Chapter 76: Tree Demon

This year, Youzhou is bustling beyond belief—first, the dock at the old ferry is completed, and the five hundred newly recruited fishermen are about to start work; next, the thousand soldiers of Youzhou City's garrison have also been fully recruited, entering the training and elimination stage.

In fact, they recruited over three thousand able-bodied youths this time, and the King shrewdly divided the registration sites by household registration; those who passed and entered training were not gathered together—some were in the old palace inside the city, some at the West Big Camp outside the West Hua Gate of the new palace in the northern border, and some at the East Big Camp.

The King divided this batch of people into fragments; besides him and the two commanders, no one else knew the main purpose of this recruitment, and some even thought the King was using the hiring opportunity to covertly subsidize the populace.

When the moment finally arrived to claim the treasure ship, the King's excitement had no outlet—he had waited a whole month!

As soon as the thousand supporting technical personnel disappeared, the King eagerly pulled out the treasure ship and activated it; in an instant, a phantom of a two-deck galley with a huge white sail rose in the warehouse. The King skillfully dragged it onto the full topographic map of Youzhou, located the new dock on the map, and placed the treasure ship onto the empty berth.

As soon as it was set down, a new pop-up appeared: 【Confirm mooring the Ming·Treasure Ship (Fishing Improvement Edition) here? Yes/No】

The King confirmed this, then without delay went to summon three NPCs, clicking summon on all of them, and after waiting a moment, seeing few people in his quarters and no one outside reporting a visitor, he guessed those three must be on the treasure ship.

No rush, tomorrow will reveal the outcome.

Just as he was about to close the light panel before him, perhaps because the ferry was completed, the long‑inactive main quest stirred again.

【Main Quest: My lord, your city's recent happiness and hunger indices have shown a slight, negligible improvement. Yet after big‑data analysis they still far exceed the red alert line, leaving a high risk of regime overthrow. I hope you continue to strive as the city's lord, doing your utmost for the people's peace and livelihood. Now a new main quest is issued:】

Quest 1: Please strive to raise the happiness index by six percentage points.

Quest reward: a‑level turntable lottery ×1.

Quest 2: Please strive to eliminate six percentage points of the hunger index.

Quest reward: a‑level turntable lottery ×1.

Quest 3: Use the Ming·Treasure Ship to go fishing at sea, replenish Great Jin's edible marine species by fifty types (counting only those not already on Great Jin's edible list), thereby enriching the tables of the hungry populace.

Quest reward: b‑level turntable lottery ×4.

Accept the quest? Yes/No】

After reading it, the King had plenty to complain about—was he being mocked? It doesn't matter; last time he accepted a main quest he got a White Ze, so what about this time?

And most importantly, why did the required percentage points double?!

The King angrily clicked 【Yes】—what about the other options?!

Now the King feels like someone who thinks they've lost money if they go out and don't pick up any cash—after posting a bunch of seemingly hard quests, he can't just pick up something right away, so he feels a great loss.

Just as he was pouting, he heard a scratching sound from inside the room; he opened his mouth to scold Wei Ni, wondering if the little guy was gnawing on his desk again to grind his teeth?!

He looked up and realized the misunderstanding—Bear Wei Ni saw his pout and had already run off; it was his steward Zhu Ti sitting in the distance, filing her nails.

That set of bright‑green nails, the King always thought they looked poisonous.

"You still have the mood to file your nails? What do you want from me?"

Zhu Ti picked up a paper lying nearby, stood, and handed it to the King: "This is the food‑expense list for the newly recruited reservists; it requires your lordship's seal."

Upon seeing that the food and drink for three thousand people a month amounted to this, the King's head swelled.

He still had three thousand regular palace guards, making six thousand altogether! The poor King instantly felt unable to sit still—he had to set up a stall to recoup losses, but… it was already the children's bedtime! My liege, this is too hard!

Probably because he let his guard down in front of Zhu Ti, who knew his secret, his expressions were so rich she understood everything. Zhu Ti sincerely suggested: "My lord, why not let me set up a stall at the manor? I don't need to sleep."

The King thought it was a good idea, yet also felt it was a bit excessive. Even if she isn't human, she's busy on Zhuque Avenue during the day, and besides helping him keep the accounts, should we really let her work all night at a stall?

The King pulled out his personal seal, wore a pained expression as he stamped it, and said, "There are still two candle holders unsold—go give them a try; work one shift and you'll be free to do as you please. Aren't you able to shuttle freely between here and the manor?"

Zhu Ti nodded. Before leaving, she lifted her bright‑green hand again and said, "My lord, today a merchant from Wanxiang City came, and he kept staring at my hand."

The King was suspicious: "Is he just embarrassed to look at your face?" Such things aren't unheard of in the palace.

"Should we add guards to the shop?"

Zhu Ti: ……

"My lord, what I mean is, aren't my nails pretty? What I mean is we could consider earning some silver from the noble ladies of Chang'an!"

The King shook his head wildly: "Not pretty. My cousin said you're a tree demon!"

Wei Shen: Ah‑choo! —

Zhu Tree Demon Ti: ……

"I know you have a steady supply channel, my lord; you can ask him about cosmetics, and then we can open a store to earn silver from the noble ladies—their purchasing power is no less than that of the spoiled rich."

When it comes to making money, it's always top priority.

The King took out his pocket notebook, noted it down, and planned to take it later to ask Bai Yang.

He looked up and saw the tree demon still hadn't left: "You still have something to do?"

Zhu Ti said: "If possible, let him stock a bit more green nail polish; buying it alone at the manor is too expensive."

The King was shocked: "You still have ingots?" Then it occurred to him—those bright‑green nails had only appeared these past two days; she didn't have them when she arrived.

"Yes, as stewards we earn ten ingots a day."

Before the King could finish his shock, she flashed a green light and vanished before his eyes.

"One hundred taels a day—that's even higher than my stipend as a feudal lord!" … I want to become a tree demon.