RIIDMDR chapter 158

Nan Xu spoke with great enthusiasm. He loved the land and wanted to plant something in every available patch. However, although flowers and plants were beautiful, there were no seeds available.

He wandered around the area, thinking about digging up wildflowers to plant in his garden. However, the little fox demons working on the mountain were incredibly diligent. They cleared away all the weeds and wildflowers around the garden, leaving only rows of tall, similar-looking trees. It was clear that this was the result of their meticulous care.

Having gained nothing, Nan Xu did not dare venture into the mountains again. He remembered the trap Tingchuan and the others had mentioned. If he were to enter carelessly, even if he were rescued, the suffering he would endure would be unbearable. Therefore, Nan Xu returned to the garden and wandered aimlessly.

He came to a quiet courtyard surrounded by low bushes. He could easily see the scene inside: a young, beautiful female demon dressed in a gray robe sat there eating nuts under the eaves, a pile of shells at her feet.

Glancing at the house behind her, Nan Xu felt a sense of familiarity and walked over.

He took a few steps closer and peeked through the half-open door at the stove inside. He suddenly realized why he felt a connection to this room. He must have been a chef in a past life. Otherwise, why would he feel such a strange sense of familiarity upon seeing a kitchen?

However, the kitchen was quiet and cool, devoid of any signs of cooking. The stove was empty, and the walls showed no trace of smoke.

The demon lifted her eyelids slightly but didn’t say anything when she saw Nan Xu enter. She continued cracking nuts, making a crunching sound.

Drawn by the sound, Nan Xu glanced a few more times at what the demon was holding and smiled when their eyes met.

The female demon was completely aloof, not even bothering to smile at Nan Xu. Nan Xu had been snubbed countless times in these mountains, so he remained composed and showed no sign of displeasure.

Nan Xu knew she was eating walnuts, each about the size of a thumb, and he suddenly felt envious. Since there was nothing else to do in the garden, he brazenly pulled up a small stool, sat down not far from her, and started a casual conversation.

They talked about everything from the house’s furnishings to vegetable recipes. Nan Xu did most of the talking, and gradually, the female demon’s aloofness crumbled. She slowed her pace of eating walnuts and occasionally asked him a question.

Nan Xu learned that the fox demon’s elders used to work in the garden but grew tired of it and quit to live at the foot of the mountain. Wanting only their own life, her parents found her an eyesore and sent her to the garden as a way of expressing gratitude to their masters.

Unfortunately, the fox demon was lazy and unproductive, and the head fox demon looked down on her. Eventually, she was relegated to this position.

Among humans, kitchen work was definitely not easy. But this was the demon realm, where the nine-tailed fox clan rarely ate hot meals, so this job was genuinely idle.

The supervising demon initially thought the female fox demon wouldn’t stay long and would quit, but he didn’t know that she enjoyed this undisturbed, paid job. She stayed for decades.

Nan Xu, parched from talking with her, asked the demon for water. Her attitude changed, and she went inside and poured her a glass. After Nan Xu drank it, she subtly shifted the conversation to how to best roast walnuts. The demon didn’t believe him and insisted that her own method was the best.

Nan Xu then asked if she had any uncooked walnuts, promising to demonstrate his skill.

Later that day, when Nan Xu left the kitchen, he carried a bag of walnuts and a packet of rapeseed that he had traded for his walnut-roasting recipe.

The female demon gave him the seeds, saying that they would grow into clusters of small yellow flowers. After the flowers faded, a pod resembling a bean pod would sprout. Instead of green or yellow beans, however, it would contain black seeds. From her description, Nan Xu knew it was rapeseed.

It was a godsend; he had been worried about not finding seeds. After all, it was supposed to be for growing flowers. Why wasn’t rapeseed considered a flower?

“I’ve already spoken to the fox demon in charge of gathering from the mountains. Next time he go down, he’ll bring back some other vegetable seeds, like peas and cilantro. The flowers they produce are quite beautiful,” Nan Xu said. “Oh, right. I also buried a few sweet potatoes in this soil. If they survive, you might be able to dig them up and eat them in the fall.”

Tingchuan’s temple twitched. He couldn’t imagine digging up sweet potatoes. Patiently, he asked, “Since you can buy seeds, why not buy flower seeds?”

Nan Xu was silent for a moment, but he couldn’t admit that he had forgotten about it. He argued, “We can’t buy expensive varieties anyway, and you wouldn’t like them. Let’s plant something practical. We can’t waste such fertile land.”

Tingchuan found his point somewhat valid, but using land irrigated with spiritual water to grow sweet potatoes and rapeseed seemed off.

Wait a minute.

“My clan doesn’t eat vegetable oil or sweet potatoes. Planting these is a waste,” Tingchuan finally realized.

Nan Xu stared at Tingchuan’s face and suddenly chuckled. “You’ll like them in the future,” he said.

Tingchuan frowned, displeased by Nan Xu’s inexplicable words. What delicacies hadn’t he, a nine-tailed fox, tasted? How could Nan Xu be so ignorant?

This little demon didn’t know where he came from. His cultivation was shallow, he was short in stature, and he was young, but he was certainly bold.

“Pulling them up, I’ll have the fox demon buy flower seeds,” Tingchuan said decisively.

His elder brother loved elegant orchids and his sister-in-law loved peonies. He was also very fond of her. If his brother saw that Nan Xu had ruined the flower garden, he would definitely be displeased.

Nan Xu wasn’t his brother’s student and had no relation to the Nine-Tailed Fox clan. He feared…

He was annoyed to see Tingchuan, who had been so friendly a moment ago, suddenly order him to pull up all the rapeseed flowers he had cultivated for days.

“Why? You only said to plant flowers, but you didn’t specify what kind. If you already had a preference, why didn’t you say so earlier? Now that the flowers are blooming, you’re starting to complain,” Nan Xu said. “If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve rather helped carry the timber.”

Tingchuan met his gaze for a moment, then said, “This is the East Sea, the territory of my Nine-Tailed Fox Clan. What we plant is naturally up to my clan.”

Nan Xu was furious, but Tingchuan’s words cleared his mind considerably. He was right. He was now living on someone else’s territory, so even the flowers and plants he had planted were at someone else’s mercy. He blamed himself for feeling a sense of kinship when he saw Tingchuan’s face and for not treating him as an outsider and acting presumptuously.

Although he understood these principles, when he looked at his meticulously tended flowerbed, he saw that the rapeseed flowers were thriving and blooming brilliantly. They should soon bear seeds. Still, it was a bit of a waste.

After Tingchuan left, Nanxu sighed and wondered when Yunyi and Jingyuan would repair the courtyard. They had lived in the mountains for so long without making a breakthrough in the great formation. Perhaps leaving the East Sea was the only way.

As he uprooted the rapeseed flowers, Nanxu felt a little down. He carried the flowers as he walked out of the garden, intending to find a place to throw them away. As he passed the familiar bushes, he subconsciously looked into the courtyard. The female demon was in the kitchen, busy with something. Nanxu patted his pocket; the walnuts were all gone. He stepped into the courtyard, tossed a bunch of flowers in a corner, called out to her, and went inside.

The female demon was roasting walnuts using the recipe Nan Xu had taught her, which explained the sweet and salty aroma filling the room.

Seeing Nan Xu enter, the female demon pursed her lips. Her lowered eyes revealed her displeasure as always. Nan Xu went over to take a closer look and saw several burnt walnuts in a basket on the stove, charred like charcoal.

“What a waste!” Nan Xu said.

He had already tasted the walnuts, which were plump and juicy. He was heartbroken to see them ruined like this.

The female demon’s expression became even uglier. “I got them all from the mountains. They’re not worth taking.”

Nan Xu was a little surprised. He thought he had bought them outside the mountain. “Did you pick them yourself?”

“Yeah.” The female demon responded.

Nanxu was about to say something more when he saw that the walnuts in the pot were getting mushy again. He hurriedly removed most of the heat from the stove.

With Nanxu’s help, this pot of walnuts was successfully fried for the first time. Although they weren’t as tasty as the ones Nanxu had made last time, the female demon was obviously much happier. She had tried many times in the past few days, but the results were always unsatisfactory.

Two demons were squatting in the yard, cracking walnuts, when the female demon noticed a bunch of rapeseed flowers in the corner. “Why did you pull them up?” she asked.

Nan Xu sighed and explained Tingchuan’s intentions. The female demon fell silent for a moment, then said, “At least they’re not dead yet. I’ll take them to the mountains and plant them!”

Nan Xu’s eyes lit up. Planting wasn’t allowed in the garden, and he couldn’t enter the mountains. He had thought these flowers were doomed, but unexpectedly, they were given a new lease on life.

After all, he had carefully planted them, and he had grown fond of them. Entrusting the rapeseed flowers to the female demon lifted his spirits considerably.

He didn’t know if they would survive elsewhere. Even if they did, he wouldn’t have the chance to see them. Still, this was much better than the initial outcome.

As expected, Tingchuan sent the fox demon to buy expensive flower seeds. When he handed them to Nan Xu, Nan Xu still resented him and didn’t want to deal with him. He took the seeds and turned away immediately.

Tingchuan watched his retreating figure, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

Nanxu lacked his previous enthusiasm when planting the flowers again, mechanically digging, sowing, and fertilizing. Whether due to the seeds themselves or a clash between Nanxu and the plants, the seeds seemed to lie dormant in the soil, showing no signs of life.

Several days later, Nanxu finally put in some effort, but the seeds were uncooperative. He told Tingchuan, who, without pressuring him, found a fox demon skilled in gardening to do the work.

Repairs on the mountain continued. The fight between Yunyi and Jingyuan had caused such a commotion and so much damage that they wouldn’t be able to descend the mountain anytime soon.

Bored again, Nanxu went to help move timber once more. This time, Tingchuan didn’t stop him. Nanxu ran up and down the mountain, pushing the young demon’s stamina to its limit.

Two months passed in a flash. Nanxu noticed that the flowerbeds remained untouched and empty, even though he had seen the fox demon busy there every day.

He figured the flower seeds must be incompatible with the East Sea, not entirely due to his poor planting skills.

Another month passed, and summer arrived in the blink of an eye. Nanxu had been in the formation for a quarter of the year. He wondered how much time had passed outside the formation and if Tingchuan was getting impatient.

However, when he thought back on the unpleasant experiences he had had with Tingchuan in the formation, he felt considerably less guilty.

Author’s Note:

Nanxu’s grudge notes for today:

Living under someone else’s roof, he looks down on my rapeseed flowers.

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