Chapter 70
Zhuohua, feeling listless, only reluctantly moved to the fish stall under Shuangling's urgent urging. The stall owner, a dark-skinned old fisherman, was enthusiastically trying to sell the last lively grouper in his bucket to actress Chen Yue.
"Sister! Look at this grouper! It was just caught this morning, wild! The meat is so tender! Two hundred fishing coins, absolutely worth it!" The old fisherman patted his chest.
Chen Yue hesitated; the price was indeed beyond her budget.
Just then, the tiny wings of the "doll" on Zhuohua's shoulder trembled very slightly, as if blown by the wind. A wisp of extremely fine, icy blue divine thought shot out and precisely entered the brain of Dongxingban, who was splashing around vigorously in the bucket of water.
The fish suddenly froze, and then, as if pulled by an invisible thread, it swung its tail with all its might and leaped high out of the bucket!
"Splash!" Water splashed everywhere!
To the astonishment of Chen Yue and the old fisherman, the grouper, worth two hundred fishing coins, traced a wet, shimmering parabola and landed with perfect precision in the empty bamboo basket that Zhuo Hua was carrying, with a "plop"! It even bounced twice unwillingly at the bottom of the basket.
Zhuohua: "..."
Chen Yue: "!!!"
Old fisherman: "My fish! Ouch!"
Zhuohua lowered his head expressionlessly, looking at the "fish that fell from the sky" still thrashing about in the basket.
"Ah—!" A high-decibel scream almost pierced eardrums. Chen Yue, standing diagonally in front of Zhuo Hua, was so frightened by the sudden "fish leaping over the dragon gate" and the splashing water that she was completely out of her mind. It was a purely reactive reaction. She had just picked up two bright red tomatoes that she was about to put in her basket, and without thinking, she threw them forcefully towards the "culprit"—Zhuo Hua!
"Splat!" "Pfft!"
The first tomato landed precisely on Zhuohua's aloof and stunning face, its bright red juice bursting open and trickling down her fair cheek. The second tomato splattered onto her white shirt, leaving a large, messy, and juicy stain.
Time seemed to stand still.
The bustling fish market seemed to have been silenced. All the vendors, passersby, cameramen, and other guests stared in disbelief at the scene: a rising starlet, with half her face bright red like a tomato, her white shirt stained with "blood"-like tomato juice, expressionlessly carrying a basket still thrashing about with fish.
The culprit, actress Chen Yue, was covering her mouth, her eyes filled with horror and disbelief.
Zhuohua raised her hand and slowly wiped the sticky tomato juice from her face. The cool touch carried the slight fishy smell unique to fruits and vegetables.
She looked at the glaring red stain on her fingertips, then glanced down at the mess on her chest, before raising her eyes again to calmly gaze at Chen Yue, whose face was deathly pale with fright.
That gaze held no anger, no resentment, only a deep, ocean-like stillness, as if looking at an insignificant speck of dust.
Chen Yue's legs went weak under her gaze, and her voice trembled with tears: "I...I'm so sorry! Zhuohua! I didn't mean to! I scared you! Really! I'll pay for your clothes! I..."
Zhuohua didn't speak, but tilted her head slightly, her long eyelashes, stained with tomato juice, fluttering gently. That look, combined with her current "makeup" and "bloodstained" clothes, didn't make her appear pitiful at all; instead, it had a strange, breathtaking...cuteness?
"Pfft..." Someone couldn't help but laugh out loud first. Then, suppressed laughter spread like ripples through the crowd.
The live stream chat exploded instantly:
[Holy crap, hahaha!!! Tomato explodes in the head! This is destined to be a moment of the year!]
[Even the Chinese national football team would be moved to tears by Chen Yinghou's accuracy!]
[Miss Zhuohua's expression... is it a mix of cuteness and murderous intent? Is she a reincarnation of a tomato spirit?]
Am I the only one who feels sorry for that fish? What did it do wrong to deserve being scared like that?
[Upstairs +1, Fish: Who am I? Where am I? What happened?]
With half her face covered in tomato sauce and her body stained with "blood," Zhuohua carried the struggling grouper and garnered a 100% head-turning rate as she returned to the "seaside courtyard" assigned to her by the production team.
It's supposed to have a sea view, but it's actually a simple bungalow with a small courtyard. The kitchen is a primitive brick-built earthen stove, without even a decent gas stove.
She stood before the stove, gazing at the large, dark iron pot and the neatly stacked firewood beside it, falling into a long silence. The last time she encountered mortal fire… it seemed to be back in ancient times, when she used the Samadhi True Fire to refine some unruly demonic artifact? How could a mortal light a stove?
She stood before the stove, gazing at the large, dark iron pot and the neatly stacked firewood beside it, falling into a long silence. The last time she encountered mortal fire… it seemed to be back in ancient times, when she used the Samadhi True Fire to refine some unruly demonic artifact? How could a mortal light a stove?
"Chirp chirp chirp chirp!" (Master! Calm down! Let me handle this!) Frostwing jumped around at her feet in a panic, its little wings flapping frantically. It knew this was a matter of life and death!
Finally, after Shuangling used her extremely subtle divine power to ignite the fire in the stove (at the cost of almost burning her own precious feathers), Zhuohua began her culinary "feat." Her movements were fluid and graceful, chopping vegetables like a sword dance, with a peculiar sense of rhythm.
But the occasional glint of cold light from the blade always sent a chill down the spine of the videographer filming nearby.
The unfortunate grouper was dealt with roughly and simply (the process was too bloody, and some scenes were quickly censored by the production team), thrown into a pot to be steamed. Zhuohua looked at the calm water in the pot and felt that something was missing.
Divine power? No, she had promised the Heavenly Dao not to disrupt the order of the mortal realm. Seasonings? She glanced at the simple spice rack, her gaze settling on the jar of white lard.
Hmm, adding more oil can't hurt, right? She picked up a spoon, scooped up a large spoonful of solidified lard, and poured it into the steaming fish plate without hesitation!
"Chirp—!" (No!) Shuangling let out a silent scream in her heart.
Next, she stir-fried the greens. The oil in the wok was hot, and Zhuohua elegantly tossed the washed bok choy into the wok—
“Sizzle——!!!”
When scalding hot oil meets vegetables covered in water droplets, it's like a miniature bomb exploding! Hot oil splatters wildly everywhere!
Zhuohua reacted with lightning speed, an invisible protective aura instantly enveloping her entire body, causing the scalding oil droplets to mysteriously freeze and slide off an inch in front of her. However, the VJ behind her wasn't so lucky.
"Ouch—!" A piercing scream rang out! The VJ was splashed with hot oil on the back of his hand and neck, wincing in pain and nearly dropping the heavy camera he was carrying. The camera shook and flipped violently before finally settling on the grease-stained kitchen ceiling.
Zhuohua turned around at the sound and was stunned to see the VJ brother hopping mad while clutching his hand. She subconsciously raised her hand, her fingertips twitching slightly, about to release a wisp of cool, healing divine power.
"Chirp chirp chirp!" (Master! No! Camera!) Shuangling's mental scream rang out like an alarm bell in Zhuohua's mind!
The light at Zhuohua's fingertips vanished instantly. She pursed her lips, looked at VJ whose face was contorted in pain, then at the vegetables in her pot that were rapidly turning black and emitting a burnt smell, and then looked down at her clothes that were still stained with tomato juice and smelled of fish... A feeling called "defeat" slowly crept into the heart of this female war god who had once swept away gods and demons, a feeling that was extremely rare.
She silently picked up the heavy wooden pot lid next to her, preparing to cover the "cursed pot" in an attempt to suppress the disaster of splattering oil.
Perhaps the edge of the pot lid was wet, perhaps the fire in the stove was too strong and the steam too plentiful, perhaps the oil and water mixture in the pot was still stubbornly resisting... Just as Zhuohua slammed the lid down—
"Bang!!!"
A muffled thud, like a small firecracker exploding!
The heavy wooden pot lid seemed to be violently lifted by an invisible force, and it flew upwards! It hurtled straight towards the low ceiling of the kitchen! It looked like it was about to hit the ceiling and fall back down, causing secondary damage!
A critical moment!
A golden light flashed in Zhuohua's eyes, so fast it surpassed the limits of human vision. Her hand holding the spatula seemed to lift it casually and lightly, using the flat surface of the spatula to subtly and lightly lift the bottom of the pot lid.
The lift, imbued with a trace of pure divine power, instantly neutralized the violent force of the pot lid plunging downwards, giving it a gentle upward buffer.
So, in the scene where the VJ was still in shock and the camera had just refocused from the ceiling, the audience saw this: a heavy wooden pot lid flew high into the air, about to hit the ceiling, but stopped abruptly and defied the laws of physics when it was still 30 or 40 centimeters away from the ceiling!
It was as if it had hit an invisible, elastic barrier! Then, as if it had lost all its momentum, the lid fell lightly, vertically, and with unusual smoothness, perfectly covering the pot that was still sizzling and emitting eerie blue smoke.
The entire descent was as quiet as a feather falling.
The kitchen was deathly silent. The only sounds were the sizzling of the unidentified substance struggling in the pot and the VJ's heavy, terrified breathing. The camera faithfully recorded this scene that defied all logic.
The live stream chat was blank for a full three seconds, then it went completely crazy:
【!! What did I just see?! A pot lid hovering trick?!】
[Newton: I can't stand this place for another second!]
[Special effects? No way! This is a live stream, holy crap!]
Was the camera choppy just now? Or am I seeing things?
Am I the only one concerned about the green smoke coming from the pot? Is this cooking food or a biological weapon?
[Miss Zhuohua's gesture just now... was so cool! But also so eerie!]
Zhuohua seemed oblivious to the camera and the VJ's horrified expressions. She calmly put away the spatula, looked down, and gently touched Shuangling, who was lying on her shoe pretending to be dead, with her toe. Her tone carried a rare hint of confusion and seriousness: "Are all mortal fires this temperamental?"
Shuangling: "..."
It chose to play dead completely. I'm exhausted. Just destroy it. Hurry up.
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