Granny Li

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Granny Li (李婆婆)
Gender	Female
Affiliation	Alliance
Occupation/Role	Cook; caretaker of the Spiritual Plant Garden; keeper and chronicler of the Memory Earthenware Pots
Status	Deceased 179
First Appearance	Chapter 87

Background / History

Granny Li serves as one of the Alliance’s principal caretakers, running its kitchen and feeding cultivators, spirit beasts, and visitors. Her cooking is closely tied to the community’s daily life: she prepares desserts, medicinal food, Spirit Rice porridge, cakes, and communal meals, while treating Big Fur and the Snow Weasels with affectionate discipline. 87 121 161

She tends the Spiritual Plant Garden and introduced a “super-energy fertilizer” that awakened the garden’s plants to consciousness. Although the plants’ resulting pranks caused trouble, she continued to regard them fondly and supported the Alliance’s decision to treat them as friends. 92

As the Alliance’s elder generation, Granny Li preserves traditions through seasonal ceremonies, food, and storytelling. She leads or supports the Spring Awakening Ceremony, teaches younger cultivators lantern-making customs, and shares Spirit Rice seeds with the next generation. 122 132 136

Her collection of old earthenware pots becomes a living archive of Alliance history. After organizing a Memory Exhibition, she cooks “Years Porridge” from the pots’ stored remnants to connect the group’s hardships, growth, and present-day unity. She later numbers and tags the expanding collection as a “Time Museum,” preserving the story behind each contributed object. 135 148

Granny Li remains a nurturing presence across later generations, feeding residents and visitors, establishing the annual Symbiosis Festival, and affirming that ordinary life—hearths, gardens, and companionship—is worth protecting. 161 165 171 She eventually passes away, leaving behind a legacy of care and guardianship. 179

Personality

Granny Li is warm, practical, and deeply maternal. She expresses affection through food, tending plants, and quietly looking after the Alliance’s many human and non-human residents. She can be playful when scolding troublemakers, but her discipline is usually paired with forgiveness or a treat. 87 122 165

She values continuity without romanticizing hardship. To her, old objects and old flavors remember not only difficult times, but the sweetness of the Alliance’s journey from scarcity and isolation to family and security. 135

“No matter if it's ancient times or now, life must go on day by day. As long as there's fire in the stove, vegetables in the garden, and companions by your side, it's the best of times.” 161

Abilities & Skills

Cooking and Food Preparation

Granny Li prepares meals ranging from daily staples to celebratory dishes and restorative food.

• Makes Spiritual Fruit Cakes, Spirit Rice and meat porridge, bamboo shoot soup, cakes, pastries, and spirit-meat soup. 87 121 126 165
• Oversees the brewing of Memory Spirit Soup; the White-bearded Elder’s memory briefly improves after drinking it. 117
• Creates “Years Porridge” from the contents of old earthenware pots for the Memory Exhibition. 135
• Uses cooking and shared meals to strengthen morale and belonging within the Alliance. 121 161 163

Spiritual Plant Care

Granny Li actively tends the Spiritual Plant Garden and responds to the needs of sentient plants.

• Introduced super-energy fertilizer, which caused spiritual plants to develop consciousness. 92
• Replanted Calming Flowers after they were displaced by a malfunctioning talisman; the flowers later improved her insomnia relief. 94
• Made a green gauze skirt for a Sensitive Plant and ensured the plants rested and continued growing well during their fashion show. 104
• Provides spirit spring water to the new Ancient Banyan sapling and shares memories of its predecessor. 147
• Shares Spirit Rice seeds with the Fox Tribe during the Spiritual Plant Relay. 142

Keeper of Memory and Tradition

Granny Li safeguards the Alliance’s collective history through objects, ceremonies, and oral remembrance.

• Keeps old earthenware pots containing relics of the Alliance’s past. 135
• Organizes, numbers, and tags Memory Earthenware Pots as a “Time Museum.” 148
• Helps the Alliance understand and use the Time Echoes released by the pots’ old objects. 153
• Guides young cultivators in traditional lantern-making and participates in inheritance lessons. 132 136
• Supports the preservation of ancestral stories revealed through old message talismans. 138

Equipment / Items

• Memory Earthenware Pots — A collection of old pots holding historical objects and memories; later expanded into a “Time Museum.” 135 148
• Apron worn by her grandmother — Presented during the Alliance’s Legacy Class as a family and community heirloom. 132
• Kitchen stove — Her central workspace and a recurring symbol of warmth and communal life. 121 132 149

Relationships

• White-bearded Elder — Fellow elder of the Alliance; they share affectionate banter, memories, and responsibility for guiding younger members. Granny Li remains patient with his forgetfulness. 102 117 130
• Chen Ruixuan — Alliance member she feeds, mentors through shared history, and works with on Memory Earthenware Pot exhibitions. 135 148
• Chen Siyu — Shares a bond through care for Calming Flowers and the Spiritual Plant Garden; they connect over memories of Granny Li’s mother. 138
• Big Fur — Their relationship resembles that of mother and daughter. Granny Li feeds and teases Big Fur, then cares for her after the birth of her cubs. 87 126
• Snow Weasels — She feeds them, forgives their mischief, and recognizes their role in Alliance traditions and memory-keeping. 121 122 148
• Spirit Language Doll — Treats the doll like family and sews it a new cloth shirt. 144
• Spiritual Plants — Their devoted caretaker; she accepts their awakening, attends to their growth, and treats them as members of the Alliance. 92 104 147

Story Role / Major Arcs

Spiritual Plant Garden Awakening

Granny Li’s super-energy fertilizer awakens the garden’s plants, triggering their mischievous “rebellious phase.” She remains convinced of the fertilizer’s value and continues caring for the newly conscious plants. 92

Alliance Hearth and Seasonal Traditions

She anchors daily Alliance life through cooking, first lighting the stove during heavy snow, feeding everyone gathered around it, and helping carry out the Spring Awakening Ceremony and New Year lantern tradition. 121 122 136

Big Fur’s Cubs

Granny Li discovers Big Fur after she gives birth to three cubs and immediately prepares nourishing spirit-meat soup. Her care deepens her maternal bond with Big Fur and the new generation of wolves. 126

Memory Earthenware Pots

She reveals her collection of old pots, inspires the Memory Exhibition, and creates Years Porridge to embody the Alliance’s shared past. The pots later become a chronicled “Time Museum” and a source of Time Echoes. 135 148 153

Symbiosis Festival and Later Legacy

Granny Li establishes the annual Symbiosis Festival to commemorate the mutual support behind the Alliance’s prosperity. In later remembrance, her porridge is regarded as a symbol of the ordinary warmth that greed cannot overcome. 165 181

Notable Quotes

“Actually, these old objects, this old taste, don't just remember the hardship, but the sweetness.” 135

“This formation has become our ‘heartbeat’.” 149

“Let’s call it the ‘Symbiosis Festival,’ and observe it every year on this day, so everyone remembers that our good life today is all thanks to mutual support.” 165

Trivia

• Big Fur once stole two plates of Granny Li’s Osmanthus Cake, leaving the Elders short of breakfast. 87
• Granny Li secretly rewarded Big Fur with a fresh Spiritual Fruit Cake even while scolding the theft. 87
• The Spirit Language Doll once warned her, in her own voice, that meat in the pot had become tender. 121
• A statue of Granny Li stands by the Alliance plaza in later generations, where people place hot porridge before it. 181