Chapter 127: The Abandoned Garden

Su Jin completed today’s task after only one and a half hours of cultivation, then stepped aside for Su Cheng to enter.

Su Jin directly assigned Su Wuji to guard the room while she went out on patrol.

All the surrounding buildings were for housing children.

Su Jin hadn’t taken two steps when she saw a large black-furred rat peeking out from a burrow.

The rat was right beside the large house they were assigned to guard.

Could they allow this?

Su Jin instantly hurled the gourd vine she already held in her hand, then used a binding technique to seize the black-furred rat; the rat quickly suffocated to death.

As it kicked its legs, Su Jin quickly called over the Blood Crimson Spider crawling underground.

“Little Blood, go check the burrow—any more of these big black rats? If there are, kill them all,” Su Jin said.

“Yes, Grandma,” the Blood Crimson Spider darted underground, then reemerged shortly after. “Grandma, there’s one more big one and five newborn pups in there—I killed them all.”

“Good job. Go play. I’ll call you if I need you.”

“Yes, Grandma.” The Blood Crimson Spider vanished instantly.

Su Jin watched the spot where the Blood Crimson Spider had disappeared.

Su Jin fell into thought.

Lately, the Blood Crimson Spider seemed to grow every day, nearly an inch each day.

Though the change wasn’t obvious, she checked on it daily—how could she not notice?

Since its birth, she had never seen it grow this fast.

It must have eaten something good.

After the Police Inspector’s office returned the Blood Crimson Spider last time, they promised a reward—but it’s still unredeemed.

Without a reward, how could the Blood Crimson Spider be growing daily?

When I have time, I’ll ask it!

After thinking this through, Su Jin picked up the big black rat by its tail and went to find Liu Shi.

“Liu Shi, I’ve brought you a big black rat,” Su Jin said cheerfully as she entered, handing the rat over.

Liu Shi recoiled backward, repulsed. “Why are you bringing me a rat?”

“I thought, look at its size—it’s almost as big as a house cat. What if some kid in a room lets their guard down and it sneaks in and bites a child?”

Su Jin wore an innocent expression: Maybe it’ll even bite a kid to death.

Liu Shi smiled. “You’ve got a point. Alright, leave the rat here. I’ll warn the other students about these big rats.”

Su Jin nodded and took her leave.

Su Jin wandered aimlessly and later killed another large black-furred rat in a hidden dirt burrow at the corner of another courtyard.

She had nowhere to store dead rats, so she carried this one back to Liu Shi too.

“Liu Shi, I caught another black rat. There are a lot of these big black rats around here.”

Liu Shi glared, repulsed: “I’m not a collector of dead rats.”

Killing two big rats won’t earn you an extra merit point.”

After all, Su Jin’s group earned only one merit point every three days.

Su Jin ignored Liu Shi’s pouty expression, handed her the rat, and skipped off happily.

Once she left, the female instructor sharing the room with Liu Shi couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.

“Your class’s little students are so amusing! There was a little boy who kept bringing you black crows.”

Let me think—how many did he bring? Five, I think.

He claimed the black crows might be spies’ puppet spies.”

Now there’s this little girl bringing you rats, saying they’re too big and might bite people. Hahaha!”

“Hahaha! I can’t—I’m going to die laughing!”

Liu Shi gave her a disgruntled glare. “My students are very serious and responsible. Patrol means eliminating all potential threats.”

Her female companion continued laughing hysterically.

She thought: Fine, keep playing the tough talker in front of me!

Su Jin had no idea what patrol was supposed to entail.

She just wandered randomly, mostly drifting around the big mansion.

She passed through one courtyard after another.

She noticed many other students from different classes were also wandering aimlessly.

Clearly, none of them knew how to patrol.

That made her feel relieved.

When they met, they just smiled and parted ways. Patrol meant walking your own path.

As she walked, Su Jin suddenly realized this patrol duty was actually quite nice.

Far more comfortable than sitting inside listening to a bunch of brats cry.

So she walked even more energetically—ahem, patrolled.

As she walked, she also casually killed small birds, flying insects, and moths that landed in the surrounding courtyards.

Who knew if they were dangerous? Better to kill them first.

Su Jin didn’t know that after she passed, the Blood Crimson Spider followed behind to clean up the corpses.

In the end, not a trace remained.

While wandering, she suddenly spotted her sister-in-law, Liu Yunniang.

Su Jin decided to stand boldly at the entrance; whenever a caretaker saw her, she simply smiled.

No one dared to scold her away.

Until Liu Yunniang noticed her too—she was pleasantly surprised.

She had been conscripted to care for children and became a caretaker after being sent here with the kids.

“Su Jin, aren’t you already six? Why are you here? This place only takes children under six whose parents answered the conscription.”

Liu Yunniang told the other caretakers, then rushed out, carrying Xiaohe.

“Sister-in-law, I’ve been assigned a task by the clan school—to protect the children and caretakers. Our team of three must serve three days straight.”

Liu Yunniang nodded immediately. “By the way, I brought your luggage and spare bedding from home. Since you’ll be here three days, you’ll need to sleep. Take these. You can share them with your teammates.”

“Thank you, sister-in-law.”

Liu Yunniang gave her only three sets of bedding—exactly enough for one team.

All were from home: one was Su Jin’s own used set, the other two were new spare sets.

“Here are two extra sets of clothes too,” Liu Yunniang said—she had prepared thoroughly when leaving with her baby.

“Meals are provided by someone special. Just wait for them to bring food when it’s time,” Liu Yunniang added.

Su Jin nodded eagerly and took the clothes.

Liu Yunniang, still slightly uneasy, gave a few more reminders before they parted.

Su Jin wandered and discovered a hidden little garden. She pushed open the rotting wooden gate—the garden was overgrown with thick weeds.

The weeds had clearly grown wild for years without care, suggesting the garden had been abandoned a long time.