Cultivating Farmland in a Fluffy S-Rank Game – CH44

Chapter 44: Mysterious Merchant

Five days later.

Chu Jiu arrived at the edge of the Sunny Plateau once again.

Just as he steered the Bodo bird into the boundless rain curtain, he heard a crisp voice, “Teacher Chu Jiu!”

That voice, that way of addressing him…

Chu Jiu stopped the Bodo bird and stood still for a moment.

Sure enough, several furry little chestnuts peeked out from behind giant banana leaves, “Teacher Chu Jiu! It really is Teacher Chu Jiu!”

The leading brown chestnut, with its two matchstick-like legs pushing hard, spun several times in the air before landing steadily on the Bodo bird’s head, its voice excited, “Teacher Chu Jiu!”

Chu Jiu had always been unable to distinguish the appearances of the chestnut sprites.

The reason he could recognize Sheldon at a glance before was because he had changed from a brown chestnut to a green-furred walnut.

But this one was clearly brown…

Little Can, however, whispered softly in his ear, “That’s Sheldon.”

Only then did Chu Jiu exclaim in surprise, “Sheldon! You changed color!”

Seeing that Chu Jiu had recognized him, Sheldon swayed back and forth happily, loudly responding, “Mmm-hmm!”

“Mommy said I behaved very bravely, so I could change from green to brown!”

“But… but my chestnut burrs haven’t changed back yet.”

“It will take a while longer for these soft hairs to become hard burrs.”

Chu Jiu looked closely at Sheldon and found that the burrs on his body were indeed different from those of other chestnut sprites.

However, this time Sheldon was no longer sad about these unusual burrs but proudly puffed out his chest, “I will soon become a real, brave, and mature adult chestnut!”

Chu Jiu nodded in praise at the soft chestnut sprite and asked curiously, “Why are you here? Your camp isn’t on the first level, is it?”

Sheldon explained again.

It turned out that ever since Chu Jiu had taught them the most basic cooking methods and left them several [Fireproof Aprons], the chestnut sprites had become obsessed with making food, either collecting ingredients outside or researching how to make the food more delicious in the kitchen.

Now, they could skillfully rub salt on the meat, cut the mushrooms into small pieces, and repeatedly fry them on a stone griddle, allowing the meat’s fat to bring out the mushroom’s unique aroma; they also learned that they could put meat and mushrooms into a stone pot, add a little salt and a little water, and cook it over the fire until they got a mushroom meat soup so fragrant that even the chestnut shells seemed to soften.

In fact, the only seasonings they currently used were salt and chili peppers.

Salt was collected by following the animals in the forest and finding the rocks they would repeatedly lick, gathering a little natural salt from them. This amount of salt was of course too little for humans, but it was enough for the chestnut sprites.

Chili peppers, needless to say, were collected from the top level of the Sunny Plateau. The chestnut sprites would imitate Chu Jiu’s method, cutting the peppers into small pieces and skewering them with diced meat and diced mushrooms for grilling.

But no matter how hard they racked their brains to combine these two ingredients in various ways, their food was still too bland compared to the feast Chu Jiu had made for them.

But the chestnut sprites were working hard.

They remembered Chu Jiu saying that there was ginger, scallions, and garlic in the Forgotten Forest.

So, the chestnut sprites, who hadn’t ventured out of the Sunny Plateau for a long, long time, bravely rode their Bodo birds into the Forgotten Forest in search of delicious seasonings!

It was this chestnut sprite expedition team that saw Chu Jiu riding a Bodo bird towards the Sunny Plateau and quickly relayed the news to Sheldon.

Thus, Sheldon and the others had been waiting early on the first level of the Sunny Plateau so they could see Teacher Chu Jiu as soon as possible!

Chu Jiu thought to himself, so that’s how it is…

The chestnut sprites were putting in a tremendous effort to find the precious scallions, ginger, and garlic…

Thinking of this, he naturally asked, “Then did you find the ginger, scallions, and garlic?”

Sheldon, who had been a round chestnut just now, immediately deflated into a flat chestnut:

“N-no…”

“These plants are so hard to find…”

“We’re only familiar with the flowers and plants on the Sunny Plateau. Once we leave the Sunny Plateau, we find that all the other plants grow so small, so small that we can’t even see them clearly…”

Chu Jiu: …

Hey, it’s not that the other plants are too small, it’s that the plants here are too huge, okay…
Looking at the dejected flat chestnut, Chu Jiu said, “Don’t be sad. I happen to have all these seasonings in my backpack. I’ll give you some.”

Besides the three treasures of ginger, scallions, and garlic, there was also his homemade soy sauce, his own chili sauce, and his personally made honey sauce, all of which could be shared with the chestnut sprites.

Hearing this, Sheldon’s bean eyes shone brightly, and he instantly turned back into a lively, bouncing chestnut.

He raised his hand and blew a loud whistle, and an orange-beaked Bodo bird came striding out of the woods.

Compared to the yellow-beaked Bodo bird they had given Chu Jiu, this Bodo bird was a size smaller, still with blue-gray feathers, but its beak was more orange than bright yellow.

The orange-beaked Bodo bird saw Chu Jiu’s yellow-beaked Bodo bird and flapped its wings cheerfully, probably saying hello; the yellow-beaked Bodo bird bent its neck, likely returning the greeting.

Sheldon jumped onto the orange-beaked Bodo bird, his face beaming, “Teacher Chu Jiu, come to the camp with me! Our camp has a new look!”

Chu Jiu had also planned to visit these chestnut sprites, so he followed Sheldon towards the camp.

*

Although he had already heard that “the camp had changed,” Chu Jiu was still surprised when he saw it with his own eyes:

Previously, he had only built the simplest stove for them in the cave and left them the most basic kitchen utensils.

Now, these little guys had built several new stoves themselves, with rattan baskets and wooden shelves placed around the stoves, neatly arranged with fresh ingredients.
Not far from the stoves were several rows of long wooden tables, and next to the tables were delicate little chairs!

Chu Jiu reacted for two seconds, thinking to himself, isn’t this a cafeteria? And a pretty standard school cafeteria at that.

In just over a month, the chestnut sprites, who had previously only built small houses in the trees, had built a decent-looking cafeteria in the cave?

At this moment, Eleanor, having received the news, had already come to greet him, “Chu Jiu! Welcome!”

Chu Jiu bowed to the matriarch and praised, “This place is really great! The whole clan can eat together now!”

Eleanor smiled and said, “Yes. Not just eating, everyone gathers here at night when they want to sing and dance, and we light a bonfire; during the day, if we need to discuss anything, we sit at the table, and everyone takes turns to speak.”

“In short… since we dared to use fire, our lives have been very different from before.”

“Perhaps, many, many years ago, before the sky fire destroyed everything, our clan lived like this.”

Looking at the genuine smile on Eleanor’s face, Chu Jiu was also sincerely happy and nodded repeatedly, “That’s great, that’s great.”

Eleanor bowed deeply to Chu Jiu and then said, “Please follow me.”

Then, the little chestnut sprite led Chu Jiu to one end of the long table and reached out to pull off a traveler’s palm leaf covering it—

Under the banana leaf was a set of tables and chairs suitable for human height!

Chu Jiu was stunned.

Eleanor smiled and said, “This is reserved for you.”

“Whenever you come, our tribe will always have a place for you.”

With that, several chestnut sprites carried over a steaming bowl of soup on a stretcher.

Of course, for Chu Jiu it was a “bowl,” but for the chestnut sprites… it was almost like carrying a wooden bucket.

“A bowl of hot soup, I hope it will relieve the fatigue of your journey,” Eleanor introduced.

At this moment, Sheldon poked his round head out from the side:

“I stewed it! Teacher Chu Jiu, I stewed it! I stewed it with Jian Shou Qing (Boletus edulis mushroom), absolutely no poison!”

Chu Jiu scooped a mouthful of soup into his mouth, his eyebrows involuntarily raising in surprise and praise, “Not bad at all!”

Although there was a bit too much salt, the overall flavor was still fresh and savory, a decent soup!
In that instant, Chu Jiu actually experienced a bit of the feeling of “peach and plum trees forming a path.”

He vigorously praised the grinning Sheldon, “Good, good, you have made progress!”

Who would have thought that this little guy who had been gnawing on mushroom raw not long ago could now stew such a presentable bowl of soup?

After drinking the soup with satisfaction, Chu Jiu took out a portion each of ginger, scallions, and garlic, and then packed various seasonings into small wooden jars, instructing Sheldon to keep them safe.

Considering that the chestnut sprites didn’t have an infinite backpack, Chu Jiu didn’t dare give them too much. Things like ginger and garlic, if not eaten in time, would gradually dry out and sprout, while scallions would rot.

Sheldon and the nimble-fingered members of his clan carefully put away the “treasures,” while curiously asking:

“Teacher, teacher, can you teach us how to make soy sauce?”

“If we learn, our cooking will be even more delicious!”

Actually, Chu Jiu had considered this. But he knew it would be too difficult for the chestnut sprites.

However, seeing Sheldon’s expectant look, Chu Jiu still told them the recipe for making soy sauce.

Sheldon hadn’t quite grasped the key points yet, but Eleanor had already gently shaken her head:
“This is difficult.”

“For us, first of all, soybeans are too large. It’s hard to imagine what kind of containers and space we would need to accumulate so many soybeans for fermentation.”

“Furthermore, and more importantly, apart from the top level, there isn’t enough sunlight here for us to dry the beans.”

“And we don’t want to constantly fight sand scorpions on the top level of the Sunny Plateau.”

This was precisely what Chu Jiu had been worried about.

Not only soy sauce, but other sauces that required fermentation techniques, as well as seasonings derived from these sauces, were difficult for the little chestnut sprites to make.

After Eleanor clearly explained the reasoning, Sheldon’s little eyebrows drooped, and his simple-drawn face was filled with “disappointment.”

However, he quickly perked up again, smiling and saying, “Well, but the seasonings Teacher Chu Jiu brought this time are enough for us to eat for a while!”

As for what to do after they run out…

They would worry about that later!

Eleanor reminded him from the side, “What about the nuts we prepared earlier? Quickly have someone bring them over.”

Chu Jiu knew that with Eleanor’s personality and way of handling things, she would definitely not accept these seasonings for nothing and would exchange them for their treasured nuts.

Soon, orderly rows of little chestnut sprites came over, each carrying a nut on their head that was almost as big as their bodies.

Looking at this scene, Chu Jiu felt a sense of déjà vu.

At this moment, the little chestnut sprite at the very front looked up at Chu Jiu, its bean eyes smiling into two curved lines, “Teacher Chu Jiu!”

Judging by the voice, this was probably a chestnut sprite about the same size as Sheldon.

Chu Jiu squatted down, “Hello?”

Little chestnut sprite: “Teacher Chu Jiu, that thing you have tied around your neck is so pretty. Is it a leaf from some kind of tree?”

Chu Jiu touched his scarf, “This? This is called a ‘scarf,’ it’s made of cloth…”

The little chestnut sprite widened its bean eyes, “…’Cloth’?”

A slightly older chestnut sprite beside him quickly told him, “Ah, that’s something only humans have. We use traveler’s palm leaves to make clothes, and they use cloth to make clothes. The purpose is the same.”

Little chestnut sprite: “Oh.”

It blinked its eyes and whispered, “But Teacher Chu Jiu’s scarf is so pretty… I want to tie one for myself too, and I also want to tie one for my mom and dad.”

Hearing this, Chu Jiu looked again at the line of little chestnut sprites, and a thought suddenly flashed in his mind.

He walked to the side and said to Eleanor, “Excuse me, besides seasonings, are there other things that your people need but cannot make themselves?”

Eleanor told him that there were indeed other things.

Although the chestnut sprites could be completely self-sufficient on a daily basis, they were also curious about things like cloth and pottery and wanted to try using them.

Chu Jiu said, “I have an idea.”

He told Eleanor about the trading model of Bean Village.

In Chu Jiu’s opinion, the chestnut sprites could also use this method to regularly exchange for seasonings, cloth, pottery, or other things from him.

Eleanor’s eyes lit up at first, saying that if that were the case, it would be wonderful, but then she hesitated a bit:

Chu Jiu was a pioneer and had many other places besides the Sunny Plateau to explore. It was impossible for him to come to the camp from time to time;

If Sheldon and the others were to go to the edge of the Forgotten Forest to find Chu Jiu, they would also miss him for the same reason.

Chu Jiu thought for a moment and said, “This is not difficult to solve.”

He said that he could build a “sales point” near the Pioneer’s Cabin and regularly put the things the chestnut sprites needed there. If he needed to go out for a long time himself, there were many other friends who could help him do this.

In this way, Sheldon and the others would just need to go to this sales point on time to exchange for the goods they needed.

Eleanor nodded repeatedly and immediately called over several other chestnut sprites to start discussing the details of the exchange with Chu Jiu. They even used a leaf to record exchange rates such as “one nutshell of soy sauce for 10 almonds.”

After working out the details, Eleanor sat down to rest.

She looked at her delighted people, her eyebrows twitching, as if deep in thought, “Actually…”

She said “actually” for a while without finishing the sentence.

Sheldon couldn’t hold back and circled around her asking, “Actually? Actually? Actually what?”

Eleanor said somewhat uncertainly:

“Actually, I vaguely remember hearing our grandmothers say…”

“Before the sky fire, we and humans, as well as other races, seemed to have similar ways of exchanging goods.”

Sheldon: “Huh? Huh? Huh? Did that happen before? How did we exchange things back then?”

Eleanor shook her head, “I don’t remember.”

“But… Grandmother seemed to say that everyone didn’t need to ride Bodo birds through the forest and could exchange things very conveniently…”

Sheldon was even more surprised, “Didn’t need to ride Bodo birds? How was that possible?”
Chu Jiu was also a little puzzled. After all, the chestnut sprites’ long-distance travel basically relied on Bodo birds.

Eleanor shook her head again in confusion:

“Ah, I really can’t remember clearly.”

“If there’s a chance, I’ll ask the elders of the clan for details again.”

*

Half a day passed, and Chu Jiu exchanged a small amount of cloth, corn, and wheat flour for a large basket of various nuts.

As for the remaining miniature pottery and the like, Chu Jiu didn’t have any clay suitable for firing in his backpack, and there were no suitable brick kilns here. So he promised the chestnut sprites that he would go back and have some custom-made by human craftsmen, and then put them next to the Pioneer’s Cabin for the chestnut sprites to exchange themselves.

As he left the camp, Chu Jiu received a system prompt:

[Congratulations, Host, for triggering the hidden condition “Mysterious Merchant Trading with Non-Human Creatures”!]
[Regional Pioneering Degree increased to 9.5%.]

Chu Jiu was stunned for a moment, thinking to himself that doing business with spirits could also increase the pioneering degree, and it increased quite a lot! It was even faster than opening maps and farming materials!

If the scale of trade expands in the future, could the pioneering degree increase even more?

*

Two days later.

Riding the Bodo bird, Chu Jiu gazed northwest from the second terrace of the Sunny Plateau—
, he could see the continuous, undulating low mountain range at a glance.

The mountains were barren with little vegetation, only large patches of cold, hard rock exposed to the elements.

That was the edge of “Sanctuary Valley.”

Completely different from the continuously rainy and lush Sunny Plateau, most of the Sanctuary Valley was arid and received little rainfall.

Within the valley, there was only one particularly special place:

Where the “River of the Past” meandered, there was a vibrant green wetland. There, plants and animals enjoyed ample sunlight and abundant water, growing freely.

According to the illustration card, the [Sugarcane] that Chu Jiu was looking for was hidden in this river basin.

But from their current vantage point, this green land was not visible.

All that met the eye was grayness and desolation.

Sitting on Chu Jiu’s shoulder, Little Can looked at the wasteland ahead and gently touched Chu Jiu’s face with its small paw, as if to say, “Don’t be afraid.”

Chu Jiu turned his head to look at it and smiled, “Little Can, do you know what’s the first thing we need to find when we get to Sanctuary Valley?”

Little Can tilted its feline head slightly, “Meow.” – “Definitely not sugarcane.”

Chu Jiu’s eyes curved into a smile, “Smart kitty! You guessed it!”

Little Can: “Meow, meow meow.”

Chu Jiu: “Indeed, we’re not looking for sugarcane first.”

To collect sugarcane, they would have to deal with the other “freely growing” animals in the “River of the Past” basin.

He winked at his little cat, “Since we’ve arrived in Sanctuary Valley, we naturally have to find ‘sulfur’ first.”

“With sulfur, we can make ‘black powder’!”

His throwing props could finally get a major upgrade!

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