Carrying a Hoe to Cultivate

Xia Yi was idle anyway, so he washed Gu Wen Zhu’s outer shirt and laid it on the big stone on the side of the stream. Feeling the breeze of the wind, hearing the rippling sound of water, Xia Yi closed his eyes and lay on the big stone. 

He had not had the time to think about things before this. He was struggling to adapt to this farming world. He worked hard on the missions, trying not to think about the world he came from. Now, when he had peace of mind, various thoughts came to him. He remembered his deceased parents, those friends in the dorm, the cat he used to feed outside the building that he lived in. He could not help but feel the sadness and loneliness from being in an alien world by himself. 

A tear drop slid down from the corner of his eye. 

At some point, Gu Wen Zhu had arrived. He had his clothes on, sitting beside Xia Yi with his eyes looking straight at the stream. His husky voice rang, “I have never asked about what happened to you before and why you fled here to find your aunt, but it must’ve become impossible for you to live back there. Since you’ve found your way to this place, I will meddle in anyways from now on.” 

Xia Yi sat up, sniffled a bit with red eyes, and said, “I just miss my parents.” Seeing Gu Wen Zhu looking at him, he downheartedly added, ”They both passed away. When they were still alive, I didn’t have to care about a thing, I don’t even know how to cook because of this. Now I regret it. I am a good-for-nothing. 

“I miss them so much. They didn’t even have the chance to taste my potatoes. I was naïve. I thought my parents would always be there to sort out my problems. They were still worrying about me, thinking about how I am going to live by myself before they passed away. I want them to know that now I am working hard to farm. They need not to worry about me. No matter where I am, I will live a good life.” Xia Yi wiped off tears from his face. He turned his head to face the other way, trying not to make a noise from his sobs. 

Gu Wen Zhu gazed at Xia Yi with sympathy, he gently said, “You have been working hard, they will know.” 

A breeze of wind passed by, causing a strand of soft hair on Xia Yi’s head to stand and became cowlick. All of a sudden, Gu Wen Zhu wanted to extend his hand to fix that for him. Then he pinched his fingers and turned his head. 

Gu Wen Zhu had caught plenty of fish upstream. There were bigger ones and smaller ones, including some groupers and some crucian carps, all together around twenty of them. He lifted the fish basket to let Xia Yi have a look. Forgetting quickly about the sadness moments before, Xia Yi beamed with his red nose. 

It was late. Xia Yi climbed onto Gu Wen Zhu’s back, holding the fully loaded fish basket. They began to walk home. The sky had already darkened by the time they passed the stream with nobody by its side. 

Gu Wen Zhu casually walked home with Xia Yi on his back. 

Gu Wen Zhu had made a pot of fish stew, fresh and delicious. They picked up the fish with chopsticks for each other. Both of them finished up the whole pot together.  Xia Yi even soaked the rice in the sauce and ate three bowls of them. 

When Gu Wen Zhu was washing dishes, Xia Yi laid himself on the chair. He watched Gu Wen Zhu’s huge figure in the kitchen doing this and that and all kinds of chores systematically. 

He rubbed his stomach and came up with a question, then he wondered and asked, “Zhu, you are a great guy, why haven’t you gotten married yet?” 

Gu Wen Zhu’s hands which were washing dishes halted their motion, he turned and glanced at Xia Yi, causing Xia Yi to look back innocently. Gu Wen Zhu thought for a while, answered, “I have not yet met someone who is suitable for me.” 

Xia Yi nodded with understanding, “I am sure a guy as great as you can find someone who suits you.”  He added after thinking a bit, “But even if you have found the one, you must let that person know just like I did before. Or else someone might beat you to it.” 

Xia Yi met a girl when he was buying milk tea back in his first year of university. He fell in love at first sight, then he hotly pursued the girl. By then, the girl agreed to go out with him to try it out. Although they broke up at the end after one month due to incompatibility, this proved that pursuing did work. 

Gu Wen Zhu did not reply, Xia Yi thought he heard him laugh faintly then shook his head resignedly. 

Some days passed, Xia Yi’s foot had almost healed, the potatoes were approaching their maturation period. He went to the field more frequently these days, visiting several times a day. 

This morning, when he arrived at the ridge in the field, sounds of crackers and fireworks rang in his head, and at the same time 179’s voice echoed with high spirits: 

Congratulations, Host, you have completed the first system mission. 

Mission description: Join the Qi Shan Sect and become the apprentice of the Sect Leader.  

Completion 1/1  

Award 1 Starter Pack. 

Host, would you like to claim the reward now or later?” 

Xia Yi cluelessly listened, then he could not help but pondered, “What’s the reward?” 

System did not answer right away. The robot voice rang again flatly after a while, “Are you sure you want to know now?” 

Once he heard this voice, Xia Yi knew there was something wrong, but he still wanted to know and replied, “Just tell me. I want to know how rubbish your system world can be.” 

“The mission reward is 10 bottles of foundation establishment drink, the starter pack which includes one spirit clearance core and ten low level spirit stones.” 179 said. 

Xia Yi: … 

“Host, if you choose not to claim the reward now, I can put them into your system locker space. You can retrieve them at any time.” 179 suggested. 

Xia Yi asked, “What’s a system locker space?” 

“System locker space is a sub-system space partitioned from the main system space that belongs to you. It can be used to store.” 179 explained. 

“Then store them for me.” Xia Yi said. 

After claiming his prize, Xia Yi went to see his baby potatoes. He rubbed his hands, aiming at the side of a potato sprout, then raised the hoe high up and dug with force. When he pulled the hoe out, a big pile of soil was turned over. Inside were numerous potatoes. Roughly speaking, there were a few dozen of them under one sprout. 

Xia Yi’s heart burst with joy. He directly threw the hoe away and ran back home, hurrying his way to tell Gu Wen Zhu. 

Gu Wen Zhu had pushed a plate trailer to the farmland. The two of them swung their arms and started to dig. There were a lot of potatoes and they were huge. Xia Yi’s arms immediately became so sore that he could not swing the hoe anymore and, therefore, Gu Wen Zhu was left to continue digging by himself. Xia Yi took a bamboo basket and picked up the potatoes behind Gu Wen Zhu. 

By the time they had harvested all the potatoes, the sun had already set. They went back home a few times transporting the potatoes with the plate trailer, piling up a heap of potatoes in the yard. 

Under the moonlight, the two of them weighed the potatoes. There were a total of 1000 catties. 

Xia Yi looked at the hill of potatoes and laughed like an idiot. 

Gu Wen Zhu straightly cooked a pot of potatoes. After the potatoes were cooked soft, he sauteed them until the skin was golden and crispy. Then he sprinkled some salt and pepper on top of it. The potato was saffron and amber. Xia Yi can taste the fluffiness and sweetness when taking a bite. It was so good the two just kept eating. 

Gu Wen Zhu looked at the potatoes when he was eating. He said, “We can keep 100 catty in the basement. I will take the rest to the city to sell. You can also come with me and visit the city.” 

Xia Yi merrily agreed. 

At night, when he was in bed, Xia Yi called the System. 

“179, you remember me saying that I want a cheat? 25 points of land yield the production of 3 acres of land.” 

179 did not say a word. 

In view of this attitude, Xia Yi thought, screw it, System is going to play dead. And so, he set up right away with a look full of anger, “You want to break your word?”  

179 said, “Host, even if you have three acres of land with potatoes, you don’t have the space for them. We are not even mentioning how you are going to explain to Gu Wen Zhu if you have so many potatoes popping out suddenly.” 

Xia Yi, after some thoughts, smirked, “Don’t I have a system space? You put them there for me.” 

179 oppressed the rising annoyance and did what it was told to do. 

After some time, System’s voice echoed in Xia Yi’s mind, “Host, your five tons of potatoes have been stored into the system space.” 

Xia Yi folded hands towards nothing, “Thanks.” 

The voice of System rang again, “Host, since you have completed the first mission distributed by the system, a.k.a. starter mission, and had claimed the reward. Now, cultivation system 179 will announce the second mission.” 

“Mission description: Achieve Foundation Establishment Stage, and get a spirit animal.   

Completion 0/2  

Award 1 Foundation Establishment Pack.” 

Xia Yi: … 

“What is the corresponding farming mission this time?” Xia Yi asked. 

“Farm ten acres of land of onions and fennel.” 179 said. 

“I want a cheat.” Xia Yi said. 

System was about to turn him down, but Xia Yi continued, “Compensation, complaints, rankings.” 

System, “25 points of land.” 

Xia Yi, “Deal.” 

At the first glimmer of dawn, Gu Wen Zhu was already in the kitchen cooking breakfast. When Xia Yi had finished washing up, there were one big bowl of porridge and a small basket of flapjacks on the table. 

Xia Yi, having crammed down a few flapjacks, sat himself in the carriage that Gu Wen Zhu had prepared. The carriage was borrowed from old Zhang from the village. It was stuffed with Xia Yi’s potatoes. As Gu Wen Zhu started whipping, the carriage began to head towards the city. 

There was around twenty miles of land between the village and the city. By the time the sun had reached the top of the sky, the carriage had entered the city. 

Since Xia Yi arrived in this world, there were always mountains and farmlands. This was the first time he had come to such a crowded place. He eyed everything with curiosity, looking around. Although it was a city, to Xia Yi, it was just a little larger than a town in his homeland. Nevertheless, the street was bustling, all kinds of peddlers shouted with loud voices, making the scene very lively. 

The carriage came to a small tea booth, Gu Wen Zhu stopped the carriage and helped Xia Yi down. He said, ”You stay here and wait for me, I am moving the carriage to a nearby military camp. I know someone from their purchasing department. I sell food to him directly every time.” 

Knowing that Gu Wen Zhu was going to continue making remarks, Xia Yi promptly said, “You can just go and do your thing. I’ll wait here. I’m not going anywhere.” 

Gu Wen Zhu said a few things to the owner of the tea booth, then left some coins and went away with the carriage. 

Xia Yi sat in the tea booth with a bowl of tea in front of him, observing his surroundings. 

“179, there, that place called the House of the Golden Phoenix. Scan it. Is it the mythical brothel?” 

“Host, that’s a restaurant.” 

“Oh… That place there, named the Tipsy Resting House. That should be a restaurant as well.” 

“Host, that’s a bookstore.” 

“…I see. 179, that one on the west, with the name Pine and Bamboo, the front door looked modest and elegant, that should be a school for students to study.” 

“Host, that’s a brothel.” 

Xia Yi: … 

What’s going on with these people in ancient times?