Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Chapter 6 Astonishment

"This is millet?"

Mo Yuming looked at the golden fruit, about the size of a rugby ball, that the little girl was holding and asked.

"Ok!"

The maid held up the grain of millet in her hand and placed it in front of Mo Yuming.

Mo Yuming curiously raised his right hand and touched the husk of the millet, examining it carefully. He saw that this huge millet, which was more than a foot long, thicker than a bowl, and weighed five or six kilograms, was somewhat similar in appearance to rice on Earth, only its volume was hundreds or even thousands of times larger.

The golden-yellow shell is rough and hard, the fruit is long and narrow, thick in the middle and pointed at both ends, with longitudinal veins, and it emits a faint fragrance of rice.

Seeing Mo Yuming's astonishment, Grandpa Xiaoya stroked his white beard and smiled, saying:

"You've never seen this before, have you? This is a specialty of Xianghe Valley. It can't be found anywhere else. The fruit of this Hemu tree not only tastes good and is rich in nutrients, but it is also fragrant, soft, and sweet, making it very delicious."

Furthermore, it contains extremely pure earth-elemental energy, making it a highly sought-after food for practitioners of earth-elemental profound arts. However, only a few hundred rice trees in the entire Xianghe Valley can produce rice. The yield is very limited.

Why not plant more?

Mo Yuming was puzzled, as he had assumed that millet was everywhere.

"Plant more? Haha! You think it's like planting radishes and cabbages? You think you can just plant whatever you want! Do you know how big a rice plant needs to grow before it starts bearing fruit?"

Old Mo laughed heartily as he spoke.

Mo Yuming shook his head. He had never seen what the Hemu tree looked like, so how could he know how big it would have to grow before it started bearing fruit?

"It takes at least fifty years for a mulberry tree to grow from sprouting to maturity, flowering, and bearing fruit."

At this stage, the rice plant can only produce a short ear of grain and a few millet grains. When it grows to a height of three zhang (approximately 10 meters) and can be encircled by three people, it can still only produce three ears of grain and a few hundred millet grains.

It was 150 years later that the tree reached this size. This is because it takes at least 50 years for a tree to grow one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) taller.

When it grows to a height of five zhang and a girth that can be encircled by five people, it can produce five large ears of grain about one zhang long. This will take at least two hundred and fifty to three hundred years.

At this point, the rice plant reaches its stable production period, with each plant producing nearly a thousand grains of rice annually! However, it ceases to grow after this point and remains at this level.

"Old Mo stroked his little beard and said."

"Oh, so the growth period of rice trees is so long. No wonder no one deliberately plants them. I suppose those rice trees are just some abandoned millet seeds that grew naturally."

Mo Yuming suddenly realized.

“Not bad, you do have some understanding. Although the yield of Hemu is very high, the people of Xianghe Valley do not regard it as their main food source, but only as a supplement to their diet. This is because the number of Hemu trees is limited and cannot provide more fruit.”

Grandpa Xiaoya smiled as he looked at Mo Yuming, a hint of approval in his eyes.

"Girl, go and cook this grain of millet. We'll eat it today!"

"Okay!"

The little girl, holding the grain of millet, skipped and hopped into the kitchen.

"Young man, come with me, let's sit over there for a while, I have some things I want to ask you!"

Mo Yuming followed the old man to a small medicinal garden behind the house. The garden was planted with many medicinal herbs, some of which bore small fruits and others had strange flowers.

The herb garden is filled with the fragrance of flowers, which is invigorating and soothing. In one corner of the garden, there is a simple pergola surrounded by a fence made of branches and vines.

Inside the pergola, a large tea table carved from a tree root sat, with two wooden stools placed opposite it. Sitting there, surrounded by the fragrant aroma of herbs wafting from the garden, was incredibly soothing. It evoked a sense of unparalleled tranquility and bliss.

Mo Yuming thought to himself: I wonder if there is a habit of tea drinking in this world. It would be even better if there was a pot of tea!

"Grandpa, please sit down, I'll just stand."

Mo Yuming was a person who paid great attention to etiquette on Earth. He felt that it was always better to be cautious, especially in this completely unfamiliar environment. Moreover, he was now appearing in the form of a child. He was afraid that he might offend the other party due to carelessness. Therefore, he dared not sit still.

"There are no outsiders here, so there's no need to be so formal!"

Old Mo said with a chuckle:

Upon hearing this, Mo Yuming sat down on the tree stump opposite him.

"Grandpa, here's your tea!"

As soon as they sat down, the little girl brought over a wooden tea tray with a simple stone teapot and two wooden cups on it.

Judging from the little girl's skillful movements, it was clearly a habit she had developed over time. Although she was only five or six years old, she was very efficient in her work, not at all like a child.

Upon seeing the tea set, Mo Yuming was thrilled. He hadn't expected that the habit of drinking tea existed in this unknown world. In his previous life, Mo Yuming would always brew a pot of fine tea and savor it slowly during his spare time, whether he was working or contemplating.

His study had a huge wine cabinet filled with tea, including top-grade Da Hong Pao, Longjing ancient tea, Biluochun, Pu'er, Tieguanyin, and so on.

What's even more interesting is that there wasn't a single bottle of wine in the wine cabinet. The reason is that in his previous life, he rarely drank and didn't want to drink. He was afraid that alcohol would numb his nerves and affect his thinking, and he would only drink a small amount at some formal banquets and social events.

The main reason he bought that wine cabinet was because it matched the sofa, bookcase, and other furniture in his study, and its design and style suited his taste perfectly.

The lively and active little girl didn't have the habit of drinking tea. After putting down the tea set, she ran off to pick wildflowers in the distant meadow to play.

"Come, have a cup of tea that I picked myself, and see how it tastes?"

After making himself a cup of tea, the old man also made a cup of tea for Mo Yuming.

Mo Yuming picked up the teacup and looked at it. The tea in the cup was clear and light green, with a thin layer of white mist floating on the surface. It gathered and did not disperse, like a living thing, which was very peculiar. A faint fragrance wafted into his nose and was refreshing.

With a light sip, a wisp of steam rises from the surface of the liquid and is inhaled along with the tea. A sweet, cool, and refreshing sensation flows down the throat and into the stomach, instantly spreading throughout the body. The spirit is invigorated, and the mood is incredibly pleasant...

What kind of tea is this? How can tea taste like this? It should be called "Jade Dew" or "Aromatic Nectar." It smells like tea, tastes sweet and refreshing, without any bitterness, and goes down smoothly without any harshness. It has a very mellow and smooth texture.

Mo Yuming couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, never expecting to find such delicious drinks here. He immediately praised them, saying, "Delicious!"

However, amidst the praise, there was a slight sense of disappointment. After all, no matter how delicious this tastes, it cannot be called 'tea'! Because 'tea' is unique and cannot be confused with other beverages.

This way of thinking was deeply ingrained in Mo Yuming's consciousness. Perhaps this was because in his previous life he was a person who greatly admired Chinese culture, and that admiration for traditional culture had a profound influence on him, especially tea culture. So much so that even in another world, he still couldn't forget the habits from his previous life.

Seeing Mo Yuming's blissful expression, Old Mo couldn't help but reveal a hint of pride.

"This is made from the tender leaves of five kinds of spiritual herbs that I collected. After a secret preparation, it is brewed with the cold spring water from the back mountain. It has the effects of clearing heat, quenching thirst, promoting body fluid production, removing evil qi from the five internal organs, relieving wind-cold-dampness, and replenishing qi. Drinking it regularly can make you feel light, strong, and prolong your life."

……

After a long chat about all sorts of things, Mo Yuming vaguely sensed that the old man didn't treat him like a child the same age as his granddaughter.

Instead, she treated him as a guest who had come from afar, an old friend she had not seen for a long time. After finally getting together, she couldn't help but want to express all the longing and concern she had felt over the years, and to have a heart-to-heart talk with her old friend about all the experiences she had had over the years.

Normally, children would hardly perceive such subtle feelings, but Mo Yuming was an exception, possessing the body of a child but the mind of a middle-aged man. Therefore, he understood the old man's attitude towards him perfectly. However, he couldn't understand why the old man was behaving this way.

Fortunately, he was a natural at making friends and was eager for the old man to chat with him about everyday things so he could get some information from him. He was too eager to understand this amazing world, and this kind of casual conversation was exactly what he needed.

After a sleepless night of thinking last night, I decided to make the best of it and treat this place as my own home. Naturally, I would treat Xiaoya and her grandfather as my own family and not want Xiaoya's grandfather to see him as an outsider.

“Hey, that! ... Well, my surname is Mo, and my given name is Wen. We've been talking for so long, but I still don't know how to address you, young man? Where are you from? When we leave the valley, I'll be able to inquire about your family background for you.”

Although Xiaoya's grandfather made a solemn vow, he was secretly thinking, "I really want to help you find your home, but first you need to be able to get out of the valley."

What he never expected was that the person he rescued had already decided not to leave. In fact, Mo Yuming had no reason to cheat, because so far, no one in the canyon had managed to leave. He just didn't know that at the moment.

"My name is...?"

Mo Yuming deliberately pretended to be thinking hard about the problem. He even made a gesture of tapping his head. But this was all for the old man's benefit; the final result, of course, was that he couldn't remember anything at all.

Old Doctor Mo had treated countless ailments his entire life, curing all sorts of difficult and complicated diseases. Yet, he was fooled by a six- or seven-year-old child feigning illness. However, from another perspective, Mo Yuming hadn't actually lied to him, because the original memories of this body had indeed vanished. He genuinely couldn't reveal his identity; he couldn't very well claim to be an Earthling from another world!

"Alright, alright! Stop thinking about it. If you don't remember, then forget it. Sigh!"

When Old Man Mo saw that Mo Yuming was pretending to be in great pain, he softened.

"Actually, I don't need to ask you; I've already guessed seven or eight parts of it. But it's not necessarily a bad thing that you can't remember your background. At least you don't have to live with painful memories."

Old Mo sighed and said.

"Grandpa, do you know about my background?"

Mo Yuming felt somewhat strange.

"I don't know, but I can guess a bit. You're not from the Valley of Heartbreak; you fell down from above!"

Seeing that Mo Yuming had misunderstood, Old Master Mo quickly explained.

"It fell from above?"

This time it was Mo Yuming's turn to be surprised. Did he know about his time travel? Or something else? Did he mean time travel when he said "above"? If not, then what did he mean? Mo Yuming's mind was in complete disarray.

"Yes! Because I found something at the place where I met you, and I think it must be yours!"

Mo Wen took out a palm-sized dark blue leather bag from his pocket and threw it in front of Mo Yuming.

The leather bag was exceptionally soft and felt very comfortable. Although Mo Yuming was originally an animal expert and knew everything about animal fur on Earth, he couldn't tell what kind of leather it was.

The leather bag is teardrop-shaped, with a thin, brown rope about a foot long tied around the opening. One side of the bag is embroidered with a wolf's head the size of a finger, while the other side is decorated with a character resembling the ancient Chinese seal script for "jade".

This was the first character Mo Yuming encountered after arriving in this world. Although the original owner's memories had vanished, the knowledge he had previously acquired had been preserved. Upon seeing the character, he recognized it without hesitation and knew its meaning and pronunciation.

Mo Yuming was thrilled and sighed inwardly: Thank goodness! I don't have to try to learn any strange or unusual writing systems anymore. I never imagined that the voices in this world sound like singing, but the writing system is almost identical to the Chinese characters I use on Earth.

"what is this?"

Mo Yuming held the strange leather bag and asked.

"A very high-level interdimensional storage bag!"

"Old Mo took a sip of tea and said."

"An interdimensional storage bag? Is it for storing money or something?"

Mo Yuming looked at the small leather bag in his hand and couldn't imagine what other functions it could have besides holding some money and small ornaments.