RIIDMDR chapter 3

 

Wood is certainly a valuable commodity, but bamboo has irreplaceable uses in the current situation.

Nan Xu’s desire for bamboo was overwhelming. He picked up the axe from the corner and headed out. Having already explored part of the area outside the front yard the previous day without finding any bamboo, he headed straight for the back of the house.

Behind the house were mountains with tall trees on either side. The mountain facing the house was quite far away and was separated from the house by a long stretch of relatively flat land. The plants on that side of the mountain couldn’t be seen clearly from the wooden house.

Nan Xu hadn’t given it much thought yesterday. Today, seeing the fence in the yard, he felt the bamboo wouldn’t be too far from the courtyard, so he headed toward the mountain.

The grass and trees, untended by humans, grew wildly. The thorny vines nearly scratched his newly acquired clothes several times. The seemingly short distance took a long time to walk, Nan Xu chopped away with his axe the entire time.

As he approached the mountain, he could see a substantial bamboo forest growing midway up the slope.

Since it was late spring, he might be able to dig up a few young bamboo shoots.

The path was difficult, and by the time he reached the bamboo forest, his hair was damp. Looking up at the towering bamboo forest and the shoots poking out from the ground, he couldn’t hide his smile.

He found a relatively thick bamboo shoot, about the same diameter as his hand, and swung his axe to chop it down.

Since descending the mountain was difficult and he urgently needed a container for water, he simply cut bamboo into several tubes, tied them together with bamboo branches, and carried them back to the courtyard along with the seven or eight bamboo shoots he had dug up.

He used bamboo tubes to carry water, made a few trips to the stream, cleaned the long-unused pot in the kitchen, and stir-fried some bamboo shoots.

The bamboo shoots were lightly seasoned, and he used makeshift branches as chopsticks. The moment the bamboo shoots entered his mouth, Nan Xu could taste their fresh, fragrant flavor, and his mouth felt particularly refreshed after chewing. He wondered if everything in this mountain area was particularly delicious. The fish and bamboo shoots were more delicious than anything Nan Xu had ever tasted before.

After dinner, while the last rays of the setting sun still lingered, Nan Xu gathered clean straw from the yard, carried it into the bedroom, and spread it on the bed. Then he went to the stream to wash off the dirt from crawling and rolling around all day. As the sky darkened, he hurried home and lay down on his bed.

Because he had gone to bed early, Nan Xu woke at first light. The straw made his bed less uncomfortable than the night before, but it still scratched his skin red. The small scratches from the straw had scabbed over and were itchy.

After getting up, he saw that there was still some water left in the bamboo tube from the day before, so he lit a fire and steamed two bamboo shoots for breakfast.

After breakfast, before daybreak, he was outside chopping wood. Nan Xu didn’t want to delay the main quests released by the system for too long. Upgrading his house held little allure, but he was always excited by the rewards for completing the quests.

After chopping down two trees, the sun rose, and Nan Xu went to the distant mountains to cut down some bamboo. He had previously worried about how time-consuming it would be to make a table out of wood, but bamboo was much more convenient.

As a child, Nan Xu would watch the veteran craftsmen in his village make tables, chairs, and benches. He helped out whenever he could, working diligently to earn a living. Even after all these years, he still clearly remembers how various simple furniture pieces were made.

The bamboo on the mountain stood tall and emerald green. It took Nan Xu considerable effort to drag it back to the yard, but he didn’t dare delay. Deep in the mountains, without electricity, it would be impossible to do anything after dark.

He laid the bamboo out in the yard and cut it into tubes of varying lengths with a saw. Then, he measured the bamboo’s width and chiseled holes into it. The system’s tools were old-fashioned and lacked electricity, so Nan Xu could only tap the iron chisel with a hammer, bit by bit, to dig holes in the bamboo. By the time he finished, his hands were numb and shaking.

He worked until midafternoon, finally assembling the frame of the bamboo table. All that was missing was the tabletop.

Splitting the bamboo into long strips of a similar size and weaving them together to form the tabletop was much simpler than making the frame. Before sunset, Nan Xu finished the relatively crude table and moved it into the main room.

He was still short four stools to complete the required set of table and chairs. Nan Xu planned to make a few small stools with the simplest mortise-and-tenon[mfn]Mortise and tenon is a traditional wooden joint where a tongue fits into a matching slot to hold two pieces together.[/mfn] structure to finish the project.

As usual, he went to the stream to bathe before dark and returned with three braised crucian carp. He had originally intended to give the fish a break, but he had already eaten bamboo shoots for three or four meals and still hadn’t found anything new to eat.

While making the benches was simple, even with these basic tools, nothing was easy. A fire burned in the yard, and by its light, Nan Xu sawed the wood into sections, preparing for tomorrow’s work.

The only sound in the yard was the creaking of the saw. By the time the chirping of nearby insects and birds had died down, the fire had almost died out. Nan Xu brushed off the wood chips and went back to bed.

—

Over the next two days, Nan Xu completed four benches and the ten-tree mission. A pop-up message appeared on the system announcing the completion of the mission.

[You have gathered all the materials. Do you want to upgrade your Inn?]

Nan Xu wasn’t as excited as he had been the first time. He slowly clicked “OK.” He stared at the cabin, his eyes fixed on it. In a split second, the house expanded. Its walls were pristine, and the windows, which had been unable to close due to years of disrepair, now opened and closed freely, giving the house a brand new look.

[Inn upgrade complete: Bedroom +1 (2 total), Warehouse +1, and Hut +1. Current cabin level: Level 2, Prosperity +20.]

[Identified furniture: bamboo table and bench; prosperity +2]

[Warehouse identified; system reward distribution location has automatically changed to the warehouse.]

Nan Xu looked at the notifications and finally understood why the house seemed larger and why system rewards no longer appeared in the main room.

Even though there weren’t any guests yet, it was still an inn. If people started staying there in the future, wouldn’t it seem like a supernatural phenomenon to the guests if things kept appearing out of nowhere in the main hall?

As expected, the bluestone floor remained the same when he entered the house. The bare main room contained only a set of tables and chairs that he had made. There were two doors on either side of the room. The door on the left led to the kitchen and a newly added bedroom with a single wooden bed. The door on the right led to his bedroom and a storage room.

A door in the wall behind the main room opened, revealing a small, thatched hut in the open space beyond. The hut was a bit shabby, but the design… Nan Xu, who had spent many years in the countryside, recognized it immediately—a latrine!

I felt a bit ashamed while solving the Five Grain Reincarnation problem[mfn]五谷轮回問題 (wǔ gǔ lúnhuí wèntí) → This is a euphemism for relieving oneself (going to the toilet).[/mfn] in the wilderness these past two days, even though I knew no one was around, although it was indeed a crude version.

After watching everything unfold, Nan Xu waited a long time, but the reward still hadn’t arrived. He couldn’t help but ask, “006, where’s the reward?”

006: “…”

Okay, this damn system is messing up again.

Before going to bed, Nan Xu sat on the doorstep and used the light from the fire and the moon overhead to weave a basket out of bamboo strips.

Another quiet night passed. Nan Xu had been in these deep mountains for five or six days. When he woke up, he wasn’t particularly lost. He was preoccupied with yesterday’s rewards. As soon as he opened his system mailbox, before even sitting up, he checked his email.

[Main Mission 1-2 Rewards Have Been Distributed. Reward List: One Zhuyu Mountain Map (Exploration Edition) and two Blind Box Purchase Coupons.]

[Main Mission 1-3: Check in a guest (must be an intelligent creature).]

Nan Xu was puzzled by the requirement for an intelligent creature. Perhaps the system had become sluggish from working so hard late into the night to calculate rewards and was unable to answer a single question.

Nan Xu opened the electronic map he’d received as a mission reward and took a look. Everywhere he had walked was illuminated, and the system had automatically mapped out the best route for him. Even the stairway he had dug himself was displayed. However, areas farther away were dimmed on the map, with only a faint outline visible. Further out, it was completely dark.

This was truly an exploration map, and the further Nan Xu traveled, the more useful it would become.

After reviewing everything, Nan Xu was still very satisfied. He spent his blind box coupons and, full of anticipation, headed to the warehouse to open the boxes.

The bargains he had snagged the last time were very useful. I wonder if his good fortune will continue this time.

The wooden box containing the blind box was about the same size as the last one. Nan Xu eagerly opened the first box, but his smile froze on his face.

“This… if I’m not mistaken, it’s a bundle of wire.”

In a place where there’s nothing to eat or drink, he can’t even meet his most basic material needs, yet they gave him a bundle of wire.

“It’s free. It’s free,” Nan Xu told himself, trying to console himself.

He doesn’t think wire is useless; on the contrary, it’s extremely useful. But what Nan Xu needs more right now is a quilt and a bag of seeds.

Even with the first blind box serving as a cushion, Nan Xu couldn’t help but feel disappointed when he opened the second wooden box.

Inside was a roll of white gauze.

The items he had opened last time had been enough to save him, but this time, the blind box didn’t contain anything he would need anytime soon. Nan Xu didn’t dwell on it, leaving the items in the warehouse and walking out.

“The system’s selection of blind boxes like this will significantly dampen my enthusiasm for completing my mission,” he said to the system as he pushed open the door and breathed in the fresh morning mountain air. He stretched his back and continued,

In ancient times, prisoners exiled to the frontier didn’t live as poorly as he did now. Without a quilt or a grain of rice to pay for an inn, how could he greet his first guest? A sincere heart?

Nan Xu knew the system he’d tied himself to was outdated, so he didn’t expect it to respond. A few minutes later, however, while rinsing his mouth with salt water, he saw the system silently pop up a notification box.

[Main Mission 1 Reward: Open the Encyclopedia System, a Basket of Sweet Potatoes.]