[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-unorthodox-sword-of-ming":3,"chapter-the-unorthodox-sword-of-ming-the-unorthodox-sword-of-ming-chapter-955":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Unorthodox Sword of Ming",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2338160,4570,"Chapter 955: Please Have Dinner With Us","the-unorthodox-sword-of-ming-chapter-955",955,"\u003Cp>Pan Yun had only been watching, but as she watched longer, she sensed something amiss and stopped in her tracks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Miao Zhen nearly collided with her and also halted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Miao He landed on their backs and asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun looked up at the sky, rubbed her stomach, and said, “I’m hungry. Let’s head to the village ahead, find a household to stop and cook, and ask for a bowl of water.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The group walked another fifteen minutes before seeing smoke rising.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Turning off the main road onto a side path led them to a village after a short stretch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Children ran out from the village, holding wooden sticks and wooden swords; seeing them, they waved their sticks and swords, blocking their path and shouting, “Who are you? State your names!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Miao He found them amusing, bowed, and smiled, “I am Miao He, traveling with my senior brother and sister. We seek only a bowl of water.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The children burst into laughter, their serious demeanor crumbling instantly; they stepped aside and rushed to the cart, saying, “Want water? Come drink at my house!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Come to mine! Mine has water just drawn from the well!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The group was ushered into the village by the children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Along the way into the village, not a single adult or elder was to be seen—not even older children; only eight- or nine-year-olds led younger ones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One boy, around eight, pushed open his wooden door, ran into the courtyard, scooped a spoonful of water, and handed it to Miao He.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Miao He took out a bamboo tube to catch the water and asked, “Where are your parents?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The children grew alert, immediately clustering together and glaring at her: “Why ask about adults?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Miao He said, “We’d like to borrow your kitchen to cook lunch.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The children frowned: “Lunch? It’s still too early to eat.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We only eat when the sun reaches that tree,” one child said, pointing to the treetop on the west side—their marker for time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun looked up at the tree he pointed to and realized they ate only two meals a day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun pulled out a small sack of rice: “We want to steam some rice and cook a dish. We’ve been traveling and may not stop until dark, so we need a proper lunch.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The children stared at the small cloth bag in her hand, exchanged glances, then ran off; soon, the eight-year-old boy returned from his kitchen with a stove and a pot: “You can’t enter our kitchen, but here—take this.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun smiled: “Perfect—I have a pot and stove too, enough for us, but we’re short on firewood.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One child dragged a bundle of firewood in from outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun nodded to Miao He and Tao Yan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They untied the firewood, borrowed water from the village’s water jar, washed the entire sack of rice in the boy’s large pot, added water, and set it on the stove to boil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Miao Zhen took out their own pot and placed it on another stove.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their stove and pot were both smaller.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun went outside, and a trail of curious children followed her as she rummaged through the cart; soon she pulled out a strip of cured meat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She said, “A dish needs meat to taste good.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone saw the meat and swallowed hard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun pulled out twelve eggs as if by magic from another cloth bag: “But boiled meat with plain water is bland—let’s add eggs. Too bad we have no greens.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A girl immediately stepped forward: “I have bok choy at home!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun’s eyes lit up: “That’s wonderful.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl sprinted toward her family’s vegetable patch: “I’ll go pick some!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She returned with one large bok choy—truly huge, bigger than Pan Yun’s head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She tore off the outer two leaves, broke the rest apart, washed them, didn’t chop them, just tore them into chunks by hand. Nearby, Miao Zhen had already sliced the cured meat thinly with a knife.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun glanced and said, “Too bad we have no ginger or garlic sprouts.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The children, watching Miao Zhen slice meat, had their ears perked up; one said, “I have ginger! Er Yong, don’t you have lots of garlic at home?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I do, but my grandma won’t let anyone pull any—she scolds whoever does.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you pull it, she won’t scold you. Go get one quick, or the meat won’t taste right.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Er Yong swallowed hard, saw his friends running off, and followed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, ginger and garlic sprouts arrived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pot’s water boiled; Pan Yun dropped in ginger slices, tossed in all the sliced meat, boiled it a long while until fragrance and oil rose, then slowly poured in the eggs. After finishing, she sighed: “Oh no—we forgot salt.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The eight-year-old boy rushed into the kitchen and returned with a pinch of salt, placed it in his palm, walked to the pot, and poured it in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun shook her head: “Not enough.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The boy hesitated: “More than this, my mother will notice.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other children who hadn’t yet contributed raised their hands: “I have salt too!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They ran home, mimicked the boy’s gesture, took a pinch each, returned to the courtyard, and poured their pinches into the pot together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun watched, smiling, and nodded: “That’s enough.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She gently stirred the eggs in the pot and asked, “Won’t your parents notice you taking salt?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The children patted their chests confidently: “Just a pinch—when Mom finds out, she’ll think we used it to dip fruit, never guess we gave it to you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun nodded in satisfaction and asked, “Is salt hard to get?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Very hard. Adults only buy us one small jar at a time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun: “Who are these adults?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Adults are adults—they’re our masters,” one boy said. “When we grow up, we’ll be their soldiers, farming for them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun: “Are your parents farming for these adults too?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. My grandfather and great-grandfather farmed for them too.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The aroma grew stronger; the rice in the big pot also released its fragrance. Miao He lifted the lid and stirred repeatedly; as the water reduced, he pulled out the firewood, letting the rice steam with residual embers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun kept watching the rice pot; when she saw it was ready, she dropped in the garlic sprouts, waited a moment, then tossed in all the torn bok choy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the pot was too small—she couldn’t fit it all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun didn’t insist; she stirred the greens, waited until the bok choy softened and released water, stirred again, flipped the meat and eggs from the bottom, then sighed: “Oh no—we have no bowls or chopsticks.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The children jumped up excitedly, chattering: “I have bowls! I have chopsticks!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun smiled and asked them to fetch four sets of bowls and chopsticks, saying gently, “You’ve contributed ingredients and effort—this meal is partly yours. Would you like to eat with us?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The children happily agreed and ran home to fetch bowls and chopsticks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun moved the fire aside, lifted the rice pot’s lid; Miao He served each child a full bowl of white rice. When everyone had rice and gathered around the stew pot, no one moved their chopsticks—they all looked to Pan Yun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pan Yun smiled, picked up a bite of food, nodded, and said, “Mmm, delicious. Everyone, eat.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The children cheered and immediately began eating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The older ones cared for the younger; even two-year-olds had meat and eggs placed in their bowls by their older siblings, who ate with their hands, thoroughly enjoying every bite.\u003C\u002Fp>",1260,"2026-06-20T22:04:01.137Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","156602cc91c4d61be45f043898494d8ae0ce68371ed486010ab1c56daceefb66","the-unorthodox-sword-of-ming-chapter-956","the-unorthodox-sword-of-ming-chapter-954",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-unorthodox-sword-of-ming-cover.jpg"]