Chapter 111: The Secret of Operation 5

Hu Xueman’s cooking was inedible!

The rice was neither properly cooked into porridge nor fully dry rice. It was half raw no matter what you called it. The fried meat slices looked more like fried chunks of meat. Could that even be properly cooked? As for the originally crisp white radish, that was actually fine, but it had been chopped into a chaotic mess and turned into a pot of plain watery soup.

Old Man Jiang came back and faced the table of food, his face twitching.

Hui Jue picked up a grayish lump and asked Hu Xueman, “What is this?”

“Egg, hehe, I know Master Hui likes eggs, I…” Hu Xueman smiled obsequiously from the side.

Hui Jue silently placed the egg back onto the plate, then turned around and grabbed a rolling pin. He roared at Hu Xueman, “I am going to beat you to death! Do you think it is easy for me? I can only eat a bit of plain food, and my only hope is eggs, and you actually made it like this…”

Hu Xueman shouted, “Oh my god!” and ran out. He did not doubt for a second that the rolling pin would come down on him.

Hui Jue immediately chased after him with the rolling pin in hand.

My master remained very calm and started rummaging around. I thought he was preparing to cook again and said, “Master, there is no meat left. Why not catch a couple of fish from the pond and make do?”

“Mm, you go catch them. We will steam them later. Remember to boil two eggs for that old man,” my master said calmly, still searching for something.

“Master, what are you looking for?”

“Oh, Hui Jue took my usual tool. I need to find another one.” Old Man Jiang said.

He pulled out his usual fire-stoking stick, then rushed out like a gust of wind. I only heard him shouting, “My meat, do you think meat is cheap?”

I felt miserable. Were these two old men doing this on purpose? Leaving me alone to cook? Should I also grab a chopping board and join the fight against Hu Xueman?

I added a lot of ginger slices, steamed two fish, made egg custard for Hui Jue, and reheated the rice. With that chaotic radish soup, it barely counted as a meal.

Having a master like this, I was destined to become this kind of reluctantly competent housekeeper. The food was just average, but at least I was fast, so it was acceptable.

Just after I finished cooking, the three of them came back. Hu Xueman did not look too badly treated, aside from messy hair and beard.

“Eat, eat,” Old Man Jiang said cheerfully.

“Egg custard, perfect for an old man’s stomach,” Hui Jue said, already scooping a spoonful into his mouth.

“San Wa Er is really capable,” Hu Xueman said as he served himself a bowl of rice.

“I spent about forty minutes cooking. Where did you all go? Don’t tell me you were discussing that Operation 5 again. Do you even have any shame? Bullying a kid into cooking?” I said angrily. What kind of people were these?

“Ahem… ahem… too much ginger in the fish, a bit spicy,” Old Man Jiang coughed.

Damn it. In Sichuan, you can eat hot chili without a problem, and you are calling this spicy?

“Ahem… ahem… the egg custard is too hot,” Hui Jue coughed.

Are you kidding me? You just pulled it out of the pot and ate two eggs in less than a minute, and now it is suddenly too hot?

Hu Xueman looked around, then quickly shoveled a few big mouthfuls of rice before coughing as well. “Ahem… ahem… I am allergic to dry rice. I need porridge.”

I silently put down my chopsticks and said calmly, “Fine, fine. This food is really terrible anyway. I cannot eat it either. Might as well dump it.”

As I spoke, I grabbed Hui Jue’s egg custard and picked up Old Man Jiang’s steamed fish, pretending I was about to throw them away.

At the same time, I threatened Hu Xueman, “Hu auntie, try eating a bite of rice. Go on, try it! I have trained martial arts since childhood and I have never fought anyone before.”

Hu Xueman choked hard this time and spat rice everywhere. A mouthful landed on Hui Jue’s bald head, but he was still focused on his egg custard and had not noticed.

“Stop, stop, it is just a bit hot,” Hui Jue said, grabbing my arm.

“Yes, yes, San Wa Er, your master and I are just old men. We are counting on a bit of fish for nutrition,” Old Man Jiang also said quickly.

Hu Xueman struggled for a long time before finally saying, “San Wa Er, I am starving. It is just Operation 5, I…”

Both Old Man Jiang and Hui Jue turned to glare at him at the same time. Hu Xueman immediately shrank his neck and raised his hands above his head, not daring to speak anymore.

“Master, you figure it out. If you do not explain Operation 5 today, I will dump this food even if I starve myself,” I said fiercely, letting out a cold laugh.

“Fine, fine, we surrender. Sit down and eat,” Old Man Jiang finally gave in. These two old men were extremely lazy. Cooking for themselves? Unless it was absolutely necessary, it was easier to kill them.

“Operation 5 refers to the operation code. It is the fifth major incident in this area that required state intervention, so it was simply named Operation 5,” Old Man Jiang explained after swallowing a piece of fish.

I broke into a cold sweat. Who was the genius who just named the fifth incident Operation 5? Compared to spy stories like Operation Tiger Hunt, this sounded completely unremarkable.

“What were the first four incidents?” My curiosity had no limits. It was my biggest weakness.

“The fourth was the bug incident. I do not know the first three. I was not originally responsible for this area. If not for you kid, I would not even have…” He stopped himself mid sentence.

Hu Xueman smiled and said, “That is right. Master Jiang is someone who would never be reassigned to handle a city like this. He is…”

“Hu Big Mouth, shut your mouth. The kid is still young. Why are you running your mouth like this?” Old Man Jiang shot him a glance.

Hu Xueman widened his ox like eyes and looked at Old Man Jiang with an innocent expression. His eyes were watery because he had been choked earlier.

Old Man Jiang shivered and turned his head away with a look like he wanted to vomit.

I was already immune to these tricks after seeing them performed by these two old men so many times. I continued asking, “Master, just tell me what Operation 5 is really about.”

After all, from what I understood, the hungry ghost incident was already resolved. I could not think of anything else left for Operation 5.

“In truth, it is simple. That large Hungry Ghost Tomb is like a bomb. With so many insect eggs inside, it is impossible to guarantee that in the future there will not be one or two people like Guo Er appearing again. So the state decided to clear out the entire Hungry Ghost Tomb. We will go in and eliminate all remaining dangerous objects, then an archaeological team will come to excavate it. That is all,” Old Man Jiang said lightly.

“What?” I was shocked. We are going into the Hungry Ghost Tomb!

A while ago, Su Rou had been pestering me about going into the tomb. I had thought my master would go down himself, but he had never mentioned it at all, so I assumed we were not going anymore.

In my view, since my master had already sealed the tomb and dealt with the hungry ghosts that came out, there was no need to go back in.

More importantly, I had already seen how terrifying the hungry ghosts were. Just thinking about the dense mass of ghost eggs inside the tomb made my scalp tingle.

“What are you acting so surprised for? This is an extremely dangerous matter. We must deal with it,” Old Man Jiang said irritably, glancing at me.

“Master, you are planning to take me with you, right?” I asked carefully.

“If I planned to take you, I would not have hidden it from you,” Old Man Jiang raised his eyebrow and looked at me with clear disdain.

I got angry and slammed the table, but one glare from him made me deflate again.

“Master, just take me with you. With you protecting me, what danger could there be?” I started acting shamelessly.

But he did not even look at me. From his attitude, I could tell there was little hope.

“Hu Xueman, I have roughly told you the plan. But there is one person who must be informed. Have you contacted them?” Old Man Jiang asked.

“It has already been reported to the higher ups. It should have been notified by now. We just do not know whether they will show up,” Hu Xueman replied seriously.