RIIDMDR chapter 175

Because the drought-resistant rice was planted early this year, before autumn had fully arrived, the ears of rice were already full and heavy. After sensing the moisture in the mountain air, Nan Xu decided to take advantage of the good weather and harvest early to dry the rice. Everyone in the inn, including Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu who left their piglets behind, joined in.

Those piglets had been carefully raised and enjoyed delicious meals every day. When it was hot out, they even received daily baths. With Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu taking such attentive care of them, the piglets had become plump and fair. However, lately, due to everyone being busy harvesting rice, their treatment had plummeted. The angry piglets raised a ruckus in the pigpen, crying and protesting, acting as though they were ready to break out.

Nan Xu was cutting rice when he heard the wretched cries of the pigs in the distance. Seeing the two brothers completely ignoring the noise, he couldn’t help but click his tongue. Those piglets, spoiled by affection, didn’t realize that the two scoundrels had already changed their tune. What a drama.

Harvesting and drying the rice took several days. The demons had better endurance, and with last year’s experience, they worked much more skillfully this time. Once all the rice was stored in the cellar, the demons looked at each other, realizing too late that they could have used spiritual energy to make things easier. Habits ingrained over so many years are hard to change overnight.

Assuming the demon clans who recently left Zhuyu Mountain were still on their way and the inn would be quiet for a while, Nan Xu peacefully wandered the mountain twice. He brewed grape wine and dried extra grapes into raisins for storage. A few days later, a demon appeared at the inn entrance.

Nan Xu was stunned at first, but then he recognized the visitor and smiled.

Before Nan Xu could speak, Ren Ci looked embarrassed and greeted him. “Owner, I hope you’ve been well.”

During the days when the sky fissure was being repaired, several members of Ren Ci’s clan had come to Zhuyu Mountain. Ren Ci had originally planned to come too, but on the road, he saw many displaced and severely injured demons in the coastal region due to seawater flooding. Ren Ci had stayed behind to help them.

Nan Xu responded, inviting him into the courtyard and teasing, “I almost thought you were a new guest. I nearly didn’t recognize you.”

Ren Ci touched his smooth face. “The wrinkles on my face are from having insufficient spiritual energy during my growth. After being mocked for my appearance a few times, I grew a beard. Now that the demon realm has abundant spiritual energy, those wrinkles are gradually disappearing. Everyone here is full of new energy…So, I followed suit and shaved my beard, too.”

Ren Ci was tall and burly. With a full beard, he used to look wild and fierce, as if he might pick a fight or attack someone at any moment. Now that the beard is gone, revealing a clean-shaven face, though his skin is still bronze from years under the sun, the savage air has faded, replaced by righteousness and vigor.

“You look like this now—you’re probably making plenty of male demons feel inferior. Are there any young ladies fighting over you, wanting to talk romance?” Nan Xu laughed and handed him a drink.

“None. But I’ll be starting a family soon. The other day, when my mother came to Zhuyu Mountain, she met a young lady she liked. She’s spoken with the girl’s parents and relatives, and the wedding is set for winter.” Ren Ci took a sip as he spoke, his brows lifting slightly as he glanced down at the reddish-brown liquid in his porcelain cup.

Nan Xu was surprised. “So fast? Back then, your appearance hadn’t recovered yet, had it? Had she seen you before?”

Ren Ci nodded. “I met her while traveling to sell goods. She didn’t mind my looks.”

Nan Xu sighed emotionally. “Congratulations. It seems that girl truly likes you.”

A smile appeared on Ren Ci’s face as well. He lowered his voice, almost as if he were speaking to himself. “I’ll treat her well from now on.”

Nan Xu loved seeing lovers become family. Hearing this, he smiled. “Zhuyu Mountain counts as half a matchmaker, then. You must send me a wedding invitation!”

“Of course.” Ren Ci said. Then he suddenly remembered something and added, “Speaking of which, quite a few marriages were actually arranged by Zhuyu Mountain this time. I’ve heard of at least ten.”

Nan Xu was quite surprised. It was unexpected, but upon reflection, he understood. The spiritual energy in the demon realm had been weak for so long, and fewer and fewer new demon offspring appeared over time. With reproduction stalled, demons naturally lost interest in relationships.

When survival itself became a question, romance naturally became a low priority. However, after visiting Zhuyu Mountain, where the spiritual veins had been revived and spiritual energy was returning, matters that had been put aside were brought back into discussion. Without a doubt, matchmaking would become a major trend among the demon clans in the days to come.

Nan Xu suddenly had an idea, but he needed to plan it out first.

Ren Ci’s visit was naturally to restock.The fame of Zhuyu Mountain had already spread. The demons who had left hastily remembered halfway through their journey that they had forgotten to bring back some specialties. When they ran into Ren Ci by chance, they quickly bought all the Zhuyu Mountain goods he was carrying—everything edible or useful. As long as the goods were from Zhuyu Mountain, the demons wanted to bring them home to show their clans, as if checking in at a famous place.

“What is this? Can it be taken away and sold?” Ren Ci lifted the cup and asked. “It’s sour, sweet, and slightly cool. This is my first time drinking it.”

Nan Xu thought for a moment. “The coolness comes from chilling it in well water. But it’s not hard to recreate this flavor—it’s made from smoked mountain plums and some herbs. Put it in tea bags, and it works. I just need two days to prepare them.”

Ren Ci found the drink interesting and knew it would sell well. He didn’t mind staying two days longer. With Zhixing’s help, Nan Xu dried and ground tangerine peel, osmanthus, and hawthorn into powder. They added rock sugar and placed one smoked plum in each tea bag. Within two days, they had completed several hundred sour plum tea bags.

Ren Ci brought the usual local specialties and took a large amount of the raisins Nan Xu had dried before heading down the mountain with a full backpack.

“Every time Ren Ci leaves, it feels like the whole courtyard has been emptied out,” Nan Xu said suddenly during dinner.

Zhixing nodded in agreement. It wasn’t just the owner who felt it; even he felt it. Half of the finished salves and pills on his shelves were gone. Still, Ren Ci looked like he didn’t have enough goods to sell.

Tingchuan chuckled when he heard that and picked up a piece of rabbit meat for Nan Xu. “I went down the mountain today and heard that he bought up large quantities of salted duck eggs from the canine clan.”

Hearing this, the few demons at the table could only laugh helplessly.

That night, as he returned to the bedroom, Nan Xu remembered the thought that had suddenly popped into his head earlier. He looked toward Tingchuan, who was leaning against the head of the bed.

Being stared at like that—with eyes clearly filled with intention—Tingchuan couldn’t possibly not notice, even if Nan Xu didn’t say a word. He lifted his eyes and asked, “What do you want to tell me?”

Nan Xu didn’t rush to express his idea. Instead, he started with another matter. “Now that the spiritual energy has returned to the demon world, when will Jing Yuan wake up?”

Tingchuan thought for a moment. “After the Bai couple from West Mountain left Zhuyu Mountain, they went straight to the South Sea. It shouldn’t be long. But his body has been weak for a long time. It’s impossible for him to recover in just a few days.”

Nan Xu understood all this, but he always felt more at ease when Tingchuan confirmed it. He then spoke of his plan. “I think the various demon clans will all be busy for the next six months. Business in the mountains will definitely be slow. Why don’t we take this chance to go out and look around?”

Tingchuan looked at Nan Xu with a half-smile and stared until Nan Xu’s face heated up. Just as Nan Xu began to wonder if he had been too obvious about wanting to run free, Tingchuan finally drawled, “You’re the owner. Of course you can go out and play whenever you want. Why would you ask for my permission?”

Nan Xu was taken aback for a moment and then suddenly realized. Right! He was the boss!

He had really been oppressed for too long. Even though he no longer had to complete system tasks, why was he still dawdling like this?

“Then we leave tomorrow morning!” Nan Xu decided on the spot.

His approach to things always swung between extremes—once he made up his mind, he couldn’t wait another minute. He had truly been stuck in the mountains too long.

“Does Zhixing know?” Tingchuan asked.

Nan Xu froze, then jumped off the bed, put on his shoes, and ran toward Zhixing’s room.

This news came as a complete surprise to Zhixing. No matter how familiar he had become with Nan Xu and how well he understood the situation at the inn, he was still a Bai clan demon who couldn’t utter a word around strangers.

While Zhixing hesitated, Tingchuan, who had leaned against the doorway at some point, said, “I’ll call You An to keep you company. Yao Lin said that once he finishes seeing off his clan, he’ll come stay on Zhuyu Mountain. He should arrive soon.”

Hearing this, Zhixing finally relaxed. He looked at the excited Nan Xu and couldn’t help but smile too. “Then I wish the owner and Senior Tingchuan a smooth journey.”

Going on a trip requires packing. Nan Xu returned to his room to prepare, while Tingchuan had nothing to bring—he was empty-handed and carefree. Like an elementary schooler about to go on a field trip, Nan Xu was so excited that he had trouble sleeping. Tingchuan pulled him into his arms and stopped his constant rolling around. Only then did Nan Xu fall asleep.

The next morning, Nan Xu went behind the house to say goodbye to Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu. The two brothers had gotten up early to prepare the pig feed. When they heard that Nan Xu was traveling, longing flickered in Zhuang Wu’s eyes. But before Nan Xu could offer him a chance to go down the mountain for a while, Zhuang Wu’s expression hardened again. “Owner, go ahead. We’ll take good care of the inn.”

Nan Xu was puzzled. “You don’t want to go out and take a look?”

Unlike Nan Xu, they were born in an era of thin spiritual energy. Weren’t they at all curious about the demon world after the return of spiritual energy?

Zhuang Wu waved his hand and grinned. “I’m raising pigs!”

Nan Xu: …

All right then. The world is big, but raising pigs is the biggest thing of all.

What Nan Xu didn’t know was that Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu had sold vegetables for decades without saving any money. After suffering through poverty for so many years, they finally found a new way to make money. Of course, they wouldn’t give up halfway through. They needed to save enough money to get married and have children. If the wild boar demon clan didn’t produce new demon cubs soon, they would become extinct. Changes in the demon world could happen at any time, but the piglets they raised couldn’t skip breakfast.

“Is there anything you want? If I see it, I can bring it back for you,” said Nan Xu.

Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu exchanged glances, then turned to Nan Xu. “Are there any high-yield crop seeds? Could you bring some back for us?”

Nan Xu paused. Had sweet potatoes and corn no longer been enough for them? Were they planning to raise hundreds of pigs on his mountain?!

Tomorrow’s update is the final chapter—thank you for reading along 😊💛