When the Top Chef Transmigrated into a Scum Alpha (GL) - Chapter 5

Shang Wumian hesitated for a moment because she was not sure whether the writing in this world was exactly the same as what she knew.

She was afraid that being able to recognize those words just now had only been a coincidence.

If she accidentally wrote characters that looked strange in other people’s eyes, it would be difficult to explain.

Out of caution, Shang Wumian picked up one of Ah Fu’s literacy books and looked through it.

Fortunately, the facts proved that although the story was set in ancient times, because the author was from the modern era, most aspects of this fictional ancient world were rather down-to-earth.

Ah Fu was still looking at Shang Wumian eagerly, waiting for her answer.

The “yes” that had already reached Shang Wumian’s lips was forced back by Lin Qingwan’s sudden question.

“How did you think of matching this poem like that?” Lin Qingwan looked at the still-wet ink on the paper, then lifted her eyes to stare into Shang Wumian’s, observing her reaction.

Shang Wumian lowered her head and looked at the place Lin Qingwan’s fingertip was pointing at, understanding inwardly.

How had she thought of matching the poem like that? The reason was actually very simple.

In her original world, for a poem as familiar as something like “Spring sleep, unaware of dawn,” even if you casually dragged over a first grader, they would probably be able to complete the next line.

Although that was the truth, Shang Wumian knew she could not answer that way. Otherwise, Lin Qingwan would probably call people over on the spot, have her dragged to the village entrance, and burn her alive as a monster that had cultivated into human form.

In the end, Shang Wumian answered, “It matches that way because it rhymes.”

Lin Qingwan moved her fingertip away, repeating her answer with unreadable meaning. “…Rhymes?”

Two familiar characters, yet together they formed an unfamiliar word.

Lin Qingwan’s expression remained unchanged, so Shang Wumian had no way of knowing that she actually did not really understand what the sentence meant.

Seeing the two older sisters talking, Ah Fu thoughtfully did not interrupt. She only propped up her little head and listened, half understanding and half confused.

Sister Wumian had just said “ya yun.”

What was “ya yun”? And how did a duck get dizzy? Was it like when making drunken fragrant duck, where you poured half a jar of aged wine down its throat?

After the duck got dizzy, could the line of poetry the teacher had left be easily matched?

Although she did not understand it very well, she felt that Sister Wumian knew so much!

Lin Qingwan remained calm and composed, then asked another question as if casually. “Your handwriting is indeed very beautiful. How long have you practiced? Did you learn from someone?”

Shang Wumian’s brush calligraphy had been copied stroke by stroke from copybooks when she had nothing to do.

She subconsciously wanted to answer that way, but very quickly reacted in time and remembered that this was no longer the modern era.

In the novel, the author had brushed over the background of this person, “Shang Wumian,” in a single stroke.

When Shang Wumian transmigrated over, there had been nothing in her mind aside from her own memories, so she was not clear on what this person’s past had actually been like.

That probably meant she could make up whatever she wanted, as long as she could make it sound reasonable.

Shang Wumian reacted quickly. In the span of a breath, she had already thought of a suitable reply, and her speech was natural. “The characters were something I learned from a teacher at school before. Later, I practiced occasionally, and they ended up like this.”

“You’ve studied?”

“A little.”

“You said before that you were an orphan, raised by a kindhearted Kunze auntie. But because she passed away from illness half a year ago… that was why you began drifting from place to place?”

“Mm.”

If Lin Qingwan had not brought it up again, Shang Wumian would have almost forgotten the nonsense she had made up in a moment of desperation.

In truth, it was not too far off. In any case, “Shang Wumian” was only a scummy cannon fodder character in the female lead’s life. The author had not bothered to arrange any other relatives or friends for her.

The readers’ attention had not been on that aspect either.

Therefore, the life summary of “Shang Wumian” from the past twenty-something years depended entirely on Shang Wumian’s mouth at this moment.

When Shang Wumian said these words, there was an extremely faint hesitation in her eyes, and Lin Qingwan, who had been observing her all along, keenly caught it.

Her eyes darkened slightly, knowing in her heart that the other party’s answer just now contained lies.

Partially lying, or entirely lying—both were possible. In comparison, Lin Qingwan leaned more toward the latter.

And no matter how one looked at it, a Qianyuan of unknown origin who was full of lies could not be a simple, kindhearted person.

In her previous life, Lin Qingwan had not been interested in anything about this person. Now that she had returned to live a second life, she instead found the hypocrisy hidden beneath Shang Wumian’s harmless surface rather interesting.

For some reason, she was very different from the person in Lin Qingwan’s memories.

She could cook.

She could read, match poems, and write beautifully.

But she could not hoe a field or work the land.

Even lighting the simplest fire had left her completely helpless at first.

Lin Qingwan turned her eyes slightly and looked, in a hidden way, at a certain person who had ended her conversation with her and gone back to teaching Ah Fu how to write properly.

The most puzzling point was probably still why the other party had risked her life to save people in that fire.

Because of her memories from her previous life, Lin Qingwan had clearly known Ah Fu’s location this time, so she had directly skipped the trouble of rushing around blindly in the fire to find her.

But in the end, she had personally witnessed Shang Wumian, who had appeared from who knew where, safely carrying Ah Fu out from the corner where she had been trapped.

After that, Lin Qingwan heard that Ah Fu seemed to have called her name, indicating that her Sister was still inside. And so that person had not hesitated and had rushed in again.

At that time, suspicion had risen in Lin Qingwan’s heart, so after she knocked the other party unconscious with a heavy blow, she stood in place and thought for a while.

In the end, she still chose to drag the person out.

At that time, Lin Qingwan had thought that life and death were fated. If Shang Wumian could not wake up, then it could be considered what she deserved.

But by now, she found herself somewhat unable to see through Shang Wumian, who had deviated in so many ways from her memories. Just what sort of plan was she playing at?

【With the leg injury from “saving people” as an excuse, Shang Wumian managed to stay in Lin Qingwan’s home.

Unlike her murky heart, she had an extremely deceptive good-looking face, appearing very harmless.

And after Shang Wumian’s leg injury improved somewhat and she became interested in going out, she encountered the second Kunze who interested her apart from Lin Qingwan.

It was Widow Li from the village.

If Lin Qingwan was usually as cold as a block of ice, then to Shang Wumian, Li Yuyan was clearly the complete opposite type.

She was three or four years older than Shang Wumian, and between her brows and eyes, she possessed a different kind of mature charm.

When they first met, Shang Wumian’s gaze landed on certain parts of the other woman’s body, and her mind was filled entirely with scorching scenes.

Perhaps because her gaze was far too intense, Widow Li noticed it.

When she lifted her eyes, what she saw was the other party’s extremely blatant stare.

Naturally, Li Yuyan understood what that kind of gaze meant, and a trace of disgust rose in her heart. But on second thought, this Qianyuan was young and beautiful enough, and she did not seem to have much experience. If one really calculated it, it was still uncertain who would end up taking more advantage.

A ready-made, all-natural inhibitor—why not use it?

And so, half resisting and half giving in, Shang Wumian began interacting with Widow Li behind Lin Qingwan’s back.

…

Shang Wumian grew even worse. By this point, she was no longer even willing to pretend, and simply flirted openly with Li Yuyan right in front of Lin Qingwan.

Lin Qingwan frowned, her complexion very unpleasant, and she could not help questioning, “When did the two of you start fooling around together?”

Li Yuyan leaned bonelessly in Shang Wumian’s arms, looking at this pitiful Kunze who had been kept in the dark all this time with sympathy in her eyes.

She really was pitiful. Only finding out now.

Her tone was light and airy, carrying undisguised mockery. “Aiya, Sister Qingwan, if we were to count from the beginning, then it has truly been a very long time.”】

Lin Qingwan woke from her dream, the emotion in her eyes becoming even colder.

She knew in her heart what having a dream like last night’s represented.

These were all memories of her previous life that were still slowly recovering.

In her earlier memories, Lin Qingwan had only vaguely known that Shang Wumian was an out-and-out liar, that she had done very excessive things to her, and had finally betrayed her.

Now, the related memories had become more specific.

Shang Wumian. Li Yuyan. Heh.

Lin Qingwan sneered inwardly, already firmly deciding that in this life, she would absolutely not repeat the same mistakes.

When her index finger tapped heavily on the table, the water in the cup rippled slightly with the movement, then returned to stillness in an instant.

Just as the old village doctor who had examined Shang Wumian and prescribed medicine had said, a Qianyuan’s body was always much better.

Less than four or five days had passed, and Shang Wumian already noticed that her leg injury had improved quite a bit.

The same went for the injury on her head. At the very least, her head no longer hurt from time to time.

Because of her profession, once Chef Shang relaxed, her attention first fell on matters related to the kitchen.

According to her observations, in this world, ingredients and seasonings were actually quite complete.

This made Shang Wumian rather satisfied.

It did not matter where she was. In any case, she had nothing tying her down. As long as it did not interfere with her continuing to cook, that was enough.

Shang Wumian would occasionally go out to familiarize herself with the surrounding environment. She was very curious about the food here.

There was a small vendor in the east of the village who sold “qiang cakes.” He only appeared at fixed times, and once the cakes were sold out, he left.

The price was very cheap. One cake cost only one copper coin.

This kind of food, which Shang Wumian had never even heard of, was undoubtedly something that had naturally evolved from this book world itself.

It just so happened that Ah Fu had wanted to eat this snack yesterday, so she had secretly stuffed money to Shang Wumian and asked her to bring back two pieces. The little girl did not eat alone. Since she had asked Sister Wumian to buy them, she was naturally willing to share half.

Each of them had one cake, and only after secretly eating them outside behind Lin Qingwan’s back did they go home.

The taste was very special.

Shang Wumian had always been adaptable, and her life here could more or less be considered stable.

Lin Qingwan herself was diligent. Right now, it had not yet reached the point where the original prodigal Qianyuan had squandered away the family fortune. Even if their food and clothing could not be too refined, at the very least, the household absolutely could not be considered destitute.

But when Lin Qingwan cooked, she often had one problem.

Looking at the two plates of food that had just been placed on the table, Shang Wumian could not help frowning slightly and asked softly, “Do we eat only this every day?”

After Lin Qingwan heard that, her eyes darkened. “What?”

She had already allowed this person to eat and live here for free. Was she still going to be picky?

“Setting the adults aside, Ah Fu is at the age where she’s growing. If she only eats these plain vegetables every day, it seems like her nutrition won’t be able to keep up…”

Although Lin Qingwan knew that what the other party said was not wrong, she still felt that Shang Wumian was speaking irresponsibly without understanding the reality. “You mean things like meat, eggs, and tofu, right? Then why don’t you lift your eyes and look at this family’s circumstances? Being able to eat enough and not go hungry is already good. How could we afford to add meat?”

Naturally, Shang Wumian knew that the family’s circumstances were absolutely not comfortable, but that did not mean there were no other ways. She subconsciously tightened her grip around the chopsticks in her hand and lowered her eyes in thought.

“We should still improve the food once in a while.”

Lin Qingwan knew better than anyone what kind of person the other party truly was beneath this act she was putting on.

She had only changed a little, and Lin Qingwan still did not know whether it was all an act. Yet now she already dared to point fingers at her?

For some reason, a bit of temper rose in Lin Qingwan. She mocked lightly, “If you have money, then go buy it yourself. Why discuss it with me?”

Shang Wumian thought for a moment, glanced at Ah Fu, who was secretly peeking at her, and answered, “All right.”