Chapter 73: Answer
Bean Village.
Dusk.
Old Sun straightened up from the warm stone slab, cracking his shoulders and arms.
“Ah, so comfortable…”
He hadn’t expected that this Bean Village would actually have such a magical “therapy center.” Just lying on the stone slab could greatly relieve the stiffness and soreness all over his body!
Old Sun felt extremely satisfied.
He had moved to Bean Village with his wife and daughter and son-in-law some time ago.
His daughter was originally an ability-user, but later her “abilities faded.” Then, she caught a bad cold and was on the verge of coughing herself to death when her former captain came with medicine and saved her life.
After drinking that cough syrup, his daughter was able to get out of bed like a normal person within a few days.
Later, his daughter and son-in-law were the ones who insisted on moving to this small village.
Moving was fine; farming was the same anywhere. As long as the family was together and had food to eat, that was enough.
But he never imagined that farming in this Bean Village not only provided seeds and farm tools, but most of the harvested grain could actually belong to them!
This motivated their whole family, and they worked from dawn till dusk.
Recently, Old Sun had been bending over in the fields for most of the day. By the time he went to eat at noon, he was so tired that he couldn’t even straighten his back.
Honestly, although it was tiring and painful, he and his wife didn’t feel it was a big deal.
After all, they were farming for themselves.
Later, the old village chief announced that the village had opened a new “therapy center.” Spending a short time lying down there every day could greatly ease the muscles and bones of the whole body!
He didn’t really believe it at first. It wasn’t until his daughter and wife had both tried it and insisted on dragging him along that he went.
Wow!
The seemingly ordinary stones, after becoming warm, felt incredibly comfortable to lie on! Even the shoulder that had been aching for many years felt much better at once!
This therapy center, it was said, was also based on facility blueprints provided by that “Envoy of the Gods,” the young pioneer Chu Jiu.
This was too amazing! And it felt so comfortable to use!
So, he and his wife now came to lie down almost every day.
Old Sun walked to the entrance of the therapy center and drew a circle on a wooden board, considering it as a record.
The old village chief said that for all the village’s facilities, whether it was the current therapy center or the future mill and bakery, everyone would keep such daily records, and they would settle the accounts together at the end of the year.
And the money they handed in would be partly used to pay the salaries of those who looked after the facilities.
For example, this therapy center was entrusted to Fan Na, who had just moved here.
Fan Na was a woman in her thirties, raising a six-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter on her own. For her, taking care of the children while being responsible for chopping firewood, tending the stove, and cleaning at the therapy center was more suitable than working in the fields.
After recording his visit, Old Sun made a funny face at the two-year-old girl in the cradle, making the little one giggle.
He laughed along.
After laughing, he asked Fan Na why he hadn’t seen the little girl’s older brother.
Fan Na replied, “He went to the old village chief to learn arithmetic—I wonder if he did too poorly and got kept behind, haha.”
Old Sun also laughed heartily as he went out.
He hadn’t walked far from the door when he happened to meet his daughter and son-in-law, who had just finished repairing the irrigation ditch.
His daughter came up to him and asked, “Dad, are you coming back with us to eat now, or do you want to watch people play chess first?”
Old Sun chuckled. “I’ll just watch one game of chess and then go home for dinner. If I’m not back, you guys eat first, don’t wait for me.”
He thought for a moment and added, “Say a good word for me, last time I came back late, she nagged me all night!”
His daughter and son-in-law knew that Old Sun’s greatest hobby was watching people play chess, so they agreed, held hands, and walked home smiling.
Old Sun turned towards the village entrance.
A clean open space had recently been cleared at the village entrance, with several wooden tables and chairs set up specifically for the villagers to play chess.
Old Du and Old Zhao were already playing, with several people standing around watching.
The chess they played was called “Board Chess,” also known as “King Chess,” and it had been passed down from who knows how many years ago. Even the invasion of monsters hadn’t made everyone forget how to play this game.
Old Sun leaned closer and saw that Old Zhao’s pawn was about to surround Old Du’s king.
“Wow, this is tense!” Old Sun whispered to the person next to him.
Old Du was racking his brains trying to figure out how to escape when he suddenly heard someone say, “Chu Jiu and the others are back!”
“He and Douglas are both back!”
Several people craned their necks to look:
It was indeed Chu Jiu and the others.
They saw Chu Jiu riding that strange “three-horned ox,” with his ever-present little black cat still sitting on his shoulder.
The three-horned ox was pulling a large cart. This cart transported fertilizer and hay to the neighboring “Black Wheat Village” every day.
Old Sun and the others now knew that the terrible locust plague a few days ago had originated from Black Wheat Village.
Now, what Chu Jiu and the others were doing was to eradicate these locusts at their root, preventing them from gathering at all.
Although Old Sun and the others didn’t understand why reclaiming the land in Black Wheat Village could control the locusts, they believed that Chu Jiu’s approach must be correct!
This was Chu Jiu, the Envoy of the Gods who had brought the “Heavenly God Prince Quick Feather” to the village and helped everyone extinguish the locust plague!
Who else could do that?
Old Sun and the others waved at Chu Jiu and Douglas in the remaining glow of the setting sun. “You’re back!”
Chu Jiu jumped off the ox’s back, smiled, and replied, “Yeah, we’re back,” then led the ox towards the other end of the village.
Old Sun knew that the young man lived alone with his several spirit beasts in the area outside the village, near the Forgotten Forest.
That area, according to the old villagers, used to be a place where monsters often appeared, and the roars of monsters could often be heard.
But now…
From afar, one could see waterwheels, farmland, and small houses with wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys. It didn’t look like the desolate land that no one dared to set foot in at all.
All of this had been done by Chu Jiu alone in less than half a year!
The young man… amazing, truly amazing!
Old Sun watched Chu Jiu’s back and felt a surge of emotion in his heart.
*
Chu Jiu led the three-horned beast back to the small courtyard.
City Lord Clara was indeed very efficient. The day after she returned, a full thirty former patrol members arrived at Black Wheat Village with dry food and simple tents.
Now, Douglas was leading them in the land reclamation.
Or rather, Douglas, Chu Jiu, and Rawr Rawr Rabbit were leading everyone in the land reclamation.
Douglas was familiar with these people and knew how to organize them. And Rawr Rawr Rabbit knew better than anyone else how to transform the land.
So, Chu Jiu followed the process of building terraced fields at “Rin Wind Rock” last time, and together with Rawr Rawr Rabbit and Douglas, he created the construction drawings, divided the steps, and then Rawr Rawr Rabbit “guided” everyone in their work.
Chu Jiu himself prepared a steady supply of organic fertilizer and sent over various tools.
By today, the fertilizer and tools stored in Black Wheat Village were enough for a while, and Chu Jiu and Rawr Rawr Rabbit had finally gotten through this busy period—
They could now focus on the next stage with peace of mind.
According to the previous plan, now that the weather was warming up and the climate was suitable, Rawr Rawr Rabbit was going to cultivate sugarcane again.
As for Chu Jiu himself, he had to quickly continue his interrupted research on the [Paper Making Recipe].
Only after making lightweight [paper] could he borrow books from Old He and inquire about the “sea legend.”
*
Paper is actually a thin sheet of interwoven fibers obtained by scooping fibers from water, spreading them flat, and then drying them.
Chu Jiu knew that in ancient Earth, whether it was China or Europe, the basic procedures for “handmade papermaking” were not significantly different.
It was nothing more than soaking fiber-rich raw materials, crushing, stirring, and washing the raw materials to obtain more suitable fibers, then using special tools to scoop up the pulp and shape the paper. Finally, through air-drying or baking, writable paper was obtained.
The biggest differences lay in the raw materials and tools.
Chu Jiu’s initial idea was to use “hemp” as the main raw material for papermaking. After all, a lot of flax was grown locally in Bean Village.
This way, once he developed the [Paper] recipe, he could try to get the villagers in Bean Village or Black Wheat Village to produce paper without having to prepare additional raw materials.
However, after Chu Jiu simulated it with the [Virtual Production Line], he found that if “hemp” was the main raw material, the resulting recipe could only produce [Low-quality paper that is difficult to write on].
So, Chu Jiu tried adding “linen cloth” as a raw material.
After adding “linen cloth,” the quality of the paper did indeed improve.
But Chu Jiu then discovered another problem: linen cloth as a raw material… although not particularly precious in this other world, it was still too wasteful to use for papermaking.
He had once asked Marco to inquire in Emerald Town if he could buy “scraps of cloth” or “rags” from the residents. In Chu Jiu’s memory, European paper mills would buy linen cloth, old fishing nets, and linen scraps from the public as raw materials.
As a result, after Marco asked around, he found that apart from a few wealthy gentlemen’s households, everyone cherished every piece of cloth. Even if it was torn into strips, they would save it to stuff into winter clothes for warmth, or use it as diapers, rags, or mop cloths, and they were absolutely unwilling to sell it cheaply.
Therefore, the idea of “buying linen cloth” was still too far ahead of its time.
If he started with flax and wove his own linen cloth to make paper, Chu Jiu found that less than 0.2 parts of usable flax for papermaking could be obtained from 10 parts of raw flax.
Not to mention the time it would take to weave the cloth itself.
Such a conversion rate would make paper even more precious than cloth, which did not meet Old He’s requirement of “everyone, even children, being able to have a copy.”
After trying all these options, Chu Jiu finally chose “bamboo” as the raw material.
Paper made from bamboo, although slightly yellow in color, was generally smooth and thin, and was already considered very useful writing paper in ancient China.
Chu Jiu didn’t choose “bamboo” at first, partly because the “bamboo paper” process was more complex, and partly because “bamboo” was not native to Bean Village. Using “bamboo” as a raw material meant that in the future, in addition to “sugarcane” and “cotton,” the villagers would also have to allocate manpower to grow bamboo. Compared to “sugarcane” and “cotton,” the economic benefits of bamboo were not as immediate, so Chu Jiu was not in a hurry to introduce this crop.
Now that he had the recipe, Chu Jiu planned to first use the bamboo from his own woodland to make a batch of samples. Once the villagers had more spare manpower, they could slowly plant bamboo forests.
*
Chu Jiu had Rawr Rawr Rabbit plant a new batch of bamboo. Calculating the timing, he cut down these bamboo plants while they were still green and tender.
In the [Virtual Production Line], he soaked the green bamboo into tender yellow bamboo, then cracked it open with wooden mallets, and used lime to remove the protein, making it increasingly soft; then he steamed it in a pot to separate the fibers. After that came washing and pounding the pulp—
This vat of pulp could not yet be directly used for “paper making.”
According to the “papermaking techniques” Chu Jiu saw in the folk museum, at this point, the unique “paper medicine” of Chinese papermaking had to be added.
Paper medicine was actually a suspending agent added to the pulp, which could make the fibers of the pulp distribute more evenly, making it easier to layer and separate, so that it wouldn’t turn into an “indistinguishable lump of paste.”
Unfortunately, most of the plants that could be made into “paper medicine” were native Chinese plants, such as okra and star fruit vine, which did not exist in this other world at all.
Chu Jiu spent a lot of effort testing many times with the [Virtual Production Line], and finally successfully obtained a substitute using [juice ground from grapevines].
When the system prompted him, [Using 1 point of Spirit Power will grant the “Slightly Yellow Handmade Bamboo Paper” recipe X1], Chu Jiu had already stayed up for two days in the workshop, his eyes bloodshot and on the verge of collapse.
He chuckled and clicked [Use], then quickly opened [Quick Crafting].
A minute later, he had 100 sheets of soft, thin, smooth, dry, and evenly colored [Handmade Bamboo Paper] in his hands.
Books made with such paper could be easily held by even the youngest children!
*
Compared to papermaking, cutting and binding were much simpler.
Chu Jiu quickly made a [Bound Book of Paper].
After handwriting a few stories like “The Tortoise and the Hare” and “Waiting for a Hare by the Stump” on it based on his memory, this [Bound Book of Paper] became a [Crude Paper Handmade Book].
[Crude Paper Handmade Book: A paper book made by handwriting before the advent of printing. It is a very economical choice when the demand for reading is not high. Although the handwriting in this book is a bit ugly, it does not affect reading overall. However, it is still best to have someone with better handwriting write.]
Chu Jiu: ……
Is having bad handwriting a sin?!
Forget it, I won’t argue with the system.
As long as Old He can approve of this kind of [book], in the future, he will have people with transcription experience copy the books, so he won’t have to be criticized for his ugly handwriting anymore.
*
The day after Chu Jiu made paper and books, Rawr Rawr Rabbit’s “sugarcane cultivation” also ended.
This time, the little guy successfully cultivated [Sugarcane seeds that can be grown in human villages].
Chu Jiu gave the seeds to the old village chief, while he himself took the [Crude Paper Handmade Book] and went to Sea Moon City again.
As before, he stuffed the letter stating his purpose into the lighthouse.
While waiting for a “reply,” Chu Jiu quietly said to Little Can, “Little Can, do you think…”
“I didn’t knock on the door or ring the bell. How did Old He know someone sent a letter?”
“And I didn’t know Old He’s age before. After seeing him last time, I realized that given his age, carrying those thick and heavy parchment books up and down the stairs must be very inconvenient…”
How did this old man manage to write a reply so quickly and put the parchment book on the steps?
Little Can: “Meow, meow meow.” — “I can sense that the old man has a helper.”
Chu Jiu: “……A helper? But I didn’t see anyone else last time.”
Little Can: “Meow meow.” — “The helper shouldn’t be human.”
Chu Jiu: !
Chu Jiu was surprised for a second, and instinctively thought of various supernatural horror stories, before realizing:
There were many non-human intelligent creatures in this world. It’s just that they mostly lived outside human settlements.
Perhaps there was such an exception in the old man’s lighthouse.
After a while, the door opened, and the “reply” lay on the steps.
The reply no longer asked Chu Jiu to go upstairs, but simply asked him to put the “answer” on the steps and come to the lighthouse again at the same time tomorrow.
Chu Jiu did as he was told.
He left the [Crude Paper Handmade Book] and left the lighthouse.
The previous few times Chu Jiu came to Sea Moon City, either the weather was too cold and the sea breeze was too strong, or there was an urgent matter to deal with, so he never really had the chance to take Little Can to step on the beach and build sandcastles.
Today was a beautiful day with a gentle breeze and warm sun. And there was nothing urgent to do for the time being.
Chu Jiu held the little guy and walked down the stone-built steps from the end of the road to the beach.
“Wow, so the sand by the sea can be this coarse too—” Chu Jiu kicked the coarse black gravel under his feet.
Although he rationally knew that the sand on the beach varied in coarseness depending on the geographical location, and some beaches even had only rocks and no sand, emotionally he still felt that beaches should have white, powdery sand, allowing people to take off their shoes and bury their feet in it, and even build a sandcastle to bury themselves in!
But this rough and primitive beach also had other advantages.
For example, after walking a few steps forward, he exclaimed in surprise and bent down to pick up a shiny seashell.
Little Can also jumped down at this time, lightly trotting on the pebble-strewn beach, occasionally digging with its small paws to unearth a complete conch shell and then bring it to Chu Jiu.
“Wow, Little Can, you’re so amazing! This conch shell is so beautiful!” Chu Jiu praised without reservation, the smile on his face so bright, as if the conch shell picked up on the beach was a rare and priceless heirloom.
While taking the conch shell, he picked up Little Can and kissed the little guy’s forehead.
Little Can rubbed its face with its small paws, quietly returned to Chu Jiu’s shoulder, and then pressed its face against his cheek.
It remembered the day when it was still winter, and Chu Jiu brought it to Sea Moon City, looking at this sea from afar.
At that time, Chu Jiu asked, “Is there anything you want to do?”
He answered himself, “Want to kill the bugs,” and “Don’t remember anything else.”
I still haven’t remembered what I wanted to do before.
But I already know what I want to do now.
*
The next day.
At the time Old He had set, Chu Jiu stood outside the lighthouse.
The door of the lighthouse creaked open.
Unexpectedly, from the first step upwards, until the spiral staircase disappeared from view, every step was covered with books.
Judging from the covers and titles, there were children’s stories like “101 Fables” and “Fairy Tales Even Spirits Love,” as well as basic learning materials like “The Laws of Arithmetic” and “Circles and Triangles.”
In short, it was exactly the kind of books Chu Jiu had wanted to borrow last time.
But what surprised Chu Jiu slightly was that besides the current parchment books, there were also those old paper books among them. Especially the mathematics books were mostly printed on long-lost paper.
Chu Jiu frowned, feeling once again that the old man’s request was truly strange.
He didn’t rush to stuff these books into his backpack, but first picked up the letter Old He had left on the steps.
The letter said that he considered the “answer” Chu Jiu had submitted to barely meet his requirements.
Seeing this, Chu Jiu couldn’t help but smile, thinking, “Great!”
However, as he continued reading—
[Is the writing in this book done by your own hand? It’s too ugly! You must have someone else transcribe the books in the future, otherwise my books will cry!]
Chu Jiu: ……
I don’t want to write so ugly either! I worry about getting points deducted for messy handwriting in every exam essay! But the words written with these paws are just not good-looking, what can I do, sob sob!
Chu Jiu sighed helplessly and continued reading.
[The legends you want to know about the “sea monster” are all recorded in a handwritten book. You can open this book for any questions. Also, remember: First, you can only open this book after returning to your pioneer hut, when the night is quiet! Second, if you want to add anything to this book, this “scribe” must not be a stranger, you must choose someone you are familiar and close to, such as your future wife.]
All recorded in a handwritten book?
Old He! So reliable!
Chu Jiu was deeply moved.
As for the two requests…
The first one, “only open the book when the night is quiet,” must be Old He wanting me to have a sense of ritual before reading.
The second one, to find someone familiar and close to transcribe the book, like a “future wife”? Chu Jiu decided to pretend he didn’t see this line. Anyway, he wouldn’t be adding anything to Old He’s handwritten book.
At this moment, Chu Jiu completely didn’t notice Little Can intently watching this line of text, and then thoughtfully licking its paw.
Chu Jiu looked at the rows of books again.
This time, he did see a particularly different one.
The other books either had exquisite parchment covers or faded paper covers.
Only this one was contained in a wooden box.
This box was probably just slightly larger than that [Crude Paper Handmade Book], so the book inside shouldn’t be very big.
Chu Jiu put the wooden box into his backpack as it was, telling himself to resist his curiosity and wait until he returned to the pioneer hut, when the night was quiet, to open it.
Chu Jiu didn’t linger in Sea Moon City and went straight back to Bean Village.
As a reward for the spirit beasts staying obediently at home and farming diligently, he made a table full of dishes as usual.
Of course, since there was “Pine Nut Corn” and “Braised Chicken in Yellow Sauce” among the dishes, he didn’t forget to call the dwarf beastman and Little Gray Bird to eat together.
Four spirit beasts, four little squirrels, and eleven little birds surrounded Chu Jiu’s newly made long table, chattering and sitting in the yard, enjoying the evening breeze and bright moon, eating with great merriment.
Looking at this lively table of little guys, Chu Jiu thought that it was a good thing they were all small in size, otherwise even a larger table wouldn’t be able to seat so many…
After the meal, having drunk the [Aged Wine] provided by Chu Jiu, before Little Gray Bird’s enthusiasm for singing could rise, Chu Jiu quickly had the little squirrels send Little Gray Bird home.
When the moon rose to the middle of the sky, all the spirit beasts except Little Can had fallen asleep. Chu Jiu, who had already taken a bath, washed his hands again, walked into the workshop, carefully took out the wooden box, and respectfully opened the lid—
Huh?
This…
How could the things in this box be so similar to the [Crude Paper Handmade Book] he made two days ago, hahaha.
Could it be that Old He learned how to make it so quickly and made one himself, hahaha…
Chu Jiu, with cold sweat on his forehead, opened the plain cover.
What greeted him were four somewhat eye-straining large characters:
[The Tortoise and the Hare]
Chu Jiu: !!
It wasn’t an illusion, it wasn’t similar, this was clearly the book he had given to Old He!
……Could it be that Old He wrote the “sea legend” on the back? After all, there were still quite a few blank pages inside.
With this last glimmer of hope, Chu Jiu quickly flipped through it.
From beginning to end, from end to beginning.
Apart from his own handwriting, there wasn’t a single word from anyone else!
Chu Jiu held the book blankly, his face full of confusion: “Little Can, Old He, he… is this some kind of performance art?”
The legendary wordless book?!
Little Canned Food didn’t answer, but lowered its head to sniff the book.
Chu Jiu continued to be bewildered.
Until he heard a timid voice coming from the pages of the book:
“Y-you, hello?”
“Are you, um, that pioneer with the very ugly handwriting?”
Chu Jiu: ….
Is that polite?
Did he not know about woodblock printing? That’s the usual way to make widespread reading a reality. I wonder if he’ll get a mission later and remember or some creature will do it?