"........."
The reason for the early school start turned out to be due to transporting items from the ceramic factory ruins into Xinxing Agricultural Science College. To avoid suspicion, all the students were sent away to the mountains to live like wildlings.
"Wow! You're actually sleeping soundly!"
Following the Golden Leopard's guidance, Ansheng rushed to his dorm and found Wang Qiqi in yellow pajamas, cuddling her pillow asleep. The little fox glared and gave her a smack on the behind:
"Wake up! Where are my goods?"
"Mmm...."
Wang Qiqi, sleeping comfortably, opened her eyes and looked at Lord Fox with a long stretch and roll before replying vaguely:
"I managed to get two sacks of Spirit Plants, but definitely not two sacks of Spirit Particle Potion. There's a total of twenty bottles deposited into your account, and if you want to access it, you can use the Earth Mineral Group's ATM for biometric verification."
Although Spirit Plants are the raw materials for Spirit Particle Potion,
after refinement and extraction, the amount of potion prepared from each Spirit Plant is calculated in milligrams.
"Each bottle of Spirit Particle Potion is 20 milligrams, requiring extraction from approximately 4-6 Spirit Plants. Twenty bottles are the maximum that can be dispatched in Chang'an City without using emergency resources."
Yawning, Wang Qiqi patted Lord Fox's bed, rubbed against the bedspread, and with a joyful expression said: "Lord Fox, where did you buy this bed? I find it extremely comfortable."
Not only is the mattress comfortable, but the bedsheet makes Wang Qiqi feel like rolling around on it, silky and cool, as if her skin is being tenderly cared for.
Of course,
Wang Qiqi was only thinking; after all, this was Lord Fox's nest, and she wouldn't go wild here.
"I don't know, you could ask Housekeeper Lin. This mattress was replaced just today," Ansheng said.
The previous one, after Lin Ying's commotion last night, had springs popping out and was sold to recyclers in the morning; the new mattress probably arrived close to noon.
"Ask Housekeeper Lin about the mattress. Now let's talk serious matters," Ansheng turned to Wang Qiqi, saying, "I just heard from the leopard that you intend to open the third layer of the ruins and relocate the documents and artifacts to Xinxing Agricultural Science College."
"Yes," Wang Qiqi nodded slightly.
"....You guys really picked the right place." Ansheng showed a black line face, "The reason I invited you tonight is about the explosive increase in Spirit Beast numbers in the Qinling Mountains; I recently found some leads."
"The abnormal growth of Spirit Beasts is related to the Crested Ibis."
"It can't be said the connection is particularly strong, but the Crested Ibis droppings contain a vast amount of Spirit Plant seeds. As the ibis move around the Qinling Mountains, these seeds scatter throughout the forest, seemingly appearing from nowhere."
In nature, birds have always played the role akin to the messenger of life.
During plant reproduction and regeneration, their help is indispensable.
Birds consume the fruit of plants and after digesting the flesh, they scatter the seeds and droppings onto the earth. When the rainy season arrives, these dispersed seeds germinate and gradually grow.
After listening to Lord Fox recounting today's events, including the nilgai plowing, Wang Qiqi was stunned, asking, "Is it really true?"
"Lord Fox is benevolent! Doesn't eat for free...." Ansheng proudly raised his head and spoke.
Frowning, Wang Qiqi sat cross-legged on the bed, holding a pillow, pondered momentarily, and said:
"Since there is testimony to prove, the Qinling Spirit Beast abnormality is related to the Crested Ibis..."
"Then... I'll leave it to Lord Fox."
"What do you mean leave it to me?" Ansheng asked with a confused expression, "Shouldn't you suspend the students' observation activities or find another location?"
"That's where the trouble lies." Wang Qiqi replied, "The third layer of the ruins is about to open. From what we learned by completely defeating Romano and Bena, the original owner of this ruin had a romantic personality....."
"He should be a scholar."
"Inside the ruins might lie important last words from the 'same clan' before they perished in the previous Spirit Particle Era."
"The items on the third layer are significant; they might even drive the Forest Wolves to risk themselves...."
"Student relocation is necessary, and we must decipher the documents. Now the investigation of the Qinling anomaly is less prioritized."
Wang Qiqi explained the situation slowly.
There may be dangers for students going to the Qinling, but the situation there is manageable, after all, the so-called security company is a team of Forest Rangers.
They can schedule observation activities and pre-investigate the Crested Ibis habitats to eliminate any potential mishaps in the Qinling.
But staying at the school poses uncontrollable risks.
The existence of Xinxing Agricultural Science College, in some sense, is an education and training base for Woodcutters and Forest Rangers.
Wang Qiqi naturally doesn't wish for them to encounter trouble.
"As long as safety is assured, I'd just be worried if you push them into the pits." Ansheng thought out loud:
"Regarding the shipment of ruins' items, inform me before you proceed; I'll come to help."
"Alright!" Seeing Lord Fox agree to help, Wang Qiqi beamed, instinctively reached out and scratched Lord Fox's chin.
"Eee-eee——"
Suddenly enjoying it, the fox squinted, letting out a pleased purr, but after two sounds, he sensed something was amiss and rolled his eyes, brushing Wang Qiqi's hand aside.
"Shoo, shoo, I agreed to help, and you're taking liberties with me."
"Send me a $50 red packet on WeChat; I'll save it for Crazy Thursday tomorrow...."
"Lord Fox, that might be difficult. If you're leaving with the students tomorrow, the first day might be a wild survival..."
"Hmm?" Lord Fox looked at Wang Qiqi quizzically.
"You'll see when you get there." Wang Qiqi grinned awkwardly and sent Ansheng the $50 red packet.
After finishing her tasks, Wang Qiqi didn't stay at Ansheng's place but prepared to go to work, aiming to capture all identified spies.
However,
before exiting, Wang Qiqi asked Lin Bingyun for the links to the mattress and bed sheets.
The items were comfortable to sleep on, very suitable for a cute girl like her engaged in physical labor.
Lin Bingyun transmitted two WeChat messages to Wang Qiqi.
"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousand, hundred thousand....."
Driving, Wang Qiqi widened her eyes seeing the WeChat quotes, blurting out unbelievably, "Is this a health care mattress or what? It costs 450,000 yuan and requires me to pay an additional 50,000 for shipping and customs fees."
"Is that a mattress? That's definitely evidence for my bribery accusation!"
"Where'd you get fifty thousand from?" The Golden Leopard peeked over, querying Wang Qiqi.
The merchant for selling bed sheets also replied.
The price over here isn't steep; one set costs sixty thousand, but they recommended buying two sets for rotation.
"This mattress seller is outrageous, you too are outrageous!" Wang Qiqi nearly cursed aloud.
Lord Fox favored curling up on Lin Ying's bed, relishing the soft pads' coziness; hence Lin Bingyun naturally arranged the same type for Lord Fox.
The bed sheets and bed set were crafted from custom silk, not the modern silk duvet, purposefully controlling silkworms' diet from the start to keep them in a state of undernutrition.
Thus, the silk spun is finer and lighter due to the worms' nutritional deficit.
The products made from such silk are exceedingly light, yet smooth and delicate to touch.
It's not a daily commodity but a heritage artwork.
Lord Fox's offerings, Lin Bingyun wouldn't spare any effort, no matter how short-lived.
Simply put,
Lord Fox's pace of enjoyment still couldn't match Lin Ying's money-making speed.