Li Jinhua stood up straight.

"I have nothing now, nothing to lose. But what about you, Vice Principal Zhang? Is your future, your family, worth ruining over this?"

Footsteps sounded outside the office; a teacher passed by and peered inside curiously.

Zhang Haiyang quickly adjusted his expression, forced a stiff smile, and whispered.

"Li Jinhua, you'll regret this."

"You're the one who'll regret it."

Li Jinhua turned around, opened the door, and walked out of the vice principal's office with her head held high in front of everyone, before slamming the door shut.

The glass on the door frame rattled loudly, and all the teachers in the office looked up at her in surprise.

Li Jinhua's hands were still trembling, but her back was ramrod straight as she walked back to her seat step by step.

Teacher Liu leaned closer and asked in a low voice.

"Are you alright? What does Vice Principal Zhang want with you?"

Li Jinhua took a deep breath and gave a calm smile.

"Nothing much, just discussing the course schedule for next semester."

She opened her lesson plan and found that her hands were no longer trembling.

When the school bell rang, Li Jinhua packed up her lesson plans and walked out of the school gate.

She touched her flat stomach and suddenly missed her husband.

The man she once looked down on has now become her strongest support.

...

On the other side.

Deep in the dense forest behind Sujiatun.

The wild boar king slowly rose from the damp mud pit, shaking its body as mud and dew splattered from its needle-like bristles.

Last night's attack on Sujiatun failed.

That damn watchdog, and those vigilant humans.

The boar king has realized that directly attacking human settlements is too dangerous.

It needs new targets, targets that are easier to achieve.

A sudden wave of hunger washed over me.

Since it lost its entire population, it has also lost a stable source of food.

The wild boar king used its snout to push aside the decaying leaves, searching for edible roots and insects.

Its sense of smell is several times more acute than before, and it can distinguish every subtle change in the scent of the soil.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar smell wafted into its nostrils.

That's the smell of fresh vegetables.

The wild boar king raised its head, its ears twitching alertly.

The scent came from a region on the mountainside that it had never ventured into before.

What was once a barren hillside now stands with four enormous white buildings.

The wild boar king approached cautiously, hiding behind a clump of bushes to observe.

A dozen or so people were busy around those white buildings.

Some of them bent down to inspect the plants, some carried buckets of water and moved among them, and others stood on high places to direct the work.

These humans appeared completely unguarded, utterly absorbed in their work.

An unprecedented emotion surged within the Wild Boar King's chest.

That was a desire stronger than hunger.

The desire for revenge.

These humans have taken everything from it, and now it will make them pay the price.

Meanwhile, the vegetable greenhouse area was bustling with activity.

Under Wu Ermaitai's guidance, the ten newly recruited workers are carrying out their daily work in an orderly manner.

"Li brothers, don't water the tomato seedlings too much. Look at the soil, it's still wet!"

Wu Ermaitai squatted in front of a row of tomato seedlings, demonstrating by brushing away the topsoil with his rough fingers.

"You should do it like this: insert your finger about one joint deep, and only water it when it feels dry."

The Li brothers nodded repeatedly, carefully taking notes of the teachings.

Since Su Jianguo hired these ten people to help, Wu Ermaitai has gone from being a laborer to an "instructor," specifically responsible for teaching various skills in greenhouse management.

"Second Brother, should we prune the cucumber vines?"

Zhang Dazhu shouted from the next shed.

Wu Ermai walked over quickly and carefully examined the cucumber vines that had begun to bear fruit.

"We must fight them! Break off all these side branches; they're the ones that steal nutrients."

He demonstrated skillfully.

"See, just like that, it comes off easily with a gentle snap, don't damage the main stem."

Throughout the morning, Wu Ermaitai moved between the four greenhouses, guiding the group of novices.

Although he was busy, he was secretly delighted.

This was an important task entrusted to him by Su Jianguo, and he had to do it well.

Around noon, the workers sat in twos and threes on the open ground outside the greenhouse to eat lunch.

Wang Guixiang, along with several other women, brought over a hot meal.

Cornbread, pickled vegetables, and a big pot of stewed cabbage and tofu.

"Hey Ermaitai, come eat!"

Wang Guixiang greeted them.

"The tofu is so tender today."

Wu Er patted the dirt off his hands and walked over with a silly grin.

"Thank you, sister-in-law."

He took the bowl, squatted down, and began to eat heartily.

When is Brother Jianguo coming back?

Zhang Dazhu asked questions as he ate.

Wu Er looked up at the sky.

"It should be in the next day or two."

He suddenly remembered something, and his eyes lit up.

"By the way, I remember that Brother Jianguo loved to eat lantern fruits when he was a kid. They should be plentiful on the back mountain this season."