Chapter 200: The Small Garden Is Ready

Seeing the two of them crying and sniffling, Feng Changzhai felt heartache and turned to Lin Dong.
“Shopkeeper Lin…”
Lin Dong smiled and nodded, then bowed to Zhou Yueshan, saying, “Commander Zhou, it probably takes some time to verify whether they are bandits. How about you take everyone back first? I’ll send someone over to inform you after my investigation. Also, could you handle the yamen officials in the courtyard and those strong men in the kitchen? I’ll explain everything to Magistrate Li early tomorrow morning.”
“That works!” Although Zhou Yueshan didn’t understand what was going on, since Li Jiancheng was mentioned, he wisely didn’t ask further. He immediately ordered the remaining city guards to wake up the unconscious ones, then together they took away the yamen officials and Liang Mulong and others.

In the courtyard, after confirming that everyone had left, Feng Jingtang and his wife knelt on the ground, exhausted and drenched in sweat.
“Just resting?” Lin Dong asked them with a smile.
The couple shuddered and tried to crawl toward Lin Dong.
“That’s enough. Don’t come to me for anything,” Lin Dong said leisurely. “I’m here only to help Old Feng. If he’s satisfied, I’m satisfied. If not, no amount of pleading from you will help.”
“Father…”
“Sir…”
The couple rushed back to Feng Changzhai, repeating their sins and promises over and over.

Ding: Congratulations! You’ve completed the upgrade task “Help the guest who spent the least on food and lodging at the inn today.” Your inn has now reached level 5.

Suddenly, a system notification sounded in Lin Dong’s ear.
Overjoyed, Lin Dong realized that this task didn’t require Feng Jingtang and his wife to completely change their ways. As long as it left a shadow in their minds, ensuring they wouldn’t dare bully Feng Changzhai and Feng Liang again, it would suffice.

He opened the inn system, and among the main attributes, a small garden appeared.
Small Garden: 0/5

There were two sub-attributes: Acceleration and Mimicry.
Acceleration: Once activated, it costs one spirit stone per day to double the growth rate of plants. (You can choose the multiplication factor; each additional factor increases the cost by one spirit stone.)
Mimicry: Once activated, it costs one spirit stone per day to allow the small garden to simulate the most suitable growing conditions for plants.

With the upgrade task completed and the small garden ready, Lin Dong felt eager to leave. He bowed to Feng Changzhai and said, “Old Feng, it’s getting late. We should head back now.”

“Shopkeeper Lin, that won’t do. Without your help, how could my wayward son and wicked daughter-in-law change their ways?” Feng Changzhai shook his head urgently, his face red with anxiety. “I’ve been busy all day—how can I just leave like this? Wait a moment; I’ll arrange food and drink, and we’ll stay here for the night.”
“The inn isn’t far away, and besides…” Lin Dong shook his head and smiled. “The Feng family’s house has been destroyed. It won’t take days to fix it. Mr. Feng, as for the matter of the destroyed house…”
Feng Changzhai was shocked and waved his hands frantically. “Shopkeeper Lin, you’ve neglected your inn business to come to our Feng family just to help us reconcile. If you bring up the house issue, it means you think I, Feng Changzhai, don’t know what’s good for me.”
“Then I won’t mention it!” Lin Dong glanced at the submissive Feng Jingtang and his wife, his eyes turning cold. “I wonder if you still have any helpers?”
The two were terrified and stepped back, shaking their heads desperately.
“If I can let you go easily, I can also deal with you easily. You should know what my purpose is for coming here, right?” Lin Dong said calmly.
“We know, we know,” the two nodded repeatedly, swearing earnestly.
“Then live well! I’ll send someone to check on you once a month. If Mr. Feng and Xiao Liang are not satisfied in the slightest, I advise you to hang yourselves with a rope sooner rather than face severe consequences,” Lin Dong said leisurely.
The two trembled violently. What had happened today would stay with them forever. In their eyes, there could be no one crueler or more evil than Lin Dong at Qiufeng Mansion.
Recalling that Feng Changzhai had said Feng Jingtang worked as an accountant at Wanjiazhuang, Lin Dong asked, “You just said this box of gold and silver came from selling spiritual materials. What’s the truth?”
“This… this…”
The couple exchanged glances, too afraid to answer.
“Don’t want to tell me, or are you trying to deceive me?” The smile on Lin Dong’s face turned sinister.
With a thud, the two knelt on the ground. Feng Jingtang trembled as he said, “This silver… I stole it from Wanjiazhuang by selling spiritual materials there.”
“Wanjiazhuang? Stealing spiritual materials?” Lin Dong was surprised. “Wanjiazhuang is full of spiritual arrays—how could you possibly steal spiritual materials from there?”

“I used to work as an accountant in Wanjiazhuang. Thanks to my smooth talk, I managed to win Director Wan’s favor. So I often accompanied him on inspections of spiritual materials and gradually figured out how to activate spiritual arrays. A few months ago, I was caught falsifying accounts and embezzling silver, and I was expelled from Wanjiazhuang. On a whim, I practiced cultivation for a few days. Once I had some spiritual energy, I sneaked into the village at night to steal some low-grade spiritual materials to sell. Later, fearing suspicion from the apothecary, I happened to meet Lord Qiao, who was buying spiritual materials and very powerful, so I partnered with him… I dare not do it again. From now on, I will definitely live an honest and upright life.”

Through these scattered explanations, Lin Dong finally understood the whole situation and was moved.

If they first transplanted the high-grade spiritual materials of the Gu Huan Sect and then used one or two of them to exchange with Wan Cui Lin, they might be able to acquire the high-grade spiritual materials from Wanjiazhuang. But there was a huge obstacle: the growth conditions for these high-grade materials were extremely harsh. They would have to wait until Wan Cui Lin gathered the fertilizer and soil needed to grow them and prepared the environment before any transaction could take place.

Although Wan Cui Lin was a warrior loyal to the Great Han Nation and a district-level director, it would take at least a year or two for him to create the necessary growing environment for such high-grade materials. It would be impossible to obtain all of Wanjiazhuang’s high-grade materials in just ten or eight years.

If they could first get one or two high-grade materials from Wanjiazhuang to cultivate, and then use those same high-grade materials to exchange for other spiritual materials from Wan Cui Lin, Wan Cui Lin might worry that the exchanged materials would be destroyed. But as long as the materials used for exchange were valuable enough and the growing conditions were in place, the chances of success were high.

Of course, this approach also had a drawback: Wan Cui Lin might suspect that they actually had a drug to accelerate maturation, thus becoming covetous.

Lin Dong instinctively glanced at Yun Lan. With Yun Lan’s help, this drawback wouldn’t be hard to overcome.

After further consideration, Lin Dong looked up at Feng Jingtang, who had been on the ground vowing to live an honest life from now on, and smiled, “Get up! How about asking you for a favor?”

“Huh?”

Feng Jingtang was about to get up and express his gratitude when he heard the next sentence and froze. In his eyes, Lin Dong was now an all-powerful figure. How could such a person need his help?

“Do you know the arrays set up by Wanjiazhuang around the high-grade spiritual materials?” Lin Dong asked.

Feng Jingtang was stunned and shook his head repeatedly. “I do know them, but those high-grade materials can’t be moved. With Director Wan’s temper, not to mention them being stolen, even if someone touches them, he’ll be furious.”

“Good to know.” Lin Dong took out five silver bills worth a thousand taels from the mobile counter, infused spiritual energy into them, and waved his hand casually. The silver bills flew straight out and landed steadily in front of Feng Jingtang. “Does Wan Hongshu know?” Lin Dong asked. “Y-yes, he knows…” Feng Jingtang nodded mechanically as he looked at the amount on the bills. “How often does Director Wan check it usually?” Lin Dong asked. “A-about once every three days,” Feng Jingtang explained. “Wan Hongshu needs to be fertilized with special herbs every ten days, but Director Wan is worried, so he checks it every few days.” Lin Dong frowned slightly. At a fifth-level inn, the capacity of spiritual stones was only 1,600, meaning the maximum growth rate achievable was 1,600 times. In three days, if using branches for transplantation, the chances of roots forming were extremely low. Without roots, it would be impossible to gain Wan Cuijin’s trust. If Wan Cuijin’s trust couldn’t be won and Wan Hongshu in Wan Family Village died, given Wan Cuijin’s temper, even if he didn’t know who was responsible, it would cause a huge uproar in Qiufeng City. If people from Tianwei Pavilion were hired to investigate, not only would the other high-grade spiritual materials in Wan Family Village be lost, but the inn would also be exposed. In such a case, it would be better to ask Yunlan to forcefully break the spiritual array, saving 5,000 taels of silver. Some way needed to be found to keep Wan Cuijin away; if there were ten days, it wouldn’t be a problem. Lin Dong immediately thought of Ren Qingsong. With Ren Qingsong’s influence, it shouldn’t be hard to find a reason to lure Wan Cuijin to a nearby mountain for ten or eight days. After thinking this through, Lin Dong said, “We’ll start in ten days. First, find out when Director Wan fertilizes it, then find a way to get me three branches of Wan Hongshu by the next day—preferably broken from a discreet location. You don’t need to worry about anything else. After this is done, I’ll give you 5,000 taels of silver.” “F-Five thousand taels?” Feng Jingtang licked his dry lips, tempted. Making a huge profit and then running away would be more profitable than continuing to sneak around and steal low-grade spiritual materials—after all, walking too much at night might lead to encountering ghosts. Lin Dong knew Feng Jingtang’s thoughts but didn’t say much. Regarding Feng Changzhai’s matter, if he wanted to help through to the end, Feng Jingtang absolutely couldn’t leave Qiufeng City. But it wasn’t urgent to discuss this until the branches of Wan Hongshu were obtained. “Well, isn’t this price high?” Lin Dong asked leisurely. “N-Not high!” Feng Jingtang gritted his teeth and said, “After this is done, how should I deliver the branches of Wan Hongshu to you?” “Come to Lin’s Inn and find me,” Lin Dong replied calmly. “I’m the owner of Lin’s Inn.”

“The owner of Lin’s Inn?” The couple was stunned and somewhat skeptical about Lin Dong’s identity. It was well known that the owner of Lin’s Inn, Lin, had a special relationship with Li Jiancheng, the local official. With such a connection, just mentioning his name would be enough to scare them into not daring to do anything to Feng Changzhai or Feng Liang—there was no need to go through such a complicated route. Lin Dong didn’t bother to explain. The matter was settled, and he even got two unexpected bonuses. Although he wasted a day of cultivation time, it was still worth it. After exchanging a few polite words with Feng Changzhai, Lin Dong and Yun Lan were escorted out of the courtyard, with Qiao Tianhao following closely behind.