Running a Food Stall to Support My Deceptive Omega - Chapter 24.1

Mu Jinyu stood frozen for a breath before she realized what Rong Heng meant.

Rong Heng was saying that she smelled very fragrant.

But that scent… was her pheromones…

Mu Jinyu’s face turned red with a “poof.” She scratched her cheek, touched her nose, and then tightly intertwined her fingers.

She was completely at a loss for what to do.

She felt incredibly awkward standing there. Inside the room, the air was thick with a mixture of pheromones; Rong Heng lay on the bed with an almost well-behaved air, still remarking that her pheromones smelled good. Outside, the night was cold and desolate. Even though only a single door separated the two places, Mu Jinyu felt they were worlds apart.

Rong Heng’s way of speaking was too direct. Just like when they had marked each other—it was very direct.

This wouldn’t do.

Flushed with embarrassment, Mu Jinyu took a step back and turned her back, not daring to look at Rong Heng. She stammered in confusion, “You still have to bathe. If you don’t bathe, you don’t get dinner.”

She felt her words were a bit harsh, but she didn’t mean it; she just wanted Rong Heng to be obedient.

But Rong Heng got angry.

Rong Heng, who had been lying on her back, flipped over and sat up. The movement was so large that the little colorful civet cat lying next to her was also flipped over; it sat up with its head tilted, looking dazed, not knowing what had happened.

Rong Heng’s sharp, upturned eyes glared at Mu Jinyu’s back, as if trying to bore a hole through it. If these eyes belonged to the Rong Heng who hadn’t lost her memory, they would be a lethal weapon—one look could make a person tremble, feeling that their death was imminent. But on the amnesiac Rong Heng, it looked like a child playing with a knife; no matter how one looked at it, there was no deterrence.

Mu Jinyu didn’t sense at all that the other person was about to stare a hole through her back. She pressed her fingers, chilled by the night air, against her cheeks, trying to cool down her burning face.

How could she be reduced to this by a single sentence from Rong Heng? She was being too unsteady. As expected, the influence of the marking was still too great.

She urged Rong Heng again to hurry and bathe. Although displeased, Rong Heng still followed her instructions and walked toward the storage room in a huff.

Mu Jinyu’s words made no sense to her; she clearly smelled fragrant, yet she wasn’t being given food. Moreover, this fragrance was Mu Jinyu’s own scent!

In the storage room, Rong Heng soaked in the wooden tub, her silky black hair draped over the edge, her face half-buried in the water. She blew bubbles—gulu gulu—feeling extremely depressed.

She wanted to cling to Mu Jinyu every day; the scent on Mu Jinyu was pleasant and helped her sleep well. But every time Mu Jinyu left, the scent on her own body dissipated quickly, vanishing in no time. It was never like now, where she was covered in Mu Jinyu’s scent, lingering no matter how far she was from the woman.

Rong Heng’s hands splashed the surface of the water—huala huala—sending water flying everywhere until the floor was soaked. She was very dissatisfied and didn’t even bathe properly. When she emerged from the tub, the edges of her wounds had turned white and curled from the soaking.

She didn’t feel much pain. After putting on her clothes, she walked out angrily.

At that moment, Mu Jinyu was opening the doors and windows to ventilate the room and was replacing the bedding with fresh linens. The scent in the room had vanished, leaving no trace of that chaotic aura.

Just as she felt relieved that everything was back on track, she turned around and met the gaze of a soaking-wet Rong Heng. Her long black hair clung to her body like seaweed, and her white clothes were plastered against her skin. With every step she took, there was a dida dida sound of dripping water. Her eyes glared with dissatisfaction, looking quite terrifying.

Mu Jinyu’s amber eyes widened for a moment as she suppressed the thought that Rong Heng looked like a water ghost. She hurried to Rong Heng’s side. “How did you get yourself like this?”

“Come here, let me dry you. Don’t catch a cold.”

The night air was heavy and damp; if Rong Heng stayed wet like this, she might get sick from the wind. She pulled Rong Heng into the room, found dry clothes and a towel, and handed them to her. “I’ll go out first. Change into these yourself and call me when you’re done.”

Rong Heng tilted her head, showing no intention of cooperating.

Mu Jinyu paced around anxiously and said gently, “What I said before doesn’t count. I will definitely let you eat, and you’ll be full. It was my fault for speaking too harshly. Don’t be mad at me anymore.”

She thought Rong Heng was angry because of her harsh words.

Rong Heng, who had turned her head away, turned back and looked at the person in front of her with blinking eyes. She found it strange—why was Mu Jinyu’s temper suddenly so good? Before, the woman wouldn’t even acknowledge her or speak to her, let alone say so much now.

The anger in Rong Heng’s heart dissipated, and she began to take off her wet clothes. A patch of snowy-white collarbone was revealed, making the tooth marks on her neck appear even deeper and redder.

Mu Jinyu let out an “ah,” tripped over her own feet, and fled the room.

Rong Heng didn’t know what was wrong with Mu Jinyu. She simply focused on drying the water from her body and putting on clean clothes, wanting to find Mu Jinyu in the courtyard immediately. Instead, she was pushed back into the room by Mu Jinyu to dry her hair and lie back on the bed.

Rong Heng had injuries, and Mu Jinyu felt uneasy seeing the wounds that had been soaked white. She had clearly told Rong Heng to keep the water away from those injuries, but Rong Heng hadn’t listened. Were her words too heavy?

She took out the remaining medicine and carefully applied it to Rong Heng. Once all the wounds were treated, only the injury on the scent gland remained… Mu Jinyu’s fingers paused, feeling a bit embarrassed to touch Rong Heng’s gland. She had bitten too hard; she shouldn’t have been so ruthless.

Mu Jinyu shifted her gaze slightly. After a deep breath, her fingers carefully dabbed the ointment and pressed it against the wound.

Upon being touched, Rong Heng’s body trembled. Her gaze, which had been fixed on the little colorful civet cat, shifted to Mu Jinyu. Mu Jinyu didn’t dare meet her eyes, focusing instead on applying the medicine bit by bit.

A floral scent seemed to waft through the room again. Rong Heng turned fully toward her, and at some point, her fingers hooked into Mu Jinyu’s hair, twining it into slight curls. The two of them seemed to draw closer.

Mu Jinyu’s touch became even more gentle, caressing Rong Heng’s scent gland over and over. The already red and swollen area became even redder and more sensitive.

Rong Heng let out a muffled groan, her eyes momentarily dazed as she looked at Mu Jinyu. The floral scent was heavy, and the scent of wood was exceptionally strong. It was so fragrant… so fragrant.

She couldn’t help but lean closer to Mu Jinyu, wrapping her hands around Mu Jinyu’s neck and pressing her lips forward. At moments like this, she knew best what she wanted. She wanted more of that fragrance, more of the parasol tree scent. She wanted to coil around the parasol tree, clinging to it.

Rong Heng’s porcelain-white face grew larger in Mu Jinyu’s eyes; her lips were very red, and their breaths became intertwined. Just as they were about to touch…

Mu Jinyu bit the tip of her tongue sharply. She suddenly snapped awake and fell back onto the floor, using both hands and feet to scramble away from Rong Heng.

This shouldn’t be happening. It shouldn’t be like this. They couldn’t just get entangled like this for no reason; it was too strange. Besides, it was unfair to Rong Heng. If Rong Heng ever regained her memory… she would chop her to pieces!

She knew that their pheromones had been unstable these past few days and would go out of control, so they had to be extremely careful. She put away the medicine, opened the doors and windows wide, and pulled out two quilts from the wardrobe. One was spread on the floor as a mat, and the other was for her to cover herself.

Mu Jinyu didn’t sleep as much as Rong Heng; she had been tired all day and was exhausted by now. But she couldn’t sleep in the same bed as Rong Heng, yet she couldn’t stay too far away either. This was the only way.

Before falling asleep, Mu Jinyu specifically told Rong Heng to play by herself for a while and not to wake her up. Rong Heng lay at the edge of the bed, her pure eyes watching Mu Jinyu on the floor for a long, long time.

The next day, Mu Jinyu slept until the sun was high in the sky before slowly waking up. Rong Heng, having played with the civet cat until dawn, had only been asleep for a short while, but she woke up along with Mu Jinyu.

The atmosphere between them had changed slightly. Mu Jinyu still felt a bit awkward facing Rong Heng, while Rong Heng was happily teasing the civet cat in the courtyard. She discovered that she still carried Mu Jinyu’s scent. It turned out that even after bathing and changing clothes, she was emitting the scent of the parasol tree from within. This made her heart leap with joy, and she had long since forgiven Mu Jinyu for her actions last night.

After washing up, Mu Jinyu went out and bought pork, vegetables, and special sachets designed to mask the pheromones of Alphas and Omegas. She called Rong Heng over and carefully placed a sachet on her. These sachets were indeed magical; when she held them in her hand, the fragrance was incredibly sharp—not necessarily bad, but certainly not pleasant. However, once worn by someone emitting pheromones, the scent would neutralize with the pheromones, becoming faint and inconspicuous.

Once they both put them on, Mu Jinyu felt the courtyard was much fresher; her mind no longer seemed to be pulled by Rong Heng every second. Rong Heng, on the other hand, didn’t like the sachet because she could no longer smell Mu Jinyu’s scent.

“Wear it, and I’ll make you something delicious,” Mu Jinyu said with a slight smile on her face. “Crispy and fragrant garlic pork cubes. Do you really want to just watch me eat?”

Garlic pork cubes? Rong Heng didn’t know what that was, but she definitely couldn’t just watch Mu Jinyu eat. The hand that was about to pull off the sachet was forced to stay obediently at her side. Rong Heng followed closely behind Mu Jinyu, her eyes darting around as she tried to see how the dish was made.

Seeing her curiosity, Mu Jinyu’s eyes crinkled with laughter, making her oval face look round. She put the fresh plum meat she had bought into a bowl and sprinkled a large amount of spices, including green onions, ginger, garlic, and soy sauce to remove the gaminess and enhance the flavor.

Plum meat is from the shoulder blade area of the pig. This cut of meat has fat and lean meat interwoven, red and white mixed like plum blossoms blooming in the snow, which is why it’s called plum meat. Because pigs frequently move their shoulder blades, plum meat is considered one of the most tender parts of the pig.

Pork wasn’t very popular in the Great Rong Kingdom because of the raising methods and the fact that the pigs weren’t castrated, resulting in a heavy gamey smell. To make a meal out of pork, one had to use a large amount of spices to get rid of the smell. Spices were extremely expensive for ordinary families; people would rather endure the gamey smell than spend so much silver to de-odorize the meat. However, since Mu Jinyu had eaten pork the most in her previous life, it was her first choice in this life. As for the spices, she was somewhat wealthy now and could afford to treat herself occasionally.

While marinating the plum meat, Mu Jinyu made eight or nine dough balls using flour and sugar, sprinkled a layer of flour on them, and set them aside to rise. She planned to make some flatbreads later. She marinated the two large pieces of plum meat three times until the smell was completely gone before moving to the next step.

She heated oil in a pan and, once hot, placed the two large pieces of plum meat in to fry. Plum meat is mostly lean with bits of fat in between; the texture is not only springy but also very oily and smooth, making it highly palatable. While frying in the pan, the oil sizzled and jumped, causing the plum meat to quickly turn golden and crispy.

Mu Jinyu removed the meat, cut it into small cubes, and then put it back into the pan for a second fry, ensuring the inside was also completely crispy. By this time, the aroma of the meat had already begun to waft out. The scent floated toward Rong Heng like a thread. Rong Heng couldn’t help herself; she followed the smell to the stove, nearly using her chopsticks to steal a piece of meat from the pan.

Mu Jinyu pushed her away slightly and told her to wait aside. Once the meat was thoroughly fried, Mu Jinyu cleaned the pan, reheated oil, and added the finely chopped garlic. She slowly fried the garlic over a small flame to bring out its aroma and added three spoons of soy sauce to season it. After that, she added all the small cubes of plum meat back into the pan to continue frying.

During this third fry, all the fat in the plum meat was rendered out, making the meat even crispier and more fragrant without being greasy. Garlic pork cubes were simple to make, but a dish made with plenty of oil and meat tasted exceptionally good.

As the garlic pork cubes were ready, the dough balls Mu Jinyu had set aside were also finished rising. Without using oil, she placed the dough balls in the pan and slowly fried them over low heat until both sides were golden brown. This was a type of food from the Shu region called “Hungao,” also known as fermented flatbread. Its texture was dry, fluffy, and soft, with a sandy mouthfeel from the flour, making it very special.

While the flatbreads were cooking, Mu Jinyu busied herself making a cold salad with cucumbers, lettuce, and carrots. Eating too many garlic pork cubes could be heavy, so adding the soft flatbreads and refreshing cold salad would perfectly balance the greasiness.

Rong Heng, who had been waiting impatiently, couldn’t help but steal a piece of meat while helping to bring the dishes to the table. As she bit into the crispy meat cube, the kacha kacha sound of crunchiness came first, followed by the dense lean meat and the slight fattiness mixed within. The meat quality was fine, the oil was abundant, and the combination of garlic and meat flavors was rich, conquering Rong Heng in a single bite. Her slightly upturned, sharp eyes widened. After chewing a few times, she quickly swallowed and prepared to eat another piece.

Mu Jinyu walked past her with the flatbreads and salad, reminding her, “Eat at the table.”

“Mm-hm.”