Chapter 142

After returning home, Su Jin slept soundly through the morning.

After lunch, she carried a food box to deliver meals to Su Qingniao.

Su Qingniao’s eyes lit up the moment she saw her.

“Su Jin, I just realized you’re far more capable than Su Wuji and Su Cheng. Last night, they both took night watch too—Su Cheng lost five spirit rice plants, Su Wuji lost two. I heard you didn’t lose a single one. They’re planning to challenge you again tonight.”

Su Jin laughed outright.

“They’re bored enough to do this. By the way, do you know how the others in our class are doing?”

“I heard someone lost over thirty spirit rice plants last night and got scolded by their partner,” Su Qingniao said at once, eager for gossip.

“That’s not much, though. We’re only guarding for three days—six mu total. As long as losses stay under three hundred plants, we’re fine,” Su Jin asked, puzzled. “Why scold them?”

“Because his partner lost twenty plants during the day too. That’s over fifty lost in one day—hard to say what’ll happen in the next two. When I went to collect meals yesterday, I asked an elder who’s been working here long-term.”

“They said the closer the spirit rice gets to maturity, the more birds, beasts, snakes, and insects come to steal it.”

“Our patch of spirit rice will fully mature in the next one or two days.”

“Making sure it matures and gets harvested without being eaten is no easy task. I caught fourteen snakes this morning alone and chased off nearly two hundred birds. I didn’t even count the insects—they were too many to tally.”

“Right after you left, I saw a huge swarm of insects pouring out of the mountains like a black tide.”

“If adult cultivators hadn’t rushed over and scattered them, we’d have barely a few stalks left.”

“Also, I need to apologize.”

“I tried hard this morning, but still lost about ten plants.”

“It’s fine. That’s already excellent.”

“Besides, our allowed loss is three hundred plants—ten is nothing.”

“This task will only get harder toward the end. I expect I’ll lose some tonight too.”

“Let’s not be too hard on ourselves.”

“As long as we keep total losses under three hundred, we’re good,” Su Jin said with a smile.

“Hehe, keep losses under three hundred? No, it’s under two hundred!” Su Qingniao’s work enthusiasm surged the moment she realized Su Jin wasn’t blaming her but encouraging her. She decided to work hard in the afternoon and set an example for Su Jin.

“Don’t overdo it—we just need to finish the task,” Su Jin advised.

“I know, I know, don’t worry,” Su Qingniao laughed.

“By the way, what happened to the lost spirit rice?” Su Jin asked.

“There, over there. Aren’t you going to try some fresh spirit rice? I want some too. But when I reported the loss, they said we must leave the ears—they have to take them back. The stalks and roots are ours to dispose of,” Su Qingniao chuckled.

“So stingy!” Su Jin grumbled.

Still, she walked over, cut the nearly ripe ears, and handed them to Su Qingniao. “Take these back and submit them.”

Then she bundled the remaining stalks and roots, planning to take them away.

“Su Jin… why are you taking the stalks and roots back?”

“These are spirit rice stalks and roots—obviously to feed the chickens.”

Su Qingniao: “I thought I was frugal, but you’re even better than me!”

“We didn’t take anyone else’s stalks, did we? They said it was trash,” Su Jin said firmly, tossing the bundle into her Xiao Wu Tian.

The instant she threw it in, the bundle of stalks vanished—and a small cluster of about ten young Yanzhi spirit rice seedlings sprouted in a corner of Xiao Wu Tian.

Just like their predecessors, the yellow gourd vines, they all huddled in the edges and corners of Xiao Wu Tian.

Su Qingniao nodded, realizing she still had much to learn about conserving resources. Many seemingly insignificant scraps were actually useful—if you found the right way to use them.

Su Jin: “By the way, do you have anything else? If not, eat quickly—I need to take the food box back.”

“Got it.”

While Su Qingniao ate, another flock of small birds with blue feathers flew in.

They stared greedily and charged toward the spirit rice field.

Clearly desperate to eat.

Su Jin instantly threw out three gourd vines, like whips.

Swish-swish—they swept across.

All ten or so birds were knocked to the ground.

Not a single one crossed into the rice field.

Su Qingniao’s mouth dropped open in shock.

She thought: No wonder Su Jin lost zero spirit rice last night.

With this kind of power, who in our class could match her?

Su Jin calmly moved the dozen dead and injured birds to Su Qingniao’s “miscellaneous” pile.

Then she went to catch a group of black-shelled insects that had slipped into the field during her bird-hunting.

No matter where they hid, they had nowhere to escape.

So by the time Su Qingniao finished lunch, Su Jin had already caught all the insects that had sneaked in during the morning—and those Su Qingniao had missed.

Seeing several palm-sized, earth-colored insects that looked like crickets, Su Qingniao was utterly stunned.

“What kind of insects are these? I’ve never seen anything like them!” Su Qingniao exclaimed.

“I don’t know, but they’re insects, that’s for sure. They burrow in the soil and chew straight through the spirit rice roots. If they keep feeding for another day or two, many plants will die. Just as they’re about to mature—killed by pests? Too wasteful.”

“Report it.”

“Emphasize how dangerous these insects are.”

“See if we can earn one or two more merit points for our team.”

“Alright, as long as we have the corpses, we can report,” Su Qingniao said seriously. After all, this spirit rice belonged to her family—if she ignored it, the price of family-sold spirit rice might rise next half-year.

That couldn’t happen.

Otherwise, her mother’s burdens would grow heavier again.

Afterward, Su Jin returned to cultivate and study her mother’s brewing notes.

Su Qingniao answered the questions of the cultivator in charge of the spirit field with serious, focused attention.

Soon, the Su family issued a warning about this new pest to all managers of their spirit rice fields and reported it to Magistrate Xu.

Magistrate Xu’s face turned black upon receiving the news: “Are you trying to ruin me? The outer district is still in bloody combat!”

“Now you tell me the spirit rice about to mature is facing another insect plague?”

Fine, if we can’t defeat the parasitic humans, we can at least build a defensive line to hold them off. But without spirit rice? We’re doomed. Starving commoners and cultivators will tear his face off!

So despite his complaints, he immediately dispatched large numbers of farming personnel back to catch insects and harvest the rice.