Ch 12 Real Meat

After returning and placing everything in the dust-covered kitchen, Leon looked around and inspected everything.

Yes, this orphanage uses a gas stove, which means he'll need a gas tank, as expected. The most baffling thing is that there are no pans or other cooking utensils, not even a plate, fork, or spoon.

Then Leon remembered the instant noodles he ate every single day... well, they used plastic forks all the time and threw them in the trash bin.

Leon looked outside from the window. The kitchen was connected to a small backyard where he could see firewood stacked near a black, burned pot, probably where Walter boiled water.

“I swear this place looks illegal as f*ck....” Leon didn't know how Walter had managed to open an orphanage in this condition.

But it wasn't really his business, so Leon headed out again and returned with cooking utensils, diningware, and gas tanks.

“Haa…ha… this… I still need to buy pets…. Yeah…..” Leon feels tired the a small rest and then go out and look for a pet shop….

Arriving at a local pet shop, Leon found himself facing a myriad of pets, cats, dogs, rabbits, parrots, lizards, geckos, mice... uh, hamsters.

This makes Leon dizzy… tired and dizzy.

In the end, Leon looked at a cat. It looked cute and could catch mice, but thinking that they could just climb the wall and escape, Leon considered something else.

After looking around for so long, Leon decided to buy ten rabbits. I mean, there were 39 kids, so buying just one didn't feel good enough.

He planned to make a makeshift cage later... oh wait, he didn't need to.

“Sir! Ten rabbits need a big space, and I'm guessing you don't want them cramped up. I assume you have a backyard? If so, this will solve all your problems!” The shopkeeper offered Leon something good.

It was a playpen, something like a bundle of wire and plastic panels. It looked like a jigsaw puzzle, but it was easy enough to use. Leon could just hook up one panel to another and build a fence in any shape he wanted.

In the end, Leon had to call a taxi, which made him facepalm. Why didn't he think about a taxi when he bought the gas tanks?

Sigh, it was only now, when there was no way he could walk any longer, that he thought about getting a taxi.

Currently, five transport cages, four sets of playpen panels (32 pieces in total), and ten bags of rabbit food were crammed into the back of the car.

Today he really splurged! To be honest, it felt good. Leon could feel how money could buy anything he wanted. “Haa... at least I feel some satisfaction, huh…” Leon sighed inside the taxi.

When Leon arrived, he could see numerous pairs of eyes staring right at him... or rather, at the taxi... and the rabbits... and the panels.

This was when Leon realized he'd been shopping for a whole day! It was afternoon already! “Uh... that's why I feel super tired, huh?”

But the kids were already coming over and surrounding him.

“Leon! You got bunnies! Are you making bunny soup? Ooh, can we try some? Just a little bit, okay? Pretty please? I can help! I can help!”

“Me too! Me too! Let me help!”

“Yeah, yeah, can we? I won't ask for pocket money today!”

Leon looked at the pairs of big eyes staring at him. They looked... big... innocent... watery... Oh... “No! These rabbits are not food! They're pets, understand?”

“Ahhh! You want to wait for baby bunnies and then eat the whole family???” The kids looked confused.

Hearing this, Leon's face darkened. “No! Pets are like... friends. You pet them, play with them, take care of them. You don't eat your friends!” He paused, still processing what he'd just heard. “And who the hell taught you about genocide?!”

The kids are blinking.. But knowing it's not food, they look dejected… and of course they don’t know what is genocide..

Leon then paid the taxi first and gave a little tip.. Then say “if you want to eat meat don’t worry, tonight you will eat meat until you burst! Uhum no, I mean until you're full!” realizing how bad of an example he is, Leon corrects his words…

“I bought beef, chicken, lamb, turkey... Let's taste them one by one! Each one of you can have your share!” Leon proudly declared, which left the kids in awe.

“MEAT?! REAL MEAT?! FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY!” The kids exploded into cheers, jumping and spinning around.

"MEAT! MEAT! MEAT!" another kid even hug him…… seeing this the other gather at him and hug him too!

Leon smiled and patted their heads. “Alright kids, I still need to do something, so go play now.”

Seeing Leon taking out the playpen, the kids looked curiously.

“Is that a puzzle? Can we help build it?”

Leon tried to build the playpen with their help, but the kids kept getting distracted, treating the panels like puzzle pieces and wandering off with them.

“Hey, hey, we need to build the rabbit house first!” Leon shouted, collecting the scattered panels.

Luckily, only a few got so naughty, the others managed to make Leon's job a tiny bit easier.

After he finished setting everything up, Leon opened the transport cages. The rabbits were cautious, hesitating at the edge as if unsure of their new surroundings.

Leon waited for a bit, but when he saw they weren't coming out, he pulled them out one by one. Luckily, no one died of anxiety…

After giving them food, Leon left the kids to play with the new rabbits. The children were overjoyed, hugging them, chasing them around, and pulling their ears... oh wait.

“Hey, don't do that! It's not a cartoon bunny!” Leon reprimanded a kid who had grabbed a rabbit by the ear. The poor thing was still dangling and kicking in panic.

After that, Leon walked to the kitchen with a broom... oh wait, Leon let the kids clean the kitchen instead.

“You said you wanted to help me, so now sweep the floor and make everything clean. We don't have a refrigerator, so... uh, just leave the meat and stuff there. I need to sleep. Be careful while cleaning, okay? Don't just grab random things and get hurt.”

“YES! We'll clean everything! We'll make it super duper clean!” the kid said in unison…

Leon watched the girls sweep the floor while the boys scrubbed surfaces with water buckets and rags. They really were hardworking kids.

Yawning, Leon left but soon stopped. “Right, kids! Give me all the money from today's sales!”

With that, the kids quickly scrambled and lined up. Each gave Leon some money, and Leon gave them tips in return.

After everything was done, Leon walked back to his room, took a bath, and then lay down on his soft mattress.

“Ah, so soft... my body feels tired... let's... sleeeeep...” Just like that, Leon fell asleep. He was really tired.

While Leon slept, the girls continued cleaning the kitchen. The boys fetched water from a well in the backyard to refill their buckets and continued scrubbing. They did this with smiles!

“I never had fresh meat before. Is it gonna be soft?” one kid ask the other..

“Hum... I ate a little when Aunty Bethy cooked... Oops, don't tell the others, okay? It tasted good! So soft... ah, I'm drooling...” The other kids wipe his drool as his stomach grumbles….

…

Around 7 PM, Leon woke up feeling heavy. “Well, I need more sleep... but it's 7 already, huh... Let's see the kids, they must be hungry.”

In the common room, Leon could see Walter teaching the kids something. It was a new scene!

Leon had never seen Walter at this hour, and it was the first time he'd seen Walter really taking care of these kids.

Walter brought some new toys and let the kids play with them. Then he walked over to two of the older boys.

"Jimmy, Ken, you're of age now, we need to get you into school." Walter looked directly at the two bigger kids.

"I've been talking with a few institutions that offer scholarships. They have dormitories, so you wouldn't need to worry about food or housing."

Ken feels confused. "Must we go?"

Walter sighed and patted Ken's head. "Yes, it's for your own future. Don't you want to be a doctor so you can cure us if we get sick?"

"'But it's not easy to get this scholarship, so you need to study seriously" Walter then asked a question. "Let me test you. What's the answer to 1 + 9?"

Leon didn't disturb them at all. He walked toward the kitchen and found it spotlessly clean. Opening his phone, Leon searched for cooking recipes and even watched cooking tutorials.

“...looks easy enough, let's try it. First heat cooking oil, then chop onion and garlic until they're soft and fragrant... next...” Just like that, Leon created a tasty-looking beef stew. The aroma was so fragrant that he drooled.

"Hahaha, it's a piece of cake! Now, as a qualified chef, let's taste my masterpiece!" Leon used a spoon to taste a little bit. As the beef broth entered his mouth, it exploded with flavor! literally…

"...F*ck! Why is it so salty! I only used one spoonful of salt!" Leon felt his tongue stinging and quickly grabbed some water.

"What's wrong with this recipe... sheesh, I need to redo it again..." Leon repeated the same process and tasted it.

"...This recipe is wrong... damn wrong! How come it's still too salty!" Leon grumbled, wanting to look for another recipe, but when he reached for his phone, a voice interrupted him.

"How about I help? I heard you want to cook for the kids." When Leon looked at who was talking, he could see Walter coming in while the kids were already peeking from the door.

"Hahaha, sorry for interrupting, but the smell really made these kids so distracted that I can't teach them at all, hearing their stomachs growling like lions." Walter said.

"Sure, it seems that cooking isn't really my forte." Leon had already given up on creating a masterpiece...

With that, Walter took over, but the kids had already spotted the two portions of beef stew Leon made.

"Can we eat this?" Jimmy, a rather thin blonde boy, said while looking at the stew like it was real chef food... drooling.

Leon hesitated, but Walter chimed in, "Of course! We can't throw away any food. Try it, let the others have a share too."

"But it's too salty..." Leon stopped as he watched the kids start to gather and greedily devour the food.

This was the first time Leon realized that for these kids who rarely or even never ate real meat, the taste was secondary. What they were thinking was

"Finally I can eat real meat! Oh, it's tender... hey! I still haven't gotten my second bite!"

The kids started fighting over food that Leon deemed not worth eating.