My Days as a God in Ancient Times
Chu Qiuze didn’t dwell too much on why Lan An, as a man from ancient times, was still unmarried at thirty.
After all, royal family relationships were too complicated, who knew what kind of secrets were hidden within?
Either way, since he wasn’t married, that just meant Chu Qiuze had a chance now!
Thinking of this, he felt it was time to speed up his pursuit.
With a smile, he asked “Xiao gege, you won’t let me call you that. Calling you Wangye feels too distant. But so many people call you Wangye anyway, one more won’t make a difference, right? And just using your name sounds too plain”
His tone was somewhere between teasing and playful.
Lan An couldn’t quite understand how this person always came up with such strange logic.
With his status second only to one, how many people in the world dared to call him by his given name?
Before this, Chu Qiuze had alternated between calling him ‘Lan An’ and ‘Wangye’ depending on his mood. It was all very casual.
Lan An had never minded it. In fact, that sense of equality was oddly comfortable.
“I’m a few years older than you” Lan An considered carefully before saying, “If you don’t mind, you can call me Lan Xiong (Older Brother)’”
This was a classic case of “I want to sleep with you, but you see me as a brother.”
If he really called him that, then wouldn’t Lan An have to call him ‘Chu di(Younger Brother)’? That sounded awful!
Chu Qiuze rolled his eyes, looking thoroughly displeased. “Wangye, look, we can at least be considered friends now, right?”
Lan An nodded. This person’s background was unclear, his behavior frivolous and exaggerated, yet he had never truly overstepped any boundaries.
While Lan An remained suspicious, he had also accepted quite a few favors from him.
If they weren’t even friends at this point, then Lan An would have to reflect on himself.
Seeing an opening, Chu Qiuze pressed on. “Then why don’t we use the way we address friends where I’m from? Calling you ‘Lan Xiong’ makes it sound like you’re my older brother, which doesn’t feel right. I already have an older brother.”
Lan An glanced at him. Adding ‘Brother’ after a surname was merely a respectful form of address.
Throughout history, whether among nobles or commoners, when two people got along well or shared similar ideals, one would take the role of ‘older brother’ and the other as ‘younger brother’—a sign of mutual respect.
“Go on, let me hear it” Lan An said, seeing the serious look in his eyes.
Chu Qiuze continued his persuasion. “Where I’m from, the way we address friends is actually quite similar to how you call each other ‘brother.’”
“I’m listening.”
“We’re friends, right?” Chu Qiuze held back his laughter. “So we just add the word ‘friend’ after the surname. I’ll call you ‘Lan pengyou (friend)’ and you call me ‘Chu pengyou’”
For someone from the south, mixing up retroflex and non-retroflex sounds was normal.
So ‘Lan pengyou’ sounded just like ‘boyfriend.’
And in his dialect, ‘Chu pengyou’ sounded like ‘dating friend’ which basically meant ‘lover’
The more Chu Qiuze thought about it, the prouder he felt of his own cleverness.
“Genius! Double tap to like!” Xiao En’s voice rang in his head, sounding completely numb. “Let’s spam the chat with 666!”
Chu Qiuze smirked triumphantly.
Lan An, however, felt a tingling sensation on his scalp. That strange feeling was back again.
He knew there had to be something off about this, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. And he had no real reason to refute it.
“Well?” Chu Qiuze ladled out a bowl of snail rice noodles from the pot, handing it over to divert Lan An’s attention. “Lan pengyou, let’s eat first.”
Lan An took the bowl of pungent-smelling noodles and fell into silence.
For a moment, he wasn’t sure whether he should reject the name ‘Lan pengyou’ or the bowl of foul-smelling noodles.
“Hoo..! Hoo..! Hoo..”
Chu Qiuze knew Lan An, being the old-fashioned type, would need time to process things. He also had to make sure to cut off any way for him to refuse, so he simply started slurping his noodles as if nothing had happened.
Eating should shut him up, right? Lan An was all about manners, no talking while eating or sleeping, and he had a whole list of rules.
Lan An glanced at the noodles, then at Chu Qiuze, before finally suppressing his discomfort and taking a bite.
The taste was both expected and unexpected.
The snail rice noodles were surprisingly good, the crisp pickled bamboo shoots, the chewy rice noodles, and the spicy, fragrant broth all came together perfectly.
Once he took a bite, the initial foul smell completely disappeared.
“Well? Lan pengyou, I didn’t lie to you, did I?” Chu Qiuze asked with an oily grin after slurping down the last of his noodles.
"Alright" Lan An calmly put down his bowl and chopsticks. In the end, he didn’t object to being called "Lan pengyou "
It’s hard to argue when someone feeds you.
"General Lu" Chu Qiuzé called out "Are you really not going to try it? Look, even your prince has eaten."
"No, no" On the other side of the abandoned temple, Lu Ziye happily slurped his instant noodles and said "I’ve never had such delicious noodles before."
After saying that, he contributed 3,000 gratitude points and sincerely invited the two of them, "God, Wangye, why don’t you both have some noodles too?"
He really couldn’t imagine how something that smelled so bad could taste good.
Soon, the other soldiers who were eating also chimed in, expressing their gratitude as well.
Chu Qiuze held back his laughter. "General Lu, serve a bowl of noodles for Wangye. I don’t have much vermicelli left, and I’m afraid it won’t be enough."
Lu Ziye readily complied, washing a clean bowl before scooping up a big serving. He walked over and said, "Your Highness, have some. Make sure to drink the broth too, the soup is the essence of these noodles."
Then, he quickly handed the bowl over and scurried away, afraid of getting caught in the lingering stench.
Lan An: "......"
It’s not like he couldn’t finish it. He didn’t refuse and gladly accepted the offering.
These noodles were indeed tastier than vermicelli. As he ate, Lan An thought to himself while enjoying the meal.
"Chu Gong... Qiuze." In the end, Lan An corrected himself. He couldn’t bring himself to call him 'Chu pengyou' but addressing him by his courtesy name was acceptable.
Chu Qiuze was in a good mood. It was already surprising that the prince was willing to call him Qiuze.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Do you have a recipe for these noodles?" Lan An pondered for a moment before saying, "For military campaigns, these noodles would be much more convenient than rice. If they can be mass-produced, name your reward."
Chu Qiuze rested his chin on his hand, frowning slightly. The process of making instant noodles wasn’t too difficult, but it wasn’t something that could be explained in just a few sentences.
He also wasn’t entirely sure about the finer details. Moreover, preservatives didn’t exist in this era, so storage would be a problem.
He needed to look up some information first.
Lu Ziye, who had sharp ears, heard the conversation and quickly ran over, no longer bothered by the faint sour smell.
He had the same thought as Lan An, when it came to warfare, provisions were the most valuable resource.
Food was the soldiers' first line of defense; only with full stomachs could they have the strength to fight.
"God\" Lu Ziye was visibly excited. "If there’s a recipe, my Lu Family Army will be at your command from now on!"
Lan An’s gaze flickered as he looked at Lu Ziye. The Lu Family Army controlled the royal military power, how could it be placed under someone else’s command so easily?
"Tsk~!" Chu Qiuzé, of course, knew what Lan An was thinking. With a disdainful expression.
"I’m perfectly fine being a deity. I’m not planning a rebellion, nor do I want to be emperor. What would I do with an army?"
Lu Ziye let out a sigh of relief. The moment he had spoken those words, he regretted them. If something went wrong, it would bring disaster upon his entire family.
His own life didn’t matter, but he couldn’t drag his clan down with him. So, he quickly adde., "Then I, Lu Ziye, will follow the God's orders from now on."
Lan An didn’t have any objections. He had seen the so-called treasures Chu Qiuze had in his home. Compared to the throne, those artifacts were far more appealing.
So, he knew that Chu Qiuze had no interest in political power.
Back to the main topic.
Chu Qiuze thought for a moment before saying, "Lan pengyou, how about you and General Lu come back to the Celestial Realm with me tonight? The recipe itself isn’t complicated, but I need to check some references first."
"Using official business for personal gain!" Xiao En roared inside his mind. "You just want to bring Lan An home and are making up all these excuses!"
Cough! Chu Qiuze felt a little embarrassed. During those rainy days in the mountains, Lan An had basically been going back to the Celestial Realm with him every night.
It was a great opportunity to build their relationship, but later, Lan An stopped going.
He had given a perfectly reasonable excuse, he didn’t want to trouble him.
Now, wasn’t this the perfect chance?
"The Celestial Realm?" Lu Ziye was even more excited. He stepped forward and grabbed Chu Qiuze’s hands.
"God, are you really willing to take me to the Celestial Realm?"
Chu Qiuzhe responded with a soft hum, thinking that taking one more person along wouldn’t make much difference. The house was big enough, so there was no need to worry about space.
"Ask the Wangye," Chu Qiuzhe added. "As long as he's willing to go, it's fine."
"Wangye" Lu Ziye turned his gaze to Lan An. "Would you be willing to take me along to broaden my horizons?"
Lan An’s eyes were locked onto Lu Ziye’s hands, which were clasped together. His voice was cold. "Let go!"
Lu Ziye instantly became as obedient as a golden retriever, quickly retracting his hands. Internally, he sighed, this Regent’s temper was getting stranger by the day.
Scratching his head in embarrassment, he muttered, "Sorry, my god, I got too excited and lost my composure."
"It’s fine" Chu Qiuzhe, despite being gay, thought that casual interactions like draping an arm over a friend’s shoulder were normal. Besides, Lu Ziye was just a big goofball—there was no need to overthink it.
"Lan pengyou, are you coming?" Chu Qiuzhe continued to invite him. "This is called instant noodles. They were originally designed for convenience.
You don’t even need to cook them, just add hot water and let them soak. If needed, you can even eat them dry. They’re great for military campaigns."
He paused and then recalled compressed biscuits. "The celestial realm has even more portable food. Don’t you want to take a look?"
With the conversation going this far, refusing was pointless.
Everyone knew how important instant noodles were to Da Han. Lan An nodded in agreement.
Lu Ziye ensured that all previous packaging was burned and made arrangements for the soldiers. Only then did he turn his eager gaze to Chu Qiuzhe.
"My god, when are we leaving?"
"Let’s go!" Chu Qiuzhe grabbed Lan An’s hand with one hand and Lu Ziye’s wrist with the other, then chanted a spell.
The moment Lu Ziye opened his eyes, he was far more shocked than Lan An had been on his first visit.
He touched this, poked that, and every now and then asked Chu Qiuzhe, "What’s this for?"—like a curious child.
"Behave yourself," Lan An reprimanded.
Chu Qiuzhe, however, was patient and carefully explained everything to him.
Lu Ziye immediately became more well-behaved. He put down the robotic vacuum cleaner but couldn’t help asking, "Does this thing really clean the floor?"
"Of course. Go ahead and try it. It’s fine," Chu Qiuzhe replied with a chuckle. He then took out a tablet, searched for a tutorial on making instant noodles by hand, and began discussing serious matters with Lan An.
The process wasn’t difficult. The initial steps were similar to making regular noodles. After shaping them into strands, they needed to be steamed and then fried in oil.
Fried food lasted longer, but without preservatives or proper packaging, it could still get damp and spoil easily.
Chu Qiuzhe explained the entire process and its challenges to Lan An.
Lan An was satisfied with the results. After a moment of thought, he said, "When the time comes, we should find a few skilled cooks to see if they can figure out a solution."
Chu Qiuzhe nodded in agreement and then brought up compressed biscuits. These were even more suitable for military campaigns than instant noodles, but their production was too complicated for ancient methods.
Lan An gained a rough understanding. Ultimately, his country was just too underdeveloped.
"If you need them, I can order a batch for you. They’re not expensive," Chu Qiuzhe offered. Seeing that Lan An remained silent, he assumed he was hesitant to ask, so he spoke up first.
Money wasn’t an issue!
Lan An shook his head. "Not for now. If I ever need them in the future, I’ll be sure to let you know."
After a brief pause, he added somewhat awkwardly, "While you’re in Da Han, if you need anything, just ask me."
He had said this so many times that even he was starting to feel embarrassed.
o0o
藍朋友 (Lán péngyǒu) sounds very similar to 男朋友 (nán péngyǒu), which means "boyfriend."
楚朋友 (Chǔ péngyǒu) sounds very similar to 處朋友 (chǔ péngyǒu), which in some dialects can mean "boyfriend/girlfriend" or "dating."