RIIDMDR chapter 5

 

Nan Xu walked over, picked up the beautifully feathered bird, and held it in his palm for a closer inspection. The bird hadn’t sustained any fatal injuries except for a slightly broken wing and a small bleeding wound, as if it had fallen from the sky.

Its body was plump and soft, and its feathers felt delicate. Touching the bird’s down reminded Nan Xu of the thatched bed and the harshness of his own life.

At that moment, the bird opened its round eyes and gazed at Nan Xu, revealing its lively and adorable nature.

Nan Xu thought those eyes looked incredibly intelligent. He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but he felt as if the bird was observing him.

He couldn’t help but tease it: “Little guy, you’ve got so much meat on you. I should be able to make a whole pot of it, right?”

The bird froze for a moment, and then fear crossed its eyes. It flapped its wings wildly, catching Nan Xu off guard. He scrambled to catch it and nearly injured the bird’s wing a second time.

Nan Xu’s heart suddenly settled back down. He held the bird, which was still trying to escape, in his palm. Surprised, the bird seemed to understand him. He soothed, “I won’t eat you. Don’t move. Don’t you want your wings anymore?”

The bird fluttered twice. Then, threatened by Nan Xu’s warning, “If you move again, I’ll eat you,” it calmed down and crouched quietly in his palm.

It really understood.

This time, Nan Xu had complete faith that the bird understood him. He was so bored in these deep mountains that raising such a human-like bird seemed like a good idea.

Nan Xu gently stroked the bird’s wing with his fingertips. The wound hadn’t healed yet; from its struggle, blood stained a small patch of feathers beneath its wing. The bird chirped in pain. After examining the bird, Nan Xu lifted it up and walked back to the house.

“You know it hurts, yet you’re still struggling. I’ll bandage your wound later, so don’t move.” Nan Xu’s attitude toward his companions could be described as gentle.

He had previously collected hemostatic herbs in a dried bamboo tube in the mountains. He took some out, crushed them into powder, and sprinkled them on the bird’s wound. The bird’s chest rose and fell with each breath, but it remained still, seemingly knowing that Nan Xu was treating it.

Nan Xu found this amusing. He sterilized a bamboo chopstick with hot water, broke it, and wrapped it with a piece of gauze to secure the bird’s wings.

As he bandaged the bird, Nan Xu looked at the pristine white gauze and wondered if the system had anticipated this moment by giving him such a seemingly useless item in his last blind box.

After securing its wings, the bird paced back and forth on the bamboo table that Nan Xu had crafted, occasionally chirping at him. The sound was pleasant, but Nan Xu didn’t understand what the bird was saying.

After crouching by the table and playing with the bird for a while, Nan Xu remembered the raspberry bush he had brought back. He stood up, picked up the pick from the corner, and prepared to plant it to prevent the bird from being exposed to the sun for too long and dying.

As he stepped out the door, the bird on the table began to chirp nonstop. Nan Xu paused and looked back. The bird was staring at him from the edge of the table, looking anxious.

“You want to go out with me?” Nan Xu asked tentatively.

The bird nodded.

“You…” So you’re fluent in human language?

Nan Xu walked back and held out his palm to the bird. The bird hesitated for a second, then quickly jumped onto Nan Xu’s palm, fearing he might regret it, and happily shook its feathers.

Nan Xu placed the bird on his shoulder and asked, “Can you stand still?”

A pair of claws grabbed his clothes off his shoulder. The bird chirped in his ear in response. Nan Xu chuckled softly, a hint of pleasure in his eyes.

Raspberry bushes love the sun, so Nan Xu dug a hole outside the fence in an area that often received sunlight, planted the tree, and watered it. The entire time, a little bird stayed on Nan Xu’s shoulder, watching his every move with its round eyes.

After planting the tree, Nan Xu casually carried the basket of wild berries inside the yard, stuffing a few berries into his mouth as he walked. The sweet berries tasted especially delicious.

The bird on his shoulder wanted to eat too, rubbing its head against his neck to make its presence known, either intentionally or not.

Amused, Nan Xu fed the little bird a few berries. These were the only wild berries he had found that day, and he was reluctant to part with them.

Perhaps the berries were so delicious that the little bird wasn’t satisfied after eating a few and asked Nan Xu for more.

Feeling overwhelmed by the little bird’s cuteness but also distressed, Nan Xu soon relented and placed a handful on the table.

“That’s all,” Nan Xu said.

The little bird ate happily, unfazed by Nan Xu’s stinginess.

It was noon, and with an injured little bird at home, Nan Xu decided not to go out again. He had found a bundle of wire a few days earlier and planned to use it to make a wooden basin from the trees in the yard. He usually used a bamboo tube to fetch water from the stream, but it was too small and inconvenient.

Making a wooden basin is a complex undertaking. First, the wood is split, and then it is planed into evenly thick, slightly curved boards. During this process, the wood is polished with a plane, sending sawdust flying everywhere. Suddenly, a little bird slithered over and flitted around among the shavings.

Worried that the bird might eat the sawdust, Nan Xu picked it up with one hand and set it aside. “Behave yourself,” he said.

The sun was setting, and Nan Xu had only finished a small part of the plank for his basin project. He wasn’t in a rush; it was a slow and steady process.

For dinner, we had stir-fried fern. The mountain fern was crisp, tender, and smooth. He added only a hint of salt to enhance its flavor. As he bit into it, the tip of his tongue could clearly feel the plump flesh of the fern stems, and the broth, permeated with the delicate fragrance of wild forest vegetables, made for an irresistible mouthful.

Nan Xu ate with relish. Little Bird stood on the table and tilted his head to peer at the food in Nan Xu’s bamboo bowl. He curiously peeked in.

Noticing his gesture, Nan Xu asked, “Would you like to try some too?”

Little Bird puffed out his chest and took another small step forward.

Nan Xu was curious. “Don’t you birds eat live insects? Are you eating wild vegetables too?”

The little bird froze for a few seconds, then shook its head like a toad, its face filling with disgust for insects.

Nan Xu was truly bewildered. He picked up a piece of fern with chopsticks and offered it to the little bird. The bird opened its mouth, took it in, and began to eat it bit by bit. Its eyes sparkled with joy at having tasted something delicious.

Nan Xu watched the bird enjoy the food and a smile curled up at the corners of his mouth.

The bird and the man shared a bowl of stir-fried fern. The little bird ate until it was full, its belly bulging. It rested its wings on its stomach, lying back on the table looking very satisfied.

Nan Xu came back from washing the bamboo bowls and saw this. The pent-up feeling that had been weighing on him for days instantly dissipated.

Perhaps it was because it had been so long since he’d encountered a species he could communicate with in this mountainous area, but today’s meal was particularly enjoyable.

After washing up at night, Nan Xu made a large nest for the bird with sun-dried straw and placed it on the guest bed.

His bed was covered with straw. When it got tangled up at night, he would unconsciously move it. He was afraid the bird might get crushed if he put it on his bed in the middle of the night, so he left it on the floor. Since there was an empty room that hadn’t attracted any guests, he decided to let the bird sleep there tonight.

In the dark, he placed the nest on the guest bed. The well-fed bird lay soundly asleep inside.

“Good night.” Remembering that he was the first guest to check into the guest room, Nan Xu teased, “Welcome.”

—

The next morning, Nan Xu woke up to a system notification: a densely packed message in the pop-up box.

[Main Mission 1-3 Rewards Issued. Reward List: Zhuyu Mountain Map (Exploration Edition), 2 Blind Box Purchase Coupons.

[A customer visits the Mountain Inn, Prosperity +5.]

[Main Mission 1-4: Recruit an Employee.]

When did he complete the mission?

Nan Xu was puzzled. He checked the records and confirmed that Mission 1-3 required a guest to check in, yet no one had checked in the previous night. Could it be a system bug?

The little bird he had rescued was still sleeping on the bed in the guest room.

Wait, a little bird? Nan Xu’s gaze slowly shifted to the bracketed text: ‘intelligent creature.

The system didn’t specify that customers had to be human. The bird was so human-like that its classification as an intelligent being seemed plausible.

Nan Xu thought it was absurd, but the system had already issued the rewards. For the sake of the rewards, he couldn’t question the reliability of the system’s mission assessment. He calmly began to check the rewards.

Opening the map page, he saw that the small, previously lit area had expanded. However, compared to the entire area of Zhuyu Mountain, it was still insignificant.

After the upgrade, a red exclamation mark appeared below the map. After checking its description, Nan Xu was pleasantly surprised because it signaled the presence of a ferocious beast.
.
He hadn’t ventured deeper into the dense forest surrounding the courtyard. He moved slowly because he was afraid of encountering wolves, tigers, or leopards, which would leave him with no way back. He took every step with extreme caution.

Now, the system had given him a powerful cheat. As long as he checked the map frequently, he would be alerted to approaching danger, giving him plenty of time to escape.

Reassured, Nan Xu selected his blind box, stood up, and headed to the warehouse.

Nan Xu was delighted after opening the first blind box, which contained one large packet and one small packet. Inside were several packets of small green vegetable seeds, also known as “chicken feather greens”[mfn]雞毛菜 (jī máo cài) = a colloquial name for baby bok choy, because the tiny leaves look a bit like chicken feathers.[/mfn] by some. They have a short harvest period, so if he planted them now, they’d be ready to eat in about a month.

The second blind box contained an ink painting of flowers and birds.

Surprisingly, Nan Xu didn’t feel bad about the system’s blind box distribution, which bypassed material needs and went straight to spiritual pursuits. Perhaps it was because the vegetable seeds had brought him so much joy, or perhaps life had hardened his mindset. He spent a long time in the warehouse admiring the painting.

It was still early, and the birds in the guest room were fast asleep. Nan Xu hung the painting on the wall in the main room. After washing up, he took his hoe and headed back to the house.

He had already mowed some of the weeds in the vegetable patch behind the house. Now, he only needed to plant small green vegetable seeds. He planned to clear the gravel from a small area first, and then use the hoe to loosen the soil.

Knowing that he would plant vegetables later, Nan Xu had been saving wood ash. After digging the vegetable patch, he spread the ash on it. Wood ash kills insects and bacteria and acts as a topdressing fertilizer.

After finishing everything, Nan Xu thought it was around nine in the morning. He was thirsty from working all morning. He went back to his room to rest and drink some water, but then he heard something pecking at a wooden board. The sound was quite regular.