Chapter 77: Farming

Fortunately, there were still two months left until New Calendar’s New Year.

At this time last year, Wen Xu had just completed his three-year mourning period. After setting aside his mourning clothes, he left Bizhou Commandery for the capital to take the imperial examinations. On the night before his departure, he had sat before his adoptive father’s grave and promised that he would do his utmost to become a Presented Scholar. Should his name appear on the golden list, he would strive to become a good official and never disgrace the Wen family name.

The old scholar had neither wife nor children. He had spent his entire life chasing scholarly honors, so he was bound to be lonely in the afterlife. Wen Xu had thought that he would return to sweep his grave at least once every year.

But unexpectedly… he had failed to return in the very first year after leaving.

“What are you thinking about? You’ve looked miserable all day.”

Wen Xu touched his face. “Is it that obvious?”

“Extremely obvious. Are you still upset? How about…” Bian Chunzhou could understand. After all, losing by half a sword was just as frustrating as scoring fifty-nine points on an exam. He knew all too well how it felt to be capable of passing, only to fall short.

Wen Xu tried to explain. “It’s not because of that.”

“I know, I know!”

“No! You don’t!”

Bian Chunzhou blinked. Even Wen Xuxu’s emotions were visibly fluctuating. Why was he still refusing to admit it?

“Then tell me. Once you tell me, I’ll understand.”

How was he supposed to explain this? Was he meant to say outright that the Divine Dragon Venerable Bian Chunzhou worshipped had come up with an utterly rotten idea and wanted Wen Xu to join forces with two friends to tread all over the Punishment Hall’s most dangerous boundaries?

Wen Xu was a respectable man. He could not bring himself to say it.

He opened his mouth, but for once, words failed him. It took a long while before he finally managed to speak.

“New Year is coming. Do you have any plans?”

So… he did not want to talk about it?

Bian Chunzhou considerately followed his lead. “Of course I’m making dumplings!”

What kind of reference was that supposed to be?!

“To be specific, I’m planning to add two new dishes to the Shared Cup Tavern’s menu. One of them will be hotpot dumplings. I’m amazing at making fillings. Whatever kind you want, I’ll make them for you!” Bian Chunzhou declared, thumping his chest grandly.

After listening for quite a while, Wen Xu finally realized that the dumplings Chunzhou spoke of were actually crescent-shaped stuffed pastries.

“In Bizhou Commandery, where I grew up, there isn’t a custom of eating them for New Year. But jiao’er soup is very popular during the winter solstice.”

Because the pastries resembled ears, people said that drinking jiao’er soup would keep one’s ears from freezing off. High officials, nobles, wealthy merchants, and great magnates naturally had no such worries. But for the common people at the bottom of society, jiao’er soup was the most extravagant “blessing” they could offer themselves.

When Wen Xu had been a beggar, he once received a free bowl of jiao’er soup on the winter solstice. There had only been two torn pastries inside, their filling spilling out, but it was the first time he had ever tasted hot broth with meat in it.

Life was difficult for a young beggar. Anything he received only truly belonged to him once it was inside his stomach. So despite the heat, he had immediately gulped it down ravenously.

The scalding meat broth slid all the way down his throat and into his stomach. It was clearly far too hot, yet to him, it tasted more delicious than anything else in the world.

That same night, after hearing that ordinary families could drink jiao’er soup every winter, an unprecedented ambition burst into life within him.

He refused to remain a beggar who could never eat his fill or keep himself warm.

He wanted to rise above everyone else. He wanted—

“So there’s a saying like that? That’s pretty interesting.” Bian Chunzhou spoke cheerfully. “Actually, I really like pickled-cabbage filling. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to pickle cabbage. I’ll ask the manager later and see whether he has any connections…”

“Chunzhou.”

Bian Chunzhou looked up. “What?”

“On the first day of New Calendar, do you want to watch the sunrise together?”

How romantic.

Bian Chunzhou could think of no reason to refuse. “Sure. Where should we go? Buddha’s Light Temple? I heard there’s a pagoda at Buddha’s Light Temple outside Langyuan City. Every year, people have to draw lots for the chance to offer the first incense. Apparently, that incense is made from rare agarwood from the Vast Sea Domain mixed with all kinds of precious spices. It’s only as thick as a thumb, but it can burn for an entire year without going out.”

“Not Buddha’s Light Temple.” Wen Xu hesitated briefly. “You’ll know when the time comes.”

“Fine. We’ll invite Chen Zuizui too. The three of us can celebrate New Year together this year. Hehe!”

They had only just entered the mountain last year and had been busy consolidating their cultivation and adapting to sect life. Before they knew it, New Year had already passed.

“Come to think of it, we’ve known each other for a whole year. But somehow, I feel like we’ve known each other for a very, very long time.”

Wen Xu froze. He felt the same way.

“Perhaps that means we were destined to become good friends.”

Their friendship had begun with cautious calculation, followed by a life-saving debt. But now, he was beginning to understand what it truly meant to be someone’s friend.

“Of course!” Bian Chunzhou thought that he was very lucky. He had managed to become friends with Wen Xu and Chen Zui, who were willing to tolerate all his little faults. Thanks to them, he had also integrated into life in the cultivation world much more quickly.

“Actually…”

“What?”

Wen Xu pursed his lips. The ribbon over his eyes trembled faintly.

“Actually, you’re my first good friend.”

Bian Chunzhou: OvO Huh?!

“My first good friend in the cultivation world, right?”

But Wen Xu firmly shook his head.

“Chunzhou, I’m not as good as you think I am. You don’t know what I experienced in the past. Actually…”

Bian Chunzhou was somewhat astonished. He had known Wen Xuxu seemed different today.

“Wait. What do you mean, you’re not that good? Wen Xuxu, wake up! You deserve good things!”

“I don’t care what you were about to say. I’m your best friend. Aren’t friends supposed to favor each other, take each other’s side, and see each other through a built-in soft-focus filter?”

Now Bian Chunzhou was beginning to believe him. But Wen Xuxu was such a good person. How could he possibly have had no friends before?

Hmph. The people he had met must all have been blind.

In the past, when Wen Xu read that the friendship between gentlemen was as mild as water, he had assumed that true friendship ought to be like that.

Only now did he realize that his definition of friendship had once been far too strict.

It was just like the impression many people had of him. On the surface, he wore a gentle, approachable mask. In reality, he kept everyone a thousand miles away.

Wen Xu did not like opening his heart to others. Had Bian Chunzhou not saved his life, he would never have taken the first step.

“Actually, I’m a very cowardly person,” Wen Xu heard himself say.

Huh?

Cowardly?

Once the first sentence had left his mouth, everything that followed came much more smoothly.

“My childhood was extremely complicated. Simply put, I was an abandoned infant.”

“You did mention that you had an adoptive father…”

“Yes. My adoptive father was an old scholar who repeatedly failed the examinations. Later, when he became too old to keep trying, he decided to adopt a talented child because he had no descendants of his own. When I heard about it, I schemed with all my might and used every method I could think of to make him adopt me.”

So that was why Wen Xuxu had studied so intently and become a Provincial Graduate at only eighteen?

Was it because Wen Xuxu believed he had won his place through scheming, so from the very beginning… he had constantly forced himself to become the kind of son his adoptive father wanted?

Wen Xu heard nothing for a long time. The moment he raised his head, a figure crashed into him.

He disliked physical contact and instinctively tried to push the other person away, but Bian Chunzhou only hugged him tighter.

“Ah Xu, you’re so brave!”

What?

Chunzhou, what in the world have you imagined?

“But I still have to criticize you.” Bian Chunzhou released his completely rigid friend. The tears that had nearly spilled out were barely forced back.

Boohoo. No wonder his friend was a grinding emperor.

“Don’t be so harsh on yourself. None of that was your fault. Have you ever considered the possibility that you were so clever that your adoptive father wanted you from the very beginning?”

Bian Chunzhou did not think he was wearing any kind of filter at all. Wen Xuxu was simply a hardworking, ambitious, wonderful child.

Who would not want a son like that?

Should he ever have children in the future, he would wake up laughing from his dreams if they were even half as good as Wen Xuxu.

Wen Xu stared blankly.

He had never considered such a possibility.

Bian Chunzhou immediately reached out and slung an arm over his friend’s shoulders.

“You deserve it. This New Year, I’ll make you an enormous vat of jiao’er soup. I’ll make it on the winter solstice. How does that sound?”

“…Did you use the wrong measure word?”

“No. Whatever you can’t finish, Chen Zuizui and I will help you with.”

That fellow Chen Zuizui had entered the secret realm and promptly vanished without a trace. Who knew whether he would make it out before New Year?

Every last one of them was a source of worry.

Hmph. Sure enough, without him, this family would fall apart sooner or later.

“Losing one match is no big deal. From now on, I’ll support you in defeating Chen Zuizui!”

Wen Xu: …

Forget it. He might as well let Chunzhou continue misunderstanding. It was not a bad thing.

Besides, after speaking about it, he truly did feel much lighter.

He had pretended to be a warm and refined scholar for so long that even he had forgotten what he used to be like.

But he would not be able to change back anytime soon.

“Then when Chen Zui loses in the future, you can comfort him like this too.”

Bian Chunzhou grinned, revealing a mouthful of bright white teeth.

“Wow, how generous. As expected of Yonglu Mountain’s Junior Granduncle-Master.”

…There was really no need to tease him like that.

…

Wen Xu was in no hurry to cultivate while he took time to settle himself. But he was not someone who could remain idle, so he found something to do.

That “something” was farming at Spirit Herb Peak.

Spirit Herb Peak was a very unusual peak. More precisely, it belonged to Alchemy Peak and served as its subsidiary. Most of its land had been reclaimed for growing spirit flowers, spirit herbs, and spirit trees.

According to rumor, the Pill-Fragrance Grass inside the Cloudbreaking Secret Realm had been planted by an elder from Spirit Herb Peak.

Thus, the moment Wen Xu signed up, the senior brothers of Spirit Herb Peak greeted him with overwhelming enthusiasm.

Bian Chunzhou: …

It’s over.

It felt as though the nightmare of the Pill-Fragrance King Grass was about to descend upon him once again.

This was the first time either of them had accepted a mission to reclaim spiritual fields, so they received instructions for beginners.

The senior brother from Spirit Herb Peak assigned to guide them was in the Foundation Establishment Realm. After briefly showing them around and familiarizing them with the layout of Spirit Herb Peak, he revealed his… sinister true face.

With a mouth like that, no wonder he could make even a blockhead like Chen Zui retreat in defeat. His words were truly vicious enough.

Bian Chunzhou felt that if Spirit Herb Peak ever staged a palace-intrigue drama, he probably would not survive beyond the third episode.

In brief, he believed three days would be his absolute limit.

Sorry, Wen Xuxu.

Our friendship may be stronger than gold, but… could it perhaps not include reclaiming spiritual fields together?

When he first arrived, his brain had still been the size of a walnut. Now, after descending the mountain, it felt no larger than a grain of rice.

How could this be called tempering one’s Dao heart?

This was clearly the repeated destruction and reconstruction of one’s Dao heart!

How terrifying.

He strongly recommended adding the mouths of Spirit Herb Peak’s senior brothers to the one hundred tortures used for interrogating evil cultivators.

Without an extraordinary natural gift, who could possibly endure this?!

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