Operating A Stall (5)

"Let's start working!" Yuan Ling yelled to raise their working spirit while working with the quern. As her cultivation of the Foundation Realm's third stage is two levels above Yuan Long, she could maintain the speed of the quern much longer.

But maintaining it longer doesn't mean the process could complete faster.

To reach the powdery texture Long Yuan demanded, at least three cycles were needed based on their quernstone's quality. If he wanted to speed up the process, he only had two options to go from here.

Either buying a new quernstone with more groves between the upper and lower stone or renting other people's equipment would be the choice in Long Yuan's mind.

In the meantime, Long Yuan used the time he had right now to cook the fruit compote made from Silvergrass Fruits. The zesty taste from the fruits was tastier compared to before. From its look, using the ripening fruit to create the perfect Silvergrass Fruit Compote was the best choice.

This time, the aroma from the fruit compote made everything more appetizing than before. Although the siblings would have Maotou again for dinner tonight, there's not a hint of complaint at all.

Since there's no oil for Long Yuan to try deep-frying the Mantou he made, he could only choose to do this differently.

Firstly, Long Yuan grabbed a few cleaned wooden sticks to hold the steamed bun firmly. A generous layer of the sticky fruit compote is then applied to the surface of the steamed bun before they are toasted on the flames.

The toasted buns with a layer of sticky fruit compote caramelized quickly. They created a crispy layer on top of the steamed bun, where the caramelized brown skin looked so appetizing.

Unable to keep herself calm, Long Yuan caught Yuan Ling drooling when he placed the toasted buns on a clay-fired plate.

"Gege... I'm hungry..." Yuan Ling pouted because the distance between her and the plate was too far.

"I know. I placed it slightly away from you because I'm worried that some rats would steal them." Long Yuan jokes. How would he be unable to guess what was inside her head?

"Bad Gege..." tears were about to roll from her eyes as she felt bullied by her only family member in this world.

"I'm joking. Which do you want? The toasted bun or the steamed bun?" Long Yuan asked as he took the remaining plain buns out from the steamer. Because they only had a choice of food, for now, Long Yuan tried to make it appetizing by creating a few variations whenever he could.

"Can't I have both of them for dinner?" Yuan Ling answered.

There's not even a hint of embarrassment emerging in her expression. Added with her cute facial expression, the persuasion force came strongly from her.

Unable to resist his sister's cuteness, Long Yuan gave in to her demand and brought her a plate of six Mantou again. Two different kinds, three of each type.

The miraculous effect of correctly prepared food appeared again on Yuan Ling. Her body glowed when she ate the toasted bun with a layer of caramelized fruit compote. A hint of sweet aroma like she was the Silvergrass Fruit itself also appeared from Yuan Ling as her complexion changed slightly.

"Its... It's so delicious!" the fourteen-year-old lass suddenly screamed out of happiness as she devoured the remaining half of the bun in her hand. So far, this was the most significant increment in the Spiritual Essence she had from food.

A single Toasted Mantou with the fruit compote worth of Spiritual Essence was comparable to eating five of the steamed buns she had for the past few days.

The glow was short-lived, but the significant increase in Spiritual Strength wouldn't be gone in a matter of minutes.

What's happening to her gave Long Yuan a shock. But before he could throw the question out of his mouth, Yuan Ling had already finished with the second caramelized bun and moved on to the third one.

It was like Yuan Ling is controlled by her appetite. Her hand that was supposed to pick the plain steamed bun ended up reaching for the tastier one. And in less than ten minutes, the platter of six Mantou was devoured by Yuan Ling alone.

All that was left was the empty plate and the burp she gave out after feeling full.

"Luckily, you're home. Please don't do that outside in public where people are walking around. You might throw off those people that fancied you and scare them away," Long Yuan jokingly said.

"Who cares about them? All I need is my Long-Gege. I don't need other guys in my life." Yuan Ling said and stared at Long Yuan's plate.

Unlike this girl's gluttonous appetite, Long Yuan could only eat four buns in a row before the surfeit feeling came to him.

"What are you looking at my plate for?" Long Yuan smile while looking at his younger sister.

"No - Nothing! I'll continue with the work!" Yuan Ling quickly turned around and continued her work by turning the quern wheel.

They're required to finish preparing the flour tonight since there's a demand for it tomorrow.

Thinking about this, Long Yuan feels that all of these coincidences seem to be coming together before he realizes it. He just had to notice how wasteful was the straw collector on this particular day, which made him fill the harvest basket to the brim.

And in return, heaven didn't disappoint him and decided to repay his thoughtfulness with an opportunity.

The siblings finally stopped working when the time was about midnight. Although their work is gradually getting more each day, the siblings seem to enjoy finishing it together. But deep inside Long Yuan's mind, he does mind being incapable of competing against his sister in strength.

After setting aside the flour for tomorrow, the siblings were finally ready to head to their own bed.

At this time, Long Yuan finally asked something in his mind for a while now.

"Ling-Er... Do you think... Your brother can cultivate?" Long Yuan asked. This question has been in his mind since the first day until now. Perhaps it was due to the busy schedule he had. He noticed that hardly anyone cultivates.

Most people around their houses seemed busy from day to night, either with farming or other matters. Even Old Wen, who appeared to be half retired, managed his farm from day to evening.

"Of course you can, Long-Gege! Just let me know what arts you want to cultivate, and I'll copy the manual for you!" Yuan Ling immediately answered. It seems that she had been worrying about Yuan Long and his cultivation for a while.

"Then... What arts do you know?" Long Yuan asked. It was understandable that he knew nothing about cultivation because the former owner of this body was illiterate!

Even if a demigod-rank manual was placed before him, he wouldn't even know how precious that manual could be!

"Hmm... All of us were taught with the Sprouting Village's own Essence Manipulation Art. Perhaps I can get a copy of that for you to start from there?" Yuan Ling gave it some thought after listening to her Long-Gege's word.

"Essence Manipulation Art? What does that do?" Long Yuan asked. If he could, he would prefer to learn only the essential cultivation art for self-protection and those suitable for his profession.

"Long-Gege... Luckily it's only both of us in this house. If this question was heard by the others... You'll get laughed at for being ignorant and illiterate." Yuan Ling cutely placed her hand on Yuan Long's lips and stopped him from asking silly questions.

From her response, it's like this is a question everyone naturally knew from birth.

(One can afford to be poor but not uncultured. Being illiterate is unfortunate, but being uncultured is unacceptable.)

'It seems that this sentence is depicted my current situation perfectly...' Long Yuan smiled sourly.

"Listen to me, Long-Gege... I'm sure you already know that all of us had a source of Spiritual Essence inside our bodies, correct?" Yuan Ling felt a need to define cultivation to her ignorant big brother.

"All of us were born as a vessel to Spiritual Essence, just like a container. This fact applies to all of us, from people to beasts, plants, and everything we can see, feel, and touch." Yuan Ling said. It seemed that this basic knowledge was ingrained in her mind to the point she didn't even need to look at the scroll.

"This means plundering what we could for ourselves was the mean of our survival. The more we eat, the more Spiritual Essence we have in our physical body. Our body would gradually refine the Spiritual Essence to strengthen our physique. Naturally, the process would take too long to accomplish." she added.

Knowing that going too fast here would make Yuan Long feel lost in the lesson, Yuan Ling made a stop in between to show her brother what she had learned in the academy.

By placing both her hands together to form a bowl, the Spiritual Essence inside her body was gradually pulled out and gathered into a ball of gaseous form. The same verdant gases that once appeared on their bodies when they were asleep again made their appearance.

But this time, it was forcefully taken out into display.

"Long-Gege, this is the Spiritual Essence within our body. As for their usage, I'm sure you already had an idea or two on what they can be used for." Yuan Ling said with a smiling expression.