Fantasy Farm

translator: baumkuchen

The first snow fell at the end of November. 

After two months of preparation, Lu Qingjiu had practically stuffed every corner of his home full of food. He hadn’t even forgotten to ask Zhu Miaomiao to send him a whole lot of his favourite fruit jellies. Zhu Miaomiao had originally wanted to make another visit for the Lantern Festival, but hearing Lu Qingjiu say that Shuifu village would experience large snowfall, blocking up the mountain, she had no choice but to give up on that idea, saying that she would come back to play next year.

The snow floated down from the sky. Overnight, Shuifu village was covered in a coat of silvery-white. The branches of the trees and the ground were entirely covered in blinding white, the whole world having turned into a beautiful pure white.

Lu Qingjiu pulled out a basin of charcoal in the house, then moved Xiao Hua, Xiao Hei, and the little fox’s nests into the house. The three little animals, dressed in the clothes Lu Qingjiu had tailored for them, were collapsed next to the pile of charcoal, lazily warming their bodies. In the summer, the skin of Xiao Hua’s stomach was the most cooling, but when winter arrived, the most popular one became the little fox, especially its pink and tender belly. Yin Xun gave up his Xiao Hua and reached out his demon hands towards the little fox. The little fox was directly stuffed into Yin Xun’s down jacket, so whenever he went out to do stuff, one would occasionally see a confused little fox’s head poke out from the collar of his clothes, before Yin Xun reached out and pressed it back…

When Xiao Hua saw this scene, she angrily scolded Yin Xun for being heartless, saying that clearly, in summer, Yin Xun had promised to always bring him with him, but when the days got colder he actually betrayed him and threw himself into the little fox’s arms. Yin Xun could say nothing in response to this, and could only take on the role of slag man. 

Lu Qingjiu was too lazy to bother about the love and hate between them, letting them do as they wished.

It was cold now, so naturally one wanted to eat something warm. Lu Qingjiu began to make stew often. Stewed chicken, stewed duck and so on would often be served at the dinner table. The most delicious one was still the Conglong meat Bai Yuehu brought back. Skinned Conglong looked exactly the same as a goat from the surface. If one had to pick out a difference, it would be that the Conglong meat was even more fatty and tender. The soup made from stewing the bones would be rich and flavourful. If one drank a big bowl before going out in the morning, their body would instantly warm up. Lu Qingjiu stewed a part of the meat. Paired with sesame paste, fermented tofu and chives, it tasted both delicious and tender, without even a hint of the gaminess of goat meat, very much suiting Lu Qingjiu’s taste.

After it snowed, the temperature began to fall. Lu Qingjiu had no choice but to put on a thick down coat.

Winter was probably the most uncomfortable season for Lu Qingjiu. Shuifu village didn’t have any heating, so the only way to keep warm was to put more charcoal basins in the house. However, it wasn’t very safe to put out too many charcoal basins, because poor ventilation may result in a lot of carbon monoxide being produced, which could be fatal. In order to prevent such a thing from happening, Lu Qingjiu had to open the windows a crack. Even if cold wind poured in from the outside, he still had to maintain the circulation of air indoors. 

It was extremely cold today, so Lu Qingjiu wrapped himself into a ball. His body was on the colder side. It was fine during the summer, but once it entered winter, he couldn’t quite take it. His arms and legs were cold practically all the time, and no matter how he rubbed them, they wouldn’t get warmer.

Because it was going to enter winter soon, Bai Yuehu harvested all the crops that needed to be harvested from the fields, lugging back more than two hundred jin of sweet potatoes. Currently, there really wasn’t enough space in the house to put them, so he simply piled them in the attic, then placed a thick oiled cloth on top to protect them from snow.

No matter how you cooked them, sweet potatoes would always taste food. You could steam them together with rice, and cook them into soft, glutinous sweet potato porridge. Or if you wanted to do something a little more troublesome, you could mix them with flour and make deep-fried sweet potato bing, both were really well-liked.

The method of making sweet potato bing was somewhat similar to making pumpkin bing, in that the sweet potatoes were kneaded together with flour, then pressed into the right shape and placed in a pot of oil and fried at a low temperature. Sweet potato bings made in such a way had a crunchy exterior, while the inside was both soft and sweet. Paired with salted vegetables and fermented tofu, one wouldn’t find them greasy even if they ate a lot. 

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Before it turned completely cold, Lu Qingjiu went back up the mountain with Yin Xun, and picked some wild oranges that hadn’t yet fallen off the trees.

Those orange trees had already lost their leaves, but their branches were filled with golden yellow oranges. Because of the small snowfall the night before, the oranges and the branches were both covered in a thin layer of white snow, giving it a slight picturesque charm. Using a bamboo pole, Lu Qingjiu knocked the oranges down and placed them into the basket on his back. Those oranges were all very sour, but they would be good used for making canned oranges. The canned oranges wouldn’t need to be soaked in water first, when you wanted to eat them, you could just get a spoon, scoop some out, and directly eat it. In the winter where there was a shortage of vitamins, it was a pretty good snack.

Yin Xun tried one. It was so sour that his entire face wrinkled. Seeing him like this, Lu Qingjiu reached out and grabbed one in his hand. 

Yin Xun thought Lu Qingjiu also wanted to try one, and waited to see a good show, but who knew that Lu Qingjiu would just casual shoved the orange into his pocket. He smiled and said, “I’m bringing one back for Bai Yuehu.”

Yin Xun, “…” Lu Qingjiu, you really are terrible.

The two packed up all the oranges, then went back down the mountain and went home. Compared to how it usually was, Shuifu village was a lot quieter in winter. They didn’t see a single villager the whole way back. The village was silent, as if everyone had disappeared overnight. Lu Qingjiu’s nose was red from the cold. He wanted to cover it with his hands, but his hands were also frozen, so he could only give up out of helplessness.

After reaching home using quite a bit of effort, the moment Lu Qingjiu entered the courtyard, he saw Bai Yuehu clearing the ice that had collected on the ground of the courtyard. His head was lowered as he carefully scraped the ice off the stones bit by bit. 

“Yuehu, Yuehu.” Lu Qingjiu ran over. He pulled out the orange in his pocket and handed it over to him. “This is an orange we picked on the mountain, try it.”

Bai Yuehu shot Lu Qingjiu a look. He took the orange, peeled it, and split it into two, then directly shoved a half into his mouth just like always.

Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun stood by the side, watching him curiously, but didn’t see Bai Yuehu’s face change at all. Bai Yuehu asked, “What are you looking at me for?”

“Does it taste good?” Lu Qingjiu asked. 

Bai Yuehu said, “Passable.”

“Is it sour?” Lu Qingjiu was currently starting to doubt Bai Yuehu’s sense of taste.

“Still alright.” Bai Yuehu’s expression was calm. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Seeing that Bai Yuehu wouldn’t give him any of the reaction he’d imagined, Lu Qingjiu was a little disappointed. He said, “Then you just keep sweeping, I’ll go back and manage the oranges.” 

“Go then,” Bai Yuehu said.

Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun turned and entered the house, but what they didn’t notice was that as the two left, Bai Yuehu gently loosened his grip. The spade he had originally been using to deal with the ice fell from his hand. It had actually been crushed into several pieces just like that. Bai Yuehu looked at the spade, then looked at the remaining half of the orange in his hand. He silently walked over to the chicken coop and threw the orange into it.

This was probably the first time the chickens were tasting food shared by Bai Yuehu since they were born…

Lu Qingjiu didn’t know that his sour orange had caused Bai Yuehu tons of damage. In the house, he sliced off the orange skin, then placed them into water, added sugar and boiled it together. After boiling it, he placed them into glass bottles to preserve them. When they ate them they could just directly dig them out with a spoon.

After he finished with the oranges, the sky had  already gone dark. In winter, the day only lasted around nine, ten hours. Dawn came late, and night came early.

Today’s dinner was a pot of soup made from stewing Conglong. The pot was placed above the charcoal fire, bubbling and steaming. Even though there weren’t that many different types of vegetables, only cabbage and bean sprouts, there was more than enough meat, and there were all kinds of flavours. Lu Qingjiu had even braised a chicken. This chicken was one of their home’s fighting chickens. The meat was fresh and tender, and very fatty. After it was braised, with one bite, one could bite off the salty, fragrant, soft and tender meat. When sucking on the bones, they could even taste the unique deliciousness of chicken.

Lu Qingjiu cured up into a ball as he ate the cabbage boiled in the bone soup. It had to be said, the bone soup and cabbages were a perfect match. The cabbage’s taste became fresh and sweet, then, drinking a mouthful of soup, one’s body would turn warm all over. 

In the winter, this dish truly made people feel happy. No need to talk about Bai Yuehu, even Yin Xun shovelled down several more bowls of rice than usual.

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After they were done eating, it was just about nine at night, and it had started snowing slightly outside. Lu Qingjiu asked Yin Xun if he wanted to stay the night at his home. However, Yin Xun shook his head, saying that tonight, he needed to go home.

“The candles in the altar haven’t been replaced. If I don’t go home, the candles in the altar will burn out,” Yin Xun answered like this.

Since it was like that, Lu Qingjiu didn’t try and force him. 

After Yin Xun left, Bai Yuehu tidied up the table, then went to the kitchen to clean the dishes. When he finished up with that and went back to the room, he saw Lu Qingjiu leaning against his chair, taking a nap.

The burning charcoal basin warmed up the room. The light it radiated plated a layer of pale red on Lu Qingjiu’s cheeks. The colour of his lips was slightly more gorgeous than usual. His entire person looked very warm, like the winter sun.

Bai Yuehu didn’t speak. He slowly walked over to Lu Qingjiu’s side. He lowered his head, and his gaze fell on Lu Qingjiu’s lips. They were slightly raised, as if telling Bai Yuehu, the current Lu Qingjiu felt very comfortable. He was intoxicated in the pleasant warmth.

Probably sensing someone walk over to him, Lu Qingjiu’s eyelashes quivered, then he opened his eyes. His black pupils were a little bleary at first, until he saw Bai Yuehu standing by his side, where they then slowly focused. He murmured, his voice soft and still sleepy, “I… Did I fall asleep…” 

Bai Yuehu said, “En.”

“Ah… It’s too comfortable.” Lu Qingjiu shook his head, wanting to wake himself up a little. After eating a rich dinner, then adding the warm temperature in the room, he’d unwittingly fallen asleep.

“Go to your bedroom and sleep,” Bai Yuehu said, “Be careful of falling ill.” Humans were all very weak animals. A single disease could take their life.

“En, alright.” Lu Qingjiu stood up, a yawn still in his mouth. Thinking of something, he said, “Right, I canned the oranges I gave you this afternoon. Should I get some out for you to try?” 

Bai Yuehu’s expression stilled for a moment, but quickly returned to normal. He said, “No need.”

Lu Qingjiu, “Ah?” He was stunned for a moment, slightly unable to react. “You really don’t want any?”

Bai Yuehu said, “No need, I’m full.”