RIIDMDR chapter 47

 

Sure enough, the Bai couple said, “It’s incredibly difficult to find a place to recuperate in this demon world. We’re willing to pay. Can Zhixing stay at the inn?”

Nan Xu wasn’t surprised. If it were him, he would probably leave the child here to recuperate. After all, any place rich in spiritual energy is now occupied by demons of all kinds. Zhuyu Mountain not only allows other demons to enter but also puts up a large billboard outside to attract business for the inn.

Nan Xu didn’t object. Zhixing was just another regular guest, and a likable one at that.

But he felt strangely uneasy. Tingchuan had definitely had this thought, but he hadn’t voiced it himself—instead, he used the Bai couple. This made Nan Xu feel that Tingchuan didn’t quite trust him. Perhaps they weren’t as close as Nan Xu had assumed.

The Bai couple were delighted to hear that Nan Xu agreed. They immediately counted out all the silver coins they had—4,739—and kept none for themselves.

“We didn’t bring enough silver when we went out. We’ll get more when we return to Xishan,” the middle-aged man said.

That amount wouldn’t even cover a month’s rent, so it wasn’t much. For Nanxu, though, it was a significant sum. Furthermore, Zhixing and the Tingshu from his dream were both descendants of the Xishan Bai family. Perhaps, once Zhixing recovered, he would be inscribed in Tingshu’s lineage. For some reason, Nanxu felt affection for Zhixing and immediately offered him a discount on his room rate, making a three-month stay a no-brainer.

The Bai couple thanked him profusely. After a moment’s thought, Nanxu gave Zhixing the key to the downstairs room and told him to stay there permanently. This way, guests could stay in the second-floor room without disturbing the shy Zhixing.

The Bai couple did not object to Nanxu’s arrangement. After giving Zhixing some instructions, they hurried down the mountain.

Just as they were about to leave, they remembered that they had forgotten to ask Zhixing’s opinion because they had been in such a hurry. However, he hadn’t expressed any reluctance during their earlier discussion. Since they had been away for several months and their son was reserved and not good at expressing himself, they asked him if he wanted to stay on the mountain.

Zhixing smiled and said, “The scenery here is beautiful, and the owner’s cooking is delicious. Don’t worry, Dad or Mom.”

He presumably understood that staying on the mountain was the best option for his health. Hearing this, the Bai couple felt a pang of sadness. The three of them hugged each other for a long time at the courtyard gate before reluctantly parting ways.

In the courtyard, Nan Xu lay on a bamboo chair, lost in thought as he stared at the sky. He couldn’t understand. Tingchuan was just an employee whom he’d coaxed into joining him by some strange coincidence. The most intimate thing they had ever done was share a bed due to a shortage of beds. They might have chatted about various topics before bed, but a demon who had lived for four or five thousand years couldn’t recount all of those stories in three days and three nights. He didn’t really know Tingchuan well.

But why did he feel so bad about Tingchuan’s slightest hint of unfamiliarity?

Perhaps it was the long years in the mountains and the loneliness that had made him feel so close to Tingchuan, his longtime companion. He believed they were close friends with whom he could share everything and that there would be no room for conflict.

He clearly remembered Tingchuan’s words about waiting for him to leave the formation and how those words filled the emptiness in his heart. He also remembered stumbling out of the formation and feeling dizzy. It was Tingchuan who hugged him and offered reassurance.

Nan Xu closed his eyes and finally realized that he had been letting his feelings run wild. He longed for a close friend like the original owner of the mountain whose spirit had woven countless memories into a formation, even after his disappearance. However, it was simply too much to risk a human lifespan of a hundred years for the true feelings of a demon.

The courtyard was quiet. Nan Xu was speechless and lost in thought. Tingchuan teased Guan’er into biting his tail. The two were clearly close, yet a veil seemed to separate them, preventing them from seeing each other clearly.

When Nan Xu opened his eyes and sat up again, he understood. He couldn’t force Tingchuan to become someone he’s not just because Nan Xu needed a friend.

Tingchuan glanced at him. Nan Xu looked back at him openly with a smile in his eyes. It was a look that seemed different from usual. Tingchuan frowned; he didn’t like the way Nan Xu smiled.

After three or four days away from home, Nan Xu went to check on Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu.

The two brothers had finished their rations two days earlier, and when Nan Xu didn’t bring them food, they thought they had done something wrong. Zhuang Wu, in particular, hadn’t fully recovered from his back injury yet. He lay in bed, muttering incessantly about his eldest brother’s laziness and how he had displeased the boss. Now that they were out of food, Zhuang Si was so enraged that he wanted to spank his foolish younger brother daily.

Two days later, after Zhuang Wu had regained his mobility, he went to the courtyard to see how Nan Xu would react. He found no one in the yard, only a cold pot on the stove and the dog sprawled out asleep. There was food in the dog’s bowl, though. Since no one was home, he figured he might as well go into the warehouse and steal something. He had only taken two steps when he heard someone push the door open. He immediately ran outside and stood in front of the main hall door. Seeing only Tingchuan enter, he broke out in a cold sweat and his mind cleared up.

He wanted to slap himself hard on the head. How could he have been so forgetful? He’d almost fallen into the same trap again! Who knew that today’s situation was a trap set by the owner?

Zhuang Wu was terrified. Tingchuan, who had just descended from the mountaintop, raised his brows slightly. His peach-shaped eyes glared at Zhuang Wu coldly. Zhuang Wu’s legs began to tremble uncontrollably again.

“I… I just came to take a look,” he said guiltily, pulling a few pheasant eggs from his pocket. “I found these on the back hill and wanted to give them to the master.”

Tingchuan ignored the wild boar demon. He glanced at the drooping pot in the yard. The dog bowl, filled with yesterday’s food, remained untouched. Perhaps Nan Xu wasn’t home and didn’t have an appetite.

Tingchuan found time every day to return to the inn and do some chores. He would scoop a basket of rice from the warehouse and toss it to Zhuang Wu. Then, he would lead the chickens from the yard to the chicken coop behind the house. He would tell the wild boar demon following him closely, “Watch the door. If anything gets lost, you two brothers won’t have to stay in this mountain anymore.”

Zhuang Wu held a basket of rice and smiled and nodded repeatedly, but tears welled up inside him. Their boss had provided them with rations that included rice and flour, as well as two magical fruits called sweet potatoes. Yet this fox demon only gave them rice. He dared not show his dissatisfaction and could only endure it silently.

Under Tingchuan’s threat, Zhuang Wu frequented the courtyard daily, becoming familiar with the entire ten-mile radius. He would panic at the slightest sign of trouble. Fortunately, this didn’t last more than two days before Zhuang Wu saw the fox demon carrying the inn owner back, followed by several hedgehog demons.

When Nan Xu arrived, he saw Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu husking rice at the entrance of the bamboo hut. Zhuang Si’s knee injury hadn’t fully healed yet, so he walked slowly. Zhuang Wu spotted Nan Xu from a distance, dropped his stick, and ran toward him with a fawning expression.

“Boss, you’re finally back.”

Nan Xu was a little surprised by his expression. Zhuang Wu’s happiness was genuine, without a hint of pretense. He smiled and said, “I’ve been away these past few days, and I heard you two have been looking after the hotel. You’ve been working hard. Come over tomorrow and have dinner together.”

Zhuang Wu grinned at his words. The boss’s words were like a spring breeze, warming his heart. The days of anxiously watching over the house seemed less difficult.

He might have felt resentful in the past, but yesterday, when he went to the courtyard to retrieve the stone mortar, he overheard the Bai couple whispering about Nan Xu’s entry into the formation. Considering that no monster had emerged alive from the main peak’s formation in millennia yet the boss had made it out safely in just three days, the Bai couple was utterly astonished. They had underestimated the boss’s abilities back then. Now, such a powerful monster was offering them a meal—what an honor!

–

Zhixing’s presence in the shop didn’t make much of a difference. The young man was simply quiet, and his presence wasn’t strong. If he hadn’t followed Nanxu around all day, Nanxu would have forgotten that such a monster was in the inn.

It was another harvest of chili peppers. Taking advantage of the good weather, Nan Xu fired several ceramic pots of different sizes in the earthenware kiln. This time, he prepared the chili peppers in several ways. For example, he minced the peppers and marinated them with garlic, ginger, and salt. He also washed whole peppers, put them in a jar for pickling, and minced them to add to a garlic chili sauce with garlic, salt, and sugar.

While Nan Xu worked, Zhi Xing quietly helped nearby. As he minced the chili peppers, his eyes reddened from the spiciness, but he remained silent. When Nan Xu noticed, he was heartbroken.

“Even a doctor’s five senses shouldn’t be stimulated like this,” he said as he took the knife from Zhixing’s hand.

Zhi Xing didn’t dare compete with Nan Xu for the knife, fearing it might injure him. So, he let Nan Xu take it away. His face flushed red from the spiciness of the peppers. He looked up at Nan Xu and said, “It’s okay. The sting of the chili peppers makes me feel a lot stronger.”

Nanxu couldn’t tell if he was telling the truth, but his eyes sparkled as if he had discovered something new and exciting. Still, Nanxu couldn’t let Zhi Xing continue chopping, so he took over the job himself.

Nanxu chopped the chili peppers while Zhixing sat beside him. This particular variety of peppers was incredibly spicy. Ten minutes later, Nan Xu silently put down his knife and looked at Zhi Xing. The spiciness in the air was enough to make one cry. The two stared at each other with red eyes, unable to hold back their laughter.

The laughter echoed through the mountains. Tingchuan paused in his steps while carrying oak wood back. After sending off the Bai couple, he sensed that Nan Xu’s attitude toward him had shifted slightly. Before, whenever Nan Xu saw something new, he would mention it to Tingchuan. Now, however, there was Guan’er to play with and Zhixing to chat with. He could even ask the Zhuang brothers, the wild boar demons, for help with heavy labor. There was nothing left for him.

Today, he went to the mountains to look for oak trees. He had taken the initiative to look for them after seeing Nan Xu carve something and realizing the wood was too soft. Nan Xu hadn’t even considered asking for his help.

Hearing the laughter emanating from the courtyard, Tingchuan, the inn’s most senior employee, felt, for the first time, the plight of being on the verge of layoffs in the human world.

He put down the oak tree and climbed the tallest nearby tree to gaze at the endless, rolling peaks in the distance. He had come to Zhuyu Mountain every year for over three thousand years. He had walked every path and explored every small formation. However, whenever he encountered a large formation, it isolated him.

Last time he wanted to bring Zhixing in, it was also just to test—if it wasn’t only him, would the great formation still block them? But Nan Xu had been too decisive, not giving him a chance to try. Yet he knew that even with someone else, they probably still couldn’t get in.

That silly little demon still wouldn’t let him enter, even after perishing.