Chapter 146

Chapter 146

Shen Youlin circled the kitchen with firewood and stuffed some dry straw and withered leaves for kindling.

"Isn't this a bit too much?" Yu Shu said as she handed him the lighter.

Shen Youlin's bodyguards kept a group of Taoist nuns at a distance, not allowing them to approach. A few nuns hesitated, looking at the two of them doing evil deeds, hating themselves for being unable to rid the world of these scourges.

Shen Youlin had a bright idea: "Yeah, it's a bit too much, the firewood will just be wasted!"

"I'm craving lamb skewers!"

Shen Youlin shouted loudly, "Do we have any sheep? Let's roast a whole sheep."

"No."

Yu Shu asked, "Do we have any wild chickens or anything? Grab them and roast them."

"No."

Shen Youlin: "Do we have any suckling pigs? Get me one!"

"None." An elderly nun replied, "The Taoist Temple doesn't serve meat on regular days."

While Taoism does not explicitly prohibit eating meat, it does promote vegetarianism. The nuns, even if they occasionally ate meat, would only have some light seafood; luxurious meats like whole roasted sheep or suckling pigs were unheard of in the mountains.

Shen Youlin snorted in dissatisfaction, "You all, day after day, don't have this, don't have that. Half of life's pleasures are gone. You might as well just stop eating altogether."

A short-tempered young nun rolled her eyes, "Believe it or not, if you don't, just leave. Don't disturb our ascension."

"Oh my, you want to ascend? Show me how you ascend! Look at those wild chickens on the mountain, they can fly higher than you. You're just a wart-ridden toad splashing in the sea, pretending to be a little seafood."

"You! You! You're simply unreasonable!" The young nun's face flushed red with anger, and she tried to charge at Shen Youlin, but was held back by her martial sisters.

"Oh, you're a nun, you shouldn't lose your temper like that. Look at your face, so white and red..."

As Shen Youlin was speaking, Jiang Han appeared, carrying an antique-looking food box and handing it to Shen Youlin, "Your fried small river fish."

Shen Youlin looked confusedly at the kitchen, then at the food box, "Where did you fry them?"

Jiang Han: "The small kitchen."

Shen Youlin angrily stamped his feet, "Damn it, Jiang Han, you're so inconsiderate. You had a small meal and didn't call me!"

Yu Shu took the food box, "Thank you."

"What did you send?"

"Call me Dad, and I'll tell you."

"Tsk—you've really gone too far, old man. I'm your uncle, your mother's elder brother, you understand? Do you want to get struck by lightning? You wart-ridden toad putting on airs, pretending to be a big bad wolf?!"

Jiang Han calmly watched as Shen Youlin ranted, her expression clearly saying: if you don't call me that, I won't tell you.

After Shen Youlin swore and cursed for a while, he finally, reluctantly, mumbled the word "Dad."

"Good boy." Jiang Han acknowledged him and didn't tease him further. "I sent her the bullet casings from when Jin Maoguo was executed."

"Tsk, I even brought her sister-in-law, but she didn't see her either." Shen Youlin muttered, then asked, "How did she react?"

"She cried and laughed, pulled me in to drink two big jars of wine, and cried out for her father in her dreams."

"Oh."

Jiang Han looked up at the sky, "The badge number I'm using now belonged to her father."

In the police force, if an officer is killed in the line of duty, their badge number is decommissioned until one of their direct descendants becomes an officer and can reactivate the number. Jiang Han was not directly related to Xuan Xingnan, so when she reactivated his badge number, she had to make a special request to Xuan Xingnan's former superiors.

Shen Youlin asked, "What about your parents'?"

Jiang Han's parents were also killed by Jin Maoguo.

"As long as I'm alive, I'm their continuation," Jiang Han stroked her left shoulder, where her badge number would be when wearing her police uniform.

She carried the blood and bones of her parents, the badge number of Xuan Xingnan, and personally arrested Jin Maoguo, witnessing his execution by firing squad.

She brought photos of the three of them to the execution site. After the gunshots rang out, she thought she would be overjoyed, laughing up to the heavens. But she didn't; she shed a single tear for those who had passed.

Shen Youlin patted her shoulder, "All these years, you've really suffered. Uncle will reward you with a roasted lamb leg later."

Jiang Han bargained, "I also want half a roasted suckling pig."

"You'll get fat!"

Jiang Han brought a roasted lamb chop back for Shen Youfei, "Here, your favorite roasted lamb chop. Shen Youlin insisted I bring it back. He said it was seasoned with cumin and chili powder by your sister-in-law. If you don't eat it, he'll never let you hear the end of it."

"Just put it down somewhere."

The roasted lamb chop remained untouched the next day when it was taken out of Shen Youfei's room.