Chapter 27 Camphor Tree - Shocking Shocking Shocking

In short, Daoya's words reminded Ningjia that with a ready-made yard and plenty of sunshine, why not grow some vegetables? That way, she could save money on groceries.

But at this time of year, it's too late to start planting vegetables from the ground up. With the help of the little people, Ning Jia went to the park and dug up some soil that was said to be very fertile. She replaced the soil in the flower bed that had run out of nutrients, loosened the soil, fertilized it, and planted the seedlings. The previously bare flower bed was suddenly covered in green.

The flowerbed wasn't large, but it had a good variety of flowers.

Ning Jia stood in front of the flower bed and put up a small sign next to it, writing down the planting date and the names of the vegetables: lettuce, bok choy, water spinach, cilantro... She also planned to plant some scallions next to it.

As for whether they can survive and what kind of vegetables they can grow, that depends on the individual efforts of each vegetable.

After hearing that Ning Jia was planning to "free-range vegetable growing", the other little people didn't react much, but Daoya couldn't help but show a worried expression several times.

At first, Ning Jia didn't notice, but later every time she went to the park, Dao Ya would ask her how the vegetables at home were growing, as if checking her homework: Have they sprouted? Are the leaves green? Are they lush? Are the roots strong? ... She would also mutter some plant knowledge that Ning Jia couldn't understand at all.

She immediately realized what was happening and quickly extended an olive branch to Daoya:

"Daoya, why don't you help me plant vegetables?"

Daoya paused for a moment, touched her short brown hair on her little head, and asked with a mixture of anticipation and hesitation, "...Will this work?"

Seeing her embarrassed yet eager expression, Ning Jia deliberately spoke loudly:

"I've been so busy lately, is there anyone willing to help take care of my vegetables?"

Hearing this, the other little people gathered around, each chiming in with their own opinions: "Growing vegetables? That sounds like a lot of fun!" "I want to grow vegetables too!" "I don't want to grow vegetables, why can't they just grow by themselves?"

Even the clan chief, Cang Lan, was drawn over. She stroked her chin and pondered, "Growing vegetables? That sounds like a very good activity."

As she spoke, she began to reminisce about the past, "Actually, our ancestors also used to farm, but later they migrated to the forest and found that there was plenty of food there, so they could live well even without farming, and this craft was gradually lost."

What? Our ancestors used to farm?

This was the first time most of the children had heard about it, and their expressions varied: some were surprised, some regretful, some indifferent, and some relieved.

He Meng whispered to Bai Su, "Luckily it's been lost, I don't want to dig in the dirt every day," which made Bai Su laugh, cupping her peach-shaped face. She then whispered something in He Meng's ear.

"Ah? Oh! So that's how it is." He Meng suddenly realized, looked at Ning Jia, then at Dao Ya, and a relieved expression appeared on her little face. "You should have said so earlier! It wasn't meant for me to go farming!"

Ningjia's recruitment for farming attracted many little people to sign up, but when they heard that if they participated, they would have to go to Ningjia's place every day to take care of the seedlings, several little people backed out on the spot: one or two days is fine, but farming every day is too troublesome.

Ning Jia deliberately made growing vegetables sound very tiring and difficult, which caused a significant decrease in the number of people signing up. In the end, four little people, including Daoya, became Ning Jia's little helpers in growing vegetables.

Canglan announced, "Starting tomorrow, Daoya, Gancao... a few of you will go to Lord Ningjia's residence to help with planting vegetables, while the rest of you will stay here to continue making flower wreaths."

This arrangement sounds perfect, except for one problem.

Ning Jia: "Clan leader, I still have to work during the day, and the new home is quite far from the company, so I may not have time to pick up Daoya and the others from home."

Cang Lan stroked her chin and smiled calmly, "That's not a problem, just let them go over there on their own."

Ning Jia was stunned for a moment. Right, Plum Blossom Park is very close to her home. It only takes a few minutes to ride a bike. Don't underestimate the short legs of the little people. Daoya and the others are young and strong, and they can walk very fast. It only takes about fifteen minutes to get there.

“Huh,” Ning Jia finally noticed something was wrong, “Clan leader, won’t people see you walking like this on the main road?”

Canglan also exclaimed "Eh?", "Don't you know?"

"Our race is able to move freely in the world of giants by two means: first, by using illusions to conceal ourselves with external objects; and second, by using invisibility magic to hide ourselves when there is nothing to cover us. However, this invisibility magic is very energy-consuming and cannot be sustained for long."

Ning Jia: Wait a minute? What did you say? I didn't hear you clearly?

She could understand the many illusions that living things use in nature, but what was this invisibility technique all about?!

Seeing that Ning Jia didn't believe her at all, Cang Lan didn't say anything more. She waved her little hand to He Meng beside her and said, "Give Lord Ning Jia a demonstration of the invisibility technique... cough, demonstrate the invisibility technique."

He Meng came over happily, then suddenly her mind went blank for a moment. Oh no, it's been so long since she used the invisibility spell, she's forgotten how to chant the incantation...

Seeing her dazed look, Bai Su understood perfectly and quietly mouthed a few words to her.

Oh~~ I remember now. He Meng's eyes lit up, and with zero frames, she started doing a mid-air flip. Just as she was halfway through the flip, she suddenly disappeared.

Ning Jia stared at the scene in disbelief, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets: ...Super, super, super, super power?

Is the world too fantastical, or am I too conservative?

Seeing Ning Jia speechless with shock, Cang Lan smiled and said, "If we didn't have magic to protect ourselves, our clan would have fallen into the clutches of some giants long ago when we entered the city."

Only those of the same clan know, Ning Jia thought about it again and found it made a lot of sense.

Besides, since dwarfs already exist in this world, why can't they also become invisible?

She quickly convinced herself, and then Canglan continued:

"Actually, when you took us to visit your residence before, Xuecao had already memorized the route."

Ning Jia was shocked again. How could this be?

Even if Xuecao could use invisibility to come out of the basket and observe the route, she didn't have paper and pen, let alone a mobile phone. How did she manage to remember this route?

Although the park was nearby, it wasn't a straight road; it was winding and circuitous, and even she had to walk it several times to remember it. For the little people, it was quite a distance.

Xuecao laughed, "As long as there are trees along the way, it's fine. Each tree looks and smells different, so they're easy to identify."

Real or fake?

Ning Jia questioned life once again, "You mean, you can tell which way to go just by the smell of the trees by the roadside?"

“Yes,” Xuecao said confidently, “as long as there are trees, I won’t get lost.”

She added, "If there are no trees, flowers and grass will do."

Just then, He Meng, who had disappeared and gone off to play somewhere, returned and pointed to herself very enthusiastically, "I can do this too! I can do this too!"

Canglan nodded and casually pointed to a few of her clansmen. "Most of my clansmen have their own methods of remembering the way, only a few are really lacking in talent..." She changed the subject, "In short, getting to your residence from here is not a difficult task for my clan."

Ning Jia, who had already been shocked countless times, suddenly felt a strange sense of relief: it seemed that the true strength of the little people was far greater than she had imagined.

On the way back, Ning Jia was still thinking about the little people's navigation skills, so she deliberately slowed down and carefully looked at the trees on both sides of the road.

She could only roughly identify some of the trees as magnolias, ginkgo trees, and camphor trees; she couldn't distinguish the others beyond that.

However, upon closer inspection, there are indeed many differences between the trees, not only in appearance but also in smell.

Among these roadside trees, Ning Jia especially likes camphor trees, which are crisp, refreshing, and have a pleasant smell.

She couldn't resist pressing herself against a camphor tree, taking a deep breath of its fragrance—a faint, subtle aroma, tranquil and understated, that smelled truly comforting.

Isn't this free "natural fragrance" much more cost-effective than those expensive designer perfumes?

After it was decided that the little people would help (crossed out) with the vegetable planting, Ning Jia suddenly realized: That's right, one of the reasons I moved here was to make it easier to interact with the little people.

Although the little people said they didn't need to be picked up and could walk over on their own, they couldn't open the courtyard gate and the house door, so they still had to think of other ways.

Ning Jia walked around the yard a few times, thinking about how to modify the house to make it easier for the little people to come and go. Of course, the best modification would be one that didn't cost any money.

Soon, several long green vines were hanging on the high courtyard wall. These were free materials that Ning Jia had picked in the park, which could be used for decoration and also make it easier for children to climb.

She even hung a string of small flowers on the gate of the courtyard as a marker. Actually, the courtyard was the last one in the alley, so it was usually easy to mistake it, but hanging the small flowers did... look quite nice.

Most importantly, Ning Jia installed surveillance cameras in the yard and inside the house, so that even when she is outside, she can see everything happening at home. This greatly increases security.

"If anything urgent happens, just talk to me through this, and I'll come right back," Ning Jia said to the little figures, pointing to the surveillance camera in the yard.

"Wow, that's amazing! Is this also the power of a technological god?"

After Ning Jia casually mentioned "the mysterious power of technology," the little people began to regard technology as a god in the giant world, just like the tree god in their world. Anyway, in a sense, the technology tree is a tree (just kidding).

"In short, you must be careful on your journeys. Some of the giants outside can be very dangerous," Ning Jia added, and the little people all nodded in agreement.

With only a few days left at the company, Ning Jia is making the most of every opportunity to get freebies and has even set her sights on the delivery boxes her colleagues have just opened.

"Dingdang, do you still want these styrofoam boxes?"

My colleague shook his head. "No, you can take them all."

Ning Jia happily thanked her, "That's great, I can take it back and plant some scallions."

Another colleague said quietly, "Jiajia, if you're really short of money, make more sleep-aid sachets. Please, my child hasn't slept well for a month."

Ning Jia shifted her gaze somewhat guiltily. She had been busy moving and had also received two large orders for flower wreaths and jewelry, so she had long forgotten about the sachets.

"Um, my friend has been busy moving lately, and even I haven't had any sachets to use. Don't worry, I'll remind her!"

My colleague said sadly, "Jiajia, it seems like you're about to leave our company. Will you stop selling sachets altogether?"

"How could that be? I'm unemployed, of course I have to keep selling."

Ning Jia didn't mention that she had already submitted many resumes and that she would have an interview in a few days, but she patted her chest and assured them.