"Aren't you stating the obvious? If she could eat something, this illness wouldn't exist," Cui Xu said disdainfully again.
"Mm, you're right, so we need to try eating things, eating until we find what you can swallow. This is the method to treat you," Xiaoyao nodded as he spoke.
"..." At this moment, Cui Xu was somewhat confused by Xiaoyao, the logic not yet clear in his mind.
"You mean for me to continue eating things?" Dongfang Wunian asked puzzledly.
"Yes, keep eating until we find what you can eat," As Xiaoyao spoke, he ladled a bowl of soup. "This soup just finished cooking. Try this soup first, it's easier to swallow."
"Alright, I'll try..." Dongfang Wunian took Xiaoyao's soup and prepared to try it. However, before drinking the soup, she stared at that bowl for quite a while, her expression changing, as if engaged in an internal battle.
Hey, it's just a bowl of soup, not asking you to die, why make such a big deal of it?
Xiaoyao was somewhat speechless but didn't interfere, turning to stare at the fire in a daze...
...
...
At the same time—
She definitely can't drink it, absolutely. Cui Xu shouted in his heart.
"Gulp..."
Dongfang Wunian drank the soup. At this moment, she was prepared to vomit it back up, because she had tried drinking soup more than once before and always immediately vomited it out.
When she prepared to vomit, she discovered she hadn't vomited anything at all. Moreover, she had a craving in her heart to continue drinking.
Xiaoyao's bowl of soup actually made her have the desire to continue drinking. After this discovery, she suddenly realized the deliciousness of this soup, that taste was difficult to express in words. Even though she had never eaten fine food, she could be certain this deliciousness was rare in the human world.
No, that's not right. Even if there were those rare ones in the world, her father had found quite a few such foods and invited the most famous chefs, but none had allowed her to eat anything. Could his cooking skills be better than theirs?
Never mind, drink the soup first.
At this moment, Dongfang Wunian didn't think much about anything else. Since she could drink soup, she would drink first. She was afraid that after this time, she might not be able to drink again, then it would be too late for regret!
"Another bowl," Dongfang Wunian handed the bowl without a single drop remaining to Xiaoyao.
"Sure. There's plenty of this..." Xiaoyao smiled and ladled another bowl for Dongfang Wunian. Unexpectedly, it succeeded on the first try. This way he didn't need to experiment.
After Dongfang Wunian received the soup again, she began drinking, but this time she wasn't as rushed as before. Instead, she slowly savored it. She felt this soup's deliciousness was indescribable, the best she had ever drunk.
"Ah..." Cui Xu opened his mouth wide, looking at Dongfang Wunian in disbelief. This, how was this possible? Dongfang Wunian had actually swallowed the soup, actually swallowed it without vomiting.
Moreover, she was continuing to drink...
At this moment, another person was also opening his mouth wide, the elder who had accidentally glanced toward Xiaoyao's side. When he first looked, he hadn't paid attention and directly turned back to continue his own business. But soon, he discovered something he found hard to believe, then looked toward Xiaoyao's side again, staring dazedly at Dongfang Wunian drinking soup.
This elder's focus this time was actually Dongfang Wunian. She was the sect master's precious daughter and also a little girl loved by many elders. He understood her situation well, knowing she had never eaten anything since childhood. The sect master and some elders had been troubled by this matter.
The current situation was that Dongfang Wunian was actually drinking soup. Although it was just soup, this was something that had never happened before. Could it be that her illness was already cured?
"Elder, what's wrong?" A nearby disciple noticed the elder's condition and immediately asked. Following the elder's gaze, they were also stunned. It seemed everyone more or less knew about Dongfang Wunian's problem. Now they understood why the elder had such a surprised expression.
What was going on? Junior Sister Dongfang could actually eat things now?
Had her illness recovered, or was this thing so delicious that even she, an anorexic, could eat it, and eat it so happily!
"This Xiaoyao is really interesting, he can actually make something Second Miss can eat." The medicinal garden people also saw this at this moment. They all understood that if nothing unexpected happened, Xiaoyao would definitely be rewarded by the sect master.
Everyone knew the sect master treasured this Second Miss most. Second Miss's anorexia had always been the sect master's heartache. Although they didn't know how Xiaoyao did it, Second Miss eating something was a fact. Even if she couldn't eat later, the sect master would think Xiaoyao might have a solution. Therefore, Xiaoyao had become quite important.
"Little brother, could you also let me drink a bowl of your soup?" At this moment, the elder had already flashed to Xiaoyao's side in the first instant.
"Sure, help yourself,” Xiaoyao quickly ladled a bowl for the elder. Anyway, there was still a lot of soup, he couldn't finish it himself. For Chi Chi, no matter how much, it was the same, one bowl more or less didn't matter.
"Gulp... gulp gulp gulp..."
"Ah... truly heavenly deliciousness. Now I understand why Wunian would drink your soup!" After finishing, the elder immediately sighed, then said, "Could I have another bowl?"
"No problem, but ladle it yourself. Don't be polite. Although this kind of monster beast is rare, the current ingredients can make quite a bit, enough for everyone here to have a meal," Xiaoyao said with a smile.
"Then I won't be polite," The elder seemed very direct too, showing no embarrassment. He even took some of Xiaoyao's roasted meat to eat, exclaiming again in amazement.
"I want to eat this roasted meat too," Seeing the elder's appearance, Dongfang Wunian became somewhat tempted.
"No!" Xiaoyao immediately said.
"Why?" Dongfang Wunian asked. The elder was also curious about this question, he thought Dongfang Wunian should be able to eat everything now, at least temporarily.
"Your stomach has never eaten anything. Solid food might be hard to adapt to, and roasted things are even harder to adapt to. You need to take it step by step. First drink soup, eat some liquid foods. During this period, just drink soup and eat porridge. After some time, then you can eat rice and soft foods, adapting bit by bit," Xiaoyao said to Dongfang Wunian somewhat seriously.
"Oh, I understand! Then I'll drink soup first. Will you make this kind of soup for me every day?" Dongfang Wunian nodded, then asked Xiaoyao with a smile.
"I can make it, but it won't be the same every day. Tomorrow I'll change to a different kind, letting you adapt to other food flavors," Xiaoyao said with a smile.
"Good!" Dongfang Wunian nodded very obediently. Her personality was originally quite well-behaved, which was why so many people liked her. Now, Xiaoyao was the doctor and she was the patient, naturally she should obediently listen.
However, Dongfang Wunian's obedience made Cui Xu on the side very displeased. Now he wished he could kick Xiaoyao off a cliff, out of sight, out of mind.
The elder didn't have any particular feelings about this, just felt Xiaoyao didn't seem to rely solely on cooking skills to cure Dongfang Wunian's illness. These statements had good medical reasoning. He felt this young man before him should have decent medical skills.
Since he was an herb gatherer, knowing some medical skills wasn't surprising.
At this moment, the elder and others wouldn't think Xiaoyao's medical skills were brilliant, they just felt Xiaoyao happened to have some medical skills and superb cooking abilities, so he happened to cure Dongfang Wunian's illness. This was just a coincidence.
This time, Xiaoyao's ability to make Dongfang Wunian eat something was attributed to Xiaoyao's cooking skills, not medical skills. So even if the Medical Elder eventually learned of this matter, he wouldn't feel his medical skills had been defeated by Xiaoyao. Others also wouldn't think Xiaoyao's medical skills were higher than the Medical Elder's.
With Dongfang Wunian and the elder's soup-drinking actions, Xiaoyao's pot of soup immediately became everyone's target. Xiaoyao didn't mind, letting everyone share. Soon, that pot of soup was empty, not even dregs remained.
Everyone now remembered Xiaoyao's cooking skills, temporarily forgetting Xiaoyao's identity as an herb gatherer. They all asked Xiaoyao to continue making another pot. If there weren't enough ingredients, they would go hunt for more.
Xiaoyao ended up making several pots, but didn't let those disciples hunt for ingredients because today's ingredients were still sufficient with some to spare. However, if tomorrow continued like this, there might not be enough. Fortunately, Xiaoyao didn't plan to make the same soup tomorrow, he would find other ingredients.
Afterward, everyone seemed to reach a consensus, if they killed monster beasts in the future, they must let Xiaoyao take a look. This time it wasn't for medicinal materials, but for food ingredients.
Xiaoyao afterward seemed to become a cook in everyone's hearts rather than an herb gatherer. However, Xiaoyao remembered what his identity was. Therefore, he only took responsibility for making his own food and Dongfang Wunian's soup. The extra could be freely shared, but if they wanted Xiaoyao to continue making more, that depended on Xiaoyao's mood. Sometimes he would make it, sometimes he'd be too lazy.
Over the following days, Dongfang Wunian seemed able to drink all the soups Xiaoyao made. Her complexion became rosy, and her skin began to become more lustrous and delicate. This made her, who was already charming enough, become even more infinitely charming. This also made Cui Xu feel increasingly displeased.
Because Dongfang Wunian had been walking together with Xiaoyao recently. Although he followed too, he couldn't interject much. At the same time, he discovered that regarding his warnings to Xiaoyao, Xiaoyao would just smile, not knowing whether he understood or refused.
(End of Chapter)