The wicked female is extremely fierce, but she's pampered by her seven beast husbands.

Chapter 125: Courtesy first, then attack
When Ling Chengen and his two companions returned to the Stone Forest from the secluded place, it was already quite late.

As soon as the three landed, the people sitting on the rocks all looked over.

Ling Chengen looked at Bai Qingyu, who had gotten up and was walking over, and handed him the medium-sized animal skin bag with a bright smile on his face: "Take a look."

Bai Qingyu was taken aback for a moment, then took the animal skin bag and said with a smile, "You seem to be in a good mood, so is this salt?"

"Open it and take a look." Ling Chengen walked past him, looked at Ling Xiao sitting on the rock, and said with a beaming smile, "Father, when did you come back?"

"Sunset." Ling Xiao handed her a glass of lukewarm water. "Drink some water first."

"Bai Xiwu Zhuo, you two go over there and get some water."

"We're all family here, so I won't entertain you any further."

Wu Zhuo ran over to the shack with a grin, and Chong Zhen handed him a bamboo bucket: "Here, this is hot water that I boiled this afternoon. I let it cool down so you could drink it when you come back."

"Thank you, brother-in-law."

Chongzhen was startled by his address, and looked at his cheerful departing figure with a strange expression on her face.

Wu Zhuo carried the bucket, took out two bamboo cups from the bamboo basket under the table, walked quickly to the stone table, poured a cup of water for himself and Bai Xi, and gulped it down.

Bai Qingyu placed the animal skin bag on the stone table, and Ling Xiao also stood up. He watched as Bai Qingyu reached into the bag and quickly brought out a handful of pale white salt sand.

Yu Shaochen placed two pots of luminous grass on the stone table, instantly brightening the table.

Bai Qingyu gently picked up a pinch of fine white salt grains with her fingertips and exclaimed in shock, "They actually made salt powder directly?"

"I thought it had to be formed into a lump first before it could be turned into this fine powder."

Ling Xiao picked up a tiny bit of salt powder and put it in his mouth. After a moment, he couldn't help but laugh and slapped the table, saying, "This salt is great! It tastes even better than the salt made from the salt stone before. It has no bitterness at all, it's all white, and there's not even any sand in it."

"How much did you get today?" Ling Xiao picked up the animal skin bag on the table and weighed it in his hand. "Is this all the refined salt powder?"

Ling Chengen nodded. She had caught her breath and explained, "We arrived late today, almost noon. Because Wu Zhuo and Bai Xi weren't familiar with the process, I did all the work at first, and they could only assist me, so the efficiency was a bit low."

“We’ll be wasting a lot of time traveling back and forth. I plan to start tomorrow by sending ten people each from Hanshan and Shilin to Youdi to stay there and boil brine. That way we won’t be wasting too much time on the road every day. I’ll have Baixi lead the team. He’s already learned how, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Bai Xi held the bamboo cup and raised her left hand: "I'm fine. Salt production isn't difficult, it's just that filtering and sedimentation back and forth is a bit troublesome, but we have enough manpower, so it's not a problem."

Bai Qingyu also tasted the salt powder lightly, then looked up and asked, "Are you going to the Sea Spirit Tribe tomorrow?"

Ling Chengen nodded: "We had already made an appointment with them before, and we would go over when the weather cleared up. We were delayed in Youdi these past two days, and if we delay any longer, it will be difficult to explain to them."

Bai Qingyu said, "Then I'll take you there tomorrow, it's on my way anyway."

Ling Chengen rubbed his stomach and turned to look at the kitchen: "Is the food ready? I'm hungry."

Bai Qingyu put away the salt bag and carried it towards the kitchen: "It should be ready soon. I'll go help you. You go wash up first."

Yu Shaochen sat at the table, tilting his head to quietly look at Ling Chengen's profile, and noticed the weariness in her eyes.

He twisted a ball of wood-based supernatural power between his fingertips and pushed it into Ling Chengen's arm.

With the infusion of wood-based supernatural abilities, Ling Chengen's spirits improved significantly, and his complexion became rosier than before.

"Thank you. You can keep your superpower for yourself. I'll recover after a good night's sleep."

Yu Shaochen slowly shook his head, sat on the stone bench, and leaned on the table, saying, "Does my wife have any other things she can arrange for me to do? I can help."

Ling Chengen looked at the round beast ears on his head, reached out and gently rubbed them. Seeing the tips of his ears twitch slightly and his eyes darting away, he quickly withdrew his hand: "Hmm, if you still have the energy every day, you can try to accelerate the growth of cloud beans. We'll probably need quite a few cloud beans to boil for brine later... The ones we harvested yesterday probably won't last long."

Yu Shaochen nodded and said, "Then I will start tomorrow and infuse some wood-type ability into it every day. It should be able to produce a batch in two or three days."

“Sure, do what you can. Starting tomorrow, I’ll arrange for the rest of the tribe to go and dig up a few more cloud bean trees. We’ll plant them by the stream, and the other wood-type beastmen in the tribe will come to help.”

"Do what you want to do, or do what you like if you don't want to."

Ling Chengen didn't have high expectations of him. Besides, he wasn't the only wood-type beastman in the two tribes, so there was no need to put such a task on his shoulders.

Yu Shaochen nodded, quite pleased with Ling Chengen's gentle words, and his eyes sparkled as he looked at her.

Ling Chengen didn't forget to inquire about Su Weihua's condition, and Yu Shaochen also explained in detail: "His lower limbs have regained sensation and he can stand briefly, but he can't maintain his balance. In addition to helping him strengthen his leg muscles, I still let him lie down as much as possible to avoid damaging his spine, which is not fully recovered."

"Just follow your plan."

Yu Shaochen rested his chin on his hands and said, "After Su Weihua recovers, I want to go out and have a look with the clan leader and the others."

Ling Chengen was startled by his sudden remark and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Do you know what my father and the others do when they go out?"

“I know.” Yu Shaochen frowned and thought for a while before explaining seriously, “It would be easy for me to be a hindrance if I went, but the wife needs more plant seeds, right? Since I awakened, I have been living in this area and have not been to any far places, so the seeds I have collected are very limited.”

"It's like the tree wheat seeds that the wife found; I've never seen them before."

"If we could find seeds similar to tree wheat and cultivate them on a large scale like potatoes, wouldn't we have a much better food supply in the future?"

"I will try my best to stay close to the clan chief and the others. If that doesn't work, I will wait until Su Weihua's powers are restored and then have him take me out."

Yu Shaochen was actually very nervous, his hands hidden under the stone table, nervously scratching his palms.

He was actually quite unsure of himself, so he didn't dare to directly mention his thoughts to Ling Xiao. He planned to talk to Ling Chengen first and see her reaction.

If she strongly objects, then we can only wait until Su Weihua has fully recovered before she can go out.

Ling Chengen did not answer immediately, but lowered his eyes to think. Before he could give an answer, Ling Xiao's voice rang out from not far away: "Yes, the warriors in the hunting team are all very powerful. There should be no problem bringing him along."

"However, you must follow instructions and not go out on your own."

Ling Xiao was always serious, and he didn't change his attitude towards Yu Shaochen either.

Yu Shaochen was startled by his aura and his body stiffened slightly, but after regaining his senses, he couldn't help but blink and exclaim with delight, "Really? It really works?"

"Don't worry, Chieftain, I will definitely follow your instructions and won't run away."

Ling Chengen glanced at Ling Xiao, then at Yu Shaochen, who was beaming with joy, and offered no further comment.

As long as Ling Xiao doesn't mind Yu Shaochen being a burden, he can bring him along if he wants!
……

Dinner was similar to usual: grilled meat, stir-fried vegetables, and millet rice—nothing fancy. Ling Chengen went back to rest after dinner.

When Bai Qingyu finished washing up and returned to the treehouse, she found that she was already asleep.

The warm light emanating from the grass cast deep shadows on her face, particularly around her eyes and on one side of her nose.

Bai Qingyu sat on the edge of the bed, brushed the stray hairs from her cheek, sighed softly, and finally gently held her fingers, whispering, "I've never seen a female as strong-willed as you..."

Other females seek mates so that they can enjoy a comfortable life in the future.

But she's different; she's busier than them every day, never stopping for a moment.

Seeing her so busy, he felt sorry for her, but he knew very well that he couldn't stop her.

Bai Qingyu sat by her bedside for a while, covered the animal hide on the grass by the bedside, and quietly left her room.

Instead of going back to his room to rest, he left the treehouse directly. As soon as he stepped out of the shade under the tree, he saw Chongzhen sitting at the stone table, writing and drawing on a piece of animal skin.

Hearing footsteps, Chongzhen glanced up briefly before looking down again.

Yu Shaochen sat on the stone bench in his beast form, holding an apple and slowly munching on it.

"what are you doing?"

Bai Qingyu walked to the stone table and peered at the animal skin under Chongzhen's command. The drawing was messy and the content was completely incomprehensible.

Chongzhen, holding a piece of charcoal pencil she had made herself, said without looking up, "I'm recording the growth of the potato field."

After swallowing the apple in his mouth, Yu Shaochen slowly flicked his tail behind him: "I'm helping him organize the content."

Bai Qingyu sat on another stone bench and asked curiously, "How's the potato field doing lately?"

"It's alright." Chongzhen scratched the back of his head and sighed, "It hasn't been planted for long, and it only has a few leaves now. But I didn't notice that there were rabbits and mice near that plot of land, so a small part of the edge was damaged, and I added some more..."

"Have the rabbit and mouse issues been resolved?"

Chongzhen stroked his chin, somewhat frustrated, and said, "There's no way to solve this once and for all. We just had the orcs from the tribe leave some traces nearby. But those traces will dissipate in a few days, and those small animals will come back again. So we can only arrange for people to patrol regularly and reinforce the traces left there."

Rabbits and mice are very perceptive; once they sense the presence of a predator, they will quickly move away.

Therefore, Chongzhen mainly arranged for snake-type beastmen, as well as fox-type and forest cat-type beastmen to go there.

The forest cats and foxes would catch rabbits as a treat, and they were also very good at finding rabbit burrows, thus wiping out the rabbits' homes and wiping out their entire clan.

Snake-like orcs are sensitive to the scent of rodents, and smaller snake-like orcs can even find their targets through underground caves.

Even if they expel you once, it won't last for several months, but it will definitely last for more than ten days.

"How about your side? How's communication with the neighboring tribes going?"

Actually, Bai Qingyu's mission was the most important.

Chongzhen really wanted to go with him because he was a very good speaker, and he was also good at capturing micro-expressions and understanding people's hearts, as well as negotiating with people.

However, some tribes in the eastern region are extremely arrogant and are typical bullies who prey on the weak.

He had gone with Chongzhen before, but because his ability level was only level six, the other party was unwilling to pay any attention to him.

After being rebuffed twice, he finally saw through the true nature of those tribes and decided not to continue trying to win them over. He returned to his work in the potato field and other miscellaneous tasks.

Following Ling Chengen's advice, we began preparing for the wheat harvest.

First, we need to prepare granaries and warehouses, and second, we need to prepare enough tools for harvesting and threshing.

All of this needs to be done within a month.

With a combined population of over 10,000 for both tribes, at least 4,000 sets of harvesting tools were needed.

Forging harvesting tools requires a sufficient amount of ore, and also necessitates assigning orcs with metal-based abilities to work overtime.

Moreover, once Bai Qingyu has reached an agreement with the other tribes, there may be a situation where the harvest is rushed.

Then, naturally, the more harvesting tools you have, the better.

At the same time, he also had to arrange tents and rations for thousands of people.

In May, the weather is hot, food doesn't keep well, and without enough people to hunt, food supplies become a major problem.

He needs to coordinate all these things, which is quite troublesome.

Thinking about all this, he was no longer in the mood to run away with Bai Qingyu, and the unhappiness in his heart quickly dissipated.

Bai Qingyu made no attempt to hide anything and instead gave a detailed account of the progress made in the past few days.

"In the area where tree wheat is distributed, the few small tribes are fine. When they learned that we were going to harvest that tree wheat, they were just curious about the reason and did not object to us harvesting those plants across our territory."

"Did you tell them what the harvesting of tree wheat was for?" Yu Shaochen asked nervously.

Bai Qingyu glanced at him and said with a smile, "This matter couldn't be kept secret anyway."

“When the wheat harvest comes, we’ll send over a thousand people at once. That’ll be a bigger commotion than attacking a tribe. We can’t hide it at all. We might as well just tell them the truth and let them owe us a favor.”

"And as you've seen, the area of ​​tree wheat in the east and central regions is so large that our two tribes alone cannot harvest it all. There will definitely be rain in mid-to-late May, and when it rains, the tree wheat will sprout or mold... and we won't be able to eat it."

"It would be better to let them harvest some as well. They certainly aren't as well-prepared as we are, and they won't be able to compete with us in the harvesting rush."

Chongzhen nodded and said, "Indeed, there's nothing to worry about with those small tribes."

"The problem is those medium-sized tribes. They seem difficult to get along with. If a large number of our people enter their territory, there will likely be friction or even large-scale battles."

Bai Qingyu gazed intently and said, "From my interactions with them these past few days, I feel that the Yellow Lion Tribe, the Capybara Tribe, and the Triangular Beast Tribe are all relatively mild-mannered. With a little more contact, we can discuss cooperation without any major problems."

"But there are still five tribes..."

"If we can't negotiate, then let's fight."

Bai Qingyu's brows furrowed slightly, and a cold, sharp glint flashed in his eyes.