The Dragon Lord put in all his effort, specially ordering his attendants to select the best-selling dishes from Luofu's barbecue and grill restaurants, then spending a huge sum to buy premium ingredients.
As for the most crucial part, the seasonings, Dan Feng simply threw more money at it, having his attendants buy them straight from the restaurant suppliers.
All they needed to do was grill the ingredients properly and pair them with the ready-made sauces, what could possibly go wrong?
Dan Feng and the other four were full of confidence. During the process, Zero joined in to help skewer the food. After the six of them busied around for a while, they finally finished prepping the ingredients.
They gathered around the grill, each taking a few skewers in hand, eyes fixed intently on their food.
Zero held his skewer, occasionally flipping it and brushing it with sauce.
Curious, he glanced over at Baiheng's roasted grapes, the fox was holding several strings of burnt, shriveled fruit, looking so dejected that even his ears drooped.
Then he looked at Jingliu, her movements as she sprinkled seasoning were quite professional…
If only the meat hadn't burned, it would have been perfect.
Zero turned toward Yingxing and Dan Feng next, both had blank expressions as they tasted their skewers.
Except… the color of the meat still looked raw, didn't it?
As for Jingliu… well, at least she had cut the meat beautifully.
It was just that she'd burned it. Truly worthy of being Jing Yuan's master.
Zero silently picked up his own skewer and asked the group, "Want to try some?"
They looked at the only skewer that wasn't charred black, the one in Zero's hand, and nodded, some eagerly, some pretending to be reserved. They all accepted his offer.
The skewers in Zero's hand were quickly devoured, leaving him to turn back and continue grilling.
In the end, it seemed he had to do everything himself.
These people were completely unreliable.
Before he could even flip the next batch, Jing Yuan was already exclaiming dramatically, "It's so good! Zero, you can even make barbecue?"
As Zero brushed more sauce, he replied casually, "I've watched it enough times, you just learn it eventually. Want me to teach you?"
"Me? Better not…" Jing Yuan's eyes flicked slyly toward Jingliu. "Master, why don't you learn? You treated your disciple to milk tea last time, maybe this time you can treat your disciple to barbecue?"
Jingliu, "…"
This disciple was truly glib.
After hearing that, Jingliu calmly swept her gaze over him, one look was enough to make Jing Yuan's body stiffen.
Then she stepped forward to stand beside Zero, carefully observing his every move.
The other four suddenly began shouting exaggeratedly, acting like they were performing on stage.
With perfectly unified excuses, they claimed they were going off to "look for some fruit," and within seconds, they vanished without a trace.
Even an amoeba could tell what they were really doing.
Zero, "…"
Jingliu, "…"
The swordmaster closed her eyes briefly. She opened her mouth, wanting to explain something, but realized that saying anything would only make it worse, so she stayed silent.
Zero watched the skewer in his hand. Once it was cooked, he casually handed it to Jingliu.
"Here, eat this first. Once you're done, I'll teach you."
Jingliu picked one skewer, setting the rest neatly on the plate.
After finishing that one, she mimicked his movements and picked up another.
Zero glanced at the food she held and said, "If it has fatty meat, you don't need to brush oil, just grill it directly."
When the timing felt right, he reminded her to flip it and handed over the seasoning.
"It's almost done, just another minute or so, and you can eat."
Jingliu held her breath, counting silently in her mind. When the time was up, she immediately handed one skewer to Zero.
Zero smiled as he took it, ate it quickly, and then picked up some vegetables to demonstrate again.
"When grilling vegetables, you have to brush oil first, otherwise they'll burn easily."
He paused for a moment, "If they burn, they'll taste awful."
Jingliu fell silent for a moment.
She recalled how Zero had behaved after being poisoned and couldn't help letting her thoughts wander.
After a long while, she asked quietly, "You… used to eat a lot of burnt food, didn't you?"
Zero hesitated. He remembered how his subordinates often made all sorts of bizarre, borderline inedible dishes.
He had good reason to suspect that the canteens of the Divination Commission and the Crafts Commission had learned their recipes from their generals.
He trimmed down the story a little and said simply, "I just wasn't very good at cooking back then… the taste was tolerable."
Jingliu said nothing after that.
'How much hardship has he gone through?'
She didn't press further, only picking up the seasonings to help him out.
After a while, the other four returned, carrying bottles of alcohol.
Zero naturally invited them to share the barbecue.
Jing Yuan came over grinning, threw an arm around Zero's shoulders, and dragged him off toward a quieter spot.
He probably knew Zero the best, and since their little act earlier had been so obvious, Zero definitely knew what they were up to.
Jing Yuan also knew that when talking to Zero, he couldn't beat around the bush too much, but since this concerned his master, he could only play the cryptic messenger for once.
He started chatting about everything and nothing, then finally, with meaning behind his words, asked,
"So, what do you think of this barbecue?"
Zero glanced at him and said, "It's great. Though if you actually did more of the work, it'd be even better. Come on, I'll teach you how to grill properly."
Jing Yuan, "…"
Zero slung an arm over his shoulder again, pulling him back to the grill and making him help with the cooking.
Once the food was ready, everyone finally sat down together, eating barbecue and drinking wine.
Zero's seat was right next to Jingliu. Naturally, he poured her a drink first, then leaned back and quietly listened to the group's conversation, chiming in here and there.
Their discussion went from the front lines to the abominations, from Luofu cuisine to the nutrient packs they had on the battlefield, before someone took a pitiful bite of their barbecue with a sigh.
Eventually, the topic shifted to the prejudice long-lived species held against short-lived ones.
The "victim," Yingxing, took a swig of wine, snorted coldly, and began complaining about certain people in the Crafts Commission.
Then Zero suddenly said, "Those kinds of people are really unreasonable. If they're not as capable as others, why not work harder? It's not like long-lived species don't need to eat or drink, why don't they stay up late studying, then?"
Yingxing blinked, stunned. But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. For a moment, he didn't even know how to respond.
Baiheng chimed in from the side, "You're really not fit to be a boss. If you were some capital magnate, you'd probably treat your workers like pack mules…"
Zero shook his head and, seemingly offhandedly, glanced at Jingliu beside him before continuing, "If we go by the logic of capitalists, they wouldn't use human labor at all, they'd use automatons. If a human breaks down, you have to pay to fix them. But an automaton? It can repair itself."
Baiheng gaped. "You're a real devil, you know that?"
Zero was silent for a moment. "I'm just following your line of thought."
Suddenly, the barbecue didn't taste so good anymore.
'Why did Zero have to say such weird, cryptic things?'
He was a guy who stayed home all day and almost never went out. Invite him ten times, maybe he'd accept three.
Yet every time, he seemed to think ten steps ahead of everyone else.
He wasn't the type to be indecisive or waste time on people who didn't matter.
Back when it came to Baizhu, he had clearly and seriously denied any possibility between them.
'So the fact that he'd agreed to come to this realm… obviously means he did have feelings for Master.'
'But then, what's the meaning behind what he just said?'
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