Chapter 30

Telingewei popped a berry into his mouth and slowly chewed the skin, savoring its aroma.

The little ones immediately raised their heads and pawed at Xie Juanhan, signaling that they wanted some too.

Xie Juanhan washed a big handful of berries and shared them with the little ones.

The little ones popped the berries into their mouths and chewed and chewed with equal seriousness.

Xie Juanhan found them amusing and couldn't help smiling.

Still, chewing the berries to choose ones suitable for winemaking really did let them pick out the best of the bunch.

Berries that were either too unripe or too ripe didn't have much aroma.

Only berries at the perfect stage of ripeness had a rich fragrance.

Carrying his little basket, Xie Juanhan began picking berries nearby.

Although the patches weren't far apart, the berries in each one were at different stages of ripeness. Differences in soil, water, sunlight, and other conditions also gave them subtly different flavors.

Whenever Xie Juanhan reached a new berry patch, he would chew a berry.

He picked only berries that tasted right.

The little ones followed him the whole time.

He chewed berries.

The little ones chewed berries with solemn expressions too.

It was as though they were putting their whole hearts into their work.

Then-

At the edge of a new berry patch, Xie Juanhan picked a handful as usual, washed them, and shared them with the little ones to taste.

One of the little ones suddenly let out a small cry: "Chirp!"

"What's wrong?" Xie Juanhan immediately looked down at the little one.

Standing on its hind legs, the little one tried to paw at its mouth with its forepaws while licking its teeth. "Chirp."

Xie Juanhan immediately put down his basket, picked up the little one, and pried its mouth open to take a look.

He couldn't see anything wrong.

Telingewei stepped forward and took the little one from Xie Juanhan.

"Chirp." The little one tilted its head up and cried plaintively at Telingewei.

Telingewei lifted the little one and pressed his forehead against its.

Xie Juanhan grew nervous. "How is it?"

Telingewei wore a complicated expression as he said to Xie Juanhan, "Its teeth are on edge from the sourness."

Xie Juanhan: "..."

Telingewei gave the little one in his hands a shake. "Why are you so delicate?"

The little one was licking its teeth vigorously. At his question, it angrily reached out a paw to scratch his face. "Chirp, chirp!"

The berries' sourness had a delayed effect.

Soon, the other little ones discovered their teeth were on edge too.

They whined as they licked their teeth, whimpering in their throats.

The berry skins were too sour. Now they couldn't bite into anything, not even a blade of grass.

"Whimper, whimper." One little one pitifully nuzzled Xie Juanhan's hand with its head, indicating that its teeth were out of commission and it could only eat soft things.

Xie Juanhan comforted them. "It shouldn't be anything serious. You'll be back to normal soon."

The little ones stayed sprawled at his feet, acting spoiled around him. "Whimper."

Xie Juanhan carefully worked out what they meant. "No, you can't have little cakes, and you can't have ice cream either."

The little ones: "Whimper, whimper, whimper."

While the little ones crowded around Xie Juanhan, whimpering at him,

Telingewei stood nearby, his eyes slowly narrowing as he watched them without expression.

The little ones noticed and resolutely avoided meeting his gaze.

Xie Juanhan noticed too. He looked at the little ones, then at Telingewei, and realization dawned. "Wait, you didn't eat sour berries on purpose to set your teeth on edge, did you?"

This time, the little ones wouldn't meet Xie Juanhan's eyes either.

Xie Juanhan: "..."

Xie Juanhan looked down at the little ones and said gently, "When your teeth are on edge, the things you should avoid most are sweet, soft, and cold foods."

"They'll erode your teeth."

The little ones looked at Xie Juanhan, a hint of confusion in their eyes. His gentle expression seemed a little different from usual, a little frightening. "Whimper."

Telingewei said, "Let's have them fast. Their teeth are on edge anyway, so it's a good time to lose some weight."

The little ones, whose attempt to fake an injury had backfired: "Chirp, chirp, chirp!!!"

The sky had fallen.

==========Author's note:==========

See you tomorrow!

Thanks to Nanzhi (*3), Guling Jingguai Xiao Yatou (*3), Mango King (*2), Full Sugar Zero Fat Herbal Tea (*2), Suyang, Identifying Popular Creatures of the Terra Continent, Lying-Flat Coconut, Shiluo, Xingchen, and Get Rich, Get Rich, Get Very Rich for the land mines.

Chapter 30: Chapter 30 [VIP]

Xie Juanhan and the others returned home with the berries. The little ones licked their teeth, still listless from the sourness.

Xie Juanhan unloaded the baskets of berries from the dragon's back.

The little ones jumped down beside him one after another, then dragged their tails as they slowly made their way under the eaves and lay down.

Telingewei returned to human form.

Xie Juanhan went in and out with him, carrying berries and tidying up the miscellaneous items.

The little ones lay where they were, motionless.

Whenever the two dragons wanted to enter or leave the kitchen, they had to watch for gaps between the little ones to put their feet down.

When Xie Juanhan passed the little ones yet again, he bent down and reached out to stroke one of them.

The little one's ears immediately sprang up. It looked upward, showing a little of the whites of its eyes, its expression full of anticipation.

Xie Juanhan only stroked it; he said nothing about giving it little cakes or ice cream.

After waiting expectantly for a long while, the little one lowered its eyes again and rested its head on its paws, looking even more dejected.

Watching the little one's vivid expressions, Xie Juanhan smiled with pleasure. He took a basket and picked out some of the berries.

Telingewei picked up a berry he had set aside and examined it, puzzled. "Why are you picking these berries out? Aren't they good enough?"

"They are." Xie Juanhan put the berries in his hands into the basket. "We tasted them one by one ourselves. How could they not be good enough?"

The little ones, whose teeth had been set on edge by all that tasting, grew even more dejected.

Xie Juanhan glanced at the little ones, who looked ready to sigh, and said, "These berries need to be set aside to air-dry."

"To make candied fruit?"

"No, they're for making wine too." Xie Juanhan gestured toward the eaves. "In a little while, we'll put the berries we've set aside into mesh bags and hang them under the eaves to air-dry, so their sugars and flavor compounds can slowly concentrate."

The little ones' ears twitched, and they listened intently as Xie Juanhan went on.

"After they've hung for a few months, their sugars and flavor compounds will have concentrated, and they'll become dried berries as soft and syrupy as gummy candy. Then we'll add them to the berry wine for a second fermentation."

Telingewei said, "Will that make the berry wine sweeter?"

"Yes, a little sweeter. And berry wine fermented a second time like that will have a richer, more layered aroma, with a few bubbles in it too, just like the Elven Holy Wine we drank last time."

The little ones' eyes filled with longing too.

Xie Juanhan turned to them. "When it's ready, we can all taste this batch of berry wine we picked and brewed ourselves. What do you think?"

Xie Juanhan had spoken to them of his own accord.

The little ones took the opportunity to give in gracefully. "Chirp."

Their sulks soothed, they came over of their own accord and followed Xie Juanhan and Telingewei around.

The berries picked that day had thick skins covered with a powdery bloom, rich in wild yeast.

With that yeast, they could make perfect berry wine without adding any fermentation starter.

To preserve the bloom, most winemakers didn't wash the fruit.

Xie Juanhan couldn't stand that.

He drew in mountain spring water, gently washed the surface dust off the berries, and blew them dry. Only then did he put them in a large vat and mash them with a wooden stick.

"Thud, thud, thud-"

The berries burst, releasing a fresh, rich fruity aroma.

The little ones' noses twitched repeatedly, and they wanted to help too.

After making sure they weren't shedding, Xie Juanhan readily handed them the stick. "Here."

The little ones stood on their hind legs and pawed at the stick with their forepaws. "Chirp, chirp."

After pawing at it for a long while, the little ones hadn't managed to mash many berries with the stick.

Still, they were perfectly content after joining in the fun. They held their heads high and puffed out their chests. "Chirp, chirp."

Telingewei glanced at the little ones.

Xie Juanhan took the stick back and patiently continued mashing the berries.

The berries in the wine vat gradually broke apart, eventually becoming a mixture of skins and pulp.

Xie Juanhan didn't strain it. Instead, he and Telingewei carried the crushed berries, vat and all, to a corner of the kitchen. They put on the lid, and he released a little cold air, leaving them to ferment quietly at a low temperature in the corner.

Under the action of the yeast, they would slowly turn into wine.

The little ones were very curious about this batch of berry wine.

During the early stages of fermentation, the berry wine had to be stirred every day.

The little ones usually slept until midday, then patrolled the Magic Forest after waking. Only in the afternoon would they slowly make their way over to play with Xie Juanhan.

Lately, they often came in the morning for the sake of the berry wine.

Every time Xie Juanhan stirred it, they sat on their haunches nearby, staring intently at the berry juice as it bubbled away.

One afternoon,

Xie Juanhan was reading in the study.

He was engrossed in his book when a clack came from the kitchen. It sounded like the wine vat's lid knocking against the vat.

He stuck his head out the window and looked toward the kitchen. "Harper? Is that you?"

A tiny voice came from the kitchen. "Chirp."

Xie Juanhan said, "Don't paw at the berry wine."

Another sound came from the kitchen. "Chirp."

Xie Juanhan felt their attitude was a little strange, so he stayed by the window and waited.

Sure enough,

a moment later, a group of little ones came running out of the kitchen, tails trailing and paws tiptoeing, and slipped away at top speed.

They didn't make a sound.

If Xie Juanhan hadn't been watching from the window the whole time, he would have found it hard to imagine that they could be so light and quiet.