The Four-Sided Table of Human Bustle - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My home was tucked away in a mountain valley, far from everything. The one good thing about it was that it was big.

There used to be a lot of people in the family, and a lot of children too, so my parents had built the heated brick kang extra large.

At night, the whole kang would be full of laughter and chatter, lively and warm.

Originally, they had planned to wait until we were all a little older, then slowly expand the house so each of us could have our own room.

In the end, they only managed to build my eldest sister’s room. They hadn’t even finished laying the kang before they were gone.

Now, I was the only one living here.

Only… as I looked at the three men lying side by side on the kang, I suddenly felt that this kang… seemed a little small.

I said, “Report your names first. It’ll make it easier to call you.”

The demon said, “My name is Hua Lian. I am two thousand eight hundred and twelve years old this year. My home is…”

I cut him off. “Enough. Don’t ramble. Next.”

The Demon Lord said, “Tu Li.”

The immortal said, “I am Immortal Lord Yuanyi. You may call me Wu Muqing.”

I nodded, said, “I’m Chi Yuan,” then picked up a pair of scissors, climbed onto the kang, cut off all three men’s clothes, and stripped them clean.

The demon, the Demon Lord, and the immortal: …

After I had applied medicine, set their bones, and bandaged their wounds, I brought over a large quilt and spread it from one end to the other, covering all three of them neatly underneath.

“You three sleep. I’m going to cook.”

The demon, the Demon Lord, and the immortal: …

I took two steps, then turned back. “It takes a hundred years of cultivation to share a boat ride, and a thousand years to share a pillow. Today, the three of you rode in the same oxcart and are sharing the same quilt. This is fate earned over hundreds and thousands of years. You must not fight or act viciously while I’m gone. Understood?”

Tu Li gave a cold laugh. “You seem to have forgotten that the three of us earned this fate by risking our lives fighting each other.”

I pinched his mouth shut. “Only an obedient mouth gets to eat.”

All three of them shut their eyes in despair and humiliation.

As for the other two people they couldn’t stand but also couldn’t get rid of, they all adopted the strategy of out of sight, out of mind.

Good. Finally, some peace and quiet.

Chapter 3

I made a simple meal of three dishes and a soup.

Since the three of them currently had far too few parts they could move, I had no choice but to carry the square dining table onto the kang.

“If you can move, take a bowl and eat by yourself. If you can’t, wait for me to feed you.”

Hua Lian, who had already picked up a bowl, suddenly let go of it.

Clutching his arm, he cried out in pain, “Ow, ow, did my arm get dislocated again?”

Tu Li and Wu Muqing, who had already picked up their bowls and chopsticks, both turned to look at him with contempt.

I took Hua Lian’s bowl and chopsticks and sat beside him to feed him.

But after just one bite, he looked at me in delighted surprise. “Woman, you…”

“Chi Yuan.”

I emphasized, “My name is Chi Yuan.”

“Fine, Chi Yuan. How is your cooking this good?”

The corners of my lips curved up. I brought more food to his mouth. “If it’s good, then eat more. Tell me what you want, and I’ll pick it up for you.”

At first, the three of them ate fairly peacefully. But as they watched the food dwindling, all three seemed to get competitive, speeding up like a storm sweeping through fallen leaves.

It started when Tu Li and Wu Muqing both reached the last piece of braised pork at the same time.

To determine who would win that single piece of meat, the two of them actually flung away their chopsticks and started dueling with spells in midair.

After that, Hua Lian, whom I was feeding, began eating more and more urgently.

“Ah, I want the stir-fried mountain mushrooms. There are only a few pieces left. Hurry and put them in my bowl.”

When the other two heard him, it was as if they were deliberately opposing him. They both raised their chopsticks and, in a few swift moves, cleaned out all the mountain mushrooms…

“You! You two have gone too far!”

Hua Lian was so angry that he snatched the bowl and chopsticks from my hands and began furiously scraping up the last dish.

“Are you two pigs? How can you eat so much? Who are you bullying here? I barely had a few bites, and the plates are already empty!”

I looked at his arm and wrist moving with perfect agility and asked faintly, “What happened to that dislocated arm?”