RIIDMDR chapter 20

 

That day, the two of them dug up several wild plants in the mountains. Among them were plants like mint and licorice that Nan Xu recognized, as well as plants like patchouli and astragalus that he had systematically identified. Nan Xu collected them all, putting them in a basket, and took them home. He dug a hole in the open space in front of his yard and planted them.

What surprised Nan Xu most was finding a wild kiwi tree. It was in bloom when he saw it. Fearing that it wouldn’t survive the transplant, he checked on it frequently. Tingchuan saw that Nan Xu had almost trampled all the grass in the field and asked him what he was thinking.

Nan Xu sighed and said, “I want to move it home, but…”

Before he could finish, Tingchuan had already uprooted the tree. He said to Nan Xu, “That’s enough. Let’s go.”

Nan Xu: …

To atone for Tingchuan’s recklessness, Nan Xu planted and cared for the tree even more meticulously than a grape seedling. Only after seeing that the tree was still blooming beautifully after being transplanted did Nan Xu feel reassured.

After using up the system’s search count, Nan Xu, who used to rush out every day, suddenly seemed to change his temperament. He sat down in the yard and leisurely planned wood.

Tingchuan couldn’t adapt to this change. During the day, while he slept in the yard, he would occasionally glance in Nan Xu’s direction, as if afraid this unpredictable person would suddenly do something else on a whim. By the time the three tables were finished, the second batch of pottery had also emerged from the oven. Two pots, one large and one small, had been successfully made.

At the same time, a new message popped up on the system:

[Pottery Pot Achievement Completed.]

[Recipe 1 Received, New Recipe Unlocked—Candle.]

Nan Xu was stunned and surprised by such an achievement. He had never seen one before. He didn’t know if it was a new system update or if it had always existed. However, being able to unlock a new recipe, especially for something practical like a candle, made Nan Xu overjoyed.

He knew a little about candlemaking, but wax was unavailable deep in the mountains. Fortunately, the system instructed him to use pine oil to make candles. Pine trees grew on the hill behind the house, providing convenient local supplies. This allowed Nan Xu to experience the joy of living off the land.

When he saw a small clay pot perfect for boiling pine oil, he immediately dropped his work and headed for the hills behind the house. He returned with a small basket of pine oil and a slender bamboo stick.

Tingchuan had already cleared the courtyard of broken ceramics, leaving only two intact pieces on the bluestone slab.

Nan Xu put down his tools and looked around. He gathered some stones from the corner of the yard and brought them to the kiln. It was too late to build a charcoal stove, and it would require too much clay. Since he didn’t plan to build one for the time being, Nan Xu decided to use the stones to build a small stove for stewing pots.

However, the stones left over from the previous mission were small and fragile; they would easily fall apart when piled together. Nan Xu went to get some mud to reinforce them. Tingchuan saw him and wondered what new contraption he was working on.

Nan Xu felt the stove wasn’t quite sturdy enough. Just as he was thinking of a solution, he answered perfunctorily, “I could make a small stove to boil pine oil. I could also put a clay pot on it to boil water and stew meat.”

Tingchuan pinpointed the key word: “Stew meat?”

“Yes,” Nan Xu replied. “Stewing meat in a clay pot is different from stewing it in an iron pot. I think it tastes better, especially chicken. Wild pheasants from the mountains don’t taste good stewed. When our chickens grow up, I’ll stew one for you.”

Nan Xu then went on a wild rant about a stewed old hen he’d once had, describing its delicious flavor and rich broth. He practically made himself salivate.

Tingchuan nodded thoughtfully with a hint of anticipation.

“But this isn’t very sturdy. I’m afraid I’ll do a shoddy job and end up with a disaster,” Nan Xu muttered to himself as he smeared another layer of mud on the stone.

Tingchuan didn’t know what shoddy construction meant, but he looked at the pile of rubble in front of Nan Xu and frowned. “Wait a minute.”

Nan Xu looked up at Tingchuan, confused. Tingchuan had already stood up and headed out of the yard.

“I’ll find you some sturdy stones,” he said.

Nan Xu watched the tall figure disappear from his sight. He raised the corner of his mouth and thought to himself that Tingchuan only cared about food. He deserved the delicious stewed chicken he had put so much thought into.

While waiting for Tingchuan to return, Nan Xu cut the bamboo into small pieces. Tingchuan returned shortly after with a relatively intact slab of stone. Its pattern and color were reminiscent of the quartzite he had seen before, but Nan Xu wasn’t sure what kind of stone it was.

“This kind of stone isn’t easily damaged by fire,” Tingchuan explained.

Nan Xu raised an eyebrow, thinking it would be perfect for a small stove.

Using mud as a bonding agent, Nanxu soon had the stove ready. He placed some firewood inside, lit it, and placed a small clay pot on top. He added a little water to test whether the pot could withstand the flames.

After about ten minutes, the water in the pot had boiled and showed no signs of cracking. Feeling proud of the pot’s excellent quality, Nan Xu poured out the water and added the pine oil block.

“Is this edible?” Tingchuan asked, squatting beside him.

Nan Xu paused stirring the pine oil. “What did I do to give you this illusion?”

Tingchuan: ?

The melted pine oil was filtered to remove impurities and poured into a bamboo tube. The twisted thread was dipped into the wax to make the candle wick. The whole process was simple, but I wondered if it would hold together well enough to be lit when I removed it from the mold later.

After finishing, Nan Xu moved the three desks into the main room, placed one in the guest room, and placed the other two in the main room. The bamboo tables and chairs that he had made earlier were placed in the courtyard, leaving the main room feeling empty.

He thought about the wooden barrel that hadn’t been made yet. He always had to carry water in a wooden basin to water the vegetables in the backyard. Taking advantage of the good weather, Nan Xu busied himself in the courtyard, sawing wood to make the barrel.

It was already quite hot in mid-June in Nan Xu’s former world, but it was much more comfortable here in the mountains. A warm breeze blew over the two of them, and the sound of sawing wood echoed in the courtyard.

Nan Xu suddenly remembered the two wild boar demons. He looked at Tingchuan, who was napping with his eyes closed on a bamboo lounge chair. He asked, “Where did you leave those two wild boar demons that night?”

Tingchuan’s voice drifted lazily, “Down the mountain.”

Nan Xu nodded. “Oh, you’re quite kind to take them down the mountain.”

Then, Nan Xu paused. A thick, sawed-off tree trunk fell to the ground, nearly hitting his foot. He asked in disbelief, “You didn’t throw them off the cliff, did you?”

He couldn’t blame Tingchuan for thinking that. He simply didn’t believe that Tingchuan would be so kind. After all, Tingchuan had suggested killing the two wild boar demons at the time.

Tingchuan’s eyes widened and his tone remained calm. “Why would you think that?”

Nan Xu patted his chest, sighing with relief. “That’s good.”

Although he disliked the two boar demons, he was, frankly, just an ordinary man trying to make a living. Moreover, he had the ability to protect himself, so he had never considered attacking anyone.

Tingchuan withdrew his gaze and didn’t mention the formation at the foot of the mountain. Thousands of years had passed, yet humans were still kind and unaware of the dangers of the demon world. But it didn’t matter. He was here now, and he wouldn’t let other demons bully him.

“Have you seen the billboard outside the mountain?” Nanxu asked another question.

Tingchuan said, “No, I haven’t left the mountain since you brought me here.”

Nanxu thought about it and realized it made sense. Even the bird tribe would have to fly for days to reach this place, yet Tingchuan only ventured out for half a day each day. How could he possibly travel that far?

“I wonder how eye-catching that billboard is. I really want to go see it.” Nanxu was still thinking about the system’s description of the billboard and how the wild boar demon had been drawn there last time.

Seeing his look of despair, Tingchuan said, “If you want to go, I can take you out to see it.”

Nanxu shuddered at the thought of the mountain, knowing it would take days to fly there, and quickly shook his head. “No, I don’t want to go right now.”

Tingchuan frowned. He clearly wanted to go.

Nan Xu sighed again and asked, “Why aren’t we attracting new customers?”

Tingchuan didn’t know how to respond. Legends about the dangers of Zhuyu Mountain had been circulating for thousands of years, so normally, few demons would venture there.

At that moment, a billboard outside Zhuyu Mountain shone with a dazzling light that illuminated half the sky.

“What is that?” someone from the migrating dog demon tribe shouted.

The group of dog demons looked up. A few hundred meters away, an array of dazzling lights shone so brightly that it was hard to ignore, even in broad daylight.

The two pig demon brothers sitting beneath the billboard saw the sudden burst of light and exchanged glances. The youngest said, “It’s started again! Could another demon be approaching?”

The two brothers had run through the mountains until their legs were broken, but their determination to survive kept them going. After circling back to the tree for the ninety-ninth time, they fought their way out of the formation. After more than ten days, the two wild boar demons were emaciated and nearly starved to death.

Before this, they had never known how precious food could be.

Paralyzed beneath the billboard for three days, the two brothers rejoiced at their escape from Zhuyu Mountain. Yet, they simultaneously yearned for the delicious food at the inn and the comfort of being nourished by the spiritual energy of the fruit. Demon tribes seemed to be fighting for territory in the west again these days. Several refugee demons passed by, tempted by the billboard, but the two brothers dissuaded them.

The brothers no longer dared to return to Tingchuan, yet they were reluctant to let other demon tribes know about the inn’s uniqueness. They feared that the spiritual fruit would be limited and that, by the time they found a way to enter the mountains and visit the inn’s owner, the demons staying there would have devoured it.

Since their cabbages were already lost, there was no need to travel far and wide to sell them. They could simply stay there and fight any passing demons.

Because they had been staying there, they had discovered the wonder of the billboard. Whenever new demons appeared nearby, the billboard would emit a strange light and attract them.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, a group of migrating dogs arrived.