After Shen Long woke up, he didn’t remember a lot of things but his body felt a lot lighter. He felt physically hungry and his head hurt as if he’d been asleep for a long time. It was probably the most restful sleep he had gotten in decades and the dragon god spirit looked over to his roommate.

Ruo Han was sleeping with a frown on his face as if he was in major discomfort. Shen Long didn’t know what happened but he had a feeling Ruo Han was the one who healed all his wounds instead of Dr Iason. The flow of his chaotic energy was now less violent and more regulated. There was no way the Caladrius would know how to regulate turbulent qi. However, it would be a different story if the cultivator did it. Even if Ruo Han was a detestable fellow, Shen Lon felt the need to thank him when he woke up.

Still, it was rather rare to see the cultivator look so defenceless in his sleep. As far as Shen Long remembered, Ruo Han always had that lofty air around him that would freeze anyone who got too near. He was like an unconquerable ice mountain that stood on its own in a place that no sun would shine on.

Shaking his head, the dragon god spirit decided not to think too much about it. It was almost time for the cafeteria to close so he’d better hurry if he wanted to grab something for dinner. It wasn’t the first time he had to eat something to sustain his body but it was the first time he started to crave something.

There was hardly anyone in the cafeteria and the dragon god spirit waltz to the counter. The kitchen lady was surprised to see Shen Long in the cafeteria not because she didn’t know who he was but because she had heard about him from various people who usually ordered food on his behalf.

“You’re quite late. We don’t have much to offer now,” she told him and the dragon god spirit nodded.

“I know. What do you have?”

The cafeteria lady looked around at the empty dirty dishes and grinned. “Anything that the kitchen has. I’ll make special orders just for the young master who finally decided to show his face around here.”

Shen Long blinked. “Young master?”

“You always send your partners over. I’ve heard about you a lot, golden hair with a scar over his right eye. You must be Shen Long, the very popular alpha that many omegas drool over.”

Unsure of how to respond to that, Shen Long coughed awkwardly and asked if the cafeteria lady was able to make something with fish and maybe dragon fruit. The lunch lady had never heard about dragon fruits but she did have some fish in her kitchen so Shen Long settled for some fish with rice. As he waited, he couldn’t help but be curious.

“Do you know an alpha by the name of Ruo Han? He’s a cultivator. Long snow-white hair, ice-blue eyes, slightly feminine looking and utterly stubborn.”

The cafeteria lady mixed the frying batter and smiled. “Ah? That fine-looking gentleman? Yes, he comes every once in a while although he doesn’t eat a lot. Oh, he does love a good egg tart or red bean bun from time to time although the ladies here know him as the lad who comes after hours to borrow the kitchen.”

Curious, Shen Long asked why an alpha would be found in the kitchen. The cafeteria lady smiled.

“He made a special request for something none of us knew how to make. It was very hard to do it like how he made it. I think that dessert was called dragon’s beard candy? A very strange name for a sweet that looks like a cocoon spun from melted sugar. The young man taught everyone here but we didn’t have the skills and dexterity of his fingers. You should have seen how he spun those sugar threads! It was like magic.”

Strangely, there was a small throbbing pain in his head when he heard how Ruo Han made the dragon’s beard candy. For some reason, the name sounded familiar and while Shen Long was positive he’d never seen it before, he felt as if he’d been eating it for a long time.

“Are you able to replicate it? I don’t mind if it isn’t up to his skill level, I’m just curious why it would be called dragon’s beard candy. Did he invent it?”

The cafeteria lady shrugged as she tossed the batter-coated fish into the sizzling pan. “No idea. He’s a quiet lad but not a bad one. If I was a few years younger, I might flirt with him.”

Shen Long barked a laugh. “Ma’am, no offence but he is a few hundred years old. Cultivators like him have been alive for more generations than you would think.”

The cafeteria lady smirked. “And I’ve been in this Academy for the last few centuries, enough to tell you stories about the principal when she was just a young witch.”

At this, Shen Long held his tongue. This lady might appear like a jovial aunt but there was no doubting it now.

“You’re not a living person, are you?”

The cafeteria lady laughed cheerfully. “Never was one. I was born here when this school was founded along with a few others. We’re called household ghosts and as long as this building remains, we’ll be here. Your dinner is ready! I’ll try and make that strange candy but please don’t expect anything from us. We don’t have that boy’s fine fingers so it is a little difficult to wrap the candy.”

Shen Long looked at the plate of steaming hot rice topped with freshly fried fish. He couldn’t tell what kind of sauce was on it but his stomach didn’t care. All it wanted was food and Shen Long dug into it quickly while the household ghost worked on making that strange candy.

His stomach was sated but even so, there was a strange feeling in his chest as he looked at the bowl. Even if this was fish and rice, there was something odd about it. The cafeteria lady had great culinary skills and it was delicious but it somehow wasn’t the taste that Shen Long was craving.

“Is there something wrong?” the cafeteria lady asked as she walked over with a decently made dragon’s beard candy. 

Shen Long clutched at his chest and felt the headache worsen when he looked at the poorly wrapped cocoon-like candy decorated with powdered sugar.

“Nothing, it might be heartburn. Are these dragon’s beard candy?”

The household ghost nodded and Shen Long studied them. For some reason, he felt like he’d seen them before.

“Shouldn’t they be made with spun sugar instead of flour?”

The cafeteria lady sighed. “I told you, we’re not good like Ruo Han. He spins it with melted sugar and can even carve strange designs into his weaving. We can only hope to imitate the threads by using other techniques. Not everyone can precisely control the way melted sugar hardens into the weaving in less than a nanosecond. He’s on a whole new level.”

Intrigued, Shen Long thanked the cafeteria lady and asked if he could package the sweets instead. It might not be the thing that Ruo Han liked but surely, he wouldn’t turn down something the talented household ghost made.