Chapter 132: Yun Chenbei’s Master, Old Man Mu
Yun Chenbei’s master’s surname was Mu. Because he was an outsider and had a reclusive and strange personality, his place of residence was rather remote.
We’re almost out of the village.
Next to a bamboo forest, his family was the only one in that area.
He was an old man with half white hair and a peculiar temper.
When Yun Jiao went to his house, she also saw a familiar dog.
That big black dog with a nick in its ear.
Seeing Yun Chenbei, Big Black merely lifted its eyelids.
Seeing Yun Jiao, its head immediately perked up.
“Big Black, why are you here?”
Yun Jiao greeted Big Black.
The big black dog immediately stood up, its tail wagging like a propeller.
The tabby cat following beside Yun Jiao’s feet twitched its ears, its pair of emerald green eyes staring at the big black dog.
Big Black also saw the tabby cat, and then the cat and dog faced off, looking like they were about to fight.
Yun Jiao suddenly squeezed between them, placing one paw of each into her hands.
“Don’t fight, you’re both friends. Big Black, this is Eldest. Eldest, this is Big Black.”
Cat: …………
Dog: …………
The dislike each had for the other was very obvious.
After Yun Jiao introduced them to each other, she left them alone and followed her fourth brother to his master’s house.
She had been here before.
In front of the not-very-large wooden house was a quite large courtyard, filled with piles of wood.
An old man sat in a rocking chair, smoking a pipe.
Hearing someone enter, he didn’t even look up.
“Master.”
“Grandpa Mu.”
Hearing these two voices, the old man slowly looked up at them.
“You’re here.”
Yun Jiao walked over: “Grandpa Mu, this is for you.”
It was a fruit can.
Old Man Mu didn’t refuse, naturally took it, and placed the can aside.
“Go play by yourself.”
Yun Chenbei was introverted and taciturn. Upon arriving, he immediately became busy.
He was currently making furniture.
He took the semi-finished products he had prepared earlier out of the house to continue working on them.
“Brother, is this chair for the new house?”
Their new house was almost ready and needed furniture.
Yun Chenbei nodded, took a small wooden dog carving from the house, and handed it to her.
“Play with it.”
When he worked, he would immerse himself in his own world and worried he wouldn’t be able to look after Yun Jiao.
Yun Jiao took the wooden dog carving and saw it had a wind-up mechanism.
She turned it a few times, placed the little dog on the ground, and it began to walk forward on its own.
Unfortunately, it didn’t make any sound.
It was quite fun.
“Grandpa Mu, I want some water.”
The old man poured her a cup of tea.
The tea was fragrant and smelled quite nice.
But after taking a sip, Yun Jiao’s little face wrinkled from the bitterness.
The old man with the peculiar temper laughed beside her.
Clearly, he had done it on purpose.
“You have no knowledge; this is a good thing.”
Saying that, he himself took a large gulp.
“Bitter on the tongue, but sweet aftertaste.”
Yun Jiao smacked her lips, not tasting any sweetness at all!
Yun Jiao muttered: “Then I like sweet drinks.”
Old Man Mu shook his head: “No taste.”
Yun Jiao: …You have no taste!
“That little thing is ugly.”
He was referring to the little dog Yun Chenbei had given her, and Old Man Mu’s gaze was full of disdain.
Yun Jiao, unconvinced, put her hands on her hips: “Where is it ugly? It’s clearly good-looking.”
It was a gift from her brother, how could it be ugly?
Old Man Mu hummed, and without arguing with Little Yun Jiao, he stood up and took something from the house.
Yun Jiao looked, and it was a little bird.
It looked exactly like a real bird, just motionless.
Old Man Mu pressed something on the bird’s belly, and the next second, the little bird actually flew up, circled in front, and then flew back, landing in Old Man Mu’s hand.
“This is the true art of mechanisms.”
Yun Jiao’s eyes widened.
Old Man Mu proudly said: “Isn’t it much better-looking than that ugly thing your brother made? That thing is not only inflexible but also bare and ugly.”
Yun Jiao was indignant. Although what you said was true, it’s not okay to belittle my brother’s work like that.
She was also very protective.
Old Man Mu lightly tapped her little head.
“Little thing, you’re still not convinced.”
Yun Jiao: “My brother has only just started learning. It’s already very good-looking.”
Old Man Mu hummed: “When I first started learning, I could already make things better-looking than his.”
Yun Jiao mumbled, and Old Man Mu didn’t hear clearly.
“Did you just insult me?”
“No.” She resolutely denied it.
Old Man Mu threw the little bird to her: “Here, take it to play with.”
Although the little bird looked exactly like a real one, the texture upon touching it was different.
After all, it was made with some wooden mechanisms inside.
Yun Jiao happily took it and played with it. She asked Old Man Mu: “Grandpa Mu, can you make me some moving fish next time? Preferably orcas and whale sharks.”
Old Man Mu glanced at her: “You’ve gotten picky?”
“My tabby cat and Big Black would also be fine.”
“Orcas, whale sharks, what are those?”
Old Man Mu seemed very interested in these two types of creatures.
He had lived inland before and basically didn’t go tide pooling after coming here. He knew very little about many creatures by the sea.
He hadn’t seen orcas and whale sharks, so he didn’t know what they were.
Yun Jiao simply described them to him.
Hearing that those two big fish were eight or nine meters long, even over ten meters.
Old Man Mu stroked his chin: “Things in the sea are much bigger than those that run on land.”
Yun Jiao nodded: “I have photos, but right now I only have one of an orca. I’ll have to wait a while for the whale shark’s, and then I’ll show it to you.”
“Okay.”
The old man lazily lay back down.
Yun Jiao leaned close to him, staring at him with her big eyes.
“What is it? Do you want another toy?”
Yun Jiao shook her head: “No, Grandpa Mu, are you hungry?”
Old Man Mu: “Not hungry.”
“But I’m hungry.”
Old Man Mu chuckled: “Are you going to take back the fruit can you just gave me?”
Yun Jiao said righteously: “That was for you to eat. Can I go to the field below and dig up some sweet potatoes to roast and eat?”
It wasn’t the sweet potato harvest season yet, but they could be eaten.
“Go ahead. The leftmost patch is the red-fleshed kind, and next to it is purple sweet potato.”
“Ah? There are purple ones too?”
She put the mechanical bird back into the old man’s hand, then ran to the ground below and started digging with her hands.
Old Man Mu grumbled: “You’re so stupid, who digs for these things with their hands.”
Saying that, he turned and went back into the house to find a small hoe and handed it to her.
“Use this. Don’t say I, this old man, abused you later.”
Yun Jiao raised her dirty little hands and gave him a very brilliant smile.
“Never, I’ll just wash them clean.”
But digging with the small hoe was indeed much easier than using her hands.
On just one vine, she dug up several round and plump sweet potatoes.
