translator: baumkuchenย editor: ellabells
After talking with Old Tree for so long, Lu Qingjiu was in a very good mood. He drove the pickup truck back to Zhu Miaomiaoโs house. During this period of time, Zhu Miaomiao had sent him many texts, asking him about what was going on. She was scared that Lu Qingjiu and Wu Xiao would get into a fight. After all, from the looks of their builds, if they really got into a fight, Lu Qingjiu probably wouldnโt come out as the winner.
Lu Qingjiu, afraid of her worrying, returned her phone call, telling her that he and Wu Xiao had already talked it out and they had no intention of fighting at all.
But Zhu Miaomiaoโs heart still wasnโt at ease. She turned on the lights for him, waiting for Lu Qingjiu to come back.
When Lu Qingjiu arrived home, he saw Zhu Miaomiao frozen on the sofa. Upon hearing him enter, she said, dazed, โQingjiu, youโre back?โ
Lu QIngjiu asked, โWhy havenโt you gone to bed?โ
Zhu Miaomiao said, โI was worried about you getting beaten up.โ
Lu Qingjiu couldnโt help but laugh, โI already said he wouldnโt beat me upโฆโ
Zhu Miaomiao said, โWhat do you mean he wouldnโt? Donโt you know how much he hates you? Yun-ge and I even suspected that if you were to run into him while walking alone on the road, he might put a sack over your head, take you into a secluded corner and beat you up.โ
Lu Qingjiu couldnโt hold back his laughter. He said, โItโs alright, he and I have resolved the misunderstanding between us.โ Thinking of how Wu Xiao had thought that heโd been spreading gossip about his problems with his chrysanthemum, it was natural that he hated him to the point of making his teeth itch.
Seeing that Lu Qingjiu really was alright, Zhu Miaomiao didnโt spend any more time on this topic. She asked, โSo youโre already going to go back tomorrow?โ
โEn,โ Lu Qingjiu said, โIโll be going back tomorrow.โ
โYou donโt want to play around for a few more days?โ Zhu Miaomiao said, โPresident Zhang didnโt know you were back here until today. He even said he wanted to invite you to a meal.โ
Lu Qingjiu said, โNo, I have things going on at home, I canโt stay away for too long.โ
โAlright,โ Zhu Miaomiao said, โI have to go to work tomorrow, so I wonโt see you off.โ
Lu Qingjiu nodded.
Heโd cleaned up his parentsโ graves, met some old friends, now, it was time for him to go home. Lu Qingjiu hadnโt had any contact with Yin Xun for these two days, so he didnโt know how it was at home. Early the next morning, he started the pickup truck and went back on the road with a trunk full of special local products.
It was still more than ten hours journey. By the time Lu Qingjiu, who left at 6 am, reached home, it was already almost 10 pm. He parked the pickup truck by the entrance to his home. Lu Qingjiu got out of the car carrying various sizedย bags, opened the door, entered the courtyard and was given a shock by the two people lying in the courtyard.
Bai Yuehu was at least lying on his rocking chair, which was fine. Yin Xun had found a mat and was lying next to Bai Yuehu. In the darkness of the night, Lu Qingjiu couldnโt see clearly and almost thought he was a corpse. When said corpse heard the sound of the door opening, he jumped up and rushed straight over to Lu Qingjiu, his mouth shouting, โQingjiu, youโre finally back! If youโd taken any longer, I wouldโve died here!!โ
Lu Qingjiu asked, โWhat happened?โ
Yin Xun sobbed, โBai Yuehu simply isnโt human! The night you left, he sneakily finished everything off.โ
Lu Qingjiu, โ…Wasnโt there still the instant noodles?โ
Yin Xun said, โHe ate the instant noodles along with everything else!!!โ
Lu Qingjiu, โ…โ
Next to him, Bai Yuehu, hearing Yin Xunโs impassioned accusation, let out a chilly sentence, โDidnโt I leave you?โ
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Tlc Wec yegra lcab ojxf rjv afjgr.
Oe Hlcupleโr tfjv tega ogbw atf akbโr mijwbeg. Lf rjlv, โYxjs, bxjs, P ygbeuta yjmx j iba bo obbv obg sbe akb. Kjxf atfw ab rajnf boo sbeg tecufg olgra ktlif P ub ab atf xlamtfc ab wjxf sbe uesr rbwf cbbvifr.โ
Yin Xun burst into happy cheers.
Lu Qingjiu put his things away and went into the kitchen wearing his apron. Upon entering the kitchen, he was shocked by its sorry state. Everything heโd made in the kitchen had been eaten clean, even including a bottle of chili sauce. The fridge was empty, without even a single strand of hair.
The little fox that had originally been sleeping had also been roused awake by the noise. Chirping, it ran up to Lu Qingjiuโs feet and rubbed its soft, furry head against his ankles. Lu Qingjiu bent down and patted its head, โBe good, Iโll make you some minced meat in a bit.โ
Lu Qingjiu made two simple bowls of egg noodle soup, then passed them to Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu. The two people scarfed it all down, not even leaving any soup behind.
After finishing his noodles, Yin Xun dragged his mat home with him, satisfied. Bai Yuehu also got up from his chair. According to Yin Xun, after heโd finished eating everything Lu Qingjiu left for them, he stuck himself to the rocking chair, unable to be pulled off no matter how one pulled โ of course, Yin Xun wouldnโt have dared to really try to pull him off.
โHave you eaten your fill?โ Lu Qingjiu wiped the sweat off his forehead.
โEn,โ Bai Yuehu answered, โItโs late, letโs sleep.โ
Lu Qingjiu said, โOkay.โ
Bai Yuehu said, โYouโve worked hard.โ
Lu Qingjiu laughed and said, โWhat work did I do?โ
The two menโs gazes met. Both of them understood the look in each otherโs eyes. Lu Qingjiu smiled, making the corner of his eyes curl, โGoodnight.โ
Bai Yuehu said tenderly, โGoodnight.โ
He slept all the way till the next day. The chirping little fox replaced the alarm clock, calling Lu Qingjiu out of bed. Lu Qingjiu knew that they hadnโt had a good meal in a good few days, Lu Qingjiu got up early, and made them sliced dough with pickled vegetables, intending to compensate them.
The dough was kneaded and sliced into pieces by him. They were placed into the soup that was made with pickled vegetables as the base. In the pickled vegetable soup, there was also the fresh slippery meat heโd personally made. The meat was coated in a layer of sweet potato starch, making it both smooth and tender. Paired with the appetizing, delicious and refreshing pickled vegetables, it was especially appetizing. Because the sliced dough was kneaded by him, they were very tender. Especially on this hot summer day, eating a bowl of it felt incredibly good.
After making the sliced dough, Lu Qingjiu made some minced meat for the little fox. The three people and one fox sat down in the house and began eating breakfast. Bai Yuehu was the first to finish. After he finished his meal, he went off to the fields. The hotter the weather, the harder it was to work on the crops. If one wasnโt careful, the crops would dry out and die in the heat.
Lu Qingjiu called Chao Qianyu to tell him to come over and take away their surplus grapes. The grapes were all ripe and if any more time passed, they would start falling off the vines. The three of them wouldnโt be able to finish them all and just watching them rot like that was a little wasteful.
Knowing that theyโd gone hungry for several days, Lu Qingjiu made a big meal full of meat for lunch. He fried up some twice-cooked pork, red braised beef, chicken salad, and shuizhu. In short, if it was a meat dish, it was there.
Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu were incredibly satisfied with their food. Yin Xun said that heโd made back all the blood heโd lost from hunger over the past few days.
Bai Yuehu didnโt say anything, but from his expression, it could be seen that he was satisfied.
During the time when they usually had their afternoon nap, Lu Qingjiu told Bai Yuehu about Old Tree and asked him if he had any way of letting Wu Xiao hear Old Tree speak.
After hearing what he had to say, Bai Yuehu thought for a moment, then said, โYes, there is.โ
โReally?โ Lu Qingjiu was pleasantly surprised.
โEn,โ Bai Yuehu said, โJust get that tree to feed that person some of its essence.โ
Lu Qingjiu, โ…What?โ He thought he heard wrongly.
โIts short form is tree essence.โ Seeing Lu Qingjiuโs blank expression, he very patiently explained it in detail, โItโs a kind of white liquid hidden in the core of the tree. If he consumes this liquid, Wu Xiao will be able to hear the tree kind speak.โ
Lu Qingjiu, โ…โUpon hearing Bai Yuehuโs explanation, Lu Qingjiu felt guilty for his perverted thoughts. โBut Old Tree canโt move, what then?โ
Bai Yuehu said, โYou should get Wu Xiao to go to Old Tree and tell him this, then just bite on the tree trunk.โ
Even though Wu Xiao couldnโt hear Old Tree speak, Old Tree could still hear Wu Xiao speak. If Old Tree wanted to let Wu Xiao hear his voice, then he would secrete some of his essence. Wu Xiao would then become someone recognised by the tree kind, and would be able to converse with the tree kind from then on.
Lu Qingjiu hadnโt thought itโd be so simple. It was just that he didnโt know why Old Tree hadnโt brought it up himself. Could it be that he was too embarrassed to? He didnโt think too much about it. After gaining his answer, he called Wu Xiao to tell him about this method.
Upon hearing about this, Wu Xiao decided to go to the park to find Old Tree after work. There was a slight hint of eagerness in his tone.
Lu Qingjiu originally thought that this would be the end of the matter, but at noon the next day, he received a call from Wu Xiao. Wu Xiaoโs voice was slightly hoarse, his tone was simply as if he was crying tears of blood. He roared into the phone, โLu Qingjiu, youโre too much!โ
Lu Qingjiu responded, confused, โAh?โ
Wu Xiao replied, โYouโฆ I fired you, but I apologized and was willing to give you compensation, and you set me up like this?โ
Lu Qingjiu asked, โHow did I set you up?โ His face was full of confusion. Then, thinking about the method heโd told Wu Xiao to try, he asked, โWhat exactly happened? Itโs not serious, is it??โ
Probably because his voice was too innocent, there was a thread of doubt in Wu Xiaoโs tone, โYou really donโt know? Then where did you get that method from?โ
Lu Qingjiu said, โ…My villageโs shaman told me.โ When he said shaman, he shot a look at Bai Yuehu, who was happily glued to his rocking chair on his own.
โShaman??โ Wu Xiao asked, โThe shaman didnโt say anything else?โ
Lu Qingjiu asked, โAnything else? What anything else? The shaman just said that as long as you do this, youโd be able to hear tree kind speak. They didnโt say anything else. What exactly happened?โ He felt like something really extraordinary had happened over there, or else Wu Xiao wouldnโt use such a tone to talk to him.
But after hearing Lu Qingjiuโs explanation, Wu Xiao fell silent.
Lu Qingjiu prompted him quite a few times, before hearing a faint sigh from the other end. After that, Wu Xiao forced out two words from gritted teeth, โItโs nothing.โ
Lu Qingjiu, โ…โ President Wu, that doesnโt sound like โnothingโ.
Wu Xiao started to speak, then stopped, โIโฆ Nevermind.โ
Lu Qingjiu, โ…Then, can you hear the trees speak now?โ
After asking this, he heard the sound of grinding teeth come from the other end of the call. He said, โYes, I can hear them now.โ
Lu Qingjiu, โOhโฆโ Since you can hear them now, why are you so angry? Could it be that there some unanticipated accident happened? Lu Qingjiu really wanted to ask this, but in the end, he wisely held back since Wu Xiao was in a really bad mood right now. After letting out a few curses in a low voice, he hung up the phone.
After the call was hung up, Lu Qingjiu looked at the screen of his cell phone, thought for a moment, then walked over to the still-sleeping Bai Yuehu.
โYuehu,โ Lu Qingjiu called him.
Bai Yuehu opened his eyes and looked at Lu Qingjiu.
โThat method of making people able to hear tree kind speak, it doesnโt have any repercussions, does it?โ Li Qingjiu blinked and asked a question that should have been asked yesterday.
Bai Yuehu said slowly, โRepercussions?โ
Lu Qingjiu nodded.
โI guess it does,โ Bai Yuehuโs tone was light as he spoke, โIf the tree kind were to agree, the two would become partners.โ
Lu Qingjiu, โ…โ
Bai Yuehu saw Lu Qingjiu was so shocked that his jaw was about to drop. Raising his eyebrows, he asked, โWhatโs wrong?โ
Lu Qingjiu finally understood the reason behind the pain in Wu Xiaoโs voice. Immediately, he didnโt quite know whether to laugh or to cry, โWhy didnโt you tell me at that timeโฆโ
Bai Yuehu replied very calmly, โBecause this canโt be considered a repercussion.โ
That was true, it was marriage, how could that be considered a repercussion โ Lu Qingjiu couldnโt help but applaud his familyโs fox spiritโs logic. Should he call Wu Xiao back to congratulate President Wu on his new hundred-year-old bride???
The author has something to say:
Bai Yuehu: How do you know if you should congratulate him on his new hundred-year-old bride, and not his new groomโฆ
Lu Qingjiu: โฆโฆPresident Wu, Iโm sorry.
Wu Xiao cried bitterly: I fucking have haemorrhoids ah ah ah ah
baum: HAHAHAHA also is it just me, or do you guys think Bai Yuehu has separation anxiety?
anyways, the title of this chapter is kind of a pun. Part 1’s title is ๆ ็ฒพ, which can mean tree spirit, but can also mean tree essence (and yep the essence in this chap is meant to sound like exactly what you think it sounds like heh heh) and given the second part of the title, it can mean exchange in terms of exchange conversation, so an exchange with a tree spirit, or it can mean swap, aka an exchange of… essence ( อกยฐ อส อกยฐ)
sliced dough in pickled vegetable soup:
slippery meat:
since you guys have seen twice-cooked pork, red braised beef and shuizhuroupian before, I’ll just show the chicken salad:
Thanks for the chapter! ^ ^
Tbh i’m dead when Yuehu said goodnight tenderly, TENDERLY GUYS !!! their lack of dog food making me happy when this happen ( TะT)
LoL. Does that count as side CP?? ROTFL.
YES! No getting to know each other, no dates… But already married! ๐๐
Congratulations President Wu. ๐
Thank you
Old Tree ๐ฒ: lMy wife proposed to me.โ ๐
Bai yuehu is so precious, I feel like he likes LU qingjiu already. I feel bad for president will. Oof.
So … Congrats on the marriage, i think? ๐คฃ๐คฃ๐คฃ
Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you for the update and your hard work.
I guess he finally got someone who would remove the stick off his ass.
Or replace it. Who knows.
Haha I wonder if he can transform now. How delightful.
Thanks for the great translation โฅ๏ธ
Yeah separation anxiety with eating too much…
Thanks for the chapter
Bai Yuehu you can’t just go around forcing marriages on unsuspecting people D: !!!
Rip WX’s chrysanthemum lol, first hemorrhoids and now a certain tree…
Thanks for the chapter!
That white essence and that repercussion after drinking it, made my dirty mind do it’s usual work xD
yo the A/N where Wu Xiao cried that he had haemorrhoids was the last straw and I don’t care if my whole neighborhood wakes up from my laughter lmao im still crying
TBH ever since we know about Tree Spirit gossipping about WX hemorrhoids, I already suspected that he’s a bottom. And now we get this. ๐๐
Congratulations for the marriage! Btw how would they do the deed? Isn’t Tree Spirit still not able to transform? Thanks for the translation.
Lol thanks for the chapter. Poor president Wu…lol.
OMG๐๐
Essence cream pie into the overbearing president
#awaitingforthetreetotransform
So Old Tree gets a Blwjb hahahaha
Wu Xiao needs to run old tree surely has BIG branch *wink *wink
Well now the tree is happily married lol
I thought the president’s problem was that he could now hear every tree, and it was a cacaphony lol
Still, I wonder if Old Tree was shy… It would be interesting to witness a tree tsundere lmao
Thank you so much for the chapter!
๐
that’s why it’s called an essence hahahaha poor Wu Xiao, will he not be able to have a human partner now?
Why do it feels like Yin Xun is not human anymore? Do you guys remember that time in that forest when YX said he got lost at one time….. Hmmm… Hope his hand though.. Or at least a being that won’t need to die like the zombie.. I can accept it more if his converted into somewhat a fairy.. Some sort… Haha
Wu Xiao fell into Old Tree trap๐๐๐
I hope we get invited to President Wu and Old Tree’s wedding๐
When I read that President Wu’s voice was hoarse, i immediately knew what happened ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ
unexpectedly got hitched. poor wu xiao (hehehe…)