Chapter 167: with translation of chapter title

Mo Lie's gaze fell on Lin Manzhi, the corner of his mouth slightly raised: "Mm, tomorrow morning I'll personally come over to supervise picking the Holy Maiden Fruit and bring it back, Zhizhi—you can sleep a bit longer."

Lin Manzhi nodded and replied, her long eyelashes fluttering; as she walked she turned her head to look at Mo Lie and said: "Sure, it's just that the first batch of Holy Maiden Fruit that ripens isn't many; after subtracting the Holy Maiden Fruit promised to the Planting Base staff, the amount that can be sold will be relatively little."

Mo Lie: "We can just not give them."

"No way, I already promised them, everyone's been looking forward to it every day." Lin Manzhi laughed: "This newly appeared Holy Maiden Fruit hasn't been advertised; who knows, maybe it won't sell."

Mo Lie: "No, the soldiers in the barracks and many male beasts in Xicheng Qu all know the effect of Holy Maiden Fruit; whether advertised or not, once taken out it will surely be snatched up."

Lin Manzhi felt it made sense, and nodded.

The two spent time together quickly; before they knew it, Mo Lie had brought her back to their residence.

After occupying the five major districts of Kuangsha City, the five detained leader mansions that Mo Lie disliked people having lived in—during the time of training the legion, he simultaneously demolished the mansion of the Leader of Central City of Kuangsha City, while urgently constructing the new palace architectural complex.

The new leader's mansion is still under construction; Lin Manzhi still lives in the original building. This area basically gathers the powerful male beasts of Kuangsha City in one region; the place where Lin Manzhi lives connects to the mansion of the Xicheng Leader, making it the safest area of Kuangsha City.

Therefore, after Mo Lie saw her off and went off to attend to his business, Lin Manzhi could freely move about in this area with peace of mind.

As usual, she brought the cherry tomatoes picked in the morning, accompanied by a guard from her side carrying a sealed wooden box, and went to Huang Cai's small workshop for refining the potion.

Lin Manzhi's informal workshop initially, when only Huang Cai was there, for convenience it was set up at Huang Cai's home; later, after three more females joined, she separately found a house and established it in the former residence of the Iron Claw Gang's boss, Nie Tie.

Now, the Deputy Escort Head of the Fierce Sand Escort Bureau, Nie Tie, having been demoted from the boss's position, has long since let out the best residence in this area.

Similarly, this stone-built complex of one large and three small structures features a seven-meter-tall flat-floor building, with thick round columns supporting its high dome.

The exterior walls have no decoration, but the interior walls are painted with vivid murals from ancient beastfolk times—stalwart male beasts clad in skin skirts, hunting, making offerings, and so on……

The interior furnishings are simple: six wide, sturdy wooden tables in total, arranged in three rows of two, serving as everyone's workbenches; further back, rows of shelves look like a small library.

Lin Manzhi uses the main hall as a preparation room; only with her permission may one enter. Beside it, three small houses are conveniently assigned to the guard squad, where a hundred warriors are stationed.

After entering the house with today's fresh cherry tomatoes in hand, Huang Cai, the leader inside, rose and rushed over.

She beamed with delight and reported: "You've come; this morning I tallied up—all 1,200 glass bottles are filled with Holy Maiden Fruit potion; we have no empty glass bottles left."

The door closed behind her; Lin Manzhi set the wooden box she was holding on the nearest table, turned to the cabinet where finished goods were stored, and said: "Don't worry, I'll have someone bring over another 2,000 empty glass bottles right away."

The other three females in the room, who had been staying there for a while—Du Lin, Xu Jingjing, and Chen Xuan—when Lin Manzhi turned to have the male beast guarding the door fetch the glass bottles, rose from behind the tables and came to her side.

They were in their thirties to forties; given the beastfolk average lifespan of two hundred years, this is the prime of youth, and after living here stably for a period, they regained the vitality of young females.

At Lin Manzhi's place, she had said that the potion-refining work would be paid per quantity each day: namely, for every 100 Holy Maiden Fruits processed, one receives 1,000 Beast Coins.

When the three first began learning from Huang Cai, they could only refine a few dozen per day; now, proficient, they can steadily produce around 500 per day, earning over 5,000 Beast Coins daily.

Du Lin is fresh and cute in appearance, wearing two sets of pink-floral dresses; gazing at her with eyes full of longing, she said: "Yesterday's wages—I don't want Beast Coins; help me exchange them for ten Holy Maiden Fruits~"

She wanted to eat the Holy Maiden Fruit that makes one feel happy; after saving up a dozen or so gold coins, females without life pressure have already lost the joy of earning money, and the three also know that Holy Maiden Fruit is now something you can't buy outside even if you have money.

As soon as Du Lin spoke, Xu Jingjing and Chen Xuan also chimed in, expressing their desire to take Holy Maiden Fruit as wages.

Huang Cai said: "You all come back to me; Holy Maiden Fruit is such a precious medicinal plant, you want to exchange ten right away—ten fruits equal two bottles of potion. The soothing elixir from the Wushen Temple in Kuangsha City costs 6,000 Beast Coins, more than anywhere else, so this potion's price per bottle must be at least calculated as 1 gold coin!"

Du Lin, who spoke first, pouted in disappointment: "The soothing elixir of the Wushen Temple in other lord cities clearly costs only 1,000 Beast Coins."

However, what you said is also not wrong—the Holy Maiden Fruit potion is far more effective than the soothing elixir." She smiled, showing two little dimples: "Besides, I've also learned the essence of refining medicinal plants that only females of the Wushen Temple know."

Du Lin felt embarrassed looking at Lin Manzhi: "Lord Lin, I was just joking earlier; please don't take it to heart."

The females in the room chatted back and forth, and soon they seemed to have finished discussing the matter.

At this moment, Lin Manzhi finally found a chance to speak; she lowered the veil on her head, turned to face them, and said: "It's fine if you want your wages exchanged for Holy Maiden Fruit."

Du Lin exclaimed in surprise: "Really?!"

Even the other two and Huang Cai lifted their heads from behind their desks, and Huang Cai asked: "Aren't you still not selling them externally?"

Lin Manzhi lowered her head and reached out to open the wooden box containing the cherry tomatoes.

Everyone present, speaking of Holy Maiden Fruit, we ourselves are not lacking, and Beast Coins are even more abundantly available.

She said: "Soon, as an employee benefit, if you don't want Beast Coins, you can have ten Holy Maiden Fruits per day each; if anyone wants Beast Coins, just let me know."

Three cheerful cheers rang out at once: "Yay! I, I want Holy Maiden Fruit~"

Lin Manzhi looked at the energetic girls, smiled faintly, and nodded: "Mm."

She handed the cherry tomatoes to Huang Cai to distribute; now she no longer needs to pretend on her face, nor does she need to hide the matter of her pheromone value from outsiders.

At the time when she revealed this in the workshop, Huang Cai was shocked at first, then turned delighted, and immediately wanted to pull her aside to teach her the potions she knew.

Lin Manzhi learned it, but she was stumped by the fact that each potion requires extremely precise measurements when mixing; this level of precision is hard to define.