Chapter 125

Chapter 125: Still an Ordinary Day at Home

When Ji Huan woke up the next morning, he was unusually lost in thought as he lay in bed.

He was still pondering over that "dream," more precisely, the monster in it.

The sun outside the window gradually rose, casting sunlight through the uncovered glass, and Ji Huan's eyes gradually cleared.

Gently sitting up, he glanced at the little monster sleeping soundly beside him, his hand tightly clasped.

Pulling away his hand, Ji Huan stroked the soft fur on the little monster's head. "You've had a tough time too."

As if sensing something, the little monster lifted his head slightly. Feeling his entire head enveloped by his uncle's palm, he settled back to sleep contentedly.

Ji Huan smiled, tucking the blanket over the little monster. He got out of bed, walked to the cabinet, picked up his phone, and set a new alarm. After that, he placed the phone at the foot of the bed before leaving the bedroom.

He headed straight for his vegetable garden. The dewy scent of the lush green plants filled the air. In dry Ye Falar, the high humidity at Ji Huan's home was incredibly precious. Taking a deep breath, he stretched his body before walking towards the well. Stripping off his clothes, he stood in the courtyard, refreshing himself with a cold water shower.

His fair skin promptly developed goosebumps from the chill, but this quickly dispelled the lingering fear from the dream, like dew evaporating under the sun.

Only a faint, indistinct silhouette of the monster remained, yet it was an image that could never be erased from memory.

"Oink! Oink!" As Ji Huan was charging about, he heard two pig grunts. Glancing in the direction of the pigsty, he saw, as expected, that Big Bai had awoken.

Upon seeing its owner after several days, Big Bai was equally ecstatic.

Pulling up his shorts, Ji Huan, bare-chested, waved at the pig. "Big Bai, come here."

And true to its nature, Big Bai joyfully leaped out of the pen.

Swiftly finding their usual bathing spot and preparing it, the creature even called out behind it. In no time, the three-headed lady Ailuo Ka emerged as well.

Using a large basin, Ji Huan scooped up the tepid water from yesterday's spring and began bathing the two pigs.

After the bath, neither pig returned to the sty but instead grazed on some food in the garden, fertilizing it in the process. Allowing them to roam freely, Ji Huan stayed busy, following the pair and inspecting the growth of the vegetables.

Perhaps due to the diligent care of the Ji family, weeds had begun to sprout in the garden.

In Ye Falar, where most land barely supported any vegetation, this was an extremely rare occurrence. Ji Huan didn't bother pulling them out, allowing the weeds to grow in the garden, providing Big Bai and company with a change in diet. He also left the grass seeds untouched, knowing that the chickens at home would feast on them.

Owing to their chicken-rearing, Ji Huan rummaged through the vegetable leaves for quite a while but failed to spot any insects.

After picking the two largest cabbages, he turned and entered the kitchen.

"Little Hua, why didn't you sleep in more? Aren't you off work today?" Grandpa had just come down from upstairs, dressed in a tattered old man's shirt. His attire was increasingly resembling that of a native Ye Falar resident.

Completely different from when they were in Badu Town, Grandpa now slept a lot every day, almost more than Ji Huan himself, second only to Hei Dan.

It could be justified during his initial recovery from severe injuries, but even after he was fully healed, he still remained this way, making Grandpa a little embarrassed.

The house had only one alarm clock – Ji Huan's mobile phone, whose alarm function was under Hei Dan's control. As a result, Grandpa had to rely on the family's lone rooster.

But unfortunately—

The chickens at Ji Huan's place never crowed.

Ji Huan and Grandpa had analyzed the situation: probably, these chickens instinctively knew that they were in a high-risk area, so they behaved exceptionally well every day, staying in the yard without any worry of them flying away → Indeed, the chickens in Ji Huan's household possessed remarkable flight abilities, far surpassing ordinary chickens. Though they couldn't soar through the air, they could certainly flutter out of the yard.

"I wake up when it's time," Ji Huan said, placing the two cabbages on the cutting board. Grandpa took them over and began washing them.

"Shall we have noodles for breakfast?" Grandpa asked. "I'll braise those hooves as well. Without a pressure cooker, it'll take a whole day!"

"But they taste so much better that way," Ji Huan responded.

With a cheerful mood, Grandpa pulled out an enormous basin full of various hooves and hindquarters from the fridge, a quantity that surprised Ji Huan.

"There's so much!"

"Well, Big Bai's mate goes hunting with me every day! Not only does she provide for herself, but she also shares half of her catch with Big Bai daily. That girl is incredibly capable!"

Ji Huan: ...

No wonder Big Bai was looking more plump and radiant.

Picking through the hooves in the basin one by one, Ji Huan deftly removed their hair and, in some cases, found ways to dispose of the tough nails. Some of these... were hardly recognizable as hooves anymore, taking on all sorts of bizarre shapes. An ordinary person might have lost their appetite at the sight, but Ji Huan remained unperturbed.

While Ji Huan dealt with the magical beast hooves, Grandpa started preparing the dough for the noodles.

Grandpa wasn't skilled in cooking, but he excelled in making various types of bread, especially noodles – he was a master at rolling them out!

Ever since Ji Huan was a child, Grandfather would always prepare a large bowl of longevity noodles for his birthday. The noodles were long and incredibly chewy.

This was mainly because Grandfather had the strength and was willing to spend extra time kneading the dough, resulting in naturally delicious noodles.

But after Grandfather's health began to decline, Ji Huan no longer allowed him to make them. In Badu Town, it was due to Grandfather's health concerns, while here, it was due to the lack of ingredients.

From the bone pit, Ji Huan had managed to retrieve grains that could be ground into flour, albeit in very small quantities. Yesterday, Ji Huan was slightly surprised when he heard Grandfather mention making noodles. However, when he saw Grandfather mysteriously pull out a large bag of light yellow flour from a low cabinet, Ji Huan was stunned.

"After digging through hundreds of bone pits, I finally gathered enough," Grandfather said. "Little Hua loves eating noodles the most."

With a slight pursing of his lips, Ji Huan softly acknowledged with an "Mm."

Seeing his grandson's expression, Grandfather felt even happier. He rushed to Ji Huan's room to spend some time with him. When he reemerged from the house, he had transformed into a towering, majestic ram-like monster, wearing nothing but a large pair of shorts.

Roaring to signal his grandson to tie an apron around him, Grandfather started preparing the dough.

Alright, the key reason why Grandfather's noodles tasted better than others: He kneaded the dough in his original form.

In both height and strength, he surpassed his human form, all the while humming a little tune.

Ji Huan glanced in the direction of his grandfather: the white scales appeared almost transparent, with the black ones underneath regrowing. In time, the white scales would undoubtedly be pushed out entirely by the black ones.

More noticeable than the transformation of the scales was the change in Grandfather's fur. → After these days of recuperation, the previously grayish-white hair had completely turned black.

Seeing these changes in his grandfather, Ji Huan was thoroughly reassured.

With an apron around his waist and wearing loose shorts, Grandfather reminded Ji Huan of numerous small details:

This was back when his sister was still around.

"Grandfather, there's a really long hair in my noodles," said the twin-tailed little girl, who had been happily slurping her noodles. But as she ate, she pulled out a long strand from her mouth.

It was black, resembling a long strand of hair.

Then Little Hua, displeased, came to Grandfather's defense, "Such a long one must be yours. You're the only one in the house with long hair, tied up in braids."

After throwing away the black hair, Little Hei continued devouring his noodles.

Grandfather chuckled on the side.

Grandfather must have kneaded the dough in his beast form, inevitably shedding his lush fur in the process.

Ji Huan recalled a time when he was worried that Little Hei might go bald in the future, as they would always find a heap of hair while cleaning every day.

Little Hei had looked utterly speechless back then.

However, after she started working outside, she sent home plenty of walnuts and black sesame paste, urging Grandfather to consume them daily as part of his meals.

"I'll work hard and earn lots of money one day, so I can buy our mountain," was a phrase Little Hei often spoke of in her childhood. Though she didn't utter it frequently as she grew up, she worked tirelessly to accumulate wealth. In fact, before she left, Little Hei was the pillar of support for the Ji family.

Ji Huan was rather introverted and reluctant to speak when he was young, giving off an impression of being gloomy. Due to his personality, he was often bullied in his childhood. Every time, it was Little Hei who came to his rescue.

Little Hei...

Ji Huan was reminiscing about the past.

If Little Hei were here now, if Brother-in-law were here now, they would probably be doing just fine, wouldn't they?

"Little Hua loves noodles the most, while Little Hei adores pig's feet. Together, they make pig's feet noodles!" Originally, it was supposed to be pig's feet noodle soup, but Grandfather creatively altered it. He loved both his grandson and granddaughter equally, so he found a way to satisfy their preferences.

In the kitchen, only Grandpa's humming filled the air.

After a while, the alarm on the phone in the bedroom rang. The sound soon ceased, and Ji Huan hastily washed his hands before entering. True to his expectation, Black Egg was already up and about on the large bed.

With his tiny arms stretched out, Black Egg greeted his uncle with a four-toothed smile.

After washing his face, brushing his teeth, applying fragrance, and combing his hair into little pigtails, Ji Huan efficiently got Black Egg ready. Since he was so young and couldn't be left alone, Ji Huan placed him on the dining table, putting the books Black Egg often read within reach. The obedient child sat at the table, engrossed in his reading. Not only did he read, but he also vocalized the words he recognized.

Consequently, the kitchen was continuously filled with the innocent voice of the little one.

During this time, Ji Huan started simmering various pork trotters.

By noon, a delectable aroma wafted from the pots, and Grandpa fetched more eggs from the basket.

"Let's boil some eggs too, Black Egg loves them."

Pork knuckles were Little Hei's favorite, while noodles were Little Hua's delight. Now that Black Egg was part of the family, his preferred dish was also added to the stew.

Including all the dishes that his grandsons adored, Grandpa's signature menu was simplicity itself.

Ji Huan was initially taken aback before he chuckled. "Then let's stew some pork butt as well. Grandpa loves it."

That night, Ji Huan had noodles after a long time.

Hei Dan also tasted the tender stewed trotters. The little monster's eyes sparkled; usually not fond of meat, the creature surprisingly enjoyed the trotters.

However, he also loved noodles and devoured a small bowl in one go.

The steamed egg was his favorite, as evidenced by how preciously he only ate one.

The next day, Ji Huan packed a bag of braised trotters, a bag of freshly rolled noodles from Grandpa, and a bowl of steamed eggs before heading back to work.