Chapter 104: Watermelon, Plain

Even though clan chief Luo Ji had already taken them to Ansen City to trade for food, during the dry season they only caught a few stray game; they ate the meat, and the skins stored up were useless, so they tanned them and went to Lin Manzhi's house to exchange for edible Meat Jerky.

Even the scorching heat of the dry season saps stamina rapidly while lying still, increasing the need for food to replenish the Spirit Core's energy and water.

Thus, the eight hundred jin of Meat Jerky Lin Manzhi brought back was gradually exchanged for dry‑polished, glossy brown‑red Small Exotic Beast skins.

And the crate of wood they brought back, Mo Lie acted according to Lin Manzhi's directions.

In recent days they crafted a matching set of kitchenware for one‑ or two‑seat use, built a three‑person wooden sofa placed against the wall in the living room, and a wooden tea table for holding things.

The wooden sofa in the living room is just right—neither cold nor hot—so Lin Manzhi left it uncovered; during the day she stays in the stone house, where the temperature is a dozen degrees lower than the sun‑scorched courtyard.

She doesn't need to go out during the day, leisurely growing Lettuce at home, which feels very pleasant for the slow‑living Lin Manzhi.

As time passes, the Lettuce leaves grow increasingly, turning into a verdant, multi‑petaled‑like Lettuce, outside

The glaring white sunlight is blinding, the air above the ground ripples, and not only the Little Female but even the male Beastfolk won't venture out when the sun is overhead.

She can't go outside to dig Sand‑tail Grass Stalk, so Lin Manzhi concentrates on tending the Spiritual Field within her own space.

Mo Lie looks after the Lettuce in the greenhouse; she watches the Lettuce in the space ripen, harvesting four batches a day, together with medicinal plants cultivated in the Ten‑Day Spiritual Field for personal use—this time there are indeed melons.

She chose a beautiful seedless variety of watermelon and planted five; once sown they need no fertilizing, watering, pollination, or labor to prune extra side branches.

In the Spiritual Field the watermelons grow for roughly one hundred real days; on each vine the field automatically selects the fruit, and so far only two dark‑green striped watermelons have emerged.

Lin Manzhi crouches by the watermelon Spiritual Field; in this space she doesn't need to worry, as in modern times, about watermelons exploding or being covered with reeds—ten round, plump watermelons lie on the ground, each tapped, emitting a crisp sound.

She swiftly plucks all ten watermelons, cuts off their vines, replants new ones, and the ten watermelons beside her are brought back into reality.

The watermelons are placed directly on the sand floor of the underground storage house, where they can be kept for over twenty days; Lin Manzhi picks another, hoists the large watermelon, and carries it upstairs.

Reaching the stairwell, Lin Manzhi looks up into the hall.

Mo Lie sits on the wooden sofa, his long legs leisurely spread on the floor, his hand resting on the armrest supporting his head, his slightly curled black hair draped at his neck, his eyelids half‑closed, revealing pupils bluer than the sky outside.

Seeing the male who looks a bit drowsy even in daylight on the sofa, Lin Manzhi's face breaks into a smile.

If Mo Lie were in Beast Form now, he'd be a black leopard leaning on the wooden sofa—what a cute Da Mao Mao!

"Mo Lie, when it's hot we'll eat this."

Mo Lie lazily opens his eyes, turns his head, rests his hand on his pale cheek and says, "Plain."

Very big.

He's seen such a large plain melon in the wild—it's bland and the Little Female usually doesn't like it, but the one Lin Manzhi presented should be extraordinary.

Lin Manzhi watches the male Beastfolk's hand rest on the wooden sofa, and he stands to take the ten‑jin large watermelon from her arms—his face reads "not interested".

This black‑haired male Beastfolk is "unsensitive to sweet" in taste; he barely ate the Strawberry last time.

Now, seeing the summer‑essential thirst‑quenching weapon watermelon, he wears a faint expression, thinking the cuisine here is scarce, and that the meticulously selected improved fruit is unlike the melons naturally gifted here.

Lin Manzhi taps the watermelon rind lightly, producing a crisp "bang‑bang" sound: "This is called watermelon; you cut it in half with a knife, I'll fetch a spoon, each of us will scoop half and eat."

Mo Lie lowers his head, glances at the half watermelon's size, and silently nods.

"It's very thirst‑quenching; the flesh is full of water and seedless," Lin Manzhi says on behalf of the seemingly rejected watermelon.

Mo Lie: "Hmm, Zhi Zhi, the food you gave me, I'll gladly finish it."

Lin Manzhi: "…you cut the watermelon."

She's saying she likes it because she brought it, not because of the ingredient itself.

She glances at Mo Lie, then turns toward the kitchen, takes two spoons from the utensil compartment on the cupboard, and returns.

Mo Lie, still seated on the sofa, looks up as she returns, draws a dagger from his waist, wipes the blade with a clean handkerchief, and the dagger's sharp tip contacts the watermelon rind.

The next moment, with a "bang", the watermelon rind splits, releasing an intensely fresh fragrance that drifts with the pale pink juice into the air.

Mo Lie's drooping eyes slightly open.

The scent is pleasant.

Lin Manzhi smells the familiar watermelon fragrance, brings the spoon close as she sits on the sofa, her eyes sparkling as she urges, "It's been ages since I ate watermelon; hurry and finish cutting it."

"Fine." Mo Lie raises an eyebrow at her words, then slices along the cracked rind, gently pulls it apart, the pink half of the flesh oozes juice, and he first hands it to Lin Manzhi.

Lin Manzhi reaches out, takes it, slides a spoon into Mo Lie's hand, holds a half watermelon larger than her own head in one hand, uses the spoon in the other to scoop a round piece from the center of the flesh, and eats it.

The watermelon is crisp and sweet; swallowing makes her throat feel much more comfortable, and on a hot day it quenches thirst more than water; she eats while murmuring, "So sweet! You eat quickly too."

Mo Lie lifts his gaze at Lin Manzhi, raising his hand toward her.

He gently brushes the bright hue at the Little Female's mouth corner with the pad of his thumb, then naturally withdraws his hand, and then, imitating Lin Manzhi, scoops a round from the middle of the watermelon with a spoon.

The watermelon freshly harvested from the Spiritual Field bears no soil on its clean skin; its temperature is slightly lower than the room's, and its sweetness isn't cloying.

Very good…

Mo Lie raises an eyebrow slightly; even his meat‑loving race can easily eat half a watermelon, and when placed outside it becomes a food that Beastfolk would scramble for.

Cool and thirst‑quenching, the melon's sweet fragrance dissipates much of the surrounding heat.

Lin Manzhi never hides anything from him; with such expensive food she always brings out, the quantity is so abundant he can't finish it.

During this period, eating the various vegetables and fruits Lin Manzhi provides daily, he doesn't need Beast Form or Spirit Core energy, yet still feels a pleasant coolness transmitted from his Spirit Core each time he eats her food.

It's like a fine misty rain that arrives on a dry‑season evening, bringing a calm, soothing comfort.