Chapter 108 Forest Guide's Vegetable Garden, Little Elf Guide, Second Sale...
The cucumber vines have started to flower and grow tendrils; they're about to enter a period of rapid growth. The branches are almost dry, so it's time to build trellises.
Ray tore an old, tattered garment into strips, and he and Lamb spent the whole morning setting up trellises for cucumbers, persimmons, and green beans with branches.
It wasn't difficult, just a bit time-consuming. Although it was the first time a young woman had ever dressed like this, she looked quite proper and respectable.
The weather has been sunny and pleasant lately with little rain, so the vegetables in the field are starting to wilt and need watering.
Without water pumps and pipes, everyone had to carry water on their shoulders to irrigate the land.
The only water jar in the house was used by Laiyi to make soybean paste, so it can't be used to store water, which is very inconvenient.
Lai plans to go to the neighboring village to buy another large vat to put in the yard, but for now he can only use the most cumbersome method: carrying water little by little.
After finishing his morning tasks, it was past lunchtime, so Ray prepared a "feast of beasts." Lamb went to pick up Neil, Danny, and Luna from school, without inviting the adults in the house.
By the time they arrived, the long-toothed beast had already been roasting for some time.
Since there were many children, Lai made it with a honey glaze and also prepared a few refreshing side dishes.
After waiting for about an hour, the five of them finally got to eat dinner. Little Luna shook her head excitedly.
Ray divided the animal leg among the four smaller ones, but Neil insisted on sharing it with him. The other three also made gestures to share theirs with him. In the end, Ray stopped this behavior of being modest with a single sentence, and everyone finally started eating the roast meat in an orderly manner.
Perhaps inspired by what happened at the dinner, Luna ultimately couldn't bear to eat the beast leg that Lai gave her, saying she wanted to save it for Farah and her unborn baby.
The little girl was sensible and adorable, and Lai gave her lots of tender pork ribs.
Danny ate quietly during the meal, not saying much, but he would politely thank Ray when he put meat on his plate, and he would also help Luna, who was short-handed, to put food on her plate.
You could tell from his bright eyes that he enjoyed the meal very much.
After eating and drinking their fill, Lamb took his nephew and niece, along with the beast leg, home. After cleaning up the kitchen, Lai carried water back and forth to irrigate the fields.
Water evaporates quickly during the day, so it's generally best to water the fields in the late afternoon or early evening to better conserve moisture.
Lai and Neil carried water and watered the fields, watering only the vegetables that were not drought-resistant, while neglecting the potatoes and sweet potatoes. Even so, it still took a lot of time.
Fortunately, all the hard work paid off. The next morning, the soil in the garden was still moist, and the vegetables in the field looked much fresher.
Neil went to school as usual.
When Tata noticed that Ray was carrying a weapon, he immediately perked up and followed closely behind him. Ray immediately understood what he meant.
"You want to come along?"
Tata nodded.
Lai glanced at Tata's little belly and tacitly approved of its actions.
Going out for a run is also good for Tata's fractured hind leg. Tata has gained weight and developed a little belly during his months of recuperation.
Ray was also worried that if Tata kept sleeping at home, she would lose her wildness and wouldn't be able to adapt to life in the Eton Forest.
"Aww!"
What are you looking at!
"Awooooo!"
I've never seen a handsome beast before!
Ray looked away; his worries seemed somewhat unnecessary.
"Brother, are we going out today?"
Lamb has arrived at the Rye house.
"go out."
"good!"
Ray led Lamb through the village grove, heading in the same direction as the ginkgo trees, away from them.
His original intention was to avoid the little creature with which he had inexplicably developed a connection, but things didn't go as planned. Before he had gone far, the golden little figure appeared in front of him and nuzzled his cheek affectionately.
Lei: "..."
"elder brother!?"
Lamb was shocked, while Lei's face remained expressionless, revealing nothing of his inner thoughts.
"It's alright, don't worry about it."
The little guy swung on Ray's hair like a swing, while Tata made threatening whimpering noises.
Why is this guy coming over again?!
"Tata, don't wander off into the woods, stay close to us."
"Ouch."
knew.
The two people, the beast, and the little elf darted swiftly through the forest, following familiar paths with no need to stop. Reaching the last marked spot, Rai finally decided to pause and rest.
Lamb watched with great interest the little guy flying around Laiyi.
"elder brother."
Lamb called out to Lei in a low voice.
"This...how...?"
“Speak louder, there are only the two of us here.”
"I wanted to ask why He keeps following us?"
Lamb pointed to the glittering little elf.
"Maybe it's because he likes Tata."
"Aww!"
You're framing the beast!
Lamb listened to Ray's perfunctory reply and stopped asking questions.
Lai and Lamb walked and stopped frequently, one writing down the scenery along the way on parchment, the other picking herbs and wild fruits whenever they came across them.
Tata moved around them, keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings.
The little elf watched their actions with curiosity, not quite understanding what Lai and Lamb were doing.
After observing for a while, it suddenly had a brilliant idea, flew in front of Laiyi and started dancing around.
"Brother, is there something wrong with Him?"
Lamb threw the herbs he had dug up into his basket.
"have no idea."
Are you hungry?
The Leigh Conjecture.
Logically speaking, with such a strong wood element in the forest, it shouldn't be like this.
That's what he thought, but Lai still obediently condensed a small energy ball and handed it to Him.
The little guy hesitated for a moment, then obediently took it, looking somewhat conflicted. In the end, it followed its instincts and absorbed all the energy in the energy ball, and the tree-shaped totem on its wings immediately shone brightly.
Looks like they're hungry.
Ray waited for Lamb to finish digging up the last herb and continue on his way, but to his surprise, the little guy was still waving his arms and legs in front of him, which puzzled him greatly.
Tata couldn't stand this annoying guy who was always trying to get his attention from Lai, so she unleashed a torrent of abuse on him.
"Awooo!"
What are you going to do!
"Awoooooo!"
A flying insect that can't even speak.
The little guy seemed to understand Tata's animal language and flew around Tata's head once.
"There...over there...there's grass."
"Ouch."
knew.
Tata looked up and found that Ray and Lamb were both looking at her.
"Huh?"
Why are you looking at animals?
"Are the two of them able to communicate?"
Lamb boldly put forward a conjecture.
"I don't know, let's follow them and see."
The little guy flew ahead, Tata followed behind, and Lai and Lamb leisurely lagged behind.
Where are we going?
Lei shrugged, indicating that he didn't know either.
The journey wasn't far; after walking for about five minutes, the little guy stopped. Tata let out a howl at the two of them.
This is it. That annoying guy said there's grass here that you guys like.
Tata's words were incomprehensible to Ray and Lamb, but they could guess a little from their actions.
"Wow! Bro, there are so many herbs here! Bro, come dig them up with me, we're sure to make a lot of silver coins!"
Lamb felt like he was back in his happy old home, swinging his little hoe with incredible speed.
Looking at the little elf who was practically begging for praise, Lei gave a dry compliment.
"Well done."
"elder brother!"
"They're here, they're here."
The little guy seemed to have awakened some amazing skill, leading the two to three more places, where they found plenty of medicinal herbs in every location. What was supposed to be a pleasant exploration trip turned into a "treasure hunt."
The two baskets and the animal skin bag he had brought were filled to the brim. Finally, seeing that it was getting late, Lai stopped and went home.
"Although they are all fairly common, we're sure to sell more silver coins this time than last time!"
Lamb's face lit up with joy.
"After returning to the village, we covered up the herbs. We avoided danger because of that little guy's guidance. There are many snakes, insects, rodents and ants in the forest. When villagers see something good in the forest, they may pick it blindly without being prepared, which can easily lead to accidents."
"good."
Lamb gathered some leaves and wild vegetables and covered the two people's baskets tightly.
The little guy stopped on his own after returning to the ginkgo tree, somewhat hesitant, but he didn't continue following Lai, which saved him a lot of trouble.
"It's getting late, I'll get up early tomorrow to go to town to sell them."
"Okay, bro."
Tata had been walking all day and looked a little tired. Ray put his left arm through Tata's two front paws and used his right hand to support Tata's bottom as he carried him home.
This made Tata blush a little, but luckily she had some facial hair, so no one could notice.
From that day on, Lai had another companion on his journey to explore the forest. That little elf always managed to lead Lai to discover some wonderful things that others couldn't find.
Lei would occasionally pick some, but most of the time he let them continue to grow in the same place.
The vegetables in the garden change every day.
The radish greens grow especially fast, and if they don't eat these leaves soon, they'll only be good for feeding the livestock. Lai plans to pick one last batch and then leave them alone.
The bok choy is growing a bit too densely, which isn't good for its future growth. Lai expects to be able to sell two more batches of bok choy.
In addition, lettuce and spinach are also showing promising growth.
We should be able to harvest quite a bit of lettuce this time when we go to town to sell vegetables, but we'll have to wait a while longer before we can harvest the spinach.
Lai is already considering what to plant after the vegetable season ends.
What delighted Lai the most was that the chili peppers that were planted directly in the ground with the seeds saved last year had already started to flower. Three rows of chili peppers were definitely enough for their own family to eat.
Ray took Neil and Lamb to pick vegetables in the afternoon when the sun wasn't so strong, so they could go to town early the next morning to sell them.
Right now, we don't have many vegetables coming in from home, so we can only sell them out piecemeal. Once the vegetables are ripe, things will be a different story.
To make it less obvious, Lei only occasionally uses magic to accelerate the plants' growth, and if he's not mistaken, they mature earlier than normally grown vegetables. This is another advantage.
This time, Ray brought Neil along, and they rented a good stall again.
After several days, the market finally had a wide variety of fresh, tender vegetables again. Even though the prices were a bit high, Lai's stall still attracted many customers.
The bright green lettuce is so sweet that it tastes almost sweet when you just wash it.
The business was booming, making other stall owners envious, but they couldn't bear to pick and sell the vegetables when they were so small.
Laiyi is only selling so well because of a time difference; once other restaurants start serving their dishes, he won't have this advantage anymore.
All I can say is that selling for one more day means earning one more day's worth of money.
He grows a lot of vegetables at home, and it will be a problem if they don't sell them. He needs to find ways to sell all the vegetables in his garden in advance.
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Author's Note: Comments are welcome!
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