Eggy leaned forward and whispered to the rabbit, “Mom, he’s talking in our secret language.”
Oh! Since I couldn’t find the language setting for this special effect, I settled for removing the rabbit emcee. I didn’t think they would enjoy it if a rabbit speaking an unknown language kept yammering away during the next part.
I walked forward and down from the table, which made the rabbit hop down with me. Eggy followed us as we stepped onto the dance floor, and I placed a [Rabbit Music Box] on the floor and activated it.
From somewhere above us, music started playing, and voices sang. This time, it was in this world’s language.
[You put your left paw in, You put your left paw out, You put your left paw in, And you wiggle it all about. You do the Bunny Pokey, and you hop a circle 'round, That’s what it’s all about!]
Enchanted by the magic of the music box, they all had to do the Bunny Pokey dance, swinging their hips to the beat and moving their hands as instructed by the disembodied voice. The illusory rabbits all around the courtyard danced along with us.
Lari, Kharli, and Mo looked like they were trying to hold back their laughter when they saw the dignified royals doing the wiggle, but I burst out laughing. They couldn’t hear me because I was still invisible and inaudible, which meant I was free to indulge in raucous laughter.
[You put your right paw in, You put your right paw out, You put your right paw in, And you wiggle it all about. You do the Bunny Pokey, and you hop a circle 'round, That’s what it’s all about!]
They did the same dance moves, but this time with their right hands. Lady Yuying got into the spirit of it and started smiling and doing the moves with extra gusto.
“This must be some type of mystical martial arts!” she said.
“I like it,” said Lord Yulin as he gyrated to the beat. “I feel like all the qi in my body is stimulated.”
And so it went, from paws to elbows, to thumpers, to heads, to tails, and then the whole body.
When the music died down, all of us dancers did one last bunny-style hop, putting their hands on the floor and kicking their legs up before springing back into a standing position.
Lady Yuying laughed heartily. “Could this be the secret Rabbit clan martial arts?”
She was obviously joking, but in the next moment, Lord Yulin’s eyes turned red, and a strange thing happened. The sky turned dark, and lightning flashed around the grey clouds. Then a golden beam of light shot down from the heavens to bathe Lord Yulin in celestial radiance. He sat down in a lotus position and closed his eyes to meditate.
“A glorious effulgence," said Lady Yuying. “Wonderful!”
No one seemed alarmed; therefore, I quietly deactivated the rabbit illusion and held Eggy’s hand while we waited to see what would happen.
The beam of light slowly grew weaker and weaker until it was gone. This only took a few minutes, and we all watched with bated breath to see if anything else would happen. The sky lightened up again, and Lord Yulin opened his eyes. He walked over to his wife and hugged her. “I broke through a minor realm.”
We all congratulated him, and I removed all the illusions and the dance floor. We went back inside for the royal couple to check on the baby.
Lord Yulin picked up his still-sleeping daughter and said, “Thank you! The rabbit dance was extremely helpful. I’m sorry to leave so abruptly, but I have to go into isolated cultivation to stabilize my qi.”
“Noooo! Don’t go!” Eggy wailed in a tragic tone of voice. “Mom, I like the baby.”
“Don’t worry,” said Lord Yulin soothingly. “We’ll visit often.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow!”
Lady Yuying fussed over her baby’s clothes, then turned to me and asked, “May we return tomorrow? I’d like to dance again. Perhaps I’ll also experience a breakthrough.”
“Sure, but can we please keep this a secret? I don’t want hordes of people breaking down my door, asking me to make them dance!”
Prince Baiyu escorted his parents out.
“Teacher, was that a rabbit god?” asked Mo.
“What? Was what a rabbit god?” I had no idea what they meant.
“The big white rabbit that said ‘a-yee, wa te su pa dak’ in a strange voice,” said Lari.
I laughed. “Oh, that was just a random thing from my world, ignore it.”
Kharli shook her head. “It was ‘ah, wa sup dak,’ not whatever you said.”
Mo frowned. “I didn’t hear it well, wasn’t the first part, ‘aiyo, su’?”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
I clicked my tongue. “Shall we go and start our work for today? I haven’t used my energy for weeks, and I miss it.”
Nanny helped me put Eggy’s warm clothes on him. I also put on a few layers when the others did, although I didn't really need them since the [Advanced Environmental Support System Regulation Suit] always kept me warm.
“Now, shall we go do some work?” I smiled at everyone and took Eggy by the hand. “Ready to go outside?”
Normally, there was only one door to the outside in a traditional house. The head of the household lived in the innermost part, which would only be reached by going through most, if not all, of the other courtyards. This was for security, I think. However, I thought Eggy would find it overwhelming to go through all those rooms and meet everyone at once; therefore, I used the System to put a new outside door for us to use.
“Mom!”
Eggy turned into his dragon form and flew up to the top perch on my shoulders. He was rather heavy. He looked around in wonder at the garden that was buried under a thin layer of snow. Apart from the time he got lost, this was his first time seeing the exterior of the house. The grass and a few patches of bare earth showed through in places where the snow had settled unevenly. Our breaths turned into white vapor. Everything was still and quiet. The heated stone path that led to the [Greenhouses] was clear, and we ventured forth with alacrity, eager to find a warmer place to stay.
“Cheep, cheep, cheep,” said Eggy, his tone of voice alive with excitement and curiosity.
When we reached our destination, I saw that the [Greenhouse’s] glass panels were covered with a delicate frost, creating a cloudy, opaque surface. Where the glass met the frame, thin ridges of snow had accumulated along the edges. The door handle was cold under my fingers, and when I pulled the door open, I felt the immediate shift in temperature.
Eggy flew down from my shoulder and turned back into his child form. “Plants!”
He wandered inside, checking the shelves lining the walls that held seed trays and potted plants, not leaving a trail of mud behind since we had only walked on the dry path. The rest of us took off our boots and outerwear, slipping into comfortable indoor shoes, and I made a mental note to teach him the difference between indoor and outdoor clothing and footwear.
“What a magical place,” said Nanny.
I wasn’t sure what she was referring to, so I just nodded sagely.
Lari volunteered to fetch Cutie for me when I asked where she was. I hadn’t seen her in a while, and this was her first time in such cold weather since we had always spent the winter in the desert farm before. Of course, she and the farm animals all had [Heaters] in their habitats to keep them warm, and there were the heated stone paths, but they must still have suffered a bit from the winter cold.
I let Eggy explore the [Greenhouse] while we sat down on a cozy little corner, which we usually used for a tea break as we waited for Lari to return. I also placed some potted flowers near the table we were sitting at for Cutie to eat or enjoy. The [Silphium] had all been harvested, and around us, the [Greenhouse] was full of assorted plants that some of our most valuable buyers had requested for the spring planting next year.
“Teacher, why don’t we plant more [Silphium] for faster exp?” Mo suggested.
“Exp is great, but I think we should focus on long-term goals. Here are the seeds I told you about.” I put the [Jujube], [Desert Poplar], [Apricot], [Walnut], and [Dwarf Elm] seeds on the table for them to inspect.
Prince Baiyu and Lari arrived with my pet while we were rereading the items’ System text.
“Dad!”
Eggy ran towards them with his arms outstretched for a hug, which my husband was delighted to give him.
Cuti bounced towards me, and I picked her up to examine her using the System. Her status was [Healthy], which was a relief.
“Good girl, I said approvingly. “You’re a tough one, aren’t you?”
I put her down and let her play with Eggy, with Nanny and Prince Baiyu keeping an eye on them.
“Where was I?” I asked my apprentices.
“We were discussing [Silphium],” said Kharli.
“Yes, do we all agree that we should prioritize developing the desert farm over the fast exp from [Silphium]?”
They nodded. Kharli and Lari did so serenely, but Mo looked a little reluctant. Still, she did agree in the end.
“Well…” I smiled. “I suppose we can plant half the [Greenhouse] with [Silphium].”
“Yes!” Mo was predictably overjoyed.
“We’ll plant the trees we know will thrive there, but we should add these new types. More variety is always better.” I gestured at the seeds on the table. “Native trees are better, too, but so are the spirit plants the System provides.”
We returned to examining the seeds. There was nothing really new here. The elm tree was hardy and useful for its wood, while obviously the [Apricot], [Jujube], and [Walnut] were useful for producing food. The most interesting text was the one for the poplar tree.
[Desert Poplar:
A self-propagating tree that natives call the “Hero Tree” because it survives and even thrives in harsh conditions such as droughts, sandstorms, salty soils, and other extreme conditions. People say that this is a tree that thrives for a thousand years and stands for another thousand years after dying.
Plant this in rows as a living wall to protect against dust and sandstorms.]
Once we were done inspecting the seeds, I pulled out another intriguing item. “When we first started planting trees in the desert, we could only use pioneer species, and I selected the best ones for that job. Now that the epic quest is complete, we can grow more types of plants and trees. Even the weird ones! Check this out.”
[Cistanche Rapidus (Special Fast-Growing Mutant Strain):
A rare and extremely valuable parasitic plant that survives by siphoning life directly from the roots of desert trees, especially saxual trees. It is also called "Desert Ginseng” for its potent restorative properties. This special strain grows rapidly, but it can kill the host tree if there is insufficient water for both plants.]
The text for the [Saxual Tree] indicated that it was perfect for hosting the desert ginseng.
“Teacher, did you read the description of the ‘potent restorative properties’?” Lari smirked.
Sometimes item descriptions had underlined or highlighted bits that you could click on to read more information about them.
I couldn’t help but chuckle after I read it. “The System seems to make a lot of… performance enhancers.”
“It will definitely sell for a lot of money!” said Kharli.
“I bet it will,” said Mo.
“Yes, this seems promising. Let’s plant the seeds now, and we’ll replant the saplings in the desert next year.”
I got up, and the four of us went to the shelves of potted plants.
Here, the air was warm and smelled of damp soil, and when I leaned down to inspect a [Basil], its sharp, bright herbal smell cut through the heavier earthy scent beneath it. I smiled. In the past, the buyers only wanted [Rice], but these days, my plan to help others plant the Westerland’s staple crop had succeeded, and now the more forward-looking people were already thinking of planting more types of spirit plants. There was a lot of demand for [Wheat] and [Corn] as well as [Soy], [Chili Peppers], [Potatoes], and various herbs. We even had an order for [Chrysanthemum]. It seems one merchant family had an ancient recipe for chrysanthemum tea that they wanted to try using a spirit flower.
I hummed to myself as I harvested the ones that were ready and planted new ones.
My work was interrupted by a loud knock at the [Greenhouse] door. It was Shuye.
“Princess, I bring news of a great battle.”
*****
Author's Note:
- I sure hope you know the Hokey Pokey dance. :) Otherwise, I don't know if you'll be able to visualize the dance they're doing.
- Cistanche Rapidus is something I invented, inspired by
- Advanced chapters on my Patreon!
- Thank you very much for reading.
- Please let me know if there are any errors.