Chapter 2. One of those humans (sparkling lemonade and corn milk)

Phương, holding his new irrigation system, was greeted with a night sky.

Huh, how had time passed so quickly?

He double-checked the date—oh, it was still the same day.

Turning on the outdoor lights, Phương set up his new irrigation system: metres of piping with sensors controlling water outflow; the other end was connected to his rainwater tank. The system should automatically detect soil moisture levels and water the plants if it got too dry.

Not long after setting it up, the system started working, watering some of the garden plots.

Satisfied, Phương returned to the house to prepare dinner. He took out several portions of vegetables and meat from his storage ring and started to cook. Soon, fragrant smells filled the air.

His sword, having returned from playing, flew in to bother him. Phương knocked it on the hilt. “If you want another spiritual stone, go and collect some herbs and greens from the garden for me.”

The sword gave him an affectionate sparkle and slipped outside. Almost immediately, it came back inside again.

Phương raised his eyebrows. Hmm? He turned off the heat and suppressed his cultivation. Together, he and his sword peeked through the curtains.

There was a shape crouched near the herb garden. In the dim moonlight, he could make out blue-ish robes, horns emerging from long hair and a scaly tail with a fluffy tip.

Phương turned to his sword and pressed a finger against his lips. The sword bobbed in serious acknowledgement—it wouldn’t make a sound!

With a little cultivation trick to quieten his steps, Phương walked around the back door of the house and slipped out. He slowly sneaked up on his unsuspecting visitor.

Closer up, he could see that the visitor was crouched in front of the mint patch. There was also the scent of blood in the air.

Phương crouched down next to the visitor. “Hello.”

“AH!!” The visitor toppled and fell onto his back.

“Hello there,” Phương said. “Do you like mint?”

The visitor hissed. “You—!”

Phương waved a hand and the outdoor lights turned on, illuminating the garden. “This is my house.”

Under the lights, the visitor was revealed. He had dark blue hair, wary eyes, and various shells and gems adorned his outfit.

The visitor pushed himself to his feet. His eyes widened when he realised his tail was out. With a grimace, the tail and horns disappeared. “I’m just passing by.”

“Do you need a healing pill? Or dinner?”

The visitor hissed again, taking a step back. “Are you trying to harvest dragon parts? Do you want to steal my dragon pearl? I’m not stupid!”

Phương looked at the young dragon in pity. “First, I don’t want to harvest dragon parts. Second, even if I did, why would I harvest them from you? You’re injured and malnourished.”

The visitor puffed up. “You’re malnourished!”

At that moment, the front door opened as Phương’s sword came out. With it came the fragrant scent of grilled meat.

Somebody’s stomach grumbled.

The visitor went visibly red.

Phương’s sword flew around them and started harvesting some mint, salad and other greens.

The scent of the mint oils in the air made the visitor’s mouth salivate.

“I made extra food,” Phương cajoled. “If you don’t eat it, then it’ll go to waste! My sword can’t eat it after all.”

The visitor swallowed.

Phương pointed to his sign. “Look, this is a little tearoom, a completely legitimate business. Come on, kid, you’re safe with me!”

“Don’t call me kid, I’m Long Quang! And I’m not a kid!”

Phương grinned. He wanted to rub Long Quang’s fluffy hair. “Little Quang—”

“Long Quang!” Long Quang insisted.

“If you’re afraid, how about I bring you some food, and you can eat out here?”

“I’m…” Long Quang looked inside to the cozy house, then outside to the dark night. “…Inside. Eat.”

Phương led the way inside, followed by Long Quang.

Long Quang’s eyes were immediately drawn to the lights on the ceiling. “Are those dragon orbs?” he said, halting at the door.

“Much cheaper than that, they’re light-emitting-devices with no special spiritual properties. I refined them myself.” Phương motioned to the table. “Take a seat. Food will be ready shortly.”

Long Quang glanced at the chairs at the table. He decided to sit right by the door. When he pulled out the chair—huh?

Why was there a round watermelon cushion?

Phương glanced over. “Take a seat.” He grinned. “The cushion won’t bite you. If you don’t like watermelon, there are other cushions on each of the chairs. Orange, kiwi fruit, lemon, lime, dragon fruit, toast and biscuit. Feel free to look.”

With suspicion, Long Quang indeed took a look. And it was exactly as he said. Each chair had a different cushion. His gaze towards Phương changed. This human was one of those ones. At the same time, it made Long Quang relax. He sat down on the watermelon chair—he only winced a little—and looked around the house with curiosity.

Though the space wasn’t very large, the floor, walls and ceiling were extremely smooth. The lights made the space bright, showing all the unfamiliar devices on the kitchen counters.

There were no rare treasures or artefacts on display. How pitiful, Long Quang thought. Does this human have any treasure at all?

Phương put aside the grilled meat that he had already cooked—that was for himself.

For his guest, he heated up the deep fryer and lowered in a dozen spring rolls. The domineering scent of the deep-fried spring rolls burst out immediately as they sizzled in the hot oil. As it was cooking, Phương prepared the first drink.

Long Quang’s nose twitched. The smell was unfamiliar and overpowering, yet it wasn’t offensive. He unconsciously leaned forward as Phương came over with a tray.

“Fried spring rolls and sparkling lemonade,” Phương said. “Have a taste. Be careful—the spring rolls are a little hot.”

Long Quang analysed the food and the drink. They didn’t have any spiritual essence in them and were made entirely out of common ingredients. Wary of the heat of the ‘spring rolls’, Long Quang took a suspicious sip of the drink first.

The drink felt lighter than water, more sweet than sour, and the tiny bubbles of gas burst in his mouth. Long Quang’s eyes widened as he swallowed. He could still feel it bubbling away in his stomach! He stared at the drink. “What potion is this?!”

“Water, lemon juice, sugar and carbon dioxide,” Phương said. “The bubbles are harmless. It’s just air. This is a common drink that’s cool and refreshing.”

Long Quang took another sip. Now that he expected it, the bubbly-ness was more tolerable, and the sweetness of the drink was enjoyable.

The scent of the spring rolls was too enticing. Long Quang picked up one—hardly hot at all—and took a bite. He almost immediately shoved the entire spring roll into his mouth. Crispy! Savoury! Flaky! Delicate! Delicious!

Long Quang licked his lips and had another spring roll, and then another.

Phương politely turned away and headed back to the kitchen, as to hide the upward tilt of his lips.

It seemed not many people/dragons could resist deep-fried spring rolls.

For the main course, Phương heated the charcoal grill to medium-high. As it was heating up, he prepared all the various sides. His sword helped him pick more fresh herbs and salad greens from the herb garden and finely chopped red chilli and garlic cloves for the fish sauce-based dipping sauce.

The patties of marinated minced meat and pork belly had been prepared earlier and stored in Phương’s food-dedicated spatial storage. He took out a large plate of them and when the grill was hot enough, put the minced meat patties and the pork belly on the grill.

ZZZ!! The meat sizzled on contact. The savoury, meaty, fragrant aroma chased away the smell of frying oil.

As the meat cooked, Phương turned around to quickly prepare a large bowl of rice vermicelli noodles and a large plate of herbs (mostly mint), salad greens and bean sprouts.

A few minutes later, Phương turned the meat, revealing the crispy brown-caramelised sides. Seeing that Long Quang had almost finished his sparkling lemonade, Phương also prepared a cup of corn milk, taking prepared pure corn milk out from his spatial storage and adding in sweetened condensed milk and a pinch of salt.

In less than fifteen minutes, Phương came back out to Long Quang, placing down the bowl of noodles, the plate of herbs and greens, a bowl of dipping sauce, and another large plate full of char-grilled meat.

Long Quang swallowed his saliva. His stomach, which had just been filled with lemonade and spring rolls, felt empty again.

“Grilled pork with vermicelli, and a cup of corn milk,” Phương introduced. “Have a taste.”

“If you insist,” Long Quang said. He used the provided chopsticks and spoon, pouring the fish sauce over the vermicelli, herbs and meat. His mouth flooded with saliva even before he took a bite. And when he did—!! The char-grilled flavour, the meaty-ness, the freshness of the herbs and intoxicating flavour of mint…

This was the best thing he had ever eaten!

Long Quang’s eyes squinted in enjoyment.

Unbeknown to him, Long Quang’s tail popped out again, curling around on the floor. The tip of the fluffy tail swayed back and forth as he ate.

Phương hid an amused smile. He prepared his own plate of food. He also took out a few spiritual stones for his sword’s dinner.

While his sword went off to absorb the spiritual energy from the stones, Phương sat down at the table to eat.

Long Quang: *hiss!* I won’t fall for this human scheme!

(A minute later)

Long Quang: *devouring food* What? Humans who can cook delicious food can’t be bad, there’s no scheme so I’m not falling for anything!

Notes:

Long Quang: The Vietnamese word for dragon is rồng, but the Sino-Vietnamese term is long. Long Quang’s name is based on Lạc Long Quân, the dragon king in the Vietnamese creation myth.

Dinner menu: The main dish here is bún thịt nướng, Vietnamese grilled pork and rice noodles (っ˘ڡ˘ς)