Mystery: The whole good living master

Chapter 13 What does it mean to see for a thousand years?

This winter is particularly cold.

Klein crawled out of the warm bed, breathing in the dormitory's air that seemed to be frozen, and reached out his trembling hands to take out his clothes from under the quilt. The clothes still had a little bit of warmth, which might be the last warmth of this winter.

Klein wrapped himself up silently, then went out to the corridor on the first floor. Sure enough, the gas boiler had been off for who knows how long.

Klein took the shovel leaning against the wall, scooped up a few bags of coal and threw them into the boiler.

It was winter vacation, and there were few students in the dormitory. Klein stayed at school because he had to research his graduation thesis in the library.

What was very unfortunate was that the school worker who was in charge of the stove in this dormitory building took leave a few days ago, resulting in the whole building being as cold as an ice cellar every morning until the first brave man got up and went downstairs to heat up the stove.

"It seemed to have snowed last night. No wonder it's so cold." Klein complained tiredly while warming his hands. "Should I go see if any classmates have frozen to death in their dormitories?" So Klein filled another shovel of coal, then opened the window with a sly smile, grabbed the snow on the windowsill and rolled it into a ball. He walked upstairs and knocked on the dorm doors of his good classmates who were also staying on campus, following his memory.

As Klein expected, he knocked on a few doors before he came across an unlocked door. Klein slowly opened the door, shrank inside, and revealed a terrifying smile.

……

A scream resounded through the sky, waking up the sleeping campus, followed by a silver bell-like laughter.

……

Klein got a frozen red hand and a good mood early in the morning.

Klein felt his stomach growling.

"Breakfast today? I remember it was oxtail soup with fennel and raspberry jam on bread on Friday."

“It tastes delicious just thinking about it!” Klein decisively decided to go to the cafeteria for breakfast. After all, it was rare for Klein to get up early and the cafeteria to provide a normal breakfast at the same time. Although the salty oxtail soup with fennel and the sweet jam bread were not a good match, Klein recalled yesterday’s whole wheat black bread with salted pickled fish, the day before yesterday’s hard flatbread with braised dried mushrooms, and the day before yesterday’s vegetable stew… tears of shame flowed from the corners of his mouth.

……

"Well, that's good."

Klein took a bite of the tender oxtail and was very surprised that the saltiness was just right! The beef was soft and fat-filled without any fishy smell, and was full of juice because of the soup.

After chewing the beef in his mouth, Klein lowered his head and drank a mouthful of soup. The soup was clear, with a layer of oil floating on the surface and a few fennel seeds. The taste was not greasy, nor did it have a heavy spice flavor. The overall taste was refreshing and fragrant.

Klein felt that the cafeteria kitchen was abnormal today. A normal cafeteria could not make food so delicious.

The bread was also better than usual. The delicate and soft snow-white bread slices were spread with pink jam. Klein's appetite was whetted. He opened his mouth and took a bite. The rich wheat aroma rushed from his throat into his nostrils. The soft and sweet bread was wrapped with sweet and sour jam. As his lips and teeth collided, the sweet and sour syrup with the fragrance of flowers and fruits overflowed from both sides of the bread like an explosion.

"Really... it's delicious!" For the first time, Klein felt that he was lacking in words.

“Is there any important person coming to inspect today?” Klein quickly ate the bread in his hand and then picked up another piece.

"This isn't right. What big shot would come here to inspect at six o'clock?" Klein muttered to himself, but he did not forget to put the delicious bread into his mouth.

"Ah, it snowed last night. Maybe the people who came to inspect yesterday didn't have time to leave, so they need to eat breakfast here!" Klein thought of a more reasonable reason.

"That's impossible!" The more reasonable reason was instantly overturned. "Yesterday's meal was not tasty at all. If someone came to inspect yesterday, I should have received the news last night."

Klein pouted as he ate the last piece of bread on the plate. Then he looked at the almost full bowl of oxtail soup with a distressed look - it would be such a waste not to soak the bread in the broth!

Klein walked to the cafeteria window and tried to ask if there was any bread without jam.

The chef, who was usually very irritable, smiled strangely today. He listened carefully to Klein's request and went to the kitchen to break off a piece of baguette for Klein. This long, white bread with large pores, which was popularized by Emperor Roselle, has a very hard texture and will not break in the bowl even if it is filled with soup. It was very popular among gourmets in the upper class in the past.

Klein picked up a spoon and returned to his seat blankly. He broke the bread into small pieces and soaked them in the soup, enjoying the delicious oxtail soup.

……

After finishing his breakfast with great satisfaction, Klein took a few pieces of bread for lunch and went to the study room in the library to finish his paper.

When you are busy, time always flies by.

As for something like a graduation thesis, some people come from wealthy families and don't need to look up information and write the thesis themselves; some people are naturally talented and their academic careers have been planned out by professors early on, and the thesis is just a bonus; however, most people still prefer to put it off until the last two months before graduation, after all, writing a thesis is very tiring.

Klein's plan was very scientific and saved time and effort: First, he put the preparation work of looking up information in the winter vacation before graduation, so that no one would rush to the library or occupy the study room, and he could also use the school's heater and three meals - whether it was a gas stove or a charcoal stove, the cost of a winter was a big burden for Klein's family. Not to mention some precious books, there was only one copy in the entire library, and if you came too late, you couldn't borrow it.

In this way, even if you start writing the thesis after school starts and finish it in one month, you will still have three months left for consulting teachers, supplementing the thesis content, sending it back for redoing, and adjustments before graduation.

For Klein, the best scenario is to stay on campus and work, starting as a teaching assistant, and within a few years he will have a stable job. Of course, if a professor takes a fancy to him, he can be brought to his research group or arrange a job through the faculty's connections. The most important thing is how to quickly realize the knowledge in his mind and the degree he is about to obtain.

Klein laughed at himself. There were still six months until graduation. What was he planning for? So he lowered his head and concentrated on copying the information.

……

A handful of warm yellow sand splashed onto the old walnut table, interrupting Klein's thoughts.

"Time flies so fast."

Klein looked up and gazed through the window at the curling clouds of fire in the sky and the orange-red sunset floating in the middle of the clouds. Above him was the clean dark blue sky, and below him were the dark green mountains in the distance, all of which were eclipsed by the blazing light.

Klein stood up, stretched his stiff waist, and walked to the window with his legs stiff. The thin mahogany frame divided the view into several regular pieces, each of which was like a painting, recording the colorful scenery.

The hillside behind the library will be planted with roses among the birch trees in summer, but now there is only snow in the forest, and the branches are leafless, hanging down in loneliness and sparkling.

The snow wasn't actually heavy, after all, Tingen wasn't some far northern place.

The hot air from Klein's mouth made the window hazy, and under the reflection of the setting sun, it turned into a light golden veil, covering the entire study room. Klein stretched out his thumb and wiped it on the window. The mist formed crystal lines on the cold glass, like a layered door frame.

Klein's sight passed through the door, through the glowing red clouds, through the golden tree hangings, through the glittering golden sand, and finally stopped on a person who was shining brightly in the slowly sinking halo.

The short hair covering the ears was dyed into silk like broken rosin by the setting sun, covering the clear blue eyes, in which the gilded glow was reflected, forming complex and mysterious textures in the clear waves, like a layered door, empty and unknown what it was looking at.

The man seemed to sense Klein's gaze and slowly raised his head. Their eyes met, and time seemed to have been stolen and stopped. Everything seemed to have slowed down along with the setting sun in the sky. Everything seemed to have solidified into a crystal ball that recorded this scene. Everything was silent.

Klein leaned over and stared at the person standing alone in the woods. Then he saw that the lonely person also looked up at him. After staring for a long time, he smiled like ice and snow melting, and his eyes narrowed. Klein stared at the warm smile in a daze, as warm as the first flower that bloomed in the spring breeze after the severe winter suddenly passed.

Klein suddenly woke up, stepped away from the window, and turned around to sprint downstairs in two steps. He didn't know what was calling Klein, asking him to find the person standing alone in the woods, to find the person destined for him.

However, by the time Klein walked around the library's main entrance to the back hill, the man had disappeared.

It was like a dream - looking from the foot of the mountain, the sunset had turned deep red, and was mostly swallowed up by the snow-covered hillside; the flaming clouds melted into purple sunset glow; the gold-mixed sand returned to the banks of the Sesim River, continuing to wait for the visit of gold diggers; the golden branches and jade leaves on the hillside turned into crystal clear diamond strings, reflecting the last light; the hillside was still covered with snow from last night, but there was not a single footprint on the snow, no footprints, not even one...

Klein stood there in a daze, feeling lost.

Then Klein's stomach directed Klein's feet to pull Klein to the cafeteria for dinner.

Dinner was Intis-style scones and braised chicken legs with mushroom casserole.

The pancake was crispy, brushed with egg liquid, sprinkled with white sesame seeds, and baked with beautiful cracks in the pastry. Klein's stomach directed his hands to peel off the pastry and stuff it into his mouth, which was covered with crispy crumbs and oil. The soft pancake core was split in half and filled with fresh mushrooms to make a mushroom burger.

Klein bit into a chicken leg that was coated with a bright red layer of sugar. The meat was white and tender, and the marinade made from a variety of spices had distinct layers and was rich but not too mixed.

The fragrance went up his nose to his forehead, bringing Klein back to reality as his mind was completely immersed in the mysterious young man who suddenly disappeared.

"Mmm, it's delicious!"

Klein decided to finish his dinner and then follow the instructions of fate to find the mysterious young man.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like