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

Chapter 337 Extra: True Truth
Although the unification of the east is progressing more slowly than expected, everything is proceeding in an orderly manner.

With all the tribes in the east now under their control, Beast City has become the premier city in the Northern Wilderness.

Its population size is unmatched by any other large tribe in the south.

The central region is the stronghold of the City of Ten Thousand Beasts. Whether in terms of politics, economy, or culture, it is second to none in the Northern Wilderness.

The eastern tribes followed closely behind, and those that submitted completely escaped poverty within a year.

As a result, the reputation of Beast City in the Northern Wilderness grew louder and louder. Many resource-poor tribes in the northern region had been hoping to be subdued like those in the central and eastern regions and officially become subjects of Beast City.

This was something Ling Chengen hadn't anticipated. Although she had the idea of ​​occupying the northern region, she considered that one should take things one step at a time and not take too big a step at once. Therefore, she had always adhered to a steady and cautious strategy. It wasn't until the northern tribes bordering the central region sent several leaders to contact and negotiate with them that Ling Chengen realized...

The influence of the City of Beasts was much greater than she had anticipated.

Both humans and animals have the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm.

Orcs are not stupid; they have eyes, they can observe for themselves, and they know what choices are best for them, so sometimes things don't need to be so complicated.

In the harsh environment of the Northern Wilderness, being able to eat and stay warm is already a great thing for them.

The Northern tribes' initiative to contact Ling Chengen was both unexpected and a pleasant surprise.

After all, no one wants to start a war and suffer bloodshed if peaceful reunification is possible.

Therefore, while adjusting the governance of the eastern region, Ling Chengen began peace talks with the northern tribes.

The resource conditions in the North are only slightly better than in the West, but overall they are still very poor.

Therefore, there are not many tribes in the North. Ling Chengen obtained information on all the tribes in the North a long time ago. All the tribes combined only account for half of the Central Region. This data was derived based on the inclusion of the coastal mountain tribes.

However, most of the tribes that were able to establish themselves in the North were large or giant beastmen with formidable fighting abilities. After all, the North was the place most severely impacted by the tide of inferior beasts. Despite so many unfavorable conditions, they were still able to take root and live on the land of the North. Those who survived were not weak.

Therefore, Ling Chengen never intended to forcibly conscript people from the beginning regarding the policy towards the northern border.

She actually held the orcs of the North in awe.

Even if she doesn't subdue the North, it won't have a significant impact on her overall plan.

Moreover, the orcs in the North also serve as a defensive line in front of them. Without them stopping the beast tide, the central and eastern regions would suffer even greater losses during the beast tide.

The orcs of the North were willing to surrender in order to obtain resources for survival, so she naturally wouldn't refuse them.

However, the governance of the eastern region and the takeover of the northern tribes clashed, so Ling Chengen had no choice but to assign Chongzhen to fieldwork as well.

Because while Shigemasa is slightly inferior in combat, he is truly all-around in every other aspect.

Moreover, he was extremely good at reading people and negotiating, quick-witted, and very tactful in handling interpersonal relationships. Ling Chengen had other plans for the Northern Territory and did not want to offend those powerful orc warriors, so after careful consideration, he went to talk to Chongzhen all night.

Chongzhen only complained a couple of times about being transferred to recruit those northern tribes before he started bargaining and trying to get better treatment for himself.

Unlike the other members of his family, he was never one to suffer losses. He made a three-point agreement with Ling Chengen, stipulating that she would have work benefits, such as writing to him regularly and sending him his favorite foods and local specialties, and ideally flying to see him once a month...

Seeing that his demands were increasing, Ling Chengen stared at him expressionlessly for a while, then said, "You're making things difficult for me. Since you really don't want to go on a business trip, then forget it... I'll go. You can stay home, since you're familiar with this kind of work. I'll talk to Yuheng and ask him to cooperate with you..."

Upon hearing this, Chongzhen immediately sat up straight, covered her mouth with his hand, and hurriedly said, "I'll go! I'll go!"

"Can you please not talk about such a terrifying arrangement in such a serious manner?"

Chongzhen was a little intimidated by Yuheng, after all, he was not a kind-hearted and amiable witch doctor.

He'd rather go on a three-month business trip than deal with Yuheng.

After all, if Yuheng knew that it was he who made too many demands and forced Ling Chengen, who had just returned from his business trip, to go out again, his legs would probably break several times for no reason, and it would definitely take a month or two to recover.

Ling Chengen rested his chin on his hand, quietly watching his eyes sparkle with excitement, and pointed to his mouth, which was being covered.

Chongzhen slowly withdrew his hand, staring at her with a resentful expression, and sighed deeply: "You really are my living ancestor! I only have a few requests, and you're threatening me?!"

"Is my status in the family only slightly higher than that of a handbag?"

Chongzhen leaned back in her chair, looking utterly dejected, and muttered to herself, as if she wanted to cry but had no tears.

Ling Chengen laughed and said, "How many requests do you have? Do you want me to count them on my fingers for you? Did you make ten or fifteen?"

Chongzhen touched the tip of her nose and pouted, "I'm just afraid that once I go out, you'll forget about me after a while."

"You're never short of people around you. Even without me, there's one, two, three... who will come knocking on your door."

"But what about me? I'm only relying on the letters you send and the little bit of local produce I have to make a living..."

"I want to be intimate with you, but even if I come back, I might still have to wait in line, and sometimes it depends on your mood..."

"These days of more wolves than meat... I wonder when things will get better!"

Ling Chengen pinched his cheek, listening to his rambling complaints, and couldn't help but laugh, "You're so good at complaining! So what should we do? Divide me into several pieces, and you can take one piece with you?"

Chongzhen was just being cheeky. After Ling Chengen said that, he suddenly stopped talking. Finally, he stared at her for a long time, then reached out and pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her long hair. The delicate fragrance filled his lungs, and his restless heart gradually calmed down.

Ling Chengen patted him on the back and comforted him, "If you miss home, come back and rest for a few days once things are settled! It's not like I'm making you sign a pledge that you can't come back unless you do something... I'm not that heartless."

Chongzhen leaned on her shoulder, lowered her eyes and said, "Please take good care of my father for me."

“His health isn’t very good. As soon as autumn arrives and the temperature drops, his old injuries start to ache. On the shelf in my study, there are some medicines that I got from Yuheng before. Those medicines need to be stored for a while before they can be used. I’ve written the dates on the labels. Please remember to send them over every two weeks according to the dates.”

“Last year, I delivered all the medicine to him at once, and he just stuffed it in the basement. He then completely forgot about it. By the time he remembered, all the medicinal herbs that I had painstakingly collected had gone bad and been wasted…”

Speaking of this, Chongzhen is also exhausted. Compared to the other beast husbands in the family, his family situation is actually relatively good.

Although he was not the child his mother had hoped for, he had the care and love of his father and the concern and trust of his clan since childhood.

But his father was a very frugal man. Perhaps because he had been the chief of a small tribe for too long and suffered too much from resource shortages, he was reluctant to use anything.

Especially those medicinal herbs whose names alone sound incredibly precious, as well as many high-value daily necessities, were sent back to him, but he kept them all and couldn't bear to take them out at all.

The result was that the items got spoiled, even though Chongzhen said it many times and even lost his temper...

But it's still useless.

Some things are ingrained in our bones.

Chongguang felt that he was too old to need such good things, so he would give them to orphans without parents, or to single-parent children whose parents had died in war or wild beast tides.

Chongzhen didn't care that Chongguang would give away the things he sent, but he felt it was necessary to keep a close eye on medicinal herbs, especially those that were specifically for Chongguang's health, to prevent them from being wasted or used on other people and causing problems, which would be very troublesome.

Ling Chengen listened to his detailed explanations without interrupting him, and took everything he mentioned to heart.

After explaining Chongguang's condition, Chongzhen then mentioned Shi Ruoan: "You also need to pay close attention to Shi Ruoan. It's understandable that you weren't in the city for a while, but you should spend more time with him during this period. Also, it would be best to have someone contact Shi Panxing and ask him to send more seafood or sea creatures suitable for merfolk to eat..."

"Although Shi Ruo'an's body is strong, her uterine cavity has degenerated to a certain extent, so no one can say for sure what will happen during childbirth. We need to pay more attention to her in the meantime."

"Also, there's the renovation of the pond in his yard... I've already done it once before, but it seems he needs to make some more changes recently. When you have some free time, go to the housing and construction department and have them make another design drawing according to his requirements. Once it's confirmed, start construction as soon as possible. If it's inconvenient for him to live there, he can move to my yard first. I also have a pond in my yard..."

"The blueprints for the main city in the East District... I haven't finished them yet, and I'm afraid I won't be able to finish them before I leave. So I'll take the blueprints with me first, and have them sent back after I'm done. Then you can go find the rat and ant orcs to build the city. Before you leave, I'll arrange the work for the housing and construction departments, and I'll give you a form to show you who is responsible for what kind of work. You can check the form to find out."

Ling Chengen leaned against the table and listened quietly to him. After Chongzhen finished speaking, he would pause for a few seconds to think about something, and only after confirming that nothing had been missed would he start arranging the next thing...

Ling Chengen knew that he was responsible for a lot of things, and they were very complicated, but he had never experienced it firsthand until today. He realized that he was really like a highly efficient AI, handling all kinds of huge and complicated work every day, but he never said anything discouraging like that he couldn't do it or that he was incapable.

The lamp was lit until late at night before Chongzhen had confessed most of his story.

Ling Chengen looked at the many lists already laid out on the table, rested his chin on his hand, and watched the fingertips holding the pen. He then poured him a cup of warm tea and asked, "How many things are still not arranged? Can't we deal with them tomorrow?"

Chongzhen stopped writing, turned his head to look at her, and smiled, saying, "Are you tired?"

"I'm not tired, but I've been sitting for most of the day, listening to you explain the work."

Ling Chengen gently tapped his cheek with his fingertip and asked in confusion, "Aren't you tired? Watching you spin like a top, it's exhausting just to look at you."

Chongzhen casually flipped through a stack of papers on her left. These were all documents she had already handed over to Ling Chengen. In fact, there were still quite a few administrative matters she hadn't handed over, such as various resource allocation ratios, and which resources to collect from which fixed locations during the autumn hunt. If the short collection period was missed, they might be gone forever...

But seeing Ling Chengen's slightly drooping eyelids and the drowsiness he was carefully hiding, he couldn't bear to keep talking to her any longer.

Chongzhen closed the pen cap, raised his hand to rub the back of his neck, rested his head on her shoulder, and said with a smile, "Shall we rest first? I'll find someone to help you with these things tomorrow; you probably can't handle it all by yourself."

Seeing that he was finally going to stop working, Ling Chengen breathed a sigh of relief. He helped him tidy up the papers and ink on the table, and after he washed up, the two went to bed to rest.

The two of them had been spending a lot of time together a few days ago, but today they didn't have any romantic feelings for each other.

Chongzhen reached out and put his arm around her waist, pressing his chest against her back, and said in a muffled voice, "I'm already feeling a bit sad about leaving even though we haven't left yet."

Ling Chengen, hugging a cushion, asked in surprise, "I've never seen you so attached to your home before?"

Chongzhen muttered softly, "I've never really been away from home much, okay? The longest I've ever been away was when we were building the City of Ten Thousand Beasts, but it wasn't actually that far. It was only a day and a night's journey, so it was easy to go back."

“I’ve realized that I’m being a bit sentimental right now…” Chongzhen lowered her head and gently bit her shoulder.

"Maybe it's because you've really spoiled me too much."

Ling Chengen rolled over in his arms and said in surprise, "I thought you were dissatisfied with me, after all, I'm not exactly a considerate and thoughtful partner."

Chongzhen sighed and said, "If we judge you by ordinary standards, you are definitely not a qualified partner."

"But how can things be calculated like that?"

"Under normal circumstances, females need the protection and companionship of male partners, as well as careful care."

"Ordinary couples rely on each other."

"But you can take care of yourself. Our presence is just icing on the cake for you."

"Even without us, you will still shine brightly and be radiant."

"I didn't actually do you any good."

“You don’t need me to hunt, and in terms of combat ability, I’m not as good as you. I can’t bear you offspring either, and I’ve even placed the burden of the entire tribe’s survival on your shoulders…”

"Compared to those male orcs who always give more benefits to their female partners, I'm actually more like a freeloader."

“You have always been the one supporting me and my people.”

"All I can give back to you is my meager abilities."

Chongzhen took a deep breath, a touch of sadness in her voice, and said, "So, uh..."

"All along, I've been too well taken care of by you."

If it were someone else, he probably wouldn't have had the chance to be so pretentious.

Like most male orcs, they might lead mediocre lives, vying for even the slightest favoritism from females, and using their hunting skills, which they are not particularly good at, to compete with other males for the opportunity to reproduce.