Chapter 710 A Culinary Journey
“You’re not coming? Hey, what do you mean! Not only are you late, but you’re telling me this now?”
The roar coming from the phone made Roland involuntarily turn his head away. Even through the speaker, he could feel Garcia’s anger.
“Some guests suddenly came to visit, the kind I have to receive,” he quickly explained, taking advantage of the other person’s pause to catch her breath. “I can’t help it, you know there’s only a fourteen-year-old kid in the house besides me, I can’t exactly have her entertain the guests, can I?”
“You live at 0825, right? I’m coming over to talk to you!”
“Uh, I’m not in the apartment building right now…” As he said this, Roland narrowed his eyes, already prepared to face a sonic attack.
Sure enough, Garcia raised her voice again, “Do you know that I invited a senior member of the association? I thought you were finally taking on the responsibilities you should be taking, what kind of cop-out is this! Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to, get back here now!”
Taking on responsibilities, what the heck… that’s easy to misunderstand!
When Roland saw the taxi driver giving him a look that said, “Good kid, you’ve got it going on, I understand your troubles,” Roland knew that explaining was probably useless.
“Hey, what did you say? The signal seems bad, I’m entering Dongfang Road, hey, are you still listening? Hey… hey?” He put on a one-man show and hung up the phone directly. To be on the safe side, he turned off the phone power.
He had probably completely offended this martial arts star.
He hadn’t expected Garcia to care so much about his agreeing to join the Martial Artists Association, and the other party’s reaction once again confirmed to him that the cold attitude was just her facade towards strangers. Once one became a natural force awakener recognized by her, her true nature would be revealed.
“Classic trick,” Jerk sneered from behind him, “Did you think we were still living in the deep mountains? You haven't left the city, how could you lose signal?”
“You talk too much,” Roland glanced at the back seat. Phyllis was pressed against the window, staring in stunned amazement at everything outside. Her posture hadn’t changed since getting in the car. It was no wonder she was so surprised. Skyscrapers, dense traffic, huge billboards, wall-mounted screens – it was easy to imagine the impact these things would have on a person from ancient times. In fact, the pace of change caused by advancements in productivity was getting faster and faster. A city could undergo tremendous transformations in just twenty years, and even the people living in the city might not be able to keep up, let alone a Taquila witch.
For this trip, Roland had replaced her tattered robe (which she said was Taquila zhifu) with his own clothes. The short-sleeved shirt and sports pants were inherently unisex, and Phyllis had no problem wearing them. In fact, the cheap stall clothes looked like a casual and comfortable fashion statement on her. It had to be said that good looks really could turn something ordinary into something special. The only problem was the chest wrap, and in the end, they had to ask Jerk to help solve the problem with bandages.
Therefore, the purpose of this shopping trip was clear: besides taking the God's Punishment Witch to eat and drink, the rest was to buy her a set of clothes – what if she could enter the dream world again? She couldn't keep moving around in his men's clothes and bandages.
“We’re here, Emerald Valley Park,” the driver pressed the fare meter, “Twenty-five yuan.”
This park wasn’t far from the apartment building, and it was also a high-quality green space that Roland had discovered when exploring the city. Not many people came here, and there was a commercial street nearby. Most importantly, there were KFC and McDonald’s chain stores.
That’s right, this was Roland’s restaurant of choice – roadside restaurants were too low-class, and the taste wasn’t up to par. After all, this trip was meant to bring a wonderful experience to a visitor from another world, so there were naturally basic requirements for taste and environment, while also satisfying the condition of “letting the other person eat their fill.” Those star-rated restaurants were obviously better, but if they ate to their heart's content… Roland felt that his wallet probably couldn’t handle that kind of expense.
Therefore, fast food restaurants that were neither too good nor too bad were obviously the most suitable choice.
And Jerk had been clamoring to eat this for a long time – probably because of the doll toy that came with the children's meal, which had a great appeal to kids.
Taking the two into KFC, Roland found a seat by the window and went to the counter, where he ordered two family buckets and a children’s meal.
“Why did you buy so much!” Jerk asked in surprise when she saw Roland carrying a large plate of food piled on the table, “Uncle, even if you have a job, don’t waste it.”
“Since you’re rarely seeing me be so generous, be a good girl and eat, okay?”
“Oh!” After getting the meal toy, the little girl's pouting mouth finally relaxed a lot.
“You eat too, tell me if you need more,” Roland handed a piece of fried chicken to her – the chicken skin fried at high temperature and high pressure presented an enticing golden huangsè color. Just smelling the fragrance made one’s mouth water. The modern methods of preparing the chicken not only maintained its tender and smooth texture, but also completely infused the deliciousness of seasonings such as black pepper, thyme, and garlic salt into the meat fibers. The effect was completely incomparable to the bland meat of that era.
Fast food was often criticized for its high calories and monotonous taste, but in ancient times where food and seasonings were scarce, it was undoubtedly a delicacy. What's more, Phyllis hadn't tasted flavor in hundreds of years.
Along the way, she had perfectly executed Roland’s instructions, never asking about anything new she encountered and trying as much as possible to imitate the actions of others. But at this moment, she could no longer control herself – when she took the fried chicken and took a bite, two lines of tears burst from her eyes and flowed uncontrollably down.
“What’s wrong with sister…” Jerk couldn’t help but be stunned.
“Uh, it’s nothing, she just hasn’t had a full meal in a long time. Phyllis’s family wasn’t good to her… they always wanted a boy, but they never got their wish… Anyway, you wouldn’t understand even if I said more, just know that her days over there were very hard.”
“So that’s how it is…” The little girl’s expression softened instantly, probably feeling a sense of empathy.
Roland didn’t bother with why Jerk called Phyllis “sister” but him “uncle.” He watched the ancient witch eating fast food voraciously while shedding tears, and a sense of emotion welled up in his heart.
An enjoyment that was extremely ordinary in his eyes had become something they were willing to give everything to pursue. The huge difference between the two inevitably made one feel sad, but fortunately, Phyllis had finally touched the edge of her dream – although he didn’t know if there would be a next time.
And all he could do was to fulfill her requests as much as possible in this short day.