"With beads as beautiful as these, anyone can see they’re priceless treasures. No wonder they couldn’t help staring."
Everyone: Right, right, right. We’d like to live a few more years. Who would dare covet the divine lord’s possessions? Is the bond of the nine clans not deep enough, or do they not want to be reborn as humans in the next life?
"Little sister, what’s inside this box?" Yu Boming hurriedly changed the subject, afraid of hearing something even more terrifying.
"Just some pills and protective talismans." Her gaze fell on the box. "Take good care of them. They’re life-saving items."
Those who had been about to open and inspect their boxes immediately hugged them tightly, still glancing at each other.
"What are you looking at? Don’t you have your own?" Huo Sui shot a glare at Cai Bing, and the two of them looked ready to squabble like a couple of chickens pecking at each other again.
"Master, what are we having for dinner tonight?" Wei Yan shoved the two of them aside, letting them bicker somewhere else so they wouldn’t block the brothers from enjoying some good food.
"For food, you’ll have to ask the head chef. I only provide the ingredients."
With another wave of her hand, she summoned over a hundred baskets on the spot. They were filled with fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs, and aquatic products—everything imaginable. Of course, this still wasn’t enough to feed the entire army.
So she roused the stunned crowd, who had been rendered speechless and could only mutter incoherently. "Get some people to move these to the kitchen. Chef Wu will know what to make based on the ingredients."
Chef Wu was a direct apprentice of the cook from her own small kitchen, so he was no stranger to these ingredients.
"Master, what’s this?" Zheng Feng picked up a spiky, stinking object and asked Yue Fuguang.
"Ugh! What is this? Why does it stink so much?" The ever-curious Huo Sui leaned in and then immediately recoiled, overwhelmed by the stench of the durian.
Cai Bing sniffed the air. "Stinks? I think it smells pretty good!"
"Cai Bing, are you deliberately picking a fight with me?" Huo Sui raised his fist, ready to throw down with him.
"Fight outside!" Yu Boming kicked Huo Sui in the rear, sending him stumbling, which instantly shut him up.
Brushing the dust off his backside, he pinched his nose and came closer again. He didn’t believe Cai Bing. After a few more sniffs, it was still foul.
Yue Fuguang watched the expressions of the group—some grimacing from the smell, others finding it tolerable—and couldn’t help but chuckle. "This is a tropical fruit called durian. It’s known as the king of fruits."
"King of fruits? Then it must be delicious!"
"Well... those who like it will adore it, but those who don’t won’t be able to stomach even a bite." Yue Fuguang glanced at the nose-pinching Huo Sui. "It’s very sweet. You’ll know once you try it."
She took the durian from Zheng Feng and gently pried it open, revealing the yellow flesh inside.
Huo Sui quickly backed away, while Wei Yan and Cai Bing couldn’t help leaning in for a closer look.
"Not only is the fruit rich in nutrients, but the shell can also be used to stew chicken." Though, she added silently, eating too much might give you a case of internal heat.
"Would anyone like to try some?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Wei Yan grabbed a piece for Yue Fuguang first, then handed some to Zheng Feng, Yu Boming, Wei Huaping, and the others before eagerly taking a piece for himself.
"Mmm, so sweet!"
"Delicious! Master was right. No wonder it’s called the king of fruits. This is the sweetest and best fruit I’ve ever had!" Cai Bing ate with an expression of pure bliss, making Huo Sui frown from the side. He felt like the guy was messing with him.
Seeing Cai Bing, and thinking of his pie-loving son Cai Xian, Yue Fuguang chuckled again. "This fruit can also be used to make pastries and pies."
"Pies?" Cai Bing, true to being Cai Xian’s father, widened his small eyes at the mention of durian pies.
"It’s like this kind of pie." Too lazy to teach them how to make pizza, Yue Fuguang bought a few from her shop instead.
As everyone ate, all the baskets were moved out in no time. She waved her hand and summoned another hundred and twenty baskets.
Gazing at the now-packed hall, she nodded to herself. This should be enough for one meal.
[Master, don’t just focus on eating. Someone’s sneaking up!]
"Someone’s sneaking up? Who? How far?"
[About fifty li away, near Chengping Mountain. They’re dressed like bandits, but based on their weapons, they’re from Beili and Xiqiang.]
Chengping Mountain happened to sit at the border of Sandi, Beili, and Xiqiang. To the south was Dayan, to the north was Beili, and the western ridge extended into Xiqiang territory.
Chengping Mountain wasn’t large, but it inconveniently straddled three kingdoms.
"Beili and Xiqiang? Are they trying to copy the Southern Yue scoundrels? Little Zhu, are these people coming for me too?"
[Definitely! Master single-handedly solved Dayan’s drought crisis. Who wouldn’t want to take you back? If those two kingdoms keep drying up, their farmlands and pastures will be ruined. You’re their only hope now.]
Zheng Feng and the others had silently risen, hands resting on the hilts of their sabers. If anyone wanted to take the young master away, they’d have to step over their bodies first.
"How many are there?" Yue Fuguang glanced at the sky. It was just past noon. Fifty li away, even if they were all on horseback, by the time they arrived and launched an attack, it would be at least evening—shouldn’t delay her dinner plans.
[Fewer than eighteen thousand, but just enough to outnumber the garrison at Sandi.]
"What are Beili and Xiqiang thinking? If they’re disguising themselves as bandits, they should at least make it believable. What kind of bandit leads an army of over ten thousand?"
[Maybe they think that if they succeed in taking you, Mingxi Emperor will find out anyway. If they fail, this is just their fig leaf for diplomacy.]
In short, Dayan was already at odds with Southern Yue over words, and war could break out at any time. Even if they failed today, unless the Mingxi Emperor wanted to go to war with both kingdoms, he’d have to pretend ignorance and blame the incident on the bandits of Chengping Mountain.
Yue Fuguang guessed that those real bandits had probably already been recruited by them by now.
"The emperor is itching to go to war with them over the Southern Yue incident. If something happens today, no matter how he handles it, it’ll be bad for Dayan."
[Master means we should stop this from happening?] The two of them had calculated that, with Dayan’s current military strength, a full-scale war—even with Yue Fuguang’s help—would be a pyrrhic victory.
So for Dayan, the best path to unification was to pick off the enemies one by one, or at most fight two at a time. Given time, they’d deal with the rest.
"Right. Now’s not the time to take on Beili and Xiqiang."
Wei Shouyi and Shen Jian exchanged a glance. They had braced themselves for a bloody battle, but the young master wanted to prevent this war. But how? Those were over ten thousand men.
[Master, your abilities haven’t even recovered a ten-thousandth of their full strength. How do you plan to stop that many?]
Yue Fuguang stroked her chin. Too many people—she’d have to use area-effect tactics.
But she didn’t want to incur the karmic burden of taking over ten thousand lives all at once, so she couldn’t resort to anything too drastic.
"What if I gave them poison? Not lethal, just something that robs them of their mobility." After weighing her options, poisoning seemed the most efficient method.
She had indeed been infected by those several countries—whenever she wanted to stir up trouble or attack someone, the first thought that came to her was poison!
Without even realizing it, she had become quite an expert at poisoning!