Chapter 111 - 111: 111. Great God is Truly a Good Person (Part 1)
For the first time, Ning Jing took charge of cooking instead of just tending the fire and being Su Liang’s assistant; he made her a bowl of longevity noodles, but didn’t even make one for himself, let alone Yan Shiba.
After making the longevity noodles, Ning Jing instructed Su Liang to prepare other dishes and even encouraged her to order some.
Su Liang complained, “Is this really the treatment between siblings? I’m not going to call Ning Jing my brother!”
When it was time for dinner, Yan Shiba saw a delicious-looking bowl of meat noodles in front of Su Liang and asked her where it came from.
“Today is my coming-of-age ceremony,” Su Liang casually said.
Yan Shiba was stunned, “Liang, why didn’t you say it earlier?”
Su Liang scoffed, “You spend all of my money on food and clothing, what difference would it make if I had told you earlier?”
Yan Shiba coughed slightly, “I’ll pay you back once Sister’s injuries heal! But our Xiaoliang has grown up so quickly. To celebrate such an important event, gold, silver, and jewelry are too mundane. Sister knows what Liang likes best let it be that!”
Su Liang asked, “What is it?”
Yan Shiba grinned and winked at Su Liang, “Of course, it’s the beautiful Gu Ling!”
Ning Jing, who was sitting opposite, seemed completely unsurprised by Yan Shiba’s words, remaining calm.
Without thinking, Su Liang glanced at Ning Jing and then nodded, “Alright, then it’s settled. You owe me Gu Ling for my coming-of-age ceremony.”
“Don’t worry, Liang. Once I can walk again, I’ll search for Gu Ling even if I have to dig three feet into the ground!” Yan Shiba promised, “But let’s be clear: when I bring Gu Ling to you, you must make use of her!”
Upon hearing the deeply meaningful last word, Su Liang almost bit her tongue.
Yan Shiba looked at her suggestively, “I can tell you’re no stranger to these things, Xiaoliang. If you don’t understand, Sister will teach you!”
“Enough,” Ning Jing interjected, putting an end to the conversation.
After that, Jian Shiba asked for a taste of Su Liang’s longevity noodles, but before Su Liang could refuse, Ning Jing said that it was not allowed.
“You didn’t even make it!” Yan Shiba retorted angrily.
Protecting her noodles, Su Liang replied, “He did make them. If he says no, it’s a no.”
Yan Shiba was shocked, “Oh my God! You can actually cook and even made food for Liang?! I knew it; you must have ulterior motives towards Xiaoliang! A proper man wouldn’t cook for a girl if he didn’t have other intentions. Xiaoliang, listen to your sister – he must want to sleep with you!”
Ning Jing didn’t bother to defend himself. Yan Shiba had always been against him, but he never cared to address it.
Su Liang quickly stopped Yan Shiba’s nonsense, “We’re siblings; don’t talk nonsense!”
Yan Shiba became indignant, “Liang, you can’t be so naiVe! There’s no such thing as pure friendship between men and women. Even siblings who are not blood-related can’t have a purely innocent relationship – even those with blood relations sometimes can’t…”
As Yan Shiba’s words became even more crude, Su Liang frowned and said, “Shut up now and eat, or leave! ”
Yan Shiba fell silent.
After a while, she murmured, “Can’t talk… Can’t eat…
Su Liang’s forehead twitched, “Eat with your nostrils, then!”
Finally, there was peace.
After Su Liang finished eating the longevity noodles Ning Jing prepared for her and drank the soup, he asked her briefly, “How was it?”
Su Liang nodded, “The noodles were chevvy, and the vegetables were cooked just right. It was a bit salty, though.”
Ning Jing’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he recalled that he had added salt twice.
“You’re quite confident when it comes to cooking, impressive,” Su Liang teased.
It was a typical Great God’s behavior – cooking for the first time and not tasting the dish beforehand for its saltiness.
“I’ll keep that in mind for next year if you’re still here,” Ning Jing nodded.
The meaning behind his words had layers.
Firstly, Su Liang could only have longevity noodles made by Ning Jing on her birthday; at any other time, Ning Jing wouldn’t be responsible for cooking.
Secondly, Ning Jing wouldn’t “leave” their partnership; if they were not together by this same time next year, it would mean Su Liang left his side.
The latter had already been discussed and agreed upon.
“Fine,” Su Liang conceded, knowing that many things could happen within a year, and whether they’d still be together would remain to be seen.
“Liang, tomorrow is my birthday,” Yan Shiba weakly raised her uninjured hand, “I want to eat longevity noodles.”
“How do you prove that?” Su Liang asked.
“I have to go to the Underworld and ask the two people who gave birth to me,” Yan Shiba thought for a moment.
“Alright, tomorrow we’ll have meat sauce noodles,” Su Liang decided.
“Not ‘we’ – just the longevity noodles are mine!” Yan Shiba insisted on special treatment.
“I’ll add an egg to yours,” Su Liang said. Ning Jing spoke up, “I want two.”
Yan Shiba was angry, “I want three!”
Su Liang looked up at the sky speechlessly, “I’ll make meat sauce and eggs for you tomorrow, and I’ll have clear soup noodles, okay?”
In order to show her appreciation for Ning Jing’s cooking skills and his kindness, Su Liang wore the purple jade hairpin on Laba Festival the whole day.
Sharp-eyed Yan Shiba noticed that Su Liang suddenly had new jewelry and asked her where it came from. When she told him the truth, Yan Shiba started his old theory “What reason could a man have to give you a hairpin besides wanting to sleep with you? Oh my god, he even carved it by hand? What a scheming man!”
Su Liang responded, “First, make up for the coming-of-age ceremony you owe me, then you can babble.”
Though she had lived two lifetimes and was very mature in mentality, Su Liang still thought this new body was a very young Miss because she hadn’t even had her period before.
However, Su Liang did not know that the Original Master had her period last year, but it stopped after she was abused in Su Daqiang’s home. In the winter, she lived in a leaky shack and caught colds. She was not well-fed or well-clothed, so her period stopped.
That’s why Su Liang always felt chilly after she crossed over.
After a few months of conditioning and exercise, Su Liang found her period came back one evening.
For this, she specifically asked Yan Shiba how to deal with it since there were no sanitary pads in this world.
Yan Shiba instantly felt like a big sister; of course, she could teach Su Liang about this. The menstrual products she had had Auntie Bai sew for her before still had some unused ones, so she directly gave them to Su Liang.
Su Liang felt uncomfortable everywhere and couldn’t muster her energy during dinner.
When Ning Jing told her to practice her spear technique tomorrow, Su Liang said directly that she needed to rest for a few days.
“Why?” asked Ning Jing.
Yan Shiba snorted lightly, “If Lil’ Liang wants to rest, let her rest. What’s with the questions?”
Ning Jing asked Su Liang again, “Why?”
“I’ll talk about it later.” Su Liang frowned and got up to go out.
After Ning Jing cleaned up the kitchen, boiled the water, and specifically came to find Su Liang to ask why she wanted to rest for a few days.
He felt this wasn’t like Su Liang’s character. There must be something she was hiding from him, and it seemed Yan Shiba knew too.
Su Liang wrapped herself in a blanket, sat at the table, and motioned Ning Jing to come in and sit down, “Let me tell you about the differences between men and women.”
Ning Jing was momentarily stunned, walked over, sat down next to her, and indicated that he was all ears.
Su Liang picked up a pen and drew two rough human body structure diagrams.
Unlike the acupoint maps she drew previously, these diagrams had obvious male and female characteristics.
Ning Jing frowned slightly but didn’t say anything.
Following the same method as what her biology teacher taught her in her previous life, Su Liang gave Ning Jing a physiology lesson and even explained the principle of giving birth.
Staring at the two diagrams, Ning Jing initially felt a bit uncomfortable, but later he listened calmly and attentively and even asked a few questions about things he was unsure about.
Considering Ning Jing had already mentioned wanting to learn about Su Liang’s knowledge, Su Liang had first explained bizarre things like planes, trains, and people going to the sky. Now, Ning Jing didn’t find these things bizarre but rather had a sense of clarity as if mist had lifted.
These things were real. He didn’t understand before, but now he finally understood the underlying principles, and of course, he wouldn’t have to ask Su Liang why she needed to rest for a few days anymore.
“Being a woman is tough.” Ning Jing came to a conclusion. Experiencing discomfort for a few days every month and giving birth was even a greater ordeal.
“So, the reason you mentioned earlier that the law in your place allows women to be considered adults at 18 but only marry at 20 is because being too young and having children is not good for the body?” Ning Jing asked again.
Su Liang nodded, “We become adults at 18 for this reason since our bodies are not fully developed yet. But we can only marry at 20, and there are many other factors, including mental maturity and societal environment, and so on.”
Ning Jing understood, ‘You are very mature mentally. But, should we wait until after you are 18 to become a couple?”
Su Liang nodded, “Yes.”
“Let’s continue practicing after you’ve rested well.” Ning Jing got up to leave, then asked Su Liang, “Can you still cook?”
“We’ll see how tomorrow goes.” Thinking it was her first time, Su Liang assumed she would feel unwell for the next few days.
“I’ll ask Auntie Bai to help with cooking and pay her wages.” Ning Jing said. If it was just him and Su Liang, he could cook, learn even if he didn’t know, but he would never cook for Yan Shiba himself.
Su Liang agreed, thinking that Auntie Bai would also be happy to help.
When Ning Jing was at the door, he turned back and asked, “Aren’t you hungry?”
Sli T.iang hadn’t eaten much for dinner-
Su Liang wrapped herself in a blanket, revealing only a small, jade-white face, and looked at Ning Jing pitifully, “I want to eat Brown Sugar Stewed Egg, can you make one for me? I’ll pay you a wage.”
Ning Jing turned around, “Alright. No need for payment today. Before midnight, we are still brother and sister.”
The smile in Su Liang’s eyes spread.. Great God was really a kind and good person!