CHAPTER 107- A TAIL OF AN UN-FOX-GETTABLE VISIT
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The next day, we woke up before dawn to start our work planting more crops. Spring had just begun, and the first wildflowers were starting to blossom. The air was pleasantly cool, filled with the scent of damp earth and the organic fertilizer that we used. With the pet situation resolved, we were all in a fine mood.
“I don’t know what’s worse, Teacher hallucinating, or her having an invisible demon pet,” said Lari.
“Are you kidding? Obviously, it would have been better if Teacher was just joking around,” said Kharli.
“The worst would be if she was…” Mo made circular gestures with her index finger on the right side of her head to indicate someone going bonkers.
“No, the way it happened was really nothing much. We could have just easily gone along with her hallucinations,” said Lari. “Even if she went crazy, it would be fine.”
I let the kids chatter as much as they liked while we tilled the soil. All we had to do was hit the ground lightly with our hoe, and the System used our energy to loosen and turn over the soil, making it ready for planting.
“Teacher, half my energy bar is gone,” said Lari.
My other two apprentices said the same thing, so I gave them the assorted vegetable seeds that we had decided to plant. Yesterday, we had finished planting the rice. This season, it was mostly white rice and [Purple Orchid Rice], with a little bit of red rice. The white and purple rice was for us to sell, while the vegetables were for our house pantry. Fengying had hired more staff which meant that we had to plant more vegetables this time.
“Potatoes?” I asked Lari.
“Potatoes!” Lari held his hand out and I poured the seeds into it. Potatoes were one of our favorite crops since they were easy to grow, yielded a lot of food relative to the space they took, and tasted great when they were cooked.
“I’d like to plant the [Three Sisters] again,” said Kharli.
[Companion Planting: The Three Sisters
The Three Sisters is a Native American method of planting corn, beans, and squash together in the same mound. The corn grows tall and provides support for the beans to climb. The squash spreads along the ground, providing ground cover and preventing weeds from growing. This method of planting results in a bountiful harvest of all three crops.]
“Good choice,” I said as I handed her the corn, bean, and squash seeds.
“Sweet potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, and spinach, please,” said Mo. Those were the vegetables that she particularly liked that gave good exp.
Before planting the seeds, we fertilized the soil. We were only using the basic organic fertilizer, which only gave us a small chance of yielding bigger or more crops.
I planted a good assortment of vegetables from the list that the Demon Chef had requested. Of course, there were the basic ones like garlic, onions, ginger, bell peppers, chilies, and peppercorns, but he also requested a few greens that I had not planted last year such as gai choy (Chinese mustard greens), gai lan (Chinese broccoli), and chrysanthemum.
I hummed a little as I used the hand-held seeder to plant the seeds. I wanted to plant these vegetables because they gave good exp relative to my farming level and because there was something very satisfying about growing, harvesting, and cooking your own food. Not to mention, I was the only one who could use the items in my inventory, excluding the simple farming items my apprentices could access. If I wanted my chef to cook spirit vegetables that were superior to mundane vegetables, I had to grow them myself.
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Or did I? I had an idea that might work.
It didn’t take long at all until we finished today’s planting.
“That’s it. Let’s go back to the house and soak in the hot spring to replenish our energy. Then I’ll see you at lunch,” I said. “Don’t forget that we have an important visitor coming.”
“How could I forget? Lari hasn’t stopped talking about it for days,” said Kharli.
Mo just rolled her eyes.
“Dress nicely and be on your best behavior,” I said.
I had received a request from the head of the Fox clan, Lady Hoshi, to tour the farm. She wanted to bless the Purple Orchid Rice and dedicate it to the Fox Goddess. Of course, I had no objection to her doing the ritual if it got the rest of her clan off my back, but I was quite surprised to learn that she would join us for lunch. That was highly unusual behavior. Long ago, there had been a widespread famine and the clan members stopped eating “human food” though there was an exception made for the children, sick, and elderly. Nowadays, they only ate demon meat from the Southerlands. It was a point of pride for clan members that they were never seen eating human food in public.
“Teacher, can you please tell Lari not to wear his fake gold accessories?” said Kharli. “I’m afraid he’ll rust if it rains.”
“It’s not made of iron; it won’t rust,” Lari protested.
“I’ll present you to her, but, otherwise, you guys are to remain quiet and walk behind me as etiquette dictates. Only talk if she talks to you first. Don’t worry too much though.” I gave them a short, last-minute lecture about manners, which they took in good humor.
Kharli gave me a sidelong look. “Teacher, you’re not worried, right?”
“Nooooo. I’m not.” I had placed Cutie back in my pet inventory and demolished the [Slime House], which meant that there wasn’t anything for me to worry about. Probably.
Back at the house, we bathed and got dressed in simple but elegant silk robes for the occasion. Not long before noon, the delegation from the Fox clan appeared.
At least, I expected it to be a delegation, but when I went to the front gate to greet them, only Lady Hoshi and her attendant Meihui were there.
“Hello! Hello! I’m here! What is this cursed house?” asked Lady Hoshi.
The little girl looked just as I had seen her last - cute and lively, with bright brown eyes, and reddish-brown hair. Sadly, however, she didn’t have fox ears and tails in her complete human form.
Meihui, on the other hand, was a revelation. A tall, voluptuous woman with red hair and green eyes, today she was a vision of a perfect aristocratic lady. She was wearing an elaborate black and gold silk gown, and her towering coiffure was pierced with at least half a dozen golden hairpins. Waist accessories made of jade pendants and gold disks, designed to keep the skirt of one’s clothes pressed down, hung from her belt and made a pleasant tinkling sound whenever she moved.
“Welcome to my humble home. It isn’t cursed. It’s a property that was handed down through my bloodline inheritance.” Since it was an informal occasion, I simply clasped my hands and bowed slightly from the waist. Then I introduced my three apprentices to Lady Hoshi.
After the greetings, the irrepressible girl grabbed her attendant Meihui by the hand and pointed up at the wooden sign above the front gate. “What’s that? What’s that? What’s that?”
What was she so excited about? “It’s a wooden sign.”
She rolled her eyes at my cluelessness and said, “I know it’s a sign! Why can’t I read it? What is that language?”
Oh. “Er, it’s, um, something that came with the house. It says ‘Flower and Jade Pavilion,’ that’s all.”
“Ew!” Lady Hoshi cringed and then turned to Meihui and, covering her mouth with one hand, whispered loudly, “Does this mean she’s already living together with that ugly?”
Of course, I knew she was talking about Prince Baiyu. Some of her clan elders were agitating for Lady Hoshi to marry him because he was the sole heir of the ruler of the Westerlands. Lady Hoshi strongly opposed the match and always referred to the Prince as “that ugly.”
“They’re not,” said Meihui. She raised an eyebrow and gave me a look as though to silently ask, “Are you?”
“This has been the name of this house since it was built, before I met Prince Baiyu.” My lips twitched. Their reactions were understandable since the Prince’s name meant “white jade.”
“I’m not sure if I want to go inside a cursed house,” said Lady Hoshi. “Are you a witch?”
“A witch? Me?” This was the first time that I even knew that there was such a concept in this world.
“I heard witches live in the deep dark woods in a cursed house and brew poisonous potions in their cauldrons,” said Lady Hoshi.
… Wow, that did sound like me!
I mean, my Herblaw level wasn’t high enough for me to use a cauldron yet, but her description was right on point.
I burst out laughing. “That’s exactly what I am! Are you scared? It’s okay, you can go back home if you like.”
“Well, it depends! Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” Lady Hoshi didn’t seem scared at all. Rather, she looked excited about meeting a witch.
“You’ll just have to find out, won’t you?” And with that, I led her and Meihui inside.
At least I tried to.