Chapter 101 First Taste
God and Hania walked for a while, finding that vegetarian restaurants and upscale eateries were in similar conditions—both equally smoky and unpleasant in the eyes of the angels.
Finally, they found one that looked clean. Hania looked around for a while and commented,
"Probably because there are fewer people."
God glanced at the shop, and Hania stated the direct reason.
The divine eye can discern sin. Hania, being an angel, naturally disliked sin, so he found those shops filthy.
This shop was indeed cleaner because there were fewer people. But why were there fewer people?
Because the food wasn't good. The pasta at this shop was unleavened.
Humans' earliest pasta was unleavened, until they discovered yeast.
Leavened food tastes better, is easier to digest, and also fosters greed. Conversely, unleavened food tastes bad, but one piece can last half a day, suppressing human greed. This is why Hania chose this place from among hundreds of restaurants.
It wasn't that this place intentionally made the bread bad; it wasn't an ordinary restaurant, but an inn catering to long-distance travelers.
Travelers were often in a hurry, unable to wait for the yeast to ferment, yet needing a substantial meal to maintain their energy, so unleavened bread was an excellent choice.
"It looks very good, let's choose this one!"
God had no objections, so Haniya led the way into the inn.
The innkeeper, seeing new customers, immediately greeted them with delight.
"Welcome! Are you two staying here?"
"No, we're here for a meal," Haniya said, glancing around the inn. "Indeed, there are as few customers inside as outside."
This was rather tactless, but Haniya didn't mean it; he was genuinely complimenting the inn's cleanliness.
Humans, however, were far from pleased, and the shopkeeper's smile became strained: "Because this is an inn, not a restaurant."
Haniya looked at him questioningly, "You don't sell food?"
"Yes, of course we do!" the shopkeeper quickly replied, "It's just that most of our customers are travelers on long journeys; we don't usually have customers like you two who come specifically for a meal."
"Oh, I see."
"I thought your food was particularly bad! I was a little worried before I came in."
Haniya hit the nail on the head again.
Perhaps it's hard for humans to believe that this angel wasn't doing it intentionally, but he really was just saying what he thought.
Even God didn't know he had thought this before he spoke.
"No… our food is all quite good."
"Do you sell vegetarian dishes here? Neither of us eats meat."
"If you would," the shopkeeper smiled, "I can guarantee there won't be a single drop of oil in your dishes!"
"That's great," Haniya nodded, praising him generously, then mimicking a human's gesture of ordering, she took out a gold coin and waved it.
"Please give us a quieter spot."
The shopkeeper's smile became more genuine, and he led them to a table in the far corner.
But in reality, Haniya didn't know how to order, and the god didn't want to order. So, under the owner's eager and expectant gaze, these two elegantly dressed, distinguished-looking, seemingly wealthy 'tycoons' sat down and ordered two dishes.
A plate of stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and a cold artichoke salad.
It seemed like they ordered per person. The shopkeeper stuck his quill pen into his hat, not bothering to write anything down, and even prepared to give the two ascetic monks an extra plate of steamed bitter melon.
Haniya thanked the shopkeeper profusely and saw him off after his sudden loud footsteps.
"You can order more," God said, turning his gaze away from the outside.
Haniya, unaware that the shopkeeper was already internally mocking him, didn't seem to care: "It's just the two of us, why order so much? Just trying it out is enough. Besides, the shopkeeper was very kind and even gave us a free dish."
"Although that dish probably wasn't very good," he said with a slightly disgusted expression, "bitter melon… but since he was so kind as to give it to us, we shouldn't refuse his kindness."
A subtle expression appeared on God's face, but Haniya didn't notice. He removed his mask and placed it aside, looking at Yahweh and asking the question he had been wanting to ask all along.
"By the way, why didn't they stare at you?"
Yahweh was so handsome, yet he was always trying to hide himself and still had many people staring at him. It didn't make sense that Yahweh, so open and honest, wouldn't attract attention.
No, rather than being ignored, they seemed to notice him.
"Have you cast an ignore spell on yourself?" So ordinary people can see Yahweh, but won't pay him much attention.
God's gaze shifted from Hania back to the doorway. A large group of people had arrived, seemingly merchants on a long journey.
The leader entered the shop.
He had a dignified face, but a lingering sorrow clung to his brow.
There were too many troubled people in this world, too many to attract God's attention.
"Yahweh," Hania's golden head appeared before Him, and the angel looked at him with displeasure.
"How could you be distracted while I was speaking?"
"I didn't use magic," God said, smoothly continuing Hania's words.
"Really? I don't believe it."
"This isn't magic." Magic is fleeting and illusory; it dissipates once control of its power is lost.
"It's the law."
The law is different from magic. The law is truth; all of God's actions are truth, eternal and unchangeable.
When God first traversed the world in the name of Yahweh, He cast a spell of confusion upon Himself, impenetrable to ordinary creations unless intentionally broken by God—only God could utter the word "law" in such a calm tone.
However, Haniya was unaware that God was introducing Himself a second time.
"Law?" Haniya was astonished.
Born in Heaven beneath God's throne, Haniya naturally knew what law was; the first lesson for angels in the academy was learning about the Creator God.
They called the Father's power to alter the world the power of law.
Only God possessed this ability.
Yet He used it on Yahweh, simply to prevent Yahweh from being seen by other beings.
Haniya stared intently at Yahweh.
No wonder he had clearly sensed that the God of the Way had wavered, yet Yahweh had ultimately descended with him.
No wonder Yahweh was as angry as if he himself had been disrespected by the people of this place.
So that's it.
God frowned. Strictly speaking, the angel's thoughts were correct, but something about them sounded odd.
"Your stir-fried vegetables are ready!"
Haniya stood up, took the plate from the shopkeeper, and for the first time, didn't mind the man's absent-minded stare.
Mortals would be flustered by his presence, let alone Yahweh.
"Oh, I see," he said, pushing the plate towards Yahweh with unprecedented respect.
"Please eat first."
God glanced at the plate of greens, then at Haniya, whose mind was racing with excitement.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked, unusually puzzled.
"Nothing!" Haniya shook his head, propping himself up on his hand and continuing to watch Yahweh's silly grin.
How could anyone eat under such a gaze? Haniya seemed to realize his impoliteness, and shifted his gaze to the table.
For a while, there was still only one plate of greens on the table.
"What's going on? They're serving food so slowly, I'll go check."
Haniya was gone, and no one was making those strange laughs in their minds, so God turned his attention to the plate of vegetables.
God wasn't unfamiliar with human food; the grand feast at Noah's family's table hundreds of years ago was still vivid in his mind.
Besides, people would offer him sacrifices, both meat and vegetables.
But God had never sat quietly at the table like this, waiting to 'eat.'
Even in Heaven, he never ate any food, nor drank a drop of water.
Golden Eyes looked at the silver cutlery beside him, a hint of hesitation flashing in his eyes.
A child's heart is pure and simple, often revealing truths unintentionally; perhaps Haniya was right.
'You look at this world, but never truly enter it.'
Like this plate of vegetables, he looked at it, and knew its taste.
But he never truly tasted it.
He could watch from the Nine Heavens for a thousand years, ten thousand years.
Witnessing the changing world, witnessing the turmoil of creation, watching their endless cycles of gratitude and resentment, witnessing their entanglements of love and hate.
Collision, redemption, self-destruction, rebirth, and then the final demise.
...
Just as His hand reached for the cutlery, God suddenly heard a voice say, 'Don't move.'
It was Haniah.
The angel instantly pressed down on that slender, white hand, his expression grave: "Wait, Yahweh."
"Listen to me."
"I just went to the kitchen and discovered something very serious."
Haneyah was in the kitchen...
God quickly understood what had happened through the angel's presence, his eyelids twitching slightly.
"Don't say anything."
Haneyah didn't hear him. He sat down beside him, as if he had suffered a great blow; his face was pale, and he stared at Yahweh, his eyes empty.
"They built a vegetable garden in the yard behind the kitchen, and you'd never guess what they watered the seedlings with!"
The angel stared at the plate of lush green vegetables on the table, gripped by deep fear.
"Haniah," God had to interrupt the angel again, "Calm down."
"No, I can't calm down, I can't forget that horrific scene..."
"It was their **!" He was agitated, his voice inevitably rising.
"Pfft—" A human eating nearby suddenly spat out his food, looking up with a grimacing expression.
"Can't a person eat in peace?!"
He'd thought these two were sitting mysteriously in the corner, seriously discussing something important.
But it turned out, that handsome young man...
"What an idiot!
Talking about ** at the dinner table!"
God glanced at the man, causing a blister to appear on his lip, and he dared not slander others in his heart again.
The angel had never witnessed such a filthy scene, so his outburst was understandable; he was genuinely terrified.
To be honest, even God had never seen anything like it.
If He hadn't seen it in Hania's mind, God felt He would never have looked at it.
After a moment of silence, He finally spoke.
"Don't judge its nature based on appearances alone; this is a great thing."
Unlike in Heaven, where fruits and vegetables can be cultivated with spiritual energy, humans on Earth struggle tirelessly to find ways to make plants grow more luxuriantly.
God once again explained the phenomenon of elemental cycles to Hania, but this time the topic shifted from the "big fish eat little fish" mentality to the quality transformation between fertilizer and food.
"Really?" Hania was still skeptical.
"Really," God affirmed.
"I don't believe it, but even so, you certainly wouldn't dare eat it!"
The human at the table, clutching his suddenly aching left cheek, laughed uncontrollably.
'Hahaha, so you two are fools!'
Soon, his right cheek also began to ache.
...
To appease the angel, under Hania's terrified gaze, God picked up his fork and put a piece of green vegetable in his mouth.
In that instant, all thoughts of worldly involvement and detachment, of creation and enmity, vanished from His mind.
The moment was utterly serene.
God savored the bitter taste on His tongue, His expression serene.
Hanaia was immediately soothed. As God had intended, his action successfully dispelled the angel's unease, and he was once again filled with curiosity about the vegetable.
'How does it taste?' he asked.
'Not bad,' God put down his fork and looked at him gently.
'I think you can go and hurry up with your food now.'
...You provide the [Hebrew Mythology] of the great god Danmu's arduous history of the formation of a world.