Lari took the bucket from her and sniffed its contents. “This is alcohol!”

“Yes, it is. Read the item descriptions.” I took all the buckets from them for safekeeping, just in case someone decided to try tasting some of the liquor.

[Vanilla Sky Mix:

So smooth it feels like drinking silk, with complex notes of caramel, vanilla, and subtle spices that reveal themselves one after another.]

This was the one Mo had drunk. The description hadn’t said anything about alcohol, so she must not have realized it wasn’t a regular drink.

[The Absolute Absurdity Ale:

It tastes like being tickled by moonbeams while thousands of tiny flavor explosions dance on your tongue, each one releasing a different fruit essence that changes as you sip.]

The ale had bubbles, and I could see that Kharli and Lari were interested in it since it probably reminded them of the [Kola-Kola Soda].

[Merry Berry Brew:

A dessert in a glass, it somehow tastes like bedtime stories, moonlight, and hugs. Top with ice cream or gelato for a truly luxurious experience.]

The dessert cocktail, or whatever it was, looked and smelled like an alcoholic mix of coffee, cream, sugar, and chocolate. I thought I also caught a whiff of what smelled like strawberry, but it was pretty faint.

I gave Mo a glass of water. Her face was a little red. It must have been a bit of a shock for her since she had never had alcohol before. “Mo, are you alright?”

After a few seconds, she nodded.

“I think it would be best if we showed this to the chef,” I said.

We started walking back to the house.

Kharli was grinning at Mo’s reaction to having her first taste of alcohol. “That was so dramatic! Did you like it?”

Mo shook her head. “It’s so bitter and it burns! You might as well drink vinegar.”

Lari sniffed a bucket again. “But the item description says it's smooth like silk.”

“Maybe the System means it’s smooth for liquor.” Mo shuddered. “I can’t believe adults like to drink this kind of thing.”

“Teacher, may I have a sip?” asked Lari.

“Sure, but let’s ask the chef first, okay? This might be a concentrate that needs to be diluted before drinking.”

We found the chef just outside the back of the house butchering a demon pig with his assistants. He was looking especially fearsome today, with his eyes glowing red and his white apron soiled by blood, bits of bone, fragments of viscera, and unidentifiable bits. We hastily retreated and went to consult Fengying instead. My housekeeper asked us to wait in the outer courtyard, and she returned around ten minutes later with her husband and the rest of the kitchen staff, who had cleaned up and were now wearing pristine white aprons over their regular clothes. They took three buckets, one of each type of mystery concoction, and went back to the kitchen with them.

Fengying returned and said, “Deming says these are high-grade drinks.”

“This one is made of a base of an unknown distillate.” She pointed at the [Vanilla Sky Mix]. “It also contains caramel, tonka bean, grains of paradise, lavender, cardamon, and pepper.”

Then she pointed at the [Merry Berry Brew]. “Sweet rice wine infused with strawberry, raspberry and blueberry. Coffee, cream, and chocolate were added later.”

Lastly, she indicated the [The Absolute Absurdity Ale]. “An excellent ale. The bubbles are strange since the ale should only foam when poured, but the taste is exceptionally complex with a clean finish.”

“High grade?! This is the first time that the chef said one of our items is high grade.” I turned to the others with a huge smile on my face. “Above ‘high grade’ are ‘legendary’ and ‘mythical grade,’ but they are extremely difficult to get.”

“My lady, Deming says that the four of you shouldn’t drink this since the alcohol content is too much for young people.” She then gestured to a maid who offered us a tray of small porcelain cups the size of a shot glass. “But you might want to take a sip just to taste it.”

I eyed the cups warily. “I guess a small sip wouldn’t hurt. I’ll start with the [Vanilla Sky] that Mo drank.”

A moment later I was coughing and coughing.

“Teacher, are you okay?” Kharli patted my back.

It took a while for the coughing to subside. I wiped the tears from my eyes and said, weakly, “I think I won’t try the others. That was way too strong for me to drink.”

“Teacher, I don’t want to try another sip,” said Mo.

“I’d like to taste it.” Lari waited for my nod of agreement before picking up a cup of the [The Absolute Absurdity Ale]. “This is a type of beer, right? It shouldn’t be as strong.”

He took a decent gulp, and for a split second, there was no reaction. Then, it hit. A sharp intake of breath hitched in his throat, and his eyes opened wide, a pained look flashing across his face. His Adam's apple bobbed violently, and his hand instinctively clutched his neck. It took him a while to regain his composure.

“Regular ale isn’t like that,” said Fengying. “My lady, would you care to try regular beer?”

Lari, Kharli, Mo, and I exchanged looks.

“Okay. Just a small sip though,” I said.

Fengying took a bottle from a maid and poured the beer into a crystal glass for us.

“Nice foam.” I picked it up and took an experimental sip. “Bitter, but not crazy like the other strange concoction.”

My apprentices also tried it out and we all agreed that its taste was much more reasonable. It must be pretty low in alcohol content since there was barely any “kick” to it.

Next, Fengying gestured to a maid who went to the kitchen and returned with a small bowl of ice cream topped with peaches. “The [Merry Berry Brew] was poured over this dessert dish. Deming says the effect is… unique.”

“Oh, it’s ice cream! It can’t possibly be that bad.” I used the dessert spoon to scoop out a small portion from the top. The taste was exquisite. The cool sweetness of vanilla ice cream and the juicy sweetness of the peaches blended together perfectly. The sauce, made of [Merry Berry Brew], was rich and slightly bitter, which added an earthiness to it. “Now that’s more like it! Guys, you try it.”

However, they were all of the opinion that the sauce ruined the ice cream since it added too much bitterness, so I asked the maids to bring ice cream without the alcoholic addition.

As we happily ate the sweet treat, Fengying discussed Deming’s hypothesis about the liquor.

“He believes that the qilin are responsible for turning what should be birch tree water into that.” She nodded in the direction of the cups of cocktails.

“Really? I didn’t know qilin were known for making water into wine.”

“They aren’t, but alcohol is traditionally served during weddings and births. Perhaps since you helped the qilin hatch from their eggs, they provided you with the means to celebrate the occasion.”

“Oh, maybe they’re telling us to party? Say no more! Kids, let’s organize something for tomorrow. After all, it’s not every day that a farmer is visited by mythical creatures.”

Lari, Kharli, and Mo were delighted, of course. They got to discussing among themselves which dishes they would ask the chef to cook for the banquet.

I turned to Fengying with a smile and whispered, “The appearance of a qilin is said to herald the coming of a great king or sage, right? Did you send the letter to Prince Baiyu’s mother to tell her about it?”

“I did, my lady.”

“But knowing the Vermillion Bird clan, they’ll probably claim it’s a sign of the emergence of their next king or queen.”

We exchanged a bit of gossip about the clans before parting ways.

***

That night, I dreamed of a cute little dragon boy who wanted to go flying. I protested because, of course, I’m a human who doesn’t have wings and can’t fly.

“You can do it, mom!”

Somehow, he picked me up and threw me up and we floated into the sky. Below us were forests, rivers, and lakes; above us, fluffy, pink-tinged white clouds. I woke up feeling refreshed and in high spirits.

After a pleasant, uneventful breakfast of coffee, bread, and a crispy potato egg “cake,” we got right to work on planting more of the [Divine Origin Energy Bamboo] and [Shadow Bindweed]. We finished quickly since planting the seeds took a lot of energy.

“This is extremely tiring.” I leaned on Kharli for support.

“Teacher, I brought the stuff for the picnic this time.” Mo took out a large blanket and basket of goodies from her inventory.

“How thoughtful. Shall we rest under the trees again? The fresh air here feels wonderful.” I smiled and patted her on the shoulder. Not too long ago, I would have patted her on the head but she was now almost as tall as me. “We can sketch our herb site plan.”

We headed to the same tree as yesterday and sat down under its shade. Lari provided the pillows.

I spread a large piece of paper with the preliminary sketch in the middle of the blanket. “It’s a pity but we can only plant the most basic Immortal Herbs until the [Sun Tree] and [Moon Tree] are fully grown. We’ll plant them two-by-two according to the System information on companion planting.”

[Companion Planting:

The practice of growing plants with complementary traits next to each other in order to improve their growth and health.

There are many combinations of plants that can be used for companion planting, and the best way to find out which plants work well together is to experiment. Some plants that are known to be good companions include beans and corn, tomatoes and basil, and cabbage and onions.]

“The pairs are [Fire Orchid] and [Ice Lily]; and [Wintry Nether Root] and [Summer Sky Mint], right?” Kharli read out the labels on the drawing I had made.

“You forgot the [Day-Blooming Butterfly Weed] and [Night-Blooming Jasmine].” Lari indicated the plants in the sketch.

“Teacher, I understand the idea of companion planting the herbs in contrasting pairs, but do we really need to plant the [Disaster Herb] with the [Miracle Grass]? The name is so ominous. Can’t we just plant the [Miracle Grass] by itself?” Mo frowned and pointed at the spot where I meant to plant one of each.

I put the seed packets of each Immortal Herb on the paper and said, “Read the description for each.”

We were silent as I ate a pineapple bun and the others did as I requested.

“Do you get it now?” I asked after a suitable amount of time had passed.

“Yes, Teacher. If we plant the [Miracle Grass] by itself, it will grow normally but attract pests because aphids love to eat its leaves. However, if we plant [Disaster Herb] beside it, the pests will be repelled.” Kharli squinted her eyes as she read the System text.

“Hopefully, it will only be a disaster for the pests, not us,” said Lari.

“I'm sure it will be fine.” I gestured at the plan I had drawn. “What do you guys think of this placement? Do you want to make any changes?”

They thought my design was fine, but the drawing was too crude, so they decided to paint a nicer one with a brush and colored inks after lunch.

In the meantime, we spent a pleasant morning chatting and eating pastries.

***

When we finished planting the seeds at the perimeter of the Immortal Herb field, we ran into a small problem.

[Warning: The Immortal Herb seeds have sprouted. The field is covered in deadly gas.]

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