CH 18

“Didi” A new message came in, at first Bai Fan casually looked at it, but then he almost spit out his tea.

[Gongyi: Fan-gege, I’ve come back.]

‘Fan-gege~’ Bai Fan trembled at the sight of those words, then hesitantly typed on the keyboard.

[Fan-ge: What happened to you, were you hit in the head?]

Actually, Bai Fan wanted to ask him whether he took the wrong medicine. In their usual conversations, Bai Fan’s impression of Gongyi has always been a very calm and collected person. What’s going on today?

[Gongyi: Hahaha I was just joking. Fan-ge, don’t you think it’s too risky for us to only have this method to contact each other?] Gongyi Jun wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and let out a small sigh. He was too complacent, which made him almost reveal himself.

[Fan-ge: Hm?]

Gongyi Jun put on a sinister smile and continued to type. 

[Gongyi: If one day this account is stolen, wouldn’t we be unable to contact each other? ]

[Fan-ge: Well, that’s true I guess. ] 

[Gongyi: Fan-ge also thinks it makes sense right? Do you have any other accounts? Let’s use our side account to add each other as friends, so that if either of us lose our accounts, we don’t need to be afraid of losing contact with each other. ] 

Bai Fan didn’t think much about it, so he continued typing and agreed.

Seeing the [Fan-ge: Well, sure. ], Gongyi Jun clenched his fists with both hands, made a victory gesture, and then quickly sent his ID code to Bai Fan. After the two added each other as friends, Gongyi Jun was very satisfied when he saw a new profile pic in his friendlist. He then cleared the chat history, and evacuated quickly before his elder brother came back.

……

Bai Fan looked at the time. It was seven o’clock. After chatting with Gongyi, he turned off the computer, then went to take a shower, afterwards put on comfortable pajamas and lay in bed until eight o’clock. Today is an important day.

When that sleepy feeling came, Bai Fan didn’t resist, he let his consciousness fall into the darkness, and when he woke up again, he was lying on an antique-looking bed. Bai Fan reached into a hidden corner on the inside of the bedpost and pressed it. A dark grid popped up from the originally smooth wall. There was nothing in the dark grid except for a thin piece of paper. Bai Fan picked up the letter and read it from the beginning to the end. He then smiled helplessly. As expected, he didn’t mention it.

Bai Fan reached out and grabbed a set of clothes placed by the bedside, put it on, and called Bishui to come in, “Did I order you to do anything during the day? I forgot, help me think about it.”

Bishui tilted her head and thought about it for a while, then shook her head and said, “Sect master didn’t order anything, this servant can’t remember.”

Sure enough, that kid really didn’t want to give him any hints. Every year, he was this awkward. Bai Fan was both amused and angry. He waved Bishui to prepare fine white noodles and other seasonings to accompany the noodles.

After Bai Fan finished talking, Bishui covered her mouth and exclaimed. Today is the sect master’s birthday, how could she forget it again? But the sect master doesn’t allow anyone to remember his birthday, and no one is allowed to remind him. There wouldn’t be any celebration every year. He would just give himself a bowl of *longevity noodles, so if someone forgot, they wouldn’t be blamed for it. Bishui nodded and hurriedly went out to prepare.

Watching Bishui leave with shock, Bai Fan really wanted to sigh. In the past ten years, every time Yin Rui’s birthday arrived, he would personally give Yin Rui a bowl of longevity noodles, but the most annoying thing about Yin Rui was: He won’t give him any reminders, and he won’t allow the people around him to remind him. It all depends on his own memory. 

Yin Rui being low-key didn’t mean he didn’t care about his birthday. It actually didn’t matter if Bai Fan forgot about it. However, if he dares to forget, the consequences will definitely be very serious. Bai Fan still remembered that he was too busy with work and forgot about Yin Rui’s birthday a few years ago. As a result, for a whole month, Yin Rui’s letters to him only contained three words. When Bai Fan asked Yin Rui for his opinion, he would only reply with a single syllable en or ah. Finally he made a bowl of longevity noodles to end the cold war.

During that month, although Yin Rui couldn’t get mad at him, Bai Fan could still feel his wrath from the attitudes of the people around him. That’s why Bai Fan would remember Yin Rui’s birthday very clearly in his mind, even more than his own birthday. But even so, on this day every year, Bai Fan couldn’t help but sigh. What a careful person, how could such an awkward and careful person exist?

Although he was complaining in his heart, Bai Fan still made his way to the kitchen. The child was a little too careful, but he wouldn’t ask for anything on his birthday, only this one wish, so how could he not grant it? All the ingredients in the kitchen have been prepared. Bai Fan first put the spare ribs into the pot of soup and simmered it, then began to knead the flour. After the flour was kneaded, he slowly pulled it into a long shape to ensure that the noodles were not cut off. Afterwards he put it in a porcelain plate, poured some oil so that the noodles will be more elastic after soaking in it for a few hours.

After the preparations were done, Bai Fan let a person watch the fire in the kitchen and left first. He couldn’t finish cooking yet. If he finished now, the noodles would be cold when Yin Rui wakes up, moreover the soup would have to boil for a little longer for it to be fragrant.

When Bai Fan returned to Yin Rui’s room, he first checked to see if Yin Rui still had unfinished business. As expected, the table was empty. This kid really made time for him to cook noodles.

With nothing to deal with, Bai Fan simply took a journal to read. Since Yin Rui became the sect master, his life has become very leisurely, without Yin Nanhan’s daily examinations and heavy studies. If Bai Fan had to use an exact description, it would be: 

‘I used to be a prince, but even though a prince had status, he was still managed by the one person above him. But now I am the emperor, who could control me?’

The feeling of these two positions was incomparable.

After reading for about an hour, Bai Fan put down the book and started to meditate. When he looked inside his body, he was amazed to find that the internal energy seemed to have grown a lot more than yesterday. Speaking of which, Yin Rui’s progress in the past year has been really good. With the rapid progress, Bai Fan couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. Is this the reason for the difference in talent? His cultivation base had been increasing more and more slowly in the past two years, but it was as if Yin Rui had been eating a big tonic pill. Bai Fan admits that if he were to face Yin Rui now, he would be utterly defeated.

Bai Fan sat quietly in the room to adjust his breath, but when the sun was about to appear, he opened his eyes on time, walked into the kitchen, boiled water, poured the soup, and in just a quarter of an hour, a bowl of longevity noodles full of fragrance was cooked. Bai Fan brought the bowl of longevity noodles back to his room and put it on the table. He climbed into the bed and lay down on it. After a while, he began to lose consciousness.

Before Yin Rui opened his eyes, he smelled the familiar aroma. Looking at the hot noodles on the table, a hint of satisfaction appeared on his face. He walked towards the table to pick up his chopsticks and tasted it until the last bit of soup was emptied. Yin Rui closed his eyes in satisfaction. Fan’s cooking is really getting better and better.

In the eyes of others, the sect master just made a bowl of noodles for himself, but in fact, Bai Fan and Yin Rui just completed a handover.

*Longevity noodles: In Chinese culture, when it’s someone’s birthday, they would be cooked some noodles because they believe that noodles can somehow bless you with a long life.