“Something’s wrong?” Old man Ning didn’t expect the question and was baffled by his question. He asked, “Old Lam, something’s the problem?”
“No, no problem. Or, I should say it’s something nice. Here…” Old man Lam shook his head. Meeting everybody’s quizzical gaze, he pointed at the rabbit meat on the table, “You guys all try this!”
Everybody exchanged looks with each other then all turned and looked at the rabbit meat on the table at the same time. Then, wordlessly, they all lifted their chopsticks and picked a piece of rabbit meat into their mouths.
This strange scene had gotten the attention of everybody else who were in the dining hall. Everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at these few old fellas.
The steward standing outside the dining room had a different look on him. His was that of angst and uncertainty. Occasionally he’d even use his sleeve to wipe away the sweat on his forehead!
Hot d.a.m.n! These are all special guests of the master. Had he known better, he shouldn’t have bought those fowls from an unknown source. What if something was wrong? He’d be in deep trouble!
Under everyone’s stare, the few elders all looked astonished. The one in grey couldn’t help but said, “What is going on? These tastes like spiritual animal meat. Old man Ning, how did these find their way to your place?”
Spiritual animal meat?
The phrase startled everyone who was there. Everybody looked incredulous, especially the steward who was just regretting his decision. He stood there in disbelief.
Immediately, the once lively scene turned silent. Everybody turned and looked to Old man Ning for an answer.
Old man Ning frowned slightly. He turned and looked at the one standing outside the dining room, “Old Hui, c’mon in. What’s the matter? How did these fowls made their way here?”
Everybody at the Ning House knew well that these were not animals they have raised. So they’d have to be bought from outside.
The butler walked inside under everybody’s stare. He cupped his hands and greeted everyone before he turned to Old man Ning and said “Master, these chickens and rabbits were purchased by steward Kao from the outside. I really know nothing about them!”
“Ko Yang?” Old man Ning was surprised!
“Old man Ning, why don’t you have Ko Yang come here to tell us what’s going on?” Laughed Old Lam.
Everybody else nodded, they all want to know where these fowls came from.
Old man Ning gave a bitter smile and said, “Everyone, Ko Yang is not here. I had arranged him to go run some errands for me this morning.”
“Ugh…”
That was unexpected, and everybody was unsatisfied with the answer, but there were not much they could do.
“Brother Ning, roughly when will Ko Yang be back?” The old man in grey asked.
“Half a month at the earliest!” Answered Old man Ning with a bitter smile.
Everybody was even more disappointed.
The words from the butler brought hope to everyone. All they need to do is to find the mother and daughter, and they’d find out the source of the spiritual animals!
Old man Ning observed everyone’s reaction and nodded lightly, then said, “Okay, go make some arrangements. If you find the mother and daughter, remember to be polite and invite them back here.”
“Yes, Master!”
While folks at Ning House started to arrange help in locating Mrs. Cheng and Cheng Xiao Xiao, they had no idea that they had already attracted attention to themselves.
Inside the dimension, Cheng Xiao Xiao just harvested a crop of Chinese cabbage. The dimension has already reached Lv 3. Looking at the warehouse full of white radishes, cabbages, and garlics, Cheng Xiao Xiao was a little troubled. Even though the crops wouldn’t go bad in the warehouse, but she couldn’t keep growing the same crops. She would need to grow something different.
Clicking on the screen, Cheng Xiao Xiao eyed the barley, rice, and corn. The Cheng House was poor, so everyday they have been eating clear porridge or corn noodles. For someone who had grew up eating rice, she definitely leaned toward growing rice.
After some more thinking, she clicked on rice and seeded all 10 fields plus the 5 additional ones that came with the leveling up. She believed she would be able to harvest them the next day.
The idea of eating fresh cooked rice the next day made her laughed happily.
Walking outside the cottage, she sat next to the pond. Looking at the almost fully-grown fish, and thinking about fish soup at night, her smile brightened even more.
Slowly, her smile reduced. What about dad’s injury?
She sat next to the pond and fell into deep thought.
“Regardless, let me level up the dimension some more. Not only will there be more fields to plough, maybe there will be other surprises as well!”
After making up her mind, she returned from the dimension. Noticing that it was almost dark outside, she went to help her mother prepare dinner.
That night, the family had delectable fish soup and savory fried fish. All the young ones were excited and didn’t even ask where the fish came from.
Inside the house, Cheng Bi Yuan had a look of astonishment after taking a sip of the fish soup. Then the astonishment turned into concern. Looking at his wife, he asked, “Wife, have you had any of the fish soup?”
“Yes, I have. Are you trying to say that the fish soup is spiritual?” Mrs. Cheng sighed faintly.
Mr. Cheng didn’t say more, just continued to drink the fish soup quietly.
Mrs. Cheng said softly to herself, “I wonder whether this is a blessing or trouble.”
“Blessing!” Said Cheng Bi Yuan with a determined look, “Even if it’ trouble, we will have to turn it around and make it a blessing. If G.o.d want our branch to prosper, no one will be able to bully us anymore!”
“Ye…..” Mrs. Cheng looked at him, worried.
“Yuqin, don’t worry. It’s okay, Xiao Xiao is not the same as before, but that’s not a bad thing!” Cheng Bi Yuan rea.s.sured her, then continued, “You will need to pay more attention to watching over Zheng Yuan and Zheng Bin, don’t let them fall behind on their study or their martial art training.”
“Yes, ye!” Replied Mrs. Cheng tenderly.
“Let’s hold off on selling our chickens and rabbits, we have enough supplies to tie us over for a while anyway.” In Cheng Bi Yuan’s mind, he did not want his wife and daughter going to sell these things.
Mrs. Cheng nodded, “Xiao Xiao had just told me that she is growing rice in the dimension and should be able to harvest tomorrow. We will have both vegetables and rice so we won’t need to sell anything at the market, but….”
Painfully she looked at him, “Ye, we will need more medicines for you!”
“No rush, I think the herbs that Xiao Xiao had been bring home are quite good!”