Chapter 290
Chapter 290
The next morning, Jiang Yunsui was awakened by a chorus of chirping birds.
She opened her eyes groggily and followed the sound, only to discover that the trees in the courtyard were crowded with birds of every kind.
“Meow~”
The Black Cat swished its tail and rubbed against her lower leg.
Jiang Yunsui yawned. Then she looked around the courtyard and received a fright.
“Whoa! What happened last night?”
She had simply fallen asleep and knew nothing about what had occurred.
Sensing the energy inside her, far more abundant than usual, Jiang Yunsui felt as if she possessed inexhaustible strength.
“So much grass. So many mushrooms.”
The weeds had grown remarkably tall.
They looked fresh and juicy, exactly the sort of thing herbivores loved to eat.
Jiang Yunsui rolled up her sleeves, fetched a sickle, and began scything through the grass at tremendous speed.
Then she carried it to the horse kept in the rear courtyard.
It was the lame horse Jiang Yunsui had once snapped up for a bargain.
Its leg and illness had both been cured.
Once it recovered, however, its appetite became terrifying. It needed enough food for three horses before it felt full.
Fortunately, Jiang Yunsui could easily afford to feed it.
Every time the weeds in the courtyard were cut, another crop sprang up.
Along with the grass, the horse received soybean pulp, sweet potato pulp, and even some eggs. After being fed this way for a while, the creature that had once been so thin its bones showed, seemingly on the verge of death, filled out as though someone were inflating a balloon beneath its skin.
When it had nearly recovered, Jiang Yunsui took it for a bath.
Only after washing it clean did she discover that its coat was not a dingy gray at all, but a beautiful silver-white.
It had simply been terribly neglected before, leaving it frail and its coat dull. Moreover, its work consisted of hauling sweet potatoes, grain, firewood, charcoal, and other such things, and its owner had never once bathed it. Dust and charcoal ash had completely concealed its natural coloring.
“Little White.”
Jiang Yunsui carried a large bundle of fresh grass into the rear courtyard, only to find that weeds had filled the entire place.
She blinked. Had the affected area grown this much?
Amid the grass stood a magnificent horse that seemed to gleam beneath the daylight, flicking its tail as it happily grazed.
This was the utterly transformed Little White.
Under the sunlight, its coat looked even more lustrous and pristine.
When the White Horse saw Jiang Yunsui, it clip-clopped over and rubbed its head affectionately against her.
Little White trusted Jiang Yunsui with all its heart.
After all, it owed its present condition entirely to her.
When Jiang Yunsui first brought it home, years of deprivation had damaged its foundations too severely. Not even the finest horse keeper could have restored it to health.
Only Jiang Yunsui could replenish everything its body had lost.
“Go on, eat. Eat lots.”
“Once you’ve had a little longer to recover, you can go out and play. Everyone’s jaws will drop when they see you.”
“Who could possibly recognize you as that dingy, skinny horse that nearly died of illness?”
“I told you I have a good eye. I knew you were a beautiful, wonderful horse. Just look how pretty you are now that I’ve taken care of you.”
Little White now loved hearing Jiang Yunsui call it beautiful. It pranced around happily, swishing its tail as though it were dancing-and with an impressive sense of rhythm too.
Jiang Yunsui still had work to do. After stroking Little White’s head, she began picking mushrooms.
Looking at the courtyard full of them, she realized she could not possibly finish the job alone.
So she went next door to summon help.
Shuqin, Shuhua, and several other maids came to gather mushrooms, while a few guards cut the grass.
Nanny Zhou supervised them all.
“Pick those Verdant Jade Mushrooms as soon as possible and send them away to be dried.”
Verdant Jade Mushrooms were one of the principal ingredients in hemostatic and healing pills.
To obtain more of them, Shen Qingzhu had often made precious medicinal herbs into candy pills for Jiang Yunsui.
An enormous number of Verdant Jade Mushrooms had sprouted overnight.
After leaving matters here to Nanny Zhou, Jiang Yunsui led her canine army back to the battlefield.
She was bursting with motivation.
She had already noticed the increase in the power of merit within her.
It took little thought to understand why.
Thus, armed with inexhaustible strength and carrying today’s lunch, Jiang Yunsui set off with the dogs.
She collected medicine first, then resumed yesterday’s work.
She kept this up for two days. Every night when she returned, she was so tired that she fell asleep immediately.
She did not let the opportunity go to waste. Rather than sleeping inside, she sat cross-legged in the courtyard and slept there.
When she woke the next morning, she would once again possess inexhaustible strength. Meanwhile, crop after crop of weeds and mushrooms sprang up and matured throughout the courtyard.
The affected area steadily expanded. By the second day, tender weeds and mushrooms had even appeared all over Ji Yan’an’s residence next door.
Every kind of tree grew taller and more luxuriant.
Even the cultivated fruit saplings shot up in a very short time, nearly becoming young trees.
Judging by their appearance, they would probably bear fruit next year.
That evening, Ji Yan’an returned to the residence as well and witnessed the little girl’s entire cultivation process.
“Has she been sleeping like this every night after she returns?”
Nanny Zhou nodded, gazing at Jiang Yunsui with distress.
“Miss insists on sleeping in the courtyard. We couldn’t persuade her to leave.”
At such times, ordinary people who approached Jiang Yunsui felt wonderfully comfortable. The air seemed much fresher, and even their bodies felt noticeably lighter.
The effect was still more pronounced for Ji Yan’an, whose poisoned body was severely depleted. His usual heaviness faded, his breathing became easy, and even his headache disappeared.
“Bring me a couch.”
Nanshu stared at him in shock. “Young Master, you can’t! It’s so cold outside.”
Ji Yan’an said, “I’m not staying in the courtyard. Put it in the room.”
“I’ll rest here tonight.”
Very well. Unable to dissuade him, Nanshu had someone bring over a couch, make it up, and provide a thick quilt.
Ji Yan’an soon fell into a deep sleep.
Shen Qingzhu arrived in the middle of the night.
If not for the clothes on his body, one might have mistaken him for a savage emerging from the wilderness.
“Doctor Shen?”
The hidden guards Ji Wu and Ji Lu were on duty at the gate tonight. They almost failed to recognize him.
Shen Qingzhu yawned as he staggered unsteadily along like a drunkard.
Descending the steps, he planted one foot on empty air and tumbled across the ground. In the end, he landed facedown and lay completely motionless.
Ji Wu and Ji Lu jolted in alarm.
Good heavens! He hadn’t just fallen to his death, had he?
They hurried over to check. Upon discovering that he was still breathing, both immediately heaved sighs of relief.
He had scared them half to death.
“Looking at him, he probably hasn’t slept in days.”
“Let’s take him to a room so he can sleep.”
As they passed through the courtyard, they glanced at the weeds and mushrooms visibly growing before their eyes. Even though this was not the first time they had seen such a sight, they remained astonished.
After putting Shen Qingzhu to bed in a room, the two quietly edged a little closer to Jiang Yunsui.
They could not help it. Standing near her truly felt wonderful.
Martial artists inevitably accumulated all manner of hidden injuries. After standing there for only a short while, they felt as though even those old wounds had eased considerably.