The Amusing Adventures of a Directionally Challenged Dad and Daughter-Chapter 146

Old Gu Six carried a bamboo basket on his back, filled with a large bundle of cotton seeds. Chang'an had always had puppets planting cotton in her space, leaving behind plenty of seeds. This time, they ventured into the mountains to trade for rice seeds.

After returning, Chang'an scooped some soil from the back mountain and planted cotton in her space. She soon discovered that the soil from the back mountain could sustain cotton, while the soil from the valley couldn’t. This meant the cotton seeds could be traded with the mountain villagers.

They didn’t rush to trade right away. Instead, they started by cutting down lush grass wherever they found it. Chang'an suggested, "Dad, dig them up by the roots and plant some in your space. That way, we won’t have to keep cutting grass in the future."

"We’ll ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​‍still need to cut some first to feed the animals. Otherwise, they’ll devour the newly planted grass down to the roots," Old Gu Six replied, bending over to continue cutting. Chang'an realized her father’s space wasn’t just lacking grass—it was lacking everything.

She took out a hoe and dug up some saplings, then uprooted a few tea trees. The tea trees could produce tea seeds, which could be pressed for oil.

"Dad, when we go deeper into the mountains later, let’s catch some wild chickens and rabbits to raise in your space. That way, we won’t need to hunt anymore."

"Are you thinking of raising pigs too?" Raising small animals was fine, but pigs were absolutely out of the question.

"That would be even better," Chang'an said, believing that stuffing as much as possible into the space was the best approach. With more trees planted, they wouldn’t even need to chop firewood in the mountains.

Old Gu Six firmly refused to raise pigs in his space. "No, no. Pigs are too smelly."

"Dad, is pork delicious?"

"It is, but we still can’t raise them in the space," he insisted. This was his bottom line.

Seeing how resistant he was, Chang'an didn’t push further. Raising pigs wasn’t essential anyway—the fridge in her space could regenerate food. She had just thought raising a couple of pigs would mean fresh meat.

If he didn’t want to, so be it.

"Fine, no pigs. But take these trees into your space first. Set aside a separate area for the tea trees."

"Girl, these trees are only pretty when they bloom. They’re useless and just take up space," Old Gu Six grumbled.

"Who told you they’re useless? They bear fruit, don’t they? We can extract oil from them."

Old Gu Six’s eyes lit up. That sounded good.

Chang'an remembered that peanuts and soybeans could also be pressed for oil. They could ask the villagers for soybean seeds, though peanuts didn’t exist in this world yet.

Father and daughter scavenged all sorts of things in the mountains—whether immediately useful or not, they took a bit of everything into the space.

To prevent the animals from ruining the spirit spring, Old Gu Six had the puppets plant grass far away. They cut timber to fence off a large pasture for future animal-raising.

They caught three pairs of wild chickens. As for rabbits, since they bred too quickly, they only took one pair into the space, confining them to a fenced area instead of letting them roam the mountains.

Otherwise, the place would soon be overrun with baby rabbits destroying the crops. After all, he couldn’t monitor the space all the time, could he?

The four puppets in the space were swamped with work. Though they were puppets, they had thoughts too!

They couldn’t just be exploited endlessly. The puppet transferred from Chang'an’s space became their leader, efficiently directing the other three.

Of course, he worked too—but he knew how to slack off, and the other three couldn’t call him out on it.

This was the difference between being awakened early and late. The leader had already learned most things, while the newer ones were just getting acquainted with the world, making them easy to boss around.

Once they had gathered enough, father and daughter had the silver wolf lead them to the mountain villagers.

The first they met were the ones who had bought sweet potato vines and potato seeds from them before. The villagers greeted Old Gu Six warmly—thanks to his seeds, they no longer had to starve.

"Young man, you’re back! Come, come inside for a bowl of water," a burly man said cheerfully, setting his hoe against the fence and ushering them toward his house.

The pair didn’t follow him in. Instead, Old Gu Six asked, "Brother, do you have rice seeds? I’ll trade you cotton seeds for them."

At the mention of cotton seeds, the man froze, then beamed with excitement. Cotton was a rarity, only available from the Western Regions. Merchants imported it at exorbitant prices, making it unaffordable for the villagers. Winters had always been the hardest time for them.

To think this young man could procure cotton seeds! The man did have some rice seeds at home.

"Yes, yes! Wait here, young man. I’ll fetch them right away."

While the man went inside, another villager approached Old Gu Six. "Young man, what are you selling in the mountains today?"

"Cotton seeds. You can trade rice seeds for them," Old Gu Six replied, showing a few seeds to the elderly man.

The old man’s face lit up just like the younger one’s. "Wait here. I’ll go get rice seeds for you!"

As he hurried off, the old man spread the word about the cotton seed trade. Thanks to the earlier success with sweet potatoes and potatoes, no one doubted Old Gu Six this time.

Everyone rushed home to fetch rice seeds. Cotton seeds were desperately needed, while rice seeds could always be bought later in the valley. Cotton seeds were something money couldn’t easily buy.

They didn’t bother weighing the seeds—two handfuls of rice seeds for one of cotton. No one complained; in fact, the villagers felt they were getting the better deal and treated the pair with extra warmth.

After the trade, Old Gu Six advised them to wait until spring to plant, starting with seedlings.

When they left, Chang'an was showered with gifts from the enthusiastic village women—a potato, a sweet potato, a handful of roasted soybeans, and even wild vegetables.

She returned the potato, sweet potato, and soybeans, keeping only the wild vegetables.

The next day, father and daughter followed the silver wolf to another village, repeating the trade.

Chang'an had cotton in her space but chose not to sell it. Pricing was tricky—too expensive, and the villagers couldn’t afford it; too cheap, and they might grow lazy, thinking they could rely on her instead of planting their own.

Better to let them be self-sufficient. They needed rice seeds; the villagers needed cotton seeds. A fair exchange meant everyone could enjoy the fruits of their own labor.

They repeated the process in four villages before stopping.

Packing up the basket, Old Gu Six mused, "Girl, why don’t we go to that natural pasture and collect some cows and sheep?"

"Good idea. Let’s take plenty, so we don’t have to come back often."

Chang'an thought they shouldn’t stop at just livestock. Since her father’s space was vast, they might as well gather more firewood too.

Deep in the mountains, the trees grew densely. Father and daughter played lumberjacks—not clear-cutting, but selectively thinning crowded areas to give the remaining trees more room to grow.

They also gathered plenty of dead branches and leaves. Once they had enough firewood to last three winters, they moved on to capturing wild cows and sheep.

On the way back, they transplanted some wild fruit trees into Old Gu Six’s space.

They spent over a month in the mountains, only emerging when winter had already set in.