Pretending To Be A Boss

"Starting tomorrow, I will begin teaching you survival knowledge for the mining area. In short, Tang Private School is going to hold classes, and you and Dong Ran are the students. I'm going to start teaching you how to read."

Dong Ran was stunned. She could understand preschool education for little children, but why did she have to follow along as well?

Tang Xian looked at Dong Ran's expression and said:

"Is there a problem?"

"I don't accept this. I already know how to survive in the mining area… I might not have scored full marks, but I don't need to attend kindergarten like Tang Xiaojiu, okay?"

Tang Xian couldn't be bothered to speak, just using a gaze reserved for newbies to look at Dong Ran for a few seconds.

Dong Ran's face turned red.

Thinking about what she had just said, it might be persuasive to others, but it seemed not to work on Tang...

This person's reserves of survival knowledge for the mining area and his ability to apply it were simply monstrous.

"If I study with you, can I become as formidable as you?"

"Of course not."

"…"

Dong Ran looked a bit aggrieved at Tang Xian.

Tang Xian's tone wasn't deliberately discouraging but simply stating a fact.

In many sects, each generation is stronger than the last, but there are also many where each generation is weaker. Whether a disciple will possess the master's skills or even surpass the master after the master has taught everything is a topic with an uncertain answer.

But when it comes to Dong Ran and Tang Xian specifically, there wasn't much to say. Tang Xiaojiu and the future Qiao Shanshan might be worth the expectation, but the probability was still very low.

Tang Xian shook his head with some regret, still hoping for a genius successor, or rather, a deputy leader. Someone who could hold up the team when he couldn't be present.

Although, currently, this team, including the "casually acting without a certain return date" Qiao Shanshan, was merely three people.

"Big Sister, what is reading?"

Dong Ran didn't have the heart to answer that question. She felt so sorry for Tang Xiaojiu; how could she have ended up with such a freak of a brother like Tang Xian.

Tang Xian said with a friendly smile:

"It's the second most joyful thing in all the world, after eating."

"Really?" Tang Xiaojiu suddenly became hopeful.

Dong Ran: "…"

...

...

Tang Gazi didn't wait in vain.

After close to three days, upon seeing Tang Xiaojiu, Tang Xian, and the woman return, it squawked happily.

Mainly because the tripe hotpot really smelled delicious.

The pure and authentic tripe hotpot had several origin stories, with the most credible probably being a story from a little over a thousand years ago, during the Republic. The birthplace was not north of the Lianqing River, but Zhaifang Street in the lower half of the South Bank city.

In the past, cattle traders often drove beef cattle to Chongqing via the Sichuan-Guizhou Road, staying overnight on the South Bank before crossing the river early the next day and driving the cattle to be slaughtered at Zhaifang Street.

The Ma brothers acquired the hard-to-sell tripe and blood curd at a low price. After bleaching and cleaning the tripe and removing the stems, they used it as the main dish, imitated the local "Water Eight Pieces" in preparation and consumption practices, and added a dish made only of a mixture of sesame paste and minced garlic. This is the origin and namesake of the Lianqing Tripe Hotpot.

Tang Xian knew several ways to make the old hot pot oil, and this time he used the spicy hot pot with authentic Sichuan flavor.

Dong Ran felt her stomach burning, thinking that she'd breathe fire if she ate a few more bowls.

But humans can't breathe fire, so she ate a few more bowls anyway.

As for Tang Xiaojiu, this truly fire-breathing little loli, she said she couldn't eat enough at all.

Tang Gazi, being a bird, was satisfied after just a few shreds of tripe, easy to feed.

Tang Xian looked at the two women and one bird beneath the red oil and steam, feeling the evening breeze between the trees, his mood was delightful.

The next few days would be quite busy. Apart from teaching a big and a little girl some knowledge of surviving in the mining area, Tang Xian guessed that Yu Xiaozhe should arrive tomorrow.

This man was not one to delay. If he didn't show up on time,

then Tang Xian would have to give the matter some serious thought.

Yu Xiaozhe was a wanted criminal with a substantial bounty. His failure to appear on time could only mean that he had run into trouble in reality.

This matter would have to wait until tomorrow to be concluded; currently, there was another issue that concerned Tang Xian.

"The Yi Niu with a long handle has six stomachs, and so far, only one has been eaten; there are five left. Though they won't rot in the prop bag, I don't want to open the bag and be hit by a stench. While refrigeration technology isn't new, it's not applicable in the mining area."

Tang Xian unexpectedly started the conversation.

Dong Ran asked, "Then what should we do?"

Tang Xiaojiu waved his little hand and declared magnanimously:

"Tang Xian, we just have to eat the remaining five. We'll have hot pot again tomorrow!"

Tang Gazi nodded crazily.

Tang Xian shook his head.

"Old hot pot is delicious, eating it occasionally is harmless, but eating it consecutively is a different story, you can't eat this every day. I need to figure out how to raise an Ice Scream Cat."

Dong Ran knew about the Ice Scream Cat, a special breed of cat that lived in the jungle, which reportedly emitted increasingly cold breath the fuller it ate. Enough to cause a tiny area in the sweltering woodland to ice over.

It wasn't hard to deal with, just a Strengthening Class creature, but it was troublesome because such creatures were timid and quite rare.

Tang Xian wasn't afraid of trouble.

He had already decided to get an Ultimate Ice Scream Cat to raise, and he had even come up with a name for it, Tang Bingxiang.

...

...

Another night passed.

Dong Ran realized that, without knowing it, it was already her fourth day in the mining area.

She awoke very early because Tang Xian had arranged tasks for her. After the morning studies finished, she was to chop down a Hundred-Handed Wood.

Dong Ran inquired about the reason and found out that it was for making a fence.

And even the boundary line for the fence had been drawn.

She was surprised to find that when the tree house was being built, Tang had already planted some Red Line Grass around this massive Hundred-Handed Wood.

The grass had a tenacious vitality and would grow in just a couple of months. Using the Red Line Grass as a boundary and building a fence inside it was the first step in Tang Xian's plan for making a den.

It was physical work, and Dong Ran knew that despite being a delicate girl, she had the strength and efficiency for the task.

Next was irrigation. Since there was now a courtyard, having a little pond of her own made perfect sense. But such an endeavor required great physical strength, and Dong Ran thought it reasonable that Tang Da would do it himself.

Then came planting vegetables.

Tang Xian had already given Dong Ran the design plans, explaining which soil in the yard could be used and which couldn't, all illustrated on the design plans.

When handing over the design plans, the trust in Tang Xian's eyes made Dong Ran feel valued, so naturally, she had to take on this task.

So what was Tang Xian doing?

In the morning, Tang Xian taught two idiots survival knowledge for the mining area, and it was exhausting. A friend would visit in the afternoon, and that too would be tiring, so he needed to rest.

At the moment, he was in the treehouse with a "I'm so fragile" smile, watching Dong Ran bustle about.

Change in a person is subtle.

To outsiders, there are signs to follow, but the person themselves may not notice it.

For instance, Dong Ran was busy now.

But the thought of having a safe little courtyard in such a dangerous red zone, where humans dared not trespass, filled her with joy after the work was done.

Especially since she had been involved in its construction.

Once filled with terror for the mining area, she now looked forward to life there with anticipation, not even realizing that she had less than three days left before being forcibly removed from the area.

Breathing air much cleaner than inside the Pyramid, feeling the changing temperatures of spring, summer, autumn, winter, day, and night with the seasons, and eating delicious food with a sweet little girl.

Such a life made Dong Ran's smile unstoppable, and she didn't find the tasks at hand tiring at all.

She suddenly realized that Tang Xian was genuinely powerful.

She didn't know the details of the Selection of the Chosen from years ago, but now she was willing to trust this man.

Unlike others in the Pyramid, Tang Xian wasn't striving or compromising to climb to higher levels.

Though at the bottom, he never cared about the hierarchy of the mining area, because he simply deemed it beneath concern.

This might sound laughable, but that's truly how Dong Ran felt.

...

Tang Xian, after all, didn't have the Mind Reading Technique, so he didn't know what Dong Ran was thinking.

He just wiggled his nose.

He smiled. It was always a pleasure to have friends coming from afar.

Yu Xiaozhe must be on his way.

But then, he frowned.

"Some uninvited guests have also followed. Well, it's good, I'll just take care of them on the way."