Chapter 383 – Learning to Brew from the Apes

Zhao Hai actually knew of these matters. Although he had been staying inside Sweet Plum Courtyard for these past few days while never going out, he still knew what happens inside the City Lord’s office. Of course he would know, he has the monitor.

Although he had been quite low-key, he was very informed about the happenings in the continent. He knew that Smith couldn’t be uninformed about the matters of the continent, and when Smith were to know about them, he would discuss it with other people. As long as he talked about it inside the City Lord’s Mansion, Zhao Hai would find about it at the earliest possible time.

Zhao Hai was extremely satisfied with Smith’s actions but not with the Calci Family. He didn’t think that the family would want to get his methods, this made Zhao Hai quite angry.

But hearing from Smith and Phil’s conversations, he knew that even though the decision was from the family, not everyone was responsible for this. This made Zhao Hai quite relieved.

He was also clear about internal disputes inside these great clans, so the Calci Family certainly wouldn’t be an exception. It was impossible for such a family to not have their own internal power struggle.

This made Zhao Hai quite annoyed, he didn’t want to get involved in these things, but these matters actually came to find him.

Currently, Laura and Megan had been very close these past few days. Lately they had been going around Sky Water City to play. On the contrary, since Zhao Hai knew that there were a lot of people who were looking for him, he just stayed inside the City Lord’s Mansion.

Laura and the others were walking around the city not just to play, but also to look at the city’s situation as well as look for a suitable place to establish their shop.

Zhao Hai wanted to look for a good place for a shop inside Sky Water City. Although Smith told him that this matter would be taken care of, Zhao Hai didn’t place his hopes on it. After all, he couldn’t just depend on Smith for everything. He was their partner, if they cannot be in the same position, their partnership wouldn’t be solid.

The premise of a cooperation was the equality of both sides. If the two parties’ standing in the partnership wasn’t equal, one of them could only be considered as being hired. Now that Zhao Hai was staying inside the City Lord’s Mansion, he felt that he was hiring himself to the Calci Family, this made Zhao Hai uncomfortable deep inside.

One could say that Zhao Hai was a proud person. The more proud a person was about themselves, the less likely they would want to depend on other people.

It was even more so when Zhao Hai learned the ins and outs of the situation. He wanted to find a house outside to stay in even more. He didn’t want the Calci Family to think that he owed them a favor since he was made to stay in the mansion.

While he was thinking about this, Smith’s door being opened was seen on the monitor. When Smith saw Phil came in he immediately said, “Uncle Phil, what’s the matter?”

Phil looked at Smith and forced a smile, “5th young master is coming in two days. I think that he didn’t come with good intentions. It would be best to tell Mister Zhao Hai about the situation.”

Hearing Phil’s report, Smith couldn’t help but frown. He didn’t think that Juwan would personally come and meet Zhao Hai. Although Smith didn’t fear Juwan, it wasn’t good if Juwan offends Zhao Hai.

Thinking of this, Smith immediately stood up and said, “Come, let’s go see Little Hai.” Then he lead Phil to walk towards Sweet Plum Courtyard.

Seeing the situation, Zhao Hai immediately turned the monitor off. He began to brew a pot of tea and got a book, pretending to have been reading all this time.

Although he was pretending, the book that he read was about Battle Qi. Now that the farm has reached level 25, it only needed 5 levels to reach level 30. When that time arrives, he could both learn Magic or Battle Qi. Zhao Hai was more inclined to learn Battle Qi since the space already had its own magic system. He could already use magic, but he was clueless about Battle Qi, thus, he began educating himself.

As long as he learns Battle Qi, he could effectively become a Magic and Martial Dual cultivation practitioner. This was quite important to him, so he wanted to closely understand Battle Qi.

Just after he had read a single page, Smith arrived. Smith wasn’t polite and directly came in, he didn’t want anyone to know that he came here. Upon entering and seeing Zhao Hai reading inside, Smith couldn’t help but laugh and said, “I must say, Little Hai, you’re quite free and unfettered. Hiding here and drinking tea, you look quite comfortable.”

Zhao Hai smiled faintly and replied, “It’s quite nice, what’s the matter? Why did Big Brother Smith come here today?”

Smith nodded then smiled stiffly, “Then I’ll leave you to it. But there’s something bad, Little Hai. I have something to tell you, please don’t get offended.”

Zhao Hai nodded, then Smith continued, “Some elders of the family had been incited by my younger brother to make you hand over the method of raising fire fishes. I refused their decision, but my fifth brother unexpectedly came personally. My brother is quite a conceited person, and sometimes I’m unable to control him. I don’t want him to force you, Little Hai. So can you go out and hide for quite some time? Big Brother would certainly find ways to save you.”

Zhao Hai was surprised, he didn’t think Smith would actually say this. He turned to Smith and said, “Brother Smith, what do you mean? Will we not cooperate anymore? If we do, your younger brother can still disrupt our operations later. I can’t always be in hiding, am I?”

Smith smiled bitterly as he shook his head, “Of course not, I’ll solve this matter as soon as possible. But you need to give me some time. What do you think? You Big Brother is begging you.”

Zhao Hai looked at Smith as he calmly nodded, “Very well, I’ll leave Sky Water City tomorrow. But I hope that Brother Smith could fix this matter as soon as possible. I will leave my Phantasmal Beast Hawk to you so that you can use it to deliver me a letter when the matter is taken care of. Don’t worry, as long as you give the letter to the hawk, it will certainly find me.”

Smith nodded, then forced a smile at Zhao Hai, “Little Hai, this time Big Brother has been unfair to you. I hope that you don’t get offended by this.”

Zhao Hai returned the smiled and said, “It don’t mind. Everyone has something they can’t solve easily, rest assured.”

Smith nodded then said, “That’s good, in a while I will have people prepare the money so that you can bring it with you when you leave. I’ll also have the Shelley Family notified along the way.”

Zhao Hai smiled, “Good, also, you can tell them that if they have any unique plants and animals, I could take those instead of money, I’ll pay a high price.”

Smith already knew of this custom of Zhao Hai. So he wasn’t surprised and just nodded, “Very well, feel relieved, I’ll take care of it. Little Hai, you should tidy up, I won’t be disturbing you. Have a drink with me in the evening since I won’t be able to send you off tomorrow.”

Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “You don’t have to be polite, Brother Smith. Right, I want to buy slaves, it would be best if they have craftsmanship skills. I don’t care about how expensive they are. If they cannot be prepared today, then giving them to me when I return is also good. No matter what kind of craftsmanship skill they have, I’ll have them as long as they have the skill.”

Smith nodded, “Alright, don’t worry. They’ll be waiting for you when you return. How many do you want?”

Zhao Hai replied, “The more the better, except for craftsmanship, it would be better if you could also find me some slaves that are literate. I don’t want Battle slaves who don’t know how to read. I want those who know how to craft and those who know how to read.”

Although he didn’t know why Zhao Hai was so specific about the slaves, Smith didn’t ask any further and just nodded, “Okay, the next time you come, I’ll promise you that you’ll be able to get these slaves.”

Zhao Hai nodded, “That’s good. Then Big Brother, you still need to be busy. You don’t have to worry about me anymore.” Then Smith stood up and went away.

Looking at Smith’s departing back, Zhao Hai smiled bitterly to himself, “I just arrived for two days, now I need to leave. Well, I happen to need to learn beer brewing from Little Jin. Hai, I didn’t think that I would actually need to learn beer-making from a monkey. If I tell this to someone, they would certainly laugh at me.”

After ridiculing himself, Zhao Hai returned his attention to the Battle Qi Fundamentals book. The book’s contents were very simple, it teaches you to exercise and steadily improve your body’s strength. Time will come when you feel a tingling sensation, and this sensation would be Battle Qi. It is a mysterious force present in the human body.

This theory wasn’t new to Zhao Hai. There were various descriptions of Qi present in Chinese Martial arts. Zhao Hai used to be a nerd, so he read a ton of novels, it wasn’t strange for him so have some sort of dream of being a martial artist. He tried to learn some martial arts from the television, but since he didn’t have the proper guidance of a master, he didn’t have any positive results, so he finally gave up.

Although this book has some aspects that were quite different to what he knew, there were common ways in them that would help a person get stronger.

In Chinese Martial Arts, the main points were giving priority to the body’s health, paying more attention to breathing and exhalation. Battle Qi was more like external martial arts in Chinese terms. They give main emphasis on the body’s strength, circulating external qi rather than internal. Not only did it emphasize having a strong body, it also highlights having strong fighting strength.

But this kind of practice method could easily cause internal injuries. When it came to Warriors, internal injuries were very difficult to cure. If you were unable to completely heal your internal injuries, they might affect you when you reach old age. This was what most warriors fear.

This made Zhao Hai’s feelings quite convoluted, he didn’t know whether he should practice Battle Qi or the Martial Arts that he had tried to learn before.

Without knowing, afternoon came, Laura and the others also came back with Megan. When the arrived at Sweet Plum Courtyard, Megan chatted with Laura and the others for while before leaving. After seeing Megan leave, Laura and the others immediately went to Zhao Hai’s room.

Seeing that the group had come back, Zhao Hai gave a nod and smiled, “How was it? Did you have fun?”

Laura sat down and poured herself a cup of tea, “Quite fun, but there weren’t any more things that we find amusing. How about Brother Hai? Aren’t you getting bored with staying with the same people at home all the time?”

Zhao Hai shook his head and said, “There’s no other people present here right now. You need to tidy up, we’ll head back to Ape Island.”

Laura stared at Zhao Hai and asked, “Brother Hai, is there a problem?”

Zhao Hai nodded, then he told Laura and the others about the Calci Family’s matter. Laura listened then calmly said, “Right then, let’s leave for a while. This way, we won’t be worrying about the Calci Family’s internal matters. At least brother Smith still cares for us.”

Zhao Hai agreed, “Of course he would take care of us. Otherwise he wouldn’t have us leave. If we stay, we’ll get embroiled with Juwan’s schemes. We could have stood right by brother Smith’s side, but he didn’t let us do so; this expresses his sincerity towards us. I think it is also good that we head towards Ape Island, it would be best if we learn how to brew those beer made by Little Jin’s tribe. This may allow us to add this as one of our products, increasing our income.”

The little monkey was currently being hugged by Meg. When he heard Zhao Hai mention him, he gave a few happy shrieks as he expressed a proud appearance.

Laura smiled towards Little Jin, “What are you so proud for? That thing that you brew is very sour, it would be strange if people actually like it. I actually like the bread tree fruit. Brother Hai, you said that you aren’t planting any bamboo rice this time, how about planting some Bread Trees?”

Zhao Hai smiled and said, “I actually had the same idea, it seems like the Bread Tree has more output compared to Bamboo rice. But there are also advantages in planting Bamboo rice. We have no other choice but continue planting them. How about this, I’ll have Cai’er leave a piece of land for the Bread tree. What do you think?”

Meg nodded this time, “It’s good. The fruit of the tree can be eaten directly, it also tastes good. Furthermore, a fruit is enough for a beastman to eat. If we save the fruits we harvest, we could sell them to Brother Wales come spring. It will certainly be a huge hit, right Little Jin?”

Little Jin shrieked excitedly, he moved his limbs around while in Meg’s arms which made the women smile tenderly. With Little Jin present, they seem to be laughing a lot more.

Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Meg’s idea is very good. Moreover, the Bread fruit could be retained for a long time. Also, we seem to underestimate Little Jin’s liquor. Although it seemed to be sour, it was because Little Jin had fermented it for too long, otherwise the flavor should be very good. Haven’t you experienced the liquor’s sweet smell? Believe me, that liquor will certainly be the continent’s best seller in the future.”

The reason behind Zhao Hai’s confidence stems from the sales volume of beer back on Earth. No matter male or female, almost everybody would drink a few glasses of beer. Of all the liquor sold, beer was considered to be the one with the most volume consumed. If Zhao Hai manages to generate beer, it will surely sell very well in the continent.

Also, the reason why Zhao Hai wanted to continue planting Bamboo rice was because he wanted to make rice wine. When he manages to make rice wine, it would certainly be popular as well. With these products, they could earn a lot of money.1

Because Laura and the others didn’t like the taste of beer, they didn’t drink much when they were still at Ape Island. They just took a little sip and didn’t consume much. So when Zhao Hai expressed his thoughts, they didn’t believe it. Laura frowned and said, “Really? Is brother Hai really confident about this?”

Zhao Hai nodded, while Little Jin shrieked proudly at the side. This brought another round of laughter from the group.

1. Haven Brewery company coming through!