Book 1: Chapter 35: Silin’s Action
“Sirin! Come over and watch me cook this time. I’ll explain what exactly a pufferfish is to you.”
“Alright!” Although Sirin did not understand why her elder brother wanted her to watch him prepare the fugu feast, she went over anyway since her elder brother told her to. Furthermore, she was somewhat interested in cooking.
Chen Heng entered the kitchen with Sirin. He immediately saw a plastic basin with a few lively pufferfish swimming in it, unaware of their impending fate.
Chen Heng possessed mid-tier cooking, so he knew that fresh ingredients would have a better flavor. However, having the skills of a high-level chef did not mean he had the same mentality about fresh ingredients as high-level chefs did. To Chen Heng, the food tasting good was sufficient; he could accept it if the ingredients did not have too many flaws.
However, pufferfish was different. Pufferfish preparation required live fish. Not only was the poison in dead pufferfish difficult to deal with, as the poison was concentrated in the eyes, blood, ovaries, liver, and other organs, but the quality of the meat would also be affected. While the flesh had no poison, its flavor would change.
Raven did well in this aspect. At least, she knew to buy live pufferfish.
“Sirin, the most important thing in making a fugu feast is that the pufferfish needs to be alive. It is difficult to deal with the poison of dead pufferfish. Furthermore, dead pufferfish would not taste fresh.” Chen Heng explained some information about pufferfish to Sirin as he prepared it.
“Uh-huh!” Although she did not know why her elder brother was explaining this, she still listened in interest.
“Sirin, the most interesting thing about pufferfish is that it can inflate. When it runs into danger, it will inflate its body to make itself larger, putting on a pretense of power. It looks very adorable like this, but the pufferfish’s poison is extremely potent.”
“I see. What else?”
“Since I explained the pufferfish’s special characteristics of inflating, let me impart some principles of conducting yourself. The pufferfish is quite cute, but you cannot learn from the pufferfish. You cannot keep inflating like a pufferfish. The most important thing in life is caution. Some people seem to have termed the action of a pufferfish repeatedly inflating as ‘Silin’s Action.’”
[TL Note: I searched the Internet but could not find any references or explanation for Silin’s Action. It is likely nonsense made up by Chen Heng. The name has the same pronunciation as Sirin’s name in Chinese but with a different character. I represented it in English by changing a letter.]
“Silin’s Action?”
“That’s right. The second character is the one for forest. Doesn’t it sound similar to your name?”
“Indeed. Furthermore, it sounds quite strange.”
“Good that you know. There’s no need to care about what it is called. Although you are called Sirin, you absolutely cannot learn this Silin’s Action. The most important thing in conducting yourself is caution. If you can win, fight. If you cannot, run. Don’t go back, thinking you can fight head-on when you gain a new power after running away. Learn caution and grow.”
“Elder Brother, I cannot quite understand.”
“To put it simply: run from an enemy you cannot defeat. Flee immediately, then find a place they cannot find or go to and recuperate.”
“I still don’t quite understand.”
“It’s fine if you don’t understand. Just remember it. You will understand after some time. Oh! That’s right, one more thing. Don’t ever, ever, ever, ever underestimate anyone.”
“?” It felt like a question mark appeared over Sirin’s head.
“Our world is not ordinary. Who knows when a flat-chested Chinese who has defended China for fifty thousand years, or some genetically engineered warrior merged with Phantasma, or one of those ability users who can repeatedly revive to come back from the grave, or a crazy bigot who has lived for five hundred years and can do anything to revive a person, or perhaps a dwarf with strange powers who can erupt with great strength might appear?”
[TL Note: These descriptions connote certain games’ characters. The flat-chested Chinese likely refers to Fu Hua from Honkai Impact 3rd. Here’s her profile: /wiki/Fu_Hua. The genetically engineered warrior merged with Phantasma is likely Mash Kyrielight from Fate/Grand Order. Here is her profile: /wiki/Mash_Kyrielight. Unfortunately, I don’t know who the rest might be.]
“Is the world really that dangerous?” Sirin completely missed the message.
“Of course. This world has all sorts of demons and monsters. You just cannot imagine their existence, but that does not mean they do not exist. People with superhuman abilities normally do not appear before ordinary people, just like your elder brother. I have the ability to control attraction force. I told you two days ago, even if you want the stars in the sky, I can pluck them for you. Do you remember that?”
“Uh-huh! I remember! But isn’t that just something to trick young children?” These words had left a deep impression on Sirin. What impressed her was not the part about plucking stars but the part about them being family.
“Why would I lie to you? However, the stars that I can pluck for you are just some large meteorites. I can’t pluck those stars that give off light. That’s why I said that. Look, even though your elder brother is so young, I can make a meteor fall from the sky. Although this is because your elder brother is talented and a born genius, you cannot deny that the water of this world runs deep.”
“So, this world is really that dangerous!”
“Exactly! So, you must always be cautious when you do things. Remember?”
“I’ll remember!”
“That’s good. That’s all I wanted to tell you. You can go out first. I’ll complete the fugu feast soon. You can go rest on the sofa first. Of course, you can continue watching if you are interested in learning to cook pufferfish. I’ll teach you how to stir. Fry. Puffer. Fish in two days.”
“Never mind. I’d better go out first. I feel strange when hearing stir-fried pufferfish.” Sirin could not understand why her elder brother always emphasized the words whenever he mentioned stir-fried pufferfish, saying each word with a pause in between.
As Chen Heng watched Sirin leave, he felt strangely gratified. This time, I taught Sirin to be cautious when living in this world. Perhaps I should make a few more fugu feasts for her and teach her more. At the same time, I can teach her how to make a fugu feast.
Chen Heng pondered as he used scissors to remove the eyes and snip off the fins.
[Author Note: Pufferfish are indeed prepared like this. I had done some research on this.]
Chen Heng decided to raise Sirin into a child with sensible values over the upcoming period. This did not mean he would teach her to let go of grudges. After all, he was not a saint, and he did bear hatred and grudges.
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