My Demon Friends-Chapter 534 - 513 Night

The path was narrow, allowing only single-file passage, so they formed a long line and walked back.

Zheng Zhilan and Qinghe walked at the front, but not at the very front. Big Yellow was mostly worried that Brother Nan, the bad guy, might harm its master. After they left and hadn't returned for some time, it grew frantic. Finally, it called upon the strongest Rottweiler for aid, abandoning its sheep-herding task.

Now they were leading the way.

Then came Brother Nan, Lord Dumpling, Zhou Li, and Huai Xu.

Lord Dumpling moved in bursts—quickly, slowly, left, right—and often stopped right in front of Zhou Li to look up and ask questions, always making Zhou Li worry about stepping on her.

"Lord Dumpling, be careful."

"Lord Dumpling is careful."

"Then don't run around like that."

"Lord Dumpling knows."

"..."

Zhou Li scratched his head, unable to do anything about her. He had to watch out for himself while also glancing back at the four new residents from the small mountain village—

Xing Hui and Ji Bai were leisurely taking in the scenery along the path, whispering to each other as they walked.

Lao Hui had a steady personality and focused on walking.

Xiao Yuan, transformed into a giant beast, walked at the back. He carried a cypress branch on his shoulder, which swayed rhythmically behind him as he moved. He also looked around; although his appearance was fearsome, paired with his naive expression, he seemed rather adorable.

Biologically speaking, there were about a dozen of them.

"What's wrong, Mr. Zhou Li?"

"Nothing."

"Watch your step."

"I know."

So Zhou Li returned his gaze forward.

The small mountain village, half-destroyed by a mudslide, still looked spectacular. The mountain behind it towered majestically. An Evil God was just taking off from its peak, creating an intensely magical vibe, like a scene from a game wallpaper. But in such a setting, the group walking on the path didn't seem out of place at all.

Zhou Li looked up, slightly squinting his eyes.

The mountaintop where the Evil God resided was barren, but the grass and trees below grew extremely well, especially the pasture grass Zheng Zhilan had sown. Even in winter, it was lush and green, a vibrant patch of color.

Behind him, Xing Hui said uncertainly, "The Evil God seems to have some kind of influence on the surrounding flora and fauna."

Zhou Li hummed in agreement. "Yes."

At this, Xing Hui laughed softly, finding it interesting. "I've heard that the Evil God is brutal and bloodthirsty, bringing death and disaster to the land, and I don't think this rumor is false. Yet, everywhere he goes, the earth is reborn with myriad life because of him. Quite fascinating."

"Everything has two sides."

"You are truly insightful."

"..."

Zhou Li felt Xing Hui might be influenced by ancient culture. Or perhaps, when she traveled the world, her key skill had been a masterful form of 'commercial mutual flattery.' In any case, he found it a bit uncomfortable.

「Back in the courtyard.」

The firewood had been brought back but still needed to be split. After splitting, it had to be neatly stacked in the woodshed.

This was still a task where everyone contributed.

Zhou Li lifted the axe again, focusing his mind.

CLANG!

A piece of wood was neatly split in two. He then picked up one half, placed it on the chopping block, aimed, and swung the axe again.

CLANG...

The split wood flew off, rolling on the ground.

Zhou Li patiently picked it up and placed it aside, then continued with this mechanical labor, pretending not to hear Brother Nan, who was beside him, shouting for her to also give it a try.

This kind of labor didn't require much thought, and for him, the physical difficulty wasn't great. Once he got used to it, there was an inexplicable rhythm to it, which was surprisingly enjoyable. Mainly, chopping so much wood himself gave him options. If he wanted to be lazy when building a fire, he could chop the wood into larger pieces. If he wanted a more vigorous fire, he'd chop it smaller. This brought a great sense of achievement.

Could this be the charm of DIY?

HUFF...

Chopping a lot was somewhat tiring. Zhou Li stopped to rest for a bit and turned to look beside him.

Zheng Zhilan was still using Golden Thread to cut. She could easily slice the wood into smooth surfaces. However, due to her vision problems, her efficiency wasn't very high; she had to feel for the wood and the cutting point by hand. Comparatively, her efficiency wasn't much better than Zhou Li's, but the wood she cut was very regular.

Being regular wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Wood blocks that were square with smooth surfaces seemed a bit harder for flames to catch. They probably didn't burn as well as roughly chopped wood.

An illusion? Never mind.

In any case, Zhou Li's sense of achievement grew a little more.

Nearby, Lao Hui stretched out a paw and scratched a piece of wood. A white light flickered, and it too could cut through the wood. However, this ability was quite draining for him, so his efficiency was lower.

Qinghe was tidying up branches, breaking them by hand into similar lengths, then tying them into bundles with straw.

This task was more meticulous.

A glance out of the corner of his eye—

!!

He saw the Old Monster casually sitting on a small stool, holding his short knife in one hand and pressing down on a piece of wood with the other. SHLICK! SHLICK! With two quick slashes, he cut the wood into four pieces as easily as slicing tofu.

Zhou Li silently withdrew his gaze, pretending he saw nothing, and never looked in that direction again.

「Two hours later, the afternoon had passed.」

At the woodshed door, Zhou Li patted the dust off his clothes. He looked at the firewood stacked inside as neatly as a wall, the piles of pinecones on the ground, and the bundled branches. He felt incredibly satisfied, even tempted to stay at Zheng Zhilan's place and burn all this wood before leaving.

SMACK!

Brother Nan patted him on the shoulder, chuckling. "Is it really worth being so happy about?"

Zhou Li turned around, his expression calm. "What?"

Brother Nan yawned. "Don't think I can't see the joy in your heart just because you're expressionless. Admit it, little squirrel, I won't laugh at you."

"Little squirrel? What's that?" Zhou Li asked, as he didn't understand.

"Don't know, just thought of it randomly. The image of a little squirrel just popped into my head," Brother Nan scratched her head, also seeming a bit puzzled. "And what's that animal that builds dams again?"

"Beaver."

"Oh, right."

"...So you are making fun of me."

"Did you admit it?"

"I did not."

"Boring."

"Time to start the fire."

Zhou Li pulled Brother Nan's arm and left the area.

「The fire in the kitchen brightened up again.」

Zhou Li was burning the wood he had just chopped today. Although there was old wood that hadn't been burned yet, and the new wood wasn't dry enough, his enthusiasm was undiminished.

Zheng Zhilan didn't object to this, just pursed her lips in a smile, letting him do as he wished.

The direct consequence was a large amount of smoke that stung the eyes. Brother Nan, who had initially been sitting next to him, was driven away by the smoke. Tuanzi also yelped and ran off. Only Zhou Li remained, stubbornly enduring it. It's just a little smoke, he told himself. It's tolerable.

"What should we buy tomorrow?" Huai Xu, carrying a pen and a small notebook, walked up to Zheng Zhilan's side. "I'll go buy them in a bit."

"Let me think… We're not out of meat, but let's buy some pork ribs. And also get some of that… that thing that goes in the hot pot…" Zheng Zhilan turned her head to Zhou Li for help. "I don't know what it's called."

"I know," Huai Xu bent his head to write in the notebook, murmuring as he wrote, "Pork ribs, things that go in the hot pot."

"Do you know?" Zheng Zhilan was uncertain.

"Don't worry. Although I also don't know what those are called, I know them."

"That's good," Zheng Zhilan continued thinking. "We need to buy some vegetables. What kinds do you all like? I have some here, so we don't need to buy those. Let's get some mushrooms; Qinghe loves them. City supermarkets have mushrooms in winter, right?"

"They have everything."

"Mountains don't. I wonder how they grow them in winter," Zheng Zhilan whispered. "Buy some shiitake and button mushrooms, and also enoki mushrooms. Plus some cumin powder, black pepper, and five-spice…"

"Writing is so annoying. Slow down with the list."

At the stove, Zhou Li heard this, lifted his head, and rubbed his eyes. "Why don't you use the memo function on your phone?"

At these words, Huai Xu stiffened and turned his head awkwardly. Zhou Li's question made him seem silly, causing some embarrassment, so he responded in a gruff voice, "My phone doesn't have it!"

"Every phone has it."

"I deleted it!"

"It's undeletable."

"Well, I still deleted it!"

"You can use QQ or WeChat."

"I...!" Huai Xu clenched his teeth and emphasized, "I! AM! FROM! THE! ANCIENT! ERA!"

"Oh, understood," Zhou Li said, then returned to focusing on the fire. He coughed twice in the process. He remembered to look up and explain. He said he'd worked up a sweat in the afternoon and the wind might have chilled him a bit. This was to clarify that his coughing had nothing to do with the smoke from the wood.