Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains 132
Chapter 132
Since Chen Qi had made tofu in the morning, he asked Ajing to call over Ali, Ka Luo, and the others for a meal. Ayan was helping out at Chen Qi’s house and realized just how impressive Chen Qi’s cooking skills were. Despite being just a type of bean, under Chen Qi’s hands, it transformed into not only soy milk but also tofu pudding, and a variety of dishes like fermented tofu and mapo tofu. Ayan was dazzled by the array of dishes and his admiration for Chen Qi grew even more.
“Ajing, what happened to your head?” As soon as he entered the house, Ka Luo saw Ajing sitting quietly at a small table in the corner, pressing his lips tightly together and not saying a word, while the little wolf cub comfortingly rubbed against his feet.
Ka Luo found it quite unusual. After setting Ayao down to play by himself, he went over and rubbed Ajing’s head, which Chen Qi had just cut. “It feels a bit prickly,” Ka Luo commented, stroking his chin.
Ajing angrily swatted away Ka Luo’s hand and turned away from him, ignoring him.
Ka Luo laughed mischieviously and leaned in even closer, undeterred by Ajing’s reaction.
In the end, Chen Qi, unable to just watch, spoke up to rescue Ajing. Chen Qi packed some food into a lunchbox and waved Ajing over and said, “Ajing, could you help me deliver this food to Aze and Ake?”
Aze’s guard duty would last until the evening, while Ake was busy teaching archery to the beastmen from the Salt-Water Tribe at school. In contrast to the other beastmen who were focused on honing their skills, Ayan seemed more like he was here on vacation. He often dropped by Chen Qi’s house for food and drinks, frequently hovering around Chen Qi. If it weren’t for his older age, Aze would have been tempted to pack him up and throw him outside the city walls.
Ajing shot Ka Luo a glare, ignored him, and quickly ran over to pick up the lunchbox before heading out.
The all-tofu feast was a novelty for the beastmen, but without rice, Chen Qi felt that the tofu’s flavor was somewhat diminished. It had been over ten months since he last had rice, and though he used to eat it every day without much thought, the long absence made him miss it quite a bit.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Ali was unusually quiet today. After the meal, while Ayan and Ka Luo were busy cleaning up the dishes, Chen Qi took the opportunity to approach Ali. With a hint of concern in his voice, he asked, “Ali, what’s going on with you today? You seem a bit uneasy.”
Ali snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. “I’m fine.”
Chen Qi poured him a cup of tea and gently asked, “Is it related to Azhang and the others going into the forest?”
Ali hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly. “I don’t know why, but I’ve felt uneasy all day. They’re going deep into the forest this time, and I’m afraid something might happen to them.”
Chen Qi gently patted his hand and smiled, “Don’t worry, they’ll be back by tomorrow night at the latest, or the day after. If you’re this worried, Azhang will be heartbroken when he returns.”
Hearing Chen Qi’s words, Ali felt a bit embarrassed. He glared at Chen Qi and scolded him with a smile, “What nonsense are you talking about?”
Seeing Ali’s gloomy expression fade a bit, Chen Qi felt somewhat relieved. Changing the topic, he asked, “I’m thinking about planting some fruit trees along the roads. What do you think about this?”
“Fruit trees? Why would you plant them along the roads?” Ali asked, puzzled.
“The sun is so harsh right now; just the distance from here to the city gate is enough to make it uncomfortable. If we plant fruit trees along the road, they can provide both shade and fruit in this kind of weather. Isn’t that the best of both worlds?” Chen Qi pointed to the sun outside. He really had no interest in going out in this weather, it was really too unbearable.
In his courtyard, there was a tall, wild fig tree with branches spreading out to cover most of the house in its shade. Even in the peak of summer, staying indoors didn’t feel too uncomfortable. However, it wasn’t the same for others. The scorching sun made the house unbearably hot, and even with all the doors and windows open, the heat wouldn’t escape. Chen Qi had once gone to Ka Luo’s house in the middle of the day and was driven out by the intense heat wave. He couldn’t understand how the beastmen managed to endure it.
Chen Qi sometimes wondered if Ayan frequently visited his house for this very reason.
Hearing Chen Qi’s explanation, Ali nodded, “If you want to plant them, go ahead.” After thinking for a moment, he added, “If you’re looking to plant something, I’d suggest the red-fruit tree. The fruits may be small, but the tree itself grows tall enough to provide plenty of shade in the summer.”
The red-fruit tree here produces red fruits that resemble lychees. Its growth pattern is somewhat unique. When summer first arrives, the tree is full of green leaves. After a month, the leaves fall off, leaving the tree covered in pink flowers. Another month later, the flowers turn into bright red fruits. If the fruits are not harvested promptly, they will naturally fall off after a month, and the tree will grow green leaves once more. In this way, the red-fruit tree could be said to be a special time-measuring plant in this world.
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
The red-fruits were currently in season, and among the wild fruits Aze had picked in the past two days, there were some red-fruits. When Chen Qi heard Ali’s suggestion, he agreed that the red-fruit trees were very suitable. It had both ornamental and practical value, making it much better than other fruit trees.
“Then let’s go with red-fruit trees.”
Chen Qi was the type of person who, once he had an idea, would act on it immediately. He quickly ran to the storage room, took out all the red-fruits, distributed them for everyone to eat, and then saved the seeds. As soon as the sun went down, he grabbed his bone hoe and headed out.
Ali had a lot of things to do, and Chen Qi also handed over those pieces of iron shells to him. However, Chen Qi didn’t understand metal smelting; he only knew a bit about small furnaces and the so-called blacksmithing from TV dramas. He explained it to Ali, unsure if Ali would understand. In the end, Chen Qi could only focus on creating the shape first, as iron would melt at a certain temperature, and he could research it further later. Moreover, since the material could be reused, Chen Qi wasn’t too worried.
Chen Qi made several molds for Ali using clay, and then completely handed over the iron smelting task to him, not bothering with it anymore. After all, the temperature in the newly constructed smelting room was unbearable for ordinary people; even females had to remove their clothes to cool down, making it inconvenient for Chen Qi, a male, to stay on-site. Thus, after a hurried meal, Ali left and naturally had no time to help Chen Qi with planting trees. At this moment, Ayan, the free labor, came in handy.
In Chen Qi’s view, Ayan, who was over one hundred and ten years old, could almost be as old as his great-grandfather. However, Ayan’s appearance was so youthful that he didn’t seem elderly at all, making it quite easy for Chen Qi to assign tasks to him.
Chen Qi, of course, would not just plant the trees haphazardly and consider the job done. He used a piece of rope to measure the distance, ensuring everything was perfectly aligned and straight, to the point of almost having an obsessive-compulsive attitude towards aesthetics.
With the road paved with mud bricks, Chen Qi chose to loosen the soil along the road. Just like planting other plants, he planted the seeds, watered them with diluted fertilizer, and then surrounded the area with sharpened bamboo stakes to create a protective enclosure.
Ayan hadn’t participated in the planting yesterday and was encountering compost for the first time. He felt like he couldn’t breathe; he couldn’t understand how such stuff could be used to water things meant for consumption. It was the schadenfreude-filled Ka Luo who explained the reasons to him, merely repeating what Chen Qi had told him earlier
Ayan furrowed his brows, still looking like he couldn’t accept it.
After planting along both sides of the road, Chen Qi also planted a row around the city wall. When Aze and Ake, who had returned from their shifts and classes respectively, saw this, they came over to help. Planting the seeds was actually quick, but Chen Qi always took time to measure the distance properly and then surround the newly planted areas with bamboo stakes, which slowed down the progress
This time, the red-fruit seeds were not enough to cover the entire perimeter of the wall. Seeing that Chen Qi still seemed unsatisfied, Aze said, “How about I go outside tomorrow and find some more red-fruit seeds to bring back?”
Crossing to Live in the Wilderness Plains (CLWP) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Chen Qi clapped the dirt off his hands. “Alright, then. We’ll finish planting the rest tomorrow.”
After speaking, Chen Qi looked at Ayan, who had spent ages choosing compost and was now smelling of it. He patted Ayan on the shoulder and advised, “Remember to pick some more figs tonight and wash up.”
“……” Can I skip coming tomorrow?
The next day, Ayan indeed didn’t return. He was taken by Ali to help with iron smelting, which made Chen Qi click his tongue in regret.
Ajing had felt a bit down ever since Chen Qi gave him a crew cut. Chen Qi had previously made him a cloth hat to shield him from the sun, which Ajing wore every day and refused to take off. Chen Qi felt somewhat helpless and could only keep praising how good Ajing’s new hairstyle looked, how convenient it was to wash his hair, and how cool it felt. However, Ajing was completely unappreciative. Eventually, it took Chen Qi frying snacks for a whole week to finally cheer up the little rascal.
Aze had set out early in the morning to find red-fruits for Chen Qi. This time, Ake joined him as well. Since they weren’t going into the forest and wanted to train Ajing’s skills, they brought Ajing and the little wolf cub along.
Ka Luo was going to the sewing classroom today to make clothes with the other beastmen. Since Chen Qi had designed various styles of clothing and dyed them in different colors, now everyone in Qi Ze City wore unique outfits with no duplicates.
Everyone had their own tasks to attend to, and it was rare that no one came to find Chen Qi. Chen Qi was actually a bit unaccustomed to it.
After thinking for a while, Chen Qi decided to reorganize the vegetable garden in his yard.
The vegetable garden had quite a few cabbages, as well as some lettuce and oilseed lettuce. Unfortunately, they had grown for too long and had become old. Chen Qi decided to harvest the seeds and store them properly. However, he couldn’t bring himself to throw away all the good vegetable leaves. In the end, he decided to pickle all the vegetable leaves and then dry them into vegetable preserves. This way, they would have something to eat during the winter if food became scarce.
After harvesting all the crops, Chen Qi turned the soil and spread wood ash over it.
The water for the garden needed to be fetched from the well at the neighboring school, but Aze would collect the water every morning. To make it easier for Chen Qi to water the plants in the garden, Aze also made two large wooden barrels and placed them at the edge of the vegetable garden. Chen Qi only needed to use a small wooden bucket to scoop water from these barrels, making it very convenient.
After watering all the land, Chen Qi added another round of sugar to the wine he had been fermenting and stirred it. Worried that the wine might fail, he checked it several times each day, making sure there were no unusual smells before he felt reassured.
That evening, when Aze returned, he brought back something that pleasantly surprised Chen Qi. Although it wasn’t rice, it was very similar to rice. In a place where there was no rice, it could be used as a staple food: millet.
“Is this what you wanted?”
Chen Qi looked up and down at the familiar item with a face full of surprise.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: Millet = rice? My general knowledge is extremely lacking and I wouldn’t survive transmigration to primitive times!
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomNight73
Proofreader: Yume
Editor stepping into the realm of MTL translating, starting with CLWP. Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
