Chapter 15: A Serious Conversation
While the human and the cat were talking, Roar-Roar Rabbit returned with a large bucket full of water on its head.
Perhaps to prevent the water from sloshing out, Roar-Roar Rabbit moved much slower than when it left.
When Roar-Roar Rabbit finally transported the water to the edge of the field, the little guy crawled out from under the bucket, its furry little face flushed, obviously having used a lot of effort.
Watching Roar-Roar Rabbit hop back and forth watering the field, Chu Jiu muttered to himself, “I really need to build a waterwheel as soon as possible…”
With only one field, fetching water was already so time-consuming and laborious. Once the cultivation scale expanded, fetching water would only become more troublesome.
In fact, the [Guide] recorded an old-fashioned waterwheel called “tube wheel,” which could lift water from the river to the bank with a circle of small bamboo tubes and pour it into pre-arranged water troughs.
Chu Jiu knew that building the waterwheel body and the water troughs would require a large number of bamboo tubes.
According to the gathering location on the picture card, there was no bamboo nearby.
To gather “bamboo,” he would have to go deep into the interior of the Forgotten Forest.
Hmm… besides bamboo, he should be able to find bamboo shoots, right? Maybe even plump bamboo flower chickens!
Just as he was imagining bamboo shoot soup and roasted bamboo flower chicken, he suddenly heard Roar-Roar Rabbit’s voice, “Roar roar roar!”—”Today’s farming is complete, roar roar roar!”
Chu Jiu took a closer look, and at the edge of the dark field, Roar-Roar Rabbit was proudly raising its face, its three-lobed mouth grinning with a big smile, its long ears standing tall, even bent into a heart shape.
The system also popped up a prompt at this time:
[Sowing complete. Estimated field harvest time: 72 hours]
Chu Jiu smiled and walked towards Roar-Roar Rabbit, squatting down to stroke its furry little head, “Great job! Such a big piece of land, you’ve sown all the seeds so quickly.”
Roar-Roar Rabbit: “Roar roar roar!”—”Hehe, I love farming, farming is so much fun!”
Chu Jiu praised again, “That’s great. Besides these cabbages, we can grow more vegetables, radishes, corn, tomatoes… plant them all!”
Roar-Roar Rabbit: “Roar roar roar!”—”Yay yay, but I don’t want to eat radishes!”
Chu Jiu: “Don’t worry, no radishes, I’ll make you pan-fried lamb chops later!”
Hearing the words “pan-fried lamb chops,” Roar-Roar Rabbit jumped even higher than Chu Jiu.
And the Q version little icon representing Roar-Roar Rabbit on the system interface directly popped up a series of little hearts, showing how happy the little guy was.
Chu Jiu smiled and stood up, about to take the two little ones back to the Pioneer’s Hut, when he received another system prompt:
[Spirit beast 2 has triggered “growth.”]
[Current growth level of spirit beast 2: level 1]
[Please continue to arrange work for spirit beast 2 properly, keep spirit beast 2 happy, and help spirit beast 2 grow quickly.]
…What?
So these palm-sized little guys can slowly grow up?
From the system prompt, the trigger for growth should be—doing work they like? Being happy?
Thinking of this, Chu Jiu couldn’t help but say “oops” in his heart, and subconsciously pressed the Little Can in his pocket.
This little guy, who chooses to sleep all day and refuses all work arrangements, how is he supposed to grow up?
Chu Jiu almost couldn’t help but say it out loud, but when he thought of Little Can’s unhappy face just now, he swallowed the words back.
Forget it, he’ll find a suitable opportunity to properly guide this little cat!
*
That night, Chu Jiu made pan-fried fish steaks for Little Can and pan-fried lamb chops for Roar-Roar Rabbit, using the newly bought frying pan, as he had promised.
The fish steaks were lightly salted and fried until both sides were crispy and golden brown. Gently picking them apart with chopsticks revealed soft, delicate, snow-white fish meat under the crispy skin, making one drool at the sight.
The lamb chops were caramel-colored all over, seasoned with finely chopped green onion in addition to salt, and the slightly spicy green onion perfectly complemented the tender and delicious lamb, making it even more flavorful.
The two little ones sat on the dining table, with Chu Jiu’s newly bought large plates in front of them, wagging their tails and burying their heads in hard eating.
Chu Jiu made himself a flatbread, and used diced carrots and potatoes to make a small pot of stewed meat with lamb.
The potatoes melted in his mouth, the carrots were sweet and soft, and the lamb was fragrant.
Chu Jiu ate meat and bread, also enjoying himself very much.
It was a pity that only salt and ginger slices were added to the stew. If there was a little pepper to enhance the flavor, it would be even more delicious.
After eating their fill of meat and bread, the two little ones were sprawled on the table, sunbathing their bellies.
Chu Jiu cleared the dishes and began to discuss the next plan with them.
Chu Jiu said that he planned to start brewing soy sauce tomorrow.
The two little ones didn’t know what “soy sauce” was, so Chu Jiu explained: a dark brown liquid seasoning, fermented from soybeans.
Hearing the word “fermentation,” Roar-Roar Rabbit shuddered, “Roar? Roar roar? Roar roar roar?”—”Ah? Fermentation? Isn’t it like the fish sauce we smelled in the seasoning shop?”
Little Can glanced at it, meowing with disgust, “How could it be the same? One is soybeans and the other is fish.”
Chu Jiu nodded, “Right, the taste difference will be huge, our soy sauce will be gentler and easier to cook with.”
Hearing Chu Jiu’s explanation, Little Can proudly wagged its tail—”See, I told you.”
Roar-Roar Rabbit lowered its head a little disappointedly.
Chu Jiu coughed, “But the principles are indeed the same. Roar-Roar Rabbit’s concern is reasonable.”
Roar-Roar Rabbit perked up immediately.
Chu Jiu coughed again, quickly changing the subject:
“I plan to use spirit points to brew soy sauce. This way, we only need to prepare the beans and utensils, and don’t need to sun-dry the beans every day.”
“By the time I’ve figured out the recipe and started brewing soy sauce, the vegetable field should be almost ready for harvest.”
“When that time comes, let’s go to the forest together to find ‘bamboo’.”
“With bamboo, we can build a waterwheel!”
Little Can nodded vigorously, “Don’t worry, I’ll accompany you.”
Roar-Roar Rabbit was a bit confused, and after a while, asked, “But I want to stay and farm!”
Chu Jiu was stunned, “You want to stay by yourself?”
Roar-Roar Rabbit’s ears pointed towards the vegetable field outside like an arrow, “I want to keep farming. As long as you give me seeds, I can keep planting…”
Farming is really too much fun!
Chu Jiu rubbed his chin, hesitating, “But, you’re so small, what if there’s a big monster…”
At this time, Little Can wagged its tail and meowed, “Tsk, even if there are big monsters, one roar from it will scare them all away.”
Roar-Roar Rabbit nodded vigorously: That’s right, that’s right, I’m not afraid of monsters!
Chu Jiu then smiled, “Oh right, I forgot your voice is super loud, you were almost mistaken for a troll.”
After arranging the itinerary, Chu Jiu left the two little ones in the hut, telling them to sleep well, and went to the river to wash up and fetch water.
As soon as he went out, Little Can sat up straight, its little cat face showing an astonishingly serious expression.
It looked at Roar-Roar Rabbit and meowed solemnly, “Guard this base well, are there any difficulties?”
Roar-Roar Rabbit’s ears stood up straight, and even its speaking speed slowed down a lot, “Please rest assured, I can do it.”
Little Can nodded profoundly.
After the two little ones finished their childish conversation, they were both a little puzzled:
How strange, why were we talking so seriously just now?
And this strange sense of familiarity… it’s like we’ve been talking like this for a long time.
Can’t figure it out.
Never mind.
So sleepy, time to sleep.
Roar-Roar Rabbit shook its ears and went to sleep in the rabbit nest Chu Jiu made for it.
Little Can licked its paws, first jumped into his can-made nest and curled up, then stood up and looked at Chu Jiu’s single bed in puzzlement.
This afternoon, Chu Jiu added a mattress made of [cotton sheep skin], a set of sheets sewn from linen, and a pillow made of linen and dry grass.
Little Can tilted its head, staring at the light gray pillow in a daze.
Hmm… this human let me sleep next to him before.
Is it because he’s afraid of the dark? Timid? Doesn’t want to sleep alone?
So where should I sleep tonight?
Just as it was hesitating, Chu Jiu had washed up clean and returned with a towel and toothbrush.
By the faint light of the [fluorescent grass], he happened to see Little Can staring at his pillow in a daze.
Hmm… it must be because this little cat likes human body temperature and wants to sleep with me.
Thinking this, Chu Jiu picked it up and put it on the bed, patting its little nose, “Go to sleep.”
Little Can curled up silently.
Sure enough, this silly human really wants to sleep with me.
