My Scholar Tree Is Rather Greedy

Lingbao shuddered and said, "Oh dear! It's so ugly without any roots! You have to leave me some."

Zhou Wanwan smiled and said, "Don't worry! I'll definitely save some for you."

Just then, Liu Xiuyuan rushed in and said, "Master, those mad dogs are here again! What should we do?"

If Zhou Wanwan weren't in Black Wind Stronghold, the trees here wouldn't be able to move.

Only when Zhou Wanwan supplies energy can these trees move.

Zhou Wanwan frowned and said, "Shall we go see what these people are up to this time?"

The second prince of Khotan was currently raging. "It's just a small mountain stronghold! You haven't even been able to take it down yet, what's the point of keeping you around?"

Cheng Xiao was so angry she jumped up and down:

"If we just build a suspension bridge over here, we can cross it, right?"

Why is it so difficult? And the other side too, as long as there's a ladder to the sky, we can attack it.

"I refuse to believe it. It's just a small mountain stronghold, how could it be so difficult to attack?"

The second prince of Khotan nodded and said, "This time we are well prepared, and we will definitely be able to take down Black Wind Stronghold. I want to bring all my golden houses back with me."

The second prince of Khotan should have been enjoying Fugui at home, living a life of extravagance and debauchery.

Now things are much better; he's been stationed in Great Xia for a long time because of this band of mountain bandits.

He led several thousand elite soldiers, and every day they discussed how to destroy a small mountain stronghold.

He was incredibly frustrated, and he couldn't even go back and complain about it.

If this gets back to Kingdom of Khotan, everyone will laugh themselves to death.

The second prince of Khotan had cannons brought in, saying, "Even in our own country, there are only about 20 of these. I've urgently dispatched ten."

In ancient times, there were cannons, which were simply thick iron pipes loaded with gunpowder and iron balls. When lit, they would launch the iron balls with a loud "boom," and their force was terrifying.

Cheng Xiao couldn't help but laugh, "We'll see Black Wind Stronghold blasted into the sky in a bit, that'll feel amazing!"

The second prince of Khotan laughed loudly:

"You're saying the current leader of this mountain stronghold is that five-year-old brat, right?"

This time I must capture her, then take her back to Khotan, and make her wish she were dead.

Cheng Xiao then looked at the Second Prince and said, "I have a woman here too, and I want to capture her and torture her properly."

The second prince of Khotan shouted, "Fire the cannon!"

But when he turned around, he found that everyone else had fainted on the ground, and only he and Cheng Xiao were still standing.

Zhou Wanwan sat on the tree, looking down at them, and said, "Second Prince of Khotan, we meet again! I'm so happy to see an old friend."

The second prince of Khotan broke out in a cold sweat:

"Where did you... just pop out of here? That's impossible, my men are all highly skilled in martial arts."

How could I not have noticed you?

Zhou Wanwan smiled and said:

"Oh... you mean these people?"

Sorry, my Scholar Tree are quite greedy; they have just too much energy in their bodies.

It ate them all without me even noticing.

Not only do Old Scholar Tree love to eat it, but all other trees do too.

Actually, these trees aren't greedy; they've discovered that consuming highly skilled individuals alters their internal energy, making them even stronger.

Previously, when Zhou Wanwan supplied them with energy, they could only maintain it for 1 to 2 hours at most before needing to replenish their energy.

But now they realize that an hour has passed, and their energy levels are still very high.

The Old Scholar Tree looked at them and said:

"I can now go 10 hours a day without needing to replenish energy. If you take this, you'll be able to maintain that for 3 hours."

"That's great that we don't need to replenish our energy for three hours!"

The trees immediately started dancing with joy.

The second prince of Khotan discovered that all his men had disappeared and was too frightened to speak.

Zhou Wanwan looked at them and said, "Come with me!"

The second prince of Khotan quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, no, I am the second prince of Kingdom of Khotan. You have no right to arrest me."

Zhou Wanwan chuckled and said, "Since you're here, I should at least show you the proper hospitality. You burned down my family's mountain last time, and you think you can just run away?"

The second prince of Khotan said with a mournful face:

"It was indeed my fault, but I am willing to compensate you."

I'll have someone send over a thousand taels of gold when I get back. Is that alright with you?

Zhou Wanwan propped her head up and looked at him, saying, "You think your dog's life is only worth a thousand taels of gold? That's too cheap, isn't it?"

The second prince of Khotan's lips twitched. "Then name your price."

"Ten thousand taels of gold, plus five thousand bags of grain." Zhou Wanwan made an outrageous demand.

The second prince of Khotan was completely dumbfounded:

"I am indeed the second prince of Kingdom of Khotan, but Khotan is so poor that even birds don't defecate there and chickens don't lay eggs."

How could there possibly be any food in such a place? And besides, I don't have that much gold.

Zhou Wanwan thought for a moment and said:

"Two thousand taels of gold, ten carts of jade, two carts of grain, and jade—you, the Kingdom of Khotan, have plenty of those."

I'll give you half an incense stick's time to think it over. If you're not willing, then come work as a laborer on my mountain!

Zhou Wanwan looked up at Cheng Xiao and said, "You're in a bit of trouble. You're too poor, you have nothing, and you're also incredibly useless."

Cheng Xiao's legs went weak, and she knelt down on the ground:

"I have money, and I am a county magistrate. If someone dies, the imperial court will definitely investigate."

I can use the money to redeem myself; I can scrape together two thousand taels of silver and a hundred bags of grain.

Zhou Wanwan shook her head and said, "A hundred bags of grain? Are you trying to feed a beggar?"

Cheng Xiao inwardly groaned; what kind of beggar could possibly eat a hundred bags of grain?

Cheng Xiao shook his head and said, "In that case, I'll gather two thousand bags of grain for you."

Zhou Wanwan thought for a moment and said:

"Okay, then it's a deal. Oh, there's something else I wanted to tell you."

I don't like being wanted, so when I got back, I quickly took down my wanted poster.

They even crossed out my name on the wanted list, especially the entire Black Wind Stronghold's wanted list.

Or I could come to your house myself. I heard you've had another son.

Sweat poured down Cheng Xiao's forehead. He thought he had kept his son a secret very well—that he had fathered a son with a dancer. How could anyone have found out?

Zhou Wanwan looked at him with a half-smile and said:

"Don't let anyone know, or you won't do it in the first place. Get what I asked you to do done as soon as possible, and have the things delivered here as soon as possible."

Otherwise, if I come knocking on your door, you'll be in trouble.

She let Cheng Xiao go directly, saying as she left:

"Also, have the Second Prince's men send the goods over quickly. Don't do anything else of pointless work. I'll wait here."

Second Prince, is there anything else you want to say?

The second prince of Khotan took out a token and said, "Give this to my trusted confidant and tell him to prepare it as soon as possible, and not to make any underhanded moves."