Yes, yes, yes—I did take your money.

Cen An smiled as he sent him off to fetch seasonings, describing several he knew. Then he added, “Any other pungent-smelling, non-toxic plants—bring them to me for identification too.”

Su Rui declared confidently, “Rest assured, within a hundred miles, no plant can escape my nose!”

Cen An thought to himself, Well then, it’s a shame to waste that nose on a human.

Watching him stride into the woods with such fighting spirit, Cen An shook his head in speechless exasperation.

He ruffled the little puppy’s head, abandoned by its owner. “Is he really mature enough to take care of you? Should I just take you back?”

Yin Xiang tried his best to act like a puppy who couldn’t understand human speech, clinging to Cen An with enthusiasm. His tail, now covered in a layer of white fluff, wagged wildly.

But inside, he was thinking: How about you come back with us? Our cave is way better than your little shack!

Cen An placed the puppy in a bamboo basket, gathered the wood and tree sap, then resumed searching for food along the path.

Vegetables weren’t scarce—over a hundred baby bok choy remained. The real challenge was finding staples, seasonings, and meat. Wild eggs would be a welcome bonus.

The puppy poked its head out of the basket, whimpered twice, and stretched its neck toward a certain direction.

“What is it?” Cen An didn’t catch on at first. Once he understood what the puppy meant and followed its gaze, he discovered a patch of wild wheat beneath a dense thicket of trees!

The wild wheat must have been from last year. Its stalks were now yellowed, and the withered ears swayed in the breeze.

Cen An was delighted. “So much! How come the animals didn’t eat it?”

He immediately drew his iron sword, harvested the wild wheat, bundled it into three large sheaves, stacked them, and stowed them in his backpack.

Yin Xiang grew increasingly puzzled. Did this human possess any special abilities? It seemed like spatial magic, yet he sensed no energy fluctuations.

Cen An, unaware, had already given himself away to the little pup. He also gathered some herbs needed for tanning rodent hides in the woods.

By the time the sun hung high in the sky, a haystack glided over from a distance.

Cen An: …

He took a deep breath as the haystack shook, fell to the ground, and revealed a sharply angular face.

Su Rui tilted his chin slightly. “Everything you asked for. I found it.”

Cen An glanced at the haystack, then at him. What’s this? Is he going vegetarian today?

Looking closer, he saw three rabbits still kicking their legs inside the haystack. Combined with the one he’d found earlier, that made four.

Cen An recalled how he’d mocked the dog owner last time, saying, “Why not leave these plants for the rabbits in the mountains?” Well, look at him now—he’d even uprooted the rabbits along with them.

Rubbing his temples, he crouched down to sort through the mess.

He started by tossing the inedible dead branches and leaves to the side.

Su Rui furrowed his brow beside him. “What’s the deal? Can’t we eat these?”

He sniffed. “They’re not poisonous! And they smell really pungent!”

He sniffed again. “Seriously, can’t we eat them? They smell just like the grass you cooked last time!”

Cen An couldn’t be bothered to respond, focusing instead on the pile of greens. There was actually quite a bit edible—several wild onions and garlic plants, even a small bunch of wild chives.

Seasonings were even more plentiful: green Sichuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, two large chunks of ginger, several star anise pods…

While sorting through them, he suddenly felt a sharp, burning pain in his fingertips. Looking down, he saw several yellow, cherry tomato-like fruits. One had burst, its juice splattering onto his palm.

Cen An picked one up and sniffed it. It seemed slightly spicy? He tossed it into his backpack—

【Congratulations! You have obtained Chili Fruit x1】

Chili fruit!

His spirits lifted. He dug deeper and indeed found many more yellow fruits below.

So many—he couldn’t possibly eat them all today. He could buy the rest from the dog owner. Finally, he could have spicy dishes!

After tidying up the pile of leaves, he called over Su Rui. “This pile is edible. We can gather more of these in the future. These aren’t edible—don’t pull them anymore.”

Su Rui looked displeased. “Fine. Just don’t forget to whistle next time.”

Cen An watched him with a smile. What whistle? A dog whistle?

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

The two humans and one dog returned home together.

After a few days away, the little shack had undergone a major transformation, leaving both Silver Moon Wolf brothers utterly astonished.

Since transforming into a puppy, Yin Xiang seemed to have shed his former reserve, dashing about the room without restraint and peeking under every wooden shelf.

Su Rui found his brother embarrassing and gave him several discreet kicks, though he couldn’t help adding, “Looks like building a house isn’t so bad after all. When the time comes…”

When it came time to prepare dinner, he expertly retrieved the iron sword to gut the rabbits, showing no trace of politeness whatsoever.

Within half an hour, the four rabbits were cleaned and cut into perfectly sized pink chunks. Piled on a clean plate with broad leaves, they formed a bright red mound resembling a miniature meat mountain.

Cen An was about to praise how well the meat was prepared—the skins peeled so cleanly, not a trace of blood left!

Su Rui cleared his throat. “Let’s eat together tonight. There’s rabbit meat for you, too.”

Cen An was taken aback. “Me?”

Su Rui exchanged a glance with his younger brother. “That’s right, we’re eating together. We hunted one specifically for you.”

Cen An instinctively refused. “No need, I have my own food…”

Su Rui grew impatient. “Just eat it when I tell you to. If you really can’t, then return two crystal cores to me!”

His brother bit his calf. What happened to the gradual plan to lure humans back to the cave? What the hell was this about returning crystal cores?!

Cen An gave him a lingering look. Return crystal cores?

Su Rui cleared his throat again. “…Three people eating at two separate tables is so boring. It’s not like there isn’t enough rabbit meat. Besides, you stopped whistling. Don’t you even want to eat my prey anymore?”

By the end, he sounded slightly aggrieved. He was so formidable! In the vast mountains, few mutant beasts could match him. He was the uncrowned king! And this human didn’t even trust him!

Cen An looked at him, thought for a moment, and said, “Fine, let’s eat together.”

He might as well treat himself as the private chef—sharing a meal with his employer wasn’t such a big deal. Though these two had huge appetites, they’d brought plenty of food. He wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.

The brothers grinned and nodded in unison. The abduction plan had achieved its initial success!

After asking Su Rui about his preferences, Cen An decided to split the rabbit in half—one portion for spicy hotpot, the other for braised rabbit.

He could have made cold-served rabbit, too, but there wasn’t enough time today.

To save time, Cen An lit two bonfires and cooked simultaneously on both stoves.

He swapped the steamer for a braising pot to stew the rabbit. Since they were sharing the meal, there was no need for strict separation. He peeled and washed the remaining bamboo shoots from yesterday, chopped them into large chunks, and tossed them into the pot to simmer.

Six ground fruit remained, each fist-sized. Considering the appetite of one person and one dog, Cen An didn’t skimp—he peeled and diced them all, tossing them in to fill the pot to the brim.

As for the spicy rabbit, that naturally went into the large iron wok.

He chopped scallions, garlic, ginger slices, and half a cutting board’s worth of chili peppers, then added Sichuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, and a few bay leaves… The seasonings actually outnumbered the rabbit meat.

Cen An was worried the dog’s owner might not be used to the flavor, so he didn’t use much for the spicy rabbit dish—just enough for each of them to have a little.

Besides, rabbit meat has little fat, so it needs heavy seasoning to taste good.

The pot of seasonings exploded with a bang, releasing a fiercely spicy and numbing aroma.

Cen An heard a series of sneezes behind him. Turning around, he nearly burst out laughing—both the man and the dog were so overwhelmed by the fumes they could barely keep their eyes open.

Su Rui wasn’t convinced. “I think—Achoo! Your judgment—Achoo! …isn’t necessarily—Achoo! …correct. This dish smells like it can’t—Achoo! …be eaten.”

Cen An shooed them both outside.

The two pots of rabbit stew still needed simmering, so Cen An turned his attention to the newly acquired wild wheat.

No matter how delicious the ground fruit was, he’d been eating it for days. Now he craved rice and flour.

He took a piece of wood, crafted a wooden rod using his formula, then found a suitable stone slab by the roadside. He rubbed the wheat grains off the stalk and rolled them on the slab.

The ears of wheat had hung on the branches for a year and were thoroughly dried. After being threshed with the wooden stick, the wind blew away the husks, and plump, golden grains rolled out.

Cen An gathered the grains and tried threshing them again with the stick… but this time, it was impossible. To get wheat flour, he’d have to make a stone mill. Or wait until the farm is upgraded and build a millhouse…

As he pondered whether to simply steam a bowl of wheat porridge to satisfy his craving, Su Rui had already approached. “What is this? Let me try.”

Before Cen An could react, Su Rui had already seized the wooden stick and given the grains a single twist.

Cen An watched in astonishment as the grains, as stubborn as copper peas under his own hands, were crushed into powder by Su Rui in just a few strokes.

His slightly narrowed eyes widened instantly:?

“Pretty simple, huh!” Su Rui got into the swing of things, grinding away with a grunt. In moments, he’d produced five pounds of wheat flour.

“Stop! That’s enough—we can’t eat any more.” Cen An hurriedly called out, glancing at Su Rui’s not-particularly-muscular arms and marveling once more: What a waste to have such a physique as a human!

Cen An mixed the flour with water, skipping any fancy steps. He simply pinched off small portions, shaped them into flatbreads, and steamed them against the edge of the pot, simmering braised rabbit.

The snow-white flatbreads formed a ring around the pot, encircling the reddish-brown broth bubbling with tiny fish-eye bubbles in the center. It actually looked quite appealing.

“That’s good. Just twenty more minutes until it’s ready.” Cen An skillfully reassured both the man and the dog, then pulled out three heads of baby bok choy.

Suddenly, he remembered—these two hadn’t tried the freshly harvested bok choy yet. Plus, as an ability user, the dog owner would benefit from eating it.

The tender baby bok choy was sliced into thin strips, tossed with seasonings, and arranged into a large plate of white and green. It looked as good as it would taste.

Though it was supposed to be twenty minutes, the two brothers felt like they’d waited forever before finally hearing that heavenly call: “Dinner’s ready!”

Su Rui darted out without a second thought, fearless of the heat, and in two swift trips brought both pots to the table.

The small square table was instantly crowded with two large pots and a plate of bok choy.

Cen An brought out bowls and chopsticks, first scooping some rabbit meat for the little pup before sitting down to eat.

A heaping spoonful landed in his bowl—the sauce-brown broth enveloped chunks of rabbit meat as it fell, even the bamboo shoots and ground fruit stained the same color, trying to pass themselves off as rabbit.

Cen An stuffed a large piece into his mouth with satisfaction. At first, he tasted meat, but upon chewing, something felt off. Fragrant juices flowed out… bamboo shoots?

He never imagined bamboo shoots stewed with rabbit meat could be this delicious!

The ground fruit had stewed until soft, dissolving into the broth, making the soup even richer and more aromatic.

The young man sipped the meat broth, then instinctively picked up a flatbread. Taking a bite, the rich wheat aroma filled his senses.

The side of the wheat flatbread pressed against the pot’s edge had baked into a crisp, golden-brown crust. Biting into it produced a satisfying crunch, and he couldn’t bear to discard the crumbs that fell—he carefully caught them in his bowl…

Cen An took two bites, dipped the crescent-shaped piece back into the broth, and took another bite.

How to describe the wheat cake soaked in broth? It was like frozen tofu in hotpot, gluten in cold noodles, or fried egg in snail noodles… every pore was filled with savory, rich broth.

As he ate, something felt off. Why was there a sound of someone sucking air sharply nearby?