Chapter 169: Even a Dog Would Want to Come
There was tomato stir-fried with eggs for lunch today, leaving behind a good amount of tomato broth mixed with egg scraps, all of which Jian Xingxia poured over the rice.
Then there was the steamed pork with preserved mustard greens.
Most modern people didn’t like eating fatty meat. Out of the batch the plump auntie made today, the pieces with more lean meat had all been sold, leaving behind pieces that were almost entirely fat. Even though the auntie and Lin Sanniang had tried their absolute best to cram their containers, they only managed to carry away a little over half of it, leaving behind more than a dozen slices. Jian Xingxia felt a tremor of trepidation just looking at these one-centimeter-thick, pure-fat tiger-skin meat slices.
Jian Xingxia didn’t stand on ceremony, clipping them all up and placing them in a corner of Da Hei’s rice basin. The remaining preserved mustard greens and meat gravy were handled the same way, soaking a large section of the rice.
As for the braised pork with chestnuts, not much was left. Jian Xingxia scavenged around, scraping the remaining minced meat and chestnut bits into the basin.
There were also two chicken carcasses, still bearing quite a bit of meat.
When Jian Xingxia was a child, she loved eating fried chicken carcasses. Following her father, their meals were highly erratic, and sometimes they couldn’t catch a single bite of meat for half a month. Jian Xingxia had no money, yet she craved meat intensely while she was growing, so she would go outside her school to buy fried chicken carcasses for three yuan each. There wasn’t much meat on those carcasses—only a layer of meat clinging to the bone that a knife couldn’t even scrape off—but once coated in flour and deep-fried, it tasted exceptionally fragrant.
The meat on the chicken carcasses today was far more abundant than the kind Jian Xingxia used to eat. She gave both to Da Hei.
The quick stir-fried dishes left behind a good amount of side ingredients, green onions, ginger, and garlic, all of which Jian Xingxia dumped into the basin. Finally, out of today’s stewed winter melon and bone soup, after the bones were picked out, Jian Xingxia managed to fish up two and a half ladles of minced meat from the bottom of the pot.
All of it went to Da Hei. The basin was packed so full it barely fit. Jian Xingxia wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap before riding her tricycle to deliver the meal to Da Hei.
This single basin made Da Hei eat with absolute bliss. After all, this was a delicacy he hadn’t tasted for forty-six days; it was simply a divine flavor on earth.
Da Hei wasn’t used to chopsticks, so he used a massive rice paddle as a spoon, shoveling food into his mouth with frantic, snorting bites.
“Delicious, delicious, mm, too delicious.”
So much rich oil! And the flavor of salt! If placed in the Great Yu Dynasty, this would be the absolute best meal available! Da Hei didn’t care about calling this leftovers at all. During the past forty-six days, Da Hei hadn’t eaten anywhere near this well.
Ever since Da Hei returned last time, he hadn’t received any news of his master summoning him.
The very first thing he did every morning upon waking up was to go to his previous master’s grave to ask.
“Master, did the new master call for me?”
The previous master: … The grave remained dead silent.
Da Hei didn’t lose heart either, heading back to perform his labor and returning to ask again the next morning. During this period, Da Hei hadn’t sat idle either. He had cleared a good deal of wasteland in the mountains and planted a whole abundance of fruits and vegetables.
Kunlun slaves excelled at farming, though they primarily excelled at the physical labor parts like clearing wasteland, digging earth, turning soil, watering, weeding, and harvesting. But they didn’t excel at fertilization—having him apply fertilizer was no problem, but when to apply it, how to produce the fertilizer, and the proper ratios were things a master family would never teach a slave. Slaves merely possessed great physical stamina and acted according to instructions.
Da Hei used to be exactly like that. But now he wasn’t.
His master had given him a vast amount of seeds, telling him to sow them according to the seasons of the Great Yu Dynasty. She had also taught him where to gather fertilizer—the withered leaves and soil around the roots of towering ancient trees were the absolute best fertilizer.
Previously, after Da Hei hunted, the chicken feathers he plucked, the rabbit skins he tore off, and all the entrails of his prey were either burned or buried in the dirt and discarded. But now he knew that these were all things that could be used for composting.
Digging a deep pit, he mixed the fertilizer from these preys with withered grass and leaves, along with his own waste, leftover fruit pits, and bones, and then caught some earthworms and dung beetles to toss inside. After a period of time, this became the best fertilizer. By digging a few more pits, the supply of fertilizer could be sustained gradually.
When the first batch of vegetables ripened, Da Hei was incredibly excited, wishing he could harvest them all immediately to present to his master. Unfortunately, his master didn’t call for him that day either. Da Hei waited and waited, until the melons and fruits grew too numerous to finish eating, before he finally received his master’s summons.
The moment he received the message, Da Hei went straight to the mountain cave where he lived to retrieve the straw-rope mesh sacks and the broken basket he had prepared long ago. Then, he harvested every single vegetable and fruit that could be picked.
It was a good thing Da Hei had long limbs and moved nimbly; otherwise, with these two massive mesh sacks plus a basket of vegetables, there was no telling how long it would have taken him to finish harvesting. After all, these weren’t ordinary mesh sacks, but super-sized mesh sacks large enough to be used as fishing nets. Burdened with the back basket and hauling the two massive mesh sacks, Da Hei set off to find his master.
Da Hei ate the oil-rich meal with pure bliss, his heart filled with joy. It must be because he grew the vegetables so well that his master rewarded him with such a spectacular meal. If this meal were carried back to the Great Yu Dynasty, even the manager in charge of two hundred Kunlun slaves wouldn’t get to eat it!
Looking at the silly Da Hei, Jian Xingxia also felt very happy. “Eat slowly, no need to rush. I’ll bring your dinner down a bit later tonight.”
Da Hei: ! That truly was far too blissful!
Leaving Da Hei in the mountains to clear the wasteland, Jian Xingxia returned to the old house.
At two in the afternoon, it was picking time again. There weren’t many guests—only ten people in total. After leading them over, Jian Xingxia sat down to calculate the accounts on her phone. If there weren’t many people this afternoon, she would squeeze out some time to visit the village to settle the money for the supplies the villagers had advanced.
Just as she finished calculating, guests began to emerge. Leading the way were Luo Yang and Xiao Ya.
The two were carrying three catties of strawberries and two catties of tomatoes in one hand, and a little over a catty of blueberries, a little over a catty of cucumbers, and two catties of tomatoes in the other, looking highly hesitant.
“Owner, can we really not buy a bit more? We have to head back this afternoon and want to carry a bit more back with us.”
Jian Xingxia shook her head with regret. “No can do.” Otherwise, look at the guests waiting in line behind them to be weighed—every single one of them was pinning their ears back, waiting for Jian Xingxia to soften her stance!
But how could Jian Xingxia dare to soften her stance. Xiao Ya was thoroughly filled with regret. “Alright then, let’s just weigh these for me first.”
Three catties of strawberries was 180, two catties of tomatoes was 30, totaling 210, which came to 168 after the discount. Xiao Ya pulled out her phone and scanned the QR code to pay. Except while paying, her eyes didn’t dare look in Luo Yang’s direction at all.
Luo Yang was the same; when paying, he feigned looking at the sky. Then, like two complete strangers, they walked back holding the plastic bags filled with fruit.
“Ahem—”
“Hmph.”
The two walked side by side, neither holding hands nor speaking, relying purely on eye contact and tight-lipped huffs to communicate.
“Huff, huff, huff—” Are you still not going to open your mouth and speak?
“Hmph!” — I won’t.
Luo Yang felt helpless. “Well, it wasn’t me who said that anyone who spent over three hundred yuan would be a dog!”
Xiao Ya glared at Luo Yang, keeping her gaze fixed until Luo Yang gave in.
Luo Yang: … “…Woof!”
Only then did Xiao Ya arch her eyebrow and speak, “I did say those words, but who was the one who said this manor was definitely a scam to rip people off, and swore they wouldn’t spend a single extra cent!”
Luo Yang looked at Xiao Ya and smiled, his grin carrying a bit of a roguish air. He didn’t open his mouth either.
Xiao Ya: … “…Whimper, woof…”
Luo Yang opened his mouth. “Hahahahaha—”
After laughing for a good while, he finally reached out to take the fruit from Xiao Ya’s hand, freeing up one hand to hold hers. “Alright, now we are both puppies.”
Xiao Ya’s face flushed a soft pink. She felt a bit annoyed yet a bit sweet, letting out two murmurs like a mosquito: “You’re the dog.”
“Then you are too.”
“Woof, woof!”
“Woof!”
Luo Yang loosened his grip and pulled Xiao Ya a bit closer into his embrace before smiling. “Puppy Xiao Ya, Big Dog Luo Yang officially invites you to come along again when the manor formally opens for business. Will Puppy Xiao Ya do me the honor?”
Xiao Ya tilted her head up with proud affectation, reaching out to ruffle Luo Yang’s hair. “In light of Big Dog Luo Yang’s sincere invitation, this puppy agrees!”
For a manor this fun, even a dog would… want to come!
