Chapter 136 The Daily Life of the Pepper Family (with Cardamom Glass)
The white clay that Shu Xin stumbled upon was made by mixing the stickiness of the roots of the ground grass with water and fine sand. Later, Shu Xin also discovered that some flower fairy slaves used the stickiness of the juice from the leaves of the ground grass to decorate their houses.
The current process for making canned fish, as provided by the Tree of Life, also utilizes the unique adhesive properties of the *Gnaphalium affine* fruit to create transparent containers.
Soak the ground grass fruit in water until the bright red color of the grass fruit skin fades completely. Then, use a crushing spell to crush the grass fruit into a white, translucent state. Sprinkle in magic powder, stir well, pour the gel-like liquid into a pre-made mold, and place it in a cool, ventilated place to air dry.
When the liquid has solidified but can still be pressed and deformed, it is unmolded. The cooked fish is transferred to a container using transfer magic, and then all the air in the container is removed using refining magic. The transparent jar containing the fish is then placed in direct sunlight to be exposed to the sun. Once the jar has completely solidified and hardened, the canned fish is ready.
The Tree of Life also specifically noted that once the jar hardens, it needs to be stored away from light. If it continues to be exposed to sunlight, the fish inside will spoil.
Following the same process, a container with a certain capacity can be made to hold the processed fish offal, thereby producing fertilizer.
The reed leaves that Shu Xin had seen before, which the flower fairies and commoners had decorated inside the triangular wooden houses, were actually stuck to the walls with the juice of the ground-attached grass fruit. When the grass fruit was harvested, many flower fairies liked these small, round, reddish fruits, so Shu Xin asked them to take some home. She never expected that the flower fairies would be able to discover this use for the grass fruit.
It is probably because the flower fairies discovered that the grass fruit has a strong adhesive property that the Tree of Life was able to come up with the method for making transparent containers.
Shu Xin had actually considered turning the cardamom pods into the soil as green manure, since they were neither edible nor usable, and only looked pretty with their round, red appearance. However, she remembered that even the powder left over from wheat after its magic was extracted could be used, so perhaps these cardamom pods could also have some other use. Therefore, Shu Xin led the flower fairies to carefully harvest the cardamom pods and store them in the underground warehouse—and now these cardamom pods have indeed played a crucial role!
Shu Xin was quite impressed; the creeping grass was truly a treasure from head to toe!
With the raw materials and the production method in hand, Shu Xin started working, waving her magic wand.
In between making canned fish, Shu Xin took Peng Peng An to the Tree of Life. With the help of the Tree of Life, the runic chains binding Peng Peng An's heart were removed. In the vision of the magic of clairvoyance, Peng Peng An's heart, like Nono Li's, had changed, except that his heart was not a blooming flower, but a fiery red bud.
In Shu Xin's understanding, the images seen by the clairvoyance magic are close to the essence of existence. The Tree of Life is a tree that does not bloom, and the images of the hearts of Peng Peng An and Nuo Nuo Li, who have returned to their normal size, are all flowers. Could it be that the River Fairy is, in a sense, a flower that bloomed from the Tree of Life?
Under normal circumstances, river nymphs do not reproduce, which seems plausible; flowers are flowers, and fruits are fruits, and fruits only appear after the flowers wither. If the flowers of the Tree of Life are river nymphs, then when a river nymph dies, the Tree of Life will bear fruit. Does this mean the Tree of Life skips the seed germination and growth stage and blooms directly?
Wait, that doesn't seem right either. Shu Xin thought of the flower fairies' seed-like hearts, and the hearts of Nonoli and Pengpengan that sprouted leaf buds before. She had a new hypothesis—
Could it be that the River Fairies themselves are seeds nurtured by the Tree of Life, and the growth of the River Fairies is the growth of the seeds? The Flower Fairies imprisoned by the runes remain in the seed state throughout their lives. The reason why the hearts of the two subordinates turned into flowers is because they were freed from the rune's binding. Nonoli is older, so she is "in full bloom," while Pengpengan is still young, so she is "about to bloom."
Realizing this, although she wasn't sure if her thoughts were right or wrong, Shu Xin couldn't help but laugh whenever she saw Nuonuo Li and Peng Peng An, especially Peng Peng An, who was a little taller than Nuonuo Li after his body had recovered. His smug look made Shu Xin laugh every time she saw him.
A cheerful mood greatly improved work efficiency. With the help of magic and the simple production process, Shu Xin quickly made the canned fish, cleaned the fish offal, put it into containers, and started sun-drying it.
Shu Xin examined the canned fish on the table. The oily, pinkish-white fish inside looked quite tempting. She reached out and tapped the transparent jar, finding it to be solid and producing a crisp sound. If there was any drawback, it was that the transparent jar was a single piece with no opening. After all, the container was made first, and then the fish was transferred inside. To get the fish out, the only option was to break the jar.
After patting the can, Shu Xin hesitated between studying the can opener and improving the mold, and finally decided not to choose either. Fish cans are not necessities, and they can be opened with cutting magic. Instead of using the ground grass fruit to make cans, it would be better to use it as a window for the house - it is transparent and hard, isn't this just a plant version of glass from another world!
The Flower Castle grew from the Tree of Life, so installing grass-fruit glass in it wouldn't be a good idea; it would be like embedding a foreign object into the tree. However, Shu Xin thought it would be great to add a grass-fruit glass window to the flower fairies' little houses. Just to be on the safe side, she decided to try it out first and see how it went before deciding whether to promote it.
On that day, the servants of the Flower Castle received a transparent square piece from the Flower Fairy, who told them it was cardamom glass and could be installed on houses to serve as windows and improve lighting.
Peppert was delighted to bring the cardamom glass home—before the harvest month arrived, he had worked hard to persuade his parents and family to move directly to the Land of Sin via a teleportation array.
Peppert's mother and two older sisters were all merchants, and experienced ones at that, who controlled several trade routes. When they arrived in the Land of Sin, Peppert, whose magical talent was not suited for business, left the caravan and went on to serve as a servant in the Flower Castle.
If Peppert previously chose to become a servant to reduce his tax burden and supplement his family's income, now he chooses to become a servant simply to serve the Flower Fairy. Countless flower fairies throughout the Land of Sin want to enter the Flower Castle to serve the Flower Fairy personally—every time Peppert returns home, his neighbors ask him when the Flower Castle will be recruiting servants.
Thinking of the diligent and hardworking Flower Fairy who was almost always at work, Peppert felt that the Flower Castle probably wouldn't be recruiting any more servants—thankfully, he had entered the Flower Castle a long time ago!
On her way to the settlement with the cardamom glass in her arms, Peppert was once again asked the same question she had asked yesterday by her neighbor, who had also finished a day's work:
"Good evening, Pepper. When will Flower Castle finally recruit servants again?"
"Oh, it's Pepper! If you're having too much work, you can ask my youngest son for help. He also has a talent for illusion magic!"
"Good evening, Pepper! My sister also has the talent for illusion magic! You can ask her for help too!"
Pepe skillfully handled a round of questions, then sped up his flight, landed in front of his house, and put the cardamom glass he was holding against the wall. Only then did he free his hand to rub his face, which was a little stiff from smiling.
Although her mother and two older sisters had gone out to do business, with her father and two grown brothers around, the Pepper family house was among the first to be built. Because there were many people in the family, it was specially built to have three stories. The youngest sister heard the commotion outside and poked her head out of the open window on the third floor: "Third brother, you're back! Fourth and fifth brothers haven't come back yet."
“They’re still in the field, aren’t they?” Pepper said as she pushed open the door and carried the cardamom glass into the house.
After spending a safe and bountiful harvest month in the Land of Sin, Pepper's two younger brothers, who possessed a talent for planting magic, worked diligently with the Flower Fairy and other flower fairies to cultivate a considerable amount of land, encouraged by the Flower Fairy herself. Because they had never planted golden crisp wheat seeds before, the two young flower fairies were quite nervous. They would rush to the fields almost every day before sunrise and stay a while longer after sunset, fearing something might happen to the wheat.
"You're back, Pepper. I made fish ball soup and berry wine today," Dad's voice came from the kitchen.
Pepper exclaimed in surprise, "Wow! Berry wine! Daddy, Daddy! Did your team get first place again today?!"
Peppert's father possessed a talent for water magic. Back in his hometown, he often used magic to water his family's fields. After arriving in the Land of Sin, under the arrangement of the Flower Fairy, he formed an irrigation team with other flower fairies who also possessed water magic, and was responsible for irrigating the fields in the Land of Sin.
Each irrigation team consists of about ten flower fairies. Under the command of the administrator, they water the fields in different areas every day. Teams assigned to the same planting area will also compete, and the team that waters the fields the fastest and best that day will receive a reward.
Pepper heard her father chuckle smugly, "Of course, I've been watering the family's fields for so many years!"
“Although I didn’t get first place, I still got a reward, hehe,” Pepper laughed proudly. “The Flower Fairy gave us grass-fruit glass and told us to put it on the windows so that the sunlight can shine into the room!”
“Grass nut? Glass? What are those? But they sound really nice,” a flower fairy with long, white-gray hair came out of the kitchen carrying a tray. “Then let’s put it on your bedroom window, Pepper, so the sun can shine on you on your days off. Haven’t you always wanted to sleep in the sun?”
Pepper called to her sister and together they helped their father carry the tray: "Is this fish noodles? I've never had it before! But I don't want it, Dad. I'll definitely wake up in the sun. Put it in Sensente and Rolotte's room. They always wake up early anyway."
"Then you need to discuss it with them. Linlinte, be careful it's hot. Okay, just leave it there. Well done, Linlinte is great! But Pepete, haven't you ever had fish noodles before? That shouldn't be the case. This was distributed to us by the official. Didn't you say before that the servants of Flower Castle can now have an extra lunch?" After placing the plate on the table, the older flower fairy turned to the kitchen to get the fish ball soup.
"Because we're eating fried fish fillets, steamed fish slices, grilled fish slices, fish soup, and fish stew!" Pepete exclaimed. Her father, who was carrying a bowl of fish ball soup out of the kitchen, gave her a sidelong glance, and Pepete chuckled again, running over to help carry the soup.
"Sent and the others should be back by now, right? It's already dark outside." Pepper put the soup on the table, glanced at the door, and just then saw his two younger brothers landing from the sky. He quickly went to greet them, "You're back! You don't look too good. What happened?"
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