A sound of pleasure

After a good sleep, Yuanli stretched herself lazily when she woke up, feeling very comfortable. Si Xi had already gotten up and was eating beside her.

Seeing her awake, Si Xi said, "Do mortals need to sleep for so long? I've already had two meals."

"Two meals! How long between your meals?"

"It's pretty much the same as you guys in the mortal world, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'm having dinner now. Aren't you hungry? Come and have something to eat with me. It's still hot."

Yuanli sat down across from Sixi and just as she picked up her chopsticks, her hand froze. There were three meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and a soup on the table, and none of them looked appetizing.

The fish was grilled to a crispy skin, but it seemed to have no seasoning at all, leaving it white. The chicken soup was a nice, creamy yellow, with some mushrooms floating in the soup, but they were the color of mushrooms, some of which looked like poisonous mushrooms, making it difficult to eat easily.

The most outrageous thing was a plate of neatly arranged green leafy vegetables, which were oozing with purple juice.

"Is there no dish that Godmother likes to eat?"

After Yuanli tasted everything, she asked, "Si Xi, do you eat this kind of food every day?"

“Not really.”

Hearing this, Yuanli breathed a sigh of relief.

"Usually we only eat so many dishes during Chinese New Year. Today, I thought it would be your first time dining with me in the mountains, so I had to celebrate, so I asked them to make a few more dishes. You know, the miasma is so strong here that ordinary poultry can't grow big. We're the only ones who raise poultry, and we don't eat the eggs that hatch; we keep them for incubation."

Looking at the fried egg on her rice, Yuanli glanced at Sixi's bowl, guessing that there was probably no fried egg in her bowl. Yuanli picked up the fried egg and pretended to eat it. While she lowered her head to eat the rice, Yuanli quickly picked up the fried egg and put it into Sixi's bowl.

Yuanli pretended to be fierce and ordered without hesitation: "If you don't eat it, you are not listening to your godmother. Now, immediately, eat the egg. Only after you finish eating it can you talk to me."

Si Xi ate the egg in small bites, savoring the aroma of the fried egg lingering in his mouth.

"So obedient, this is what a good child of a godmother should be."

Seeing that she hadn't picked up her chopsticks and was just staring at him, Si Xi asked, "Is this food not to your liking? What do you like to eat?"

"Yes, it's not to my taste, and it shouldn't be to yours either. This dish is so bland, with only salt in it, and the salt tastes so light. The only thing that looks good is the grilled fish, but the fish meat inside is tasteless, except for the fish skin. There are so many delicious foods outside of Yuemang Mountain, and each place has a different flavor. Pick any small restaurant and they will all be better than this. Wait until your godmother takes you away from Yuemang Mountain, and you can taste all the delicious food in the world."

"Outside...isn't the food outside like this?"

"There's fish, chicken, and green leafy vegetables, but the flavors are so rich and delicious. Like I said, every place has its own unique cooking methods. There's sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty flavors. All these dishes are just boiled, grilled, and sprinkled with a little salt."

"I can't imagine what food is like in the outside world. However, I look forward to trying all the delicacies in the world with my godmother."

"Okay. When I was living in Yuemang Mountain, I could survive without eating or drinking. The first time I ate food, it was cooked by your mother. I can't remember what it tasted like, I just remember that it was terrible, haha. But I was just like you, I didn't think it was a big deal, just thought all food tasted the same, until I went to the mortal world and ate those delicacies and drank those fine wines. It's not that I think what you eat now is bad. After all, many people can't even get enough to eat, and some even starve to death. I just feel bad. If I hadn't come, if I hadn't thought of your mother and couldn't take you out, then you might have eaten this kind of food all your life, and even the most ordinary fried egg with lard would have seemed delicious."

Si Xi said with a smile, "Luckily, I endured the hardships of the mountains before going out to enjoy the sweetness outside, so I can only look forward to happiness. Godmother should be glad that I didn't experience sweetness first and then bitterness. That's what my mother did. When she entered the mountains, it was as if she had fallen from the sky to the mud. That kind of suffering is hard to endure."

Yuanli leaned forward across the small square table, cupped Si Xi's cheeks with both hands and rubbed them, then smiled back, saying, "Yeah, first comes bitterness before sweetness. Our Si Xi's future will definitely be sweet. Godmother wants to raise our Si Xi to be a happy girl. I can't say she's the happiest girl in the world, but at least, make Si Xi feel happy."

As soon as the words fell, Si Xi's lips curled up and tears fell. The warm tears slid into her palms, and Yuan Li hurriedly wiped them away.

"Why are you crying?"

"I just feel that my godmother is really like my mother. I miss my mother."

Yuanli suddenly had a bright idea, but she felt it might be an insult to the deceased. Still, she said firmly, "If the miasma persists and the demons are still gathering here when we leave, we'll take your mother with us! What do you think?"

"How? Do you want to dig mother out?"

"The dead are the most important, and resting in peace is the most important thing. It would be a shame to dig them up."

"No, no, no, I don't mean to say anything bad. What I mean is, are you really willing to come with me to dig up Mother and take her away? When my mother was seriously ill, she often talked about her mother. I think she also wanted to be buried with her mother. After my mother died, I swore at her grave that if I had the chance to escape Yuemang Mountain in this life, in addition to looking for you, I would also take my mother's bones out and bury them next to her mother."

"Of course! That's settled then. Where is she buried?"

"Buried in the cave you two used to live in."

Yuanli frowned and asked in confusion, "Why did you choose such a place that is prone to collapse?"

"A-niang said that the three most important people to her in this world are grandma, you, and me. However, she can't be buried with grandma. She doesn't want to be buried alone in a so-called blessed land. She just wants to return to your former home. Only that home is her best home, where she has the happiest memories of you. Although, she knows that you will never return to Yuemang Mountain and you will never meet again."

Yuanli didn't say anything else, for fear that if they looked at each other any longer, the tears that Yuanli had been holding back would fall. She was still pretending to be angry with her.

Si Xi, ever perceptive, remained silent, silently peeling off the juicy fish skin and placing it in a glass bowl. Godmother hadn't eaten much, so Si Xi went to the lotus pond in the courtyard, plucked a few large lotus pods, and peeled out the seeds until a bowl was full. Figuring Godmother would be feeling better, he knocked on the door and stood for a moment before entering.

"Try this lotus seed. It's sweet and delicious. You haven't eaten much. This won't do. You still have to catch the evil spirits."

"Your hands must be hurt from peeling so much, right?"

"No, lotus seeds are easy to peel."

Si Xi placed the bowl filled with lotus seeds in front of her and said, "It's not a good idea for Si Tiao to keep hiding. We have to think of other ways. She is always a threat in Yuemang Mountain. Who knows how many monsters and ghosts will die at her hands."

"Yeah. There's no point trying to lure the snake out of its hole. I guess Yue Niang gave her a strict order not to let you know of her existence. That's why she was willing to catch more than 20 big black fish just to satisfy my fishing cravings, just so I could leave quickly. Let me think, what is Si Tiao afraid of? I can force her out."

"She loves water and hides underwater, so why don't we just drain the water? She can't be hiding under the mud, right? While we drain the water, we'll guard the edge of the pond. If she really listens to Yue Niang, she won't dare to act rashly. If she doesn't listen, even better. If she shows up, I'll chase her immediately."

Yuanli was troubled and sighed, "Such a large pool of water, and I'm now trapped in a mortal body. Even if I borrow the demonic power from these demon pills I brought, it won't be enough to drain all the water and still have enough strength to help you fight her. You definitely can't beat her alone. If we can attack together, our chances of winning will be better, right? Think about it again."

"No need for magical powers. When Dad built this lotus pond, he thought it would produce lotus roots that could be used to cook for Mom. To make it easier for him to dig lotus roots for Mom in the future, Dad dug a big hole in the corner and blocked it with a big rock. That rock isn't a mountain, so my magical powers can easily move it out of the way. However, once the rock is moved, the water in the lotus pond will flow into the sunken grass next to it."

"It flowed into the grassy area nearby... With such a large pool of water flowing out, I'm afraid Yue Niang's people would notice something was wrong very quickly. Besides, I don't know if Si Tiao is still in human form in the water, or if he's a bug like before he transformed into a demon. If it's a bug, it's so small that we can't even see if it flows out with the water."

"That's easy. Dad originally brought back a lot of young snakehead fish and raised them in the pond. But every year when he dug lotus roots, he couldn't drain the water and let the fish die, or let the mud and dirt from the lotus pond flow out. So, he created a barrier that only allows the water and the snakehead fish to flow out. As for the water that flows out, it won't flow anywhere else. Did you notice the big slope next to the lotus pond? It was actually dug to store water. It's just enough to fill the pond and then release the water back out the other end. My dad may be abominable, but these little things he makes are truly unique and ingenious."

The words on the tip of his tongue paused.

The hatred and resentment in Si Xi's heart could never be eliminated, and it conflicted with the fatherly love she once had, tormenting her heart from time to time.

Si Xi said with some disappointment, "Dad used to come up with all sorts of bizarre ways to make Mom happy, and he went to great lengths. When I was little, I always thought Dad truly loved Mom, and that our family was the happiest and most complete. It's not that Dad didn't love Mom, it's just that he loved other women, too. Men who think with their lower body should be tossed away like rags. The ancient rule of having three wives and four concubines is nothing more than a pretext for generations of philandering and amorous relationships, a high-sounding excuse."