MC's career as foreign lord

Zhou Ren was unaware of all this; he had already left the pond and built two boxes in the kitchen area.

Calling it a kitchen was a bit of a stretch, as the only things that could be considered kitchenware were a furnace and a cabinet for wooden bowls, plus a circulating water pool—Zhou Ren mainly used this pool for washing dishes and hands.

As for other kitchen utensils, Zhou Ren hadn't found anything like Pam's HarvestCraft, CoffeeCraft, Food Craft, or Lazy Kitchen mods, so for now, it was just empty.

If he prepared to start making the TeaKettle mod, perhaps he would later have more teacups, teapots, tea canisters, water jugs, tea brewing tables, tea frying pans, and the like, or he might even build a new tearoom specifically for making tea, who knows.

But the boxes still needed to be made. Zhou Ren planned to use this kitchen as a dedicated area for cooking in the future, so all the tools and ingredients should be placed here.

However, he could only put apples, lemons, bread, grilled meat, and fish in them for now. Thinking about it that way, the so-called kitchen was a bit pathetic.

Of course, it wasn't all bad news. Although Zhou Ren didn't see anything like JEI next to his crafting table, he did discover a special crafting recipe, namely the recipe for a crafting book.

And the TeaKettle crafting book's recipe had also entered his mind. By combining a book with tea leaves and rice, he could obtain the crafting book [TeaKettle Chronicle].

He had no shortage of leather now; what he lacked was paper. He seemed to have seen something like reeds or sugarcane by the river yesterday. He would take some time to go and see. If it really was sugarcane, then he wouldn't lack paper and sugar.

"Ah! So many things to do!" Zhou Ren tidied up the kitchen and threw the fish into the furnace to bake. He sprawled on the chair like a salted fish, not wanting to move at all.

"Let's make a simple plan!" He struggled to get up, took out a piece of parchment, and used his long-unused phone as a paperweight, writing on it with a quill.

"First, there's the testing and expansion of the farm and tree farm. The farmland is basically all wheat, and those seeds I bought… once those seeds grow, I'll need to expand production!"

"It's the same with the tree farm. The trees by the roadside can't guarantee my wood needs, so I need to plan a special area specifically for planting trees, planting a hundred at a time, and then harvesting every three days. This should basically meet my tree planting needs!"

"The house can wait for now. I can't live in too big a place by myself. On the other hand, the mine in the back can be tidied up properly. In a couple of days, I'll bring some food, a boat, wood, and stuff to go mining!"

"Then there's the sugarcane. I still need to go to the river to find sugarcane, and when I find it, I'll make paper, sugar, and stuff…"

"When I dig up redstone, I'll make a terrain scanner to find places where I can plant rice and tea. That way, I can eat and drink tea! Happy!"

"Finally, there's the bow and arrow and that big fish. I still feel like I should find a book to read. I know too little about this world!"

Zhou Ren made a final summary and then realized that the fire in the furnace in front of him had gone out. He immediately made a display case with eight wooden sticks and a piece of leather and put the parchment in it.

Then he stuck the display case on the wall so he could see it every day when he got up, and there was no chance of forgetting.

Then he slowly took the steaming grilled fish out of the furnace, put it in a wooden bowl, and brought it to the dining table.

Although lunch was just bread and grilled fish, it felt very formal. Zhou Ren picked up two chopsticks he had ground himself and prepared to replenish his hunger, which was only at two bars, to ten bars.

Speaking of which, he didn't seem to have paid attention to his attributes before. Zhou Ren glanced at them. Like in MC itself, he only had three different colored bars in his inventory: experience, health, and hunger.

After eating the food, the hunger bar was constantly recovering. At the same time as the hunger bar recovered, the chicken legs also gained a golden edge, which meant that the saturation was also constantly recovering.

The grilled fish still tasted surprisingly good. Although it was a little lacking in salt, the freshness of the fish and the light sweetness were all there. Combined with the wheat aroma, it was a good meal!

After eating, Zhou Ren threw the bowl into the water pool and walked out of the house, heading back to the field.

The wheat was naturally growing the best, and it could probably be harvested later today. Zhou Ren would have enough stock of bread to replenish his nearly empty supply.

As for the seeds he bought from the market, they were still just pointy sprouts and didn't seem to have grown much.

But it hadn't even been a day yet, so Zhou Ren wasn't in a hurry to force them to mature. He would wait for those mercenaries to come again for the second time; maybe there would be good news.

Thinking of this, he felt that he still had to take some defensive measures. Even if those gnolls couldn't get in, it would be annoying to have them bothering him outside.

He continued to walk forward. The trees planted by the roadside seemed to be growing very well; they were already much taller than him and would soon be taller than his house.

He didn't find any particularly large trees all the way to the gate, and he couldn't start cutting them down yet. He had to wait for the trees to mature, no matter what!

However, Zhou Ren also noticed something else at the gate: a tall, extremely beautiful female elf was standing there, directing some people to move things to the opposite side of his gate, which was also a wasteland.

"Are there people on the other side too?" Zhou Ren glanced curiously, not expecting that after he bought this land, someone else would come. But having a neighbor seemed nice.

He didn't think much about it and quickly turned around to leave. After all, this matter had little to do with him, and there was still a pile of things waiting for him to deal with at home!

However, just as Zhou Ren was about to leave, the person on the other side was unwilling to let him go and suddenly spoke, "Are you the owner of this land on the opposite side?"

Zhou Ren turned his head, looked at her pretty face, and nodded, saying, "Yes, I am the owner here. I don't know who you are…"

He suddenly noticed that the other party was not speaking the [Common Tongue] used by the people in the town on weekdays, but another special language.

He hadn't actually reacted because of the MC system's translation, but when he saw the reactions of the people carrying the items, he knew that the other party was not speaking the Common Tongue.

The other party smiled slightly, with a light in her eyes, "I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to speak Elvish! Are you perhaps a nobleman from the Eastern Kingdoms?"

In the human city-states and the Eastern Kingdoms, pure black hair is basically a sign of nobility, one of the glories of a pure-blooded family. Zhou Ren had inadvertently learned this when chatting with Henry.

To be honest, Zhou Ren always felt that Henry's demeanor and conversation didn't seem like a commoner, but rather like a fallen nobleman, but he didn't say it, and Zhou Ren didn't want to ask.

Hearing her words, he couldn't very well slap a smiling face, so he nodded. "You could say that! I'm Zhou Ren, a foreigner stranded in Pine Leaf Town. May I ask who you are, Miss…?"

"Oh," she covered her mouth slightly. "How rude of me! I'm Antinoya!"

She curtsied slightly, and the elegance with which she lifted her skirt was truly captivating. Fortunately, Zhou Ren had strong self-control and only glanced once.

"From now on, we'll be neighbors. If there's anything I can help you with in the future, please don't hesitate to ask," Zhou Ren said casually, spouting polite platitudes. He wasn't unfamiliar with China's culture of social connections.

However, he didn't expect her to be so forward, saying directly, "Then I will!"

Antinoya said, "Could you invite me to sit in your territory? I think it will take a long time to repair this place!"

Zhou Ren looked at her, his eyes lighting up. As an elf, she seemed to be a very wealthy one, probably belonging to the nobility. Nobles are knowledgeable. Would she know what that fish was?

He nodded. "It would be my honor to have Miss Antinoya visit!"

As he spoke, he stepped aside and conveniently took out the 'Territory Permissions,' wrote Antinoya's name on it, added the word 'Temporary,' and then opened up the territory's movement permissions.

Antinoya was also very patient. When she touched the invisible wall and was about to ask, she discovered that she could actually enter, which surprised her.

"This is…" Her expression wasn't feigned; she genuinely didn't know how this was happening.

Just now, she couldn't even break this wall, but now she could easily pass through it!

However, her confusion didn't last long, as a new point of shock arose. She looked around in astonishment.

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As everyone knows, magic exists in this world, and the separation between cities and rural areas is largely due to magic.

This is the outskirts of Pine Leaf Town, theoretically the area with the thinnest magic in the border region, where even casting spells cannot be effectively replenished.

Of course, now that the magic network is everywhere, there are few places where magic is needed, but that doesn't mean magic doesn't exist.

She is a high elf, one of the best inheritors of magic, so she can naturally sense the difference between here and the outside.

The abundant magic surrounded her, making her body want to sing.

What kind of power is this that allows magic to stay in this area instead of dissipating?

She was very surprised, and then she saw another porter trying to take a shortcut, only to run headfirst into the invisible wall.

Zhou Ren shrugged helplessly. "Miss Antinoya, shall we go?" He made a 'please' gesture.

He guessed that this was a little probing on her part, but he didn't care too much. As he said before, with the territory system, he really had nothing to fear except for those god-like figures getting involved.

As for what she wanted to do? Heh, he only opened up free entry and exit permissions; he hadn't opened anything else!

The porter who bumped into the wall silently packed up his things and left, while Antinoya nodded and continued to follow Zhou Ren.

She was still amazed by the rich magic in this space, which felt like that of a city or forest, but after entering it, she felt even greater astonishment.

She only knew that there was something like a barrier or domain here that could isolate strangers, but now it seemed more like a different-dimensional kingdom, where even sunlight seemed to be refined.

Zhou Ren continued to lead her forward. The small trees along the way seemed to be welcoming the guests, gently shaking their heads.

Then, one of the trees suddenly transformed from a small tree into a towering tree in the instant the two passed by!

"Whoosh!" In the next instant, Antinoya picked up a staff, looking at the tree warily. "Has it become a tree spirit?"

Zhou Ren looked back at her. "Although I don't know what you mean by tree spirit, this is just the final growth form of a tree!"

He pointed to the other trees. These trees were planted together, so in the next instant, another tree suddenly shot up, as if jumping directly from adolescence to maturity, growing larger.

The elf girl couldn't understand, but since Zhou Ren didn't say anything, she naturally didn't want to ask. The two continued to move forward as the trees grew.

Soon, they arrived at their destination, next to Zhou Ren's house. Zhou Ren said, "Miss Antinoya, would you like to come in and sit for a while?"

The elf girl nodded. "Since I'm a guest, I should naturally follow the host into the house!"

The relationship between the two was very subtle. They were both confident in their own strength, but neither seemed willing to break this delicate harmony.

However, the appearance of the house still surprised the girl. "Lord Zhou Ren's house… is truly peculiar!"

What she saw was a wooden house made entirely of wooden and stone blocks, without any architectural elements. There were only wooden blocks pieced together, without even any adhesive, just stacked together.

And most importantly, she didn't feel any trace of magic on the house, which meant that the house was really made of blocks, not a product of magic.

Zhou Ren couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when he saw her still looking at the house. Actually, when the second and third floors hadn't been completed, the house was just a matchbox.

Only when he completely finished the house, adding the eaves, painted walls, and corbel brackets, would it look like a real house, and not some block creation.

Opening the door, the small room was presented to outsiders for the first time. The two sat down in the living room. The chairs and floor were covered with woolen carpets, making it comfortable to sit on, but making the doubts in Antinoya's eyes even more serious.

"Lord Zhou Ren's house is truly ingenious. I wonder if I might have the honor of seeing how it was built?" she asked, like an ignorant little elf baby, her crystal-clear eyes reminding Zhou Ren of the elf girl who sold seeds.

He nodded. "If you don't want to continue resting, Miss, it's not impossible to watch me build a house!"

He himself had the idea of continuing to repair the house, but the order was a bit later!

PS: The extra chapters for the mooncakes have been paid off, two updates for two consecutive days with 8,000 words... Please, let me save up two days of manuscripts!

Ah! Wrote 6000 in the morning, try to write 4000 in the afternoon, and I will update 10,000 words today! Come on!