Chapter 5 : Chapter 5
Chapter 5: Eat
Chenxi busied himself in the kitchen, preparing tonight’s dinner.
After fighting for his life all day, the thing he enjoyed most was being able to make himself a proper meal in the evening.
So dinner was especially important.
The clear clatter of the spatula against the iron wok rang out, and hot oil sizzled as a rich aroma spread through the main room.
The Oni girl sat stiffly on a wooden chair that was slightly too small for her frame.
Her dark-rimmed eyes stared fixedly toward the kitchen doorway. That smell… it was completely different from the stench of spoiled food she remembered.
She had never smelled anything this fragrant, not even back in her homeland.
It was even less imaginable in the slave market.
The aroma slipped into her nose and stirred a powerful instinctive urge, making saliva gather uncontrollably in her mouth.
She wanted to eat.
She swallowed hard, and the sound of her throat moving seemed unusually loud in the quiet room.
Footsteps approached.
Chenxi came out carrying several coarse ceramic bowls and plates.
There was a small basin of steaming white rice, each grain full and glossy. Rice… was also a dish, after all!
Just kidding. There were actual dishes too.
A large plate of sliced meat coated in a rich brown sauce.
Stir-fried greens, and pan-fried eggs covered in sauce.
And finally, a large bowl of egg drop soup.
They were all ordinary home-cooked dishes.
The girl’s body tensed even more.
To state it again, she was stupid, not brain-dead.
She still understood some basic things.
This human… had bought her, yet instead of torturing or ordering her around, he had first told her to sit down, and now he was giving her food?
That made no sense.
Trying to please her or something like that was completely meaningless.
She knew very well that if this continued, she would not be able to withstand the pain brought by the slave contract.
In the end, she would obediently listen.
But something was wrong.
Everything this human did was strange.
Chenxi picked up a slice of meat and placed it naturally into his own bowl, mixing it with rice before taking a large bite.
He chewed slowly, his eyes on the girl.
That gaze was extremely calm.
His mouth said, “You are not eating?”
His heart said: Why is she not eating? I remember Oni can eat ordinary human food too. Did I remember wrong?
Time passed little by little amid the steam rising from the food and their silent standoff.
The fragrance of the rice and meat mingled together, becoming even richer.
The aroma drifted into the girl’s sensitive nose, stirring the hunger in her empty stomach.
A long growl came from her belly, especially loud in the silent room.
Her cheeks instantly flushed an even deeper red, embarrassment and anger mixing together until she wanted to flip the table over on the spot.
But Chenxi moved faster than she did.
Or rather, it was as if he had already predicted her reaction.
He merely lifted his eyes and looked at her. His gaze was light, yet the rage surging inside the Oni girl was forcibly suppressed.
“Afraid I poisoned it?”
Chenxi’s voice broke the silence. It was still flat and calm, betraying no emotion.
He tapped the dining table lightly with his chopsticks.
“Everything was made right in front of you.
Though I did not buy the ingredients while taking you with me.”
After saying that, Chenxi paused and glanced over her tense arms.
“Or are you actually afraid?
There is no need to be so afraid. If I truly wanted to hurt you, I would not need to go to so much trouble.”
The corner of Chenxi’s mouth lifted.
This was the first time he had smiled in front of her, though there was a trace of mockery in that smile.
“You are kind of cute, like a stressed little kitten.”
“Afraid?! Human, who exactly do you think you are mocking?!”
The girl immediately bristled, springing halfway out of her chair. Her huge body stirred a gust of wind.
Her eyes were practically spitting fire as she glared at Chenxi, sharp fangs faintly visible at the edges of her lips.
“Me, afraid of you?! A mere human! A despicable human! Do not think a cheap trick like this will—”
“Then eat.”
Chenxi lowered his head and continued eating, no longer looking at her.
It was as if the deliberately provocative sentence just now had not come from him at all.
The girl’s chest rose and fell violently, and beneath her pink skin there were faint traces of berserk crimson surfacing again.
Her heavy breathing echoed in the room.
Despicable! Shameless! Cunning!
He was clearly provoking her!
And yet she… she could not refute it!
If she did not eat, would that not mean she was admitting she was afraid of this weak human?
That was more unbearable than death!
The slave contract rune on her forehead gave off a faint heat, reminding her of the price of resistance.
But even stronger than that was the humiliation of being looked down on and… the irresistible temptation of that damned food.
It smelled so good!
Chenxi looked calmly at the girl before him.
Strangely enough, people who completely failed to understand the situation and could not distinguish what mattered usually annoyed him.
But when facing this fool, he unexpectedly did not feel any disgust.
Was it because beautiful girls were always treated better?
She glared at Chenxi, while Chenxi quietly ate his meal, completely ignoring the murderous look she kept throwing at him.
In the end, the girl let out a low roar and snatched up the coarse ceramic rice bowl on the table, which looked small in her hands.
She did not use the chopsticks Chenxi had placed beside it.
They were far too delicate for her thick fingers.
Instead, she thrust two fingers crudely into the steaming white rice and scooped up a huge lump.
The heat made her fingertips shrink back for an instant, but she endured it. With the grim resolve of someone marching to her death, she stuffed the rice into her mouth.
Look how impressively I can eat this!
Chenxi continued watching her calmly.
A little snarling puppy like this—once you won her over, she would become the most loyal guardian.
The moment that warm, soft rice spread inside her mouth, the pure sweetness of grain instantly filled her taste buds.
There was no grit. No moldy smell.
The girl’s movements stopped abruptly.
It was as though her brain had frozen.
Her huge body went rigid, and only the hand holding the bowl trembled slightly.
For the first time, her wary eyes clearly revealed immense confusion and… disbelief.
What was this?
Was this what humans normally ate?
Chenxi stopped moving his chopsticks and quietly watched her.
The expression on the girl’s face was spectacular: shock, confusion, suspicion, bewilderment… and finally a dazed look of tasting.
Subconsciously, she scooped up a little more rice and put it into her mouth. This time she chewed very slowly, savoring it carefully.
“…It is good?”
She raised her head and looked at Chenxi, her voice dry, carrying a tone of unconscious confirmation-seeking.
The feral fierceness in her gaze was, for the first time, replaced by confusion and an expectation even she herself did not realize was there.
Chenxi did not directly answer her question about whether it was good.
He merely nodded slightly and looked toward the plate of richly sauced meat.
“Try something else.”
He picked up a slice of meat with his chopsticks and placed it into the empty bowl in front of her.
“It goes well with rice.”
The girl lowered her head and looked at the piece of meat soaked in dark brown sauce.
The sauce gave off a rich, scorched aroma of chili and heated fat.
She hesitated for a moment, then awkwardly pinched the slice of meat between two fingers.
Her fingertips felt the faint heat and the slickness of the sauce.
Instinctively, she wanted to lick the sauce off her fingers, but under Chenxi’s calm gaze, she forcibly held herself back.
She tossed the slice of meat into her mouth.
The moment her teeth bit down, the sauce exploded across her mouth with a burst of savory, salty, slightly spicy flavor.
The meat had been stir-fried perfectly. The edges were lightly charred, giving it just the right chewiness, while the inside remained tender and soft.
The richness of the fat, the savory sweetness of the sauce, the fiery stimulation of the chili…
A complexity of flavors she had never experienced before crashed into her senses.
At that moment, the Oni girl experienced an entirely new world.
Her eyes flew wide open, and her pupils fixed almost vertically on Chenxi, filled with undisguised shock.
“Th-This… what is this?!”
Her voice was muffled by the food in her mouth, carrying intense astonishment.
“Meat. If you like it, then eat more.”
The girl’s eyes moved back and forth between the dishes, and her throat bobbed visibly.
She no longer cared about appearances.
Or rather, she never had much of an appearance to preserve in the first place.
Her thick arm reached across the table and practically pounced on the platter of meat. Spreading all five fingers, she grabbed several slices at once.
Along with a few strips of scallion, she stuffed them into her mouth and chewed in huge bites.
Sauce spilled from the corner of her mouth, ran down her chin, and dripped onto the black robe, but she did not notice at all.
A near-primal light shone in her eyes—the light of hunger ignited, then completely satisfied by exquisite flavor.
“Mmph—mmph… mm!”
She mumbled incoherently, chewing as she reached for the stir-fried greens, shoving several into her mouth. Their fresh, slightly bitter crispness cut through the greasiness of the meat.
Then she grabbed another large handful of rice and stuffed it into her mouth, swallowing it together with the flavors of meat and vegetables.
Chenxi silently watched her nearly savage way of eating.
After a moment, he stood up and walked into the kitchen.
The girl stopped at once, her sauce- and rice-stained hand suspended in midair as she stared warily toward the kitchen door.
Chenxi returned very quickly, carrying a larger wooden bowl filled to the brim with rice.
Without a word, he set it down within easy reach in front of her.
“Eat. If that is not enough, there is more in the pot.”
After saying that, he sat back down and resumed eating his own meal.
It seemed there was still a great deal he would need to teach her in the future.