Chapter 51: Elf Girls
The kids changed clothes quickly, and soon everyone had their new outfits on.
Since there were no mirrors, they had to rely on each other’s opinions.
“Do I look good in this?”
“Yeah! How about me?”
“You look super cool!”
“You look amazing!”
Chu Feng stood with his arms crossed, listening to the kids chatter — it was like a giant mutual compliment session.
The villagers in Crescent Village were generally quite good-looking, and the kids in the room were all especially cute.
Chu Feng spotted two elf kids in dresses in the crowd. “Those two are girls, right?”
Illya nodded. “Yes.”
In the elf tribe, females were rare — Delice and Shirley were the only two girl elves in the whole tribe and were doted on by everyone.
The two elf girls twirled in their dresses, catching the attention of nearby boys, some of whom blushed.
Chu Feng casually patted the two girls on the head. “You two are really adorable.”
Delice didn’t expect that and looked a bit flustered.
Gray stared at Chu Feng in shock after seeing that gesture.
Chu Feng noticed Gray’s expression and thought, What’s with that face? Is he jealous? Doesn’t seem like it…
He pulled some colorful hair ties and clips from a nearby box and handed them to the two girls. “Here, these are for you.”
He’d bought those on a whim from a boutique — probably looked odd for a grown man to be buying girls’ accessories, since the cashier had stared at him for ages.
Delice hesitated for a moment before quickly snatching them and hugging them close. Then she dashed off, and Shirley hurried after her.
Gray turned to watch them run, dazed.
Chu Feng asked curiously, “Why’d they run off like that?”
Did I scare them? I don’t look that intimidating, do I? These otherworldly girls are so hard to read…
He knocked lightly on Gray’s head and teased, “Why are you staring at the little girls so hard? Starting to feel things already? Puppy love?”
Gray came back to his senses and looked at Chu Feng, saying, “You’re amazing!”
Chu Feng was a bit confused. “Impressive?”
What did I even do that was so impressive? I don’t remember doing anything special.
“Delice and Shirley usually really dislike you. But when you patted their heads, they didn’t even dodge.”
Chu Feng: … So that’s what it was. Those two girls actually disliked me that much? Maybe they were just too surprised when I did that and didn’t react in time. No wonder she ran off right after — guess I shouldn’t tease kids so casually next time.
“They really disliked me? No wonder I hadn’t seen them before.”
He thought to himself: With such pretty girls, if I had seen them, I would’ve remembered.
“I thought Delice would get angry, but she just ran away.”
“Get angry?” Chu Feng asked, puzzled.
Gray nodded seriously. “She’s really fierce.”
Chu Feng: … This dumb kid, calling a girl fierce — no wonder he’s still single.
Seeing Chu Feng’s skepticism, Gray insisted, “She really is!”
Chu Feng teased, “Oh? That fierce, huh? Don’t tell me she beat you up?”
Gray kept a straight face and didn’t answer.
Chu Feng: … Did I guess right?
“What are you two talking about?” Illya walked over and asked.
“We’re talking about Delice. Seems like Gray got beat up by her once.”
Illya nodded instinctively. “That did happen. Four years ago, when Gray and Delice were fighting over a sweet melon, she punched him.”
“Gray, did you lose the fight?” Chu Feng asked, clearly enjoying this.
Gray’s face turned red, and he glared at Illya. “Big bro, why’d you tell him that?”
Illya: …
Chu Feng took a deep breath and thought: So he really did lose. What a loser, getting beat up by a girl over a melon.
“You brat, fighting a girl over a melon?”
Gray mumbled, face red, “I saw it first…”
Chu Feng: …
—
Shirley came running after Delice, both of them out of breath.
“Delice, stop running! I can’t keep up!” Shirley panted.
Delice stopped and turned to look at her.
Catching her breath, Shirley asked helplessly, “Why did you run away? Are you afraid of that human?”
Delice rolled her eyes and huffed, “Who’s afraid of that human?!”
“The shaman said he’s physically really weak!”
Shirley blinked. “Then why did you run?”
Delice: … I just felt like it, okay?
Shirley rubbed her head. “He patted my head earlier.”
“That human sure is bold!”
“But Delice, you didn’t stop him either! You even blushed!”
Delice muttered awkwardly, “I just didn’t have time to stop him.”
Shirley twirled in her dress, clearly thrilled. “This dress is so pretty.”
Delice blushed too — she liked hers a lot as well.
“Delice, we ran so fast earlier, we left our old clothes back with Illya.”
Delice’s face turned even redder. “We’ll go back and get them later.”
She was still flustered after running out of the room — clearly not over the embarrassment yet.
Shirley asked excitedly, “What else did Chu Feng give us? Let me see!”
Delice opened the box, revealing a bunch of colorful hair clips, some sparkling with rhinestones.
Shirley blinked. “Are these gemstones? They must be really valuable!”
Delice shook her head. “No idea.”
The two girls looked at each other, unsure whether they should return the gifts.
Unable to decide, they just sat down to experiment with the accessories.
Soon, their heads were full of sparkly hair clips.
“Delice, this is a mirror! It’s so clear!”
Delice gazed at the round mirror, clearly loving it.
“The shaman has a bronze mirror, but it’s not this clear,” Delice said.
Shirley took a deep breath and said with wonder, “That outsider brought so many amazing things.”
“They say he came from across the sea… I wonder what the other side of the sea is like!”
—
After helping all the kids get dressed, Illya finally managed to send the reluctant little ones on their way.
Though they were young, they were already obsessed with looking good. All of them in their new clothes walking through the village made for a charming sight.
Illya gathered the leftover clothes.
“I didn’t expect the clothes I brought to be so popular,” Chu Feng said.
Illya nodded. “They look good and are comfortable too.”
“The kids almost got into a fight over the ones they liked.”
There were a few outfits left, but not enough for everyone. Some kids had their eyes on them, so they decided to hold onto them for now.
“By the way, I also brought an outfit for the shaman,” Chu Feng said.
Illya was surprised. “Really?”
Chu Feng nodded and pulled out a black hooded robe from a box.
Illya puffed out his cheeks. “This outfit is kind of strange…”
“Strange?” Chu Feng asked.
Illya tilted his head and thought for a moment. “It doesn’t look quite like the ones you wear.”
Chu Feng nodded. “Of course not.”
After all, the shaman is a shaman — he can’t wear ordinary clothes!
He had the robe custom-made. It looked a bit like a wizard’s robe.
The tailor probably thought I was cosplaying.
Chu Feng thought to himself: This robe might look a little odd on the average person, but on Shaman Qiu Luo, it’ll probably look very stylish.
Illya looked at the robe and said, “Let’s bring it to the shaman now. We can also go check out the newly cultivated farmland.”
“Alright,” Chu Feng agreed, though a bit hesitantly. “Do you think the shaman will like the clothes I brought him?”
Illya nodded. “He will!”
“Why?”
“Because I really like them!” The clothes Chu Feng brought were made of very soft fabric.
After getting used to them, Illya found it hard to go back to wearing coarse linen. Although he felt a bit guilty for becoming picky, he just couldn’t help how much he liked those clothes.
Chu Feng went to the herbal hut and gave the robe to the shaman. Sure enough, the shaman was very pleased with the gift.
Chu Feng suddenly realized that he had overestimated the shaman’s mystique. At the end of the day, he was still a person—people like to eat tasty food and wear nice clothes, after all.
Illya then took Chu Feng to see the newly cultivated farmland.
“The seeds you brought were planted here,” Illya explained. “We followed all the instructions you gave. Take a look—any problems?”
Chu Feng: … Don’t ask me!
Though he had gone through a rough patch in the past, he’d never really farmed. Everything he had said earlier was just stuff he’d searched online.
“You mentioned things like monocropping, mixed cropping, intercropping, relay cropping… and even things like seed cultivation and transplanting. The shaman found all of it fascinating!”
“Really?” Chu Feng gave a dry laugh. Honestly, I don’t know that stuff well either.
Since Shaman Qiu Luo was so interested, next time he’d bring a comprehensive farming guide. Preferably one with lots of pictures and minimal text, since he wouldn’t be able to read his language anyway.
Illya looked at Chu Feng and said, “People in your world are really good at farming, huh?”
Chu Feng smiled. “Yeah, maybe a bit too good.”
Where he came from, agriculture had become highly industrialized—overuse of fertilizers, sweeteners, growth enhancers—resulting in food that had long lost its natural taste.
In the past, people used to worry about having enough to eat. Now, although food is plentiful, people worry about whether it’s safe to eat.
“Is being too good at farming a bad thing?” Illya asked in confusion.
Chu Feng nodded. “Too much of anything can be a bad thing.”
Some rice on the market was harvested right after being sprayed with pesticides—just thinking about it was scary.
Illya tilted his head, still not quite understanding.
“You’ll understand in time,” Chu Feng said.
Illya shrugged. In the past, he might have pressed for answers, but Chu Feng often said things that were hard to understand. The more Chu Feng explained, the less sense it made to him, so he’d learned not to ask too many questions.
