A long-bearded dwarf pushed open the door and walked in.
Shi Tou was stunned. She was not only surprised that someone would suddenly come in at this time, but also that it was someone she knew.
"Huh? When did we get a child in our family?" The dwarf didn't recognize Stone at first and twitched his beard in surprise. "Qimei! Qimei! Are you there?"
The stone "poof" blew a bubble, then straightened up, raised its head, and looked at him: "Stone! Stone!"
The dwarf was taken aback and instinctively said, "My name is Copperstone, not Stone... Wait!"
That's right, the dwarf who came is the same Copperstone dwarf that Stone encountered when he was taken to the mine by Steel Hammer. I never expected this to be Copperstone's home. I guess that Chimei is his daughter or sister?
"My God! You're Stone! Stone, what are you doing in my house?" Copper Stone's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets: "My God, my God, my God!"
Stop yelling! If you keep yelling, the child inside will give up: "Baby, cry! Cry!" Huh? Why is it quiet?
"What?" Copperstone scooped the stones up from the ground. "Are you crying? Or is it Stone who wants to cry?"
You're the one who wants to cry! Your whole family wants to cry!
Stone almost rolled her eyes. It wasn't that she was deliberately trying to act young; it was just that she wasn't very fluent in the language of the dwarves. It was like when she first started learning English in her previous life—she couldn't speak long, coherent sentences smoothly, but individual words were no problem.
"Inside, baby, crying!" Stone stretched out his hand and pointed frantically toward the bedroom. Hurry up and get there! If you keep dawdling, the kid on the bed in the bedroom is going to give up!
Copperstone still frowned, not quite understanding Stone's words, but seeing Stone pointing towards the bedroom, he went over. However, he was stunned by what he saw as soon as he reached the doorway.
"Heavens! Qiling!" Tongshi exclaimed, rushing to the bedside. He first put the stone down, then picked up the child and ran out.
Stone stared blankly as Copper Stone rushed out, then sat on the bed in a daze for a long while.
"Damn it!" Stone slammed his little fist against the bed, predictably letting out a painful cry: "Ouch~~~"
That's outrageous! They actually threw her away again. Even if you were going to throw her away, did you have to carry her back to bed before throwing her away? Did they expect her to jump on the bed again? And then climb up the same path all over again?
Alexander's Stone simply lay back, saying, "I'm not jumping, I'm not climbing, do whatever you want!" After lying in bed for a while, Stone reached up and touched her little belly, beginning to regret why she had impulsively run away from home. Although she was forced to run away, wasn't it her fault for not asking anyone for help?
Thinking about this, Shi Tou finally felt a little guilty. Sigh, no matter how unreliable his sixth and seventh brothers were, they were still his older brothers, right? Besides, even his sixth brother was only six years old this year. In his previous life, that would have been a kindergarten child!
Stone felt deeply remorseful. Why argue with a child? Besides, there was his chubby mother, who always treated him like her own precious darling. She must already know he's missing, and she's probably incredibly worried! And Seventh Brother is definitely going to cry, Second Brother is probably furious, and Steel Hammer Daddy…
Thinking it over, Stone sat up and made up his mind to escape again. Anyway, he remembered the way when he came, so he could just crawl home if necessary.
"Baby, Mommy's here!"
Just as Stone made up his mind to crawl back using his chubby hands and feet, the little dwarf girl named Qimei actually returned.
Chimei walked in carrying a large bowl, her cheeks flushed from the intense exercise. Her eyes were fixed on the bowl until she reached the bedside and carefully placed it on the bedside table. Only then did she look up at the bed.
"Huh?" Qi Mei looked on in astonishment, glancing left and right, then rubbing her eyes in disbelief. "This...this..."
Stone blinked his big, innocent eyes and looked at her.
"Baby, where's Qiling? Where did Qiling go?" Qimei was probably terrified. She grabbed Shitou's shoulder and shook him wildly while shouting.
Suddenly, Shi Tou was grabbed by the shoulder. Being small, she was no match for the ten-year-old Qi Mei, and had no strength to struggle. Shaking Shi Tou, she began to see stars.
"Tell me quickly, where did you hide Qiling?" Qimei was truly terrified, tears streaming down her face. "Oh no, Qiling is gone! Mom will kill me!"
Stone Mo, big sister, if you shake me to death, your mother might whip my corpse!
"Waaah..." Seeing that Shi Tou hadn't said a word, Qi Mei finally let go of him in despair, covered her face with her hands, and burst into tears. After crying for a while, Qi Mei suddenly jumped up and picked Shi Tou up in her arms.
Stone was still dizzy; she had finally experienced the power of the Roaring Cult Leader in this other world. Then, she was picked up again, immediately experiencing the thrill of a roller coaster. Luckily, the food in her stomach had already been digested, otherwise she would have thrown up immediately!
"Baby, you're a bad baby! I don't want you anymore! Give Qiling back to me!" Qimei looked at Shitou with tears streaming down her face, both angry and anxious.
Stone was speechless. Qiling was probably the little brat that Copper Stone had taken away, right? But how was she supposed to conjure up that little brat?
"I don't want you anymore! You want a devil! You eat people! You must have eaten Qiling!!!" Qimei hugged the stone and rushed outside.
Shi Tou, feeling dizzy, was carried out of the house by Qi Mei. She wondered if it would be of any use if she shouted for help right now.
But before Stone could figure it out, Qimei stopped. Stone looked around and exclaimed, "Wow, isn't this a mine?" Wait, is this girl trying to throw him into the mine? Good heavens! No way!
"You're a bad baby, I don't want to be your mom anymore!" Chimei wiped away her tears as she walked into the mine, found a dark corner, and placed the stone against the wall. "I'm leaving, bad baby!"
Shi Tou stared blankly as Qi Mei left, thinking to himself: "That saying about the generation gap every two years is so true! I lived to be twenty-eight in my past life, and I've only lived to be one and a half in this life. That girl is at most ten years old. How deep is that generation gap!"
Tsk tsk, anyway, that girl's thought process is really beyond our comprehension.
"quack……"
In the silence, a sudden scream rang out, startling Shi Tou, who had just gotten up, so much so that he fell back to the ground.
Chapter 016: The Process of Making Steamed Buns
"Giggle, Master! Baozi has finally found you!"
Stone plopped down on the ground, stunned for a long time. What... what's going on?!
"Giggle, Master! Baozi sees you acting silly again!"
"You're the one being stupid!" Stone spat irritably, dusted off his hands, propped himself up, and began looking around: "Big Bun? You're in this mine?"
"Giggle, yes, that's right!"
So the big steamed bun was hiding in the mine! And it sounded like it shouldn't be far away. Stone looked around. It probably wasn't mining time, or maybe the girl had dumped him in an abandoned mine. Anyway, it was pitch black all around, and he couldn't see anything: "Big steamed bun, can't you glow? Hurry up, light up!"
"Gaga, Master can't see Baozi!" Big Baozi's voice carried a hint of grievance, as if it was a very wrong thing for the stone not to see it.
Stone couldn't help but mutter to himself, "She's not a cat, she can't see in the dark: Hurry up, stop talking nonsense!"
Big Bun didn't say anything for a moment. After a while, the mine slowly lit up. Stone finally saw the familiar light: "Big Bun, why don't you turn into a bun?"
The light bounced up and down twice, then a very smug voice said, "Hehe, the master has really degenerated! The bun can't glow anymore now that it's a bun!"
Stone choked for a moment, then curled his lip dismissively: "You're nothing special, I thought you were something special!"
The giant steamed bun, which was now radiant, suddenly stopped jumping and said in a very sorrowful voice, "Hehe, does Master finally realize that he is nothing more than this? Or has Master forgotten that the steamed bun was forged by Master?"
Shi Tou choked again. What kind of lousy bun is this? It's clearly inedible, yet it can choke someone to death!
"Where did you go the other day?" Stone decided not to bring up the past anymore. It wouldn't be worth it if it accidentally gave itself away.
The light flickered twice more, then slowly shrank, quickly transforming into a large, translucent steamed bun. Although it no longer emitted light, the bun itself was still radiant with iridescent light: "Giggle, Master, you forgot about the bun! Waaaaah..."
Stone stared dumbfounded as a steamed bun burst into tears right in front of him. Yes, it was a big steamed bun crying.
The plump, white bun trembled constantly, its pleats opening and closing, and water actually seeped out from the pleats. Coupled with its cute little sound, it gave Stone a strange illusion.
This doesn't look like a steamed bun at all!
This is clearly a living ancestor!
"Alright, alright, stop crying," Stone quickly comforted her. "I didn't throw you away on purpose, and I've been looking for you the whole time!"
Baozi continued to sob, and as it cried, the moisture stopped seeping out of its folds and instead appeared something that looked like minced meat. At that moment, Shi Tou froze.
The big steamed bun seemed to realize this as well, and immediately stopped crying, tucked its folds in, and complained very unhappily: "Giggle, master, you are so mean! The filling is showing because the bun is crying!"
The filling is showing...
Stone stared at Big Bun with a blood-covered face, his complexion alternating between white and green. After a long while, he finally managed to stammer out, his mouth full of blood, "You... did I really do this?"
"Hehe, of course the buns were made by the master!"
Stone really wanted to say, please don't say things with such a proud tone that make her want to smash her head against a wall and die right now!
"Hey, Baozi, could you tell me how I made you? Oh right, you remember me, right?"
Baozi was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking about the question: "Hehe, of course Baozi remembers!"
Stone felt like she was going crazy. A thinking steamed bun?! A steamed bun that could even remember how she was made?! Was the world too insane, or was she simply out of touch with its pace?!
"Gaga, Master! Baozi remembers that Master first went to Zandalar Valley to collect materials..." Big Baozi began to ramble on about its production process.
Zanda Valley? Our aunt? Stone was confused again.
"...A seventh-tier Earth Whale! Peel off its skin and soak it in the millennium-old ice frost taken from the icy cellar, then burn it with heavenly fire for three days and three nights! Remove the fat from the hide, pluck the hair, and chop it into strips of hide!"
Stone was already dizzy from listening. How could making a steamed bun be so complicated?
"...plus the morning dew on the Aisna Grassland, the tender buds on the corydalis trees of Moorsayeri, and the royal jelly brewed by the fifth-order venomous bees on Mount Zina..."
At this moment, Stone finally experienced the power of a chatterbox. Big Bun rattled off about twenty kinds of materials in one breath. After finally finishing counting the materials, Big Bun continued his rambling: "Hehe, put all these materials in the Dorrasen Forging Furnace in the Dorrasen Temple and forge them for seven days and seven nights. Then put them in the Gale Canyon and let the gales tear them into a pulp. Next, put them in the Frozen Ice Cellar and freeze them for ten days and ten nights. Finally, use the Bodhisattva Tia Divine Sword from the Fallen Nether Empire to chop them into small pieces..."
Shi Tou coughed up blood. "Giving birth isn't this troublesome, is it?!"
"Then mix in refined salt made from seawater sun-dried from thousands of meters below the surface of the ocean, and green onions from the Demon Sound Forest. Oh, and the green onions need to be finely chopped beforehand!"
Wow, wow, wow my foot! Please, please stop talking!
"Then pour in the bodily fluids of the eighth-tier Princess Haiga of the Haiga Blade and the oil of the ninth-tier golden dragon from Dragon Island in the Azure Ocean..."
The princess's bodily fluids?! The golden dragon's oil?!
Stone really wants to kneel down before Big Bun, this... this...
"...Then use the wheat flour made from the seventh-order divine purple wheat from the Moon Goddess Forest to knead into dough, wrap all the ingredients from before in the dough, and fold it into shape!"
"Finally done, right?" Stone's eyes were still filled with the smell of mosquito coils, and he put his hands together, looking expectantly at the big bun that had transformed into a talkative Tang Sanzang.
"Gaga! Finally, wrap it in rootless water and steam it in the Burning Soul Cave for 366 days! Wahahahaha, the big bun is born!!!" The big bun burst open with smugness and laughed wildly, making the stone tremble and shrink into the corner.
"You said you threw the Stone Princess into this abandoned mine?!"
In an instant, the big steamed bun closed its folds of laughter with lightning speed, and with a "whoosh," it turned into a black diamond that bounced into the stone's palm.
☆, Chapter 017: Scorned by Big Bun