CH 18

Chapter 18: Six months

There are in fact not a lot of inhabitants in this mountain village, with only twelve households. However, the amount of fruit and vegetables produced is enormous. Cabbage, lettuce, leeks, winter melons, pumpkins, apples, longans, pineapples, cranberries, watermelons…the sheer variety truly made Huo Zaiyuan dumbstruck. Naturally, not every kind of fruits and vegetables have reached their harvest time, which is why he intends to stay here for a certain period in order to purchase a few goods when they first ripen.

At the same time, he has not forgotten that within his space, he has a lot of different seeds. Regarding the him who has never farmed before and doesn't have the faintest clue where to begin from, since he is already here, he can ask for guidance from the villagers.

Once he finds out that Huo Zaiyuan will be staying in the village temporarily, the village chief searches right away for a house with a large courtyard that is currently unoccupied. Because the previous owner moved away to the city long ago, the house has been vacant for a while. Under the direction of the village chief, the villagers busied themselves by cleaning and sweeping the entire place, enabling Huo Zaiyuan to live there.

Together with the villagers, he spends an entire afternoon strolling through the plantations. When that is done, he roughly knows which household have what fruits and vegetables, and from the villagers' mouth, has gotten a fair idea of how much each product would cost. Taking out a notebook from his backpack, he begins to pen a list, then gives the slip of paper to the village chief.

After looking at the fruits and vegetables written on the list, the chief and villagers are insanely happy.

~~~

It has been half a year since Huo Zaiyuan decided to stay in the village. In these six months' time, he not only purchased various kinds of fruits and vegetables grown in all four seasons, he also managed to get his hands on numerous dried and pickled goods and eggs. As for water, he filled his hundred-odd plastic containers with fresh water drawn from the deep well in the village, and learned how to plant various seeds and fruit trees. Under a few aunts and grandmothers' guidance, he learned how to cook too. It really can be said he benefitted greatly from this stay.

Compared to before, when he had to rush everywhere in order to buy bulks of necessary items, Huo Zaiyuan spent a lot of time in the village cultivating. In this six months' time, he is close to breaking through the first level. His entire being feels as though he has shed his mortal body, becoming even more extraordinary.

Every day, besides meditating to practise the Taoist arts, he spends even more time harvesting peach bark and carving them to create talisman. After half a year of practice, he gradually understands just how to employ the warm current of spiritual energy in his body, and according to the "Mysterious Nine Dragon's Heaven", he studied how to carve talisman and how to utilise them efficiently in combat.

"Little Yuan[1]."

Just as Huo Zaiyuan is sitting cross-legged in his space, carving the peach wood talisman in his hands with rapt attention, a loud shout comes from outside the room. The movements of his hand pause, causing the entire coin-size talisman to discharge smoke and crumble into fine dust.

Although he just wasted a piece of wood, but seeing as he still has a large pile of it stacked up next to the bamboo house, he doesn't take the failure to heart. As soon as he wills it, he has already exited the space.

"Elder brother Shuozi (the cabbage-selling old man's son), is something the matter?" Huo Zaiyuan opens the door to find a sturdily-built youth with a simple and honest disposition standing there.

"It's like this. Today is the last day of the year. The village chief has gathered all the villagers for a communal meal. My father allowed me to come over in order to call you to go together." Looking at the slim and attractive young man just behind the door, Shuozi can't help the thumping of his heart.

"Communal meal…" Huo Zaiyuan's expression turns distracted for a second, before returning to his usual calm and tranquil look. Then he says lightly, "But…I am not a resident of this village."

In these six months, maybe it is due to getting used to living alone, or because of cultivating, he feels his personality has undergone some changes. His mental state has become more calm and quiet, and he began to feel that silently cultivating or carving without interruption is, in fact, a very soothing task and great for passing time.

"Little Yuan, you are the benefactor of our village. If it wasn't for you during that time, the village's mountain road wouldn't be cleared so quickly." Shuozi's face reveals a slight blush. "Also…if you don't come, then the village chief just might come over to invite you in person."

"Eh…all right." Huo Zaiyuan nods in agreement, his gaze passing over Shuozi's head to the gathering place bustling with noise, the villagers currently in an uproarious mood. "I will also take this opportunity to bid everyone farewell."

"You are leaving?!" Shuozi exclaims in shock.

"That's correct. It has been half a year, it is time for me to depart. Let's go." Walking slowly pass Shuozi, Huo Zaiyuan completely missed the mournful look that surfaced in the taller man's eyes.

Footnotes:

[1] Huo Zaiyuan's nickname. Xiao Yuan = Little Yuan. Since I typed "little" instead of "Xiao" in the previous chapters, I'll just stick to this.