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Great! I'm surrounded by villains!-Chapter 357 - 276: Caring for Left-Behind Children
Chapter 357: Chapter 276: Caring for Left-Behind Children
Thanks to Norton’s tireless efforts and his love for gastronomy and hometown, finally, on this clear morning, he and Owl were packed off to the infirmary together.
Although Norton himself insisted that it was an assassination plot by the company to vacate the position of the Prison Governor, the head chef Jiuyue didn’t think so.
Universe Company might not be composed of saints, but this black pot couldn’t be pinned on them no matter what.
She had to point out that if you don’t cook the chicken properly, leaving eaters with undercooked meat, and especially if that meat has been sitting in the freezer for several months, it’s only right that you end up in the infirmary.
"Frying and grilling may seem simple, but they require precise control over the heat,"
Jiuyue explained to the prison guards investigating the incident.
In her view, Norton had brought it upon himself. He had never even set foot in a kitchen before, yet suddenly on a whim, he thought he would become the next master chef. The real unlucky one was Mr. Owl, who, upon seeing Norton’s creation, looked utterly distressed, but out of respect for their friendship, he still managed to force it down.
He held his breath and swallowed the food without even tasting it.
Little did he know that the raw chicken would prove to be so lethal—less than a minute later, he felt miserable all over, followed by severe abdominal pain.
The doctor’s diagnosis was food poisoning.
The following day was spent entirely in bed for the pair.
Duan Mingyuan, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the specially provided grilled cheese chicken leg from Jiuyue. Though it wasn’t a dish from Blue Star, it still strongly reflected Jiuyue’s signature style.
Delectable as always.
But this time, he chose to remain silent.
Because he felt that praising the deliciousness of the food in front of two people who had been carried out of the dining hall due to food poisoning was perhaps a bit too infernal.
After the brief interlude, Jiuyue sat down across from Duan Mingyuan, and both of them fell silent, seemingly by mutual unspoken agreement.
The successful tryout didn’t seem to have lifted Jiuyue’s spirits; her ears drooped, and she looked distracted.
"You can talk to me if there’s something troubling you."
"Mr. Mingyuan, what do you think... I should prepare for to meet them?"
Ever since they received the invitation from the Eco-Ship, Jiuyue had been pondering this question.
Should I buy a gift?
If I’m buying a gift, what would be a good one?
What topics should I talk about after meeting them?
These were all issues she couldn’t find the answers to, so this morning she decided not to think about them anymore and, having come across a recipe from Norton, she stayed in the kitchen and devoted herself to studying it.
But now, upon settling down and thinking calmly, she realized that wasn’t a solution either.
While those chefs pursuing romance and who are not adept at expressing themselves would entrust their thoughts and emotions into their dishes, that was an exaggerated portrayal in movies and dramas. In the real world, after meeting one’s long-lost parents and cooking a meal, how could one simply sit at the table just staring at each other?
That would be far too awkward.
Jiuyue wasn’t adept at managing these relationships. Although defeating the Extraterrestrials and storming their flagship had been her childhood dream, she hadn’t really thought about what the reality of achieving that dream would look like.
She only retained vague memories of her parents.
Back then, she knew nothing about the world or the universe, naively believing that the meadow below the mountain was all there was to the world, and the clan leader told her that her parents had gone to a faraway place and wouldn’t be back for a while.
This lie lasted until she turned sixteen.
She accidentally overheard a conversation between the clan leader and the elders, learning about the contract signed with Universe Company by her parents. It was then that she discovered the world beyond the meadows.
Jiuyue looked up and fixed her gaze on Duan Mingyuan.
Mr. Mingyuan could almost always answer all of her questions, but on this one issue, Duan Mingyuan remained silent.
Duan Mingyuan reminisced about the conversation he had when he first met He Ya.
He did have a complete "past," a normal yet happy family. His parents had been assigned to work in a distant Star Zone, leaving him a house and enough funds to live on, but just like the half-mechanical beings of Type 37, this past could also have been fabricated.
In fact, this "past" might have never existed and was solely used to provide an explanation for his legal identity.
Technically speaking, this was not difficult to achieve.
He didn’t need to explain much to those around him. By altering just a small part of their memories, he could make his expectations a reality.
Duan Mingyuan felt that perhaps it was for this reason that he had to go to great lengths to persuade 37. freёnovelkiss-com
When it came to the issue of how to get along with one’s parents, Duan Mingyuan found it difficult to offer Jiuyue much advice, and then he discovered another serious problem.
On their ship, there was no one who could truly answer that question properly.
The Prime Monarch had fallen, leaving the Third Prince and the Elder Princess as orphans.
The interstellar cowboy, Earthwolf Thirteen, had his planet blown up.
Classmate Ling Long, the person who truly created her, had long been sent to the guillotine.
Tang Qianqian, although her family had some savings, her parents were genuinely assigned to work in another Star Zone. According to her, she had been used to living alone since middle school.
Yang Ping, who was slightly better off, had just had a big fight with his parents before departure and both sides had been stubbornly out of touch for a long time.
This ship had major issues, virtually becoming a refuge for left-behind children.
And Jiuyue might even be the first among them to reunite with her parents.
The empathetic Jiuyue saw Duan Mingyuan’s hesitation and spoke up, "It’s okay, I can take a look at other people’s opinions."
After all, she was also no longer the person she used to be, having made many friends on this journey.
Considering that Norton and Owl were hospitalized with injuries, she got up and went into the kitchen, taking out two chicken legs from the freezer.
That’s the benefit of having many friends.
Duan Mingyuan did not stop her, peacefully enjoying the tranquility of the morning.
All seemed serene and harmonious until two hours later when Jiuyue returned alone, ears drooping, and collapsed dejectedly onto the couch upon entering the house.
"What happened?" Duan Mingyuan asked.
"Mr. Mingyuan, I’m such a bad child!" Even she was overwhelmed by a strong sense of guilt at this moment.
She had intended to visit Norton and Owl with two portions of cheesy baked chicken legs as consolation gifts.
Both of them were very welcoming.
Owl passionately shared how his home planet had been invaded by Cosmic Pirates, his parents killed in the shelling, and it was this past that drove him to become a war correspondent on the frontlines.
Norton came from a big and happy family, with his parents occupying high positions in the Iron Guard Consortium, but ever since he graduated and asked to be assigned to Prison Planet, his parents considered him a useless individual, unable to stand by their side. They hadn’t made contact since graduation, and even when he was shot in the head in full view of everyone, his parents did not even make a phone call.
The cheesy baked chicken legs she brought could not heal either of their past wounds.
"Mr. Mingyuan..."
Jiuyue’s heart too was taken to the cold winter by both of them.
She looked around in astonishment to realize that so many friends she knew could hardly form a complete family.
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