CHAPTER 164 - LARI USED TO BE ADDICTED TO BACON, BUT HE'S CURED NOW

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I opened it immediately and found that it contained an elegant silver filigree hairpin hung with cascades of small sapphire and amethyst beads. “How lovely! Excuse me, I must go and write a thank you letter.”

Scholar Wu then reached into her sleeve and took out a letter that she gave to me. “From Prince Baiyu.”

“Thank you very much!”

“You’re welcome.”

I stood up and bowed politely. “Will you join us for dinner?”

“No, thank you. It’s customary for tutors to join their pupils during the meals, but today the evening can be skipped. We all need to rest at the end of the day.”

“See you tomorrow then.”

I left and hurried to my study in the second courtyard where I read the letter which was short and to the point. He was coming to see me next week. I dashed off a quick reply and gave it to Fengying while also informing her of Prince Baiyu’s upcoming visit. The letter had made me forget about the clan member’s food situation, but Fengying was on top of things and asked for my permission to send food to their kitchen.

"Of course, Deming knows all about it," she said, her lips curling into an enigmatic smile. There was a glint in her eye as if she was privy to some great secret or inside joke that she didn't intend to share. Her expression seemed to say there were layers to the situation. “The three staff the butler didn’t introduce properly are the chef and kitchen staff.”

“Oh! Wow, so they really are mostly human, just like Shuye always says.” My mention of my Farm Guide reminded me of an important matter. “By the way, you sent more tea to Shuye? What did Deming say about it?”

“He thinks it’s a scam. The tea is just regular spirit tea.”

“Aw… that’s too bad.” Deming was a cultivator and I trusted his identification skill over the rumors. It would have been nice if our tea actually gave people superpowers, but I guess it was not to be. “Shuye says people are going crazy over it. I guess it's because people are afraid they’re missing out on something good.”

This was very Singaporean of them! Back on Earth, my mom, who was from Singapore, was always decrying the "kiasu" mindset—that compulsive fear of missing out that drove people to hoard opportunities and resources out of anxious competitiveness rather than actual need.

Fengying and I clicked our tongues in unison then laughed when we realized what we had done.

***

The next day, we admitted defeat and removed the layers of materials from the central area of the [Herb Garden]. Clearly, they were never going to be turned into a proper [Growing Medium]. I replaced it with potted flowers for Cutie to enjoy. The [Growing Medium] that had originally been there was sent to Shuye to sell.

“It was worth a shot,” I said to the crestfallen Lari. “I like how you think out of the box and don’t just follow the normal System procedures.”

The way he thought of ways to circumvent the rules kind of reminded me of my old friend GodIAm.

After tending to the herbs, we went outside to take care of the crops and get started on the orchard planting.

"Teacher, what do you mean we won't fertilize the soil?" Lari asked, his brow furrowing into a puzzled frown. His eyes squinted slightly as he tried to make sense of what I had just said.

“In the past week, our energy bars have been slow to fill. I believe it’s because we’ve been working too hard and eating mushrooms and drinking cola to artificially replenish our energy. I think we shouldn’t do unnecessary stuff.”

We had just finished watering the crops. North of the main house, we cordoned off a portion of land by tying a rope around the trees at the perimeter of the place where we were going to plant the apple orchard.

It was a beautiful golden afternoon in the Ancient Hill Forest. The searing heat of the summer sun was filtered through the tree canopy and a mild breeze carried the scent of wildflowers and fresh earth. The sounds of the forest bathed us in sweet noise, the trilling of the birds, the buzzing of the insects, and the rustling of the leaves, combining in a sweet harmony.

Inside the area we had just cleared of all rocks and grass, I leaned against a beech tree and said, “I know, I know. You feel fine. Still, let’s not push ourselves by working too hard. My knowledge from my bloodline inheritance tells me that all we need to do is to plant the apple seeds and water them.”

I knew this from playing Adventure Incarnate. Trees were a hands-off type of thing.

“But we used fertilizer on the desert farm,” said Lari.

“Oh, right. You were there two days ago. Did you notice any difference with the trees we planted with fish parts?” I asked.

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“The trees are doing great. I haven’t noticed any difference.” Lari looked a little discouraged.

“Don’t worry. Everything’s good as long as the plants and animals are healthy. I heard that sales of the [Lizardwings] have slowed down. Maybe we should bring them here to boost the soil’s quality.” I burst out laughing when I saw my apprentices’ appalled expressions. “I’m kidding.”

Kharli raised her eyes and hands to the heavens as though begging the gods to have mercy on us. “Teacher, please don’t even joke about bringing those stink machines here!”

I pinched her cheek. “Okay, okay, back to what we were talking about. We can plant five seeds with fertilizer and fish parts to check if it helps, but my gut feeling says it won’t.”

“Teacher, is it because the soil quality is better here compared to the desert?” Mo asked.

“Yes. Our trees are very special and strong. They grow much slower than the crops, but the tree seeds just need to be planted and left alone. It will grow to maturity after one year.” I stretched my arms above my head before taking out my hand-held seeder. “Let’s start. Remember to keep your energy bar above fifty percent.”

The way that the seeds shot out of the seeder and embedded themselves in the ground never failed to captivate me. Each time I planted a seed, some of my energy was used up, though I felt nothing. That was the insidious part of farming. I only felt tired when most of my energy bar was gone, and if it were to completely empty I would collapse.

After planting the seeds, we watered them. It was a real piece of cake and we didn’t even break a sweat.

“This time next year, we’ll be able to eat fruit from our own orchard,” I said to the others. “Before we go our separate ways to wash up, take a look at these pages.”

I handed them a book on fruit farming, with a red ribbon marking the pages I wanted them to read. The printing press had been invented some time ago, but that didn’t mean that information was freely available everywhere like on Earth. Here, guilds and clans were secretive about their crafts, and a book like this was only available to us because of Emberstone Farm’s good reputation.

We moved away from the orchard area and settled down on a picnic blanket under the shade of an oak tree while the kids read the relevant information. It took some time because they turned the pages over again and again, rereading the same words repeatedly.

“Do you want me to explain?” I finally asked.

Kharli put down the book with a relieved sigh, and Mo said, “Yes, please, Teacher. I was able to use the System to read it aloud, but I don’t understand it.”

Kharli held the book up and shook it. “This can’t be true. I’m sure all of the apple trees we plant will grow the best apples in the world.”

Lari nodded his head vigorously in agreement. He took the book and read some of it, probably using the System’s help. “In the cultivation of apple trees from their seeds, one must contemplate the phenomenon of heterozygosity, wherein the offspring manifest a plethora of diverse traits compared to their progenitors.”

Mo plugged her ears with her fingers. “Stop! I hate textbooks. I can’t understand a word of that.”

“Well, the text is a little bit technical, but the gist of it is that apple trees grown from seed can turn out quite different from their parent trees. That’s basically it.” I yawned. Somehow, all this academic-style talk made me feel bored. “You see, each seed is the child of two different trees so it contains a mix of traits from both parents. When those seeds grow into trees, their fruit will have different characteristics like taste, appearance, texture, etc.”

My apprentices exchanged confused looks.

“But the fruits will all be good?” asked Mo.

“Yes, I think so. There are many different types of apples, right? Some will turn out sweet, some tart, some crisp, some mealy, some will be red, some golden… it’s like a lottery.” I took back the book and stored it in my inventory. “Did you read the second part, the one about grafting?”

They nodded.

“Farmers can insert a piece of the tree they like into the rootstock of another tree. That will grow into the tree they like,” said Kharli.

I gave her a thumbs-up and a smile. “Exactly! When the trees are grown and produce fruit, we can cut off a few branches and sell those to others who want to grow fruit trees, too.”

“Teacher, doesn’t this mean some fruit trees will be better than others?” asked Lari.

“Maybe,” I said. “If a particular fruit variety becomes more popular than the others, we can grow more of it by grafting. There is no way of doing that using the System though. We can only grow from seed if we use the System.”

In fact, I wasn’t quite sure that the apple trees would be that different from each other since they all looked the same in Adventure Incarnate. Deming was the one who had sent me the book, expressing his concern through Fengying that I wasn’t aware of these facts about growing apple trees from seed. He also said that most wild trees that grew this way produced crabapples instead of the sweet red apples I had in my inventory.

I continued explaining this to my apprentices. “Or… this book could be all wrong since we’re using the System instead of ordinary methods.”

“I think the book is wrong,” said Mo instantly.

Kharli enthusiastically agreed with her. “Very wrong! We’ll definitely grow the most delicious red apples, just like the ones Teacher uses to make apple pie.”

“I think so, too,” said Lari.

“Only time will tell. I wouldn’t mind if we grew a good variety of different apples,” I said. “Okay, I think we’re done. Let’s meet again at lunch.”

Their first class will be held this afternoon. Prince Baiyu’s butler had delicately broached the subject of Scholar Wu’s additional fee for teaching the kids the basic martial arts form of the Wu family’s Celestial Harmony Arts, and I had agreed to hand over a rather enormous sum of money.

I had half-expected the System to give me a quest to learn martial arts, but since no such thing appeared, I thought I should observe the classes first before deciding if I wanted to try it out, too.

From what I could tell, the Celestial Harmony Arts was similar to Tai Chi on Earth. People used it to learn better balance, flexibility, posture, and a sense of calmness and inner harmony. In short, it was practiced for its health benefits and meditative aspects, not its combat effectiveness. Nobles particularly liked it, and being taught by a master from the Wu family was the ultimate sign that one was wealthy and well-connected.

We got up, and I put the picnic blanket away. Together we walked south.

“Scholar Wu will be eating with us, so mind your manners,” I said.

“Oh no, we’re having pork ribs for lunch. I like to munch on it,” said Lari.

Mo and Kharli laughed.

“No gnawing on the bones today for you,” said Mo.

“Poor Lari. He does love his pork ribs,” said Kharli.

“Maybe I could take a plate and eat it in my room later.” Lari frowned, his lips pursing slightly as he pondered his predicament.

I shook my head. “Nope. The whole purpose of eating lunch with your tutor is to learn to eat gracefully and converse in a refined manner.”

When the kids reacted with horror, I shrugged and said, “Relax, Scholar Wu seems easygoing. You’ll get used to it.”

We reached the front of the main house and we said our farewells as they went to their rooms and I walked on to my house.

“Your class will start right after lunch. Wear good clothes, but don’t put on any jewelry. It’s not a party. See you later,” were my parting words.