EBE Chapter 28 Miraculous Plants
Chapter 28 Miraculous Plants
After spending some time on the terrace, Lezhi and Leyou returned to the first floor at Maoqiu's urging. They had traveled for so long, and Maoqiu must be hungry.
Urged on by Maoqiu, Lezhi's excitement about having a new home had subsided, and her stomach started rumbling.
"Haha, I bet you guys are starving. Come with me, our first meal today is at my place, it's on me." Leyou patted his chest, making it clear that it was a done deal and there was no room for refusal.
This touched Lezhi, who had initially intended to refuse. She hesitated for a moment, then felt a warmth in her heart and nodded in agreement. Leyou's house was right next to Lezhi's new home, so they reached their destination in just a few steps.
Leyou stepped forward, opened the door, and invited Lezhi into his home, saying, "This is my home, come in quickly."
Compared to the refined design of Lezhi's home, Leyou's style is much more rugged. The furniture is roughly carved, and there's a kitchen with a fireplace and a simple worktop; the living room and kitchen are combined into one space without a clear distinction. Looking further inside, Lezhi can even see an unobstructed hammock, presumably where Leyou rests.
If I remember correctly, when I first came here, I saw that the vines in Leyou's house took up quite a lot of space, but once I came in, the space wasn't as big as I had imagined.
Hearing Lezhi's question, Leyou smiled and said, "What's so strange about that? Although we plant house vines to build houses, they are still plants, and it's their nature to want to grow freely. It is said that house vines can grow indefinitely as long as they have enough energy. However, we don't need that much space, so the clan leader limited the area for each clan member from the beginning, otherwise the clan would have been filled with these house vines long ago."
"Oh……"
Having satisfied her curiosity, Lezhi watched as Leyou deftly took out a flint and lit a fire in the fireplace. Lezhi curiously peered into the fireplace and saw the dark ventilation opening inside.
It seems everyone is quite professional, knowing to pay attention to smoke ventilation when lighting a fire indoors. "By the way, Leyou, isn't the Wood Vine afraid of fire?" Lezhi suddenly thought that since they all live inside vines, plants should be afraid of fire. The Wood Vine didn't even throw the tree spirits out. Is it that loving? It's going against nature.
"Don't be afraid, otherwise guess why it's called house rattan. Try the texture of house rattan, doesn't it look nothing like a plant?"
Following Leyou's suggestion, Lezhi went to the wall and carefully felt the texture beneath his hands, a look of surprise flashing through his mind. Indeed, if he hadn't been told beforehand that it was a plant, Lezhi would definitely have thought it was some kind of mineral based on the feel.
At this moment, Leyou approached Lezhi with a dagger and, right in front of him, stabbed the wall hard. With a "clang," Lezhi seemed to see sparks flying from the metal. Leyou smiled and pointed to the wall he had just attacked, "See? There's not a single mark left."
"Wow, really, that's amazing." After carefully examining the wall and even touching it, Leyou's attack did not cause any damage to Wumu Teng.
"Yes, that's another reason why we tree spirits choose to use house rattan to build houses. Not only can the interior space be changed according to the owner's wishes, but the material is also incredibly hard, resistant to fire and water, because it automatically generates ventilation holes. It's simply the most perfect material for building houses."
As she spoke, Leyou returned to the fireplace, took out the insect meat from her spatial storage, and turned on a switch that Lezhi hadn't noticed before. A pipe-like opening appeared in the wall, and clear water began to flow out.
"This is..." Lezhi stared wide-eyed at the strange water tap in this strange world, like a country bumpkin, and exclaimed in surprise.
"Um, a water pipe. Why are you making that face? I saw you had one at your house before."
Reminded by Leyou, Lezhi finally realized that its new home also had various water pipes by default, but it hadn't subconsciously noticed anything wrong with it at the time, and Leyou hadn't raised any objections.
Scratching his head sheepishly, Lezhi realized he couldn't underestimate the lifestyle of the tree spirits. After all, they were an intelligent race with their own civilization. Although they seemed to have developed into a primitive society, they simply hadn't developed industry. This didn't mean they lacked technology; it just meant they were on a different path. The tree spirits seemed to rely more on the plants and animals of this world for every aspect of their lives.
Perhaps because they were born of nature, they naturally chose to coexist with nature.
Reminding herself not to overreact, Lezhi watched as Leyou washed the meat and then began washing a brownish fruit and some green leafy vegetables. Thinking of something, Lezhi quickly took out the meat from her space and handed it to Leyou.
"Leyou, here you go, do these too."
"Hey, what are you doing? Put it away quickly. I promised to treat you, how can I let a little kid like you take out meat?"
Startled by Lezhi's actions, Leyou quickly waved his hand, unwilling to accept it.
"No, this is Maoqiu's food. You're so kind to treat me, and as someone who's just here to freeload, it's only right that I bring a small gift. Besides, Maoqiu has a big appetite, so if you don't accept it, Maoqiu and I will feel embarrassed to eat here."
Upon hearing that this was Maoqiu's share, Leyou paused in her refusal. Looking at Maoqiu, who had been obediently perched on Lezhi's shoulder, she lost her temper and stopped refusing.
"Sigh, okay then, but doesn't Maoqiu eat raw meat?" Leyou looked at Maoqiu suspiciously, wondering if Lezhi was just using Maoqiu as an excuse to get her to accept the pile of meat.
Yes, a whole bunch of meat. After seeing that Leyou's attitude had softened, Lezhi took out almost two-thirds of his inventory. Seeing that Lezhi hadn't stopped, Leyou quickly reached out to stop him.
"Alright, alright, how much more do you want? Can Furball eat all of this?"
Lezhi blinked as Leyou held down her hand that was pulling out meat. She looked at the meat that almost filled most of the worktable, and then at the little meat left in the space. She felt that it was about time, so she stopped.
"It should be possible, but he seems to prefer my cooking, so I'll come and help out. I used to grill meat for him when we were in the woods."
Seeing that Lezhi volunteered to help, Leyou's eyes flickered and his eyebrows rose slightly. "Okay, if you want to grill meat, I'll go outside and light a fire pit. Just tell me what you need."
Leyou's kitchenware was fairly complete, with a pot, a large spoon, a ladle, and a fork. He lived alone and usually cooked mostly roasted meat, occasionally roasting some rock fruit. Cooking meat broth with vegetables was considered a high-class cooking method, and he rarely cooked it himself. He was only preparing to show off his skills today because Lezhi came over.
The stone fruit was the brownish fruit that Leyou had just washed. Lezhi knew it was a kind of food as soon as he touched it. After Leyou explained how to eat it, he learned that this stone fruit was a tuber full of starch, and he immediately had an idea.
"Well, besides grilled meat, let me make something else. I have some seasonings here, you can try them." Lezhi took out the last two stalks of scallion-flavored moss from her spatial storage and showed them to Leyou.
"Hey, isn't this just chili leaves? This tastes weird. Are you sure you want to use it for cooking?"
"You know this? It tastes a little strange on its own, but it's delicious when cooked with meat. By the way, what else do you have here? Tell me about it, and I'll see how to cook it."
Raising an eyebrow, Leyou, intrigued, then introduced Lezhi to the edible ingredients her family currently possessed. Salt was the most basic ingredient, and Lezhi also tasted the freshly washed leafy greens. It was a vegetable, which Leyou said was called lamb's quarters, one of their most common green vegetables, found everywhere outside.
Next came the most delightful surprise: a variety of fruits. Leyou loved fruit, so he brought out all sorts of berries, so many that the table was almost overflowing. Most of them were sweet berries, but Leyou highlighted one in particular: "...This is a sour berry. Others don't like it, but I really like it. Try it; although it's very sour, it has a wonderful aftertaste."
Of course Lezhi knew. He felt the familiar sour taste spreading in his mouth, and his face scrunched up. This... wasn't this just a lemon from another world?