Gourmet Food Supplier

"Will you cook the Wu Chicken Soup today?" asked Yuan Zhou as usual when he cleared the bowls up.

"Nope. I told you that I wouldn’t cook it. That’s it," Mr. Ma said impatiently.

"I can collect the food ingredients by myself." Having thought for a while, Yuan Zhou added.

"I don’t need it. Go away. Are you thinking to trade my imperial court food with merely two bowls of noodle soup? What a ridiculous idea!" Mr. Ma stood up and lost his temper again, which made his Chinese tunic suit wrinkled.

"You have really got a bad temper," said Yuan Zhou suddenly.

"Hey, you fellow dare to criticize me about my temper? Get out of my home. I don’t need a kid’s impious comment on my temper." Mr. Ma revealed a strong dissatisfaction in his tone. However, the fury of the request at beginning had diminished.

"Well, fine. Good night." Yuan Zhou nodded the head thoughtfully and then stood up and left.

"Little rascal, you indeed have talented culinary skills. So what?" looking at Yuan Zhou’s back, Mr. Ma said discontentedly.

Nevertheless, Yuan Zhou just carried the bowls and returned to the rented house silently.

"Little Yuan, you are back. So did you succeed?" The aged man asked with a smile while standing at the door and smoking his tobacco.

"No. Mr. Ma isn’t agreeing at all," said Yuan Zhou straightforwardly.

"I’d say this old guy is so weird. He eats your noodles but doesn’t accept your request at the same time. He’s just unreasonable and deserves to be neglected." The aged man knocked the tobacco pipe.

"Never mind. The imperial court food might be really difficult to make." Yuan Zhou just smiled and said nothing more.

"I don’t think the food that the royal chef can cook is better than your noodles. You just make it way too delicious. I didn’t even know such a good taste can be made out of my wheat flour. Little Yuan, apparently you are the master." Looking at the empty bowl in Yuan Zhou’s hands, the aged man suddenly recalled the noodles that he had eaten and just felt the dinner had already been digested, making him hungry.

"Thank you for your compliment." Yuan Zhou expressed his gratitude with a smile.

"You are welcome. I’m telling the truth. I wonder when you can cook it for us again," said the aged man unreservedly.

"Before I leave." Yuan Zhou thought for an instant and answered.

"What? Are you leaving?" The aged man said in surprise.

"Yeah. I have stayed here so long and prepare to leave in the next two days." Originally, Yuan Zhou had prepared to stay for 5 days in all. Since it was the third day today, of course he should go.

"Ok. Tell me in advance when you leave," said the aged man earnestly.

"Yeah, I will." Yuan Zhou nodded his head.

"Alright. I am going to sleep. Good night." When the aged man smoked the last of his tobacco, he prepared to go to his room and sleep.

"Wait a moment, please. What are the things on your grandson’s face?" Having recalled the little boy’s face, Yuan Zhou suddenly asked.

"Do you mean the red spots? Don’t worry. They are not infectious." The aged man revealed a faint helpless smile.

"I don’t mean that. Is that allergy?" Yuan Zhou asked carefully.

When Yuan Zhou first saw the grandson of the aged man, there were many red spots on the little boy’s face. They were more conspicuous at daytime and likewise seemed to be severe now. However, his physical health did not seem bad.

"No. He is born with that. Here in the village, many kids are born with the red spots," the aged man heaved a sigh and said with a muted tone.

"Can those born red spots be cured?" Although they were healthy, it was really unacceptable to see this lovable boy have the red spots on his face.

"We have all tried to get them cured. I took him to the hospital with several other kids who had the same symptoms. The red spots disappeared for some of them when they grew up while remained the same for some other ones. Fortunately, they are all boys." The aged man thought of the face of his grandson and felt a little sad.

Having paused for a little while, the aged man continued to say, "It is said that we villagers have offended too many bees and hence, retribution came."

"No, it’s not. They should be able to disappear." Yuan Zhou said affirmatively.

"Sigh. I hope so." While speaking, the aged man went back to his room.

Standing still there, Yuan Zhou thought for a while and returned to his own room. He then took out a small mirror from his luggage. It was originally for shaving the beard but he now used it to look at his face.

Nevertheless, Yuan Zhou did not have a beard. Otherwise, he would look more like an uncle and conform to the prevalent attractive uncle appearance. Therefore, the purpose of the mirror was needless to say.

The red points on his face had basically vanished, which proved that the function of the propolis were truly effective.

Having considered for quite a while in the mirror, Yuan Zhou went out and bought something. After that, he returned to his room and slept.

"Uncle, I’m sorry. I wasn’t polite to you yesterday." In the early morning, the little boy ran into Yuan Zhou’s room and apologized.

As the slang said, "Whoever got benefits from others should speak highly of them." Besides, the little boy found Yuan Zhou was very easy to get along with although he had always been with a cold face. However, it was really rude for him to wish that Yuan Zhou would get sick the day before.

"It doesn’t matter," said Yuan Zhou naturally. He didn’t really care about that.

"Ah, uncle, your face." After making the apology, the little was stunned when he raised his head.

"What’s wrong?" Yuan Zhou didn’t know what happened.

"Why are you same with me? You have many red spots on your face." The boy shouted in surprise.

"Red spots?" Yuan Zhou touched out the mirror and checked carefully. As expected, his face was covered with red points, same to the little boy. He appeared fairly terrifying.

"Uncle, how do you feel? Do you feel bad?" The little boy asked nervously.

"Do you feel uncomfortable with your red spots?" asked Yuan Zhou without turning a hair.

"No, I don’t. It’s just that other people say I’m like a monster." The boy answered with a depressed tone.

"Me, either," Yuan Zhou touched them carefully and then said calmly.

"Why do you have the red spots suddenly? Are the red spots on my face really infectious?" The little boy seemed to think of something. He stayed further away from Yuan Zhou as if Yuan Zhou wouldn’t get infected that way.

"No, it’s not. Since the red spots are not itchy nor causing pain, they won’t infect others. It’s very common. Even the adults would have that," said Yuan Zhou without blinking.

"Really? Isn’t it that only we several boys have that?" The little boy said in surprise.

"Of course not. Look, I also have the red points." Yuan Zhou pointed at his own face.

"But uncle, you didn’t have them before?" the little boy said anxiously.

"So they will disappear in future. Even if they don’t vanish, it does not matter. It’s not ugly at all," said Yuan Zhou with a quite earnest manner.

"Is it true? Not like a monster?" The little boy touched his own face hesitantly.

"Certainly not. Perhaps, I’ll also have the red spots tomorrow, but they will soon disappear," his grandpa walked to him and said with a smile.

"Grandpa, you will also have that?" Looking at his grandpa’s face, the little boy asked with puzzlement.

"Yeah, why not? It’s very common, nothing special." The aged man took the little boy’s hand and answered earnestly.

"I’m going to have breakfast," said Yuan Zhou behind them.

"I left there some food for you. Thanks." The aged man turned his head with a happy smile on his old face.

He came to the kitchen and found two servings of breakfast there. Presumably, the aged man knew that Yuan Zhou would prepare the breakfast for Mr. Ma and hence cooked another serving especially.

Carrying the breakfast, he swaggered through the streets of the village with the red spots on his face. Nobody really inquired about that. Probably, they all thought it was the result of collecting the honey yesterday.

"Did you cook it?" Mr. Ma only cared about his breakfast, not giving a simple glance at the red spots on Yuan Zhou’s face.

"No. My landlord cooked it and I carried it here," said Yuan Zhou earnestly.

"Humph, it’s the pig feed again." Mr. Ma answered unreservedly and then reached out his hands into the square plate, preparing to take a big bowl of soup out.

"Mr. Ma, my animal zodiac is Monkey," said Yuan Zhou primly.

"Scram." Mr. Ma, nevertheless, answered with only one word.

What the aged man prepared for Yuan Zhou was a big bowl of soup, two empty bowls and two small plates of pickled dishes.

Following a sound of "Peng", Mr. Ma knocked the big bowl of soup against the square plate carelessly, which made an ear-piercing sound. Apparently, he didn’t use much strength.

"How can I eat such hot soup?" Mr. Ma set down the bowl discontentedly and straightforwardly carried the empty bowls out.

"Let me do it." Yuan Zhou reached out to carry the big bowl out and scooped out a small bowl of soup. He tried the temperature and then said, "It’s not hot now."

Only after that did he hand the bowl to Mr. Ma.

.....