Chapter 43: The Highland Tribe’s Abilities
Duoduo came running over, his little feet pattering quickly.
“Brother Feng, you’re back!”
Chu Feng nodded. “Yeah. Where’d you come from?”
“I was at Brother Duvean’s place. He was crying really hard!”
Chu Feng: …Crying? What happened? He had just been there, and Duvean had seemed fine. Did that guy Sterling do something? That tiger clearly wasn’t a good person—had his true nature finally come out?
“Why?”
Duoduo tilted her head, her gem-like eyes blinking. “Because of you!”
Chu Feng: … This dumb bunny! Talking nonsense—I’m not taking the fall for this! Duvean was totally fine when I left!
Chu Feng glanced at Ilya and suddenly felt a little guilty.
“What’s going on?” Ilya asked.
Duoduo turned to Chu Feng. “Brother Feng, did you give Brother Duvean a picture book?”
Chu Feng nodded. “Yeah, I did.”
“A bunch of people went to see it. Lots of them thought it was fascinating and wanted to borrow it. But someone accidentally ripped it, and now it’s in pieces. Everyone thought, ‘Well, this works too,’ so they gave one part back to Brother Duvean and borrowed the rest, saying they’d return them later. Brother Duvean got so mad, he cried.”
Chu Feng blinked. “The picture book got torn?”
Duoduo nodded. “Yeah, but it wasn’t on purpose.”
Chu Feng: … So careless. That book was only a cheap one back in China—just a few dozen yuan—but here, it was like a sacred text, the only one of its kind!
Chu Feng looked at Duoduo. “Tell your Brother Duvean that I’ll bring him another copy next time. It’s fine if this one’s ruined.”
Duoduo nodded. “Okay!”
Then he paused and acted cute. “Brother Feng, did you bring anything yummy this time?”
Chu Feng nodded. “I brought honey. Do you want some?”
Duoduo eagerly nodded. “Yes, yes!”
Chu Feng thought: So what if that dumb bear doesn’t get it? Someone here does. This bunny had much better taste than the clueless bear.
Then again, Duoduo never really turned down food—he’d probably want it no matter what.
Chu Feng went into the house and brought out a jar of honey, which Duoduo quickly accepted.
“Do I eat this directly?” Duoduo asked.
“You can mix it with water or use it to roast meat.”
Duoduo nodded thoughtfully.
“Alright, go play now,” Chu Feng said, waving him off.
Duoduo nodded and skipped away.
*
Chu Feng and Ilya, along with a few helpers, carried rice and pickled mustard greens to the castle construction site.
At the site, Chu Feng saw many Highland Tribe members busy at work.
“Young Master Chu,” Chui Shi greeted him.
Chu Feng nodded. “Thanks for the hard work.”
Chui Shi scratched his head. “Not at all.”
Chu Feng hadn’t been around the last few days, but Ilya had visited and brought Chui Shi some sugar and salt.
The salt Chu Feng brought was high quality, and the Highland Tribe was pleased with it.
“Is this everyone?” Chu Feng asked.
Chui Shi frowned slightly. “Some of the tribe had to go hunting. We could only spare this many for now.”
Chu Feng nodded. “I understand. I brought food.”
Chui Shi brightened. “Thanks so much!”
The salt had solved their salt shortage temporarily—but salt alone couldn’t fill bellies.
Chu Feng smiled. “You’re welcome. It’s around mealtime anyway, so we might as well cook now.”
*
Ilya and an elf helper borrowed a large iron pot from the Highland Tribe and cooked a big pot of rice porridge.
Shaya watched Ilya. “Ilya, what’s this? It looks really tasty.”
He had helped carry a sack of rice but had no idea what it was.
Once the white rice porridge was cooked, the big pot looked delicious and inviting.
Ilya glanced at him. “This is rice. It’s a kind of food from across the sea.”
Shaya sighed. “The food from across the sea is amazing!”
Every time Chu Feng came, he seemed to bring something new.
“If you like it,” Ilya said, “you can have some later. There’s plenty, so there should be some left.”
Shaya thought to himself: Once those Highland big eaters dig in, will there really be any left?
“When it’s done cooking, let’s eat first and just say we’re helping to taste it,” Shaya suggested.
Illya nodded. “Alright.”
There weren’t many of them anyway—they couldn’t eat much.
Chu Feng followed Chui Shi around for a quick inspection of the construction site. The Highland Tribe was strong, and their work efficiency was remarkably high.
They walked toward a stone mountain, where Chu Feng saw someone place their hand on it—suddenly, cracks spread across the stone. Startled, Chu Feng cried out in alarm.
Illya appeared behind him and frowned slightly. “What’s wrong?”
Seeing Illya helped Chu Feng regain composure. “N-nothing… that guy over there…”
Illya followed his gaze. “That’s Chui Shi’s younger brother, Shi You. He has the stone-splitting ability.”
“Stone-splitting?” Chu Feng repeated in confusion.
Illya nodded. “Yes. Many Highlanders used to have it, giving them a natural advantage in mining. But their numbers have dwindled—Shi You is the only one left with this ability.”
Chu Feng asked curiously, “Could this ability work… on a person?”
Illya tilted his head. “Of course not.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
Chu Feng let out a relieved breath. Good. If it worked on people, it’d be terrifying.
They continued surveying the site. Chu Feng noticed some advanced-looking construction tools and was quietly impressed by the locals’ ingenuity despite the lack of industrialization.
Later, Chui Shi called out to them, “Illya, Master Chu, aren’t you coming to eat?”
Illya frowned. “The porridge’s done already?”
Chui Shi nodded. “Long ago—it’s probably almost all gone.”
Chu Feng reached the cooking area to see a few Highlanders drinking porridge. Those without bowls had simply picked up the entire heavy pot and drank straight from it.
Shaya spotted them and shook his head. “Took you long enough! The porridge’s gone, and so are the pickled veggies. I wanted to save you some, but those Highlanders eat like starved wolves!”
Chu Feng waved him off. “If there’s none left, then so be it. Leave the remaining rice and pickles here—we’re heading back.”
“You’re leaving it all?” Shaya asked, slightly stunned.
“Of course. We worked hard to bring it here—why carry it back? That’d be pointless.”
Shaya grumbled, “How was I supposed to know it was this stuff…”
Chu Feng avoided his gaze, feeling like Shaya was looking at him as if he were a wasteful rich kid.
Before leaving, Chu Feng gave instructions to Chui Shi, who quickly ordered his tribesmen to store the rice and pickles—afraid Chu Feng might change his mind.
Chui Shi patted his chest and promised to finish building the castle.
“Big Brother,” Shi You approached.
“What did Chu Feng say to you earlier?” Chui Shi asked.
Shi You shrugged. “Just asked about my ability. It’s nothing much, really.”
His stone-splitting skill could only crush stones the size of a small house per day—nowhere near the legendary power of shattering an entire mountain.
Chui Shi patted his brother’s shoulder. “Still impressive.”
Shi You held out a strange object. “He gave me this lighter—it makes starting fires a lot easier.”
Chui Shi admired it with envy. “What a great tool.”
“Why’d he give it to you?”
“I guess he saw me struggling to start a fire,” Shi You said shyly.
“Then keep it,” Chui Shi said.
Shi You nodded. “Got it. Also, that pickled veggie Chu Feng brought—it was amazing!”
Chui Shi agreed. “Seems it’s made from vegetable roots soaked in salty water… not sure what that spendthrift was thinking, wasting salt on roots.”
“Wasteful or not, it’s delicious,” Shi You replied.
“That it is.”
