Xian He walked forward with a sack over his shoulder, completely unaware that someone had set their sights on him.
Most of the Security Patrol had been sent to maintain order at the Azure Light Competition.
With the pesky patrolmen gone, Xiao Hou could finally carry out his assassination without hesitation.
Xiao Hou hadn't known Xian He before, but after yesterday's intense competition, he did.
The referee had shouted so loudly that Xiao Hou could hear him from outside the arena. It would've been hard not to recognize Xian He.
"Kid, just lie down and die!" Xiao Hou crept out of an alley, a Poisoned Dagger clutched in his sleeve.
Poison and daggers were an assassin's favorites. Poison killed a target faster, while a dagger was small, easy to hide, and unlikely to be noticed.
If only he were an Obsidian-level martial artist. Then he could fire true-energy blasts from a distance and wound people without a trace.
Xiao Hou crept closer to Xian He, one careful step at a time.
Just as he was about to bare his viper's fangs, someone came toward him. That person also had a sack over his shoulder.
"Brother!"
"Brother Xiao Kuang!"
Xiao Hou's heart lurched. He promptly abandoned his assassination plan and hurried past the two men.
Xiao Kuang was a Yellow Radiance Three-Star martial artist, two full ranks above him. If Xiao Kuang caught him, he'd be done for.
Xiao Hou kept up the pretense of walking onward, then turned into an alley.
He wasn't ready to give up. He wanted to wait until Xiao Kuang had finished talking with Xian He, then follow Xian He and kill him.
But what he never expected was that Xiao Kuang would take Xian He to the tribal chief's house. There was no telling when they'd return.
"Forget it. Xian He's competing again tomorrow. I'll let him keep his sorry life for today." Xiao Hou simply couldn't believe Xian He would be lucky enough to have someone escort him every day.
At Xiao Kuang's house, Chief Xiao Wu asked Xian He a few questions about the miraculous food.
Xian He made up a story on the spot, claiming he'd caught the chickens near the Black Oil Forest. Perhaps they'd mutated under the influence of Black Spring's mysterious power, giving them their miraculous effects.
Chief Xiao Wu didn't press him for details.
It didn't matter where Xian He had gotten the miraculous food, as long as he hadn't broken any tribal laws.
After leaving the chief's house, Xian He carried the flaxseed back to the Congee Shop, went around the back, and entered the Inner World.
He'd spent half a day on Tianyun Plateau, but a whole season had passed in the Inner World, turning spring into summer.
Although it was summer, the only real difference was the longer daylight hours. The temperature hadn't changed much.
He'd returned at just the right time. The maids had finished harvesting the wheat and were about to plant the next crop.
Xian He quickly told them to plant flaxseed instead.
One season later, the flax was ripe.
Xian He fed most of the flax stalks into the Level 3 Tailor Shop's loom to make linen, and put a small portion into the spinning machine to make thread.
He cut the linen to the right size and loaded the thread onto the sewing machine. Then he could sew linen sacks—flax bags for short.
Using his duplication ability, Xian He turned one Tailor Shop into three and put Xiao Xue in charge of all of them.
The maids he'd bought from Bai Shang weren't strong, but they were quick-witted. He only had to demonstrate how to use the loom, spinning machine, and sewing machine a few times before they got the hang of it.
The slaves he'd bought from other merchants, on the other hand, were all brawny but dim-witted. They were only suited to heavy labor.
With linen sacks, he could thresh the wheat, bag it, and store it in the warehouse.
There were two warehouses in the Siheyuan, both next to the north room in the rear courtyard. The one on the east side was a food warehouse with refrigeration, while the one on the west side was a well-ventilated supply warehouse.
The bundles of wheat were brought into the warehouse, threshed, and then packed into sacks.
To motivate the maids, Xian He decided that whichever group finished its work first would get Yangchun Noodles as a reward.
There were three grades of food in the household.
The first consisted of Plain Boiled Eggs, baked flatbread, stir-fried greens, and Wood Powder Porridge. It was what the maids ate most often.
The second consisted of Fried Eggs, Yangchun Noodles, Wild Vegetable Dumplings, and Beggars Chicken. It was for old servants like Muyang and Ziyan.
The third consisted of Five-Color Steamed Buns, Eight-baked Chicken, and Crystal Pomegranate. It was for the madams, young masters, and young ladies.
There should've been Egg Fried Rice, too, but without rice, Xian He couldn't make any.
It was all that idiot Xiao Yang's fault. He'd bought up every last rice seed in the grain shop. Otherwise, Xian He's wife and children could be eating Egg Fried Rice right now!
The supply warehouse could hold wheat, but only five tons—that was twenty thousand pounds.
The other hundreds of thousands of pounds of wheat had to be temporarily stacked in the covered walkway.
If he wanted to store large amounts of wheat, he'd need a granary.
He'd also need a mill to grind flour!
Time flew by, and before he knew it, it was the sixteenth day of the eighth month.
Yesterday, they'd eaten mooncakes filled with egg, then admired the moon. Today, Chen Jingjing gave birth.
[ Ding! Congratulations, host! Madam Chen Jingjing has safely given birth to a child with an inferior constitution! ]
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