CHAPTER 135 - EGGS-PECTING AN EGG-CELLENT PLOT TWIST, BUT IT'S PERFECTLY ORDINARY
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My mind was going, “Nooooo! I’ll die!” while Fengying explained that when cooking yesterday’s meals, Deming had experienced a minor insight and needed to go into isolation training to integrate his new knowledge into his cultivation path. This involved going to his secret hideout and meditating there for a few days.
Seeing my worried expression, Fengying reassured me with a few well-chosen words. “Deming will be back soon, and his cooking will be better than ever.”
“Alright, I understand. Thanks for letting me know.”
Fengying’s news explained why the food at lunch and dinner had been so amazing.
The kitchen would be fine since Deming’s three assistants were there to take care of our meals, but, obviously, the food wasn’t as good as it was when Deming was there.
I was not going to freak out over this!
At least, not publicly. Inwardly, I was a mess, but I had to keep my composure for the sake of my household.
“Well, we won’t starve,” I said to my apprentices when we set out after breakfast. The meal was great, perhaps on par with the best food I’d had on Earth, though it wasn’t up to the Demon Chef’s level.
The two clan members from yesterday showed us around. Today the cloudless sky was an unbroken expanse of blue, and the sunlight was particularly bright and glaring. We humans sweated buckets even under the shade of our parasols though the clan members seemed unaffected.
“Here’s a new tree sapling. It just showed up here one day. This little bush here will have tiny white flowers in summer. It’s called ‘Tiger’s Breath.’ Have you noticed that the spirit grass you planted is spreading? This is almost twice the size it was last year.” The older clan member kept up a running commentary as he led us to some points of interest.
“How are the clans’ reforestation efforts coming along?” I asked.
Both of the clan members smiled. “Almost every single family has pledged to plant trees. Everyone’s very enthusiastic about it, especially the families whose ancestors used to live here. We get first pick of the land, provided we plant trees in it.”
“Awesome!” I listened closely as he mentioned the names of the prominent families who were taking the lead. Apparently, there was one large-scale project that the Lady of the West was overseeing, which was meant to benefit the clans as a whole, and tons of smaller projects where specific families were claiming a territory and working to improve it.
Eventually, the conversation got around to the Spring Hunt in the demon-infested Southerlands.
“They say the demons are very lively this season,” said the senior clan member.
“I feel bad when we have to slaughter the babies, but we have to thin their numbers, you know,” said the younger one. “If we don’t, they’ll swarm the Westerlands.”
“Hey, don’t tell her that!” said the older one. “Lady Violet, would you like to know what Prince Baiyu is doing?”
I laughed. “He’s hunting? What else would he be doing?”
My apprentices elbowed each other and moved closer to listen to our conversation. How come all my apprentices were huge gossips?
The younger clan member raised a hand to cover his mouth to hide his smile, and the older one said, “He could be running away from all the cats that have been showing up in the hunting camps.”
My eyes met his and we both burst out laughing.
“Oh no!” I said, wiping away tears of laughter.
“People started coming up to him with white kittens and asking him if he lost his babies when the hunt started. Everyone thought they were being so clever with that joke, but everyone had the same idea, so it’s played out by now,” he said.
It seemed that jokes and pranking were time-honored traditions of the Spring Hunt, and people were eager to be crowned the king joker of the season. As my apprentices and I planted as many trees as we could, the two clan members regaled us with tales of elaborate pranks that had become legendary in the history of the Spring Hunt, such as the time when the Weasel clan created a massive shadow puppet show that scared their younger members witless and convinced them that their camp was infested with fictional Shadow Imps.
We laughed and shook our heads over the crazy shenanigans that bored youths concocted when they were away from their families.
While we were planting, Lari suggested we try something he had heard of from some story. “Teacher, why don’t we bury a fish under the tree seeds we plant?”
Kharli nodded her agreement. “I know about that! They bury fish under fruit trees before planting them to make the fruit tastier, right?”
“Sure, why not? We have plenty of fish. Let’s try it with half of the trees we plant today to see if it works.” I took out a knife and [Steelhead Trout] and was going to cut it into pieces when the two clan members made twin exclamations of surprise.
Kharli giggled.
“What is it?” I asked.
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“Lady Violet, isn’t that fish too valuable to use as fertilizer?” The older one's eyes bulged in surprise. Along with his gaping mouth, it made him look like a startled fish.
“Oh, do you want it? I have lots.” I put the fish in a bucket and tried to hand it to him, but he backed away, raising his hands defensively. “Okay, let me know if you guys want some fresh fish. This one isn’t that rare.”
[Steelhead:
A freshwater fish with a distinctive band of color along its sides.
The Steelhead, a type of rainbow trout, is a popular fish for cooking because of its delicate flavor and flaky texture. When cooked, the flesh of the rainbow trout is pinkish-white with a slightly oily consistency and a delicate, yet distinct flavor.]
Lari and Kharli also took out some of the fish they had caught and we continued to chop them up. Then we dug twelve deep holes and put the fish into them, covering them with compost and soil. We debated whether we should water it before or after spreading the [Mysterious Goo], and settled on trying both. The last step was to water the soil before planting the tree seeds with the [Dendrological Cultivation Chambers].
These days I could plant a maximum of sixteen trees before my energy ran out compared to the eight that was my limit last year, but that was only if I spent all my energy on planting new trees. I often had to use energy to water or tend to the existing greenery, in addition to cultivating more spirit grass and other flora.
My apprentices could plant half as many as I could.
All in all, I figured we should be able to complete our goal of planting one hundred trees in fifteen days.
“I think burying the fish will help a lot.” Lari looked smug that he had thought of it first. He gave Kharli a triumphant look.
Kharli played it cool and refused to rise to the bait. “Good job. It’s nice to know you have more than gold on your mind.”
I put fish pieces and shoveled compost down over the deep hole I had just made. “I hope it works.”
When we finished planting, we checked on the eggs, which looked okay, and spent the rest of the morning exploring the land to see what changes it had undergone now that the curse was gone.
At noon, we returned to the house for lunch. It was a huge relief to get out from under the hot sun. Fengying met us at the gate with small towels soaked in cool water which we used to wipe our faces as we walked inside into the blessed shade and cool air of the house’s air-conditioned dining room.
“I love electric fans,” said Kharli and she sat down in front of one.
“Me, too.” I leaned back on my chair with the cool towel on my forehead. It dripped water down my face and hair, but I enjoyed the feeling nonetheless.
Lari wiped his hands and forearms with his wet towel. “I think I’ll stay indoors today.”
“Yeah, we finished today’s outdoor chores, so we can stay inside and craft.” I instructed the kids to get some rest and do some Fletching and Smithing this afternoon while I did Herblaw. While we were discussing the day’s activities, Fengying came with a letter from Shuye.
“Will there be a reply, my lady?” asked Fengying.
“Can I send a verbal reply instead of a letter?” Writing a letter here involved a lot of fuss with grinding ink, composing a letter with the proper greetings, using a seal, taking great care with the calligraphy, and so forth.
“Yes, of course.”
“Then please let Shuye know that I have done as he requested.” I navigated to the appropriate System tab and lowered the forest farm’s security settings to the usual level.
“I’ll let the messenger know.”
Fengying left, and I turned to the others and asked, “Do you know what we’re having for lunch?”
Deming’s assistants were doing their very best, and this time I was impressed by some of their more creative dishes like the Moonlit Silverfish Cascade, a platter of fish filets arranged in a cascading display, drizzled with a sweet and spicy sauce and adorned with delicate edible white flowers, and Tiger's Roar Spicy Sichuan Seafood Stew, a tongue-blisteringly spicy dish that made me feel like the top of my head had exploded. It was way too hot for me, but after they saw me sweating and drinking two glasses of milk, the kitchen staff made a new seafood hotpot dish that was a lot less spicy.
I had to rest after lunch, and Fengying worriedly sent me cups of ginger tea twice to help my stomach settle down. I felt like a spoiled baby, but was it really my fault that my stomach had become used to the Demon Chef’s food and had difficulty eating anything else? It was probably all psychological because I had eaten street and restaurant food before without any ill effects.
***
The next day, the [Lizardwings] and [Perfectly Ordinary Prairie Chickens] hatched. The [Lizardwings] were exactly as we expected. As for the chickens, I smiled when the kids found out what kind of animal they were.
“I knew it! I knew they were going to be crazy-looking!” Kharli stared wide-eyed at the chickens.
“They’re hard to even see.” Lari circled the pen, looking at the animals from all angles.
“I don’t know what you guys are fussing about. They’re just [Perfectly Ordinary Prairie Chickens], and they don’t smell bad like the [Lizardwings]!” I was quite pleased that the chickens smelled fine. That is to say, they smelled like chickens, not like stink monsters from hell like the [Lizardwings]. “We’ll have to wait and see if they can make their habitat healthy the way the [Lizardwings] can.”
[Perfectly Ordinary Prairie Chickens:
Prairie chickens are smaller and require less water than most breeds. They do not produce many eggs, typically having only one breeding season per year, and laying only ten to fifteen eggs per clutch. However, they are quite hardy and have an efficient metabolism that allows them to thrive on modest amounts of food.]
“Teacher, even if these strange chickens aren’t stinky, I think people will still prefer the [Lizardwings],” said Lari.
Kharli nodded in agreement.
“I think they look interesting!” I said.
Cutie seemed to agree with me since she was energetically bouncing near the pen with her eyes locked on the chickens, her slime strand forming the shape of an exclamation mark.
Kharli frowned. “But no one can see what they actually look like…”
The thing is, I knew because of Adventure Incarnate where they had the same 3D model as regular chicken, except they were semi-transparent. Here, in the real world, they were invisible except for a slight haziness in the air at the edges of their body. We could easily know where they were because of the System, but even without it, if one looked closely at the ground inside the pen, they could see the grass being disturbed by the animal’s movements.
“I’m sorry Teacher, but I don’t think the clan would want to buy an animal they can’t see,” said Lari.
“Yeah, what if you were doing laundry at the river when something invisible tries to peck your eyes out?!” Kharli said, covering her eyes and flailing dramatically at the air as though to ward something off to demonstrate her point.
“Oh dear. Well, let’s at least see if they help the environment here,” I said.
That was a real bummer though I personally thought the chickens were a really cool animal. Maybe I could sell them off to a collector who liked unusual pets?
I consulted the clan members who recommended that I sell them off to Shuye, so I sent off a letter, and was quite pleased when Shuye accepted my offer.
***
Three days later, Mo replaced Lari at the desert farm, and three days after that, Deming returned to great rejoicing. The others crowded around him.
I trembled all over and nearly fainted from the shock. “You… your face….you look…”