Chapter 203: I Just Want to Do It
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
When it was time for dinner, the work at Building No. 6 was temporarily over. Yi Chengxuan got up and left, but when he passed by Yue Xin, he heard something unexpected.
“Thank you.” Yue Xin’s tone was still very calm, but Yi Chengxuan knew that Yue Xin was sincerely grateful to him.
He had originally wanted to leave Yue Xin behind and test the results of today’s teaching, but he suddenly changed his mind. “Do you want to have dinner together?”
Yue Xin thought about her situation and replied without hesitation, “Yes!”
Yi Chengxuan and the others had tested her today, so it was only fair for her to get more information.
The closest restaurant to Building No. 6 was Restaurant No. 3. When Yue Xin and Yi Chengxuan arrived, there were already many people sitting inside. Unlike the exquisite environment of Restaurant No.l, Restaurant 3 only had a few high-class private rooms. The remaining seats were in the lobby.
The number of dining tables in Restaurant No. 3 was only about half that of Restaurant No.l, but it could accommodate more prisoners.
Most of the people in Restaurant No. 1 went over to eat with the prisoners in Building No. 1 or the higher-ups of other buildings. Occasionally, there would be a killing ritual that Yue Xin had seen before, but that was still an area that only a few people in the prison would go to.
Restaurant No. 3 was much more tolerant. Because it was close to Building No. 6, many sick prisoners would go there. Therefore, Restaurant No. 3 often prepared light dishes. Now was the peak period for eating, and there was a queue in front of every window.
Yi Chengxuan didn’t queue up. Instead, he asked Yue Xin to find an empty table and sit down. After a while, someone walked up to Yi Chengxuan and gave him and Yue Xin a menu to order. Yi Chengxuan ordered a meat and vegetable bowl of rice, and Yue Xin ordered a bowl of Eight Treasure Porridge and a portion of chili sauce.
Yi Chengxuan listened to Yue Xin order and did not interfere. However, after Yue Xin finished ordering, he asked casually, “Have you heard of the origin of the Eight Treasures Porridge?”
Yue Xin shook her head. No one had ever told her about this, and even if she did, it was meaningless.
Seeing Yue Xin shake her head, Yi Chengxuan continued, “The Eight Treasures Porridge is also called Laba Porridge. There’s a legend that Zhu Yuanzhang asked for food before he became emperor. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, he was hungry and cold. Suddenly, he saw a rat enter a hole. He wanted to catch a rat to satisfy his hunger, so he dug the rat hole.
Unexpectedly, he retrieved rice, beans, and various grains from inside. Hence, he made a pot of porridge with these things. With this pot of porridge, he didn’t starve to death and freeze to death. After becoming emperor, every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, he would cook the porridge of that time to eat. It also has the meaning of remembering bitterness and sweetness for a few years.”
Yue Xin listened to Yi Chengxuan’s story and did not react at all. She just stared at the table in a daze, thinking about something.
Yi Chengxuan asked again, “Do you have any thoughts about this story?”
Yue Xin replied honestly, “No.”
Yi Chengxuan: “Do you think this is a meaningless story?”
Yue Xin replied “Yes.”
Yi Chengxuan chuckled and said in a tone that made people subconsciously relax, “Not every story has to have meaning, nor does everything have a purpose. Sometimes, you don’t have to achieve a certain goal in everything you do. You just want to do it.”
Yue Xin didn’t understand why Yi Chengxuan was telling her this, but she didn’t sense any malice or scheme from Yi Chengxuan’s words, so she nodded.
Soon, Yue Xin’s Eight Treasures Porridge and chili sauce were brought to the dining table. The eight-treasure porridge was sweet, and the chili sauce was spicy. No matter how one looked at it, this combination was very strange, but Yue Xin ate the Eight Treasures Porridge and chili sauce expressionlessly.
Yue Xin originally didn’t know what flavor she liked, but Maya liked sweetness. Yue Xin didn’t eat spicy food at first, and Maya often teased her with chili. For a long time, she found that her tolerance for chili was much stronger. In the past, she couldn’t stand it even if she ate a little spicy food. Now, she didn’t feel uncomfortable eating chili sauce at all. She even enjoyed the pain brought by the chili.
Yi Chengxuan observed Yue Xin for a while and asked, “Porridge should be accompanied by some side dishes. Why are you only eating chili sauce?”
Yue Xin swallowed the porridge in her mouth and used it. “I just want to do this.”
Yi Chengxuan paused in his eating and smiled. “You’re a fast learner.”
Yue Xin nodded. After eating the porridge, she stared at Yi Chengxuan.
Being stared at like this, Yi Chengxuan did not panic at all. He continued to eat elegantly, as if he was not eating in a prison but in a high-end restaurant.
Yue Xin could feel the gazes that kept landing on her, but there were very few gazes on Yi Chengxuan. She didn’t know if they were unwilling or afraid.
Yue Xin also discovered that ever since Yi Chengxuan sat in this position, only the prisoners from Building No. 5 would pass by her. The prisoners from the other buildings would avoid this place. In other words, to the prisoners from Building No. 5, Yi Chengxuan was not a terrifying existence, but it was hard to say for the prisoners from the other buildings..
