SAYE [Run Freely]

Chapter 25

Translate: Sae | Proofread: freezing-slowly/anasofia1317

This room was the reception room of the former steel mill, and it came with a bathroom. Even though this place was abandoned, it still had an owner; there was always water, so back then, the first room that Li Yan snatched was this room.

This place appeared quite desolate, but it was actually pretty lively—save for the time when the weather around the mill was warm. It was not like nobody came around this area, it was just that those who wanted to find a place to idle around like them weren't as quick to come.

Gu Fei didn't come here often, but he wanted to invite Jiang Cheng out for a meal today. He didn't want to be too far away from home and with no decent restaurant nearby, he thought of coming here when Jiang Cheng said that it didn't matter.

"There's no heater?" Jiang Cheng sat on the sofa and stomped his feet.

"Make your own fire." Gu Fei took the lighter from the table and tossed it over to him, "There's a bag of coal to the side of the sofa, find some rags outside, and... can you make a fire?"

"I can." Jiang Cheng got up and went out; after two seconds, he suddenly knocked his whole body violently against the door and entered, holding a rag in his hand with and wearing a stiff expression.

Gu Fei, who was holding a bag of disposable plates and separating the food, was startled by the sudden move. "What's wrong?"

"Fuck," Jiang Cheng pinched the rag with two fingernails. "I just picked up this thing... there was actually a dead rat underneath! Scared the shit out of me!!"

"And you still held onto it that firmly?" Gu Fei didn't quite understand it.

"I thought that it was useful, so I..." Jiang Cheng threw the rag into the brick stove, "That should be enough to keep it going."

"You could have just walked ten more steps and find something else to light the fire, the kind with no dead rat underneath." Gu Fei continued to move the food onto the plates.

"It's too freaking cold. I don't want to move." Jiang Cheng squatted in front of the stove, "I think I've gotten used to it since the pots at Li Baoguo's place have cockroaches in them."

"He usually doesn't cook since he's too busy gambling to care about food," Gu Fei said.

"I can tell," Jiang Cheng lit that rag, "If we're talking about a place to sleep then he could probably also sell his home."

"It can't be sold," Gu Fei took the pot and washed it under the faucet in the bathroom before he carried out a pot of water. "The buildings have been the mill's right from the start; the majority of the people here are so poor that all they have are themselves."[1]

"... oh." Jiang Cheng added two lumps of coal in the fire. He stared at it, seemingly entranced.

After the coal was ready, Gu Fei placed the pot of water on the stove then smashed two pieces of ginger and threw them in, followed by a small packet of wolfberry and jujube.

"Are you making soup?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Mm," Jiang Cheng took the lid. "Do you like eating soup or eating meat?"

"... what do you mean?" Jiang Cheng looked at him, a bit perplexed. "You're cooking a pot of chicken and then only let me choose between eating soup or eating meat?"

Gu Fei sighed, "It's not that. If the chicken meat is placed in cold water, the soup will be thicker, and it will taste better. If you place the chicken in when the water is boiling, the chicken will taste better."