Chapter 286: Chapter 286
Sister Zhou felt it made sense and nodded in agreement. "Fair point, indeed."
Seeing that Sister Zhou so readily agreed with his explanation, Su Yan just smiled and said no more. In fact, he had not told Sister Zhou the most important thing—that the Creature Level of the old man from the ancient mansion had reached a Half-step Epic Level. What is there to fear about a creature of this level having malicious thoughts? After all, Monster Hunters who choose to hunt in these suburbs generally don’t have high Creature Levels. Otherwise, why would they bother hunting low-level Solitary Ghosts here when they could go to a Chaotic Graveyard, dense with Yin Energy, to hunt Advanced Yin entities?
The master of the ancient mansion walked unhurriedly from the kitchen, carrying two plates of pastries. One plate held water chestnut cakes, the other cookies—an oddly combined Eastern and Western style dessert. "Please, have some pastries," the master of the ancient mansion said, placing the two plates on the dining table and gesturing for Su Yan and Sister Zhou to eat. He then walked to the host’s seat at the far end of the dining table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
""Then I’ll help myself." Su Yan, showing no hesitation, picked up a piece of water chestnut cake and began to eat. This water chestnut cake seems a bit off. The flavor is bland, and the texture is too soft, almost like it was made by a novice.
After swallowing the water chestnut cake, Su Yan picked up a cookie and started to eat. He found it strange. These cookies aren’t much good either. Their flavor is too strong, and their texture is too hard, like a newbie made them.
Su Yan was somewhat surprised by this. Then he smiled and said, "Old Hao, your skills are truly remarkable! The cookies and water chestnut cake you’ve made are much tastier than those sold outside. You must have been doing this for many years, right?" The source of this content ɪs NovєlFіre.net
Upon hearing Su Yan’s praise, Sister Zhou, who was eating a water chestnut cake, raised an eyebrow, thinking, Su Yan is quite good at delivering flattering remarks.
Hearing this, the master of the ancient mansion, seated at the head of the table, nodded with a smile. "Yes, ever since settling down in this ancient mansion, I usually make pastries like water chestnut cakes and cookies when I have nothing else to do. All things considered, it’s been about seventeen or eighteen years, so I guess they’re passable."
"Exactly, practice makes perfect," Su Yan agreed, nodding. He then looked at a group photo of four people hanging on the wall. "Old Hao, is that group photo on the wall of you with your grandchildren?"
He knew they were the three orphans Old Hao had adopted but still feigned ignorance.
Old Hao replied with a touch of nostalgia, "Not grandchildren. They were three children I adopted from an orphanage when I moved here." As he spoke, Old Hao seemed to reminisce about pleasant past memories, looking at the photo on the wall as he continued, "When I adopted the three siblings, they didn’t have proper names, only being called Big One, Second One, and Third One, which didn’t sound very nice. On the day of the adoption, I gave them new names. The youngest sister was named Hao Tian, the second brother Hao Huo, and the third brother—COUGH... COUGH! COUGH!"
At this point, the master of the ancient mansion suddenly started coughing vigorously.
"Old Hao, are you okay?" Sister Zhou asked with concern. She greatly admired and respected this warm and hospitable retired senior.
"A small issue, nothing to worry about," Old Hao said with a smile. He then poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip to soothe his throat. He looked at the photo on the wall, as if it brought back certain memories. Suddenly, his expression turned somber. "Sadly, these three children had hard lives. They all inherited heart disease and passed away before they could fully grow up. The third one left us first, just in the second year after arriving. Both his brothers cried until their eyes were swollen. Then, after a few years, the second one followed. Truly pitiful children," the master of the ancient mansion said sorrowfully.
For some reason, while he mentioned the two children who died young, he conspicuously omitted the eldest, who had passed away just last month.
""My condolences." Su Yan didn’t know what else to say, so he could only offer these words of comfort. Then, quite abruptly, he asked, "By the way, Old Hao, I’ve recently heard that there may be a Half-step Epic Level Shadow Object lurking around here. Is that true?""
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