Chapter 4 The sword is rusted to death. This is my natal sword, only I possess it…
The master and apprentice walked in the forest for four or five days. The instant noodles that Lin Jinshui's senior brother had prepared for him were finally used up by Lin Jianyu, and she was left without food.
"I'm so hungry," Lin Jianyu sighed for the umpteenth time this afternoon.
Lin Jinshui was also hungry. To be more precise, he hadn't felt full for a single moment since he came down the mountain. He could usually endure it, but today, with Lin Jianyu constantly nagging in his ear, he couldn't bear it any longer.
"You stay here, I'll go find some food."
"Okay." As soon as Lin Jianyu heard that he was going to find food, she sat up straight instantly, almost jumping out of the cage herself to tell him to hurry up and go.
Lin Jinshui found a relatively flat spot and put her down along with the cage. Then, he took the box of dried fish and prepared to find food.
Looking at the box of dried fish in his hand, Lin Jianyu suddenly suspected that his going out to find food was just an excuse, and that he was actually eating dried fish behind her back, since he did this almost every day.
"Master, you really went to find food, right?"
"Of course," Lin Jinshui answered without hesitation. Then, seeing the worry on her face, he asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's wrong?"
“I’m a little scared,” Lin Jianyu said.
Lin Jinshui didn't know that her so-called fear was that he would go out and eat alone. He thought she was afraid to be alone in this deep mountain forest, so he took one of the swords he was carrying on his back and handed it to her, saying, "Don't be afraid. If there is any danger, this sword will protect you."
"Is this a whale rising or a whale falling?" Lin Jianyu took the sword, which was almost as tall as her, and examined it curiously.
"Whale fall".
"Didn't Master say that whale fall is a sword of redemption?"
“Yes, so it can save you if you are in danger,” Lin Jinshui said.
Lin Jianyu was skeptical of his words, but she didn't say anything more, since she wasn't afraid of encountering danger anyway.
After watching Lin Jinshui walk away, she turned her gaze to the sword he had left her.
Whale Fall is a silver-white sword of unknown material. It feels very light in the hand. The scabbard is engraved with intricate patterns that faintly gleam with a cold light, making it seem extremely dangerous. It is not like a sword of redemption, but rather one born to kill.
She tried to pull the sword out of its sheath, but it wouldn't budge.
She must have used too little force.
Even with all my might, it still wouldn't budge.
That's awkward.
"Broken sword." After several attempts, Lin Jianyu still couldn't pull the sword out of its sheath. He stopped wasting his energy and tossed the sword aside, out of sight, out of mind.
After a moment, she picked up the sword again and continued drawing it.
When Lin Jinshui returned with the food, she was so exhausted that she collapsed on the ground, and the sword remained motionless in its sheath.
Upon seeing Lin Jinshui return, she didn't even bother to ask him what food he had found. Instead, she complained, "Master, you can throw away this broken sword of yours. It's rusted to death and can't be pulled out at all."
“It’s not rusted. This is my natal sword, and only I can draw it,” Lin Jinshui explained.
"I don't believe you." Lin Jianyu handed him the sword, indicating that he should prove it to her.
Lin Jinshui cooperated by easily drawing her sword, a stark contrast to how she had strained so much earlier.
"There's a mechanism, isn't there? This sword has a mechanism." That's why she couldn't pull it out no matter how hard she tried, while he pulled it out easily.
"No."
Lin Jianyu didn't believe it and took the sword back to continue his research.
Lin Jinshui let her play, lit the firewood he had picked up along the way, and roasted the rabbit he had caught.
Lin Jianyu was initially so focused on sparring with the sword that she didn't notice him starting a fire to roast meat. It wasn't until she smelled the aroma of the meat that she realized he had gone out and caught... well, she didn't know what kind of animal it was, but that didn't stop her from craving its meat.
Almost instinctively, she dropped the sword in her hand, scurried over to Lin Jinshui's side, squatted down, and while staring at the sizzling rabbit meat, she swallowed hard and asked him, "Master, what kind of meat is this?"
"Rabbit meat."
Lin Jianyu knew about rabbits, but he had never seen one or eaten one; he had only heard of them.
"Is it tasty?"
"It doesn't taste good," Lin Jinshui said honestly.
Lin Jianyu didn't believe it because it smelled so good.
"How much longer until we can eat?"
“Three-quarters of an hour,” Lin Jinshui replied without hesitation.
Lin Jianyu had no concept of three-quarters of an hour, so she could only squat beside him and wait, asking every now and then if it was ready. After asking countless times, her legs went numb from squatting, but the rabbit was still not cooked.
"Is it almost done? The surface is already burnt; if you bake it any longer, it'll turn into charcoal."
"It will be a little while longer, don't worry, I have experience," Lin Jinshui said.
Lin Jianyu looked at the increasingly charred rabbit and was not very at ease, but since she had no experience herself, she could only trust Lin Jinshui's experience.
Finally, at exactly 45 minutes past the hour, Lin Jinshui handed Lin Jianyu a rabbit that he had roasted to a crisp on the outside but not cooked through on the inside, with only the middle being edible.
Lin Jianyu tore off a rabbit leg and looked at the distinct three layers of meat. The outermost layer was burnt, the middle layer looked okay, but the innermost layer was undercooked. He expressed doubt about Lin Jinshui's so-called experience.
"That...although..."
"Good girl, eat meat." Lin Jinshui interrupted her hesitant words.
"Okay." Lin Jianyu took a bite, then spat, his mouth full of charcoal.
Peel off the charred outer layer and bite into the inside; it finally tastes like normal meat, but...
"Master, did you forget to add salt?"
“I deliberately didn’t let go,” Lin Jinshui said.
"Why?" Lin Jianyu asked, puzzled.
"Because I'm concerned about saving face." I absolutely refuse to admit that I forgot.
Lin Jianyu understood his implied meaning, and the corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily.
She sprinkled some salt on it herself before eating, and it tasted delicious. She was starving and ate with gusto.
Seeing Lin Jinshui watching her eat without eating himself, she still invited him to eat with her.
Lin Jinshui refused, saying, "It doesn't taste good."
"How do you know it's not good if you haven't even tried it?" She thought it was quite delicious, second only to dried anchovies and instant noodles in the taste of everything she had ever eaten in her life.
"I can tell." The roasted rabbit looked unappetizing to him at first glance.
Lin Jianyu: "..."
Although she really wanted to flatter her master, the rabbit didn't look very appetizing, especially on the surface; it looked like it had been roasted to a crisp.
"Don't eat the top layer, eat the middle layer, the meat is especially tender. The inner layer is also good, it's chewy."
"I've eaten it," Lin Jinshui said. "Don't try to lie to me, you eat it yourself."
Honestly, Lin Jianyu thought it was quite delicious.
"Master isn't eating? Could it be that he secretly ate some dried fish outside?" She asked this question, but after seeing Lin Jinshui's expression, she realized she shouldn't have used a question; she should have used a statement. This guy had definitely eaten his fill outside before coming back.
"Ahem..." Lin Jinshui coughed to cover his embarrassment, "I only ate two." He didn't have many dried fish left, so he had to eat them sparingly.
Eating a few rabbits didn't change the fact that he was eating alone, so Lin Jianyu decided to ignore him and eat the roasted rabbit by himself. Anyway, he had dried fish and wouldn't starve.
In the end, she ate almost the entire roasted rabbit, except for the charred parts on the surface. She even kept the rabbit bones, collecting them all in a small aluminum pot. Later, she would add some water and simmer them to make a pot of bone broth.
She ate with gusto, her mouth brimming with oil, feeling utterly satisfied, but less than an hour later, tragedy struck.
At first, she only had a slight abdominal pain, then her stomach churned, and then she vomited and had diarrhea. It didn't stop until she had emptied her stomach. When she finally calmed down, she was like a dead fish, slumped weakly on the ground.
"Rabbit meat... is poisonous."
"It's not poisonous." Rabbit meat is a staple dish in their temple, and they eat it every now and then, so it's definitely not poisonous.
"It's not poisonous, why don't you eat it?" Lin Jianyu didn't believe him and suspected that he was trying to poison her. The master-disciple relationship that had just been established collapsed.
"Because it doesn't taste good." Lin Jinshui really didn't like eating rabbit meat. He would rather go hungry than eat something he didn't like, unless he was so hungry that he couldn't stand it anymore.
Lin Jianyu thought of the instant noodles from a few days ago. He didn't like them and wouldn't eat a single bite, giving them all to her. Suddenly, she believed that he was just a picky eater. Of course, the most important thing was that he had no reason to poison her.
As for why she vomited and had diarrhea after eating rabbit meat...
There are two possibilities. The first is that she has hardly eaten any meat since birth, and her stomach couldn't handle eating so much rabbit meat at once. The second is that she ate undercooked meat.
Regardless of which one it was, she had eaten rabbit meat for nothing.
"I'm so hungry."
When Lin Jinshui heard her start saying she was hungry again, he hesitated for a moment, but in the end he opened the box of dried fish he had stored and picked out the smallest one to hand to her.
Lin Jianyu took it and, without saying a word, stuffed it into her mouth, saying as she chewed, "I want more."
"That's all." Lin Jinshui put the lid on and lied through his teeth.
"One isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap." She's the kind of person who can eat a whole roasted rabbit.
"I only ate two myself," Lin Jinshui said.
"Then give me two as well, that would be fair."
Lin Jinshui didn't know why he, as her master and the owner of the dried fish, had to talk to her about fairness, but he still reluctantly opened the box of dried fish again and picked one out... Damn it, there weren't any smallest ones left, they were all about the same size.
Lin Jianyu ate the second dried fish that he was given with great satisfaction, but his hunger was not relieved at all.
So she asked Lin Jinshui to cook her a pot of bone broth.
After simmering for an hour, the bone broth gradually turns milky white. Add a little salt to taste...
"Just a little bit." Lin Jianyu was so frightened when he saw Lin Jinshui grab a handful of salt and throw it in that he almost betrayed his master and ancestors.
Lin Jinshui obediently put the salt back in his hand and sprinkled a little into the salt with his fingers.
Lin Jianyu estimated that there were at most ten or so, and that was the real deal.
She tasted it and, as expected, it was almost tasteless. So she added a little more salt than Lin Jinshui had added.
With the flavor enhanced, the soup tasted much better. She blew on it while sipping it, and after finishing the whole pot of soup, she chewed on the bones in the soup, barely managing to fill her stomach with water.
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