The Three ‘Kings’

After a while, Lin Xiao was once again woken up by a gentle shake. He opened his eyes and saw Long YinLian sitting at the edge of the bed. “Up?” he heard the other’s gentle voice.

“En. Is the congee done now?”

“Mmn. Come on up, I’ll help you,” Long YinLian reached out to help Lin Xiao sit. Once the task was done, he reached out to where he placed the congee before and handed it to Lin Xiao. “Eat up. My three sons will return in a bit.”

“Sons?”

“Mmn. I found them about two years ago when they were still young. Their mom died so I took them in,” Long YinLian answered with a smile.

“Oh,” Lin Xiao ate a spoonful of the congee and the moment it touched his tongue, he froze in place. He took a deep breath several time before finally forcing himself to swallow it. “This… Master Long, how much salt did you add in this?” Lin Xiao asked in a careful, polite manner as to not show any disrespect to the male.

“Hmm? Just a spoonful?” Long YinLian answered. “Why? Is it bad?” as he said this, he reached out his own bowl and ate a mouthful. It didn’t stay in his mouth for long before he spits it out while coughing. “Lin Xiao, don’t eat it! Let’s just wait for my sons to return with their hunt. We’ll eat meat instead,” Long YinLian hastily took the bowl from Lin Xiao. “I might have used the wrong spoon earlier. This occasionally happen. I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright. If you don’t mind, how about letting me look at it so I can… at the very least, fix it?” Lin Xiao hesitantly suggested as he himself isn’t confident that he could save the congee. For one, let alone experience in cooking, he didn’t even have any memories in his mind.

“Alright. Let’s try that,” Long YinLian agreed for a while. He then stood up and helped Lin Xiao to stand. “If it’s too painful to move, just tell me, alright?”

“Don’t worry, Master Long. It’s not as painful anymore. In fact, I feel sore… how long have I been laying down?” Lin Xiao couldn’t help asking as he was supported by Long YinLian to the cooking area.

“Around ten days. The doctor came twice during that time. The first time was on the day I found you, then the second time was around five days after,” Long YinLian said as he continued to lead Lin Xiao. Luckily, he had lived here for a long time, so he already knew by heart the location where he cooks.

Lin Xiao settled down before the pot of congee that was kept warm by the fire underneath. He opened the pot and carefully stirred it with a ladle before scooping it up. Having a small taste, he blanched before looking around the area until he found a jar of water.

“Master Long, is the water in the jar clean?” Lin Xiao asked just to make sure.

“En. The water was picked up earlier and was already boiled. They are clean,” Long YinLian answered.

Hearing that, Lin Xiao didn’t waste any time and quickly poured more water into the congee. He added about two cups of water before he stirred the congee again. He saw few other ingredients such as eggs and mushroom, so he quickly adds those too. After a while he finally felt that the congee should at least be edible and scooped a bit with the ladle to taste it.

“Mmn! Taste better now. Here, Master Long, have a try,” Lin Xiao said as he held the ladle close to Long YinLian’s lips.

Long YinLian parted his lips and he was surprised the salty congee from before can end up tasting like this. “It tastes good. Luckily you managed to save it or else, it would have been a waste to throw it away,” he said with a small laughter.

Lin Xiao scooped more into a small bowl and handed it to Long YinLian before he scooped some for himself. He was just about to eat when three tigers entered the cave, one of them dragging the carcass of a deer. Lin Xiao’s eyes widened and the bowl in his hand dropped to the ground. “M-master… Master Long! T-Tigers!!” Lin Xiao exclaimed in a panicked tone before looking around to find any thing that he can use as a weapon to defend themselves.

“You sound scared. Don’t worry,” Long YinLian said with a chuckle as he called the tigers over. “Wang Lan, Wang Fan, Wang Zan, come over. Did you bring food?” he asked the three tigers.

Upon hearing the tiger’s name, Lin Xiao’s mouth went agape. He stared at the three tigers who obediently walked towards Long YinLian. “Wait… so the three ‘Kings’ you mentioned is…”

“Kings? Ah, you must’ve misunderstood me. ‘Wang’ is just a part of their name. Don’t you think it suits them well? After all, they should be the king of this forest,” Long YinLian said jokingly. “I found them when they were still a small cub. Their mother died because of poachers and they were about to be captured. But I happened to be around and saved them. Knowing that they won’t survive alone, I decided to raise them myself,” Long YinLian explained.

Lin Xiao gazed at the three tigers. They were big, and there was no way he can differentiate the three. But despite their size, they look docile. One of the tigers saw him eyeing him so it approached Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao couldn’t move and when the tiger opened its mouth, Lin Xiao closed his eyes.

‘I’m going to get eaten!’ he thought to himself.

“…”

“…”

“…”

The pain did not come but instead, Lin Xiao felt something wet, and rough running across his cheek. Hesitantly, he opened his eyes to see the tiger staring at him.

“Huh…? Did you just… lick me?” Lin Xiao asked the tiger who happily let out a chuffle before licking Lin Xiao once more.

Long YinLian laughed when he heard Lin Xiao’s confused voice. “That one with you now is called Wang Zan. He’s the youngest… or at least I assume that he is. Seems like he likes you,” Long YinLian said with a smile. “This one here is Wang Lan, the oldest and then here is Wang Fan. Since they’ve brought dinner, I need to apportion them so they can eat. After that, I’ll make some proper dinner for you.”

Long YinLian quickly finished the congee and placed the bowl down. He went with the other two tigers who dragged the deer’s carcass along to a table in the cave. Lin Xiao watched as Long YinLian picked the carcass up onto the table and grabbed a carving knife. He saw how Long YinLian’s hand felt around the carcass before guiding the knife over.

“Master Long… maybe I should do it? It’s dangerous for you to handle the knife…”

“I’ve been doing this for a good year now. Don’t worry.”

Hearing the confidence from Long YinLian’s tone, Lin Xiao didn’t say anything again. He quietly scooped another bowl of congee and ate them quietly. After a while, his curiosity can no longer be contained. “Master Long’s eyes… how did you lose it?” Lin Xiao asked with a slight hesitation.

“My eyes? I was poisoned. At first, it wasn’t that bad at first. But I noticed my vision had slowly becoming worse and a year ago, I completely lose my sight,” Long YinLian answered.

“Do you know… who?” Lin Xiao asked again. This time, Long YinLian didn’t answer for a long time. When he did speak, he had changed the topic.

“Lin Xiao, how would you like your meat? Roasted? Or Braised?”

“I can eat anything you make. So Master Long can just cook however he wants,” Lin Xiao replied.

“Are you sure? Though you don’t remember, your palate may still remember the lavish food you tasted before this,” Long YinLian said as he began to prepare their dinner.

“I’m sure!”

“Alright, then don’t blame me if it doesn’t taste good.”

Few hours later, Lin Xiao eyed the food on his plate. It was… charred. It was a meat, and it is totally charred. He glanced at Long YinLian who ate it as if it’s delicious. ‘Maybe it does not taste bad after all…?’ he thought to himself before he took a bite. He instantly regretted it.

“Master Long… since I will be staying with you for a while, how about you let me cook? It is the least I can do,” Lin Xiao suggested. He was afraid that if he were to continue eating these, he’ll end up getting food poisoning.

“Well… alright then. That way, we can avoid having to waste food just because I accidentally added more seasonings. I’ll leave the cooking in your care, Lin Xiao.”

Since then, it was decided that Lin Xiao will be the one to cook food for them both. But Lin Xiao still let Long YinLian make herbal soup since he’s good at it. In fact, Lin Xiao also noticed that Long YinLian can brew a good tea. So, after he had recovered, whenever he went to the village he would always buy some tea leaves so that Long YinLian can brew them some tea.