Returning to the Village
So for the past few days, besides cultivating, Lin Xiao and his two companions have been buying and selling things all over the county town.
Because the three of them were still just kids, they were afraid that someone would see them spending too much expensive pine soot ink and become greedy, so they would disguise themselves and specifically knock on the back doors of wealthy families.
It's not about selling it to the owner; it's about selling it to the steward or someone in charge of those households.
Moreover, the county is currently holding its provincial examinations, attracting many scholars, so there's no worry about selling the high-quality ink produced by their system.
Of course, they only dared to sell one or two sticks at a time, and the price was cheaper than that of the bookstore. People would usually buy their ink because they were of good quality and the price was slightly cheaper.
The three of them sat around the table, their hearts leaping with joy as they looked at the scattered pieces of silver that added up to more than twenty taels.
They're rich now!
The next morning, Lin Xiao and his two companions went out to shop.
The county examination had now reached its final stage, and once this last exam concluded, their journey to the county town would be nearing its end.
After entrusting the task of buying daily necessities such as quilts, bowls, and chopsticks to Jiang Youfu and Liu Yunan, Lin Xiao went to the blacksmith shop alone.
He planned to buy some farm tools to take home.
You can't sell iron, right? You can at least buy farm tools!
So Lin Xiao, being very wealthy, spent nearly ten taels of silver to buy several hoes, shovels, plows, and sickles.
He wanted to buy more, but the blacksmith shop owner wouldn't allow it, looking at him with suspicion.
"Tell your family member to bring the household registration certificate before you buy it!"
They even almost wanted to take back what they had already sold to him.
Lin Xiao was not about to give him that chance, so he slipped away immediately.
The blacksmith was astonished to see the boy, who looked to be about ten years old, carry a pile of heavy farm tools and disappear in a flash.
But Lin Xiao didn't care about anything else and quickly found a secluded corner to put all the farm tools into his private stash.
After buying the things, he went to meet up with Fuzi and Tuzi, and the three of them returned to the courtyard together.
After returning to the courtyard, Lin Xiao told the two of them to go back to their rooms to cultivate, while he sat in the courtyard and opened the System Store.
He planned that after completing the remaining three tasks upon returning, he would prioritize developing agriculture within the sect.
Food is the most important thing for people.
Even though they have all cultivated now, and according to Senior Liao, the refining of Grain Avoidance Pill is very simple, Lin Xiao and the others have no intention of abandoning food and relying on Grain Avoidance Pill in the future.
Satisfying one's appetite is one of life's great pleasures; if we were to lose this pleasure, wouldn't life become bleak?
Therefore, he not only did not intend to refine the Grain Avoidance Pill, but he also planned to develop more delicacies to share with everyone in the sect.
But all good food needs ingredients.
So Lin Xiao is now preparing to buy seeds in the online store.
He opened the store, and as expected, the recommended section was full of food-related seeds.
From all kinds of vegetables to fruit trees, they have everything.
Moreover, these fruits and vegetables were all Spirit Plant.
Lin Xiao was looking forward to it. Once all these things were grown, wouldn't they be able to eat delicious Spirit Cuisine meals every day?
Thinking of this, and looking at the price of these seeds, which averaged only one or two Spirit Stone per portion and contained fifteen seeds, Lin Xiao immediately spent the remaining dozens of Spirit Stone stones in his private treasury until he had ten left.
Dozens of different kinds of seeds suddenly appeared in the private collection.
Spirit cabbage seeds, spirit sugarcane seeds, spirit watermelon seeds, spirit pumpkin seeds, spirit winter melon seeds, spirit radish seeds, spirit apple seeds... In short, they are basically common fruits and vegetables, but they have the word 'spirit' in their names to highlight their difference as Spirit Plant.
However, Lin Xiao guessed that since these things were so cheap, they probably didn't contain much Spiritual Qi.
But that doesn't matter. Do they eat to absorb the Spiritual Qi within the food? Of course, they eat to enjoy the delicious food!
Looking at these seeds, Lin Xiao, who had eaten simple farm-style meals for over a decade, couldn't help but spit out his saliva.
Of course, meat is an indispensable ingredient in delicious food!
Lin Xiao naturally hadn't forgotten either, but considering that the sect currently had relatively few people, if they had to take care of both farming and animal husbandry, they might not be able to manage it all. They couldn't just cut off all their cultivation time for these things.
Therefore, the plans for breeding have to be put on hold for the time being.
He was also a little worried that if they raised some chickens or other animals in the future, wouldn't it be inappropriate to slaughter and eat them right in front of Xiaoluan?
We're all members of the sect, shouldn't we consider Xiaoluan's feelings?
Therefore, he believes that the matter of breeding should be considered in the long term.
Three days later, the results of the county examination were released.
Sun Yigao topped the list in high school.
Because today was the day the results were to be announced, Landlord Sun and Auntie Sun came from the village early in the morning. Confident in their son, they even packed their bags to accompany him to the prefectural city for the examination.
Upon learning that their son had indeed passed the county examination and even topped the list, Landlord Sun immediately took the four young men out to a restaurant.
After lunch, it was time to say goodbye.
Sun Yigao still needs to go to the prefectural city to participate in the prefectural examination. If all goes well, he will continue to take the examinations all the way up.
However, the county town was already far enough away, so Lin Xiao and the other two couldn't possibly go with them to the prefectural city.
Moreover, since the prefectural city was quite far away, Landlord Sun and Auntie Sun planned to accompany him.
After Lin Xiao and his two companions returned to the courtyard and packed their things, they bid farewell to Sun Yigao's family and Tuantuan.
Because of the Peach Blossom Spirit Gathering Formation, Tuantuan no longer had such an urgent need for Spirit Stone mines; it wanted to stay with its master.
It never wants to experience that feeling again—leaving for a while and returning to find everything changed.
Cultivation can be slowed down, there's no rush, but you only have one master.
So Lin Xiao and his two companions left the courtyard and embarked on their journey back to Xiushui Village.
Sun Yigao, carrying Tuantuan, went to the prefectural city with his parents.
The midday sun made the two groups of people walking towards each other shine brightly.
--
When Lin Xiao and his two companions returned to Xiushui Village, they noticed that the village seemed rather lively.
At the village entrance, several villagers sitting under Dashu were talking animatedly, occasionally pointing towards the North Mountain.
Lin Xiao was somewhat puzzled upon seeing this.
The villagers rarely go up the North Mountain; at most, they'll chop firewood and gather wild produce at the foot of the mountain. Could it be that they spotted a sect on the mountain?
However, upon closer listening, Lin Xiao overheard them saying things like, "The Lin Household is really lucky to have found two strong laborers. They don't even need to keep them; they can just dump them on the mountain and be done with it," and "That kid is so stubborn; he always rushes to do the work."
He was completely baffled. The Lin Household? Could it be his family? There weren't many people with the surname Lin in the village.
What about those two strong laborers and that silly boy?