"Find you? That won't do."
"What's wrong with that? Last time at the Gold Vault, my second and third uncles gave me all their interest. I have plenty of money, and I'm worried I can't spend it all."
Wang Meiruo didn't realize how much hatred her words were stirring up.
Some people are born into wealth, others into poverty. This world is so amusing, like a Face with unevenly applied powder.
"This isn't the Gold Vault. You can't get interest by lending me money," Qian Duoduo thought she still wanted to make money from money.
"I don't want interest," Wang Meiruo said seriously, not like she was joking.
"Then what do you want?"
"Didn't I say? What I want is excitement!" Wang Meiruo's cherry lips once again uttered two words that sounded like thunder.
"Excitement?" The word "excitement" once again stimulated Qian Duoduo.
"Mm." Wang Meiruo nodded vigorously.
"I don't understand. Lending me money makes you excited?" Qian Duoduo shook his head.
Despite being short on money, he couldn't cheat the elderly or children. He was a man with principles.
Although Wang Meiruo was about the same age as him, in Qian Duoduo's eyes, she was a spoiled young girl.
Her thoughts were simple, her life sweet. She was soaked in honey, yet she insisted on seeking out chili and bitter melon to eat.
"What you do is exciting. If it's exciting, I'll support it. If you need money, I'll give you money to support it. Understand?" Wang Meiruo said, her big eyes twinkling.
Qian Duoduo smiled bitterly and nodded, "I understand. But this still can't be done."
"Why not?"
Qian Duoduo had wanted to say that it would be too embarrassing to take money from a child like her, but then he thought it wasn't good to call her a child, so he changed his words.
"Growing spiritual plants and raising Spirit Chickens is risky. If we lose money, yours will be gone. Money can make money, but sometimes if the money is male, it can't reproduce either."
"I'm not afraid. Speaking of which, a lot of the money I have was earned with your help." Wang Meiruo had an inexplicable confidence in Qian Duoduo.
Qian Duoduo still shook his head, "That money is what you deserve. It doesn't matter if you're Wang Meiruo or Xie Meiruo, it's the same."
Wang Meiruo's little Face fell. "My temper is stubborn, but why are you even more stubborn than me?"
She walked back and forth with her hands behind her back, then stepped on a small stone and said:
"How about this? For these eight hundred-plus mu, you provide the land, I provide the seeds, and we split the harvest fifty-fifty. Fair and reasonable!"
"Hey, that method sounds good." Qian Duoduo felt this was acceptable.
She provided the money, and they provided the labor.
"Hmph. Didn't you say I'm beautiful in my mind?" As Qian Duoduo nodded, Wang Meiruo smiled again.
Qian Duoduo immediately became serious, "That's right. Could what I say be wrong? Junior Sister's most beautiful quality is her vision; she saw our Estate at first glance. Even now, you're still the only one."
As he spoke, Huang Guiren walked towards them.
"Let me formally introduce you: this is Junior Sister Wang Meiruo, our partner at Buhuan Estate. She's going to invest money in our Estate."
Huang Guiren quickly took two steps forward, swayed his lithe waist, and bowed deeply, "Hello, Junior Sister. From now on, we're on the same side."
"Just call me Junior Sister," Wang Meiruo's Face turned red again.
"The capable one is the Senior Sister," Huang Guiren brought out his theory again.
"Hall Master Huang, there's another good thing," Qian Duoduo quickly interrupted, fearing a long speech from him.
"Congratulations, Junior Brother, on advancing to Level Four!" Huang Guiren noticed that Qian Duoduo had advanced.
Qian Duoduo waved his hand, "It's not that. Our Spirit Chickens have laid eggs."
Huang Guiren's mouth dropped open, and his eyes lit up. "Good news, great news! Next, we need to hatch eggs, hatch them in large quantities!"
Wang Meiruo moved her finger, and two large treasure chests appeared on the ground. "Here's a million gold coins. You can use them first. If it's not enough, I have more."
Her generosity surpassed even that of the Sect's Elders. Qian Duoduo felt some admiration for this little beauty who sought excitement.
"We won't spend all of this. Buying seeds might cost over ten thousand, and buying Spirit Chicken chicks might cost over a hundred thousand," Huang Guiren reported honestly.
Wang Meiruo shook her head in disapproval. "This Estate has no fence; building a fence costs money. If there are Spirit Chickens, there must be Spirit Chicken coops and incubation rooms. With so many chickens, you'll need to raise some spiritual dogs to watch them, right? All of this costs money. I don't think it will be enough."
"It's enough. From now on, I'll start learning Artifact Refining. I'll earn money through Artifact Refining." Qian Duoduo quickly stopped Wang Meiruo when he saw her about to take out more money.
"Great, great! You refine artifacts, and I'll support you." Wang Meiruo rubbed her fingers together, and two more large treasure chests appeared on the ground.
"Learning Artifact Refining requires even more money. Equipment, Magic Treasures, cauldrons—none of them can be spared. Take this million first. When you start making money, just share it with me."
"That's definitely not allowed. Artifact Refining is my personal matter; how can I use your money? Besides, I'm not even a Qi Apprentice yet, so I'm not qualified to talk about sharing money with you in the future."
Only after Qian Duoduo repeatedly declined did Wang Meiruo put away the million gold coins.
After listening to Qian Duoduo and Huang Guiren's plans for the Estate, she excitedly walked around for another two circles before leaving contentedly.
As soon as Wang Meiruo left, Qian Duoduo and Huang Guiren immediately got busy.
Purchasing seeds, Spirit Chicken chicks, building chicken coops, fences—there was so much to do!
A few days after Wang Meiruo left, Wang Dahei and Lei Jiashu came to visit. They released their suppressed cultivation; Wang Dahei had reached Qi Condensation Level Five, and Lei Jiashu had reached Level Four.
The no-longer-obese Wang Dahei, though he hadn't become the handsome youth who would bring disaster to the nation and possess the grace of a jade tree, as he once claimed, was now a burly and strong young man.
It was just that Lei Jiashu was actually a girl. No wonder she blushed so easily.
The two of them were highly regarded by Hall Master Ping at Xiongjin Mountain. Especially Wang Dahei, whose Formation talent was admired by the Palace Lord. They were allowed to leave the mountain to visit friends only after learning the thousand Formations newly taught by Hall Master Ping.
Upon learning that Qian Duoduo and his partner were short on money, Wang Dahei and Lei Jiashu also offered them money.
Qian Duoduo and Huang Guiren firmly refused, saying they had enough money now. Besides, once the Estate was established, they might even be worried about not having enough places to spend their money.
...
The Refining Spirit Sect truly lived up to its reputation as a millennium-old great sect; among the ten thousand spiritual plants recorded in the spiritual plant scrolls, the Wanjin Pavilion had seeds for over eight thousand types.
Since he planned to start learning Artifact Refining, besides buying violet clover seeds and Spirit Chicken chicks, Qian Duoduo bought a few seeds of each type of spiritual plant in the Pavilion and planted them in the Estate.
No matter how much one learned or observed, it was not as good as personally planting a spiritual plant.
Even though he only bought a few seeds of each, it still cost over a hundred thousand gold coins.
After another half month of busy work, the Estate began to take shape.
A thousand-zhang-long fence was built around the Estate.
The fence was made by obliquely inserting fine spiritual bamboo, half a zhang high. Sixty thousand spiritual bamboo stalks were used.
These spiritual bamboo were all alive and could grow thicker and taller.
All thousand mu of violet clover were planted, and the new sprouts had grown to over a foot tall.
Within the Estate, a hundred chicken coops were built. Each coop housed five to six hundred Spirit Chicken chicks.
The seeds of over eight thousand types of spiritual plants were planted by Qian Duoduo in the richest soil in the garden, and they all sprouted. Their leaves varied in size, some larger than a palm, others as small as a needle.
Qian Duoduo named this garden the spiritual plant Garden. He looked at the spiritual plants in the garden every day, finding them incredibly fun and beautiful to behold.
Unlike Qian Duoduo's focus, what Wang Meiruo most anticipated were the hundred spirit chicken eggs that had already begun to hatch.
Ever since the Estate started incubating eggs, she came every day to watch and listen for movement inside the eggs, wishing she could eat and live in the Estate like Qian Duoduo and Huang Guiren.
By noon on the fifth day, Qian Duoduo was observing the newly emerged stems of a spiritual plant when she patted him heavily on the back.
"Come here!" Wang Meiruo, unable to conceal her excitement, pulled Qian Duoduo into the incubation room without a word.
"Listen," she pointed to the eggs incubating under the Spirit Chicken.
With his mind fully focused, Qian Duoduo tightly enveloped the spirit chicken eggs with his Spiritual Awareness.
After a while, he heard faint, regular heartbeats. As he spread his Spiritual Awareness, he realized that every egg under this Spirit Chicken had a heartbeat.
"A total of ninety-eight eggs have heartbeats. Only two have no heartbeats; they are bad eggs," Wang Meiruo whispered, her voice brimming with strong pride.
Qian Duoduo fully released his Spiritual Awareness. His Spiritual Awareness touched tens of thousands of spiritual plants and thousands of Spirit Chickens; their vitality flourished in Buhuan Estate, filling him with joy.
Qian Duoduo's joy, in turn, made the spiritual plants and Spirit Chickens even more vibrant.
At this moment, a cluster of green Qi rapidly permeated Qian Duoduo's Spiritual Veins from outside to inside.
The Yongfu Henggui Art, which he hadn't practiced in a long time, automatically activated, absorbing all of this green Qi and even dyeing all of his already opened Spiritual Veins with a light green layer.
At the same time, Qian Duoduo's Spiritual Awareness actually covered the entire Estate. Even the vitality of those spiritual bamboo, Qian Duoduo could feel.
This far exceeded the range that Qi Condensation Level Four could cover.
After a long while, Qian Duoduo finally awoke from that wonderful and intoxicating state.
Wang Meiruo was staring blankly at Qian Duoduo. Seeing him wake up, she whispered, "In just this short while, the heartbeats of these eggs have become much stronger."
Before Qian Duoduo could answer, a majestic voice rang in his ear: "Bu Huan, come here."
Qian Duoduo nearly jumped. Zhangzuo Dajiu had arrived!
