IRDFPFCIW Chapter 40

“Please loudly recite the first thirty dishes from ‘Announcing the Names of Dishes’ in front of the door…???”

Jiang Tang: …

Good guy, this definitely seems like a voice-activated door.

But this opening key… what’s going on?

“Announcing the Names of Dishes” is a very famous crosstalk piece, which tests the performer’s speaking skills the most. A good crosstalk performer can deliver a lengthy script in a quick rhythm, like a string of pearls and jades. The voice is bright and the pronunciation is clear. Jiang Tang had heard of a few well-known performers in the crosstalk world. He had indeed heard “Announcing the Names of Dishes”, but he was just a cook!

If he were to make all the dishes from the names, that would be a piece of cake, but now he had to recite them from memory.

Jiang Tang squatted down, cradled his head in his hands, and thought to himself: What a broken door! It feels like it’s trying to make things difficult for me, Jiang Tang!

Despite this thought, the temptation of the “treasure” that might be behind the door was too great. And he was fueled by the idea of “since I’m here anyway, it won’t hurt to try”. Jiang Tang began to recall various famous dish names.

The first few dish names were easy to remember. Having heard them often, they came to him quickly. But the further he went, the more difficult it became.

“Steamed lamb, steamed bear paw, steamed deer tail, roasted duck, roasted chicken, roasted goose, braised pig and duck, sauce chicken and bacon… um… Songhua tripe…” Jiang Tang counted on his fingers, stumbling a bit but managing to recall the first few dishes. The light on the door remained green. Jiang Tang sighed in relief, but as he continued he started to guess randomly. “After Songhua tripe…”

“…Steamed eight-treasures pork…” The light on the door flickered, as if urging Jiang Tang to hurry up. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. It felt like being called into the teacher’s office after class. It was more nerve-wracking than reciting in front of all the teachers. Why on earth was he experiencing this!

“After eight-treasures pork is canned wild chicken… no, no, wait…!”

The light in front of him suddenly flickered excitedly, as if it had caught him making a mistake and began flashing red: “Error! Error! Error!”

Jiang Tang: …

So this door could speak. He nearly jumped in shock.

And he seemed to detect excitement in this broken door’s electronic voice.

“I misspoke. After steamed eight-treasures pork is duck stuffed with glutinous rice, followed by canned wild chicken.”

The door remained unmoved, “Start over.”

Jiang Tang: …

Wen Renyuan squatted nearby, watching Jiang Tang interact with this door in a language he couldn’t understand. His cat eyes narrowed slightly.

The young man had too many secrets. Had it been before, Wen Renyuan would have used various means to uncover his background. But now, he had different feelings toward the young man. No matter how many secrets Jiang Tang had, he just wanted to protect him.

While lost in thought, Wen Renyuan saw Jiang Tang suddenly stand up. He angrily kicked the door and then tug at his hair as he squatted down again, muttering something in his mouth.

Wen Renyuan: …

He couldn’t count how many attempts he had made. Each time he made a mistake, the door would make him start over. Jiang Tang felt the fear of being dominated by dish names. He would probably dream about reciting them tonight.

“…Braised duck strips, shredded duck, and yellow heart tube!” Jiang Tang exhaled a long breath, feeling completely relieved. He placed his hands on his hips and laughed heartily. “I’ve memorized it! I even threw in two extra dish names, how about that!”

“Congratulations, please enter~”

Jiang Tang finally stepped through the door with the cat in his arms.

Behind the door was a small space. After Jiang stood still, he looked around. The first thing he noticed was a large bookshelf filled with books. Next to it was a thick carpet, with several round cushions scattered on it.

Jiang Tang approached the bookshelf and was surprised to see that it was packed with comics!

Jiang Tang: ???

His strange feelings intensified. This wasn’t just a secret chamber. It looked more like a bedroom!

He wondered whose bedroom this was. It was far too comfortable.

Since Jiang Tang had been walking barefoot for so long, his feet suddenly ached upon reaching the carpet. He fell on the carpet and raised his feet high. Although he had been stepping on fine sand, his delicate soles were still reddened.

Jiang Tang pouted and gently rubbed his feet together to shake off the sand stuck to them.

Wen Renyuan glanced at Jiang Tang’s fair feet. The soles of the feet were rubbed red like a small plum blossom. He felt a bit embarrassed to stare and turned his head away.

“Finally, someone is here—” A somewhat familiar electronic voice suddenly came from the corner, startling Jiang Tang as he stretched his arms.

Wasn’t this the voice from the door earlier? He thought it was just the door talking.

A ball about the size of a basketball flew over, with a small propeller on its head like a bamboo dragonfly spinning rapidly. It landed steadily in front of Jiang Tang.

This time, Jiang Tang was truly frightened. The “ball” was obviously more pleased, wobbling in mid-air.

“I’ve been waiting here for a long time. It was you who woke me up.”

“…Oh.” Jiang Tang was at a loss for how to communicate with this ball. “Are you a robot?”

The ball bobbed up and down, as if nodding. “To be precise, I’m master’s intelligent butler.”

“Where is your master?” Jiang Tang frowned. He knew that a robot with even basic self-awareness similar to a child of a few years old meant its master was likely not an ordinary person.

“The master is gone.” The ball’s voice dropped, clearly less lively than before.

“Ah, I’m sorry. My condolence.” Jiang Tang rubbed his nose, feeling a bit awkward.

“The master said he returned to another world.” The ball flew up again and circled around Jiang Tang twice. “When the master left, he said a new master would come here to wake me up. The master was right. From now on, you are my new master.”

Jiang Tang: …So casual?

He finally grasped the key point from the ball’s earlier words. “Wait, you said another world?”

What another world?

The ball spoke Mandarin Chinese just like him and not the commonly used interstellar language, indicating that its master must have come from Jiang Tang’s previous world.

Jiang Tang suddenly became excited.

And the master of the ball returning to another world didn’t mean he had passed away. Perhaps he transmigrated back?

“It’s another world! The master said he didn’t belong to this world, and he finally found a way to return.” The ball’s tone became slightly disdainful, “I never said the previous owner had died.”

Jiang Tang’s fingers trembled slightly with excitement.

He had prepared himself to live in this world, but now learning there was hope to return to his previous world made Jiang Tang incredibly excited!

“How did your master return? Do you know?” Jiang Tang steadied his emotions and tried to keep his voice calm.

“I don’t know about this, but the master seemed to have left a notebook. I don’t know if it’s written in it.”

Great! Regardless, if he could find the notebook, there might be a way to return.

A smile spread across Jiang Tang’s face, but then he suddenly glanced at the fluffy cat beside him and his smile froze.

If he went back, would the fluffy cat be left behind like this ball…

Images of Qin Fei and Lu Rongming flashed through Jiang Tang’s mind. He had promised the original owner that he would treat Xiao Fei like his own little brother. The original owner’s consciousness faded on his birthday. Was he really going to abandon Xiao Fei and the three fluffy ones to go back?

Jiang Tang felt torn.

For some reason, even though he had only been with Qin Fei and the others for a short time, he had developed a strange sense of belonging. He looked at Wen Renyuan beside him. This was his first little cat, and Jiang Tang didn’t want to leave it behind.

Jiang Tang exhaled a sigh. Forget it. There was no rush, he might not even be able to return!

“Do you have a name?” Jiang Tang asked. He couldn’t keep calling it ball.

“Master can name me!”

“Well, then you can be called Peppa…” Jiang Tang suddenly thought of George at home and chuckled. “There is also a robot named George at home. You two will be good friends!”

The newly named Peppa excitedly flew around Jiang Tang, clearly loving the name.

Seeing it so happy lifted Jiang Tang’s spirits. Wen Renyuan on the side looked at Jiang Tang who seemed to only have eyes for the flying ball. He felt sour in his heart. Now not only he had to be cautious against the hairy ones, but he would also have to compete with a hairless one for Jiang Tang’s affection?

Wen Renyuan pressed himself against Jiang Tang’s embrace. Fortunately, he couldn’t read minds and didn’t understand Jiang Tang’s earlier conversation with Peppa. He was unaware that Jiang Tang was actually contemplating leaving them and returning to his original world.

After resting against the pillow for a while and petting the cat twice, Jiang Tang felt recharged.

He got up to search the bookshelf and finally found a notebook wedged among the mountain of comics.

Jiang Tang silently apologized and then opened the notebook.

For some reason, he always had a premonition that he and the owner of this cave must have some connection.

The notebook belonged to someone named Jiang Shan, “Ah, he has the same surname as me…?” Jiang Tang muttered to himself as he flipped through the pages.

Sure enough, Jiang Shan had also transmigrated. Unlike Jiang Tang, he wrote in his notebook that he had gotten lost while searching for a very rare wild ingredient in the wild and accidentally fell into a pit. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in this world.

“…He’s also a chef?”

Jiang Tang began to think back, trying to recall if he had heard this name before, but there were so many people in his family that he couldn’t remember if he had.

After thinking for a while, he still had no impression, but it was also possible that it wasn’t the same Jiang family.

As he continued flipping through the notes, he quickly finished reading the first entry and saw the signature at the end. “Jiang Shan, October 10, 2055.” Jiang Tang’s pupils suddenly widened and he nearly dropped the notebook.

It was only 2021 before his transmigration. No wonder he hadn’t heard of Jiang Shan’s name. This child hadn’t even been born yet!

Jiang Tang continued reading after calming down his emotions. Jiang Shan experienced a series of adventures after arriving in the interstellar era. Later, because of his intense longing for his home, he transformed this barren planet he owned into an “Earth”.

But unexpectedly, the planet resembling Earth that he left behind ended up in Jiang Tang’s hands, an earthling.

Moreover, he had also examined various interstellar ingredients and compared them with modern ingredients.

For example, the unique Yisi beast on planet G-1204 resembled cows from Earth. The meat tasted almost identical to beef. This kind of Yisi beast even secreted milk like a dairy cow.

Jiang Tang was overjoyed. Jiang Shan had detailed records of such ingredients in his notes. It was really helpful. He wouldn’t have to experiment with various ingredients like Shennong tasting herbs to check for poison. Jiang Tang silently gave this junior a thumbs up.

Although Jiang Shan was doing well in the interstellar era, he had never given up on finding a way back.

“Finally, I’ve found a way to return! It was so simple, as long as…”

Jiang Tang flipped to the second-to-last page of the notebook and saw that the method for returning might be written on the last page.

Jiang Tang’s breathing quickened. If he could just turn to the last page, he might find a way back to the familiar world where he had lived in for twenty years.

His hands holding the notebook began to tremble, and Jiang Tang suddenly felt very nervous.

With a “snap”, Jiang Tang slammed the notebook shut, and he still didn’t open the last page.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, it’s not time yet… Let’s talk about it when the time comes…” Jiang Tang muttered to himself, unsure who he was explaining this to.

He comforted himself that there was no rush to return. He needed to settle Xiao Fei and the fluffy ones’ lives first before considering leaving. As for his real thoughts, Jiang Tang might not even understand them himself.

Jiang Tang carefully put the notebook away and thanked this “little friend” in his heart.

He glanced at the fluffy one watching him with concern and felt his heart soften.

Looking back at Peppa, he finally smiled at Wen Renyuan.

“Let’s go, we need to find a way to get home together and not make Xiao Fei and Uncle Lu worry too much.”