Huang Sanlang's singing, recitation, acting, and fighting made Wang Po, who was sitting to the side, want to watch but dare not. Everyone knew that there were monsters in the deep mountains, and they often heard stories of young men encountering foxes or women hearing strange noises in wells...

But this is the first time I've ever stared at a monster face-to-face.

Granny Wang was terrified. She lowered her head and peered sideways, just to see what was happening. She saw the weasel with the big red flower on its head tilt its head back and chatter away for a while. Suddenly, one of its rat heads pointed at her and began to speak in human language:

"How strange! Usually, Madam Xu's Mountain and Sea Restaurant only has two ordinary people, the young master of the Wei family and the young master of the Cheng family. Why is there an old woman here today?"

Wang Po was startled and dropped her teacup on the table, spilling a large puddle of tea.

"Don't frighten this old woman. Her family's story is a long one. The ginseng you brought this time is of decent quality. Let's say you have three catties of spirit rice and three catties of spirit beans. Little Purple, go to the granary and get three catties of spirit rice and three catties of spirit beans."

Xu Milu casually wiped her hands with a handkerchief, then flipped her sleeve over and put away the old ginseng.

As soon as she finished speaking, a thick, brown wisteria vine reached in through the window from the backyard. The slender vine was like a human hand, with a bamboo basket at the end containing two cloth bags.

Xu Mi Lu watered the wisteria flowers with the water used to wash the spiritual vegetables every day. As a result, the little wisteria demon's cultivation has improved a lot. On weekdays, it takes care of all the work in the yard, such as weeding, watering trees, sweeping, sprinkling water, and dusting.

"Madam Xu is kind-hearted!" "Very good, very good. My third sister, who married far away, gave birth to a litter of babies a while ago. We can use this spirit rice as a gift."

"It's difficult for us demons to transform into human form. Who knows, if we keep eating this spirit rice, I might actually be able to raise a gifted junior in a while, which would make that Hu Silang jealous. He has a Hu Shiyi Niang in his family, and he goes out to show off to everyone every day!"

Huang Sanlang's face lit up with a smile when he saw the two baskets. He carefully tucked the two bags of ingredients into his arms, his fluffy tail swished behind him, and the two bags of ingredients disappeared without a trace.

"Speaking of which, the young master of the Wei family has recently had some good news! I heard that the Wei family has taken a liking to that Liu girl and will be marrying her next month. Given Madam Xu's status, the young master of the Wei family will have to invite her to a wedding feast."

"I recently went to Qiantang, which I didn't know about. Now that the date has been set, I think I should prepare a wedding gift to congratulate him on his marriage."

Xu Milu genuinely hadn't heard anything about Wei Ying's upcoming marriage. However, in Chang'an, besides the rat spirits, the Huang family was the most well-informed. If Huang Sanlang said so, it was probably true.

"This news is indeed true. A nest of swallow demons made their home on the Liu family's porch. The little demons were just learning to speak when the Wei family came to propose marriage on that very day, and the news spread among the demons."

As Huang Sanlang spoke, his face lit up again, and he pointed with his paw at the canned kimchi in the counter, fawningly saying:

"Please, madam, weigh out another jar of these side dishes for me. My mother was shot in the leg by a hunter in the mountains a few days ago and has been resting in bed these past few days. She feels like she has no taste in her mouth, so she asked me to come here and ask for a jar of these side dishes to take home!"

The monsters of Chang'an all know that Xu Milu's Mountain and Sea Restaurant sells two kinds of food: one made with ordinary ingredients and the other made with ingredients rich in spiritual energy.

Xu Milu is generous. Whenever someone buys one or two pieces of spiritual vegetables or rice, she will give them something as a gift. Sometimes it's a bag of dried fruit and pastries, sometimes it's a piece or two of barley candy, and in recent days it's been pickled vegetables in brine.

She was generous with her ingredients, and the pickled vegetables she made were incredibly flavorful. Even though they weren't worth much money, these side dishes were extremely popular with the fairies.

“You are quite filial. You know to buy spirit rice to visit your sister and even know to ask your mother for a bowl of pickled vegetables. A few days ago, Hu Silang sent over a lot of bamboo shoots. I pickled a lot of green bamboo shoots. You can take a jar back with you.”

Xu Milu smiled and shook her head. The more she spent with these monsters, the more she felt that they were actually no different from humans.

They also have their own little circles, and they also have human greed, anger, ignorance, and resentment. If it weren't for that layer of skin on their bodies, what difference would they be from "humans"?

As soon as she turned around, the wisteria spirit eagerly handed her the kimchi jar from the corner of the wall.

—A while ago, there was a lot of rain in the mountains, and the bamboo shoots in the forest grew like crazy. Hu Silang loaded a whole cart full and took it to the Mountain and Sea Restaurant.

Stir-fried bamboo shoots, stir-fried bamboo shoots with meat, cold bamboo shoot salad... Even though she tried to cook them in different ways, she still couldn't finish them all, so in the end she pickled a lot of bamboo shoots with pickled peppers.

"Waaaaah..."

For some reason, Wang Po, who was sitting in the eatery, suddenly started wailing and beating her chest:

"Oh dear... They say 'lambs kneel to suckle, swallows feed their parents,' even monsters know to be filial to their parents and loving to their sisters. It's just a pity that my three sons are not as human as the monsters. Bah! They are not my sons at all, but probably debt-collecting ghosts reincarnated in my belly!"

The old man was getting on in years, his hair was all white, and when he cried, tears and snot streamed down his face; it was heartbreaking to see.

Huang Sanlang was a busybody by nature, and upon hearing this, he became curious and pressed for details. Wang Po noticed that although he had a monstrous head, he spoke quite fluently, so she tearfully recounted the whole story.

It turns out that Granny Wang lived in Qiantang. When her husband, Old Man Ding, was alive, the old couple ran a tofu-making business, gradually building up their family fortune for their three sons.

Later, after Old Man Ding passed away, his three sons arranged for Ding Si Niang to be hastily married off to a neighboring county. They used sweet words to coax Wang Po into signing the contract, leaving her only two acres of meager land and a thatched hut.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!