Chapter 134: Lin Linghua

Su Jin had just finished lunch, returned to her personal cultivation chamber, and found both neighboring doors open.

Su Wuji and Su Cheng had fetched their meals and returned to eat.

They were gathered in Su Wuji’s room, enjoying their food heartily.

Su Jin peeked over and was spotted by Su Cheng.

“Su Jin, you’re back? Did you eat?” Su Cheng asked.

“I just ate in the cafeteria. But I didn’t see you two line up for food,” Su Jin said, puzzled.

“Maybe there were too many people,” Su Cheng and Su Jin both recalled the crowded cafeteria filled with adult disciples moments ago. Not seeing them was normal.

“Su Jin, are you planning to nap after lunch?” Su Wuji asked again.

“Definitely. I asked the cafeteria staff—there’s a bathing area here. I’m going to wash up, then take a short nap, and wait until the afternoon sun cools down before heading out to work,” Su Jin said.

“Then I’ll go bathe too,” Su Wuji said immediately, agreeing.

“Then let’s go together,” Su Cheng added quickly. On such a hot day, who wouldn’t want to bathe?

“You two keep eating—I’m off to bathe first,” Su Jin returned to her chamber, gathered her bathing supplies and change of clothes, and headed for the hot spring bathhouse.

There were many hot springs of various sizes; Su Jin picked one at random and stepped in.

After a blissful bath, Su Jin returned to take a short nap.

Once the hottest part of the day passed, Su Jin was refreshed and headed back to the medicinal herb field.

Every time she woke from sleep, she felt invigorated and full of energy—as if her rest restored her spirit better than practicing the Great Expansion Divine Art.

This thought flashed through her mind and was immediately forgotten.

Based on her morning experience, Su Jin realized that using only spiritual sense to manipulate the gourd vines for harvesting increased efficiency—but also drained her spiritual sense quickly. Once depleted, it took at least an hour to recover.

In that hour, she could’ve harvested countless fruits.

So exhausting her spiritual sense so intensely, as she had in the morning, was not worth it.

She harvested too few fruits.

To harvest more in a short time, she needed to use the gourd vines. Using the gourds consumed both magic power and spiritual sense—since both were drained simultaneously, either one could last longer.

So this time, she specifically asked the herb field manager for fifty baskets, then found an empty herb field to begin harvesting.

Su Jin adjusted her harvesting method and soon filled one basket. She tossed the full small basket into Xiao Wu Tian, then grabbed a new empty one and kept picking. This time, she lasted longer—nearly an hour and a half—continuously whipping the gourd vines, harvesting fruit, until the vines moved more and more in sync with her will, as if they had become extensions of her own arms.

As Su Jin filled her final basket and prepared to return to the herb field manager to weigh and submit her harvest, she saw Qi Yi—drenched in sweat, her face smeared like a cat’s.

Worse, Qi Yi was walking toward her again.

“You’re not here to bother me again, are you?” Su Jin asked warily.

“I saw you harvesting here and wondered how many jin you’ve collected so far,” Qi Yi said.

“We’re not that close. Don’t act like we’re friends! Didn’t I already tell you? From now on, pretend you don’t see me—and I’ll do the same to you,” Su Jin said.

“But…” Qi Yi hesitated.

“No buts. If you keep bothering me, I’ll have my grandfather go find your father. I can’t promise anything else, but I can definitely beat him so badly he can’t get up,” Su Jin warned.

Though Qi Yi hadn’t harmed her, and they had no past grudges or recent conflicts—at least, Su Jin saw Su Zhang as Su Zhang, and Qi Yi as merely his stepdaughter. What Su Zhang did had nothing to do with Qi Yi.

But that didn’t give Qi Yi the right to keep blocking her path.

“I just want to be friends with you,” Qi Yi said, drawing a sharp breath inward, thinking Su Jin was truly ruthless.

“But I don’t want to be friends with you.”

Qi Yi was speechless, thinking: How stubborn is this little girl?

“But I won’t hurt you.”

“But I don’t like you,” Su Jin said bluntly.

“Is it because of Father?”

“Even without Su Zhang, I wouldn’t like you. You just give off the vibe that no one could ever like you,” Su Jin said.

Thinking carefully, Qi Yi did resemble Su Shen in some ways—not in appearance, but in temperament.

Su Shen had always been self-centered, insisting everyone cater to her, pamper her, obey her.

Later, Mother noticed this bad habit and punished her severely.

Lin Linghua’s child-rearing method was simple: beat them hard.

If they disobeyed or pretended not to understand, beat them until they learned.

Su Shen had been beaten many times for her bad habits and gradually corrected them.

Last month, Su Shen wrote her a letter saying Mother’s current training targets had shifted to her two younger brothers.

She was finally free—no longer constantly beaten.

This proved Mother believed Su Shen had been properly trained.

Poor two brothers—their nightmares had just begun.

“So you dislike me?” Qi Yi asked pitifully.

“I don’t dislike you, but I can’t like you either. By the way, don’t use that tone with me. When Su Shen was just learning to walk and couldn’t even speak properly, she used this pitiful expression to beg for food.”

After being beaten several times by Mother, she stopped.”

Qi Yi’s expression froze instantly.

“I really don’t want to beat you, so stay away from me. I’m afraid I might lose control,” Su Jin said with disdain.

Qi Yi turned and stormed off, furious.

She’d never try to win over this brat again.

After Qi Yi left, Su Jin quietly exhaled, relieved: the nuisance was finally gone.

She hurried to the herb field manager to register and weigh her harvest.

“You’ve collected two hundred fifty-six jin total. You need forty-four more jin to finish today’s quota. Your afternoon efficiency is clearly much higher than this morning,” the manager smiled.

“Yeah, practice makes perfect. This morning I didn’t know how to do it right and wasted time. This afternoon I figured out the most efficient way, so naturally I harvested more,” Su Jin replied.

“So are you going to finish your quota now, or go eat dinner first?”

“I’ll eat dinner,” Su Jin said. “I’ll finish the remaining quota after dinner—it’s just a little more.”

“Fine, go ahead.”

After dinner, Su Jin returned and worked for another half-hour, completing her daily quota, then went back to rest.

She spent the first half of the night on her daily cultivation and the second half sleeping soundly, dreaming of her great star.