RIIDMDR chapter 11

 

Tingchuan sat there from dawn to dusk; the man and the demon never left the warehouse. If the door hadn’t been open and if he hadn’t heard faint sounds of conversation coming from inside, Tingchuan would have thought there was some kind of coma-inducing poisonous gas inside.

As darkness descended outside, time slipped slowly by and the fire in the fireplace died down for a moment. Nan Xu poked his head out of the storage room and looked toward the sofa. Tingchuan, who had been taking a nap with his eyes closed, felt someone’s gaze on him. He opened his eyes and met Nan Xu’s gaze. After being ignored for so long, he felt a surge of joy. Just as he was about to say something, Nan Xu asked, “Are you asleep? There’s no fire in the fireplace.”

Tingchuan: …

Tingchuan: “Here, add some wood.”

Nan Xu nodded, then retreated back into his thoughts as if adding wood were his only purpose.

It was past her usual mealtime. Zhixing, who had settled into a regular routine, emerged from his room and looked around. He saw Nan Xu busy with something and not in the mood for dinner. He went into the kitchen, where the pots and stoves were cold. Then, remembering something, he asked Tingchuan, “Senior, would you like dinner? I’ll make you some noodle soup.”

Tingchuan didn’t even raise his eyes. “No.”

Zhixing murmured, “Oh!” He wasn’t surprised. These days, Senior Tingchuan only ate the owner’s food. If the owner didn’t eat, then naturally, the senior would follow suit.

From that day until the cat demon left, Tingchuan never received a full gaze from Nan Xu. Every day, Nan Xu’s eyes were on the female cat demon as they discussed clothing designs together until dusk, when they returned to sleep. Sometimes, even in his dreams, he would murmur about how a cut didn’t look right—his mind was almost completely occupied by clothing.

With more enjoyable things to do, the female demon had no intention of ordering dishes. Free from customer obligations, Nan Xu became even more perfunctory.

Two days later, the blonde female demon and the black-haired male demon left. The female demon clutched a thick stack of blueprints drawn by Nanxu over the past few days. In turn, Nanxu received a stack of tailor-made clothes. His closet, empty for nearly six months, finally found its true purpose.

While escorting the demons out, she finally awoke from her endless stream of dressmaking inspiration. She stared at Nan Xu for a moment, then glanced at Tingchuan, who was sitting in the room. She smiled and asked in a low voice, “When are you and Tingchuan getting married? I’ll be there for the wedding reception. I’ve never heard of anyone taming this demon who has lived a celibate life for thousands of years. Besides, if he marries you, I won’t feel so bad about losing out back then.”

Nan Xu was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Tingchuan, who had somehow managed to sit up straight in the room. He had never considered marriage. In his previous world, it wasn’t easy for two people of the same sex to grow old together. How could he expect anything more with Tingchuan, one human and the other a demon? Growing old together wasn’t even possible, so how could he expect anything more?

Living comfortably in the mountains, he hadn’t considered the issue—or rather, he had been avoiding it. As long as Tingchuan didn’t bring it up, he could live like this forever. He wasn’t afraid of getting married; he was afraid that this wedding, announced to the entire demon world, would imprison Tingchuan a hundred years from now.

Maybe because Nan Xu had been silent for a while, the demonic woman stopped smiling and glared at you in disbelief with wide eyes. “Could he be unwilling and just want to play with you? So what if he’s a great demon? Such behavior is shameful for a demon. I’ll make this known to the entire demon world so they can criticize him. His self-discipline and aloofness are just a facade for outsiders. Deep down, he’s passionate…”

Seeing that her next words were about to become unbearable, Nan Xu hurriedly interrupted the indignant demonic woman. “No, no, no, that’s not the case. We’re slowly deepening our relationship. We haven’t reached the stage of marriage yet. I’ll definitely invite you someday.” “Take your seats.”

The demon woman let out an embarrassed “Oh,” and pinched the black-haired demon’s arm twice. She caught sight of Tingchuan’s darkening face from the corner of her eye and shrank back. “I was reckless. Now it’s settled. Let me know when you get married. If I don’t receive your wedding invitation next year, I’ll go back into the mountains and urge you to get married.”

Nan Xu glanced at the demon’s arm. The demon’s pinch had left deep marks on his clothes. It was easy to imagine how painful it must have been, yet the demon’s expression remained unchanged. It was unclear whether he was born with paralysis or if he had simply grown accustomed to it.

“Let’s go. If you think of any nice clothes next time, draw them, and I’ll pick them up.” The female demon waved, glancing into the room once more. As if a lingering knot had been untied, she relaxed, pulling the male demon down the mountain.

She was wearing a stunning red dress today that accentuated her beautiful face. Now, a hint of confidence lingered on her face.

The mountain path wound on. Nan Xu stood on a boulder high above and watched the two demons advance further down the path. After a few minutes, the female demon, seemingly exhausted, climbed onto the male demon’s back. He willingly carried her, and the two figures—one black and one red—gradually disappeared into the mountains.

Nan Xu smiled as she stood there. A female demon with such boldness and true character should shine in all her splendor, not be sent to a demon’s bridal chamber by a cat demon leader in exchange for a mountaintop.

The rise and fall of every demon clan depends on the strength of the entire clan. A beautiful female demon shouldn’t be forced into the clan for some noble cause, leaving her to bear the entire burden alone. It should never have been this way.

Perhaps because Nan Xu had stood outside for too long or had overheard his previous conversation with the female demon, Tingchuan could no longer sit still. He walked over to Nan Xu.

The mountains had been blanketed in snow for days, creating a stunning spectacle of silver. Tingchuan stood beside Nan Xu, waiting for him to speak first.

He had expected Nan Xu to broach the subject of marriage or at least hint at the progress of their relationship. After all, Nan Xu was never one to hold back. After waiting a while, he heard him ask, “I think a female cat demon should have a childhood sweetheart like the black-haired male demon—someone who would indulge her every desire and let her nature run wild. You certainly couldn’t do that. It’s a good thing you refused back then. Otherwise, you would have ruined her life, and I would rarely see her as lively and unrestrained as she is.”

Tingchuan:?

Becoming his lover makes you age so quickly?

Tingchuan tilted his head, a rare expression of bewilderment on his face. He emphasized, “Even if something like this happens ten thousand times, I won’t accept it. I know who I’m waiting for.”

Tingchuan spoke seriously, but Nanxu took it casually, treating it as a flirtatious gesture. He blew warm air onto his hands and said, “I’ve been busy these past few days. I’m starving and getting thin. I’m going to treat myself tonight by making two hearty dishes!”

With that, he rubbed his hands together and walked back inside. He reached under the eaves and grabbed two spare ribs. Tingchuan and Guan’er had hunted a lot of game before the second snowfall, including a small wild boar. They had eaten much of the pork over the past few days, but they had left the spare ribs under the eaves. He planned to make a corn and spare rib stew.

Speaking of wild boars, Nan Xu thought of the pigs that the brothers Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu had carefully raised for over half a year. Castrated pigs gained weight quickly. The brothers had excelled from the start by feeding the pigs well.

“Let’s slaughter the pigs when the weather clears up. It’s almost Chinese New Year, and I’m afraid there won’t be good weather until then,” Nanxu said.

Tingchuan hummed in agreement.

There was some fresh corn stored in the cellar. After hearing Nanxu’s name for the dish, Zhixing ran to get a few. Tingchuan cleaned the mushrooms and radishes while Nanxu chopped pork ribs with his broadsword. Guan’er repeatedly carried firewood from the shed outside into the house, while the sheep bleated in the hut behind.

I don’t know what magical power Nanxu possessed, but he could suddenly make the shop bustle with activity just by cooking a meal. As Tingchuan peeled the radishes, he recalled past events.

In their youth, they all held high ideals. Some demons aimed to master the highest magic, some wanted to solve every problem in the demon realm, and some sought to eliminate evil with a sword. They all had different personalities. Normally, conflicts would arise, yet one small, seemingly unambitious demon acted as a mediator, keeping them harmoniously together.

Outside, the snow has stopped falling. Smoke drifts deeper into the mountains and slowly dissipates. Inside, several people gather around a table with a steaming pot of pork ribs on top and a fluffy pot on the ground below. The sound of laughter dispels the winter chill.

After waiting a few more days, the intermittent snowfall finally stopped. Tingchuan went into the mountains and caught two pheasants that had been foraging for food as the snow melted. The pheasants were thin from hunger during the winter, so Nanxu tied them up under the firewood shed. He planned to feed them for two days to help them gain weight.

As planned, Nanxu summoned Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu to the pig pen. Since the weather had warmed up, Nanxu rarely made the brothers work, so they quickly finished building their stone house. Zhuang Wu came to Nanxu to ask how to build a fireplace. After Nanxu explained, he also suggested building a kang, a type of bed. Inspired by their own ideas, the two wild boar demons decided to use half the house as a kang. They have been eating, drinking, and sleeping there for the past few days and feel incredibly comfortable.

Upon learning that they would slaughter the pigs today and would no longer need to cook pig food, Zhuang Wu jumped from the bed, rolled up his sleeves, and shouted, ready to get started.

The pigs, who were fed daily by Zhuang Wu, no longer had their initial bad temper. The brothers led them to the yard obediently. However, when they entered the house and saw the large basin of water, they seemed to realize something and tried to escape.

However, the wild boar demon brothers blocked the yard gate. They dashed away in a panic. Nan Xu was worried about the plants in the yard because many of them survived even in winter. He prepared to control the two pigs. Tingchuan emerged from the house with a knife, frowning at the sight.

Just as the pigs stepped into the flower bed, they collapsed instantly. Their legs did not tremble. Nan Xu relaxed, breathing a long sigh of relief. Tingchuan’s sleeve had moved slightly, causing the pigs to fall. Nan Xu instinctively looked at Tingchuan, wanting to praise and thank him, but the words stuck in his throat. Tingchuan saw his troubled expression and thought he had done something wrong, even though Nan Xu had said they would hold down one pig each today.

“You said to act before the pigs react to minimize their struggle and fear for better meat, right?” Tingchuan tested. “This should count, right?”

Nan Xu looked at the pigs lying peacefully. Their movements were decisive and without struggle.

“Counted,” Nan Xu said.

However, his several rounds of military-style punches, learned online, seemed wasted.

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