Chapter 816: Seeds for Cultivation and Planting

"Miss, you want me to go with Du Ying? Wouldn’t that leave only Du Yi by your side?" Luo Wen was still shaken by recent events and dared not easily leave her side.

"My father’s men are here, so I’ll be fine," Ye Qianning instructed. "You and Luo Xuan follow them. If you notice anyone making a move against them, deal with it in secret. Remember, if you strike, you must ensure not a single enemy is left alive. If you aren’t absolutely certain, do not expose yourselves."

"Understood."

"One month. Protect them for one month. After that, pull out and return." One month was the last shred of mercy Ye Qianning had to offer. Whether they could find a safe haven would depend on their own fate.

"Yes." Luo Wen withdrew.

Ye Qianning retracted her gaze. Living in a world ruled by imperial power, who wasn’t pitiful? Her fathers, the tragically murdered officials, the common people—they were all pitiful. Having too much of a bleeding heart would only ruin her.

Sitting at her desk, Ye Qianning entered her dimensional space. She packed the medicine she had formulated for Old Mr. Gu. When Zhan Chi returned to Beili, she would have him take it to the Gu family.

Currently, aside from the first branch of the Gu family, which still sustained their commercial enterprises, the other branches had completely withered. Their businesses had collapsed not long after Beili enacted laws prohibiting private smuggling years ago. The third and fourth branches had long squandered their meager assets. She heard they had constantly sought out Gu Shuo over the years, hoping to secure a cut of the Immortal Sea Building’s profits. However, Gu Shuo was a busy man, staying in a single city for only a few days at most.

Unless one was an insider, tracking his whereabouts was impossible. After tailing him fruitlessly for two years without catching even a glimpse of his shadow, the third and fourth branches had completely run out of savings. They had no choice but to obediently return to Capital City. Given the state of those two branches, the results of the family division were obvious. The properties they had been allocated in Capital City were all sold off. Now, it seemed they were all crammed into a separate courtyard villa originally left behind by Old Mr. Gu.

She thought, "Every one of them is a greedy predator. Now penniless, they’re eyeing the tiny bit of wealth the old man still holds. Alas."

Fortunately, Old Mr. Gu was cared for by Mrs. Dai. She managed the household well, and her maiden family had strong backing, so the rest of them didn’t dare disturb him casually. Every family truly had its own cross to bear!

Ye Qianning packed the medicine and wrote down the dosages. This was just for temporary nourishment; she would prescribe targeted medication after returning to Capital City and giving him a proper diagnosis. After finishing, she set the bundle aside. She then took out the soil samples brought back from the desert, the wastelands, and the northwest to study them.

Currently, the desert yielded very few crops and produced almost no fruits or melons. The locals could only grow radishes, potatoes, ginger, and goji berries. The staple food of the desert people consisted mainly of potatoes. Due to their low crop yields, exporting them wouldn’t even cover the labor costs. They could only exchange them locally for a tiny bit of money, making the region incredibly poor.

Ye Qianning poured water from the Spiritual Spring into the soil samples. She took seeds she had prepared earlier, sorted them by type, planted them in the dirt, and let them sit for a moment. About a minute or two later, tender green shoots emerged from the soil one after another, growing rapidly. She waited for them to mature so she could extract the seeds from the resulting fruits.

Once these seeds—cultivated by absorbing the local soil and the Spiritual Spring—were taken back and planted, the seedlings wouldn’t die. Furthermore, the fruit they bore would taste far better than those grown elsewhere.

However, if crops like watermelons and cantaloupes were to be grown annually, the seeds would still need to be sourced from the Gu family every year. The seeds extracted from fruits grown locally in the desert would have lost almost all the enhancing effects of the Spiritual Spring and her dimensional space. Even if they were replanted and managed to bear fruit, the quality wouldn’t be nearly as good. The desert was also suitable for planting jujubes and dates. However, date palms typically took about ten years to bear fruit. Even with the enhancements of her dimensional space, it would still take seven or eight years.