Who on Earth Stole Our Trees?

Liu Xiuyuan doesn't know if he can do it either.

He quickly said, "Our Little Ancestor is sleeping. Why don't you ask her when he wakes up?"

How could he dare to act on his own initiative?

These houses seemed to have been built out of thin air; he had no idea how they came about.

How could he possibly explain that?

Liu Xiuyuan's situation wasn't the most outrageous; the most outrageous was Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold.

There were hundreds of trees missing; how do I describe that feeling?

The leader of Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold looked at the bare courtyard and said, "Do you think something's missing?"

"It's missing, a lot of things are indeed missing."

What's missing?

"It seems like a lot of trees are missing! There was a ginkgo tree in this yard yesterday, and it was full of ginkgo leaves. What happened to it today?"

The third leader looked at the perfectly smooth ground and said, "Even this pit has been filled in. This... this is like seeing a ghost!"

"Heh... In this world, they're probably not going to survive, are they? They're even stealing trees."

Stealing trees is one thing, but they even stole them from our mountain village.

"Investigate! I want to see who has the guts to do this!" The leader grinned angrily.

A short while later, several men rushed in and said, "Report... all the trees in our Azure Dragon Stronghold are gone, especially the century-old trees, they all disappeared overnight."

The head of the gang rushed outside and saw that the area was completely bare; the entire courtyard looked as if it had been leveled overnight.

"There's clearly a 500-year-old camphor tree here, where is it?"

"There are several golden nanmu trees in that woods over there. I was planning to use them to make coffins when I get old..."

Who stole our trees?

But the north wind howled, and no one could tell them the answer.

The strategist of Azure Dragon Mountain Stronghold came up with a plan. "If we follow the tracks, we'll definitely find the murderer. With so many trees, we'll definitely need manpower and oxcarts to carry them down."

"Yes, let's go find them all and see how those guys managed to get these trees down there?"

I searched for a long time, but there wasn't a single trace, not even a footprint.

There were only some damaged flowers and plants. The strategist was amused and annoyed. "I don't believe these people won't leave a trace. Do you think these trees can climb away by themselves?"

Believe it or not, these trees really did climb out on their own, so how could these people find footprints or tire tracks?

Zhou Wanwan all day. When she woke up, she saw Liu Su'e sitting beside her and said, "Oh dear! You're finally awake! I was so worried, I thought something had happened!"

Zhou Wanwan got up and said, "I'm awake now, what could possibly happen to me? Mom, don't worry."

Liu Su'e patted her head and said:

"Ever since you left the Zhou Family, you've been tinkering with this and that all day long."

I know you're doing this for our Liu Family Village, but don't overwork yourself. You're only five years old; don't put too much pressure on yourself.

I still have no idea how those houses were built.

Wanwan, don't overwork yourself. Children won't grow tall if they're too tired.

Zhou Wanwan quickly nodded and said, "Mom, what's for dinner tonight? I'm hungry."

Liu Su'e said softly:

I made the lotus leaf chicken that you liked last time. I found some dried lotus leaves, but I don't know if it will taste like yours. I'll serve it now.

I also made a few vegetarian dishes; now we have a lot of vegetarian dishes at home.

I was thinking of selling some on the street, but these vegetables have been sitting for quite a while.

Zhou Wanwan nodded and said:

"Alright, I was just about to go find Feng Jiao. I plan to exchange all 100,000 taels of silver for grain."

We're currently in this mountain stronghold, and we need food for many things. The little food we have now isn't enough to feed us for half a year.

Moreover, now there are those people from Black Wind Stronghold too.

Liu Su'e looked at her and said:

"Are we really going to support all those people from Black Wind Stronghold? I don't think it's necessary."

If we also have to support them, that would be too much of a burden.

Zhou Wanwan looked at Liu Su'e and said:

"We borrowed their land, so naturally we should help them in times of trouble. Besides, the more people we have on our side, the better."

With only the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled in our village, there's simply no way we can fight against outsiders.

Liu Su'e sighed and said, "Don't we still have the tunnel? Why don't we just live in the tunnel?"

Zhou Wanwan shook her head and said:

"This tunnel should not be mentioned or used by anyone unless absolutely necessary."

That's a refuge we only seek out as a last resort, and besides, no one could stand staying there for three years.

If you spend more than three years in a dark, sunless tunnel, you'd hardly look like a human being when you come out.

Liu Su'e nodded and said, "I understand. Anyway, you decide everything here. Now, you're the clan chief of Liu Family Village, so you're in charge."

Old Liu passed the Madam Liu clan leadership directly to Zhou Wanwan. Zhou Wanwan felt this was against the rules, but Old Liu didn't think so!

Without this granddaughter, the entire Liu Family Village might have starved to death, and this winter would have been extremely difficult.

Where is it like this now?

Zhou Wanwan had no choice but to become the clan leader of the Madam Liu family.

Liu Su'e brought out the lotus leaf chicken, and then two vegetarian dishes, saying, "Try this lotus leaf chicken and see how it tastes?"

Zhou Wanwan picked up the lotus leaf chicken and started eating. The lotus leaf chicken contained glutinous rice, dried shiitake mushrooms, cored white lotus seeds, goji berries, minced ginger, minced garlic, and dried tangerine peel. It was especially delicious.

Zhou Wanwan felt extremely satisfied after eating a bowl of round glutinous rice.

She looked at Liu Su'e and said, "Mother, let's go for a walk in the street! We happen to have more than a dozen baskets of vegetables left; I'll take them to Feng Jiao's shop."

Zhou Wanwan led more than 20 people, using a horse-drawn cart to carry more than a dozen baskets of vegetables and several baskets of charcoal towards the city.

As soon as they arrived at the city gate, they heard the guard say, "It takes two coins per person to enter the city."

Zhou Wanwan raised an eyebrow and said, "There's a city entry fee now?"

Liu Xiuyuan nodded and said, "It's probably a new policy; it wouldn't be worth it for so many of us to go in."

The toll alone cost more than 40 coins for a group of more than ten people.

Suddenly, Liu Xiuyuan stared blankly at the notice on the city gate beside him. "Master, something's wrong! That notice looks like our portrait?"

Zhou Wanwan lifted the curtain and looked outside; her portrait had indeed been posted on the city wall.

The problem is, this drawing is really ugly.

Zhou Wanwan was so angry her teeth itched:

"Is Cheng Xiao trying to become a decent human being? She actually hung our portraits on the city wall."

I was only five years old, and I've already become a wanted criminal.

I don't care whether I'm wanted or not, but this drawing is so ugly! Look at that face, it's drawn so big.

Look closely at my face, is it really that big?