Chapter 93

The moonlight was clear and bright.

Liang Qu looked around; there were twenty burly men in total working for him.

Cutting wood, setting up beams, and mixing clay.

In the middle of winter, everyone had a forehead full of hot sweat, and the smell of sour sweat was quite strong.

For ordinary families in winter, the conditions for taking a bath were inconvenient; one had to chop wood and boil water, and if one wasn't careful, it was easy to catch a cold, which would be a huge loss.

Everyone washed as little as possible, and Liang Qu didn't mind.

He had become well-off; he wore a sachet at his waist, which had no odor and even emitted a fragrance.

A few days ago, he had been covered in fishy smells just like them; the pot shouldn't call the kettle black.

"Have you all eaten?"

"We have. The rice was all-you-can-eat, and there was minced meat in the vegetables. No other family is as generous as you."

"That's right, there's no work in winter, and we're all eating through our savings. Having food to eat and money to earn is a godsend."

"Minced meat?" Liang Qu shook his head. "Next time, tell Chen Tongmin to change it to large slices of meat. Every time you stew vegetables, put three pounds of pork in to stew together."

The crowd was so surprised they forgot to work.

Liang Qu then took out a tael of silver and stuffed it into Liu Quanfu's hand. "Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, so go back and rest early today. I'm giving you three days off; come back to work the day after the day after tomorrow. Uncle Fu, please help buy some pork, two pounds per person. Pick the fatty ones so everyone can have an extra meat dish on their table for the New Year."

Pork in Dashun costs no more than twenty-some copper coins per pound, while chicken and duck cost over fifty copper coins each.

Save where you should save, spend where you should spend.

Liu Quanfu's hand, which touched the silver, recoiled as if it had touched charcoal. "I can't take this, I really can't!"

"What's there to be unable to take? A portion of meat for a portion of effort, ten portions of meat for ten portions of effort. Don't argue with me here; all this polite back-and-forth is a waste of time!"

Before Liu Quanfu could reply, the men on the roof started cheering first.

"Master Liang is generous!"

"Good!"

"The main house will definitely be finished before spring!"

The joyful shouts caused the surrounding neighbors to open their windows and poke their heads out to see what was going on.

"Master Liang, we're not in a rush to go back. It's sunny today, there's light, we can work a bit more!"

"That's right, tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Let's work through the night! We have to be worthy of Master Liang's food!"

Liang Qu laughed loudly. "As you wish."

This was the effect he wanted—higher motivation meant he could move into his big mansion sooner.

Once the house is built, he would use the remaining money to hire two more servant women.

Eat whatever you want, live however you want, and in the end, everything can be kept clean and tidy for you.

Liang Qu stretched out his legs, sat on the lumber, and had a big stretch, feeling very comfortable.

A dream he hadn't realized in his past life was easily achieved in this one; just thinking about that life made him feel at ease.

"Alright, that's it then, I'm leaving first."

"Safe travels, Master Liang."

Liu Quanfu saw him off all the way, watching Liang Qu walk past the half-finished courtyard wall before turning back to shout at the crowd.

"None of you, don't you dare slack off! Install the beam! Install all the main beams for me tonight! Install the rafters too! Before dawn, the roof boards for the main house must be laid!"

"Got it, we'll listen to you, Uncle Fu!"

Under the moonlight.

The long oar stirred the water, rolling up swirls, and even more invisible water currents surged from back to front, pushing the covered boat at an extremely fast speed toward a certain area of water.

Liang Qu reckoned that if there were any dragon boat races, he could win the top prize all by himself.

The three beasts that had been waiting here early surfaced to meet him.

Liang Qu took Fubo and Qinglang and jumped into the water to first measure his lotus roots.

Ever since he buried the shell of the crab monster and the remains of the unknown martial artist, the growth rate of the lotus roots had clearly accelerated.

The growth area had become larger, with the momentum to fully replenish the parts previously destroyed by the crab monster.

Confirming that burying things could bring benefits and that the lotus roots were in a very healthy state, Liang Qu and the three beasts explored further away, mainly underwater.

Many water beasts have the habit of digging holes to live at the bottom of the water; this part of the species is hard for the Fat Catfish, the Pig-Dragon, and even Fist to discover.

First, it's hard to find; treasure fish are smart and will cover the hole entrance with silt, and if you don't look carefully, you can't tell the difference at all.

Second, they are huge, and they all have short arms, so even if they find them, it's useless unless they wait for the guys in the hole to come out themselves.

But for Liang Qu, this was not a problem at all.

His perception circle was a full twenty meters, with a detailed circle of ten meters; although there were obstacles to perception under the mud and sand, he could still explore to a depth of about one meter.

His exploration advantage was much greater than that of the three beasts, it's just that Liang Qu usually didn't want to waste time looking for resources; if he had that effort, he might as well practice his pole-hitting twice more.

Exploring along the bottom of the water, whenever he saw a hole, Liang Qu would let the Sky-Water Centipede go in to investigate; some were empty, and some occasionally chased out some small fish, all of which were common species.

Half an hour later, an unusual hole appeared in Liang Qu's perception range.

The internal structure of the hole was extremely long, and the hole was as thick as a human leg, with the deepest part exceeding his perception range.

Ordinary fish wouldn't have that much strength; perhaps there would be a surprise.

Liang Qu, who had experience digging for yellow eels when he was young, didn't act rashly. He first searched the vicinity and successfully found two other mud holes that were not small, letting the Fat Catfish and the Pig-Dragon ambush outside the hole entrances respectively.

With all places blocked, Liang Qu let the Sky-Water Centipede enter the hole.

The Sky-Water Centipede is small in size and powerful, and at critical moments, it curls up; its hard shell and metal balls are no less than the real thing, and treasure fish find it very hard to bite, making it most suitable for exploring holes.

Awei received the order, the two feelers on its head shook, and it crawled with its hundred feet, winding into the large hole.

In the mental link, Liang Qu could sense Awei moving deeper and deeper. After reaching a position about three meters underground, it suddenly stopped and then retreated rapidly.

"It's coming!"

Liang Qu held Fubo, waiting in full battle array at the hole entrance.

Just as Awei retreated to less than a meter from the ground, a slender guy broke into his perception circle.

Good fellow, it's an eel!

An eel as thick as a forearm!

Could it be a treasure fish?

Liang Qu's expression was joyful. The moment the Sky-Water Centipede crawled out of the hole and the large eel poked its head out, he thrust his spear down.

The tip of the Fubo spear was extremely sharp, breaking through the water without any ripples. The large eel was pierced through the skull without even noticing, and even under the effect of inertia, it probed forward a short distance, tearing a large gash from its skull to its neck, and the overflowing blood drifted away along the water waves.

The large eel realized it too late. It curled up its body and struggled and thrashed wildly, the result being that although the spear hadn't moved, its entire head was sliced off.

Liang Qu: "..."

Sometimes being too sharp isn't good; he couldn't even guarantee the integrity of the prey, as it unloaded its own head after a little struggle.

"Fist" clamped onto the half of the large eel's body that was still in the hole and pulled it out. Seeing the seven purple spots on the eel's body, Liang Qu was overjoyed.

"Seven-Star Eel!"

He was no longer the ignorant person he once was; he recognized many common treasure fish.

The Seven-Star Eel was one of them; it was slimy, strong, and lived in holes, making it harder to catch than ordinary treasure fish.

However, hard to catch or not, the benefit effect was about the same as the Tiger-Head Spotted Fish.

The one in front of him was about two jin; he didn't know yet if it could let "Cannot Move" evolve a step further.

Liang Qu let "Cannot Move" come over and threw the entire Seven-Star Eel to it.

"Cannot Move" flicked its tail and stepped forward quickly, opening its mouth to swallow it in big gulps, not even chewing, swallowing the whole large eel.

The Fat Catfish watched with envy, its long feelers dancing non-stop.

Liang Qu shrugged his shoulders. "No way, Ah Fei, you need eight points, Cannot Move only needs six. If it eats it, there's a possibility of evolution; you have none at all, so just endure it for now. The next one will be all yours."

The Heavenly God had spoken, so Ah Fei could only endure it. It flicked its tail, swam around, and caught two large grass carp to satisfy its craving, not forgetting to share two fish heads with its brothers-in-arms while eating.

Fist and Awei didn't mind, each holding a fish head and gnawing on it.

Communicating with the Ze Tripod.

【Can consume 1.2 points of Water-Marsh Essence to evolve the Taihua Crocodile into a Horn-Wood Crocodile】

Liang Qu let out a long breath.

As expected.

Although he was prepared in his heart, it was still very uncomfortable to see it in reality.

The effect of the Seven-Star Eel was similar to that of the Tiger-Head Spotted Fish and the Red-Blood Perch. A large eel of nearly two jin, eaten entirely, provided about four or five points of Water-Marsh Essence.

He could only continue looking.

Liang Qu was not discouraged and continued to explore with the four beasts. He didn't find any more treasure fish until dawn, and he was so sleepy he couldn't go on.

Uncle Chen should also be going out to fish at this time; it wouldn't be good to stay any longer.

Liang Qu had told Chen Qingjiang that he didn't need to go out fishing in the middle of the night; with his bait, there was no difference between night and day.

Chen Qingjiang insisted that fish were more active at night and that the bait would be more effective, which was a valuable experience passed down by generations of fishermen.

There was nothing wrong with the logic, and Liang Qu couldn't argue with him, so he had to let him do it.

Go back to the martial arts hall to sleep first!

The next day.

Liang Qu had practiced his meat-refining, and guessing that Uncle Chen was still fishing in the morning, he continued to spar with his senior brother, only heading to Yixing Market at noon.

Hu Qi loosened his muscles and bones. "Senior Sister-in-law called for us to go over for dinner tonight; don't you forget."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely be back before the fourth quarter of the You hour!"

Liang Qu's voice disappeared outside the door, and Hu Qi shook his head helplessly.

"Today I will definitely be able to let Cannot Move evolve!"

Liang Qu rowed the boat, full of confidence. Just as he sailed past the pier, he heard a burst of cheers coming from the street, as if a crowd had gathered.

He stopped the boat and pricked up his ears.

"A treasure fish, it must be a treasure fish! I've never seen such a beautiful treasure fish!"

"This fish is too big, right? How did you catch it?"

Treasure fish!?

Another fisherman caught a treasure fish?

Liang Qu was overjoyed.

That's right, besides himself, there were other fishermen.

At one pier, there were a few treasure fish every month; he had really fallen into a blind spot in his thinking.

He was also a martial artist and had money; if he didn't catch one, buying someone else's was the same!

Liang Qu couldn't wait to see what the Horn-Wood Crocodile looked like. He couldn't care about greeting the villagers and rushed into the crowd, unexpectedly discovering that the person surrounded by the crowd was actually an old acquaintance!

"Chen Qingjiang, you're lucky!"

"Old Chen, can you lend me some of that bait?"

"Hahaha, Old Li, are you dreaming? You also want to climb up to the Martial Master?"

"Never mind Old Li, tell us quickly, how did you catch it?"

Chen Qingjiang, surrounded by the crowd, was soaking wet, his entire face flushed red, as if he couldn't feel the cold at all. He was extremely excited, laughing breathlessly.

"After I finished fishing today, on the way back, I saw a fish floating on the water to breathe. From afar, it looked like a carp, but I had never seen the back of that fish before—it was mottled with green light, incredibly beautiful.

Carp are already expensive, and as soon as I thought it might be a treasure fish, I hurriedly rowed the oar to chase it. My palms were worn raw, and fearing the net would break, I cast two nets at once, but they were all torn.

I was so anxious at the time that my head got hot, and I grabbed the oar and jumped into the water, knocking it hard on the head several times. I was frozen half to death before I knocked the fish unconscious, and I hugged it onto the boat!"

Liang Qu, outside the crowd, listened in a daze.

My goodness.

The opportunity for the two beasts to evolve, the feelings should be on Uncle Chen!