Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

Maltose is sugar.

Brown sugar, white sugar, and rock sugar are not available.

These three types of sugar are made from sugarcane and sugar beets.

Unfortunately, neither of these two things are found in this land.

Before returning to the mountain, Zhuang Xing specifically consulted the agricultural officials from the capital to confirm whether the problem was not present in the vicinity of Yidu or in the entire Dayu region.

After asking him, make sure he confirms one thing completely.

As far as he knew, the Dayu region basically didn't have any of the foreign species.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, peppers, beets, and even apples...

None of these crops could be found.

Unfortunately, historically, Zhuangxing had never found a trading magnate like Zheng He who sailed to the Western Ocean.

Throughout history, dynasties have not been particularly interested in maritime transport.

There are enough chores to keep me busy with on my own land, so how can I have time to wander around outside?

On a land teeming with demons and beasts, it's rare to find a golden road like the Silk Road.

At most, they would trade through canals and official roads, like in Yidu.

Not to mention going to sea, which is dangerous and the rewards are unknown.

Fishermen along the coast mostly only dare to fish in shallow waters. As far as Zhuang Xing knows, the only large-scale voyage launched by the imperial court was the treasure ship from thirty years ago—no, it should be said that it was thirty-five years ago now. However, there has been no news of the treasure ship since then, and it is unknown whether it sank or what.

This world seems similar to the places Zhuang Xing knows, but many of the underlying concepts are completely different.

Exploring unknown lands is a very risky thing for people in this world, so many things that are familiar to the industry are basically no longer seen.

There is still a long way to go to open up trade between different regions. It is estimated that we will need to develop a firearm so that ordinary people are no longer afraid of monsters before we can successfully promote trade.

Unfortunately, Zhuang Xing didn't know how to make a gun. He did have gunpowder, and children in Yidu would set off firecrackers during the New Year. But Zhuang Xing didn't understand the specific structure of a gun. He felt that he didn't have the ability to design a musket. At most, he could only offer a suggestion to see if anyone else could do it.

Of course, he only had this idea.

In this cold winter, many people are still suffering from hunger and cold, not even having enough to eat. How can they talk about conquering the world and realizing their dreams?

Even if a musket were made, without the high-precision industrialization, it would at best be a flintlock musket that could misfire at any time, had a slow reloading speed, required replacing bullets after each shot, and was very difficult to aim accurately.

If we add some techniques from the cultivation world, it might be worthwhile, but this requires even more knowledge and creativity, and it's not something an ordinary person can do.

While Zhuang Xing was baking a cake with honey, he kept having random thoughts.

That's probably how men are. At first, they might talk about food or beautiful women they see on the street, but eventually, they'll gradually escalate to grand topics like "how the universe was born" and "what will become of humanity."

Let's get back to reality and focus on doing the things at hand well.

This time he added raisins and dried dates to the cake. He was already very skilled at baking cakes, and knowing the right proportions and baking temperature was no longer a difficult task for him.

After pushing the cake base into the oven, he also cooked a pot of sweet fermented rice soup with small glutinous rice balls. The sweet fermented rice was brought from home. He rolled the glutinous rice flour dough into small glutinous rice balls without filling, threw them into the pot with the sweet fermented rice wine, and added goji berries, red dates and honey to cook together.

Steaming hot sweet fermented rice soup with glutinous rice balls. Sweet fermented rice is rice wine made from glutinous rice. It has a very low alcohol content, but it can warm you up when you drink it in winter.

The pandas were filthy, so Zhuang Xing took them next door to bathe while he was baking cakes.

Back in the lobby, he took out the freshly baked cake. Since there were no tables, everyone ate it standing up.

It was quite lively and bustling.

"Try it and see if it suits your taste." Zhuang Xing scooped out a bowl of small glutinous rice balls and placed it in front of the little panda.

The little pandas, like cats, wagged their tails happily, so Zhuang Xing scooped a bowl for each of them.

He scooped up a bowl and drank it himself, feeling warm all over.

I'll send some to Yunling later too. She found the Snow Grass, and she seems to have been busy with the Life Force Spell these past two days, so I haven't seen her much.

Chapter 157 Plants vs. Monsters

The little pandas licked the small glutinous rice balls in the bowl. When they couldn't lick anymore, without Zhuang Xing teaching them, they picked up the bowl and drank the hot, sweet water.

"Would you like another bowl?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"What's a bowl?" the panda asked, puzzled.

They know about cakes because woodcutters in the mountains would say, "We're hungry, let's eat some cakes," but they had never seen woodcutters eat with bowls in the mountains.

“What you’re holding are bowls. Here’s another bowl. We’ll fill your bowls with the little glutinous rice balls you just drank,” Zhuang Xing explained. “If you want more, pick up your bowls and come over here. I’ll scoop out another bowl for you.”

Upon hearing Zhuang Xing's words, the pandas' ears perked up, and they huddled together around him.

The panda tiptoed and lifted the bowl high, as if it thought whoever lifted it the highest would get to eat the glutinous rice balls first.

Zhuang Xing picked up a spoon and scooped them out one by one.

His movements were extremely fast; the spoon felt similar to a sword, both being long objects with a handle.

His swordsmanship was as precise as his spoon technique.

Almost simultaneously, all five small bowls were filled, without spilling a drop of soup or liquid.

If this technique were performed at a temple fair, it would be considered a minor talent.

The pandas were overjoyed to see that the bowl was full.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"You did a great job today, no need to thank me."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Understood, Your Majesty."

There weren't many small glutinous rice balls left in the pot, so Zhuang Xing scooped out another bowl of them, cut a piece of grape, red date, and honey cake, put them in a wooden lunchbox, covered it, and placed it on the oven to warm it up before it got cold.

He invited the guests to eat cake, and after they finished, he cleared away the plates and chopsticks and saw them out.

"Thank you so much for today! Come visit again next time!"

Zhuang Xing waved goodbye to his senior sister and old neighbors.

After seeing the guests off, I returned to the kitchen.

The cake and glutinous rice balls were completely devoured, leaving only dirty plates and bowls.

Zhuang Xing tried to teach the little panda to wash dishes and pots.

He demonstrated it himself, taking the wood-fired pot down from under the stove and washing the dishes in front of the panda.

Holding a rag and a brush, he said, "Like this, scrub the food scraps out of the bowl, and then rinse it with clean water."

"Pour the dishwater into that bucket, wash the dishes, and then pour the dishwater outside the door."

"Did you understand?"

"We understand!" the pandas answered in unison.

Pandas' claws are shorter than human fingers, so they are not as dexterous as human hands.

But washing dishes isn't complicated.

The five of them worked together diligently, one handing over a bowl, one adding water, one wiping the bowl, one cleaning the bowl, and one folding the washed dishes neatly, like assembly line workers doing their own jobs.

The five pandas grew up together and have a truly perfect understanding.

Zhuang Xing nodded, then picked up his lunchbox and went out.

After a sunny day, it started snowing again in the evening.

Fortunately, the snow was light, just a light snowfall.

Zhuang Xing walked steadily to the outside of the small medicinal herb field surrounded by a fence and called out Yunling's name.

He had only called out twice when the door opened, and Yunling quickly came out to see him.

Zhuang Xing picked up the boxed lunch in his hand and said with a smile, "I made some glutinous rice balls and a cake. Yunling, eat them while they're hot."

Yunling reached out her hand, and Zhuang Xing thought she was going to take the lunchbox from him, but she gently patted the snow off Zhuang Xing's shoulder before taking the lunchbox.

"Let's go sit over there for a while," Yunling said, pointing to a spot. She seemed reluctant to simply accept the lunchbox and go back inside.

“Okay.” Zhuang Xing also wanted to spend more time with her, so the two sat down in a small pavilion near the lake.

Yunling opened the lunchbox, and the small glutinous rice balls inside were still steaming.

The steam rose up in front of the girl's eyes, making them appear as if they were covered with a layer of mist.

"Eat it while it's hot," Zhuang Xing said.

"Mmm." Yunling nodded, picked up the bowl, took a sip of the sweet soup, and ate a bite of cake.

"Is it good?" Zhuang Xing thought he was pretty good at cooking.

He had tasted the cake and the glutinous rice balls himself. The fermented rice had a light wine flavor, and the red dates and goji berries were cooked until soft. The cake had a flaky crust on the outside, and when you took a bite, the texture was both crispy and soft. You could taste the raisins and pitted dried red dates.

Without a doubt, this is a rare delicacy in this era.

"It's delicious." As Yunling ate, she felt a little sore.

Who else in this world would treat her so well?

"It's delicious, I'll make it for you again next time," Zhuang Xing said with a grin.

"How are you making the cake today?"

"I've already moved out, and a lot of people came to help me set up the kitchen and clean the house. I even baked a cake for everyone," Zhuang Xing said. "The bedroom and woodshed are almost done. If you have time, you can come and take a look at my place."

"Yes, I'll definitely come over once I've finished processing the new seeds."

What kind of seeds are you planning to make?

Zhuang Xing was a little curious, as they had been working on this new variety for almost a year.

He had also looked at the varieties he had worked on before, and they were similar to the heart-protecting vine, with no significant changes. Yunling also said that they were failures.

I haven't asked about it for several months, so I don't know how effective the new variety is.

"I don't know if it will succeed," Yunling said.

Zhuang Xing listened to her explanation and realized that she was planning to create a new species that could distinguish between humans, demons, and beasts.