Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

Chapter 132 The White Rat Family (Two Chapters Combined)

Zhuang Xing, holding the white mouse, sat up from the bed.

Even with the windows and doors closed, you can still hear the soft sound of falling snow.

That was the sound of snow falling from the eaves to the ground.

Zhuang Xing opened the window, and a cold breeze rushed in.

The faint light from his fingertips flickered in the eyes of him and the white mouse. It was snowing again tonight, just like it had been snowing frequently these past few days.

The white rat shrank into his arms. Even for a monster like the white golden rat, surviving in such a snowy weather was not an easy task.

Whether human or demon, everyone must face the current extreme cold that has gripped the world.

The wilderness is fraught with danger; you never know where danger might strike.

Although life on the road is carefree, you can't get a good night's sleep.

Even if you find the spiritual herbs and fruits, there may already be demonic beasts waiting around.

In the winter when food is scarce, the wilderness becomes extremely dangerous.

Hungry carnivores, temperatures plummeting below freezing, the search for food... these are all problems that must be faced...

The fact that the white mouse's wife was willing to accompany him and bring their child to Zhuang Xing must have been because she was afraid of that kind of danger.

Even that purebred platinum rat believed that the risks of taking its offspring to survive in the wild were greater than the risks of contact with humans.

The heavy snow outside was more terrifying than the unfamiliar humans, that's what it thought, which is why it was willing to bring its young children and the white rat to search for Zhuang Xing tonight.

When the white rat was bound by vines, it was Zhuang Xing who rescued it. When it discovered that the snake fruit was occupied by a wild grass snake, it was Zhuang Xing who drew his sword and helped it kill the grass snake. When it needed a demon core but was powerless to obtain it, it was Zhuang Xing who traded the demon core of the white-tailed jackal to it.

The white rat has brought its whole family of rats to seek help from the farm.

"Would you like to stay at my house?" Zhuang Xing asked, bowing his head.

The white mouse nodded its head, jumped down from Zhuang Xing's arms, opened its mouth, and spat out some objects.

There were all sorts of things: a jade Buddha pendant, several gold bars that looked very old, some dried-out spiritual herbs and fruits...

It placed these items in front of Zhuang Xing; these were the spoils of war that it had painstakingly collected.

It intends to use these assets to trade with the brokerage firm.

It felt like a tenant paying rent to a landlord, but in reality, Zhuang Xing didn't do anything for the white rat. If anything, it just took some food from the house, and the price of that food was far less than the value of these things.

However, even if you explained these things to a platinum rat, it would probably have a hard time understanding.

It just wanted to exchange something for peace of mind; if Zhuang Xing didn't take it, it and its wife wouldn't feel at ease.

Zhuang Xing bent down and picked out some useful items from among them; naturally, he took all the gold and jade.

The jade Buddha was carved as a laughing Buddha with a big belly. Zhuang Xing touched it in his hand and tested it with his true qi. It was not a magic artifact.

The three gold bars had bite marks on them. Platinum rats love to eat gold and jade, so there might have originally been many gold bars, and these were the ones that were chewed up.

Zhuang Xing held the only gold bar in good condition in his hand, lit an oil lamp, placed it beside him, and examined it carefully by the light.

The gold bar bears an official seal, but it is not from the Great Yu Dynasty. Zhuang Xing doesn't recognize which dynasty's official seal it is from, and he always felt that the jade Buddha and the gold bar were dug up from someone else's grave by the White Gold Rat.

Zhuang Xing clasped his hands together, recited a Taoist scripture of mourning for the deceased, and then placed the two items on his side.

As for the spiritual fruits and herbs, since they were dried out, it was difficult to identify what they were. Zhuang Xing only had a superficial understanding of pharmacology and could not distinguish them from their smell and appearance. However, he figured that the white rats had given the rest to their wives and children, so these were probably not spiritual plants that could be eaten directly.

Let's wait until later and then go find Yunling to verify it.

These are pretty much all that's useful. The rest, like broken chopsticks and broken celadon bowls, are completely useless junk.

It is estimated that, like the jade Buddha and gold bars, they were burial objects.

My apologies, these are all things belonging to the dead. Having them in my hands always feels very unlucky, and I feel uneasy.

But then I thought about it, aren't the exhibits in the museum also things belonging to the dead?

He's not a tomb raider, so why should he have any psychological burden?

The jade Buddha and gold bars themselves are innocent; the sin lies with the blasphemous heart.

After such reassurance, he felt at ease taking the jade Buddha and gold bars into his pocket.

As for the damaged artifacts, he scratched his head, pushed them back, and said to the white rat, "Take these back. It's best to find a place to bury them. Don't bring these things over again in the future."

The white mouse seemed to be deep in thought before swallowing the "garbage" into its mouth.

Zhuang Xing nodded and said, "Since I've taken your things, you can stay in my house as long as you want, until you don't want to stay anymore."

Upon hearing this, the white mouse turned around and squeaked twice.

A pair of eyes popped out of the pit, and then two fur balls emerged. After the mother nodded, the fur balls immediately ran out and came to the white mouse's side.

The two little ones seemed very curious about Zhuang Xing and came to his side again. This time, their mother did not stop them.

Zhuang Xing stretched out his hand, and two little fur balls that looked like hamsters ran into his palm. They sniffed and jumped around in his hand. One of them ran to his shoulder, and the other simply jumped onto his head and lay down. They were lively and cute.

Zhuang Xing let them play and said to the white mouse, "Since you're going to live in my house, I still need to introduce you to my family."

"Once my family gets to know you, you won't have to sneak around stealing rice and grain when you're hungry."

At this point, the platinum hamster in the pit called the children back. The two little furballs were very obedient to their mother; as soon as she called, they went back obediently.

The mother and her three babies were watching Zhuang Xing.

At this moment, the white mouse's wife crawled out of the pit. She was several sizes larger than the white mouse, and the difference was obvious.

Zhuang Xing gave it a name in his heart: Da Bai.

Among wild beasts and monsters, most females are larger than males.

It's not hard to see that Baymax still harbors a considerable degree of wariness towards humans.

There are some people in this world who regard the white golden rat as a rare animal. If a white golden rat is found in the wild, many cultivators will want to capture it.

That's why it seems that Big White doesn't want too many people to know that his family of platinum rats lives here.

If the news leaks out... it could easily attract some people with malicious intentions...

My mother is sensible and won't gossip, but my father...

He remembered when he was a child, the first time he went out with his father. Before leaving, his mother repeatedly told him not to take him to do anything dangerous, but his father still took him horseback riding on the road.

If Father finds out about the White Mouse family, he might accidentally brag about it when he goes out drinking with others.

Regardless of whether it will attract outsiders, given Big White's wariness, if it feels that this human family cannot be trusted, it may very well take its whole family and fly away, never to have contact with humans again.

The white mouse obeyed Big White's orders. If Big White forbade it to see Zhuang Xing, it really never came.

On such a snowy day, it's easy to imagine how dangerous it would be to take two baby mice outside.

After some thought, Zhuang Xing decided that for their safety, it would be better to just live together peacefully.

"How about this?" Zhuang Xing said, "If you don't want to show yourselves, I'll find a place to store some rice and flour for you. When you need it, you can go and get it yourself, or have it transported to your hideout and stored there."

Big White squeaked twice, and the white mouse came to Zhuang Xing's side. Big White then led the two baby mice and burrowed underground, seemingly going back.

"Aren't you leaving?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"Squeak." The white mouse nudged the hole in the ground, filled it in, and jumped onto Zhuang Xing's bed.

"What do you mean? Your wife entrusted this matter to you?" Zhuang Xing asked tentatively.

"squeak."

The white mouse curled up into a fluffy ball beside Zhuang Xing's pillow, looking like it really wasn't planning on going back to its burrow tonight.

Zhuang Xing smiled, got into bed, and covered himself with the blanket.

Bai Lian Jushi said that the platinum mouse pillow is very comfortable, and he had always wanted to try it to see how comfortable it was. Today he finally had the chance.

He simply put his head on the white mouse, but the mouse didn't move.

The white mouse's body was warm, and its fur was like silk, smooth and close to its skin.

Although it often burrows in the soil, it is very clean.

It digs holes not with its claws, but with supernatural abilities.

When Zhuang Xing first saw it, it was always as pure as a piece of jade.

In the summer, it feels cool to the touch, but in the winter it warms up on its own.

No wonder the lay Buddhist likes to use a platinum rat as a pillow; sleeping on it is indeed a very special experience.

On such a cold day, with the white mouse as a pillow, he suddenly felt warm and couldn't help but yawn and fall asleep.

...

He slept soundly until dawn. When he woke up, the white mouse had crawled out from under his head, probably because it was a little uncomfortable from being pressed down.

However, it didn't go far; it was still by Zhuang Xing's bedside.

When Zhuangxing got up, it got up too.

“Wait for me inside,” Zhuang Xing said. “Don’t worry, once I’ve taken your things, I’ll definitely get this done for you.”

The white mouse obediently stayed there. Zhuang Xing stroked its fur and called his mother to his bedroom.

When the mother saw the white mouse, which was as big as a raccoon, on Zhuang Xing's bed, she was stunned.

"Son... what's this?"

"Mother, this is my friend."

"friend?"

"Come here."

The white rat came to Zhuang Xing's side as soon as it was called. There was a reason why so many people wanted to catch a white rat.

Even if you don't care about the Platinum Rat's treasure-hunting skills and its ability to burrow underground, its appearance is still adorable and makes it a great pet.

Compared to her panic and unease when she saw the black horse, Mother was much more composed when she saw the white mouse.

Without Zhuang Xing saying anything, Mother reached out and patted the white mouse's head.

"Hello," Mother said.