Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 454 The Truth About Selling Oil

"So you’re still pretending? Your disciple already told us that you’ve raised a child in the mortal realm," Xuan Feng said. "You spoke so much with the Goddess just now but didn’t mention this child. I’m not one to hold back, so I’ll ask clearly now, what’s the deal with this child?"

"Xuan Feng!" Nuwa said sternly, "Are you disobeying again?"

Although Xuan Feng appeared very willful and capricious, her actions were not without consideration, or else Nuwa wouldn’t take her everywhere.

It seemed as though Nuwa was scolding Xuan Feng, but she herself was just as eager to hear the truth directly from Chen Nuo’s own lips.

"So that’s what you came for," Chen Nuo said with a smile. "I asked Fairy Baihua for help before, and I didn’t expect her to turn around and tell you all."

In fact, it wasn’t Fairy Baihua’s fault. Although she wasn’t very tight-lipped, she knew what should and should not be said. She was merely speaking with her own maidservant when Xuan Feng overheard her.

Nuwa didn’t particularly like Fairy Baihua, but she didn’t want to unjustly accuse her because of this matter, explaining, "This wasn’t something Fairy Baihua told us; it was Xuan Feng who happened to overhear it while buying milk tea. I originally didn’t believe such groundless claims, but she took it upon herself to ask your disciple, and then we came over."

"So that’s how it is." Chen Nuo had initially thought it was Fairy Baihua who told them and thus felt less trusting of her.

It turned out that the matter was not disclosed by Fairy Baihua, and indeed, since Fairy Baihua didn’t get along well with Xuan Feng, it would have been inappropriate for her to tell Xuan Feng directly.

"Then, what is the true situation with this matter?" Nuwa asked. "Is it as Fairy Baihua said?"

"That’s naturally impossible," Chen Nuo said with a smile, shaking his head. "The child is already eleven years old, and I’ve been in the mortal world for only two years. How could an eleven-year-old child suddenly appear out of nowhere?"

"I thought so too, it’s all Xuan Feng’s fault for insisting on dragging me to the mortal realm," Nuwa said as she turned and glanced back at Xuan Feng.

Xuan Feng silently took the blame.

"However, your curiosity is not unreasonable, as all beings in the world have a sense of curiosity. I would be curious too if I heard someone suddenly had a child," Chen Nuo said politely. "Well then, why don’t you come back with me, and I’ll have Xi greet you."

"Alright."

Chen Nuo stood up, closed the shop door, and led Nuwa and Xuan Feng to his small courtyard.

If it weren’t for the need to press oil, Chen Nuo ordinarily would have allowed these plants to remain in blossom. The courtyard was usually filled with flowers, an enjoyable sight, and Nuwa and Xuan Feng just arrived, standing amidst sunflowers and rapeseed blossoms.

The flowers were bright yellow among the green leaves, exceptionally beautiful.

"They’re beautiful," Xuan Feng remarked. "Shopkeeper Chen, is the oil in your little shop made from these flowers?"

"Yes," Chen Nuo answered. "But to be precise, it’s from the seeds of these flowers. I approached Fairy Baihua because I wanted to learn the spell that allows her to control the blooming period. When not pressing oil, I keep the plants in bloom, which looks quite nice."

As the conversation turned to Fairy Baihua, Xuan Feng pursed her lips, suddenly finding the flowers less pleasing. "You thought of Fairy Baihua, but why didn’t you think of our Goddess?" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Ah?" Chen Nuo, walking in front, turned around upon hearing Xuan Feng’s words and looked at Nuwa. "Goddess Nuwa, you can also control the blooming period?"

"I know a little bit,"

Due to Chen Nuo suddenly turning around, Goddess Nuwa nearly bumped into him. At such close proximity, Goddess Nuwa caught the whiff of the soapberry scent on Chen Nuo, extremely pleasant, making her involuntarily blush.

It was indeed strange, Chen Nuo who always dealt with flowers and oils, didn’t carry any other scent on him, only that of the soapberry he used for laundering clothes.

Even if he used spells to remove any scents from his body, his clothes should have a hint of fragrance to them, but Chen Nuo seemed to never carry any perfuming scents. It was the first time she had met someone who only had this refreshing soapberry smell on them.

"So you know the spell to control the blooming of flowers too," Chen Nuo said, somewhat surprised, "I thought you primarily used healing magic, with Immortal Officials each having their respective duties. I was thinking since Fairy Baihua is in charge of controlling flowers in the earthly realm, I just directly went to find her, not expecting that Goddess Nuwa would also know this spell.

"It’s not strange that Her Highness knows this spell," Xuan Feng spoke, "After all, she is one of the Gods of Ancient Times, naturally she would know this flower control magic, which is far more powerful than the half-measures of Fairy Baihua."

"That’s true, being a God of Ancient Times, mastering such a minor spell is certainly no trouble for you," Chen Nuo said with a smile, "I was simply uninformed."

"These long-forgotten matters wouldn’t even come to mind had you, Shopkeeper Chen, not mentioned them. It’s only natural for you to be unaware," Goddess Nuwa came to Chen Nuo’s defense.

"I’m not wrong either," muttered Xuan Feng.

Chen Nuo led the way in front, with Xuan Feng and Goddess Nuwa following behind. Recalling the earlier incident where he had praised the wrong person, even though Xuan Feng liked the flowers, he couldn’t help but feel annoyed whenever he thought that Fairy Baihua had taught this to Chen Nuo.

After they walked past the flower fields and saw the soybeans and peanuts planted on both sides, Xuan Feng asked, "Shopkeeper Chen, are there only these four plants from which you can extract oil?"

"Not really, there are many types of plants in the earthly realm that can be used to produce oil," said Chen Nuo, "However, these are the most common ones, and they produce a good amount of oil at a lower cost, so much so that even ordinary people can afford it."

"But why do you want to promote this oil in the earthly realm?" asked Xuan Feng, puzzled, "Aren’t you here looking for culinary ingredients?"

"It was a bit of serendipity," Chen Nuo summarized the events he had omitted in a few sentences and explained to them, "When I descended to collect ingredients, I happened to pass through this town. The people here were unaware that there were oils other than animal fat, and they usually just boiled their vegetables. So I thought of promoting oil here."

"Is that what you thought?" Goddess Nuwa was somewhat surprised, "But why do that?"

Why is everyone asking him this question, Chen Nuo chuckled, "What are you talking about, I’m here for my own purposes anyway, and even if I don’t help, oil is bound to be discovered by someone in the future, better that it’s by me."

"You’re not doing it to make money," said Goddess Nuwa.

Although she noticed this morning in Chen Nuo’s shop that the prices of the oils were actually not high, not only not high, they were exceptionally low, hardly making any money at all.

"As I said, my intention was to popularize the oil, to let the ordinary people have access to it," he said.

"But you’re not from the Heavenly Court; none of these earthly matters should require your attention," Goddess Nuwa pointed out, "Why then would you go to such lengths to do this?"

"If I can help, I’ll help," said Chen Nuo nonchalantly, "with great power comes great responsibility."

Goddess Nuwa looked at Chen Nuo; initially, her fondness for him was limited to his handsome appearance and good cooking, but she had not expected Chen Nuo to be so considerate towards the commoners, to the point she felt somewhat ashamed.