Exile? A mad, wicked woman empties the national treasury to escape famine.

She stepped aside, clearing the space around the durian tree for everyone.

"Well, just know your limits. Safety is the most important thing. Pick what you can, and leave the rest alone."

Now that the durian trees have been brought out, the task of harvesting the durians is up to them.

Ji Yunshu relented, and the others could no longer hold back. Xiao Ergou led several men forward, each with a rope tied around their waist. They grabbed the trunk of the durian tree with both hands and climbed up using both hands and feet.

The men Xiao Ergou brought this time were all young and strong men from the village, skilled at climbing trees. Before long, seven or eight of them had climbed up the durian tree.

The durian tree is tall and large with many branches. Even with so many people climbing up, there are still plenty of empty spaces on the tree.

Sherin also wanted to climb up and experience it. He handed his sword to Xiaolan and told her to catch the durians below. He also tied a rope around his waist and, using both his hands and feet, quickly climbed to the top of the tree.

Xie Lin was used to climbing trees in the village when he was a child. After growing up, he continued to practice martial arts with Xie Moyao, and his skills never declined. Compared to Xiao Ergou and the others, Xie Lin's tree-climbing skills were even better.

Before long, he climbed to the top of the durian tree, picked the top durian, took the rope from his waist, tied the durian to the top of the rope, and then slowly carried the durian down from the top.

Xiao Ergou and the others followed his method, pulling up the rope around their waists, tying the durians they had picked to one end of the rope, and then slowly lowering the durians down from the tree by pulling on the other end of the rope.

This was a plan they had discussed on their way here.

Seeing this, the officials were eager to get the men up the tree. They had brought ropes, but they hadn't expected the tree to be so tall that the ropes they brought weren't long enough.

Helpless, they had to take off everyone's clothes, tie one end of each garment to another, and so on until they had taken off the outer garments of four or five officials. Only then was the tied length slightly enough.

Some people were picking durians from the trees, while others were catching them from below, carrying the durians they had brought down from above and placing them aside one by one.

Before long, several piles of durians were stacked up. Each durian was big and plump, and looked very tempting.

Bored, Ji Yunshu found a place to sit down.

The durian tree was very tall, and even after everyone had been picking for so long, she didn't know exactly how many durians were left on the tree. However, she had climbed up the tree before and looked at the durians on the ground, so she estimated that they hadn't even picked a quarter of them.

We'll have to wait a while longer.

Seeing that everyone was busy, she was bored sitting there, so she decided to use her mind to explore the space and came to the black soil inside.

There are several other empty plots of black soil nearby.

Taking advantage of this free time, she went to the mall and found some sugarcane and other fruit tree seeds. She took some of everything that wasn't in her spatial storage.

In short, she took every kind of fruit tree that could be planted.

She planted the fruit tree seeds she had taken out in the black soil and watered them with the spiritual spring water.

Considering the weather was getting colder, she took out a lot of cotton seeds from her space, scattered them on the remaining black soil, and then watered them with spiritual spring water.

After doing all this, she returned to the villa. The air conditioner in the living room was on, and the temperature was just right.

Outside the space, the villagers and officials were picking durians with great enthusiasm. As they picked the durians off the trees one by one, Xie Zhaoting, who was standing aside watching with only his eyes open, became very anxious.

He came alone, without teaming up with anyone. Right now, those who can pick durians from the trees are all in teams.

Just like the villagers, those above picked the fruit while those below caught it, and the officials cooperated in the same way.

He was all alone; he couldn't even climb the tree, let alone pick the fruit.

Xie Zhaoting was so anxious that he stomped his feet. If he had known it would be like this, he would have brought his wife along. Now he had made the trip for nothing. He couldn't possibly come back empty-handed without even bringing back a durian.

He is very weak right now and desperately needs durian to nourish his body!

He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. His eyes darted around, and he quietly moved toward the villagers.

The villagers were all receiving durians delivered from above. Taking advantage of the crowd's inattention, he slowly approached the pile of durians on the ground.

He wanted to sneak away with a durian when no one was looking, but durians are big and prickly, so it wasn't easy for him to do so.

Just as his hand touched the durian, a villager behind him bumped into him, causing him to lose his balance and fall headlong into a pile of durians.

"Ouch! Ouch!"

He lost his balance and fell onto a pile of durians, grimacing as he was pricked by the thorns.

The villager who bumped into him was a man who seemed honest. Upon realizing he had hit someone, he quickly apologized to Xie Zhaoting.

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

Xie Zhaoting struggled to stand up from the pile of durians, his whole body covered in durian thorns, which almost killed him in pain.

He glared fiercely at the man who had bumped into him, about to unleash a torrent of abuse, but then, glancing at the durian on the ground, he said rather irritably,

"It's nothing serious. It's my fault for not paying attention; I was too busy watching you pick the durians."

As he spoke, his tone lowered, sounding somewhat pitiful.

"Hey, you guys seem to be having a great time picking durians. With so many of you working together, it's like taking candy from a baby for you. But I'm different. I'm all alone, with no one to help me pick durians."

Look, you've picked so many, and more are still being delivered from above. Young man, how about you give me three of your durians, and I'll let bygones be bygones for what happened earlier.

He's so smart.

The villager in front of him looked honest and simple. Knowing the villagers he knew, he figured that since the man had spoken so pitifully, he would definitely give him three durians as compensation.

Xie Zhaoting couldn't hide the smile on his lips. If he had known that the durian would come so easily, he wouldn't have needed to follow the others and travel over mountains and valleys.

The man scratched his head, a hint of hesitation flashing in his eyes.

He only bumped into this person, and this person actually asked him for three durians!

Three whole durians!

That's outrageous!

There are several hundred villagers in total, and there aren't many durians in total. They'll probably have to eat them sparingly if they take them back. But this person asked him for three durians as soon as he asked. He really didn't want to give them to him.

Seemingly sensing the man's reluctance, Xie Zhaoting suddenly covered his head.

"Ouch, my head hurts so much, my body hurts so much, my hands hurt so much, they're covered in holes from being pricked by durian thorns. Ouch, it really hurts, it really hurts! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have gotten pinched like this!"