Novels online

Chapter 18: The Water Thieves Arrive

"Meat! The Heavenly Lord has sent us meat!"

Gao Yiye’s shout instantly electrified Gao Family Village. Everyone rushed over in a flash.

"It's chicken!"

"This is chicken breast meat. Even though it's enormous, it's definitely chicken breast. I couldn't be mistaken."

"Such a massive chicken breast—was it carved from a divine fowl?"

"It must be a divine chicken from the celestial realm."

The villagers couldn't recall the last time they'd eaten meat. Years ago, during seasons of good harvest, some in the village had raised chickens, but as the drought worsened year by year, people barely had enough to eat themselves, let alone feed livestock. Gao Family Village had long since become utterly devoid of animals, with not a single living creature to be found apart from the famished, howling villagers. To see a piece of meat now thrilled everyone beyond measure.

Gao Chuwu immediately found a knife, eager to carve off a few pieces for a hearty meal at home.

Gao Yiye spoke with a serious expression, "The Heavenly Lord said that since we've grown accustomed to plain food, we mustn't eat too much meat at once, or our stomachs won't be able to handle it. We must eat it sparingly. Chuwu Ge, you're the first one who needs to be careful."

The Village Chief stepped forward. "The Heavenly Lord must have been referring to simpletons like Chuwu. Getting sick from eating too much can be deadly. We can't give Chuwu too much at once; he definitely won't be able to resist eating it all."

Gao Chuwu protested, "Hey, hey?"

The Village Chief instructed, "Each person will receive one liang of meat to take home; children will get half a liang. The remaining meat will be cut into strips and hung to air-dry, to prevent spoilage."

A middle-aged villager stepped out. "Village Chief, we don't have enough salt. If the chicken isn't salted during air-drying, it will spoil. Rather than let it go bad, why not eat it all now? I'd rather die of diarrhea than watch such good meat rot away."

Gao Chuwu chimed in, "Yes, yes, Village Chief! I'd rather die of diarrhea than let it go to waste!"

Li Daoxuan chuckled upon hearing this. Instead of retrieving the extra meat and putting it back in his fridge, he entered his kitchen, pulled out a bag of salt, and poured a small mound of it directly in front of Gao Yiye, with a soft rustling sound.

The villagers looked up, watching as salt streamed down from the sky. The pure white, crystalline salt, like giant ice cubes, crashed to the ground, quickly forming a small mountain. Gao Yiye didn't even need to relay the message. She simply spread her hands and said, "Do you really think your little schemes escape the Heavenly Lord's notice? Don't dream of getting fat in one go. Now that we have salt, cure the meat."

"So much salt!"

"Salt is so precious!"

"He gave us so much, oh my heavens!"

"We won't need to buy salt for a very long time!"

The villagers once again knelt, bowing their heads repeatedly towards the sky.

And so, the people of Gao Family Village had their work cut out for them that day.

The men wielded their knives, chopping and hacking at the massive chicken breast, carving it into slender strips. They then crushed the huge salt crystals into a fine powder, rolling each strip of chicken in the salt until it was plump and white. Finally, they hung the salted strips, allowing the dry air to draw out the moisture.

It was tiring work, to be sure, but the villagers toiled with smiles gracing every face.

That evening, smoke rose from the village as every household prepared dinner. Across the entire village, their cooking pots uniformly held chicken and vegetable porridge. The one liang of chicken meat was finely minced and simmered with white rice until thick and creamy. Oh, and they added cabbage leaves, too. The resulting porridge was a feast for the senses, with perfect color, aroma, and taste, and gentle on the stomach.

Gao Chuwu eagerly devoured five large bowls.

Even Gao Yiye, the delicate young woman, managed to finish two bowls.

Watching them, Li Daoxuan, a man of the modern world, couldn't help but swallow. He quickly grabbed his phone and ordered a "chicken soup rice" to calm his nerves.

As he spooned his chicken soup rice, he opened his online banking app and glanced at his balance. He still had over twenty thousand yuan in savings, but that amount seemed insufficient. Today alone, customizing the Hakka Walled House had cost him two thousand yuan. In the future, if he truly wanted to help more of the miniature people, money would likely pour out like water.

He considered it seriously for a couple of seconds, then opened QQ. He found an old contact he hadn't spoken to in a long time, clicked on the icon, and sent a message: "Hey bro, it's Li Daoxuan. You contacted me half a year ago, asking if I wanted to take on some freelance work. I refused back then; I was young and foolish. If you have any design jobs in the future, I'm willing to take them. Price is negotiable."

The contact's icon quickly flashed. "Haha, I've been waiting for you to say that! Coincidentally, I have a job right now—character design concepts for a game company. They need them urgently: four character illustrations in five days, three thousand yuan! Interested?"

Li Daoxuan replied, "I'll take it."

—————

Daybreak arrived.

Shuangqing City welcomed another new day.

Li Daoxuan stretched with a wide yawn, rubbing his temples as he climbed out of bed. For five consecutive days, he had worked until two in the morning, pushing himself to complete the character designs the game company needed. After the client reviewed them and pointed out a few minor flaws, he revised them according to their requests, only for them to decide that the first version was actually better. The job was done, and three thousand yuan was transferred to his account.

He only fell asleep confidently after confirming the money had landed in his card.

He slept like a log, not stirring until morning. These five days, preoccupied with earning a living for his "family," he had neglected the miniature people in the box. He had merely provided food at regular intervals and refilled the LocknLock container with water daily, without much close observation.

Now, finally free of burdens, he decided he would spend the day properly with his little pets.

As he settled by the diorama box, he immediately sensed that something was amiss.

All the miniature people in the village were gathered by the pond, whispering amongst themselves.

Li Daoxuan quickly closed his window, quieting his room. He pressed his ear to the box, just barely making out their mosquito-like murmurs.

"Someone stole water. Look, the water level in the pond dropped so much overnight."

"Yes, and look over here—so many messy footprints. A lot of people came to steal water last night."

Li Daoxuan focused his gaze. Indeed, the water level in the LocknLock container had receded significantly. This container, 20 centimeters long in reality, had magnified 200 times in the miniature world, transforming into an enormous pond ten zhang in length. From such a massive pond, the water level had dropped a full two chi deep overnight.

These water thieves were quite bold!

Or perhaps, there were simply a lot of them.

Li Daoxuan's eyes followed the chaotic footprints of the water thieves, tracing them outwards from the village. However, the tracks quickly reached the edge of the diorama box, passed beyond it, and vanished...

His brow furrowed deeply. The greatest inconvenience of this box was its narrow field of view, limiting what he could see. He could only observe this small section of Gao Family Village; the outside world was entirely shrouded in darkness, leaving him utterly unaware of what was happening. He absolutely had to find a way to expand the viewing distance within this box.

.