replying to the farmer's pretentious comments.

Since it was pointless for him to waste his time entertaining these people here, Long Yuan went straight to the field of golden wheat ready for harvest.

Utilizing the very same impression he had yesterday from using the sickle, Long Yuan quickly harvested four Jinqian Wheat Plants in a flash before taking a breather.

But this amount was far from enough for him today. This time, Long Yuan aims to harvest around twelve to thirteen plants to make sure he can refine at least two pounds worth of food-quality flour.

Furthermore, Long Yuan was sure that he would come back tomorrow for another harvest again.

Using this opportunity to study his surroundings, Long Yuan noticed that while people were gradually increased over time, most of them were twice his age. It seems that youngsters around his age all had somewhere else to be.

'Looks like there's more to this world.' Long Yuan nodded at his own thought. He also studied how the people work here and noticed that not everyone was as efficient as they looked.

Some people may look confident and skillful, but they still take between one to two swings to separate the stem from the plant. In this efficiency alone, they're not much better than Long Yuan.

The only part they're doing much better than him was in their Spiritual Essence's holding capacity. It seems that they could keep themselves twice longer than Long Yuan could.

After taking a short break, Long Yuan continued.

He repeated this process three times until twelve Jinqian Wheat Plants were harvested. And during his break in between, Long Yuan made sure he collected as much grain he could that dropped on the ground.

"Boy, you're here again today?" as Long Yuan was about to call it a day, the middle-aged man that taught him yesterday came. It seemed that he was here to collect some wheat for his household again.

Based on what he can see so far, the farmers here all relied on this vast golden wheat field to sustain their day-to-day food consumption.

"Sir." Long Yuan cupped his hands together and politely bowed at the middle-aged man. Without him volunteering to teach Long Yuan yesterday, he would likely be starving right now.

"Why are you being so polite with me? We're all fellow farmers here, so it's normal to help one another." the middle-aged man said. Although his reply was considerate, it was hard for him to hide his smiling face from Long Yuan's sight.

"Are you heading back right now?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir." Long Yuan replied in complete honesty.

"If that's the case, go over to the woods over there and collect some Silvergrass Fruit. It might be simple, edible fruits, but having some while refining the grains into flour would help you a little."

"Just remember to not overwork yourself just for the sake of preparing a little more flour than usual. It's pointless to make too much, as the flour usually goes bad after a week." said the middle-aged man.

"Thank you for the advice, Sir. I'll make sure to get inside the woods and collect a few before going home." Long Yuan replied and excused himself.

Long Yuan gradually left the middle-aged man's sight as he got into the woods.

Surprisingly, all the middle-aged man took was a single swing of his sickle to harvest over ten meters wide of Jinqian Wheat before storing the plants inside a piece of jade.

After that, he vanishes from the spot silently before anyone notices him.

-----

"It's lunchtime, students. If you have any questions regarding the class earlier, grab a number slip and wait for your turn outside the instructor's office." the instructor said and allowed the students to roam around the academy.

Thank you, Instructor Xuan!" all the students cupped their hands together in reply. They all maintained severe expressions on their face until the teacher left the classroom.

The moment the door into the classroom was closed, havoc started.

The starving students that missed their morning breakfast quickly took the meal box out. Those who came to school without one could only drool while looking at those who did.

That includes Yuan Ling.

This was the first time she had a meal brought to school.

Six beautifully kneaded white buns were seated neatly on the flat side of the bamboo meal box. Because the buns were placed inside while piping hot, the remaining steam causes the bun's skin to be glued together.

This made the steamed buns inside Yuan Ling's meal box look like a single entity. The three lines that divided the buns into six parts appear merely decorative.

Those staring at Yuan Ling's peasant foods rudely chuckled at her. And to those with a fabulous bento in their hand, they literally clicked their tongue while staring at her.

"Who does she think she is?" one of the better well-off students said. Judging from her dress to the exquisitely made meal box in her hand, she was someone from the upper society in this Sprouting Village.

Was it not because there's only one academy available in this village, she would definitely not mingle with all the poor peasants here.

Her words instantly caught the attention of other bootlicking, shameless students nearby. Plus, she's not trying to comment discreetly, so even Yuan Ling heard what she said earlier.

The atmosphere around the haughty female student slowly gets noisier. But to Yuan Ling, that has nothing much to do with her. All she had in her mind was either to finish the six delicious buns at once or just half of them.

'Aargh... I hate this... Why Long-Gege have to make six and not four or eight? Now, I'm tied with the choice either to eat a third, half, or all of them.' Yuan Ling complained in her mind. There was already a thought to scratch her head from all the choices.

After a few minutes of hesitation, Yuan Ling decided to only eat a third of them.

Her two fingers went straight into the upper rows and gave it a pull. Those staring at Yuan Ling had already started to laugh because food like the steamed bun is known to harden after losing its warmth.

This is precisely why nobody brings steamed bun to school because it was the worst meal to have after it went cold.

But then, Yuan Ling's effortless action in pulling a part of the fluffy steamed bun out made them unconsciously drool.

"Impossible! How can a cold bun be that easy to pull apart? Did that girl has monstrous strength that much stronger than the number one brute in our class?" said one of the boys laughing at Yuan Ling earlier.

"It must have been portioned before being placed into the box! I can't think of another reason for it to separate that easily." another boy said. The drool on the corner of his mouth had already dripped onto the table.

Ignoring the crude gaze from the boys and girls, Yuan Ling then proceeds to split the bun in half before stuffing it into her mouth.

After all, she's still a lady. It would be unfitting for her to stuff the entire steamed bun into her mouth, no matter how delicious it was.

The crowd was jealous at how easy she splits the steamed bun into two portions. Furthermore, the bun returned to its fluffier form when Yuan Ling pulled back the force she applied between her hands.

She was bombarded with jealous stares all around her. The whole class was quiet to the point the sound of a needle could be heard when it fell to the ground from the moment Yuan Ling pulled one of the cold buns out from her bento box.

Those who laughed at her for bringing steamed bun to school were forced to swallow their own words as they looked at how enjoying Yuan Ling was after stuffing that pieces of white steamed bun into her mouth.

Furthermore, the pleasant, sweet aroma unique to the Jinqian Wheat Flour was thoroughly released into the air, allowing them to notice a hint of difference between their Steamed Buns.

The one they've been eating back home was considered trash if it was compared to what Yuan Ling had.

"This!" the wealthy girl who clicked her tongue at Yuan Ling earlier found it hard to swallow this shame as everyone's attention was at Yuan Ling.

"Exactly... Who the hell made this Mantou she's eating?" she raised her voice.