CFSMS -Chapter 259 Do You Eat “Ma-zi,” Bamboo Worms, and Shoes?

“Passionate Grasshopper Delight has come to your home tonight.
In your house lives its little sweetheart,
Together they’ll make baby grasshoppers,
Make baby grasshoppers—crunchy and light,
Tastes like chicken, what a bite,
One by one, such a delight…”

The song was so beautiful and the tune so captivating that it was obvious it hadn’t come from Lu Wu’s mouth.

The Little Octopus Prince hummed his passionately composed masterpiece while squatting outside the Divine Healer Hall, waiting for today’s delicacies. The moment he spotted Lu Wu, he immediately jumped up and waved enthusiastically.

“Where is everyone else?”

Normally, the entrance to the Divine Healer Hall was bustling with people, but today only a handful of patients were waiting in line.

Lu Wu couldn’t see any of the regular food lovers either. It was as if all their enthusiasm had been completely exhausted yesterday.

Even among the usual “helpers,” only Long Zhang had shown up today.

Something felt off.

Could it be that she was going to be stuck with an empty stall again?

Still, no matter what happened, the stall had to open.

As soon as she set up her stand, the even larger assortment of insect dishes than yesterday immediately caught Long Zhang’s attention. He swallowed his drool and said,

“Oh, they all claimed they had something important to do and couldn’t come. But they told me to assure Boss Lu that they’d still support your business.”

That sounded like an excuse.

Most likely, they simply didn’t want their embarrassing secrets exposed, and the safest way to avoid that was not showing up in person.

After hanging up the signboard, Lu Wu was about to ask Long Zhang what he wanted to eat when she noticed someone approaching from the distance.

A stranger.

His clothes were ordinary, and his appearance unremarkable.

After arriving at the stall, he took out his One-Realm Communicator, tapped it a few times, then sent a photo to someone.

“Boss Lu, I’m a courier hired by Boss Qin Zhan. Boss Qin asked me to pass along a message. He said he really does have important business today and isn’t skipping out on purpose, so please don’t overthink it. He also wants three of the newly introduced bugs.”

The communicator screen was displayed before Lu Wu. She glanced at it and confirmed that the person on the other end really was Qin Zhan.

After seeing Qin Zhan’s absurd method of ordering food, Lu Wu was speechless.

After a pause, she suddenly had a feeling.

Today’s customers were probably all going to pull similar stunts.

Originally, she had planned to ask her customers for suggestions regarding the new insect dishes.

Now it seemed she wouldn’t get the chance.

“Please wait a moment.”

After signaling the courier, Lu Wu began packing Qin Zhan’s order.

The courier clearly worked in this line of business professionally. His acceptance of strange customer requests was impressive.

But regarding the food itself…

He found it difficult to accept.

“Can these things actually be eaten?”

They smelled pretty good, but who knew whether some questionable ingredients had been added?

His gaze swept across the stall before settling on a large tray of scorpions.

Their black shells looked incredibly venomous.

Preparing scorpions was troublesome. To prevent anyone from being stung, Lu Wu had clipped off all the tails beforehand.

Scorpions normally lived underground and carried a strong earthy odor that affected the flavor. Before frying them, she had blanched them in high-proof liquor to remove the smell.

The frying process itself was fairly standard—just a matter of controlling the temperature.

Still, their brownish appearance was undeniably exotic.

For people who had never eaten such things before, adapting wasn’t easy.

“Of course they’re edible. I can vouch for that.”

Long Zhang immediately objected upon hearing the question.

Thumping his chest proudly, he launched into a grand explanation of Lu Wu’s culinary greatness.

He praised her food so extravagantly that it bordered on worship.

Even Lu Wu, the person involved, started blushing from embarrassment.

Unfortunately, the courier didn’t believe a word of it.

In fact, the more excited Long Zhang became, the more suspicious the courier looked.

“Brother, I can tell at a glance that you’re gifted and destined for greatness. Why not join the Bun Sect? We discuss Boss Lu’s cuisine there all the time.”

“In the future, we’ll all be one family.”

As a veteran member of the Bun Sect, Long Zhang considered recruiting new believers his sacred duty.

His fanatic enthusiasm and devout faith in food made the courier’s heart skip a beat.

Oh no.

This guy had his eyes on his body.

“No thanks.”

The courier subtly increased the distance between them and discreetly used a cleansing spell on the sleeve that Long Zhang had grabbed.

What bad luck!

Judging from his expression, he had clearly mistaken Long Zhang for some cult recruiter.

Watching from the side, Lu Wu wanted to cover her face.

Fortunately, Prince Long Zhang still hadn’t mastered the art of reading social cues. He failed to notice the courier’s disgust and simply assumed the man wasn’t interested.

“That’s fine. Our Bun Sect never forces people.”

After all, everyone who refused eventually came back begging to join.

In response, the courier merely replied with two words:

“Heh, heh…”

“The order’s packed.”

As soon as Lu Wu spoke, the courier visibly relaxed.

Throwing down the spirit stones, he grabbed the package and ran off at top speed.

He had thought this was just an ordinary delivery.

Who knew he’d run into a lunatic?

Run, legs, run faster!

One order completed.

Not far away, several heads peeked out from behind a corner.

They were yesterday’s customers.

In truth, they had arrived long ago.

However, the memory of having all their secrets stripped bare yesterday made them too afraid to face today’s ordeal directly.

Thankfully, Qin Zhan had set a fine example and shown them another way to enjoy delicious food.

Sure enough, money could solve almost anything.

As a result, before long, a crowd gathered around Lu Wu’s stall.

Men, women, old people, children—everyone was there.

All buying food.

Yet not a single person intended to eat it themselves.

Lu Wu looked at the little girl standing before her.

She was about seven or eight years old, munching on a candied hawthorn skewer with a blank expression.

“Boss Lu, that big brother asked me to buy scorpions, giant water bugs, and grasshoppers. Here’s the spirit stones.”

Clearly, she too had been tricked into becoming a courier.

Sniffling, the little girl flashed Lu Wu a smile.

She smiled without showing her teeth.

Mainly because both of her front teeth were missing.

It looked rather comical.

Behind her stood a hunched old man.

His trembling hands carefully placed a few spirit stones on the stall.

“Boss, I wanna buy ma-zi, bamboo worms, and shoes.”

The old man was very elderly and not particularly clear-headed anymore. His speech was slurred and difficult to understand.

At first, Lu Wu didn’t understand the order.

After thinking about it for a moment, she finally realized what he meant.

“You mean ants, bamboo worms, and scorpions, right?”

“That’s right… ma-zi…”

The old man repeated himself, his heavy accent making the words sound different.

Lu Wu smiled and didn’t bother correcting him. She simply packed the requested items.

After receiving the package, the old man slowly shuffled away with his cane and oil-paper parcel.

His steps were unsteady and slow.

Every now and then he stopped to look around, seemingly trying to figure out which direction to go.

Whoever had hired this old man as a courier was really something.

Whether he’d manage to deliver the food on time was anyone’s guess.

For the next half hour, nearly everyone Lu Wu served had been hired runners.

Of course, there were also a few customers who believed they had absolutely nothing to hide and bravely showed up in person.

“Old Qian, how many rounds did you go with that girl last night? How come she got up earlier than you this morning? That’s pretty weak, isn’t it?”

The moment this highly personal question was asked aloud, one of the supposedly “innocent” customers immediately clamped a hand over his mouth and fled.

Good heavens.

He had gone there secretly in the middle of the night.

How had they still found out?

Thinking about that girl’s terrifying vigor from the night before, Old Qian nearly burst into tears.

That question had stabbed him right in the heart.

He hadn’t gone there to have fun.

He had gone there to be the fun.

Ah, his poor waist…

He’d better go home and eat more bugs to replenish himself.