Chapter 56: Low Spirits

This was the first time Yao Tianyuan truly experienced the taste of power. Ever since he was a child, he had been taught by his teachers that he must study hard, but what studying hard actually meant was something he could not quite comprehend. Yet today, he finally understood: the higher one advanced in scholarship, the greater the power one wielded.

Power was such a captivating thing; with just a flick of its pinky, it could effortlessly snap a scholar's future in two.

Luo Huian knew that given Yao Tianyuan's personality, since he could utter such words today, he was fully capable of carrying them out.

Maintaining his cold expression, he issued a polite dismissal. "You may leave," he said to Yao Tianyuan.

"There's no need to put up a front. Studying is bitter toil; perhaps not studying is actually more suited for you." Yao Tianyuan felt deeply gratified, his tone exceptionally relaxed.

"What business is it of yours?" Luo Huian ground out each word, taking a step forward. Yao Tianyuan had nowhere left to retreat and almost tripped over the threshold.

Although Yao Tianyuan had failed to secure justice for the humiliation the Yao family had suffered, being able to strike a blow against Luo Huian made the trip worthwhile.

Standing nearby, leaning on a broom taller than herself, Luo Qinghuan had listened to the entire exchange. "Big Brother, what did that man mean? Are you not allowed to study anymore?"

Luo Huian walked over to Luo Qinghuan, gently taking the tall broom from her hands. He stroked his younger sister's hair and forced a mild smile. "It's nothing. Go to the back and wash the vegetables; Mother and the others should be back soon."

He took over his sister's chore of sweeping the courtyard, silently brushing away the dust on the ground. In a country courtyard made of packed yellow earth, however, it was impossible to completely sweep away all the dust; the sweeping basically only cleared the surface.

Yet Luo Huian kept sweeping, over and over again. Long after Tong Chuxue had opened her bedroom door and the sun began to set, he was still sweeping the ground.

Tong Chuxue had not heard a single word of what had just transpired. In truth, she had simply been awakened by hunger.

Seeing Luo Huian sweeping the courtyard with intense dedication, she smiled, snatched the broom from his hands, and tossed it aside. "The ground is already clean enough. You don't need to sweep anymore."

Luo Huian raised his head and glanced at Tong Chuxue. She had clearly just woken up; a lingering flush remained on her cheeks, her hair was somewhat disheveled, and her voice carried a slight hoarseness.

Seeing her rub her eyes, a trace of a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth as she gently said, "I'll go draw a basin of water for you to wash your face."

Tong Chuxue murmured an assent, not finding anything unusual about it. She sat down on a chair in the courtyard, cupping her chin in her hands, looking entirely lazy and relaxed.

Using the water Luo Huian had fetched, she simply wiped her face, then looked down into the washbasin and touched her own cheeks. "Why do I feel like my skin has gotten fairer lately?"

Hearing her say this, Luo Huian's gaze shifted to her face as well. "It does seem a bit fairer."

With Luo Huian's confirmation, it seemed she really had grown fairer. Tong Chuxue was in high spirits; this proved that her careful nourishment over the past period had not been in vain. In a few more days, her frail little frame would likely become much stronger.

While Tong Chuxue was admiring her own "beauty," the main gate creaked open, and Xu Jinniang and her party returned.

"Mother!" Tong Chuxue darted joyfully toward Xu Jinniang, acting spoiled. "I'm hungry."

She was not normally one to act coquettishly, but having spent so much time with Xu Jinniang and viewing her much like a mother, she naturally revealed a touch of girlish sentiment.

Seeing that her daughter had woken up, Xu Jinniang's worried heart finally settled. Filled with pleasant surprise, she hurried to say, "You've slept for a whole day and night, how could you not be hungry? Mother will go make dinner for you right now."

Tong Chuxue skipped along behind Xu Jinniang. "I'll help you."

After twelve hours of recovery, she felt her energy was now extremely abundant, and her wood-attribute supernatural ability was once again overflowing within her body.

Lin Chunyan, who had entered right behind Xu Jinniang, spotted her son's strangeness at a glance. Although Luo Huian looked no different on the surface than usual, she could simply sense that his mood was somewhat downcast.

"Huian, what's wrong?" Lin Chunyan asked.

"It's nothing, Mother." Naturally, Luo Huian could not mention the matter of his studies to Lin Chunyan.

"Speaking of which, once this business succeeds, Mother will hire a tutor from town for you. If you want to take the imperial examinations, we will take them. No matter how well you do, it doesn't matter; Mother only wants you to be happy." Lin Chunyan patiently smoothed down her son's stray locks of hair.

She had always known that this son of hers possessed great talent for scholarship. Now that there was hope for the family, as long as they earned money, she would definitely support Luo Huian's studies.

"Alright," Luo Huian replied with a smile.

After several days of intense effort, Xu Jinniang and her group had not only gathered all the cottonseed hulls but had also made several large cotton quilts. It had to be said that the wild cotton from the mountains was white and thick; if used as a cover during the winter, it would undoubtedly be extremely warm.

With the materials finally prepared, the next step was to wait for the Ganoderma lucidum spores to sprout, after which they would be divided into individual culture bags for continued cultivation.

Tong Chuxue mixed the cottonseed hulls, sawdust, wheat bran, cane sugar, gypsum powder, and other ingredients in specific proportions, packed them into bags, and evenly sprinkled the collected Ganoderma spores over them.

Catalyzed by her wood-attribute ability, the Ganoderma spores began to multiply within the culture medium.

Because Ganoderma had high requirements for growing conditions, Tong Chuxue deliberately injected a tiny trace of her ability into this batch to give them stronger adaptability.

Just getting the spores to sprout was only the first step; the next task was to prepare the individual culture bags for each Ganoderma.

In modern times, plastic bags could be used directly, but plastics did not exist in ancient times. Tong Chuxue had asked Xu Jinniang to buy a pile of thick oilcloth from the fabric shop in town and sew them into rectangular cloth bags.

The women were responsible for sewing, while the men prepared the culture substrate. Mixing the substrate required first dampening it and then mixing it dry, stirring until the moisture was even and did not drip.

Then, everyone stuffed the substrate into the sewn bags.

Once all the filling was complete, Tong Chuxue had Luo Changhua set up a large pot in the courtyard, pile the substrate-filled bags onto a wooden frame, and cover them with a layer of oilcloth. This was done primarily to utilize steam for sterilization.

Lin Chunyan could not help sighing, "Growing Ganoderma is much more troublesome than farming."

To this, Luo Changhua responded with deep understanding, "If it were as simple as farming, everyone would have been growing Ganoderma long ago."

This was Luo Qinghuan's first time seeing such a set of procedures. Throughout the process, she kept buzzing around Tong Chuxue, asking endless questions, and Tong Chuxue patiently explained everything to her. This business was intended for them to run themselves in the future; the more she taught them now, the easier it would be for them to take over later.

When all the items had been sterilized, Tong Chuxue arranged the tasks for the following day. "Uncles and aunts, tomorrow we will be inoculating the Ganoderma. Please everyone come a bit earlier."

The villagers all promised that they would arrive early the next day and not delay the progress.

However, early the next morning, as Tong Chuxue looked at the neatly assembled Luo family members in the courtyard, she asked, "Where is Aunt Liu?"