Volume 1, Chapter 24: A Blushing Princess? Happy Fat Water!

"Huh? Is the beef all gone already?" Jiang Lin muttered, looking at the empty plate.

Zhu Yourong spoke up, "Jiang Lin, I have some beef that I just blanched."

With that, she picked up a piece of beef with her chopsticks, intending to place it in Jiang Lin's bowl. Unexpectedly, Jiang Lin didn't use his bowl to catch it, but leaned forward and took the beef directly from her chopsticks with his mouth.

"Mmm, delicious! Thanks for the beef!"

The others present were stunned by this scene. They hadn't realized that men and women in the future were so open. Knowing the relationship between Jiang Lin and Zhu Yourong—which at most involved a verbal betrothal—they were aware that couples typically weren't even supposed to see each other before marriage. And yet, here they were, doing something so scandalous! Just moments ago, Jiang Lin had wrapped his arm around Zhu Yourong in public, and now he was sharing her chopsticks.

Zhu Yourong's face turned beet red. She tried to act as if nothing had happened, busying herself by putting vegetables into the spicy pot, but her delicate, fair face grew increasingly flushed.

"Yourong, why are you blushing all of a sudden?" Zhu Biao looked at her rosy cheeks, unable to resist teasing his silly younger sister.

Zhu Yourong shook her head, denying it, "I'm... I'm not blushing."

"You really are!" Zhu Biao insisted with a serious expression.

Zhu Yourong shifted her eyes away, "Maybe it's just the heat..."

"Are you sure you aren't feeling hot because of Jiang Lin?" Zhu Biao couldn't hold it in anymore, a smirk playing on his lips.

Zhu Yourong felt a surge of anger; her mischievous older brother was teasing her again. Subconsciously, she kicked him under the table. "It's not that! I... I'm just hot from the hot pot!"

"You're hot? Then let me go get you a drink," Jiang Lin said, looking up.

Zhu Yourong was taken aback. "A drink? What is a drink?"

"Well, it's a type of beverage from our time."

Jiang Lin rose and went to the refrigerator. He opened the cooling compartment and asked, "What would you like? There's cola, Sprite, Fanta, fruit juice, lemonade, and herbal tea."

"Uh... which one tastes the best?" Zhu Yourong asked, blinking in confusion. All the names Jiang Lin mentioned were things she had never heard of.

Jiang Lin replied, "That would definitely be cola. It's my personal favorite."

"In the future, this cola has another name: 'Fatty's Happy Water.'"

"'Happy Water'?" Zhu Yourong muttered to herself. Her eyes lit up, and she said excitedly, "Water that makes people happy must taste good! Give me a can of cola!"

"Heh heh... Brother Jiang, could you grab me one too?" Zhu Biao asked with a smile.

Zhu Yuanzhang also chimed in, "I'll have a can of that 'Happy Water' as well."

"And... I'll take a bottle of cola, too," Empress Ma added.

Moments later, Jiang Lin returned to the table with five cans of cola and handed them out.

"Eating hot pot paired with an ice-cold cola—it feels like living as an immortal!" Jiang Lin pulled the tab on the can and took a long gulp. "Ah! That is so refreshing!"

Seeing this, Zhu Yourong tried to mimic him and hurriedly opened her can. Suddenly, a panicked cry rang out.

"Ah! Jiang Lin, the cola exploded!"

Everyone turned to look. The cola in Zhu Yourong's hand had sprayed out, splashing over her fair, delicate fingers.

"What happened? As soon as I opened it, it shot out like an explosion. You scared me to death!"

"That's because it's packed with carbon dioxide," Jiang Lin explained with a laugh.

"What is carbon dioxide?" Zhu Yourong asked skeptically.

"It's a colorless, odorless, and non-toxic gas. Basically, the reason cola has little bubbles is because it's infused with carbon dioxide."

Zhu Yourong looked closely. The liquid inside was black, and sure enough, there were plenty of tiny bubbles. Wow! This carbon dioxide was magical. Even though the drink felt freezing cold to the touch, it kept bubbling as if it were boiling water. As a self-proclaimed foodie, Zhu Yourong was hesitant to take a sip; if it weren't for the fact that Jiang Lin had just finished his, she might have thought it was poison.

Finally, she gathered her courage and took a big gulp.

The next moment, her eyes widened, and she looked quite excited.

"Wow, it looks so plain, but the taste is incredible... *hiccup!*"

Before she could finish her sentence, she let out a loud, resonant hiccup that echoed through the room. Such an unladylike act made the thin-skinned Zhu Yourong blush deep red. Too embarrassed to speak, she lowered her head and focused on the hot pot.

"Mmm, my tongue feels tingly. How refreshing!" Zhu Biao finished his cola, feeling as if he had discovered a whole new world.

*Clack!*

With a crisp sound, Old Zhu and Empress Ma set their empty cans on the table. They had finished theirs as well, and their expressions suggested they were still craving more.

"Hahaha, refreshing, right? That's all thanks to the carbon dioxide," Jiang Lin said. "If there were no carbon dioxide in the cola, it would just be plain, sugary water. It wouldn't taste bad, but it certainly wouldn't be this delicious."

Zhu Yuanzhang’s interest was piqued. "Jiang Lin, what exactly is this carbon dioxide?"

"It's a carbon oxide compound with the chemical formula CO2—it's part of the chemical knowledge we study in the future," Jiang Lin answered.

Zhu Yourong pressed further, "What are 'chemical formulas' and 'chemical knowledge'?"

"Uh..." Jiang Lin paused, unsure how to explain something so complex. "Chemistry is a basic subject that people in the future study. Besides that, our nine-year compulsory education also covers Chinese, mathematics, English, history, geography, ethics and law, biology, and physics. Including chemistry, there are nine subjects in total."

It was clear they had entered the territory of the Zhu family's intellectual blind spot. Facing Zhu Yourong’s wide, bewildered eyes, Jiang Lin did his best to explain:

"Chinese is for learning language and culture; mathematics is what you might call arithmetic; English is a universal language used in the future... History is the study of people from the past, such as the Ming, Tang, and Han dynasties, as well as other nations. Geography and Ethics are self-explanatory—one is the study of the Earth, and the other covers moral education. Biology is the study of all living things on Earth: humans, animals, plants, and even bacteria, viruses, and fungi."

The Zhu family nodded, only half-understanding.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but sigh, "To think that the people of the future have to study so many complicated subjects!"