In Jiu Cai Rong's view, both options were tempting.
They could even directly affect the development path of the entire Mountain Villa, creating the most direct branch in the Manor technology tree.
But in the end, he still chose the new race.
It was a human, after all!
Wasn't he curious?
Weren't the hundred Blacksmiths present curious?
He wasn't a dictator. He had just held a hundred-person vote within the Mountain Villa.
Eighty votes had passed.
This could only prove that this option was what the people wanted.
Ning Zheng, however, didn't care much about Jiu Cai Rong's choice.
After all, he had handed them out on a whim. They hadn't been of much use in the first place.
For Ning Zheng, getting the Meat Field was enough.
Xiao Ai was usually rather dim, but sometimes, what she said made perfect sense.
As long as he gave them the tiniest bit of petty profit, they would be overjoyed and eagerly earn all kinds of cultivation resources for him.
Ning Zheng could understand their feelings.
After all, when he had played games as a child, learning a new move had made him incredibly happy. It was just that his childhood was long gone.
In fact, Ning Zheng was quite satisfied with the Mountain Villa's development now.
After they had successfully defeated the crows, he had planned to truly develop this force and use it to earn resources.
Ning Zheng said, "Recently, the Mountain Villa has been developing quite well."
"That's right."
Jiu Cai Rong was a little proud, and prepared to give him a tour:
"Next, once the fighting is over, we plan to vigorously develop all sorts of industries in the Mountain Villa and advance on every front."
Although things were still very crude for now,
they already had some functional facilities.
The most popular Blacksmith Shop went without saying.
The dormitories had begun undergoing high-end renovations. They were setting up individual rooms, which in reality meant using boards to partition the elevated individual iron-net beds into single-person compartments, in order to protect privacy.
Then there were the cafeteria and shops, which were handled by the Food God and Shao Chai Kun duo.
There was also a clinic for treating all kinds of injuries and ailments and researching medicine.
It also specialized in a field Ning Zheng didn't understand very well: cosmetic surgery and plastic reconstruction. It was run by a Money Girl called Medical Fairy Maiden.
Ning Zheng had chatted with everyone through Flower Blooming Rich from the audience's perspective, and only then learned that the Blacksmith of Medical Fairy Maiden was a medical student. She had recently become addicted to dissecting white mice and had come here wanting to give it a try.
But everyone wasn't very confident in her.
She gave off the feeling of an unreliable female driver, and was preparing to develop a player face-customization business.
The character face-customization feature that games didn't provide at login? She would provide it!
Then she would fulfill her dream:
Everyone entering the dress-up room would become her face-customization model, transformed at will into miraculous Barbie dolls that could change outfits!
Ning Zheng, on the other hand, felt that she was quite simple and down-to-earth, much better than those chattering Blacksmiths,
because she was genuinely dissecting things, studying plastic surgery, and researching techniques.
He and Jiu Cai Rong had just entered when they heard her and her assistant dissecting the corpse of a Money Boy who had died in the war.
"The structure inside this body is so wild."
"I told you our Money Boys had tough lives!"
"With this constitution, they should have had a cesarean section long ago. Iron-net beds are practically the primitive-tribe lifestyle of an antisocial, antihuman world. We can just install a large bladder with super-high capacity and solve this problem of frequent and urgent urination."
"What a pity. If all kinds of medical knives had been forged properly earlier, I could have opened one up on the spot and shown off my skills."
Ning Zheng had met Medical Fairy Maiden before.
Previously, when they had needed to use the toilet, Jiu Cai Rong's solution had been to build fully automated dormitories, following the path of mechanical technology.
This one had enthusiastically offered suggestions at the time. Her proposed solution had been to cut open their stomachs and install large-capacity bladders, following the path of biological technology.
Medical Fairy Maiden clearly hadn't given up.
She believed Jiu Cai Rong's fully automated dormitories were the dregs of humanity, far too ugly, and was still vigorously promoting her own medical-reform philosophy within the Mountain Villa.
She was speaking with great conviction as she continued researching with her assistant:
"Look, if we make the opening here, the infection rate will be lowest. Add a parallel bladder, and then there'll be two. The surgery will be ridiculously easy."
"But it would be best not to put it in the stomach. After all, if two bladders are held for too long, the stomach will bulge and ripple like a potbelly. I suggest putting them on the chest. The longer you hold it, the prettier you'll become."
They discussed it with great enthusiasm until Jiu Cai Rong coughed several times, finally bringing them back to reality.
"Old Steward, sir." Medical Fairy Maiden was a little embarrassed. "You're here."
"It's fine." Ning Zheng felt that she was simply someone with plenty of ideas.
A physician was also one of the secondary professions in the cultivation world.
It was no worse than an alchemist's profession and was even one of the most life-saving occupations.
He couldn't afford to hire a physician to come to the Mountain Villa, so cultivating one himself was quite good. Although she might not necessarily be able to treat him, she could treat these lively and bouncing Blacksmiths and reduce casualties.
He could get a few medical books another day. The investment cost was low, and if it really worked, the returns would be enormous.
It was just that physicians were generally cultivators with a healing-type Wood Spirit Root. If she truly had the aptitude, he could get a Spiritual Root for her.
Afterward, he casually chatted with the Mountain Villa's physician and told her to keep up the good work.
Medical Fairy Maiden received a commendation, and even Jiu Cai Rong standing beside her felt proud.
Jiu Cai Rong didn't mind that this female physician had opinions about him. He felt that she had ability, ideas, and the courage to conduct experiments, so it might not be impossible.
Besides the Mountain Villa's mechanical ascension through blacksmithing, there was also ascension through flesh and blood!
Especially the Old Steward—he was a man of vast experience!
Who knew how many corners of the martial world he had traversed outside? He had given her the highest possible approval!
Jiu Cai Rong, his face glowing red with excitement, became even happier and couldn't help praising her:
"She really is impressive! To be fair, the Money Girls in our Mountain Villa are actually much less troublesome than those Money Boys who are always causing a ruckus."
He seemed to realize that he had misspoken and added, "Uh, although we don't distinguish by sex, we do have genders in our hearts, so we separate them into Girls and Boys."
Ning Zheng nodded. "Then let's go see what they're up to."
"Exactly. I'll show you, and you'll understand." Jiu Cai Rong took Ning Zheng around for a tour.
Apart from a few fierce women who loved swinging huge hammers to forge iron, the Money Girls' main activities now fell into three categories.
1. Hairpin making.
They went to the Blacksmith Shop to forge beautiful ornaments and beads, DIY ancient-style hair accessories, and make this sort of decorative magical artifact.
Hairpin pendants, hairpins, hair crowns, tassels, and necklaces.
They had become addicted to making hairpins!
They were currently sitting at their own worktables, having a grand time, planning to carve their personal brand marks onto their creations. Their dream was to become the woman of the Hairpin-Making Queen!
They wanted every immortal and fairy in the world to find these ornaments impossible to buy.
2. Outfit changes and face customization.
Aside from Medical Fairy Maiden, who specialized in more hardcore physical cosmetic surgery and face customization,
the other Money Girls were all working on makeup. They even dyed the edible soil and used it as pigment. A few had gone so far as to become beauty bloggers and were editing videos as well.
Jiu Cai Rong actually wasn't very fond of them.
They did no productive work and were pure game scenery enthusiasts. They were damnable for interfering with his Manor Lord's money-making!
3. Clothing production.
Using a Defense Tower as the framework, they had built a new garment workshop. In the end, people were flexible.
With no silk, they drew out Magic Copper into wire, weaving the fine copper threads into golden silk garments. They even used crow feathers as material.
They were also preparing to make Hanfu and various ancient-style decorations.
He had heard that their goal was to turn the second floor of the tower into their dressing room, packed with beautiful clothes and shoes.
Just now, that group of fanatical Money Girls had even posted a quest in the Blacksmith Shop, asking the Blacksmiths to forge them a loom.
Jiu Cai Rong had been somewhat stunned at the time: what kind of Miracle Nikki were these Money Girls playing?
All he could say was:
Well done!
These magical robes clearly had great prospects. When the time came, he could trick them into selling them as well, and their Manor Lord could make another huge fortune.
Before you continue