Chapter 236 Tata's Farm Life: Strawberry Lipstick, Dou Dizhu (a card game), Magic...

The next morning, Ray got up very early as usual.

The Cher family also woke up at the same time.

There were a few boxes of strawberries left over from yesterday, and Lai saved them so we don't need to pick as many today, but everyone still has to get up early to work.

Hearing the commotion in the lobby, Xi'ou woke up as well. He spontaneously grabbed a pair of scissors and offered to help Lai and the others.

"There's no reason to make guests do the work."

Lei refused Theo's request and told him to go back and rest. But the elf followed anyway.

The elf's appearance was already striking, and even though he was disguised, the two ladies in the house couldn't help but let their eyes drift toward Western Europe.

They had never seen a real elf in their entire lives.

Now that a tall, beautiful elf was standing right in front of them, how could they not be curious?

Not only the two ladies, but even Vincent couldn't help but glance at Western Europe a few more times.

"These strawberries are growing well. I can't believe you came up with a way to grow them in winter."

The Western Europeans' eyes revealed their appreciation.

"I've only seen people do this before."

"That's very well done. These white and pink strawberries are quite special."

Lai cut off two pieces, washed them, and handed them to Xi'ou.

"Try it."

"The taste is similar to that of the Elf Kingdom, but there are some subtle differences."

After tasting it, the Western Europeans commented.

"It's from those seeds over there. I spent some time selecting the seeds, picking out the lighter-colored strawberries, and then cultivating them generation after generation."

After some time, I finally obtained pink strawberries with stable traits, and I named them 'Pink Snow'.

Then, by continuing to cultivate the powdered snow variety, we obtained the white strawberry with the flavor we have today.

Western Europe was shocked upon hearing Lei's description.

This kind of arduous breeding work cannot be completed overnight; in addition, it requires the breeder's patience and countless drops of sweat.

"So now is the time for me to reap the rewards."

With a snip of the scissors, Lei placed the freshly cut strawberries into the small basket.

The warm light from the glass lamps in the greenhouse shone on these white strawberries, making each plump fruit seem to be coated with a golden halo.

"Awooo! Awooo!"

The little monster's cries were melodious and somewhat pitiful.

Ryan sounded somewhat annoyed.

"The little monster has woken up and is looking for you."

Ray put down his tools, put on a thick coat, and walked out of greenhouse number two. Tata smelled the odor and burst out of the door, almost stumbling over Ray.

"Why isn't Li a professor!"

The little monster's face was covered in red lines of accusation.

"you......"

"What?!"

"I......"

"How's my place?"

"You were sleeping so soundly, I couldn't bear to wake you."

"snort!"

"Let's go, I'll take you to eat strawberries!"

"snort!"

"White, very sweet and fragrant strawberries."

Lei took out a strawberry the size of a baby's palm from the ring's space and stuffed it into the little monster's mouth.

Even if you try to please the beast, the beast will still...

Chew, chew, chew.

"Mmm, sweet, delicious~"

Lei chuckled and led the little monster into the greenhouse.

A wave of warm, damp air washed over them, and Tata flicked its tail and took a deep breath.

Wow, it tastes like strawberries all over!

"Tata is here."

Western Europe greeted the little monster.

"Ouch."

Tata responded politely, but Karma and Diana's attention was immediately drawn to the large, fluffy ball.

"Tata, don't go any further in. There's not enough space here, and you'll get your fur dirty."

"Okay."

The little monster sat obediently to one side, watching everyone work, its serious little face befitting a responsible little supervisor.

Wow, you really know how to talk!

Kama patted Diana on the shoulder, and the two huddled together whispering, their eyes full of curiosity.

"Tata is a monster. He has the intelligence of an eight-year-old child and is also quite dangerous."

Don't tell anyone about this. If anyone asks, just say it's a pet dog called a Samoyed.

"Don't leave any strangers alone with Tata."

Lei explained, reminding everyone not to reveal Tata's identity.

"good!"

Kama and the others nodded in agreement.

Lai found a broken little bamboo basket, picked some strawberries, and put them in front of Tata.

"You eat this first. There are still a few boxes of strawberries left to pick. We need to hurry."

"Ouch."

knew.

After being given some food, Tata calmed down and stayed obediently at the edge of the greenhouse, eating her own little snacks.

After picking several boxes of strawberries, Lai put them all into his ring space.

Karma went back to cook, and they continued to pick the remaining twenty-odd boxes of red strawberries in another greenhouse.

Lai picked another small blue one for Tata, and the little monster squatted on the wooden board, eating it with great relish.

The strawberries were picked just as dawn broke.

Sunrise is always a bit late in winter.

Seya was already awake, sitting on the sofa by the fireplace, drinking the hot tea that Kama had given him.

"Hey, Tata, when did you put on lip rouge?"

What is lip rouge?

Saiya was turned away. The most frustrating thing in life is when you're joking with someone, but they don't realize it.

Diana smiled and lent her mirror to Tata, holding it up for him to see.

"Ahhh! Ahhh! Strawberry juice got on my fur!"

The little monster licked it a few times with its tongue, but couldn't lick it off; there were still two faint red marks on the fur around its mouth.

"The fur of a beast!"

Rumble.

The wooden staircase creaked under its heavy load once more.

The little monster has grown up and its weight has skyrocketed, making a lot of noise when it runs on the wooden floor.

Lai was somewhat relieved that this was a detached villa. If other people lived downstairs, running around like this every day would warrant a complaint to the community.

Hahahaha.

Saiya laughed so hard on the sofa that she couldn't straighten up.

It wasn't until breakfast time that Lai took Tata downstairs.

He washed Tata's mouth hair several times with soap before Tata let Lai dry his hair with a towel.

Several days passed in this leisurely and happy manner.

Tata adapted well to the villa's environment.

Lai laid a large wool rug next to the fireplace, and the little monster's favorite thing to do every day was to lie on the rug, roll around, and warm himself by the fire.

Seyia didn't seem too keen on going out either, preferring to spend her time curled up by the warm fireplace reading miscellaneous books.

But after a while, he got a little bored, so he pestered Ray to make a deck of cards, and then he called on Theo and Cher to play a game of Landlord.

Tata watched the commotion from the sidelines, puzzled as they played with a bunch of small cards with great enthusiasm.

"What four landlords?"

The little monster tilted its head and asked.

"Lay said a landlord is someone who owns a lot of land. Wait! Watch my bomb, explode! Hahahaha, quickly hand over the copper coins!"

Saiya was completely absorbed in the joy of winning.

Lei didn't let them play for such high stakes, only letting them gamble a little and win a few copper coins, but even that made Seya happy for a long time.

"Then Laiyi is the fourth landlord."

"Hmm, that seems to make sense."

Seya nodded in agreement, while Lai listened with a face full of black lines.

In this card game, "landlord" isn't a good word.

However, he didn't correct it, as explaining it would only make things more complicated.

There's another thing worth mentioning about Tata.

With two more guests at home, and a meat-eating bird named Tata, it's definitely not cost-effective to feed the domesticated red ravens every day. We've gone to so much trouble to raise them to this size, and we still have to keep them to lay eggs.

But going to the market to buy meat every few days is really inconvenient.

Ray decided to buy some ice to reopen the ice room on the lower level, so he had Diana clean it up.

Upon hearing this, Sayya pointed to Tata, who was rolling around on the carpet.

"Isn't this readily available?"

"Huh?"

"It's a mutated ice type, and the magical ice is less likely to melt than ordinary ice."

Upon hearing that there was something she could do to help, Tata jumped up and looked at Lai eagerly.

"The beasts can!"

"The ice room needs too much ice."

Saiya chuckled, "Don't underestimate Tata. He's no longer the little baby who could only hide in the back in that small mountain village."

"All right."

Lei was eventually persuaded by Seyah to let Tata give it a try. Actually, he also wanted to see Tata's current abilities.

The group went downstairs, passed through the wine cellar, and went to the ice room.

Several large barrels of fruit wine that Sayya had given them were displayed in the wine cellar.

"You haven't finished drinking yet?"

"Yes. We don't hold banquets, so we don't have many guests. We don't drink much either, so we just keep a few barrels in the cellar."

"It seems I overestimated your alcohol tolerance."

There were no lights in the ice room, so Cher held up a portable glass lamp to light the way for everyone.

"This place is so small, the beast can easily fill it up!"

"Don't fill the whole room," Ray instructed Tata.

"Freeze all the walls with ice, but not the ceiling or the floor."

"Ouch."

clear.

"Everyone come out and step back a little."

Everyone left the space to Tata, and Ray took the glass lamp from the butler and lit it for him.

"Aww~"

Tata let out an excited shout, and a flash of blue light appeared, freezing the entire wall in place.

He used magic a few more times, and a layer of ice fifteen centimeters thick formed on the remaining three walls.

"Aww, how's that!"

The little monster eagerly awaited Lai's praise. Cher led the applause.

"Tata is awesome."

"Hmph!" The little monster raised its head arrogantly. "What else do I need to do?"

Ray looked at Cher, he didn't know what an ice room should look like either.

"It would be best to put a large block of ice in the middle of the room. Please wait a moment."

Cher ran to the cellar and soon returned rolling a large wooden tub, which he carefully placed in the very center of the ice room.

"Put some more ice in the basin."

"Ouch."

no problem.

The blue magical light shone again, and everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

Tata squatted stiffly at the door without moving. Only after all the snowflakes fell did everyone see what had happened inside the ice room.

From the wooden tub to the roof, three icicles tightly connect them together.

"Um, you used too much force."

Tata whispered, burying her head between her two front legs.

"Ha ha ha ha."

Saiya laughed wildly without any mercy, which angered Tata so much that she chased after him and bit his butt.

"It looks good this way too."

Ray looked at the butler, Cher.

"Ah, yes, it doesn't affect its use; it's both beautiful and practical."

Old Butler Cher smiled rather reluctantly.

"Let's just chisel a hole in the icicle and put the lamp inside."

Lei proposed it.

"The light will probably explode if you do that."

Butler Cher reminded her.

"Hahaha, I'm not laughing anymore, Tata, I really won't laugh anymore."

Seya and Tata stopped their chase.

"It would be fine to let the Western European teacher solve this problem. Is that alright?"

Saiya asked the elf who had been standing next to him the whole time, "Is this really too much of a cheating?"

"I'll give it a try."

The ice room issue was eventually resolved smoothly. Butler Cher had Vincent move the shelves back in, and they were quickly filled with various meats and canned goods.

According to Western Europe, this icehouse can be used indefinitely if it is properly preserved.

Life became much more convenient for everyone on the manor.

During this time, although Ray didn't contact Nash, Nash was clearly concerned about him. Another invitation, this time from the White Tower, arrived in Nash's name.

"An invitation from the White Pagoda?"

Seyia found it strange.

"I really can't imagine what kind of adventures you've had lately that have allowed you to get in touch with the White Pagoda."

Lei smiled but didn't say anything more.

"Ray, even the beast wants to go!"

"Tata, those guys from the White Tower and the Vatican love high-level little monsters like you. If you go with Lai, be careful they don't hold you there and you never come back!"

What Saiya said was true, but the little monster obviously didn't want to accept it.

"Lay, is it true? The beasts wrote in the letter!"

"Well, for safety reasons, it's better if you stay at the manor with Saiya and the others. I'll be back soon."

"Aww!"

The little monster responded to Lei with a reluctant cry.

How about hot pot tonight?

"Okay! I want to eat glass noodles!"

Seya answered quickly, and Tata also perked up her two little ears.

"I made a special tomato stew for Tata so that she could also enjoy flavorful slices of meat."

"It's specially made for beasts!"

"Yes, it was made especially for Tata. Tata was the first person to try the tomato broth."

"Then the beast will reluctantly accept Lai's feelings!"

"hehe."

A well-behaved little monster who is pampered is always worth everyone's attention and care.

"I'll go prepare the ingredients now."

Kama got up and went to the kitchen, while Ray went to the ice room to get the beef and lamb.

"Then I'll help too."

Western Europe followed them into the kitchen.

The scalding hot pot dispelled the winter chill and the day's fatigue.