Chapter 774 Medicine Hall Appraisal, Journey to Medicine King City (3)

Ming Jinzhong: [ ... ]

Ming Jinzhong doesn’t exercise much, often working days and nights in the lab, leading to a disrupted metabolism. He’s not even thirty and has already gained weight; his belly truly resembles that of a four-month pregnant woman.

Ming Lan chuckled, noticing Xu Xingguang finishing her lunch and looking at him quizzically, he quickly explained: "Chatting with one of my cousins, he said, the Emperor City is spreading rumors that I came to Wuyuan Town to serve a sentence and became a cast-off from the Ming Family."

Xu Xingguang nodded nonchalantly, saying, "Then ignore it. Standing high up, you’re surrounded by flattery; after falling into the mud, you can see more faces clearly, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing."

"I think so too."

"Alright, thinking about this is worse than doing more work." Xu Xingguang stood up, put on her gas mask, "I’m leaving."

Ming Lan quickly finished his soup, thought for a moment, then photographed the clean licked thermos, posting it on his social media circle with the caption: Didn’t think the day would come when I’d lick the bowl so clean.

Even a stray dog might not have his skill.

Arriving at the medicinal field, Ming Lan asked Xu Xingguang to take a photo of him squatting in the field, diligently digging for herbs, and continued posting on his social media, saying: [I’m more tired than a dog.]

With these messages sent out, the wealthy circles of Emperor City soon spread the rumor that the young master of the Ming family was living a dog’s life.

They took pleasure in seeing Ming Lan suffer, while Ming Lan took pleasure in watching their reactions.

Ming Feng, seeing Ming Lan willingly help Xu Xingguang, felt greatly relieved and even called Xu Xingguang to ask if she was satisfied with Ming Lan.

Xu Xingguang: [Hmm, he’s a good child.]

Receiving Xu Xingguang’s positive evaluation, Ming Feng felt completely at ease and reminded Ming Lan to work diligently.

The area of the 18th medicinal field was vast, it took seven days just to harvest the herbs.

The harvested herbs were all packed into Xu Xingguang’s canvas bag.

Ming Lan saw for the first time that Xu Xingguang casually threw the Poisonous Widow into the canvas bag, yet the bag didn’t seem to get bigger, resembling an endless pit that could accommodate everything in the world.

Only then did he realize that the canvas bag worn by Old Ancestor was actually a space storage bag.

"Old Ancestor, where did you get this storage bag? It’s quite capacious." He also wanted to order one.

All the Poisonous Widows in the entire No.18 medicinal field were placed into the canvas bag by Xu Xingguang, Ming Lan had never heard of where one could buy such a high-level storage bag.

To his knowledge, in the domain of Space System superpowers, the Super Power Users could create storage bags with at most twenty or thirty cubic meters of space. And all these spaces could only store non-living objects, and the prices of such storage bags were prohibitively expensive.

The Ming Family, considered an aristocratic family throughout the Divine Martial Realm, stood at the peak of financial power, yet even within their family, people with super storage bags were few.

He had one, and only one, the skull necklace hanging around his neck.

"Besides, the storage conditions for fresh herbs are very strict. You just casually throw them into the storage bag, aren’t you worried about damage?"

Xu Xingguang: "Experts have their tricks."

Seeing Xu Xingguang unwilling to reveal the origins of the storage bag, Ming Lan didn’t further inquire.

Suddenly, Xu Xingguang asked him: "Do you know how to operate an excavator?"

"Which kind?" Ming Lan was a bit puzzled.

"The kind you see everywhere on the neighboring herbal hills, the ones used for land renovation."

Ming Lan had seen that kind of excavator before, he honestly shook his head, "No." A dignified young master, the fashion trendsetter of Emperor City, how could he possibly know how to operate an excavator?

Xu Xingguang nodded, "It’s okay not knowing."

Ming Lan thought that was it, but Xu Xingguang said, "Go learn from the master at the neighboring hill for two days and you’ll know."

"Huh?" Ming Lan was stunned.

His hands have driven supercars, tapped keyboards, touched various rare treasures, and now he had to learn to operate an excavator?

"I’ll give you two days to learn how to operate the excavator, then three more days to renovate this herb field. I’ll check when I return. If you can do it, you may stay with me; if not, then return to Emperor City."

Hearing Xu Xingguang was serious, Ming Lan immediately put away his playful demeanor.

Being sent back to Emperor City, at first glance, seemed like a great thing.

But being kicked back by Old Ancestor meant he was incompetent, a waste. And how could a waste be eligible to become the heir of the Ming Family?

Ming Lan realized the seriousness, quickly nodded, and vowed: "I’ll learn in a day, Old Ancestor, trust me."

Trusting is useless, it still depends on Ming Lan’s own awareness.

"Old Ancestor, are you leaving Wuyuan Town for a few days?" Judging by her previous words, it seemed she was planning to go out.

"Yes, I need to make a trip to Medicine King City."

"Going now? But you’re about to have exams, what are you going to Medicine King City for?"

"Medicine King City has a specialized Medicine Hall for rating herbs, I have to go to get our batch of herbs rated." She took her canvas bag and walked down the hill, Ming Lan dragging his shackles followed, hearing her say: "We need to cultivate enough top-quality herbs, let the Ying Family see the value of Cattle Hump, then we can retain Wuyuan Town and Cattle Hump."

Ming Lan knew, with the death of Elder Tan Nan, the herb field of Cattle Hump would most likely be abandoned and transformed into a mine. The townspeople of Wuyuan Town would have to leave too.

But what does any of this have to do with Old Ancestor?

She came from the Mortal World; this Wuyuan Town was just a stop when she first entered the Divine Martial Realm.

"Old Ancestor, you are so considerate for Wuyuan Town, yet not everyone might remember your kindness." If it were Ming Lan, he wouldn’t do such thankless tasks.

"Why should I want them to remember my kindness?" She smiled serenely, her expression consistently calm, "Elder Tan Nan and the townspeople of Wuyuan Town are nice; I can’t stand watching this land be ravaged, watching the townspeople forced to leave their homes. So I’m here to protect this land, this small town."

She turned back, looked into the thoughtful eyes of the young man, and told him: "Little one, not everything you do will receive praise or rewards. But some things, if not done, would be eternal regrets."

"Just like over two thousand years ago, the Divine Hidden Emperor chose to stay with all the Infected in the Infected Zone, when he made that decision, he must have been thinking about living and dying together with his subjects, sharing hardships, rather than becoming a hero in the minds of future generations."

Ming Lan understood, comprehended the principle Xu Xingguang wanted to convey, yet he still couldn’t be the kind of person she described.

He couldn’t do it; he admired Xu Xingguang even more.

He somewhat understood where his grandfather’s reverence for the Old Ancestor stemmed from.