Chapter 134: Ding Lao

What is cheese? There are many opinions regarding cheese, if someone were to ask a layman. They might say that cheese is something we put on pizza, or the thing that makes pizza great and cheeseburgers popular.

But to Wei Chen, as the child of a chef in his previous life and a devoted cheese lover, cheese was far more than that.

To him, cheese was like one of the four great discoveries and inventions that defined human civilization.

It stood on the same tier as the discovery of fire, the invention of the wheel, the creation of writing, and lastly, the discovery of cheese.

It should be said that if there were a Nobel Prize in Culinary Transcendence, the first human who put milk into a waterproof pouch made from an animal’s stomach, leading to the discovery of cheese curds, would have won it unanimously.

It was a discovery that defined the advancement of modern food and many pastries in the modern age. With cheese, a bad day could turn bright. Without cheese, even the brightest day would darken.

As the saying goes,

One wheel to rule them all,

One taste to bind them,

One cheese to string them all,

and in the stretchiness entwine them.

For Wei Chen, cheese was the meaning of life and the pinnacle of culinary art.

Wei Chen’s eyes were fixed on the bottle in the fatty’s hand. Judging from its color and considering that this might have been a happy accidental invention, the substance inside the bottle had to be mozzarella cheese.

This type of cheese had the highest chance of being created by accident.

On the chubby alchemist’s side, he showed the cheese in the bottle to the merchant, but the merchant showed no interest. He only smelled it once before quickly shooing the chubby alchemist out of his shop.

With no other choice, the chubby alchemist stepped out of the shop. His head drooped in disappointment as he walked away.

Wei Chen quickly finished his order and followed the chubby alchemist, with Max trailing behind him.

….

As the chubby alchemist wandered the streets in disappointment over his failure, he walked along while letting out a long sigh.

“Haaaa… I failed again today. At this rate, how am I going to pay the rent?” the fatty complained listlessly as he walked.

The chubby alchemist was named Ding Lao. He was once an outer disciple of the renowned Golden Cauldron Sect, but due to his low aptitude in pill making, he could not maintain his position.

One might ask how he managed to enter the sect in the first place.

That was because his grandfather was once an elder within the Golden Cauldron Sect, and his father was also a core disciple of the sect who had been personally tutored by the Golden Cauldron Sage himself.

That was why a talentless person like him was able to enter the sect.

Honestly, he was not an ambitious man, and he acknowledged his own deficiencies. If nothing else, he was satisfied with being an outer disciple. Even though the treatment there was not as good as that of inner disciples, he was content.

Because of the high status of both his grandfather and his father, no one dared to bully him.

However, one fateful day changed everything. During an outing to a secret realm years ago, both his father and grandfather died within that secret realm. Even their corpses were never found.

The Golden Cauldron Sage, the sect master of the Golden Cauldron Sect, promised to take care of him, but the promises were never kept.

That was because when Ding Lao tried to uncover the truth behind the deaths of his father and grandfather, he was expelled from the sect after becoming a scapegoat in a sect scandal.

Thus, he was brought to his current situation.

He tried to live his life as an alchemist, as it was the only thing he could do. His cultivation followed the path of pill cultivation and the Pill Dao. If he could not concoct pills of higher quality, he could not advance. Even now, his cultivation was only at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.

Because he was expelled from the sect, all the benefits that should have been his were withheld indefinitely. Even now, he did not expect to get them back. Who would listen to an ant who was only at the Foundation Establishment realm?

The wealth that he should have had was cheated from him by an inner disciple who promised to help him.

As for his remaining wealth and current debts, they came from his attempts to deepen his understanding of alchemy. That was why he tried his best to discover new recipes for low tier pills, and why he often wandered around the herbal district.

The shop owner he had argued with earlier was the last friend who decided to help him out of pity.

He walked into a wealthy district. Many pedestrians there dressed in luxurious and opulent clothes. They gave him a wide berth as he passed, afraid that his smell might cling to them.

He entered a large estate, a dilapidated one. Many of the buildings and courtyards had fallen into disrepair, and overgrown shrubs and plants had already overtaken the area.

He walked toward a simple courtyard filled with plants and herbs that he had grown himself. He finally arrived home and sat down on a chair near the bookshelves.

“Haaaaa… at this rate, maybe I should go to the Thousand Treasure Hall and become a doorman. At least I would have money to pay the rent and my debts,” he sighed as he thought about the future.

This home was Ding Lao’s family ancestral ground. He would do his best to preserve it, or die trying.

“What the hell, Max! Do not piss on other people’s homegrown plants like that! It is disgusting!”

A voice sounded from the garden. Ding Lao looked in that direction and decided to take a look. He placed the book he had intended to study onto the table and walked out.

In the garden, he saw a man dressed in black clothes and a large Heavenly Fire Wolf that was peeing on his homegrown herb bed.

“Who… who are you?” Ding Lao asked, drawing the attention of the man in black.

“Oh, sorry! Sorry!” The man quickly apologized as he bowed and smacked the Heavenly Fire Wolf’s backside in an attempt to stop it, but it continued peeing on the garden.

Why was he so unlucky today? His last friend who had helped him seemed to have had enough of him, and now a Heavenly Fire Wolf was peeing on his garden bed. Did he need to replant the entire row? Ding Lao complained inwardly, but he did not dare voice it out loud.

Ding Lao looked at the stranger in his garden. It was undoubtedly Wei Chen, but Ding Lao did not recognize him.

That was because Ding Lao rarely went out. He either spent his time at home tending his garden, studying alchemy, or doing his best to concoct pills to sell at the market.

“Hi… my name is Wei Chen. I saw you at the market trying to sell that… thing. The white, creamy looking substance. I was interested in it.” Wei Chen got straight to the point. He was not afraid that this fatty would try to raise the price. In this world, something like cheese would not be valued much.

Hearing that the man in front of him was interested in his invention, Ding Lao was surprised, and hope rose in his eyes. However, a moment later, it was quickly replaced by caution. He did not want to be cheated again. The last time someone said they were interested in his invention, they only came to cheat him out of his money, calling it an investment.

“Yeah? How much do I have to pay for the… advance investment this time?” Ding Lao asked, his voice full of cynicism.

“What? Investment? What are you talking about?” Wei Chen asked in confusion.

“Heh… do not try to fool me. I know your type. Come on, faking surprise like that. Tell me, is this a new kind of trick?” Ding Lao said.

Listening to the cynicism in the fatty’s voice, Wei Chen finally understood. This guy must have been scammed before.

“Look, buddy…” Wei Chen gestured with his hands, opening his arms to show his sincerity.

“I do not know who scammed you before, or what kind of terrible experience you had. The only reason I am here is because of that thing in the bottle that you showed to the shop owner who shooed you away,” Wei Chen said.

“Huh?” This time, it was Ding Lao’s turn to be confused. “You are interested in savory and yummy slime?”

“Ugh… please stop calling it that. It brings back horrible memories for me,” Wei Chen said, his mouth twitching.

Ding Lao was confused. What kind of bad memory was this guy talking about? He thought about it briefly before handing the bottle with the cheese-like substance to Wei Chen.

“Even though it is my new invention, I do not think it is anything great. You can help yourself,” Ding Lao said as he handed over the bottle.

“Gracious, buddy.” Wei Chen took the bottle with a smile, then uncorked it and took a sniff.

This… this fragrance of milky, creamy butter, mixed with herbaceous and slightly fruity notes… it was… truly mozzarella cheese. Premium grade at that. I hit the jackpot!

While Wei Chen was marveling at the fragrance of the cheese, the fatty Ding Lao noticed a group of people walking into his courtyard from afar. All of them were from the Money Gang, the debt collection gang, his main creditors.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep