Advance (1)

The fourteen-year-old girl treated the two remaining steamed buns like treasures from how gentle she pried the bamboo lid off. Her behavior somewhat resembled a squirrel that spent most of its time hoarding edible nuts.

"Silly girl," Long Yuan gently tapped on Yuan Ling's forehead after seeing how foolish she looked. The sweet intimacy they showed could even make the ripest persimmon pale in comparison.

Even Long Yuan was turned speechless from her attitude towards the two cold, no longer fluffy steamed buns. While at the same time, he's wondering why this lass is coming back with leftover foods.

"Why do you bring leftover food home?" Long Yuan asked. The thought that she was keeping them aside so they could eat them later didn't come across his mind. Instead, another answer came into his mind.

He assumed that it was too excessive for forcing Yuan Ling to eat six hardly palatable steamed buns in a single meal. While he had no problem accepting it, a young girl like Yuan Ling might feel a surfeit from eating the same thing again and again.

"I thought... You'll be too busy working and has no time to eat, so I brought them home..." Yuan Ling shared her reason for bringing the food home.

"Silly... No matter how busy I am, I'll be making food for you without fail. Just make sure you eat as much as you like and whenever you want. You don't have to worry about it." Long Yuan said.

Although he barely understands too much about this world, Long Yuan knows that he won't have a problem with food. On this part, he's confident that nothing could give him a challenge.

"Okay..." Yuan Ling was saddened by her brother's word. Although it wasn't like she couldn't understand what Long Yuan meant, for a young lass like her, she still had the thought of getting her beloved brother's attention.

"Why are you sulking over there? I thought you were going to reheat the bun so we could eat them together." Long Yuan then said. To someone already turning thirty-five in another world, how can he be clueless about those thoughts in Yuan Ling's mind?

The fourteen-year-old girl revealed a brightened smile after hearing what Long Yuan said. And without further ado, the fire was started to get the water boiling.

While waiting, Long Yuan took the opportunity to clean the remaining Silvergrass Fruit.

Only about half was left from his insatiable craving for the slightly sweet and tangy fruit. To Long Yuan's surprise, even while he's cleaning the leftover fruit soaking in the water, he couldn't help but put a few more into his mouth.

As for those that remained, Long Yuan placed them into a sizeable bowl before leaving it inside the steamer. It will be heated and left overnight for tomorrow.

If nothing extraordinary happened, the fruit cooked under steaming temperature would likely get sweeter and turn into mashable syrup for him to add into the dough tomorrow.

Yuan Ling took the opportunity to boil some water for themselves to wash up later. In the meantime, Long Yuan took the time before the sun completely set to inspect the quernstone's surface.

He quickly noticed the inadequate parts to this quern that belonged to them.

'Ah... No wonder the grinding process takes so much of our time. Maybe because this quern is for household use, its grooves were minimal. I wonder if this problem can be solved by replacing the stone.' Long Yuan muttered by himself.

The other parts of the quern were also starting to wear out from frequent usages.

If there's a choice, he would love to change this into a newer quern to lighten the burden from grinding the wheat grains into flour.

"Long-Gege, the steamed bun is ready." Yuan Ling excitedly brings the food over to Long Yuan's side. Her expression doesn't look like she'll ever get bored of eating the steamed bun. Merely having one might look too little as their dinner, but that will do.

Because Yuan Ling already had four of them in the lunch back in school. As for Long Yuan, he's been eating the Silvergrass Fruit after coming back home, so he's pretty full as well.

"Long-Gege, will you be angry if I say I want the same thing again for tomorrow?" Yuan Ling carefully studied her beloved older brother's mood before telling him what she wanted to eat tomorrow.

"Why would I get angry? But are you sure you want plain Mantou again?" Long Yuan chuckled at her timidness while making a request. It seems that for this pair of orphans, enjoying properly made food like this was sinful in their mentality.

"Mantou is Mantou. Ling-Er would be obedient as long she could eat delicious Mantou daily. If Long-Gege wants, Ling-Er can go to the foothill to bring some more of the Jinqian Wheat home to make the flour." Yuan Ling said.

It seems that her obsession with the Mantou was quite extreme.

"You don't need to do that. Don't we already have a container with wheat flour? As long your Long-Gege continued what we're doing today, the vat will be filled with the wheat flour in two more days." Long Yuan said.

Of course, it was simplified in a certain way.

With the absence of vacuum-sealed packs in this world, the biggest taboo he can make as a food maker would be mixing fresh flour and older flour together. This was precisely why the flour was said to have around one to two weeks worth of lifespan inside the flour container.

Furthermore, how they grade the end product was also crucial in producing high-quality wheat flour.

It was likely due to the lack of proper education, knowledge, and many issues that they had a different mentality when it comes to flour. One of the obvious examples would be the flour used by Yuan Ling on the first day Long Yuan was here.

If he has to comment, that would be the worst quality flour he had tasted in both of his lifetimes.

"By the way... I'll need you to do something for me after school." Long Yuan said. He seems to have something in his mind.

"Sure! I'll do anything for Long-Gege." Yuan Ling immediately agreed even before listening to what Long Yuan had in his mind. Since Long Yuan was her one and only family in this world, there's no reason for her to suspect him at all.

Because she believed that even if the entire world was to betray her, her Long-Gege wouldn't.

"Good. Then tomorrow, go around the village and see if there's a stall or spot the people are willing to rent out. Your Long-Gege want to start some small business over there."

"At the same time, go around and help me inquiry the price of meat, salt, sugar, and sauces." Long Yuan said what he had in mind and what Yuan Ling had to do for him tomorrow. And from his words alone, it was apparent he was trying his hand on something else.

"Long-Gege, are you worried about not having enough for the school fee next month? I know that we haven't earned a single copper coin this month, but I can manage if I go to the woods to forage some products and hunt a few wild beasts." Yuan Ling said.

Her words made Long Yuan feel a hint of a guilty conscience.

It actually didn't come across his mind about Yuan Ling's upcoming school fee. Initially, he was asking out of curiosity and also to get an idea of how much it would cost him to operate a food stall.

But it seems everything was coming together.

Obviously, the reason behind Yuan Long's attempt to protect the Emerald Sweet Grasses was to afford to pay Yuan Ling's tuition fee. And he lost his life because of this.

Still, Yuan Ling's words show that she does contribute to the monthly tuition fee. All Long Yuan had no idea was the difficulty of earning some copper coin here and the sum he needed.

Also, there's a reason behind him asking Yuan Ling to ask around.

Long Yuan thought of using the food-quality flour he made to produce a healthier food of choice.

Unlike Yuan Ling, who can be satisfied by just having plain steamed buns day and night, Long Yuan was eager to have a bite of meat. And that's where the idea comes in.

He would be making meat dumplings after he collected enough to afford to have meat daily in their diet. Furthermore, this would be good for Yuan Ling's growth too.

"No. You'll focus on the matter of your school. I'll find a way to get the copper coins ready for your tuition fee next month. Remind me, how much do I need to collect again?" Long Yuan asked.

"100 copper coins," Yuan Ling answered.

"100... Alright...I hope that amount won't be too hard to make." Long Yuan responded with a playful tone.

"It won't, Long-Gege. You have Ling-Er with you." Yuan Ling smiled and took the dirty plate away for washing. In the meantime, Long Yuan searched around the house for everything he could use.

The two of them were having quite a struggling experience that very night.

As they were deeply asleep, they had no idea that a thick layer of greenish Spiritual Essence was covering their physical body.

The one around Long Yuan was not as thick as the one on Yuan Ling, but that might be because he only had a single steamed bun today. And since he was unaware of this phenomenon, the entire process came at him like a dream.

Meanwhile, Yuan Ling had it rougher.

Five properly made steamed buns. Although the amount of Spiritual Essence in each was limited, they are still worth a fewfold more than the crap they've been eating all this time.

Obviously, they were going through this because their body was overfilled with Spiritual Essence.