Chapter 115 - 113: So Milk Can Actually Be Drunk Like This?

Among the three brothers in the family, Firestone was the clumsiest with his hands, but he had the best memory. Cooking mush didn’t exactly test one’s manual dexterity. He planned to rely on his memory to replicate his mother’s cooking process.

Firestone stared at the pile of ingredients on the cutting board. There were several kinds he had never even seen before, let alone knew whether they were expensive or valuable. Not daring to use those ingredients, he first picked the smallest potato, washed it, sliced it, and placed it in the steamer.

Shannon Fuller watched his atrocious knife skills from the sidelines and couldn’t help but mock him.

"With your chopping skills, even a dog gnawing at it would do a better job. And you still dare to say the food you cook tastes better than mine? I think you’re just bragging!"

"You eat the flavor, not the knife skills," Firestone retorted weakly. Since he had already offended his young employer anyway, it was too late to try and butter her up now.

Rendered speechless by his comeback, Shannon could only cross her arms and continue to watch coldly.

While the potato steamed, Firestone selected two mutated ironclad beetle eggs. He had heard Master Fuller mention earlier that these were highly nutritious. He diced the eggs and tossed them into a pot to boil into a broth. Next, he picked two purslane leaves and chopped them up for later. Although his knife skills were lacking, simply mincing ingredients didn’t demand much precision.

Once the potato was steamed, he found a clean wooden stick and used it to mash the potato into a paste. He added the mashed potato to the pot, followed by the glass of milk that Shannon had refused to drink. Letting it simmer over low heat for a few minutes, he finally added salt and the chopped leaves, stirring evenly before serving.

When Shannon saw him slice, steam, and mash the potato, her eyes widened. In her understanding, there were only three ways to eat a potato: steamed, boiled, or roasted. Her grandfather actually knew more ways to prepare potatoes, but those were limited to various stir-fries. However, he had never stepped foot in a kitchen before, so how could he possibly know how to cook? Furthermore, cooking oil was extremely rare nowadays, so he had never even planned to attempt stir-frying.

Having grown up with him, Shannon naturally didn’t know any more advanced cooking techniques either. Just the mashed potato alone made her somewhat believe that this little brat, Firestone, actually had some skills.

When he poured the milk into the pot, it was as if a floodgate had opened in Shannon’s mind. She wondered, "Milk can actually be consumed like this?" Smelling the tantalizing aroma wafting from the pot, she already believed that Firestone’s culinary skills were likely better than hers, even before taking a bite.

Mr. Fuller, of course, also caught the scent drifting from the kitchen. Unable to resist, he wandered over and saw the steaming bowl of mush already sitting on the small dining table. Just looking at the colors—the crisp green paired with the pale yellow of the mashed potato—was enough to stimulate anyone’s appetite. Compared to the pitch-black slop his granddaughter cooked, with its yellowing leaves, this looked much more pleasing to the eye.

Mr. Fuller beckoned Firestone to eat with them. The boy’s heart instantly leaped with joy. He wondered, "Does this mean I’m hired?"

Earlier, Master Fuller had mentioned that the condition for hiring him was providing meals—and ensuring he was full. If he hadn’t agreed to hire him, he definitely wouldn’t have let him eat.

Joy brimmed in the corners of the boy’s eyes and brows. He didn’t even carefully savor the taste of the mush he had cooked—as long as it wasn’t terrible, it was good enough.

The moment Mr. Fuller and Shannon took their first bite, they were absolutely blown away! The grandfather and granddaughter exchanged a glance. The underlying meaning was clear: even if he wasn’t qualified to be an apprentice, his cooking skills alone were enough reason to keep the little guy around to do odd jobs.

After the meal, Mr. Fuller told Shannon to personally escort the boy home. Although he had previously said he would make him chop wood until dawn the next day, the kid was only a little over six years old. If he stayed overnight, his family would definitely be worried.

It was already dusk when Shannon walked Firestone home, despite his repeated insistence that he didn’t need an escort and knew the way back. But she insisted on seeing him all the way back. She was afraid that if the boy got kidnapped halfway, she would lose a little sidekick whose cooking was better than hers.

Unable to dissuade her, Firestone had no choice but to lead her to his front door.

He figured that although this young employer had a sharp tongue, she actually had a pretty good heart. Earlier, when he had gotten hungry while chopping wood, she had specifically given him a bowl of mush. Even though it tasted terrible, it was filling. Now that she had escorted him all this way home, he decided to invite her inside. However, before letting her in, he had to get his adoptive mother’s permission first. So instead of scanning his face to unlock the door, he rang the doorbell.

Shannon was also quite curious about what the little guy’s home looked like and who else lived there, so she followed him inside. Most of the Ability users in District Nine had custom-ordered weapons from her grandfather, so almost all of them recognized her. Because of this, Shannon could practically do whatever she pleased in District Nine. Absolutely no one dared to harbor any ill intentions toward her, which was why she could casually walk into the home of someone she had just met without a second thought.

When Sev Steele heard the doorbell ring, she walked over and opened the video intercom. Seeing Firestone standing there with Shannon, she immediately tapped the button to let them in.

Rick Kaye was currently resting with the door closed in the bedroom. Since Shannon couldn’t just casually open a bedroom door, there was naturally no chance of her seeing him.

Hearing the commotion, Rusty and Zephyr sprinted to the courtyard gate. Rose followed right behind them, running over with a PATTER PATTER PATTER.

They had all been very worried about Firestone. Seeing him return completely unharmed, and bringing along a pretty, well-dressed older girl, Rusty felt both relieved and incredibly curious. This girl clearly didn’t look like a Scavenger. Her hands were fair and tender, not rough in the slightest, nor did they bear any scars from frostbite. Even if she wasn’t a young lady from The Gilded Ward, she had to at least be from a wealthy family in Sector A.

Seeing their tattered clothes, Shannon didn’t show any disgust; instead, her eyes were also filled with curiosity.

"Hey, little brat, aren’t you going to hurry up and introduce me to your family?" Shannon spoke up first.

"Oh, this is Shannon. The dagger Mom custom-ordered was personally forged by her grandfather, Master Fuller.

"This is my older brother, Rusty. This is my younger brother, Zephyr, and this is my little sister, Rose."

As a wasteland child with barely any social life, this was Firestone’s first time experiencing something like this. He was a bit nervous, causing him to stutter slightly when he spoke.

After hearing him introduce the names of the three children, it belatedly dawned on Shannon that she actually didn’t know the little brat’s name. It was a bit awkward, but she was too embarrassed to ask. Luckily, Sev walked over right at that moment.

Seeing her son bring back Mr. Fuller’s granddaughter, Sev felt a surge of joy, guessing that Firestone must have passed Mr. Fuller’s test. She hurriedly welcomed Shannon into the house. While at it, she brewed a glass of sweet lemon water and brought out some roasted yam slices, roasted aphids, and roasted ant eggs to entertain her.

The sweet lemon water had a crisp, fruity fragrance. Shannon took a small sip, and her face lit up with pleasant surprise. No wonder that little brat Firestone had better cooking skills than her; it turned out his mother was a true master!

She had eaten yam, aphids, and ant eggs before, but she had never tasted such exquisite delicacies. The young girl was so happy she almost wanted to cry! It wasn’t until this moment that she finally realized her own cooking skills were actually too awful to look at. She figured she would have to treat the little brat better from now on, so she’d have an excuse to frequently drop by his house to mooch free food.

Snacking on the delicious treats, she finished off the entire glass of sweet lemon water before clearing her throat and saying:

"My grandfather has already agreed to hire him. The previously agreed conditions were that we’d provide his meals and make sure he’s full. Do you agree, ma’am?"

"Being able to do odd jobs for Master Fuller is his good fortune. Of course I agree," Sev smiled.

In her heart, however, she thought, "That old geezer really knows how to find a bargain. He’s not even offering a wage."

But this was the wasteland. For a six-year-old child, providing meals was already considered a very high wage. After all, food was incredibly expensive.

When Firestone was eating earlier, he had guessed that he might have been hired. But since Mr. Fuller hadn’t explicitly said it, he was still feeling quite anxious. Now, hearing Shannon say it directly to his mother, his little heart finally settled. An immense joy washed over him, making him want to jump straight into the air.

Rusty and the others, who had been staying in the living room with their ears pricked up eavesdropping on the conversation, were just as delighted as Firestone upon hearing this. Since he could now earn his own keep, their mother definitely wouldn’t sell him off before he turned eight.

Rusty and Zephyr felt a simultaneous sense of pressure. Their gig of weaving cushions to earn money might not last long, so they had to come up with other ways to make money.

It was getting late, so it was inconvenient for Shannon to stay any longer. Before standing up to leave, she relayed a message, telling them that Firestone should go to work first thing tomorrow morning and live at the Fuller home from then on. Every ten days, he could return home for half a day to reunite with his family. This was what her grandfather had instructed her to say before she escorted Firestone over.

After Shannon left, Sev finally had the time to process the half of a mutated turtledove that Seth Jennings had given her. In her memory, ordinary turtledoves were even smaller than pigeons, with more slender bodies, weighing at most around half a pound. However, judging by its heft, the half of a mutated turtledove right in front of her weighed a solid four kilograms—roughly the weight of half a plump goose.

Looking at the genuine meat in her hands, countless meat-related recipes popped into her head, and her mouth was instantly filled with a flood of saliva.

She couldn’t help but swallow hard.