Chapter 184

The woodland was occasionally filled with birdsong in the morning. After asking for silver needles, Fan Xiaoxiao sat down with Master Lu in front of the wooden stakes left by Village Chief Fu and his men who had been logging the day before.

The silver needles were quickly brought over, and Fan Xiaoxiao inserted them into several places. When she pulled them out, the silver needles still hadn't changed color.

Fan Xiaoxiao breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the silver needles clean, and returned them to Xiaobao.

The latter frowned as she looked at the sesame cake that her aunt had poked all over with holes, and shook her head at Fan Xiaoxiao like a little adult: "Auntie, you shouldn't waste food like this! It's full of holes."

After saying that, Xiao Bao reached out to grab the pancake. But just as the little guy was about to touch the pancake...

A hoarse, unpleasant bird call interrupted the little dumpling's actions. A crow with wings as big as a human arm flapped its wings and landed suddenly in front of the pancake. Then, it opened its beak, snatched the pancake, and flew away, leaving behind a few feathers.

"Ah...it's been stolen..."

Xiao Bao stared at the feather that was slowly falling, his mouth wide open, looking completely dazed.

Fan Xiaoxiao was amused by his appearance. She patted the silly boy's head and then stood up and dusted herself off.

"Alright, forget about giving the pancakes to the birds. Auntie will make you some kebabs tonight!"

The little guy was easily amused, and he waved his hand and started spinning around a few trees.

After returning to their camp, Fan Xiaoxiao told everyone about her idea of ​​building another large greenhouse.

Yesterday, everyone leveled the ground at the campsite where houses will be built. Next, we'll wait to finish leveling the road with the villagers before we can start building the houses.

If she wants to start earning money in the spring, she must plant the first batch of seeds during the winter. Only in this way can she guarantee that she can start earning money after spring.

She gave everyone a general description of what the greenhouse looked like, and Master Lu was the first to understand Fan Xiaoxiao's idea.

"You mean the materials for the greenhouse need to be translucent? I do have a material that can be used, some white oiled paper cloth. I brought some with me when I left Huilong Village, but it probably won't be enough. We'll have to go buy some more."

"How much does that kind of cloth cost?"

"About one tael of silver and three feet."

"So expensive!"

Fan Xiaoxiao didn't expect that her idea would suffer such a crushing defeat so soon after she put it forward. She scratched her face and started thinking about other possibilities.

Seeing her troubled, Master Lu also lowered his head and pondered whether there was anything similar that could replace that item.

Thinking about it, he suddenly remembered something that might actually be a substitute for that incredibly expensive white oiled paper. With that thought, Master Lu turned around and rummaged through the bundle he'd brought from Huilong Village, pulling something out and handing it to Fan Xiaoxiao.

"Take a look and see if this works."

Fan Xiaoxiao looked at the thing wrapped in layers in her hand with some doubt, squeezed it, and felt that the thing inside was a bit hard.

When she opened it, Fan Xiaoxiao was truly shocked.

The object wrapped in cloth was somewhat pitted and heavy, but you could still see the color of the cloth underneath.

Fan Xiaoxiao felt her hands trembling. Good heavens! This was far more dangerous than white oil paper. This was—glass!

"Can it be used? This is something I made to amuse Yu'er before. It's not a very difficult thing to make, but it uses up some stone materials."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Fan Xiaoxiao practically nodded her head in delight. Glass is so great! It heats up effortlessly! Most importantly, you don't have to worry about it getting scratched, and if you use it this year, you can use it again next winter!

"Then let's do this: we'll finish building the houses first, and then start building the blast furnace, which I also need. But at this rate, we'll have to speed up the construction... Can the people of Ginkgo Village help us?"

"They were already dissatisfied with them because of the Celestial Venerable's matter, and on top of that, no food was even prepared here yesterday. If it weren't for the Celestial Venerable's sake, I'm afraid they wouldn't have come today."

At this point, a hint of regret appeared on Aunt Wang's face: "It's all my fault. I was harboring some resentment, so..."

Madam Fan patted her hand: "Godmother, it all happened yesterday. In the end, it's all my fault. I was so busy cutting down trees that I didn't pay attention to the people on their side."

Fan Xiaoxiao watched the two of them pass the buck back and forth, feeling both amused and exasperated. She shook her head helplessly and said, "Stop arguing. No one is to blame. Let's just think about how to make amends."

"Remedy? How do we remedy it?"

Fan Xiaoxiao smiled at everyone: "Borrowing money."

The people from Ginkgo Village arrived late, after noon.

As many had guessed, there were far fewer people today than yesterday.

Fan Xiaoxiao pretended not to care and followed behind to work. When it was time for Village Chief Fu to lead the people of Ginkgo Village to rest, she took the opportunity to pour some cool tea for them, and then went over with Xiaobao and Xiaoyu to pour tea for everyone.

When the village chief saw them coming over, he gave a sarcastic snort: "Miss Fan, it's really not easy for you to get a sip of your tea."

Fan Xiaoxiao realized that he was subtly implying that they hadn't even prepared food yesterday, so she looked up and smiled slightly at Village Chief Fu.

"Look at what you're saying, village chief. We were wrong yesterday. We did encounter some trouble. The Celestial Venerable summoned me to the Tianshan Sect to discuss some matters. Everyone was worried that something might have happened to me and was concerned about me, which is why we couldn't properly entertain you all. Don't worry, village chief, we have prepared some rabbit and wolf meat today so that you can taste the culinary skills of our southwest region."

Fan Xiaoxiao briefly recounted what happened yesterday, but Village Chief Fu didn't care whether they were eating wolf meat or rabbit meat today.

"You went to Tianshan yesterday? And you even met the Celestial Venerable?"

Fan Xiaoxiao pretended not to understand the probing in the other person's words, nodded, and casually poured another cup of tea for Village Chief Fu.

"Yes, I saw him."

"The Celestial Venerable is busy with countless affairs of state. When did he come to summon you to Tianshan? Little girl, I don't mean anything by this. I'm just an old man here. Since you've come to my Ginkgo Village, you're also connected to my village in some way. If the Celestial Venerable has any instructions, tell me so I can help you make some decisions. Do you agree?"

The village chief's words sounded so sincere that Fan Xiaoxiao suppressed a laugh, drawing out her words as she looked around at the villagers who were pretending to rest but were actually listening intently.

"Village chief, I appreciate your kindness, but..."

Village Chief Fu immediately understood Fan Xiaoxiao's meaning. After clearing his throat, he yelled at everyone, "Aren't you going to work? Are you waiting for me to do it? If you finish early, we have to go back and harvest the grain! Don't any of you have any plans for the autumn harvest?!"

The men rolled their eyes at the village chief's scolding, but out of respect for his status, they dared not say anything openly. They could only mutter a few words before getting up to work.

Seeing that most of the people had left, Village Chief Fu approached Fan Xiaoxiao again, frowning as he asked, "What exactly happened?"

Fan Xiaoxiao mimicked his manner, cleared her throat again, and then lowered her voice slightly, saying, "Do you know why the Heavenly Venerable treats my Fan family so well?"

Village Chief Fu shook his head: "Why?"

Fan Xiaoxiao smiled slightly at Village Chief Fu: "Because my Fan family has a unique skill that can make money!"

(End of this chapter)