Chapter 439: Chapter 6: Strange Plant - Vincetoxicum Fern (Part 2)
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Xiao Xian would rather grab a hoe and a basket to enjoy her fill of cherries, but Mei Nian had already issued a strict order. She’s not to engage in anything else, her only job is to chop firewood, she is to stay clear of all other farm work.
Chopping firewood would have been fine, except she was given a firewood knife that was blunt on both the back and the edge.
"Xiao Xian, coming to chop wood again?" asked an elder from the village, rumored to be over a hundred years old.
There are about a hundred people in Meijia Village, and after going back and forth a few times, most of the villagers have come to recognize Xiao Xian.
Xiao Xian responded and then glanced again at the cherries heavy on the trees, secretly swallowing her saliva, and walked up to the so-called "firewood."
What Xiao Xian is supposed to chop isn’t really firewood. The term "firewood" is more like a pictograph, used to describe its appearance.
That evening, after dinner, Sister-in-law Hua took Xiao Xian to the "firewood" Mei Nian had tasked her with chopping.
"This bunch of firewood, it just popped up out of nowhere. Meijia Village has been rooted here for over a hundred years, and one year a torrential rain caused stones and trees from the mountains to slide down, burying an older fruit cellar the villagers had built. When the village organized a cleanup, after moving the stones and rotten wood, they found the entrance to the cellar blocked by a strange bunch of plant looking like ferns," the villagers live a self-sufficient life, and apart from using some coal balls for the fire during festivals, most use ordinary firewood and some dried ferns.
At the beginning, the villagers also tried sickles and axes, even set fires, but no matter which method they used, the bunch of firewood that resembled large ferns kept growing back even more. A month after the heavy rain, the ferns had grown from just covering the entrance of the fruit cellar to enveloping the entire cellar, even two acres of the land the cellar stood on were completely covered.
Later, after Mei Nian came to look a few times, she ordered the villagers not to approach the bunch of ferns without her permission. Who knows what she was thinking this time, letting Xiao Xian come and tinker with this thing.
Xiao Xian also asked Sister-in-law Hua back then, given such a bizarre plant, why didn’t the villagers ask an agricultural expert to inspect it.
The answer Sister-in-law Hua gave rendered Xiao Xian speechless, "If Miss says no cutting, we can’t approach, and outsiders are not allowed either." In the eyes of Meijia Village’s people, Mei Nian is akin to a deity. Xiao Xian didn’t argue and just started working on the bunch of firewood with the blunt knife, in line with Mei Nian’s thinking.
On the first day, Xiao Xian wanted to cut corners and tossed aside the blunt knife. Only then did she understand why Mei Nian gave her a blunt knife.
When she haphazardly chopped down a stalk with brute force, the "firewood," whose leaves looked like feathers, immediately sprouted new branches and leaves.
Xiao Xian thought she was seeing things and, making sure no one was around, took out the Spiritual Rhinoceros Scissors and snipped twice at the spot she had previously cut.
Not cutting would have been better; as soon as she snipped, ten new branches burst out on the section of the firewood, each one more lush than before the cut.
That day, Xiao Xian spent experimenting repeatedly. She tried breaking it with her hands, burning it with fire, and at one point, she even dragged a sheep from a villager’s home.
Before the sheep could even finish chewing the fern leaf in its mouth, it was scared off by the regrowth and ran away on all fours.
"If this unknown thing was planted in the farm, even a thousand cattle and sheep would be no concern," Xiao Xian lay in bed and concluded, "Cutting with the Spiritual Rhinoceros Scissors gives the worst results, one to ten; worse than the saying that plucking one gray hair will result in three growing back. The sheep eats and three grow back, a normal knife yields one to five, burning with fire..."
After comparing for a week, Xiao Xian was still at a loss facing the bunch of firewood. On the tenth day, Mei Nian arrived.
She particularly came to inspect Xiao Xian’s pruning progress. Seeing no progress from Xiao Xian, she didn’t rush her: "The prohibition was set by Mei Xiang, and I thought you, as her disciple, would have a way to solve the problem with this bunch of firewood."
The Mei sisters are twins, and it has only been a couple of decades since Mei Nian truly took over Meijia Village. Apart from the village chief, there aren’t many who can really tell the sisters apart, so they treat them as mother and daughter, with the later arrival Mei Nian being called Miss.
"I’ve only met Granny Mei Xiang once, she didn’t have time to tell me so much," Xiao Xian thought for a moment, "If you want to know the answer, you could simply ask Granny Mei Xiang herself. It’s pointless to bother me, an unofficial disciple."
"Mei Xiang has disappeared," Mei Nian replied indifferently, standing in front of the bunch of firewood with her hands behind her back.
"Disappeared? But her Spiritual Body appeared the night I received the Spiritual Rhinoceros Scissors." Xiao Xian noticed that Mei Nian clenched her hands behind her into fists, a displeased expression crossing her face.
"When you’ve cleared this bunch of firewood, I’ll tell you the story. I can give you a hint: in this world of yin and yang, when anything is in decline or prosperity, if you seize the right moment, you can turn decay into growth," Mei Nian said and then turned to walk away. After a few steps, she didn’t turn back but spoke firmly, "Recently, some people snuck onto Yanqing’s farm trying to commit arson."
Xiao Xian heard this and quickly rushed forward, questioning, "Who was it? Are aunt and uncle alright?"
"No one was hurt, some things went awry; it could have been Huang’s people, or maybe Xu Changfu’s. I’ve already sent someone to watch over the farm. However, if you can’t even handle this Vincetoxicum fern, it’s useless for you to go out," after saying this, Mei Nian drifted toward a cluster of rose bushes.
A wind passed through, and although it was a summer night’s breeze, Xiao Xian was left with chills all over her body.
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Thanks to "Qingquan0901182318" for the pink ticket, as the month’s end nears, the revolution is not yet successful, Fu Zi and everyone still need to strive hard – strive to match the Vincetoxicum fern – live and prosper
**(To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian () to cast recommendation tickets, monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)
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