Fantasy Farm

Chapter 13 - The tomatoes have ripened

…time to go to the vegetable market

translator: baumkuchen  editor: ellabells

Because it was too late at night, Lu Qingjiu simply made some  zhajiang noodles for Bai Yuehu to eat. Their zhajiang sauce wasn’t quite the same as the one from the North, made of minced meat cooked slowly together with tianmian sauce and chunks of pork. After the noodles were cooked, he scooped in a big spoonful. The rich, aromatic minced meat sauce melted into the bubbling hot soup, letting the grease and fragrance of meat infuse into the noodles. Then he added in a few stalks of emerald-green vegetables and a handful of chopped onions. The dish was both convenient and delicious.

Lu Qingjiu, worried that it wouldn’t be enough for Bai Yuehu, made him a big bowl of noodles. Bai Yuehu bent over his food, and then, as if unafraid of burning his tongue, practically inhaled half the bowl in one go. It seemed like he really was hungry. Lu Qingjiu didn’t eat as fast as he did. When he was halfway through his meal, Zhu Miaomiao, who he’d expected to stay unconscious, woke up.

She fumbled her way out of the bedroom in pajamas, her face full of confusion. Smelling the scent of noodles that had permeated the entire house, her mouth started to water. She asked, “Qingjiu, you guys are eating noodles? How come you didn’t call me over?”

Lu Qingjiu glanced over at Bai Yuehu. Seeing his head steadfastly lowered over his bowl of noodles, he could only reply, “You fainted after showering, so I brought you back to your room. How could I have woken you up to eat noodles?”

“Fainted showering?” Zhu Miaomiao was somewhat confused. She thought back to the scene of her showering on her own, but found that it was as if there was a gap in her memories. No matter how hard she thought, there was a part she absolutely couldn’t recall. She scratched her head, asking, “How long was I passed out…”

Lu Qingjiu checked the time, “It wasn’t for too long, only about an hour.”

“Oh. I’m really hungry,” Zhu Miaomiao expressed her grievances, “I want some noodles too.”

The three of them had spent the entire day climbing the mountain, but hadn’t eaten anything all evening. Her being hungry was normal. Lu Qingjiu replied, “You wait a bit, I’ll make a bowl for you.”

Zhu Miaomiao said, “No hurry. You should finish your noodles first, or else after a while it’ll go soggy.”

As Zhu Miaomiao and Lu Qingjiu had been talking, Bai Yuehu had finished his bowl of noodles. He’d always cleaned his plate, and this time, there weren’t even any soup dregs left in the bowl. Having finished his meal, he wiped his mouth, indifferently informed that he’s going to bed, got up and left.

Zhu Miaomiao watched his back disappear into the corridor. She then said softly, “Qingjiu, what on earth did we encounter this evening? Is this person someone amazing?” She wasn’t an idiot, at that time they’d walked around for so long on the mountain and were still unable to find their way out, but the moment Bai Yuehu came, he led them out almost immediately. Even though Lu Qingjiu hadn’t yet replied, Zhu Miaomiao’s mind had already been filled with countless impressions of Bai Yuehu being a very able person.

“He’s very amazing,” Lu Qingjiu couldn’t possibly let Zhu Miaomiao know about Bai Yuehu’s true identity, so he could only make up some nonsense, “He has a lot more experience with these things…”

Zhu Miaomiao replied excitedly, “Then have you ever seen a ghost?”

Lu Qingjiu, “…”

Even though he didn’t reply, his subtle expression already told Zhu Miaomiao everything she needed to know. Zhu Miaomiao said, “Wow, so amazing. I’m so jealous of you, you’ve actually seen a ghost…”

Lu Qingjiu felt helpless. “What’s there to be jealous of?”

Zhu Miaomiao, “I’ve never seen one before!”

Lu Qingjiu, “You want to?”

Zhu Miaomiao replied, “A little, I kind of want to.”

Lu Qingjiu sighed and put down his chopsticks. “Do you remember that school next to our office?”

Zhu Miaomiao was baffled by his question, “I remember, what about it?”

Lu Qingjiu replied, “Isn’t there an abandoned toilet in that school? I’ll tell you…”

“Ah ah ah ah don’t say it, I don’t want to know!” Knowing the end to that story, Zhu Miaomiao started shrieking. She put her hands over her ears, “I was just joking! Big bro, don’t say it!”

Lu Qingjiu replied, “You really, just like Lord Ye’s passion for dragons.” Even though she said she wanted to see, if she actually saw one, she’d regret it.

Zhu Miaomiao recognised her own wrongs, “I was wrong!”

Hearing this, Lu QIngjiu just waved it off, not making things difficult for her any longer. He went into the kitchen and prepared a bowl of noodles for her. After finishing her noodles, Zhu Miaomiao returned to her room to sleep. Lu Qingjiu cleaned up the kitchen, and then went back to his room. He fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

The next day, Lu Qingjiu slept in a little while longer. He only got out of bed when the sky was extremely bright.

When he went out to the front courtyard to wash up, still in pajamas and yawning profusely, he happened to bump into Bai Yuehu on his way back from watering the fields outside. In his hands was a bamboo basket containing a messy pile of red and green vegetables.

After exchanging their morning greetings, Lu Qingjiu said, “Where did all those vegetables come from?”

Bai Yuehu replied, “Our vegetables were ready for harvest.”

Lu Qingjiu was stunned for a moment, then asked in a small voice, “So fast?”

From the time when the vegetables had been planted to when they’d become fully grown, he hardly ever visited the fields. Most of the time, it had been Bai Yuehu watering and managing the crops.  Other than occasionally chasing off some pests and doing some weeding, he hardly bothered with them.

Yin Xun said before that vegetables such as tomatoes needed at least three months to ripen, but vegetables like cabbage only needed about one month.

“En,” Bai Yuehu responded. He pulled out a round tomato from the basket, gave it a brief wash under the sink, and then handed it to Lu Qingjiu, “It’s good.”

Lu Qingjiu took the tomato from him and took a bite. His eyes instantly brightened. This tomato was completely different from those you could buy in the market. Its flavour was incredibly rich. With just one bite, the sour and sweet fruit juices burst out, filling his mouth with the fragrance of tomato.

“Delicious!!” Lu Qingjiu marveled, “This tomato is too delicious!”

“En,” Bai Yuehu said, “The cucumbers aren’t bad either.”

Hearing this, Lu Qingjiu grabbed a cucumber from the basket. Just as Bai Yuehu said, it tasted pretty good. The cucumber was sweet and crisp, its quality comparable to that of fruit. Even without any cooking, it was already really tasty.

Lu Qingjiu ate with relish. He also casually decided on what they having for lunch. He was going to make a tomato beef stew and fry up some eggs with the cucumbers.

Bai Yuehu nodded, looking extremely satisfied.

Not long after that, Zhu Miaomiao also got up. She asked through her yawns if there was anything to eat. Lu Qingjiu grabbed a tomato and passed it over to her. The moment she took a bite, she was shocked, saying that the tomatoes were too delicious and asked Lu Qingjiu how they’d grown them.

“He grew them,” Lu Qingjiu replied, “I don’t think it’s something you’ll be able to learn.”

“He can even grow vegetables?” Zhu Miaomiao’s eyes grew wide, clearly unable to believe that the ethereal Bai Yuehu even could pull up his trousers and go wading in the mud to water crops.

“Yep,” Lu Qingjiu responded calmly, “The fields are basically all tended to by him.”

Zhu Miaomiao made a gesture of admiration.

Bai Yuehu said that most of the vegetables in the fields were ripe and ready for harvest. Originally, Lu Qingjiu had been worried about what to do if other people became suspicious about how fast their crops were growing. But, he didn’t know if it was because his fields were rather small or because Bai Yuehu was too low-key, the others in the village didn’t have any reaction.

Today, Li Xiaoyu from next door just so happened to come by Lu Qingjiu’s home to send over the ragweed he picked. Lu Qingjiu gave him a bag of tomatoes to take home to eat. Who knew that after a while, when he went to the pigsty to check on Li Xiaoyu, he found out that this kid had split the tomatoes with Xiao Hei and Xiao Hua. The two little black pigs, Xiao Hei and Xiao Hua, ate with relish, so happy that their eyes curled into slits.

Lu Qingjiu felt a little helpless, but didn’t say anything. He casually asked, “Xiaoyu, why didn’t you go to school this morning?”

Hearing this, Li Xiaoyu was silent for a moment, before replying in a small voice, “My dad said there’s no point in me going to school. He said that I’m better off staying at home and collecting ragweed to earn money.”

Upon hearing his words, Lu Qingjiu frowned, “Why does your dad think that?”

“Also my grades aren’t good,” Li Xiaoyu looked down, a little disappointed, “It’s supposed to be very simple, but I still can’t get it.”

Lu Qingjiu replied, “If you have any problems you can always ask me, I can help take a look.”

“No need, Lu-ge,” Li Xiaoyu shook his head, “I’m very stupid.”

Lu Qingjiu wanted to say a little more, but seeing that Li Xiaoyu didn’t want to talk about it, he could only drop the subject. When he left the pigsty, he thought he should probably find a time to have a chat with Li Xiaoyu’s father about how his kid still needs to go to school.

At noon, Lu Qingjiu turned the vegetables that Bai Yuehu had brought back into a piping hot delicacy, even calling Yin Xun over to have a taste.

Under Yin Xun’s eyes were dark eyebags, looking as if he hadn’t slept well last night.

Lu Qingjiu asked him what was wrong and he said that he had a nightmare that night.

“A nightmare?” Zhu Miaomiao was chewing on a piece of beef, so her words came out muffled, “What did you dream about?”

Yin Xun replied weakly, “It was nothing, I just dreamed that I was walking down an endless street and there was something chasing behind me.”

“It must be because you got a fright last night,” Zhu Miaomiao said, “Just eat some meat and calm down a little.”

Yin Xun nodded and stretched out his chopsticks.

The beef stew made with tomatoes grown by Bai Yuehu wasn’t normal. They hadn’t put in MSG or anything, but the stew was still beyond delicious and the beef was also extremely tender. Even though it was in big chunks, it wasn’t tough to chew at all, letting people eat to their heart’s content. The four of them demolished the entire pot of stew Lu Qingjiu had made. Bai Yuehu finished the last spoonful of stew and, having eaten his fill, his eyes curled in a satisfied smile. Lu Qingjiu glanced over at him, thinking that it’s only when he’d eaten his fill did Bai Yuehu seem a bit fox-like.

Zhu Miaomiao volunteered to wash the dishes. Seeing how listless Yin Xun was, Lu Qingjiu told him to go home and take a nap. After Yin Xun had left, Bai Yuehu, who seemingly had been just about to doze off in the afternoon sun of their courtyard, suddenly said, “If you can’t finish eating the remaining tomatoes, you should sell them.”

Hearing this, Lu Qingjiu was stunned, “Is there a lot?”

“A lot,” Bai Yuehu confirmed.

“You also can’t finish them?” Lu Qingjiu was a confused. He remembered that Bai Yuehu’s appetite was enormous.

“I can,” said Bai Yuehu.

“Then why sell them…” Lu Qingjiu didn’t understand.

“Because the money earned from selling them can be used to buy meat.” Bai Yuehu yawned and closed his eyes once more, “I prefer meat.”

Lu Qingjiu finally understood where Bai Yuehu was coming from. Even though he could eat the tomatoes, they were just vegetables. For a fox, having to eat tomatoes every day would really be too cruel.

Then let’s find a time to go to the market to sell the tomatoes and the extra vegetables, Lu Qingjiu decided.

The author has something to say:

Bai Yuehu: My favourite things in the world are meat and Lu Qingjiu.

Lu Qingjiu: What if you have to choose just one?

Bai Yuehu: …Lu Qingjiu’s meat?

Lu Qingjiu: ……… (This suddenly turned into a horror film)  

Finally, the food porn is back haha (translating this story makes me so hungry sigh)

Zhajiang noodles~ (Actually, the text said 杂酱面, but that just makes it the Chongqing version of Beijing’s 炸酱面 according to Baidu, and in terms of pinyin, zhajiangmian looks a lot better than zajiangmian. So please excuse me for not using the right pinyin :P)

And here’s what they made with their harvest