Chapter 135: Desolate Small Valley

Early the next morning, Su Jin heard crying and commotion at the door of the cultivation room.

Su Jin got dressed, yawned, and was just stepping out when Su Cheng pulled her away.

She was dragged to Su Cheng's room, where Su Cheng and Su Wuji were both squatting at the door, secretly peering through the crack at the small crowd outside.

Liu Shi had already arrived and was surrounded by a group of schoolchildren. The two sides seemed to be arguing heatedly about something.

"What's going on?" Curious, Su Jin also leaned her face over to watch the spectacle.

"The medicinal field is full of thorns, and the fruits are thorny too, making them hard to pick.

Yesterday, we all used our own methods to pick the fruits, so we all completed the task.

But some schoolchildren could only squat helplessly by the edge of the medicinal field, watching. None of them had a method to pick the fruits without injury.

Afraid of pain themselves, they could only watch from the perimeter of the field. At that moment, someone suggested asking Liu Shi to help them rent some old medicinal worker's equipment. Liu Shi proposed that renting was possible, but they would have to pick an extra thirty jin daily as rent for the equipment.

Those schoolchildren agreed just to complete the task.

But picking fruits isn't that easy; both Su Cheng and I picked until nightfall, and we only gathered three hundred jin.

They needed to pick three hundred and thirty jin.

They entered the medicinal field a bit later than us. So several of them kept picking until the middle of the night last night before finally completing the task and the extra quota.

I heard that after picking the fruits, someone burst into loud weeping.

So this morning, these people refused to work, insisting that Liu Shi not charge them the extra rent.

If they absolutely must pay rent, they are willing to use spirit stones to offset it; they just cannot continue to be forced to pick an extra thirty jin." Su Wuji explained to Su Jin. He and Su Cheng had been listening here for quite a while.

"Will Liu Shi agree?" Su Jin asked, puzzled.

"I don't know." Su Cheng shook her head.

Sure enough, not long after, Liu Shi left first. Immediately following, the schoolchildren dispersed with unhappy expressions.

Once they had scattered, a thin, small boy was seen sneaking into Su Cheng's room.

"This is Su Qingniao; she is my neighbor, and we grew up playing together since childhood. Don't be fooled by her boyish appearance; she is actually a girl." Su Cheng introduced her to Su Wuji and Su Jin. "She ranks nineteenth in our class."

"Hello, Su Qingniao." Su Wuji and Su Jin greeted her simultaneously.

Su Qingniao's eyes sparkled as she looked at them and said, "I can finally get close contact with the first and second place students in our class. You are too amazing; my grandfather said that such results have not appeared in the clan school for a long time.

At least he hasn't seen them in the last twenty years of his tenure as an instructor.

By the way, my grandfather is also an old instructor in the clan school; he only retired three years ago."

Su Wuji and Su Jin actually had no clear understanding of their own achievements. So no matter how exaggeratedly Su Qingniao spoke of their impressive results, neither of them paid much attention.

"We are just temporarily leading a little bit in cultivation," Su Wuji said calmly.

"Did you hear just now? Did they succeed? Did Liu Shi agree?" Su Jin asked hurriedly.

Su Qingniao chuckled upon hearing this.

"I was squatting there the whole time listening.

No, Liu Shi absolutely did not agree to them. No matter how pitifully they described themselves, Liu Shi gave them only two choices: either continue to pick an extra thirty jin of fruits daily as rent, or do not use those medicinal worker's equipment and figure out a way to pick the fruits themselves."

"Then what did they say? Will they not rent the medicinal worker's equipment?" Su Jin asked with continued interest.

"I heard them discussing together that if they don't rent the equipment, they definitely cannot complete the fruit-picking task on their own. If they fail the task, they won't get merit points. Then wouldn't everyone have come for nothing?

I guess they will compromise in the end.

Picking an extra thirty jin of fruits is better than picking nothing at all.

Besides, it's just suffering a bit and persisting for two more days."

"Suffering a bit?" Su Jin felt speechless upon hearing this. "Yesterday morning, I found the picking method didn't work, so I changed the method in the afternoon, and the result was picking many more fruits. Shouldn't they also try other methods instead of just suffering a bit?

Is staying up all night to pick fruits some praiseworthy good thing?"

"Yes, the simplest way is for several people to cooperate. Designate one or two people specifically to carry the fruits back, while the others focus entirely on picking. This way, everyone can pick more fruits daily. Finally, divide the total number of fruits by the number of people, and everyone can finish the task earlier," Su Cheng said.

He knew that not all schoolchildren had storage equipment, nor could all of their storage equipment hold that many baskets.

So he saw many schoolchildren carrying just two or three baskets before hurrying over to the young lady who manages the medicinal field.

With all that time spent running back and forth, recording, and returning, they could have picked even more fruits.

"Su Cheng, that's a great idea. When I pick fruits today, I'll find a few friends to try your method," Su Qingniao said happily after hearing Su Cheng's suggestion. "Eh, someone is already going to the medicinal field to pick fruits? No, I must hurry and call people." After saying this, Su Qingniao waved goodbye to the three of them.

Once she left, Su Jin and the other two returned to their respective homes to eat and go to work.

Today, the schoolchildren in the class generally started work earlier than yesterday because yesterday, having just arrived, they wasted some time in the morning. Today, everyone generally came after eating breakfast. They started entering the medicinal field to work nearly an hour earlier than yesterday.

Su Jin continued to look for medicinal fields that no one else was willing to go to; such fields were farther from the young lady who manages the medicinal field, making a single trip to deliver the fruits back even more troublesome.

But Su Jin has a storage ring, ahem, actually it is Little Wu Tian.

So this time she took fifty baskets at once.

The area where the clan plants Crimson Red Fruits is truly vast; several spiritual mountains around are all planted with them.

Su Jin climbed another spiritual mountain planted with Crimson Red Fruits; there was not a single person here.

She could pick however she wanted.

Before lunch, Su Jin finished picking the fruits for fifty baskets, achieving a result of one hundred and sixty-five jin.

However, after finishing lunch, she did not go directly to the medicinal field but was called away by Xue Chiluo.

Since Su Jin discovered that even in places where defensive formations were set up, Xue Chiluo could come and go freely, she no longer restricted it, letting it go out and play whenever it wanted. After all, no matter where she went, Xue Chiluo could always tunnel through the earth to catch up with her.

This time, Xue Chiluo said it had discovered something and wanted Su Jin to come take a look.

Fine, let's go; after all, this place is all medicinal mountains, so there shouldn't be any danger. Su Jin tidied herself up and followed Xue Chiluo out.

They twisted and turned along the way, quickly arriving in a desolate small valley.