"Are you pulling up all my vegetables to plant a pear tree?"
"It's only this big. Does it really need to take over the entire vegetable garden?"
"If we don't grow vegetables, what will our family eat from now on?"
"What? You said we should buy vegetables every day?"
"Oh my, what kind of family are we? Buying vegetables to eat?!"
Madam Cai stood guard at the vegetable garden entrance like a mother hen protecting her chicks, lecturing Zhao Xing without pause.
"Madam Cai, isn't it enough if I pay for the vegetables?" Zhao Xing asked helplessly.
Madam Cai said reluctantly, "It's not about the money. I just can't bear to part with this vegetable garden. I like growing a few vegetables myself for the family to eat..."
"I'll pay double for the vegetables!"
Madam Cai immediately beamed and stepped aside. "Pull them up, pull them all up. Do you want me to help?"
...Zhao Xing found it amusing. Her attitude had changed far too quickly.
"No need to trouble yourself. I'll do it myself."
Zhao Xing entered the vegetable garden, preparing to clear space for the Heaven Yuan Pear Tree.
At that moment, Zhao Ruide, who had heard the commotion, walked over. After hearing Madam Cai's explanation, he immediately frowned.
"You actually asked Xing'er to pay for vegetables? Is that how an elder should behave?"
"The third branch has an unused courtyard. Go grow your vegetables there."
Madam Cai muttered, "He offered it himself, it wasn't like I demanded it. Besides, won't he eat the vegetables we buy?... What's wrong with him showing some filial respect to the family now that he has the means?"
Zhao Ruide sighed. "You're so short-sighted. That pear tree is worth more than ten of your vegetable gardens. If it survives, do you think the family will lack food?"
Madam Cai eyed him suspiciously. "How much can one pear tree be worth? He promised to pay double."
"You! How embarrassing..." Zhao Ruide pointed at her, then turned and left.
Madam Cai looked at her husband, then at Zhao Xing in the vegetable garden, and immediately regretted it bitterly. "Oh dear, if it's that precious, then when he goes elsewhere to become an official, won't this treasure pear tree be left to Zheng'er? I really lost my mind just now..."
Then Madam Cai's eyes darted around, and she hurried off as well.
Before long, she sent Zhao Zheng over.
"Big Brother, my mother told me to come help."
"No need. Go play somewhere else."
Zhao Xing waved him off, then began casting a spell.
"Rising Wind!"
Whoo—
A fierce gust swept through, uprooting every vegetable in the soil and turning over the earth as well.
"Wow, Big Brother is amazing! Big Brother is amazing!" Zhao Zheng clapped excitedly at the side. "Do it again, Big Brother!"
"Do you think I'm putting on a street performance?" Zhao Xing said irritably. What was this little brother of his thinking?
After clearing the soil, Zhao Xing manipulated the Rising Wind spell once more.
It transformed into a small drilling tornado, gouging out a large pit.
He then smashed the flowerpot and planted the Heaven Yuan Pear Tree in the hole.
"Flourishing Growth!"
Another spell descended upon the Heaven Yuan Pear Tree.
However, it was not meant to ripen the Heaven Yuan Pear Tree. Its main purpose was to help the tree's roots take hold quickly and adapt to its new soil environment.
A high-grade third-tier sapling was not so easy to transplant. To establish new roots, it needed at least half a shichen of uninterrupted spellcasting.
"Big Brother, that pear is so delicious. Why doesn't Mother want you to plant it?" Zhao Zheng had tasted a small piece before, and the memory was vivid. He thought it was the most delicious pear in the world, cool and refreshing.
"Your mother hasn't tasted it. Maybe she doesn't know."
"Mother really has no eye for things."
"Shut up!" Zhao Xing rebuked him. "You're not allowed to speak badly about your mother."
"Big Brother, I was wrong." Zhao Zheng pinched his ears and lowered his head obediently.
Madam Cai had once been a singer. She had borne Zhao Ruide a son in his old age; if she had been someone else, her tail would have been sticking up to the sky.
Yet even with Zhao Ruide having some savings, she was still willing to grow vegetables and cook at home without minding the dirt or hard work. That already made her a virtuous woman.
It was true that she loved money, but she mostly just talked about it. She had never demanded that Zhao Xing be thrown out of the house. Wasn't it because Zhao Xing, as an adopted son, also had inheritance rights, leaving her without a sense of security? That was merely her protective shell.
Zhao Xing held no prejudice against Madam Cai. He even understood her very well. It could be said that all of Madam Cai's selfishness was centered on her son.
"Don't let me hear you speak badly about your mother again. Otherwise, your backside will be blooming, understand?"
"Understood." Zhao Zheng nodded, only half understanding.
"Understood. Zhao Xing's home is in Pingkang Ward. I have a relative in Tongji Ward, only two streets away. There will be plenty of chances to run into him. It won't be a problem for neighbors to chat a little. Rest assured, Venerable One."
"Don't be too deliberate," the master of Three Bays Hall instructed. "You usually go to East Market to sell fish. Just chat with people normally."
"I understand." The fishmonger nodded.
"Mystic Heaven will protect you."
"I am willing to die for Mystic Heaven." A flash of fanaticism passed through the fisherman's eyes before he shouldered his pole and continued onward.
Jingxin Calendar, Year Fifteen, ninth month, thirteenth day, Yuzhong, first quarter of the Hour of the Snake.
Evil Aversion Warning: Minor misfortune; eyes and ears lurk, calamity buried in all directions
"Hm?"
That day, Zhao Xing was on his way to the Ministry of Agriculture when he suddenly discovered that the Evil Aversion Almanac had turned a page on its own and issued a warning.
The panel immediately provided a more detailed explanation.
You triggered the effect of the third-grade treasure 'Evil Aversion Almanac.' Based on your fortune level and known information, you received the following prompt: Your three consecutive Grade A ratings have drawn the attention of the Profound Heaven Sect. They have decided to send believers to serve as eyes and ears, surveilling and investigating you. Whichever of the four directions you travel in, potential disaster will be planted there.
"The Profound Heaven Sect again?!" Zhao Xing frowned. "Why are they still near Gucheng? Are they never going to be done with this?"
"I'm not provoking you people, so why are you so determined to keep an eye on me?"
It was very irritating. Zhao Xing only wanted to peacefully farm and develop himself; he had no desire whatsoever to stir up trouble. He had originally thought that after the last strict investigation, the Profound Heaven Sect had fled elsewhere. He had not expected them to still be lurking here, or even to have started targeting him.
"It's only minor misfortune, which proves the Profound Heaven Sect won't take action yet. But they'll definitely act in the future. What exactly did the Profound Heaven Sect do in the New Splendor Mystery?" Zhao Xing recalled the details.
"That's right. They abducted so many Agriculture Officials to artificially create natural disasters throughout Great Zhou. As for capturing Weaving Girls and Mechanism Masters, that was purely to mislead people. Their real focus was Agriculture Officials."
"The Profound Heaven Sect was a closed sect, but its believers were also a considerable force. Their activities in Great Zhou were meant to display their presence, plant the seeds of the Profound Heaven Sect among the common people, gain incense offerings and faith, and prepare for the later period of revival."
"Afterward, players reconstructed the New Splendor Mystery. This abduction campaign by the Profound Heaven Sect lasted a full ten years. For the first nine years, they secretly seized people, brainwashed officials, and cultivated them in secret. In the tenth year, they created chaos everywhere and erupted all at once. And their ultimate goal was... Yuanling Grotto-Heaven in Guangling Province!"
Try to keep the update schedule fixed, with no more than twenty-four hours between updates. Some days, I'm required to hold back for follow-up reading data, but the author actually has saved chapters and can maintain a fixed update time.
It's normal to feel that four thousand words a day during the new book period is slow. The author has their own writing rhythm; it will be much better after the book goes premium.
As an aside, the author has written a Qidian featured work before and is an experienced writer. Fellow authors who keep switching accounts to insult me, nitpick, and try to teach me how to write can save it. Trampling fellow authors will not improve you, and it has no effect. In this business, writing honestly is the only real path.
Or how about you donate a million? I'll immediately believe you and write however you tell me to!
Before you continue