He and It Chapter 36: A God’s Marriage (7)

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Chapter 36: A God’s Marriage (7)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: GaeaTiamat

Yun Chi used his hand to slightly block some of the glorious sight of the treasure, afraid that they would blind his eyes, but it was good to see more and get used to it…That wasn’t true! What just passed by the corner of his eyes? Was it a one-to-one sculpture of a golden elephant and a golden carriage, in a field of flowers made entirely of emerald diamonds and red, pink and purple stones? Not to mention, on the dome hung a vast and deep river of stars…Given that there was a god walking right beside him, Yun Chi was unsure whether it was a real star or some kind of precious ore that caused the effect.
These strange and bizarre extravagant treasures, the flamboyant creations of the sky, had far exceeded the limits of Yun Chi’s imagination. At first, he tried to calculate the value of these riches in the real world, but later, he gave up completely, and turned to “viewing art films” to look at the scene in front of him.
“You don’t seem eager to take this for yourself,” Sa’gya looked at him curiously, using his furred paw to pluck away an amber bust that was in his way. “Why? These things should be very precious in human eyes, right? You can ask for anything you want, and I can give it to you.”
Imagine, a god standing by your side, hand in hand with you to see the treasury of prosperity, making a vow never to change his mind, as he pointed to the wealth of the country and said I will give you whatever you want…What a rare fortune!
Unfortunately, Yun Chi wasn’t moved. He just pulled the corner of his mouth, “No, of course I know that these are good treasures, any one of them taken out, could provide an ordinary person a lifetime of food and clothing. But that isn’t what I need at this time. I need something to improve the quality of life, something cheaper and more common, but more practical.”
“Oh…” Sa’gya rubbed his head thoughtfully, “Well then, let’s head inside.”
The teenager and the white sea otter trekked past the great rivers of gold and silver, the mountains of pearl and jade, all the way towards the innermost part. Whether it was the effect of the divine incense, Yun Chi did not feel the air of the treasure house was dull and rotten, but because of the bare feet, the soles of his feet got so much gold powder, he had to pull Sa’gya’s fur to prevent slipping when walking.
It took about twenty minutes of marching before they sort of left those monstrous fortunes behind them and entered the second level of the treasury.
“Aha!” Yun Chi’s eyes lit up, “So many bottles and jars!”
It was true. There were gold, silver, tall colored bottles and short jars standing on both sides of the path. Fine water dishes were stacked up, mixing jars and mouth cups, and cow horn cups high on the shelves. In addition, there were actually a lot of musical instruments Yun Chi couldn’t name. Here, the walls on both sides had clearly visible frescoes, mountains and earth were far away, the vast and boundless sea, tall, standing men in white robes, and behind them haloes of gold light in varying lengths.
Only, on the frescoes here and outside, like the idols, the faces belonging to the gods had been destroyed.
Sa’gya stepped over and cheerfully called out to Yun Chi, “Look. Is this the salt you asked for?”
Yun Chi didn’t have time to look twice before his mind was drawn to the salt, and he hurriedly went up and looked closer.
In the light of the fire, the color of the salt was not the snowy brightness he was familiar with, but a yellowish-pink color close to that of roses. He tried to dip a little and put it in his mouth to taste. The saltiness of the salt was very light, more like diluted crystals, but it was, after all, real, still edible salt, ah!
“Yes! That’s it!” Yun Chi was surprised to see the salt dripping down with a shovel, “How many years have passed and how come it hasn’t gone bad yet?”
Sa’gya looked at him with a smile, the pup was happy and he was in a good mood. “This is close to the core of the temple. In the past, food kept here could last for tens of thousands of years without spoiling, so now it’s less likely to do so.”
He rambled, and then held a jar, grabbed the seal on the top, “They gave me this before, but top grade salt was in it. Put one down, and it can make a jar of water as salty as seawater…”
Yun Chi paused for a moment. He simply couldn’t imagine it. One could turn a vat of clear water into seawater. What was that, salt essence?
“This is the spice,” Sa’gya handed him another mixing jar. “But it doesn’t smell anymore.”
Yun Chi took it as he was told, picked up a handful and put it in his palm to smell it, but there was no more spicy aroma. It was just like ordinary dried grass leaves. He was a little sorry. “Indeed. But we still have salt! As the saying goes, a good cook relies on a handful of salt, and spices are still secondary, if not, I’ll just exchange them with the people of the sea.”
Sa’gya laughed, “I’ve never heard of such a saying.”
“It’s our proverb, of course you haven’t heard of it,” Yun Chi grinned, and started his happy scavenging journey. “There’s also something about spring chub and summer carp, autumn Mandarin and winter bream, summer fish eat fresh, preserved fish eat pickled…Wait, I’ll do the same for you!”
Sa’gya shifted his beard a little nervously, “Actually, I don’t often eat cooked food…”
“Why?” Yun Chi asked. “Is it because you’re afraid of the heat?”
Scared of heat?
No, God is not afraid of fire, so how could he be afraid of heat? It was just that it had been too many years since a devotee had offered himself cooked food and wine, and he had made do with what he had for so long that he had long forgotten the taste of food tossed over the fire…
“Well…well…It’s a little scary,” Sa’gya stammered.
Yun Chi sighed understandingly, “Yes. Food should be just the right temperature in order to taste and not hurt your body. And food that’s too hot will always make people angry.”
He teasingly bumped his shoulder against the sea otter’s furry forearm. “I’m actually a little afraid of heat, but I’m telling you, people who are afraid of heat are the ones who can eat.”
Sa’gya sat in place and touched the spot where he had hit him. A faint but warm heat seemed to iron his fur all the way to the bottom of his heart.
The jars of food and ointment were waiting to be carefully searched one by one. Jade offerings hung on the walls, reflecting the reflections of the flames. Yun Chi found many dried velvet grasses and beautifully shaped flint stones, all sealed individually with thin wax shells and neatly packed in clay jars; a set of simple knives, not as functional and complex and varied in shape as in later times, but he clearly recognized the difference between a meat cleaver, a boning knife and a bread knife; and many grains shaped like wheat, not as white as grains of rice, but yellow, as if they had absorbed the sun.
He also found many dried fruits, one of which was as thin and hard as a raisin, and which, when tasted, still had a faint sweetness; Sa’gya came and looked at it, and answered, “This is a treated purple chestnut. It has a very beautiful flower and a great variety of fruit, and was once considered sacred to the gods of agriculture, and grew abundantly on the land of Kaleva.”
“Then take it,” Yun Chi decided. “It’s quite a nice pastime to cook snow with dried fruits.”
Aside from that, Yun Chi found many other oddities…For example, a whole, cooked, sheep-like sacrifice lying in a cauldron, which was still intact after so long, although Yun Chi didn’t have the courage to get close enough to see it; or a jar of sticky dairy products, which Sa’gya said was cheese, but even with the divine incense, he didn’t dare to take a whiff of it.
He and Sa’gya piled up the food they had collected so far in the same place and continued to travel light. In an isolated corner, Yun Chi found many sun-dried seafood.
“Seaweed! Isn’t this seaweed!” Yun Chi was so happy that he was about to cry. He rushed over and tore off a bit of the wide, thin, crispy black and purple leaves from a stack and couldn’t wait to put it in his mouth.
It should be thankful that the devotees’ offerings to the gods are never sloppy. Yun Chi tasted it and could deduce that in the process of roasting the seaweed, the people of Kaleva should have applied a lot of high-quality fat and salt, and only then could it resist the harsh assaults of time under the blessing of divine power and vaguely retain the salty taste of yesteryear.
“Oh, this is sea vegetables.” Sa’gya probed over and took a lick from Yun Chi’s hand, “Air-dried food really can stay longer… Unfortunately, most people in those days thought that fresh was the best, and dried food was offered the least instead.”
“And air-dried squid!” Yun Chi cried. “Air-dried…I don’t know what these air-dried ones are but they’re fish! And this…What is this?”
A huge wrist foot, like an invulnerable spear, glared at Yun Chi through the suction cups all over its body – filled with dried eyes.
“Oh!” Sa’gya was surprised, and came over to hold it and took a bite on the tip of the wrist foot, his soft cheeks moving around. “Air-dried sea monster tentacles. I haven’t eaten them for a long time. I can’t believe there’s one here!”
Yun Chi, “…Then you can take it and eat it. I’ll leave this alone.”
Yun Chi gathered the seafood and piled it in their storage point, before he walked forward with Sa’gya.
“That’s where the clothes are up ahead,” Sa’gya said as he chewed. “Let’s go find some shoes.”
They squeezed into the smaller cloakroom, and once inside, Yun Chi gasped, “Wow! It’s all white clothes.”
As he said, that place was indeed full of snow-white robes. Even under the light of the flame, that white wasn’t tainted with a half-toned color, but like the ancient frost and snow covering the jade mountains, was white without blemish.
“It’s all I used to wear.” Sa’gya was a little embarrassed, and hummed a little. The wind-dried sea monster feet dropped to the ground, as he personally helped Yun Chi pick a pair of sandals with gold and silver strings of pearls. At the end of the straps hung two large diamonds, flashing so bright they caused people’s eyes pain.
“How about this pair?” The sea otter looked at him expectantly.
Yun Chi, “…”
Yun Chi said reluctantly, “They’re…They’re amazing.”
The sea otter threw away the shoes and found another pair of sandals for him, woven with rubies and emerald tourmalines, with a large gold silk monster head on the back of the foot, its teeth and claws open and hideous. “What about this one?”
Yun Chi was tempted to ask ‘what the hell is wrong with your aesthetic,’ but Sa’gya was looking at him with that round sea otter face, so what could he say to criticize him? He scratched his cheek and said, “Another one?”
The first vetoes were those with gold and silver as the base, followed by shoes embedded with many cold and heavy jewels, and finally, Yun Chi turned up a pair of sandals that appeared to be cut from leather with a hard, crisp sole that resembled both wood and jade.
“This one is good!” Yun Chi looked at it with satisfaction, “But were you about my height when you became a person? These shoes don’t look big.”
“It’s a shoe made of turtle nails, isn’t it too plain?” Sa’gya looked at the shoes hesitantly, “Because when I was walking between kingdoms and city-states, I used to turn into all kinds of people, adults, teenagers, children…So, they would have no way to guess my true appearance, but had to imagine on their own.”
Yun Chi tried them on, tied the straps, jumped up and stepped on them again. “No, it’s just right! The sound of walking also sounds good. Shouldn’t we leave now? I’ve found enough things this time, and I’m a little hungry after staying too long.”
“Are you hungry?” Sa’gya shook his beard, and his round ears fluttered.
“A little? I mean, as exciting as treasure hunting is, the dopamine produced by that excitement can temporarily trick your body into telling you that you’re not hungry, but in reality, you’re still a little hungry…Wow!”
Sa’gya sat on the ground. His fur paws reached into his chest fur pockets and pulled out several large, long-spined sea urchins like a trick.
“It’s good to be prepared.” He looked at Yun Chi, and again showed that kind of eyes narrowed with the corners of his mouth turned up. A silly smile.
Yun Chi carefully took the broken urchins and said gratefully, “God, that’s why you’re my favorite…Thank you!”
Sa’gya’s tongue seemed to suddenly malfunction, for while his mouth was clearly empty, he still tasted something sweet, like joy.
He rubbed his cheeks and said vaguely, “Mmm.”