Chapter 103: Are You Chasing Me?

She brushed the mud off her hands, and to waste no time, she quickly planted lettuce in the hundred‑day plot.

Then she looked at the ten‑day plot where the crowd‑favored medicinal plants of the Beast World were sown, with eight seedlings of Concentrated Spirit Dew and six of Sky‑God Fruit.

She planted each medicinal herb according to the Spiritual Field's energy‑based positioning, spacing the plants far apart—much farther than vegetables or fruit—so from a distance it looked like a patch of black barren soil.

Thus a long strip of land remained, which Lin Manzhi used to grow the vegetables and fruits she wanted to eat, no longer needing to count the time—she planted whatever she craved.

She planted some potatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and watermelons, then took a large bunch of tender lettuce leaves back to the original world.

Lin Manzhi didn't know why Mo Lie and Hua Zheng had gone out, but business was brisk, and in the afternoon she wanted to buy some ordinary Small Exotic Beast Jerky to bring back.

To her surprise, Mo Lie had already prepared everything: besides 800 jin of Small Exotic Beast Jerky and three hundred Small Ceramic Pots, he also bought a large wooden cabinet filled with neatly dried, round logs whose cross‑sections showed brown‑red grain with golden streaks, exuding the distinctive scent of wood.

Lin Manzhi was still thinking about what to buy, but she didn't expect Mo Lie to be so thorough; she had nothing left to stay for here.

The place was crowded and full of prying eyes, and staying longer might cause the lettuce to change, so she decided then to return with Mo Lie and Hua Zheng, taking advantage of the cool night temperature.

After several days of hurried travel, Hua Zheng also escorted them to the tribe's vicinity at night before heading back, promising to return in twelve days; counting the travel time, they would just make the twenty‑day deadline for the next trade with Su Li.

In the large canvas shed erected in the back yard, Lin Manzhi, on the day she returned, slipped inside with Mo Lie, carrying the Small Ceramic Pots.

Mo Lie built three rows of two‑tiered wooden racks inside the shed, each row's highest rack reaching her chest for easy handling; the two slender wooden supports in the middle were custom‑made for the pots, so the Small Ceramic Pots fit snugly at their mouths and stayed steady.

Since that day Lin Manzhi ate the still‑unripe lettuce leaves, she found inspiration in the half‑grown lettuce harvested from the Spiritual Field.

Lettuce seeds need not be pre‑grown; she simply took a patch of lettuce seedlings from the Spiritual Field and inserted the seedlings straight into the Small Ceramic Pots.

The two of them were in the canvas shed, surrounded by water jars and a floor littered with empty pots; beside Lin Manzhi lay a bundle of fresh green lettuce.

The sunlight overhead was blocked, leaving dim light; the temperature was still a bit warm, but not unbearable.

Lin Manzhi handed the Small Ceramic Pot containing the lettuce to Mo Lie and cheerfully said, "I've coaxed the lettuce to half growth; moving it to water for cultivation will surely grow better than raising it directly in water. We won't sell it to Su Shamaness; we can keep it for ourselves." Mo Lie steadily placed the pot on the rack and passed her a ceramic pot half‑filled with water.

His eyes lowered slightly, a faint curl at the corner of his mouth: "Your ideas are always uniquely surprising; I'm grateful to be by your side watching these incredible moments."

Lin Manzhi: "……"

Of course, it's the power of knowledge; nowadays, learning such gardening techniques is free.

She smiled shyly and said, "It's also thanks to you being by my side; otherwise, others seeing this might develop some ill intentions."

Mo Lie said, "Hmm, I think so too."

Lin Manzhi: "?"

She placed the lettuce roots into the pot, handed it over while looking up at Mo Lie, and met his dark‑blue eyes, filled with serious certainty.

Mo Lie's smile deepened: "Zhi‑zhi, you and I are the most compatible; no one can match my care and feelings for you."

Lin Manzhi: "……Why bring this up all of a sudden?"

Mo Lie let out a low laugh: "Very sudden?"

He said, "Then it seems I've said too few heartfelt words to you in everyday life."

His words rattled her heart; Lin Manzhi took a deep breath and met those smiling, beautiful blue eyes.

She retorted, "You… are chasing me?"

"I am your Beast Husband; pursuing and following you is my duty," Mo Lie's voice was low and cold, a vague current swirling in his sapphire‑blue eyes.

Lin Manzhi: "……"

No need to emphasize the Beast Husband title.

She really didn't expect that coming here she would encounter an arranged marriage, and only after marriage did she begin to know Mo Lie.

Of course, in the original book, she actually knew about Mo Lie's circumstances earlier than Mo Lie himself; the author never clarified that the antagonist Mo Lie had a love interest.

She never imagined that Lin Ling, when replaced by her, would turn the cold‑hearted Mo Lie into someone who could speak sweet words and flirt.

She placed the pot from her hand into Mo Lie's pale, slender hand, averted her gaze, and a smile lifted her mouth as she said, "Alright, let's continue planting lettuce."

Mo Lie: "Hmm."

He arranged the Small Ceramic Pots on the rack, his smile slightly lifted, and leisurely worked in the shed with the Little Female.

Each rack had two tiers, each tier holding two pots, and from the front of the rack onward there was space for exactly one hundred.

When the three rows of racks were filled with Small Ceramic Pots holding lettuce seedlings—tender green leaves—so that each day, as the outside temperature fell, they opened the two ends of the shed for ventilation and watered each evening, these three hundred lettuce plants, sprouted from the Spiritual Field, could survive on water alone.

The courtyards here are spaced ten‑plus meters apart; the kitchen is the most important place in the dry season, and no one comes, so the area remains relatively hidden, with no worry of being discovered.

After working through the night planting lettuce, Lin Manzhi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Xi Tao came early the next morning after her return, asked about the Sand‑tail Grass Stalks, and Lin Manzhi then recalled the five hundred stalks stacked in the warehouse.

She had hoarded over four hundred herself; during the dry season, Xi Tao gave her one hundred and twenty stalks, and since she hadn't sold them at the Wushen Temple, she kept them without issue.

Immediately, Lin Manzhi priced them at 80 per stalk per the Wushen Temple's rate, but agreed with Xi Tao to sell each for fifty Beast Coins, handing over 6,000 Beast Coins.

However, Xi Tao wanted to exchange Beast Coins for jerky; the Small Exotic Beast Jerky Lin Manzhi brought back was originally intended for trade with the tribe's Beastfolk, so she exchanged it at market price.

Six thousand Beast Coins previously bought three hundred jin of Small Exotic Beast Jerky, but during the dry season, Lin Manzhi's price in Kuangsha City was five times higher, so Xi Tao happily received sixty jin of jerky in exchange.

Xi Tao was especially grateful then; the tribe could not obtain food, and luckily Lin Manzhi had jerky for sale.

Since Xi Tao traded for jerky from Lin Manzhi, other Beastfolk in the tribe began coming by in droves.