RIIDMDR chapter 82

 

The next day, Xu Ji picked up Xu Le from the mountain. He brought a basket of duck eggs with him. Tingchuan said there weren’t many duck eggs on the riverbank, so Xu Ji must have saved this basket for a while. Remembering that Xu Ji’s wife was pregnant and that he had brought eggs up the mountain, Nan Xu couldn’t help but scold Xu Ji. The burly man rubbed his head and said with a naive smile, “Don’t misunderstand, owner. My wife has severe morning sickness and can’t stand the smell of duck eggs.”

Nan Xu breathed a sigh of relief and gladly accepted the eggs.

Danyin stayed on the mountain for three more days before leaving. Upon leaving, he resumed his elegant demeanor, his long hair flowing freely and wrapped in a sky-blue bundle. He fanned himself as he practically floated out of the courtyard, looking incredibly elegant. Nan Xu clutched a roasted sweet potato and stared at the departing figure.

Tingchuan walked into the yard from the back of the house, carrying a bundle of firewood. Seeing this, he asked, “How many sweet potatoes did you sell to him?”

Nanxu came to his senses and replied, “Only a dozen or so. His bag was too small to carry more than that.”

He stood up, still clutching the ginseng hair, and went inside. He wrapped it in oil paper and put it on the counter. By Mid-Autumn night, Danyin only had 250 silver coins left in his purse—not enough to pay for his room for the next few days. Add to that the money needed for food, snacks, and sweet potatoes before leaving, and he didn’t have a penny to spare. So he simply plucked out another hair and leisurely left.

Nanxu thought that he didn’t know how other people’s travels went, but Danyin’s were definitely taking a toll on his hair. He hoped Danyin wouldn’t be bald by the time they met again.

After seeing the long-staying guests off, Nan Xu looked at the basket of duck eggs under the eaves. Some were greasy and salty, so he took them to the river to clean them. Upon returning, he found a large clay pot, cleaned it, and set it out in the sun to dry. Then, he scooped up some red mud, mixed it with alkaline water and salt, and applied the mixture evenly to each egg. Finally, he sealed the pot in a jar and moved it to a cool place.

As mid-morning passed, Zhuang Wu arrived in the courtyard carrying a hoe. Seeing Nan Xu, he said, “Owner, the rice is ripe. Aren’t you going to harvest it within the next two days?”

When Nan Xu went to the vegetable patch that morning, he saw that most of the sweet potatoes and cabbages he had planted were ready to be harvested. He had planned to start harvesting some today, but when he learned the rice was ready and checked the weather forecast, which predicted rain for the next few days, he immediately changed his mind.

“Harvest! Start harvesting this afternoon,” Nan Xu said.

Zhuang Wu agreed and went back to inform his elder brother.

After Zhuang Wu left, Nan Xu went to find Tingchuan. The day after the house was upgraded, Nan Xu went down to the cellar. He didn’t have any lighting, so it was pitch black inside. However, judging by the echo of his footsteps, the space must have been quite large.

Tingchuan and Nan Xu entered the cellar together. The cellar was about three meters deep, and it took a while to reach the bottom via the stone steps. This time, Nan Xu held a glowing bead. It didn’t glow in the light, but in the darkness, it illuminated the entire space as brightly as daylight.

He held the slowly illuminating bead and walked around the cellar, examining it. Previously, he had wondered what kind of stone he would need to upgrade the cabin. Now, he realized that this was the place where the 300 kilograms of stone he and Zhuang Wu had brought back would be used.

The cellar was vast, spanning nearly half of the space beneath the cabin. Although its walls and floor were made of stone, it held virtually no moisture. Nan Xu was grateful for the system. If he had dug the cellar himself, the digging and ventilation work wouldn’t have been so easy.

Nan Xu had originally brought Tingchuan down to help clean up, but after taking a quick look around, he saw that it was already clean. He decided to go back up without further effort.

After Tingchuan came down, he looked around, feeling somewhat curious. “Is this how humans store food? How can we be like moles?”

Nan Xu glared at him and said, “Humans have many places to store food. There’s something called a refrigerator, which most families have. It can store fresh food and turn water into ice. In the summer, it’s so nice to have a variety of ice cream flavors on hand and enjoy the cool breeze from the air conditioner while eating them.”

Tingchuan asked, “So novel?”

Nanxu nodded and said with a touch of nostalgia, “Humans have phones and computers that allow us to connect with each other even when we’re far apart. We have the internet, which lets us stay informed about world affairs from home. We also have high-speed trains that can travel thousands of miles in a day. Humans may not have magical powers, but they’re not much worse off.”

Seeing his expression, Tingchuan blurted out, “So, do you want to go back?”

Nanxu paused. Did he want to go back? If he had been asked when he had arrived in Zhuyu Mountain inexplicably, he would have immediately said that he wanted to return for the city’s prosperity and the savings he had accumulated over the years but hadn’t spent. However, after spending so much time in the mountains, growing crops and fruits and making friends with many demons, he hesitated when asked the same question again.

The human world is inherently good. Humans strive to create things for their own enjoyment, to save time, and to provide convenience. However, Nan Xu has experienced much suffering in the human world and knows not everyone lives happily. Like him, he has been wandering from childhood into adulthood. What he longs for most is simply a home of his own. He lives in a world without a fixed place or a sense of security, as if he never belonged there. He is isolated and cut off from it.

Here, he has this mountain. Although he can’t leave and there seems to be an endless amount of things to do every day, he finds joy in running an inn where the year is always off-season.

But this is the demon realm. If he didn’t return, he would forever be an odd human among demons. Still, it didn’t matter now—the system never promised that completing missions would allow him to leave. Besides, who could send him back to the human world?

“Let’s go,” Nan Xu said. “I still have to weave some bamboo baskets for the harvest.”

Since they had to rush to work in the afternoon, they had an early lunch at the inn.

You’an had been pestering Zhixing for two or three days, causing him to have a social panic attack. He compromised by making him a bunch of medicines for repelling the cold and caring for his hair. Youan received a pile of bottles and jars and happily ran to Tingchuan to show them off. However, Tingchuan gave him a look and sent him packing.

Finally freeing herself from Youan’s clutches, Zhixing retreated to Nanxu’s side and whispered, “He’s so thick-skinned, yet he insists he’ll get frostbite if he goes north. We’ve often heard that he traveled up north in the past few years, so how come he was fine then?”

Nanxu asked with a smile, “Did you take the silver from him?”

Zhixing hesitated. “After all, he and Senior Tingchuan are uncle and nephew…”

Nanxu waved his hands and said, “That’s a separate matter. Even brothers should settle their accounts clearly. How could he get your medicine for free? Those are the herbs you carefully tend to every day.”

Nan Xu didn’t speak quietly, so Tingchuan in the courtyard could easily hear him. Tingchuan looked at Nan Xu, who was looking back at him, clearly expecting a response. He felt a little helpless. “Jingyuan, Tingshu, and I were once as close as brothers. When we sought treatment from Tingshu, we paid for it.”

Tingchuan’s words meant that he supported Zhixing’s request to ask Youan for the medical expenses. Zhixing made up his mind and began to wonder when to speak up.

After successfully setting You An up, Nan Xu cheerfully went to the back of the house with a sickle. Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu were already working in the rice paddies. Watching the brothers work, Nan Xu suddenly felt that their labor reform had been quite effective. Despite their unpleasant first encounter and subsequent incidents that hadn’t changed their nature, the brothers had generally never slacked off, doing whatever they were told.

Zhuang Wu saw Nan Xu approaching and greeted him with a smile. Then, his gaze shifted behind Nan Xu, and his smile froze.

Puzzled, Nan Xu turned around and saw Tingchuan leading You’an—a demon holding a sickle—approaching from the courtyard. Nan Xu then realized that Zhuang Wu had been lectured by the uncle and nephew before, which explained why he had been so cautious the past few days when coming to look for him.

Thankfully, Tingchuan and You’an, who were both descended from the same nine-tailed fox lineage, showed no interest in Zhuang Wu. They rolled up their sleeves and looked at Nan Xu.

Nan Xu: …

Speaking of harvesting rice, it seemed the uncle and nephew were inexperienced. Nan Xu had helped earn a living in the village as a child by doing that kind of work, but after all these years, he wasn’t sure if he still knew what he was doing.

Nan Xu bent down to demonstrate. He had been a farmer until he was a teenager, so the work felt familiar as he bent over.

After teaching them, Nan Xu quickly matched Zhuang Si’s and Zhuang Wu’s pace. He transformed into a rice harvester, his hands working tirelessly. Wherever he went, piles of dry rice formed on either side.

Zhixing soon joined in to help. Feeling that Zhixing was young and frail and needed more care, Nan Xu refused to let him do any work. However, Zhixing was the only idler on the entire mountain, and he was more emotionally sensitive than the others. Nan Xu couldn’t persuade him, so he compromised and had Youan help Zhixing move the large wooden barrel from the yard to the field. They could thresh the rice there and save themselves the trouble of carrying it back with poles.

Nanxu had the canine tribe make the barrel a few days ago. It was plain and simple with a large capacity—perfect for threshing rice.

Soon, Nan Xu saw You’an approaching alone, carrying a barrel. Zhixing trailed behind, unable to help, his face flushed with anxiety. This scene reminded Nan Xu of Tingchuan helping him move things, for some reason. He had agreed to help, but in the end, his help wasn’t needed.

The late September sun was still scorching, and Nan Xu soon felt his skin burning. He glanced back at Zhixing, who was threshing rice, worried that he might collapse. However, despite the scorching sun, Zhixing showed little sweat on his forehead. Nan Xu then looked at Tingchuan and You’an and saw the same thing. He suddenly realized that he might be the least physically fit person in the field.

However, compared to his time in the human world, he seemed to tolerate high temperatures much better.

Working from sunrise to sunset, Nan Xu harvested a field in half a day. He estimated that with two more days of work, he should be done by the next day or the day after.

Nan Xu looked at the rice fields. Thinking of all the mouths waiting to be fed, he realized he had planted too little rice. Especially since the system upgrade had quietly removed rice from the market, he felt a strange sense of crisis. Fortunately, he had bought food from the bird tribe when he first arrived. He had heard that the red-throated quail had seen the market and planted more, so he could still buy more from them this year.