Chapter 17: It’s Just Salt
It was soon time for another crossing. With a flash of white light, Chu Feng reappeared in the wooden cabin.
Inside sat Ilya, Gray, and Duoduo—all in a row.
As soon as Chu Feng landed, he was met with three pairs of eager, hungry eyes.
Seeing this kind of grand welcome, Chu Feng suddenly tensed up, feeling like a giant piece of meat surrounded by starving wolves.
Gray grinned brightly, “You’re back!”
Chu Feng smiled, “Yeah, have you been waiting long?”
Ilya shook her head, “Not too long.”
Gray thought to himself: We’ve been waiting forever! Chu Feng took way longer this time, and I was starting to worry he wouldn’t come back.
Chu Feng removed the bags from his back.
“These are the backpacks I brought for you.”
He handed them to Ilya, Gray, and Duoduo.
Gray took his excitedly, hugging it to his chest.
“This bag is so nice!”
He ran his fingers over the fabric, eyes sparkling. Most humans use burlap—this cloth feels high-quality, and the patterns… how did they even dye them?
He opened the backpack and found it stuffed full.
“What’s all this…?”
Chu Feng chuckled, “Just some snacks.”
He wasn’t sure what they liked, so he just grabbed a variety.
For Duoduo the bunny, he picked out more fruit candy and biscuits.
For Gray, there were chips, instant noodles, and pork jerky.
Ilya opened his backpack and saw a pile of chocolate—he couldn’t help but smile.
Then, Chu Feng opened his suitcase, revealing hundreds of packets of salt.
Ilya’s eyes widened.
“All of this is…”
“It’s salt.”
Gray clung to the edge of the suitcase, eyes wide.
“This is all salt? Really? It’s actually salt?”
Chu Feng nodded proudly and said, “That’s right, it’s all salt.”
Poor Gray, he thought, so sheltered—just a box of salt and he’s this excited.
Duoduo picked up a packet of salt, tore it open, and tasted it. His eyes sparkled in surprise.
“It really is salt.”
Gray exclaimed excitedly, “There’s so much! This will last us a long, long time!”
People in this world are really easy to please, Chu Feng thought. Just give them salt and they’re happy.
Other things might be hard to promise, but salt? That’s nothing.
“With this much salt, I could sleep on it,” Duoduo said.
Chu Feng: “…” Sleep on salt? How could anyone sleep like that? What a strange little bunny…
“Salt can be used for bathing too,” Chu Feng said suddenly.
He just remembered—he should bring some toiletries next time.
The moment he said that, he saw Ilya and the others all staring at him in unison.
“Bathing with salt?”
Chu Feng nodded.
“Yeah.”
Gray said, visibly shaken, “People in your world are so rich they bathe with salt?”
Well… technically, people in his world could afford to scrub with salt, but nobody really wanted to.
Duoduo exclaimed, “What a waste!”
Chu Feng: “…”
Oops, did I just flex accidentally? The difference in economy between worlds is too extreme—I didn’t mean to show off!
Gray pointed to a cake box and asked, “What’s this?”
Chu Feng hesitated a moment, then said, “That’s a birthday cake.”
He sighed inwardly. Today was his birthday.
Back when his parents were still alive, the family always celebrated it together. After they passed, no one remembered it anymore.
It had been a bit of a hassle to bring the cake here, and he didn’t even know why he’d bought it—some impulse made him do it anyway.
When he opened the box, the cake had collapsed inside.
Gray stared at the mess and said:
“So this is cake? It looks really tasty.”
Chu Feng glanced at him, thinking: Even after falling apart like that, you can still tell it looks good?
“Can we eat it?” Ilya leaned in and asked.
Chu Feng looked at Ilya’s face up close and instinctively nodded.
“Yes, you can.”
Ilya was wearing the clothes he’d given him last time. Even though they were cheap, they looked like designer pieces on him because he was just that good-looking.
They all shared the cake.
Gray’s eyes went wide with astonishment.
“This is way too good. The place you came from… is it heaven?”
Heaven? Chu Feng thought. Not even close.
Modern society was fast-paced, competitive, and full of pressure. Plenty of people even committed suicide every day.
Though the cake was a mess, the taste hadn’t suffered.
He had bought a fairly large cake, but it was completely devoured.
What surprised him most was Ilya’s appetite.
In his memory, Ilya was always quiet and reserved—like someone without earthly desires. But you really couldn’t judge a book by its cover. This beautiful boy could really eat!
The two younger ones were full, but Ilya patiently finished every last crumb.
Even the cream and crumbs left on the box were scraped clean.
The way Ilya carefully scraped the box amused Chu Feng a little.
