Chapter 99

Chapter 99

Hearing this, Fifth Grandpa seemed quite disappointed. He uttered an "oh" and slowly bowed his head, gently resting it on Chen Ji’s leg. Chen Ji casually stroked his smooth back, only realizing afterward that the texture felt off—Fifth Grandpa had turned human, so how could he still be petted like this?

My apologies, my apologies.

He hadn’t meant to take advantage of Fifth Grandpa.

Chen Ji promptly supported Fifth Grandpa’s head and moved it aside. “But I can start preparing it right now.”

Under the sunlight, Fifth Grandpa’s dark golden eyes seemed to suddenly light up with vitality. Their metallic, inorganic hue gave him a beauty that felt distinctly non-human. Chen Ji, being as human as anyone, couldn't help but stare a moment longer, his tone softening further. “What would Fifth Grandpa like to eat? Let me check if I brought it. If not, I can have the family send it over by drone, alright?”

Chen Ji paused, then laughed wryly. “We really don’t have that at home… but I brought some prepared quail eggs. Would you like to try them, Fifth Grandpa?”

He pulled a small vacuum-sealed pack of marinated quail eggs from his pocket and handed it to Fifth Grandpa. Fifth Grandpa leaned in, lowering his head to sniff at Chen Ji’s palm, pressing half his face into it. The cold breath brushed against Chen Ji’s skin, causing a slight, peculiar discomfort.

Xiangxiang’s breath wasn’t like this—her breath was warm and clean. Whether in human or tiger form, her exhales carried no strange odor. She was like an imperial engine, purring loudly, making one want to plant a big kiss on her and give her a good rub.

In comparison, Fifth Grandpa wasn’t nearly as cute.

Fifth Grandpa parted his lips, plucked the quail egg from Chen Ji’s palm, chewed a couple of times, then looked at Chen Ji, his eyes full of confusion. “Not tasty… no flavor…”

Chen Ji suddenly felt a pang of guilt, as if he were bullying an innocent. He tore open the packaging and brought the quail egg to Fifth Grandpa’s lips, speaking softly, “Fifth Grandpa, come, open up~”

Fifth Grandpa obediently opened his mouth. Chen Ji popped the quail egg in. After a couple of chews, Fifth Grandpa squinted with pleasure. “Tasty… crunchy…”

Chen Ji smiled too, feeding him the remaining two quail eggs. Then he took out the last pack, peeled them, and placed them in Fifth Grandpa’s hand, signaling for him to eat on his own. Seeing Fifth Grandpa start eating slowly and carefully, Chen Ji felt reassured and went to prepare lunch.

He rummaged through his bamboo basket. He’d been so focused on gathering mushrooms today—they’d be delicious stir-fried or perfect for hot pot… Chen Ji mentally ran through recipe ideas as he picked out the choicest mushrooms, eventually deciding to call for backup.

[Xiao Ba! Pack me a hot pot setup, some charcoal, and a few boxes of fatty beef and meatballs.]

System Cat: [Roger that! Drone delivery, or shall I come?]

[You can come along with the drone.] Chen Ji blinked and asked Fifth Grandpa, “Fifth Grandpa, are there any tasty wild vegetables around here?”

Fifth Grandpa was enjoying his snack. Hearing this, a snake’s tail tip emerged from under his robe and pointed to Chen Ji’s right rear. Chen Ji understood immediately. After thanking him, he headed that way, remembering to call out to Liu Datie, “I’m going to pick some wild vegetables. You only need to dig up four bamboo shoots—don’t take too many, we can’t carry them back.”

Liu Datie, busy working up a sweat in the bamboo grove, called back, “Okay—!”

Following the direction of Fifth Grandpa’s tail, Chen Ji found a patch of "horseshoe basket" wild vegetables at the edge of the bamboo forest. This type of vegetable wasn’t common, but whenever you found it, it grew in large clusters. Chen Ji hadn’t eaten it many times, but he vaguely remembered it was delicious when used to wrap meat. He only picked the tenderest leaves from the top. As the stems snapped, a unique, slightly pungent scent filled the air… Hmm, a bit like pepper.

By the time Chen Ji had filled a pouch with the vegetables, Liu Datie emerged carrying five bamboo shoots. Chen Ji glanced at him. Liu Datie said with a silly cheerfulness, “No problem! If we can’t finish them, we can give them to Fifth Grandpa~!”

He proudly showed off the thigh-thick, at least five or six jin (about 5-6 pounds) heavy Sweet Dragon Bamboo shoots in front of the camera.

{Aren’t snakes carnivores?! Can it eat bamboo shoots?}

{I can’t even imagine that scene… feels a bit like animal abuse!}

{Liu Datie, I think you’ve got a death wish! Fifth Grandpa is a Category II protected species!}

Liu Datie noticed the comments and said with a laugh, “It’s fine! I’ll just cut them into thin strips for Fifth Grandpa! I’m not gonna force-feed him! I wouldn’t dare!”

Fifth Grandpa’s gaze turned deep and steady, fixed on Liu Datie.

Liu Datie, completely unaware, looked around. “Where’s Fifth Grandpa? Did he leave?”

Chen Ji: “No, Fifth Grandpa probably went off to sunbathe.”

Chen Ji walked to the side and picked up Fifth Grandpa, who had returned to his original form. There were still crumbs of quail egg yolk around Fifth Grandpa’s mouth. Chen Ji wiped it off with a tissue, then casually tossed both the tissue and Fifth Grandpa into the bamboo basket on his back.

“...” Liu Datie watched this scene, holding back for a long time before finally saying, “Fifth Grandpa has such a good temper.”

He didn’t even get angry after being thrown around like that.

Chen Ji smiled without replying and led the way back. After about ten minutes, Liu Datie started struggling, groaning, “Bro! Bro, give me a hand!”

Chen Ji turned back and took three of the Sweet Dragon Bamboo shoots from him. Liu Datie sighed in relief, clasping his hands together in a gesture of thanks. After walking a bit further, they reached the flat platform. Seeing the green, grassy meadow and the babbling stream, Liu Datie plopped down on the ground. “Ah… so tired…”

“I’ll handle lunch.” Chen Ji set down his basket, glanced back, and said, “Go sit in the sun.”

Liu Datie: “Huh?”

He was really hot right now; he just wanted to cool off.

If he weren’t afraid of snakes or leeches in the stream, he’d have dashed in to lie down.

Chen Ji took the selected mushrooms from his basket to wash them in the stream, casually setting a small trap. “You’re sweaty. The mountain wind could make you sick. Go sit in the sun. If it’s too much, just lie down.”

For some reason, Liu Datie trusted Chen Ji implicitly. Though reluctant, he moved to sit cross-legged in the sun, idly chatting with the live stream audience. Strangely, at first he felt stuffy and hot, but within five minutes the stuffiness faded, as if all his pores had opened up. When the cool mountain breeze blew, it felt incredibly refreshing.

Unconsciously, he lay down, resting his head on his arms with the camera right in front of him. He grew drowsy, his eyelids fluttering, and from the live stream’s perspective, it looked like he was rolling his eyes, which was particularly funny.

The entire live stream chat erupted in laughter at Liu Datie.

{I no longer suspect the brother is following a script; I suspect Liu Datie was the scripted one before.}

{His stamina is so bad! Look, the brother is still busy!}

{Liu Datie dug up a lot of bamboo shoots! That’s tiring.}

{To be fair, Liu Datie did most of the work along the way; the brother just watched.}

{Obviously, the brother deliberately left the work for Liu Datie to have fun with.}

{Wait, is Liu Datie really asleep?}

Suddenly, a noise caught the audience’s attention. Peering through the gaps not blocked by Liu Datie’s head, they saw a drone approaching in the distance. Chen Ji, who had been washing vegetables by the stream, stepped into the camera’s view, looking up at the sky.

{Ahhh?! A drone too?! This brother’s life is so exciting!}

{Can anyone see what the drone is delivering?!}

{Damn it, if Liu Datie wants to sleep, why does he have to block the camera?!}

System Cat operated the drone’s descent—a simple task for it, requiring no learning curve. Chen Ji had granted it access to the drone’s control system, allowing it direct entry.

Suddenly, Liu Datie moved his arm, knocking over the live stream phone and its stand. The camera tilted, and without Liu Datie blocking the view, what Chen Ji was doing became completely visible.

Beneath the drone hung a basket containing what looked like a pot, along with packaged vegetables, meat, and other ingredients. Squeezed among the piled-up food was a large orange-and-white cat wearing goggles, looking immensely proud.

{YOOOO—! So cute!!!}

{You can use drones like this?!}

{The cat is riding a drone to save the day!}

Chen Ji waited for the drone to land before stepping forward to scoop up System Cat: "What are you doing here?"

[Didn’t you ask me to come?!] System Cat was covered in question marks.

Chen Ji: "[Just acting for the live stream.]"

System Cat understood instantly. It deftly flipped over and leaped out of Chen Ji's arms, landed on a rock, and lay still. Chen Ji went about his usual routine, bringing out all kinds of ingredients.

{Bro's planning to make hotpot?!}

{How come there’s so much food?! Damn it, how come they eat this well deep in the mountains! This isn’t scientific!}

{On the contrary, it’s perfectly scientific.}

Chen Ji got busy. Fortunately, many items were ready-to-use; the only tricky part was setting up a campfire. But System Cat was clever and had brought plenty of fuel. After Chen Ji started the fire, he took the pot to the stream to scoop up some water, tossed the soup base into the pot, and began tearing open boxes of ingredients one by one.

The live-stream audience watched Chen Ji work alone.

{Bro, he’s really efficient…}

{He gives off such a husband material vibe!}

{I want a bro like him too!}

As they were chatting, someone suddenly commented: {There seems to be a white animal on the opposite bank… Is it just me?}

{I saw it too… Maybe a rabbit jumping? White animals are pretty rare.}

{Wild rabbits aren’t usually white, except for snow hares.}

Just as everyone speculated, the comments suddenly paused in unison, then messages popped up one after another:

{Holy crap! Da Tie! Brother! Run!}

{Holy shit! Run!!!}

From the woods emerged the white animal that had sparked the discussion—a huge white tiger, stepping gracefully and elegantly to the streamside to drink. After a few sips, it lifted its head and looked in the direction of Chen Ji and Da Tie, then began to walk toward them.

{Run!!! How can there be a tiger here?!}

{Help! Would calling the police even help?!}

{Bro, is he stupid?! How hasn’t he noticed such a huge tiger?!}

The closer the white tiger got to Chen Ji, the lower it crouched—a clear hunting stance to anyone familiar with wildlife. Suddenly, Chen Ji turned around and saw the tiger.

{It’s over… feels like at least one will die today…}

Chen Ji looked at the white tiger. The tiger slowly returned to a normal standing posture, looking both aloof and proud, its gaze cold as it stared at Chen Ji.

Chen Ji: "Xiangxiang, come here!"