Chapter 24 Consoling the Soul
When he returned home, the sky was already dark.
Wang Chen passed by his home's entrance but did not go in; instead, he took a hoe out of his Storage Bag right away.
He started clearing the weeds in the Spirit Fields.
These weeds were more resilient than stock investors in the A-share market; he had just weeded them yesterday, and a good amount had grown back in just one day.
Fortunately, he rented a small number of Spirit Fields, and he had become completely familiar with farming.
So, after working hard under the stars and moon, he finally got it all done.
In the end, he didn't forget to water the fields.
By the time the hungry Wang Chen really got home, it was well past the hour of the Dog.
"Squeak, squeak!"
A large white rat was squatting on the table and immediately stood up and squeaked twice upon seeing him.
The squeaks carried a hint of grievance!
"Ah!"
Wang Chen smacked his forehead, "Bai, I'm sorry."
He had forgotten he had a rat at home waiting to be fed!
The large white rat sniffled and turned its head as if making a silent accusation.
Talking about how as long as you have something to eat, you'll never let me go hungry.
Liar, all liars!
Wang Chen rubbed his hands apologetically and petted the white rat, "Don't be mad, Bai. I'll make a feast tonight!"
He went to the kitchen and took out a large piece of beast meat to put on the chopping board, then started pounding it with a wooden stick.
The flesh of monster beasts had very little fat, was tough and fibrous, and contained a lot of sinew.
Pounding it repeatedly to break down the muscle fibers significantly improved the texture.
When he felt it was about right, he put it in a bowl for marinating with soy sauce and spices.
Next, Wang Chen took out the parts he had custom-ordered from the blacksmith, and began assembling the rice mill.
The rice mill consisted of the casing, roller, rice cutter, processing bucket, and rice sieve. Due to limited manufacturing technology, an electric motor was replaced with a hand crank and the structure was simplified.
The assembly was also straightforward.
It had to be said, the craftsmanship of the Hammer Master was superb.
All the parts, including the casing, were forged from Refined Black Iron and processed beautifully.
The precision was completely up to standard.
Wang Chen had personally seen the artisan resolve the issues he pointed out perfectly with just a few cuts on the metal parts with a small knife.
The efficiency was impressive!
After the rice mill was assembled, Wang Chen couldn't wait to pour Spirit Valley into the hopper.
He started hand-cranking the rice mill.
This rice mill could process the valley into rice in one go while separating the rice from the bran.
Under the constant rotation of the roller, the Spirit Valley was coarsely processed through the helical teeth on the roller.
The white grains of Spirit Rice then fell to the outlet.
The bran sifted through the sieve and was expelled from underneath the casing.
Success!
Looking at the grains of White Jade Rice falling into the big bowl, Wang Chen couldn't help but smile.
Though the efficiency of hand-cranking the rice mill wasn't high,
it was more than ten times better than grinding rice with a stone mortar.
He used the rice mill only to satisfy his own needs, not running a milling workshop, so he didn't need great speed.
It felt as if his quality of life had improved because of this!
After milling enough Spirit Rice for the meal, Wang Chen made a fire to cook rice.
He then wrapped the beast meat, which had been marinating quite well, in large leaves and tied it with twine.
Lastly, he coated it with water and yellow clay before stuffing it into the stove for braising.
"Squeak, squeak."
The large white rat jumped beside Wang Chen, staring blankly at the glowing fire.
Sitting in front of the stove, Wang Chen reached out to pick it up and place it on his lap for a cuddle.
Bai was a very clean Spirit Mouse; there was not a speck of dirt on it, nor any odor.
Wang Chen didn't regard this perceptive Spirit Mouse as just a pet,
it was more like a family member to Wang Chen!
In this world where he knew no one, with its company, Wang Chen didn't feel so alone.
The large white rat really enjoyed Wang Chen's strokes, wagging its tail contentedly.
Full of curiosity, Wang Chen asked, "Bai, where did your husband run off to? You guys didn't get a divorce, did you?"
He hadn't seen the Brocade Fur Rat for several days.
However, judging by Bai's usual appearance, nothing serious should have happened.
"Squeak squeak!"
Bai called out twice as a response.
Regrettably, Wang Chen did not understand mouse language.
The Monster Race can be divided into categories such as Monster Transformation, Spirit Monster, Great Monster, Demon King, Monster Monarch...
Above them are the Heavenly Monster and Monster God.
Bai was obviously among those that could transform, it would need to eliminate the bone in its throat to be able to speak the human language.
That would be a true Spirit Monster!
Wang Chen had no expectations of being able to communicate normally with Bai.
He was just looking for a topic to chat about.
When the fragrance of the rice in the iron pot started to mix with a hint of burnt aroma, Wang Chen extinguished the stove fire.
He then took out the "beggar's Monster Beast meat" that was stuffed in the stove compartment.
After smashing the hot, hard clay shell, a strong smell of meat immediately surged out!
Bai, squatting next to Wang Chen, almost cried from drooling.
Wang Chen happily placed the roast meat on the table and scooped two bowls of fragrant rice.
The large sea bowl was his, and the small bowl for Bai.
Of course, Wang Chen did not forget to add the sliced roast meat into Bai's bowl.
"Eat up," he said.
He poked Bai's head with his hand, and the latter immediately devoured the food in the bowl with great gusto.
It was incredibly delicious!
Wang Chen also cut himself a large piece of Monster Beast meat.
He had been eating insect meat every day for a while and was fed up with it.
Now, with a change of taste and the addition of spices for seasoning, he almost swallowed his own tongue!
Wang Chen was very grateful that he had self-taught cooking and manual labor skills for the sake of filming videos in the past.
Now, they all came in handy.
In this strange world without cellphones, computers, and the internet, good food could comfort his soul.
After finishing this hard-earned dinner, the night had already grown deep.
Bai took the rice ball made by Wang Chen back to its nest, and Wang Chen went to the quiet room to practice Qi Cultivation.
Today, having exchanged for the rest of the Five Elements Skill cultivation technique, his daily training had resumed as well.
During the process of moving from the primary tier to the middle tier of Qi Cultivation, Wang Chen opened up a new meridian, so it took him considerably longer to complete one cycle of mana circulation.
His cultivation speed slowed down as a result.
[Five Elements Skill·Experience +1]
[Five Elements Skill (Level 4): 1/400]
Wang Chen completely ignored the message prompts that popped up in his field of vision, focusing wholeheartedly on understanding the essence of the higher-level cultivation technique.
In the many, many years to come, he did not know how many more nights like this he would have to endure.
...
The next morning, the Fixed Sun bell tolls awakened Wang Chen from his sleep.
After getting up and quickly washing up, he made breakfast to fill his stomach and returned to the quiet room for cultivation.
After completing his "morning exercises", he went to work in the Spirit Fields.
He was no longer taking on the job of clearing Earth Rhinoceros Beetles for money.
Therefore, he had to take good care of these ten mu of Spirit Fields; otherwise, if the harvest was affected, it would be troublesome.
"Doggie!"
While Wang Chen was turning over the soil to loosen it for the Spiritual Rice in the fields, Old Sun from the neighboring house appeared again.
"Where were you yesterday?" he asked eagerly. "The Village Chief came to distribute Formation Banners, said to insert them in the Spirit Fields. Today a Purple Mansion Superior is coming to clear away pests. You missed out!"
Wang Chen couldn't understand why the old man was so happy: "My Spirit Fields aren't troubled by Earth Rhinoceros Beetles anymore."
"What if some were missed?"
Old Sun showed a toothy grin: "I got one myself; another round of cleaning would be good too. It's a pity that I couldn't claim on behalf of others, otherwise, I would have helped you get one too."
He looked as if he had scored a great deal.
However, Wang Chen had a feeling that things weren't as simple as they seemed!
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