Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 679 - 348: Dang Kang (Part 2)

Cao Guixiang was speechless for a dozen seconds before slowly nodding: "Alright, I’ll make you a good meal. But not this month, come to my house next month, I’ll call you whenever I’m free."

"Got it! If you need any ingredients, just let me know anytime. As I said, with the right connections, you can get anything!"

With that, Shi Dadan nimbly jumped up, perfectly demonstrating what it means to be agile despite being chubby. He chuckled and said to Qin Huai, "Xiao Qin, have you packed your luggage? If you have, I’ll take you to the airport first. I suddenly remembered there might be a bit of traffic today, so we should leave earlier."

"Master Cao, I’ll take Xiao Qin to the airport first. I’ll come back later to get those snacks you mentioned!"

Cao Guixiang pretended to wave dismissively: "Go on, go on. In the future, if Xiao Qin comes to you for seafood, make sure to give him the best supply. These snacks were made by Xiao Qin, and consider it as my way of matchmaking for you two. Next time there are snacks, I won’t share any."

"Definitely, definitely."

To show his sincerity, Shi Dadan directly helped Qin Huai with his suitcase and accurately picked up the empty one.

While carrying the suitcase, Shi Dadan was a bit curious and asked, "This suitcase is quite light, so why did you bring two back?"

"It was filled with snacks before, but now it’s empty," Qin Huai explained.

The two of them headed out.

As the door closed, Shi Dadan’s honest expression turned into a smiling inquiry: "I didn’t get a chance to ask earlier at the dining table, buddy, what do you mean you’re not a spirit? And why do you have a group even though you’re not a spirit?"

Qin Huai very adeptly recounted the basic situation he had explained many times before to Shi Dadan, and by the time he finished, Shi Dadan had taken two wrong turns.

"Do you really have 30 years of driving experience?" Qin Huai rarely asked in doubt.

"Absolutely, my 30 years of driving experience are just from this life alone. Counting my past life, I have at least 40 years," Shi Dadan said, then made another wrong turn, chuckling awkwardly, "Ah, no wonder they say don’t chat while driving. Even experienced drivers get distracted and make wrong turns when chatting."

"It’s still early, and there’s no way there will be traffic today, so let’s find a place to chat slowly. Hold on, let me find a parking nearby."

With that, Shi Dadan began searching for parking on the navigation system. Within 30 meters, there was one nearby, and Shi Dadan followed the navigation to drive there, while Qin Huai opened the game interface to check if the illustrations had refreshed.

Seeing Qin Huai tapping the void, Shi Dadan curiously glanced at the air and asked, "Is that the system you mentioned earlier? You really can just tap randomly."

"Yes," Qin Huai opened the illustrations and found that indeed a new one was unlocked, scrolling down.

The illustration section now showed (9/12).

Name: Shi Dadan

Species: Dang Kang

Status: Successfully overcame the tribulation

Memory: 0/0

Recipe: None

Gift: None

It turned out to be Dang Kang!

Qin Huai looked at Shi Dadan with some surprise, finding him quite fitting for the Dang Kang image he had imagined.

The "Fourth Classic of the Eastern Mountains" in the Classic of Mountains and Seas records: On Qin Mountain, there is a beast. It looks like a boar with tusks, and it’s called Dang Kang. When it makes a sound, there will be great harvest.

To explain in a more popular way, Dang Kang is a boar, resembling a wild boar in appearance.

Of course, as a boar in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Dang Kang is quite prestigious, as much as the Wenyao Fish, an undisputed auspicious beast. It is said to only appear during harvest seasons, and as long as it calls, there will be plenty of harvests.

In the agricultural era, it was the most auspicious of auspicious beasts, able to sit at the same table and dine with the Qilin and Pixiu.

Shi Dadan was parking.

Seeing Qin Huai staring at him, Shi Dadan asked, "What’s up?"

"You are actually Dang Kang," Qin Huai said directly.

Shi Dadan laughed, steadily parking the car in the parking spot: "At first, I actually didn’t quite believe you had a system, I’ve never heard of such a thing. Now I believe you; your system even shows what species I am."

"Among spirits, unless they’re of the same kind or tribe, even if we can tell each other are spirits, we can’t tell what species they are."

"Don’t you read novels?"

Shi Dadan shook his head vigorously: "No, seeing words gives me a headache. When I first came to the human world, learning to read almost drove me crazy. I hate reading books, haven’t read much in this lifetime, only graduated primary school."

"Back then, the teacher at our village’s primary school thought I had good scores and talked to my parents about sending me to junior high. My parents even considered scraping together money to let me study. But I insisted on not studying, just wouldn’t."

"My scores were not good because I could study, but because I didn’t completely forget my past life. Honestly, if I had to start all over, considering my allergy to words, I’d still not read, even if I knew every book, the books wouldn’t know me."

Qin Huai: ...

It can be said, Shi Dadan might be the most book-averse spirit Qin Huai had ever met. Other spirits, not to mention others, even An Youyou who had only a junior high diploma, loved reading novels, especially stories about wealthy and charming characters.

She would seize every chance during lunch breaks to read, Qin Huai had seen it several times.

"What reincarnation are you in now?" Qin Huai asked.

Shi Dadan gestured a two and chuckled: "Second life."

"I didn’t expect to succeed in the second life after failing to overcome the tribulation in the first. I thought I was done for and would remain in the human world after failing to overcome the tribulation."

"When I was reborn this life, it felt like the sky had fallen. Being poor wasn’t the issue, we were all poor, but not having staple food to eat was the main problem."

"I didn’t even dare to dream of having white rice every meal, just some cornbread, porridge, or cornmeal would be fine. Actually, my family’s situation was okay in our village, otherwise my parents wouldn’t have thought of sending me to junior high, but during that era, fishermen rarely had such things to eat — white rice was only for New Year’s celebrations."

"We mostly ate cornmeal porridge once a day, and for the rest, anything we could find. Small fish and shrimp, various shellfish, we’d boil them in clear water. Thankfully, seafood has a briny taste; otherwise, I wouldn’t have wanted to live anymore."

Shi Dadan’s face was filled with the melancholic sorrow of Dang Kang.

Qin Huai: ... Thinking about Dang Kang’s setup, it must’ve been hard for him not having staple food.

"So when did you succeed in overcoming the tribulation this life?" Qin Huai asked out of curiosity.

"The day the restaurant closed," Shi Dadan said, "It’s a bit embarrassing to say, but having succeeded, I’m not afraid of being embarrassed. I failed in my first life’s tribulation because I thought I was too stupid."

Qin Huai: ?

Shi Dadan sighed: "When I first arrived in the human world, I spent over a year learning to read and rules. I never understood human rules thoroughly, but I thought I learned okay, at least I knew the basics of what humans should know."

"Plus, I was lucky, met a helpful spirit. That spirit introduced me to a job, which was driving, and in my first life, I was a truck driver."

"And then?" Qin Huai asked.

"Then I had a collision where someone died," Shi Dadan sighed, "You said you can obtain memories through task completion, and from memories get recipes, using them to help spirits awaken."

"You also mentioned studying Double Crab Buns lately, so I’m sure you must know Master Jing in Gusu."

Qin Huai nodded.

"In my first life, I worked as a truck driver in a textile factory in Gusu, and the person I hit, you might also know who it was."

Qin Huai: ?

Qin Huai showed a puzzled expression.

"I ran over Mr. Xu’s youngest son, Xu Nuo."

Qin Huai: !!!

What the heck, what the heck, what the heck, what the heck, what the heck, what the heck, what the heck, what the heck!

Qin Huai exclaimed: "What, Mr. Xu’s youngest son was hit by a car, and it was you behind the wheel?!"

Back then, Dong Shi gathered so many mysterious ways of death, but death in a traffic accident wasn’t one of them.

It turned out to be an accidental death.

Shi Dadan sighed again: "That wasn’t really an accident, someone wanted Xu Nuo dead, but I was foolish and ended up being the final one to cause Xu Nuo’s death."

"So I failed at overcoming the tribulation. At the time, Xu Nuo and I were quite close; I never imagined I would end up causing my friend’s death."

"I thought I was really stupid, couldn’t understand words or people, so since I failed the tribulation, I thought I might as well die to atone and started anew right away."