RIIDMDR chapter 54

 

Soap takes at least one day, and up to three to five days, to set. Nanxu places the soaps waiting to set in a cool, rain-sheltered area.

He continued to simmer the second batch while Xu Ji carved new patterns. The afternoon sun beat down on the courtyard, drawing heat from the ground into the main room, affecting even those under the shade of the trees. In the quiet room, the clatter of tools against wood became a sleep-inducing melody.

Around three in the afternoon, the three demons who had been napping woke up one by one, their eyes bleary.

Tingchuan remained still, holding a bamboo fan, and fanned himself intermittently while squinting. He must have been sweltering from the heat when he fell asleep.

Guan’er had already grown restless in Xu Le’s arms from being hugged in the stifling heat and wanted to wriggle free. But Xu Le was stubborn in his sleep, refusing to let go. Now that he had woken up and was rubbing his eyes, Guan’er finally managed to break free. He darted out of the room like a flash and drank from the dog bowl by the well for a long while.

By then, the second pot of soap was ready, and Nan Xu poured it into Xu Ji’s newly made mold. Seeing that his son was awake, Xu Ji offered to lead his tribe down the mountain. According to their pace, they should be home before sunset.

Nan Xu went into the kitchen and returned with several small clay pots. She covered them with dry straw and placed them in a basket for Xu Le to carry. Although the child was short, he was a few hundred years old, so carrying something light wasn’t a problem for him.

“How can this be? We haven’t finished the pickles you asked Senior Tingchuan to bring last time,” said Xu Ji, immediately refusing upon seeing the familiar clay pots.

Nan Xu touched Xu Le’s head. “These are just two bottles of loquat jam for the kids. They’re not worth much. Brother Xu Ji, please accept them. Otherwise, I won’t be able to ask you for anything in the future.”

After hearing this, Xu Ji couldn’t refuse. He could only glare at his son, who accepted the gifts without hesitation. Xu Le hurriedly defended himself: “I promised the owner that I would help him collect firewood in the fall.”

Xu Ji felt even more helpless and put his sun hat on his son’s head.

After the three Canines left, Nan Xu walked around the counter and picked out a stack of colored paper from the store. Colored paper was much more expensive than white paper, but Nan Xu wanted to transform this counter into a functional hotel feature that would meet the system requirements and attract guests. He gritted his teeth and paid.

Holding a pen and colored paper, he thought about the names and slogans of the various products. Tingchuan, on the other hand, was mildly interested in his new find. He held a piece of colored paper in his hand and played with it. Each piece of colored paper was worth several silver coins. Nan Xu glanced at Tingchuan’s hand a few more times. Seeing that the paper was irretrievable, he felt a silent pain for a few seconds.

Perhaps because his gaze and emotions were obvious, Tingchuan leaned back in his chair for a moment, then looked up at Nan Xu. “Why do you look so pitiful? Where did you get all that?”

It was the first time Tingchuan had asked about the source of the mysterious items appearing in the warehouse. Nan Xu was stunned and somewhat confused by Tingchuan’s question. After all, Tingchuan had always been so knowledgeable.

Nanxu didn’t respond for a moment, so Tingchuan didn’t wait for an answer. He continued, “The little demons of the Butterfly Clan make cloth that’s even better colored than this. It’s inexpensive and good quality. You must have spent a lot of money on something so worthless.”

After a few seconds, Nanxu finally responded, “It’s a bit expensive. I spent quite a bit of silver.”

Tingchuan raised an eyebrow, perhaps understanding why Nanxu’s eyes lit up whenever he saw money. He must have spent a lot every time he moved things out of the warehouse, and he was short on cash.

However, Tingchuan’s words gave Nanxu some inspiration. While the system’s online store was useful, the variety was limited, and many items were priced significantly above market value. He simply couldn’t afford them with his current financial resources.

Perhaps he’d been in the mountains for so long and been so isolated that he’d forgotten he was in the demon world. Items weren’t limited to the system’s online store. As when he first traded rice and flour with the bird tribe, he could purchase many items from demons in this world.

He seemed to rely too much on the online store.

“But I can’t leave the mountains now, and I know very little about the demon world. Trading with demons of all clan isn’t easy,” Nanxu said.

Tingchuan gestured for him to look toward the back of the house, but Nanxu was puzzled.

“The wild boar demon used to make a living by wandering around selling cabbages, and he’s been to many demon territories,” Tingchuan reminded him.

Nan Xu understood. If he allowed the wild boar demon to sell Zhuyu Mountain’s specialties, he would earn money and raise the inn’s profile among other demons. He could also buy items unavailable in the mountains from other demons at low prices—a win-win situation.

However, he couldn’t fully trust the wild boar demon yet. He was worried about releasing them from the mountain so suddenly. He had to plan this more carefully. Besides, he needed more time to explore the mountain further.

After some reflection, Nan Xu realized that he couldn’t throw away the colored paper that had been ripped off. The cabinet was huge, with dozens of compartments, and Nan Xu had only used seven or eight of them. He had several flavors of chili sauce and pickled cabbage, but the variety was limited. It was no wonder the system was so stingy about marking even a small task as complete during main quests 2-5.

–

The next morning, Nan Xu had just left his room when he saw Zhixing sitting on the doorstep eating loquats.

Hearing the door open, Zhi Xing turned around and smiled when he saw Nan Xu. Nan Xu asked, “You’re up so early today. Are you hungry? I’ll make you some chive dumplings later.”

The chives they had planted earlier were growing faster after being cut. Nanxu had visited the vegetable patch the night before and had already set his sights on the chive seedlings.

Zhixing happily responded. He had never heard of chive dumplings before, but he trusted Nanxu’s culinary skills implicitly. “Innkeeper, the loquat tree says its fruit is out of season and won’t be long.”

Nanxu was surprised. “What did the loquat tree tell you?”

During this time, Zhixing had also noticed that Nanxu was different from ordinary demons. Not only was he insensitive to demons, but he also lacked basic common sense.

If the fruits, vegetables, and water sources of Zhuyu Mountain possess spiritual energy, then it’s likely related to the mountain itself. However, the simple meals Nan Xu prepared were imbued with spiritual energy, which defies common sense. The owner is truly a contradiction.

“The loquat tree in the courtyard is already sentient. Didn’t the owner know about that when he planted it?” Zhixing asked.

Nanxu scratched his sleepy hair and muttered, “It really is spiritual! Tingchuan wasn’t lying to me.”

Zhi Xing was speechless. The owner truly had no idea what was going on.

Nan Xu walked under the loquat tree. Its leaves rustled as if greeting him. This time, he knew it wasn’t the wind. He reached out and touched the trunk. “I thought the loquat season had long passed. I assumed the temperature on the mountain was different. Turns out you were silently working hard all this time.”

The loquat tree’s branches swayed again, which Nan Xu found interesting. The tree clearly understood what he was saying. He had neglected it too much in the past.

After chatting with the tree for a while, Nan Xu stood up and said to Zhixing, who was sitting on the doorstep, “After breakfast, let’s pick all the loquats and make some loquat paste. It’ll be nice to drink during the winter.”

Zhixing agreed. While watching Nanxu brush his teeth, he asked how many chives he needed. He then went to the vegetable patch behind the house with his scissors.

Nanxu hadn’t seen Tingchuan since he got up. The flowers and plants in the yard had been watered, though. He must have taken his chickens to the nearby mountains again.

After brushing his teeth, Zhixing returned with a handful of chives, which he washed by the well. Nanxu went inside to knead the dough and found the few duck eggs Tingchuan had brought back last time. Wild chicken eggs were hard to find in the mountains, so even after living in Zhuyu Mountain for so long, Nanxu could count the number of eggs he had eaten on two hands. He had never been willing to use these wild duck eggs until now.

Wash and dry the chives. Wild duck eggs aren’t as big as domestic duck eggs, but breaking a few open is enough. Mix, fry, and chop them, then toss them with the chopped chives and seasoning.

Zhixing watched Nanxu make chive dumplings, and later tried making them himself. Perhaps it was because the task was easy, or maybe Zhixing was just naturally gifted at crafts. After gaining some practice, his dumplings were just as good as Nanxu’s. So Nanxu simply let Zhixing do all the cooking while he pan-fried the dumplings.

The aroma of chives filled the kitchen. By the time they finished, Tingchuan had just returned. As the three of them ate breakfast, Nanxu noticed that Zhixing was visibly excited.

His gaze fell on the chive dumplings on the plate, and Nanxu seemed to understand something. Was Zhixing finding joy in cooking?

Picking all the loquats from a tree was a hefty task. They thought they’d be done in less than an hour, but they were busy until the sun was high in the sky. Nanxu worried that Zhixing wouldn’t be able to handle the strain. When he turned his head, he saw that Zhixing’s face was flushed and that he had a thin line of sweat on his forehead. He didn’t look weak at all. Tingchuan, on the other hand, was taking his time and didn’t seem so frantic.

He wasn’t being lazy, that was just his way.

This also shows that although Zhixing nearly failed to wake up, he could rely on the spiritual spring for emergency treatment. Despite his shyness, he was naturally lively. However, Tingchuan’s years of injuries were simply not something a small spiritual spring could change. His composure was the result of having no other choice for the past few thousand years.

Thankfully, Tingchuan had lived in these mountains for several months. Compared to when they first met, he had spent most of his time resting and had improved greatly. Perhaps I had contributed to his recovery.

Nanxu felt a sense of accomplishment when he thought about it. It was perhaps similar to feeding piglets every day and watching them grow healthy and plump.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Ting Chuan asked. “It feels like you’re scheming something against me.”

Nan Xu had been grinning foolishly, but he snapped back at that. “What do you have for me to scheme over?”

Tingchuan replied without hesitation, “My beauty, of course.”

Nanxu was speechless.

He couldn’t really refute it.

He said nothing. Zhixing was chuckling quietly, and Nanxu caught him out of the corner of his eye. He quickly covered his mouth, then winked at him and ran to the well with a basket of loquats.

Nanxu stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Zixing as he ran away. He felt like the child had become less shy now that he was getting to know him better.

After a while, Nanxu couldn’t help but grin again. It was quite good. He had once been alone in the bustling city, but now, even though he was secluded in the mountains, he had demons by his side, and he didn’t feel lonely.