Why Does It Feel Like There Are So Many More Trees?

Zhou Wanwan shook her head and said, "These makeshift sheds definitely won't do. We'll find a way to build some houses."

Tie Niu sighed and said:

"This area will be yours from now on. Black Wind Stronghold is quite large. Let me show you around first, and we'll divide the area up."

"We, Black Wind Stronghold, will occupy the left half, and you can use the right half. What do you say?"

Zhou Wanwan nodded in agreement, "This arrangement is quite good."

Tie Niu led her around the mountain village, which was indeed spacious and much larger than she had imagined.

During the journey, Tie Niu spoke up to explain:

"This place used to be a valley. I thought the geographical environment was good, so I set up a mountain stronghold here."

This location is easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as the suspension bridge at the front cliff is dismantled, outsiders will have no way to get in.

Moreover, it is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with steep and precipitous slopes, so there's no need to worry about being attacked from the side.

Zhou Wanwan nodded. The location was indeed excellent, which was why she came here.

The village wasn't well-off, and there was a sense of poverty, but it had plenty of land and raised a lot of livestock, so it could barely be self-sufficient.

Tie Niu looked at the crops in the field and said:

"I don't have any great skills. Before becoming a bandit, I was just a cowherd. I worked for landlords to take care of their livestock year after year, working from dawn till dusk. The food I earned wasn't even enough to fill my stomach, and I was often whipped."

Later, a famine struck, and the land yielded nothing. The landlords still demanded rent, and my parents fell seriously ill from hunger. They couldn't afford medical treatment and passed away.

When I was desperate and being chased and beaten by the landlord's henchmen, I had no choice but to flee into the mountains, where I joined a few brothers to rob a passing grain caravan.

After a while, he simply took over Black Wind Stronghold and became a bandit, so at least he could make a living and wouldn't have to be bullied by others anymore.

That second-in-command is the brother who robbed grain with me back then.

Zhou Wanwan nodded and said, "It's actually quite well done."

Tie Niu continued:

"Many of those who came up the mountain did not make a living at home, so they came to Black Wind Stronghold to seek refuge with me."

Sometimes when we go down the mountain to sell grain and livestock, we encounter some pitiful people and bring them up the mountain.

Over time, the village grew bigger and bigger.

However, our village is truly poor; we often go hungry in the winter. So, if you come to our village, you'll have to be self-sufficient.

It's winter now, and we can't plant crops in the fields, so...

Tie Niu was also helpless. He thought Zhou Wanwan was coming to seek refuge with him, but he only had so much food and resources, and there was simply not enough to feed so many people.

Zhou Wanwan quickly explained, "We brought all our things from home with us, so don't worry, we don't need your mountain stronghold to support us at all."

Tie Niu was relieved. "Then you can stay here as long as you like. If there is a real shortage of food, I will find a way."

After Tie Niu left, Liu Xiuyuan looked at Zhou Wanwan and said, "Master, what should we do now?"

Looking at the makeshift shacks made of wooden planks, Zhou Wanwan said, "Let's tear all these shacks down! Wouldn't we freeze to death living in here in winter?"

Liu Xiuyuan looked at her and said, "They've all been demolished? Where are we going to stay tonight?"

Zhou Wanwan looked at the several decent shacks and said:

"This place is quite nice; we can use it to raise horses, chickens, ducks, and pigs."

These dozen or so shacks are connected together; there's no need to demolish them.

Let's make do here for the night. We'll tear down all the other shacks, they're scattered here and there!

Those shacks were all drafty, and there was only some dry grass inside, so they were impossible to live in.

The roof was also unsuitable; it was entirely made of straw.

Liu Xiuyuan led his group to begin their work, while Liu Su'e whispered, "With so many of us living in these dozen or so shacks, I'm afraid we won't have enough room."

Zhou Wanwan thought for a moment and said, "Aren't these dozen or so shacks quite big? There's definitely enough room for everyone, it's just a bit crowded. But it's okay, we'll have a place to stay tomorrow."

Liu Su'e said speechlessly:

"Girl, what nonsense are you talking about?"

Even if all 800 of us worked on building houses, we couldn't possibly build that many houses in one night!

Zhou Wanwan didn't explain much, she just said:

"Mom, so many people in the village need to eat. Go and get some meat and some vegetables."

If we don't eat those vegetables, they'll all rot. We should just eat them all ourselves!

Fortunately, the weather was cold, and with Zhou Wanwan's spiritual power, otherwise all these vegetables would have been ruined.

Liu Su'e looked at the vegetables and gritted her teeth in anger:

"These vegetables could have been sold for money. Vegetables like bok choy, spinach, and radishes sell very well in the market."

Now look what's happened, everything's gone, those damned bastards."

Since the locust plague, vegetables have become extremely expensive. If they were to sell these vegetables, they would fetch at least a hundred taels of silver.

Zhou Wanwan smiled faintly and said:

"Mother, it's alright, we still have so much land here, don't we?"

"We can just plant all the vegetables in greenhouses and still make money."

Liu Su'e nodded and said, "You mean we should grow greenhouse vegetables here?"

Zhou Wanwan nodded and said, "Of course, we'll be planting greenhouse vegetables here, and our sweet potatoes will also be put into the ground to continue growing."

All those sweet potatoes were meant for seed production, so Zhou Wanwan couldn't dig them up all at once.

The Old Scholar Tree came up with a solution: it stretched its roots directly into the ground and uprooted all the sweet potatoes.

We're planting them directly here now; if someone else did it, it might negatively impact the quality of the sweet potatoes.

However, Zhou Wanwan didn't have such concerns; she could use her spiritual power to heal these crops.

That night, the Big Scholar Tree Big Scholar Tree led his troops directly into the area, laughing loudly.

"This mountain stronghold is really nice. It's surrounded by mountains on three sides, and we all climbed up from the cliffs at the back."

"This has really worn out my old bones, Wanwan, give me some energy!"

Zhou Wanwan looked at the trees and said, "We probably have over a thousand trees here, right? It seems like there are so many more trees than I expected."

"Hehehe... Some old friends insisted on coming back with us, so I had no choice but to bring them along."

"But they are also very strong. They are all old guys. Look at their trunks, aren't they thick? Aren't they powerful?" The Old Scholar Tree led more than thirty old friends over.

Zhou Wanwan nodded. "Where are these trees from?"

"They're all from Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold, we've been friends for hundreds of years. I just feel it's not good to leave them there all alone."

"Wanwan, feel free to ask them for anything."