Chapter 1

"Silver

Dragon's

Mountain and Sea Farm [

Gourmet Food

]" by Yueji Yanyu [Complete]

Synopsis:

Xie Juanhan, a white dragon, unexpectedly transmigrated to a magical world.

Later, he encountered a massive, majestic, handsome creature.

It turned out to be a dragon too—a local dragon.

The other dragon examined the highly divine Xie Juanhan with golden vertical pupils, looking equally wary.

Xie Juanhan had no intention of fighting.

He found a place to settle down in the forest, where he grew vegetables, raised animals, and caught fish.

From then on, tempting aromas wafted from his little cabin every day.

The local dragon remained unmoved.

But the group of fluffy dragon companion beasts huddled together and quietly approached Xie Juanhan's cabin.

After Xie Juanhan treated them to delicious food, they pledged their allegiance.

Raw marinated shrimp, seared fish, salt-roasted crab, ice cream made from fruit pulp...

The fluffballs went further and further down the path of trading their labor for food, until even their master could no longer sit still.

The local dragon visited late at night and asked in a deep voice whether he wanted to exchange food:

-There was a kind of fish with thick bones and delicate flesh. Its broth was fresh and delicious when cooked, and its marrow was astonishingly rich and fragrant;

-A certain mountain fruit from the volcano, ground into a paste with lemon peel, was tart, spicy, and refreshing, and could be used as a dip for all kinds of meat;

-There was also tata fish milk, rich and mellow in a way completely different from cow's milk. I can fly you out to the open sea to milk them;

Xie Juanhan thought for a moment. "Deal!"

Thus, Xie Juanhan gained the finest guide, the most reliable partner, and a lover full of contrast.

Content tags:

Farming

fiction, gourmet food, Western fantasy, adorable pets, daily life, foraging in the mountains and along the shore

Main characters: Xie Juanhan, Telingewei ┃ Supporting characters: the dragon companion beasts ┃ Other: gourmet food; farming; Western fantasy

One-sentence synopsis: Live off the mountains by the mountains, the sea by the sea, and the freshest food by a dragon.

Theme: Discovering oneself in the world

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Thick white clouds and snow-capped mountain peaks, set against the deep blue sky and dark green earth, had the soft tones of an illustration.

A silver-white dragon circled between heaven and earth, his scales reflecting countless points of white light and making the scene seem even less real.

If the dragon had circled only once, it would have made a lovely picture.

But he had already circled this place a full eleven times.

Xie Juanhan let out a deep breath.

He had never imagined that he, a long-grown dragon, would accidentally wander into another spacetime.

This year, the restaurant where he worked had changed owners, and its focus had shifted from traditional cuisine to molecular gastronomy.

Several of the restaurant's master chefs were preparing to resign.

Xie Juanhan was preparing to leave too.

As a dragon, being a chef was just one of the dozens of jobs he had held.

He had experienced enough of it. Even if the restaurant hadn't changed its focus, he would have found an opportunity to resign, so he had no regrets about that.

It was just that, once he parted from his newly made friends, he would probably rarely see them again.

Xie Juanhan felt a little wistful about that.

When his coworkers invited him to a meal at a countryside farm restaurant, he didn't refuse.

The farm restaurant was in the mountains, and its owner had a farm where he raised his own chickens, ducks, geese, and pigeons.

The owner's family were excellent cooks too. Their roast pigeon recipe had been handed down for generations, producing meat that was fragrant and tender, with the full flavor of pigeon but none of the gaminess.

Everyone sang its praises.

Xie Juanhan was very pleased too.

The only unexpected thing happened after the meal, when everyone got into their respective cars and set their navigation systems to return to the city.

Xie Juanhan couldn't be bothered to drive for two hours, so he made an excuse, slipped into the woods, and turned into a dragon, planning to fly back.

People had navigation systems.

Dragons didn't.

Xie Juanhan had initially flown along the road.

But he ran into a summer downpour and veered off course, intending to circle around and fly back to the city.

On that flight, he accidentally entered a rift in spacetime and flew straight into

another

world.

Xie Juanhan took a deep breath and looked down.

The familiar high-rises and bustling traffic were nowhere to be seen. In their place were vast stretches of forest, meadows, hedgerows, and waterways.

In the distance, a swaying horse-drawn carriage traveled along a black cinder road, like a little beetle crawling slowly across the ground.

Evening fell.

The sunlight changed from brilliant platinum to deep orange.

The stretches of forest across the land looked especially cold and shadowy by contrast, taking on a peculiar iron-black hue.

His stomach rumbling, Xie Juanhan gave up searching.

He needed food and shelter. He would settle down for the time being and decide what to do next.

The town at the foot of the mountain was filled with houses, and a conspicuous clock tower stood almost at its center.

The temperature was dropping.

Wild birds circled and flew around the clock tower in the gathering dark, looking for places to spend the night.

Xie Juanhan concealed himself and followed the flock toward the buildings.

He found a secluded alley and changed back into human form.

The clothes hidden in his dragon-scale

space

returned to his body.

He looked down at them.

A T-shirt and long pants were as ordinary an outfit as could be, but in this world, they were strange clothes.

Xie Juanhan sighed silently, turned out of the alley, and walked onto the main street.

Sure enough, his outfit drew considerable attention.

Nearly everyone walking down the street turned to look at him.

Some even turned their heads to look back after walking away.

Expressionless, Xie Juanhan quickened his pace and hurried onward.

There was a tailor shop right on the main street, with clothes painted on its sign.

He rushed inside and bought a ready-made local outfit.

After he changed, most of the overly curious gazes finally disappeared, and the people craning their necks to look were nowhere to be seen.

He tightened his belt and asked the tailor where he could get a meal.

The old tailor glanced at the clothes he had just changed out of, paused briefly, and recommended a tavern that served food.

"An adventurer's favorite tavern," the old tailor said.

Xie Juanhan didn't give the old tailor's words much thought.

He was so hungry his stomach was almost digesting itself.

Once he knew where the tavern was, he left the tailor shop and headed straight for it.

The tavern the local had recommended was indeed good.

Xie Juanhan could smell the aroma from outside.

He hurried forward and pushed the tavern door open.

A hot, crowded human smell mixed with the scent of alcohol hit him at once.

It was a very strange smell.

Xie Juanhan paused, almost wanting to turn around and leave immediately.

"Sir!"

The waiter behind the counter had already seen him and greeted him enthusiastically.

"What would you like to drink? We have the strongest dwarven holy liquor!"

The people in the tavern also turned to look at him.

"Oh, goddess above."

"Good heavens, has a new adventuring party come to town?"

"That's a new face."

Xie Juanhan was using his spiritual power to read the waiter's words, and the conversations of the people in the tavern reached his ears as well.

There were several unfamiliar terms.

Their meanings were vastly different from those in his original world.

He stood there puzzling over them for a while before he roughly understood that those people were discussing an adventure to search for some kind of magical material in the territory of some kind of fae.

Fae, adventures, magical materials.

Information practically delivered to his doorstep.

Xie Juanhan stopped himself from turning around and continued toward the counter at an unhurried pace.

At the same time, a gentle breeze blew out from around him in every direction, keeping the surrounding smells at bay.

The fresh breeze swept away the hot, oppressive odors. Though the tavern still couldn't be said to smell good, Xie Juanhan could tolerate it now.

At the counter, the waiter looked at Xie Juanhan expectantly. "What would you like to drink?"

Xie Juanhan looked up at the sign. "What food do you have right now?"

He couldn't speak this world's language; he was simply communicating directly with the waiter through his spiritual power.

The waiter didn't notice. He only thought that this guest's accent and features were exceptionally charming.

The guest's pronunciation had a peculiar rhythm, just like a harp in a church!

It took the waiter several seconds to come back to his senses under Xie Juanhan's prompting gaze. "Oh, there's plenty!"

The waiter smiled, revealing neat, pearly white teeth. "Charma cheese, smoked meat bread, slow-cooked beef, tossed salad-"

"If you order, I can also give you a drink. Our tavern's drinks are very good: Meda elven wine, Madeira, News wine... Or how about a glass of dwarven holy liquor to ward off the cold?"

Xie Juanhan wasn't interested in alcohol. He tilted his head and listened, then said, "One smoked meat bread, one slow-cooked beef, and a tossed salad."

The tavern's dishes were already prepared.

Soon, the generous meal was brought out to Xie Juanhan.

Sitting in a corner where he could see most of the tavern, Xie Juanhan lifted a forkful of salad to his mouth.

"Hmm?" Xie Juanhan took his gaze off the tavern patrons' clothing and looked at the salad on his plate.

The salad was unexpectedly good. The vegetables were crisp and tender, with a faint corn-like aroma and a refreshing taste. The dressing coating them struck a fine balance between sour and salty.

Xie Juanhan looked at the salad. He didn't recognize a single vegetable in it.

After a brief pause, he tried a piece of the stewed beef.

The beef was tender and savory, coated in a thick sauce with a faint milky flavor.

Both the salad and the stewed beef were of very good quality.

When he got to the smoked meat bread, Xie Juanhan paused.

It wasn't because the bread tasted bad, but because-

Was the meat in the smoked meat bread fish?

Xie Juanhan looked at the gray piece of meat tucked inside the bread and confirmed it again. It was fish.

It was a fatty fish of some kind, marinated in a strongly flavored sauce and then smoked. Its aroma and rich, oily savoriness were very well balanced, and it tasted very good in the bread.

It seemed people were very good at making use of fish.