33: Chapter 33 Braised Food That Hadn't Spoiled in Two Days

The morning mist in the Old neighborhood was like a thin veil, clinging to the branches of the locust trees and refusing to disperse.

In front of Wang Lei's braised food stall, the soy-braised pork knuckles in the bamboo basket gleamed with oil, and brown braising liquid trickled down the folds of the meat skin, pooling into small puddles at the bottom of the basket.

Chen Jie squatted behind the stall to help unload the ice packs; just as his fingertips touched the icy plastic bags, he heard Wang Lei let out a strange yelp of "Ouch!"

"What's wrong?" When Chen Jie looked up, he saw Wang Lei holding up a piece of braised chicken claw, his eyes wide as copper bells.

Those chicken claws had been braised the day before yesterday; normally, in this weather, they should have turned sticky and spoiled by now, but at this moment, they were firm and stiff, the sesame seeds on the skin still stuck fast, without even a hint of a rancid smell.

"That's strange..." Wang Lei brought the chicken claw to his nose to sniff it, then handed it to Chen Jie. "You smell it! It's like it just came out of the pot! I forgot to put it in the freezer when I closed the stall yesterday and just left it in this bamboo basket; how did it not spoil?"

He suddenly glanced at Chen Jie's canvas backpack. "Is it that jade stone of yours..."

Chen Jie's fingers paused in mid-air, his heart feeling as if it had been lightly bumped by something.

He touched the outside of the backpack; the jade stone pressed against his waist through the canvas, cool to the touch, like an ordinary pebble.

Yet, only he knew the secrets hidden within this "ordinary" stone—at the campsite, it could absorb all the choking black smoke into its patterns; in the rain shelter cave, it could automatically dry Zhao Kai's wet pant legs; and even at Old Zhou's house, when it recognized the white stone, it could stir murky water until it became crystal clear.

"Preservation?" Chen Jie's fingertips unconsciously rubbed the backpack strap. "Could its Spiritual Qi actually lock in the freshness of food?"

He recalled that on the train, this stone had once filtered the coal smoke smell out of the braised food, leaving only the meaty aroma; he remembered that at Auntie Wang's house, it had automatically cleared the water in the pickle jar, and the pickled vegetables never rotted no matter how long they were left.

Seen in this light, having the braised food last two extra days without spoiling didn't seem so strange.

But just as this thought emerged, he suppressed it—since returning to the Old neighborhood, the jade stone hadn't glowed again, and even when helping Grandma Zhang fix her radio, it had only moved the solder points in an extremely subtle way.

Was its sudden manifestation now a coincidence, or did it inherently know when to act only when needed?

"It's a coincidence, probably." Chen Jie told a lie and reached out to take the chicken claw.

Just as his fingertips touched the bone, a very faint "click" sound came from inside the backpack, like someone tapping the stone surface with a fingernail.

When he looked down, he saw the braising liquid stained on the canvas seeping along the fabric into the backpack, forming a small bead of oil at the position of the jade stone, which spun twice and then vanished, leaving not even a speck of oil stain behind.

"You still call that a coincidence?" Zhao Kai, chewing on a fried dough stick, wandered over from the alley entrance and stopped in his tracks when he saw this scene. "I told you this stone wasn't right! It glowed green the day before yesterday when helping Grandma Zhang fix her radio, Wang Lei's freezer suddenly started working yesterday, and today the braised food didn't spoil—Jie-zi, tell me the truth, has it become a spirit?"

Wang Lei ignored Zhao Kai's clamoring and continued rummaging through the bamboo basket on his own.

The braised pig ears and soy-braised beef left over from two days ago were surprisingly just like they had been freshly braised, with firm meat and a rich, mellow aroma.

He suddenly remembered that Chen Jie had placed his backpack on the bench behind the stall yesterday, and the outline of the jade stone had been faintly visible under the canvas—could it really be the work of this jade stone?

"Jie-zi," Wang Lei's voice carried a hint of hesitation, "can you... lend me your jade stone to keep at the stall for a few days? Just a few days! I'll return it as soon as I get a new freezer!"

Chen Jie's gaze fell on the backpack, his thoughts spinning incessantly like rolling beads.

This jade stone had recognized him as its master, and ever since he picked it up in the stream at Suiyu Slope, it had constantly manifested its power around him.

Had it "heard" Wang Lei's request just now?

Sure enough, the jade stone inside the backpack suddenly began to vibrate gently, more noticeably than when it was helping to fix the radio at Grandma Zhang's house, as if expressing some kind of wish—was it agreeing, or was it reminding him of something?

He suddenly recalled what Old Liu said: "The stones of Suiyu Slope remember kindness, but they also remember grudges."

Although Wang Lei often grumbled about the "broken stone," he always saved the freshest braised food for them, and perhaps the jade stone had felt this sentiment.

"I can lend it to you," Chen Jie said, placing the backpack on the bench by the stall, "but don't keep calling it a 'broken stone'."

Wang Lei nodded hurriedly and placed a piece of freshly cut pork knuckle in front of the backpack, as if worshipping a God of Wealth.

Sunlight pierced through the morning mist and shone onto the canvas, casting a faint green shadow.

Chen Jie gazed at that outline, suddenly feeling that this jade stone was like a precision instrument; it looked unremarkable most of the time, yet it could always, at the most critical moment, push things in a good direction in its own way.

As for how many abilities it actually hid, perhaps even he himself hadn't figured it out yet.

Zhao Kai curled his lip and took out his phone to take a picture. "I'm posting this on Moments right now, and the title will be 'Divine Stone of Preservation Appears in Old neighborhood'—it'll definitely get more likes than your waterfall photo!"

Chen Jie smiled and didn't respond.

He touched the backpack; the jade stone's vibration had stopped, leaving only the coolness of the stone surface seeping through the canvas.

He suddenly found himself looking forward to tomorrow's braised food—he wondered what other surprises this stone could bring, and how many more secrets it would allow him to glimpse regarding Suiyu Slope and the legends of the Jade God.