Could You Stop Being So Silly?

The Old Scholar Tree used its roots to pull them up and threw them out hard.

That was such a lucky throw; they all landed in a latrine outside the village.

The old woman was thrashing about in the cesspool, crying, "My son! Come save me! Waaah..."

Concubine Ruan shouted, "Pei Shuang, why are you being so ruthless? Believe me, when the city lord returns, you'll be sorry!"

Zhou Wanwan stood far away on the wall, looking at them and said, "It seems you still haven't grasped the truth! Let me tell you the truth! The city lord is dead."

Concubine Ruan laughed heartily:

"You're just talking nonsense, kid. What kind of existence are the experts on the Earth Ranking? You think they can just die like that?"

"Just you wait, when the city lord returns, you'll be in for a world of hurt."

Pei Shuang also said anxiously, "Master, why don't we just give up? After all, we can't beat Chu Liufeng."

Zhou Wanwan laughed and said, "I wasn't joking with them, Chu Liufeng really is dead."

Chu Liufeng's corpse has now been absorbed by the Old Scholar Tree.

The Old Scholar Tree let out a strange "hehehe" laugh.

Zhou Wanwan then wandered around the estate; it was huge!

Standing on the edge of the field and looking out, all I could see was black, glossy soil in the village.

The open space along the edge of the field is planted with all kinds of seasonal vegetables.

Cucumbers climbed all over the trellis, eggplants glistened with oil, and strings of peppers hung down—it was a delightful sight...

The chicken coop in the corner of the yard was even more lively, with speckled chickens, yellow-feathered chickens, and black-boned chickens huddled together, clucking and digging in the dirt for insects to eat.

Pei Shuang said:

"This estate is quite nice, covering an area of over 1,000 mu."

In good years, the rent from the land alone can bring in more than a thousand taels of silver a year.

Zhou Wanwan nodded and asked, "Do you know the head of this estate?"

Pei Shuang nodded and said:

"I once took over the city lord's properties, so I'm quite familiar with the situation of these estates."

The head of the first village was rather fierce, but the heads of the other villages were quite good.

He had helped me before.

Zhou Wanwan chuckled and said:

"Ah! That village you're talking about? The head of that village is just like that, don't worry about him."

Go and have a good talk with the heads of the remaining villages.

If they're willing to stay and work hard, then let them sign a permanent contract; we won't treat them unfairly.

Pei Shuang quickly got everything sorted out. And you know what? A lady from a respectable family really is different; she gets things done with lightning speed.

Zhou Wanwan began to infuse energy into the grains of several farms, so that her restaurant would no longer have to worry about running out of ingredients.

With things settled here, Zhou Wanwan continued her treasure hunt.

She hasn't found all of Noble Consort Ning's mineral veins yet!

The mineral veins on the parchment scrolls also require a great deal of effort to find slowly.

Zhou Wanwan looked at Pei Yong and said:

"In other words, you only know that Noble Consort Ning has a mineral vein, but the specific location is very vague."

Noble Consort Ning's gold mine has been found; next up is the jade mine. Do you recall where it is?

Pei Yong circled a spot and said:

"It should be in these places. I only heard a brief mention from my subordinates, who said they saw a group of people active on these hills."

My men even asked me at the time if I needed to deal with them.

Those people were all wearing Brocade Guard uniforms; I could tell they were from the palace at a glance, so I didn't pay them any attention.

Zhou Wanwan nodded and led a group of trees up the mountain.

Old Scholar Tree's men quickly began inquiring in the mountains, but finding out about a mineral vein took a lot of time.

Zhou Wanwan also wandered around in the mountains, but after wandering around and around, she couldn't find a single clue on any of the hills.

Zhou Wanwan propped her head up with her hand and said, "This mine seems quite mysterious; it might be hard to find!"

The Old Scholar Tree calmly said, "We've only found one hilltop. Let's wait a bit longer, have lunch first, and see what I've found in the mountains."

Then, the roots of the Old Scholar Tree slowly dragged out from the depths of the forest a plump muntjac, a badger, and several bamboo partridges hanging from the branches.

Dragging them closer, the Old Scholar Tree tossed the items to Zheng Xing'an, who was standing nearby.

When Zheng Xing'an first saw the tree-man, she was quite intimidated, feeling that it was very strange that a tree could move around like a person.

But by now they're used to it. Not only her, but everyone on the mountain is no longer surprised to see tree people, and they've all developed a rule not to cut down trees indiscriminately.

Even the people of Luban Village at the foot of the mountain, if they need to cut down trees for their own use, will not cut them down randomly, but will come to these tree men for help.

The tree people would lead them to cut down trees that needed to be cut down, and sometimes they would even specially transport some usable trees from afar to them.

Zheng Xing'an quickly took the wild game, first cleaning the bamboo partridge, then having Shuren collect a basket of fresh mushrooms. After cleaning and washing them, she first stewed a pot of bamboo partridge and mushroom soup.

He turned around, picked up the badger, removed its hair, gutted it, cut off a large piece of meat with alternating layers of fat and lean, chopped it into cubes, and stewed a pot of badger meat stew with potatoes.

I cut a piece of muntjac meat into thin slices, marinated it briefly with salt and wine, heated oil in a wok, and quickly stir-fried the muntjac meat slices.

The tree-men kept making hissing sounds.

One of the tree-people couldn't resist trying it out with a tree root, and it caught fire.

Zhou Wanwan sprayed it with a fire extinguisher. The Old Scholar Tree said speechlessly, "Is this fire something you can play with? Can't you stop being so stupid? Sometimes use your brains, okay?"

The tree-man chewed on its roots and said, "But I'm hungry, I want to eat meat too, boohoo..."

Zhou Wanwan looked at the remaining pile of meat and said, "You can't eat all the cooked meat, why don't you try this raw meat?"

The tree-man quickly nodded and said, "That works too."

This tree-man is quite small, only a little over a hundred years old, and has little knowledge.

It continuously absorbed the badger's energy through its tree roots, saying as it did so, "Wow! I feel like the energy within me is increasing!"

The Old Scholar Tree squinted and said, "Could these animals also increase our energy?"

The little tree-man quickly absorbed the entire badger-boar, and nodded, saying, "I feel that the energy within my body has indeed become stronger."

The Old Scholar Tree examined it and said:

"It seems we can't waste these wild game anymore; they're good for our energy."

While it may not be as powerful as those martial arts masters, it can certainly increase one's strength.

Zhou Wanwan drank two bowls of bamboo chicken soup, while the older brothers next to her each drank three bowls.

Zhou Qingchen said, "This bamboo chicken tastes so delicious, it's wonderful."

Zhou Qinghe touched her belly and said:

"I've gained several pounds since I came out."

Even if you practice martial arts every day, it's useless. Just follow Wanwan out, and you'll get good food every day.

After finishing the bamboo chicken soup, Gu Sinian wiped her mouth and said, "It really is delicious, and I've gained weight too."

No sooner had they finished speaking than a tree-man came to report, "Wanwan, we think we've discovered that jade mine."