Chapter 05

After dinner, the Marquis and his wife headed straight to the side rooms of the main courtyard to—ahem—settle the accounts.

Rong Mo did not leave, instead choosing to sip his tea elegantly. Young Cheng Yu, his cheeks bulging, nibbled on post-meal fruit; he hadn’t had much of an appetite for the main dishes tonight.

However, every scrap of food from the dinner table had been finished, with absolutely zero waste.

The hero of this feat was, of course, Eldest Young Miss Cheng Ruyi.

At this moment, Ruyi was directing Moxiang and the others to pack up the leftover meat she had brought back and send it to her courtyard. Once she finished her walk, she could start eating all over again.

She was in a fantastic mood.

Ruyi turned to look at the two people who hadn’t left yet, feeling a bit surprised. “Cousin, Xiao Yu, why haven’t you returned to your courtyards yet?”

She remembered that Cousin Rong Mo usually retreated to his own place immediately after dining.

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Every family usually had one or two “unpromising” descendants.

It was just that the Changle household was particularly eccentric.

The Marquis’s residence wasn’t meticulously exquisite in every corner, but it wasn’t bad either. It had lush greenery, rockeries, flowing water, pavilions, and winding corridors—everything a noble house should have.

But Ruyi knew this was all just a facade. As an unfavored concubine-born son and a thorn in the side of the Old Madame Cheng, her father had only been given one estate, two shops, and five thousand taels when he was moved out years ago.

It was only after he risked his life to save the Emperor that he was granted the title of Marquis of Changle. It carried no real power, but it came with a salary and a fief.

Only then did their lives gradually improve.

Thinking about how her appetite would only grow larger, Ruyi felt she needed to find some ways to make money. She couldn’t just rely on her dad’s “reasoning” with people.

As Ruyi walked under the moon with the wheelchair-bound Rong Mo and young Cheng Yu, listening to Xiao Yu’s chatter, a smile played on her lips.

The trees at night seemed to regain their spirit. As a wood-element user—and a mutated one at that—Ruyi took a deep breath. She concentrated, sensing the aura of the surrounding flora. With a slight flick of her fingers, an energy rich with plant vitality instantly merged into her body.

Ruyi felt incredibly refreshed. A few more sessions like this and she would break past Level Zero.

Once the warm current had circulated through her, she released her wood-element energy to nourish the surrounding trees. Under the moonlight, the trees instantly became more vibrant.

The change wasn’t obvious. After all, Ruyi hadn’t even reached Level One yet. Neither Rong Mo nor Cheng Yu noticed a thing.

After about an hour, Ruyi patted her hollow stomach and let out a sorrowful sigh. “Hungry again. Thank goodness I bought so much meat today, otherwise I’d starve tonight.”

Rong Mo’s lip twitched. “…”

“Sister, are you sick? Should we call a doctor?” Cheng Yu felt that since his sister recovered, she ate far too much. Surely something was wrong with her body.

Ruyi rolled her eyes at him. Short memory! Hadn’t she crushed a porcelain cup right in front of him this afternoon? She was as fit as a fiddle.

Glancing around, she saw Moxiang and a few footmen following at a distance. She casually picked up a stone and, right before their eyes, crushed it into fine powder.

“I eat so much because my strength is getting greater. Right now, I could probably eat a whole pig in a day. I’m afraid that if this continues, I’ll eat our family into poverty.”

Ruyi was genuinely distressed.

Her parents were working hard to earn money and manage the household, yet she was working hard to burn through it. This was an adjustment for Ruyi, who had supported her own parents since she was five. However, she knew nothing of the skills typical of transmigrated girls in novels—she couldn’t sell recipes, cook gourmet meals, or make cosmetics.

All she knew was how to kill zombies and use mutated wood energy to accelerate crop growth.

Counting on her fingers, Ruyi felt very dejected. She felt like a total “spendthrift daughter.”

Cheng Yu was dumbfounded. “…” Sister really has become a monster-strength girl!

Rong Mo’s pupils constricted as he looked at the powdered stone on the ground.

“Cousin, do you know any way to make silver quickly?” Ruyi felt Rong Mo was smart and would surely know. Her intuition was usually spot on.

Beside her, Cheng Yu happily raised his hand. “Sister, Sister, I know! Highway robbery! Rob the rich to help the poor. We’re too poor, we can go rob the rich!”

Rong Mo swept a sharp, piercing gaze over his bouncing little cousin. “…”

Ruyi felt a bit tempted. Robbing the rich was indeed a fast way to get silver. Maybe I should secretly pull off a job?

Rong Mo noticed his cousin’s eyes darting around and knew she was considering it. His narrow eyes flickered with a cold warning as he looked at the younger boy who gave the terrible advice. “Cousin Ruyi, the Changle Marquisate is already conspicuous enough. Don’t add to the chaos.”

Scared by the cold look, Cheng Yu shrank behind his sister, looking aggrieved.

Hearing Rong Mo’s words, Ruyi’s clouded mind cleared instantly. Right—she hadn’t forgotten that after the new Emperor ascended, he had used a series of trivial charges to strip her father of his title and seize the residence.

Highway robbery was absolutely out of the question.

In truth, what her family did was mostly just tricking corrupt officials out of their silver. They hadn’t incurred the wrath of the heavens or resorted to murder. Compared to many noble families who treated human life like grass, they were practically saints.

Perhaps that was why the new Emperor, for the sake of Cheng Qingyao, had only banished them and seized their property rather than taking their lives.

Wait… Ruyi’s eyes suddenly sparkled. She had almost forgotten her wood-element ability! Her energy was mutated; it came with healing and purification properties.

Couldn’t she study medicine? As for medicinal herbs, she could use her ability to grow them. A hundred-year-old herb was nothing to her; once her level increased, she could even grow thousand-year-old herbs. Not only that, the herbs she grew would be brimming with life force. If used for medicine, the effects would be extraordinary.

The same prescription made with her herbs would be several times more effective. That was a unique advantage.

“I’ve got it! Starting tomorrow, I’m going to learn medicine.” Ruyi’s beautiful face was set with determination, her eyes twinkling with silver symbols. She could practically see the money falling like snowflakes.

Cheng Yu muttered under his breath, “Sister, learning medicine costs a lot of silver; it doesn’t earn it.”

Ruyi grinned smugly and tilted her chin up. “Hehe, I don’t need to spend much. I just need to find a good old doctor to teach me a bit.”

Then, she looked at Rong Mo’s poisoned, paralyzed legs and patted her chest with total confidence.

“From now on, I’ll take charge of Cousin’s legs.”

Hearing this, Cheng Yu silently offered his cousin a small prayer of sympathy.

Rong Mo gave his little cousin a thoughtful look and said tonelessly, “Alright.”

His legs were already paralyzed and devoid of feeling; it didn’t matter if his cousin experimented on them. Or so he thought.

The moon hung high, and it was nearly the end of the hour of the Dog (around 9 PM). Ruyi patted her empty belly, bid her cousin and brother goodnight, and rushed back to her courtyard to eat.

Under the flickering candlelight, Moxiang watched blankly as her Young Miss polished off every last bit of meat and snacks, still looking like she wasn’t quite full. The maid had no words left.

She briskly cleared the table and, once Ruyi had finished rinsing her mouth, had the footmen bring in warm water to serve the Young Miss for her bath.

Ruyi had been uncomfortable with Moxiang’s service at first, but she had since adapted.

The next morning, after the Marquis and his wife finished breakfast, they set off in a flurry of activity to find Vice-Commissioner Zhao and his wife to “reason” with them.

Young Cheng Yu, for once, didn’t go out to chase cats and dogs, but instead became Ruyi’s little shadow.

Ruyi had bought many seeds yesterday—fruits, vegetables, flowers, and medicinal herbs. She planned to find a time to grow them discreetly.

The Changle Marquis residence was large, but servants were few, leaving many courtyards and gardens vacant. After an inspection, Ruyi decided to rip out the flashy, useless plants in her own courtyard.

Anyway, these weren’t rare species—just common flora. The Changle household couldn’t afford high-end botanical specimens.

“Xiao Yu, why does our manor only grow these useless plants? Wouldn’t it be better to plant fruit trees? We could have different fruits in every courtyard, and the scent would drift through the air all year round. We could eat whatever we wanted,” Ruyi grumbled. Sitting in the octagonal pavilion, she ordered Moxiang to have people clear out the garden.

Cheng Yu—ahem—was also a practical young man. Imagining the manor full of his favorite fruits, he nodded in immediate agreement. “Exactly! Sister, why don’t we have them swap out all the trees in the manor?”

“Dad and Mom would surely support us.”

Ruyi nodded; she was a woman of action. She had Moxiang call the household steward and explained her plan. The smile on the old steward’s face froze. He cleared his throat. “Eldest Young Miss, Young Master… this servant cannot make such a decision. Perhaps wait until the Marquis and Madame return?”

Ruyi wasn’t one to make things difficult for people. Since there was no rush, she agreed. She would tell her parents when they got back.

“Sister, let’s leave Cousin Rong Mo’s courtyard alone!” Cheng Yu said, peeking cautiously at his sister. Thinking of his cousin’s icy gaze, he gave a little shiver.

Ruyi remembered that Cousin Rong Mo’s courtyard was filled with a large bamboo grove. Bamboo produced bamboo shoots, which were edible, so it was fine to leave it.

“Then we’ll skip Cousin’s courtyard.”

Then the siblings began an enthusiastic discussion about which fruit trees to plant in which garden. As they talked, they grew more excited, and the topic began to drift.

They felt the manor was too big and leaving it empty was a waste; it should all be put to use.

Thus, the two planned to set aside a plot of land for a vegetable patch, build a greenhouse, and renovate the stables. Besides horses, they could raise pigs, chickens, and ducks…

Yes, the large lake and ponds could be used to raise fish, shrimp, and ducks…

In the eyes of Ruyi, who had survived ten years of apocalypse, food was the most important thing. Those “refined” decorative objects were only good for selling for silver.

Beside them, the old steward listened to the “Renovation Plan” and his lip twitched, his heart weeping a river of tears.

Moxiang gave the steward a look of sympathy, silently praying that the Marquis and Madame would never agree to this. Otherwise, the Changle Marquisate would become the laughingstock of the capital—and perhaps the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.

Just then, an older servant woman came running over, panting, holding an exquisite invitation. On the cover was a beautiful lotus flower.

“Eldest Young Miss, Miss Qingyao from the neighboring Jian’an Marquis residence has sent an invitation.”

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Sansukini: This sibling has a twisted sense of right and wrong. Good thing cousin Rong Mo is there to veer them from doing crime.

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