Silver King and Mimi were still on the first layer, gathering vine sap, not finished yet.
He went up to the third layer of the treehouse.
Keke was already sprawled on the sofa, sleepily dozing off. Xu Xin gently patted Keke’s little head; it merely gave a soft cry, wagging its big tail lightly, and then continued sleeping.
Xu Xin picked it up; it didn’t wake up, just buried its head into Xu Xin’s embrace and kept sleeping in a daze.
This little one, lately, has become increasingly sleepy.
Previously, as soon as it was mealtime, it would be the first to come over, urging to eat. But now, lunchtime had long passed; it was already two in the afternoon, yet it still snored away, not even bothered with eating.
"Oh well, won’t bring it along; I’ll bring some back for it when I return."
Xu Xin placed it back onto the soft sofa, turned around, and swung down from the treehouse.
Arriving at the coordinates, he activated the portal, and amidst the spinning sensation, he appeared next to Li Wenxi’s treehouse.
Just as he walked under the treehouse, a tendril suddenly curled towards him from above.
Xu Xin instinctively dodged, hearing Li Wenxi’s voice from above: "What are you dodging for!"
"Reflex," Xu Xin shrugged.
The tendril curled towards him again, this time he didn’t dodge, allowing it to pull him up.
Li Wenxi directly pulled him into the third layer of the treehouse.
Upon entering, he immediately smelled the aroma of food.
This aroma seemed somewhat different from usual.
Besides Li Wenxi, Li Yajun, Le Youfang, and Lou Fei’Er, Qi Xuefei was there too. Several people sat around the table, waiting for Xu Xin to arrive and start eating together.
"Let’s eat, let’s eat!" Li Wenxi pulled Xu Xin to sit next to her.
"You finally came; I’ve been working physically all morning, I’m starving!" Lou Fei’Er picked up her chopsticks immediately when she saw Xu Xin arriving, eyes sparkling.
Qi Xuefei and Li Yajun also nodded to him.
"Hi, Brother Xin!" greeted Le Youfang, who sat on the other side of Xu Xin.
Before Xu Xin came, he was the only guy at this table; everyone else was women, all new acquaintances today, making him quite reserved. Seeing Xu Xin arrive, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"So, how are you adjusting to just arriving?" Xu Xin casually asked.
"Very well!" Le Youfang seemed quite excited, apparently fed up with surviving alone, "I feel full of energy when mining!"
"That’s good. Why didn’t Ji Chaoyang come over?" Xu Xin noticed that except for Ji Chaoyang, almost everyone from his side was present.
Oh, except for Ma Hongwei, who was in a weakened state.
"I invited him; he said he already ate and is currently exploring outside, so it’s inconvenient to come back, he won’t be joining us," Li Wenxi explained and then passed Xu Xin a piece of food, "Try my cooking!"
Xu Xin put the meat slice Li Wenxi served him into his mouth and chewed a couple of times.
Seeing Xu Xin move his chopsticks, Lou Fei’Er started eating immediately, and the others followed suit.
"Hehe, pretty good, right?" Li Wenxi raised her head.
"The taste is indeed good, did you add something besides salt?" Xu Xin was a bit surprised; he hadn’t tasted this flavor for a long time, it seemed like, pepper?
"You can taste that too, huh?" Li Wenxi nodded, "I did add some."
"I gave her some black pepper," Qi Xuefei chimed in from the side, "Black pepper is also a medicinal herb; it warms the stomach, dispels cold dampness, relieves nausea and bloating, eliminates cold accumulation, detoxifies, and reduces tooth heat and pain. I’ve been cultivating it for a while, only realized lately it could be used as a spice."
There was such a thing? Xu Xin paused for a moment.
"Sister Xuefei has more than just this spice, when I looked before, they seemed familiar to me, and asked casually today to find out; like ginger, Sichuan pepper, cardamom, and star anise, she’s cultivated them too."
Xu Xin immediately turned his head to look at Qi Xuefei.
Qi Xuefei seemed a bit embarrassed, "I never cooked on Earth, didn’t pay much attention to these things, only remembered when Wenxi reminded me today. These spices actually evolved from medicinal herbs, so I could cultivate them."
It was true! That means she’s the only one who can rapidly cultivate these spices!
These herbs, aside from Qi Xuefei, others cannot obtain the special world seeds, thus can’t plant them or would need years for harvest like on Earth.
They even don’t know if they can develop long-term in this world, so planting these is utterly meaningless.
But Qi Xuefei can quickly produce these spices through her [Herb Cultivation Room]!
Finally, he could enjoy the flavors! He was almost sick of eating only salted meat!
"Sister Xuefei, can you produce these in large quantities?" Xu Xin asked Qi Xuefei.
He intended to trade through Lou Fei’Er’s treehouse, to bring in resources from District 187.
Apart from salt, spices were also good trading goods.
"Hmm, currently it’s not feasible, can only provide to explorers." Qi Xuefei shook her head, "If there are more people in the future, maybe it could be attempted."