Chapter 898: Expanding the Vegetable Garden

Chapter 898: Chapter 898: Expanding the Vegetable Garden

It was already midnight when a persistent knocking suddenly sounded outside Lin Muyu’s house.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The sound was low and hesitant, but whoever stood outside seemed unwilling to give up.

Inside the room, Lin Muyu was sleeping comfortably between her two beast husbands, Shi Kuang and Wang Mo. Their two cubs were also fast asleep nearby.

The sudden knocking made her frown.

"Who is making noise in the middle of the night?"

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Lin Muyu’s expression darkened. She kicked Shi Kuang.

"Shi, go and see who’s at the door."

Shi Kuang grumbled and pulled the cover over his head. "Ignore them. Anyone who comes knocking at this hour must have something wrong with their head."

The knocking continued.

Lin Muyu kicked him again. "Get up! What if something happened?"

Shi Kuang finally sat up, muttering curses under his breath. "Whoever this is, I’m going to beat him into the ground! Does he have no decency? It’s midnight!"

He reluctantly climbed out of bed and stomped toward the door. Wang Mo, who had also been disturbed, followed him to the courtyard.

Shi Kuang yanked the door open. "What the hell are you..." He stopped. Standing outside was a familiar young merman with a bag slung over his shoulder.

Shi Kuang’s eyes widened.

"You?!"

The moment he recognized Manis, he almost slammed the door shut.

What was this brat doing here?!

Hadn’t he already left with the mermen from the East Sea?

Why had he returned in the middle of the night?!

And more importantly, why was he at his house in the middle of the night?!

Shi Kuang suddenly remembered Lin Muyu’s earlier threat about going to find the young merman because he is young.

His face turned pale.

’No! Absolutely not!’

He couldn’t let this brat see his female!

This fellow was young, handsome, and had a pretty face. Lin Muyu had even openly admitted that she liked teasing young beastmen!

If he allowed Manis inside, wouldn’t he be inviting a wolf into the house?

No, wait. A merman!

Whatever he was, Shi Kuang wanted to throw him into the river before Lin Muyu could see him. Unfortunately, he had already shouted loudly enough to wake the entire house.

"What are you doing here?!"

Manis flinched. Wang Mo stared at the young merman, then turned toward Shi Kuang. "Do you know him?"

Shi Kuang’s mouth twitched. "Of course I know him!" He wanted to add that he wished he didn’t. But before he could say anything else, Lin Muyu’s voice came from behind them.

"Shi Kuang! Who is it? Why are you shouting in the middle of the night?"

Shi Kuang’s soul nearly left his body. "Nothing! Go back to sleep!" But it was already too late.

Lin Muyu walked out, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "What’s all this noise? If you’re trying to scare away the wild beasts, you’ve done a wonderful job."

Then she looked toward the doorway. Her footsteps stopped.

Manis was crouching on the ground with his bag beside him, drawing circles in the dirt with one finger. His shoulders were drooping, and his face looked so miserable that he could have been mistaken for an abandoned puppy.

The moment he saw Lin Muyu, his eyes suddenly lit up.

He jumped to his feet.

"Female!"

Lin Muyu blinked. She looked at him, then at the bag on his shoulder.

"Why are you here? Didn’t you leave for the East Sea?"

Manis nodded.

"I did."

"Then why did you come back?"

Manis’s cheeks turned red. Shi Kuang and Wang Mo immediately became alert. The young merman took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and looked straight at Lin Muyu with shining eyes.

Then, in a voice full of determination, he announced...

"Female, I’ve come to repay you with my body!"

SLAM!!

***

The next morning, after waking up and finishing her breakfast, Su Qinglan immediately set out to arrange work for the sub-beastmen.

She had promised the three elders that she would visit Fox Beast City, and she planned to leave tomorrow. That meant she had only one day to settle everything in Dragon Beast City before her departure.

She couldn’t afford to waste any time.

Her first destination was the vegetable garden.

The garden was already quite large, but after she began selling vegetables to the beastmen, the entire harvest had practically disappeared in a week.

Even her own family had barely managed to eat a few mouthfuls before the vegetables were gone!

When Su Qinglan remembered how her husbands and cubs had stared sadly at the empty baskets, she couldn’t help but sigh.

She had originally grown these vegetables to improve everyone’s diet. Who would have thought they would become so popular that she couldn’t even keep enough for her own family?

"It seems I need to make the garden bigger," she muttered.

Fortunately, she now had plenty of workers.

The heavy work of clearing the ground, digging the soil, and preparing the plots could be handled by the sub-beastmen. As for watering the vegetables and helping them grow, she could leave most of that to Little Hua’s relatives.

Those little spiritual plants were practically born to take care of vegetation. They were much more reliable than ordinary beastmen when it came to looking after crops.

All she needed was someone to supervise the workers and make sure everything was done properly.

With that in mind, Su Qinglan began walking around the available land, carefully measuring the space.

"This section will be for leafy vegetables. Make it a little wider, because these grow quickly and we’ll need to harvest them regularly."

She pointed toward another patch.

"Over there, we’ll plant the vegetables that take longer to grow. Leave enough space between the rows so that everyone can walk through without stepping on the plants."

She continued marking out the plots, dividing the available land into different sections.

"Each plot should have a worker assigned to it, depending on its size. That way, everyone will know exactly what they’re responsible for, and we won’t have people running around without knowing what to do."

Su Qinglan was satisfied with her arrangements.

With enough workers, she could expand the vegetable garden several times over. Once the new crops matured, Dragon Beast City would no longer have to worry about running out of vegetables so quickly.

While she was busy explaining the arrangements, several little spiritual plants were running around nearby.

They were Little Hua’s relatives. Since they lived in Dragon Beast City, they often wandered about freely, and everyone had become accustomed to their presence.

Su Qinglan watched them for a moment before reaching out to pat the head of the little plant closest to her.

The little fellow looked up at her.

All these spiritual plants looked so similar that Su Qinglan honestly couldn’t remember which one was which. She knew their names were different, but remembering fifteen nearly identical little plants was another matter entirely.

She studied him for a while before finally asking, "Which brother are you again?"

The little spiritual plant immediately straightened up.

"Sister Qinglan, I’m the Thirteenth Brother!"

"Oh!" Su Qinglan’s eyes brightened. "So it’s you!"

She had finally remembered. The Thirteenth Brother was a good child. He was obedient, clever, and always willing to help.