Chapter 13

At that moment, Li Ze started to feel genuinely panicked, afraid that Peony might really want to break off their engagement. 

Desperate, he came to confront the hardest person to approach, Lu Jun, hoping to get some useful information from her. 

He even stayed up all night, trying to make himself look more pitiful. 

However, instead of evoking sympathy, his pitiful demeanor only fueled the anger that Lu Jun had been suppressing. 

Enough was enough—some people didn’t appreciate kindness, and she decided it was time to give him a good beating. 

Ever since she found out about what he did to her cousin, she had been wanting to teach him a lesson. 

With that thought, Lu Jun lifted her foot to remove her shoe. 

“Stop messing around,” Han Fengming immediately crouched down, took her foot—painted with wine-red nail polish that made her skin look even paler—in his large hand, gently dusted off the dirt from her sole, and then carefully put her foot back into the high heel. 

Surprised by his action, Lu Jun asked incredulously, “What are you doing?” 

Han Fengming stood up, his sharp eyes coldly sweeping over her. “Isn’t the ground hot?” 

It was indeed quite hot… Lu Jun realized belatedly, wiggling her toes and silently sucking in a breath, but she kept her expression firm. “I wanted to hit him, and you said it’s inconvenient with shoes on, right?” 

Han Fengming loosened his tie, placed it in her hand, and began rolling up his sleeves. “I’ll do it.” 

Li Ze…? 

— 

Chapter 07 

The next day. 

As the morning light brightened. 

Lu Jiu, who was sitting cross-legged by the window, slowly opened her eyes. 

At the same time, the spiritual energy flowing through her fingertips faded away. 

For some reason—perhaps because they were of the same species—she could only sense spiritual energy in peony seeds. 

However, to Lu Jiu’s disappointment, the amount of spiritual energy was extremely small. 

Maybe it was due to the influence of her mother, Fang Wenyi, or perhaps because of her own name, but over the years, her aunt had planted a large area of peonies around their house. 

So yesterday, Lu Jiu managed to collect a big handful of peony seeds. 

But even with so many, the amount of spiritual energy she could extract only allowed it to flow through her fingers once. 

It wasn’t just a one-time use; it barely reached the first knuckle of her thumb. 

Looking at her thumb, which had become noticeably smoother and fairer after being refined by the spiritual energy, Lu Jiu couldn’t help but laugh. 

It was clear that in this world, cultivating powerful spells wasn’t going to be possible. 

At most… she could use it to detoxify her body. 

Hmm… and maybe to cultivate seeds with stronger vitality. 

Since she planned to open a flower shop and cater to a high-end market, the seeds she used had to be the best. 

With that thought, her frustration lessened a bit. 

Lu Jiu stood up and carefully collected the now darker, shinier peony seeds scattered around her legs. 

“Meow~” The little orange cat pulled out two more seeds from under the bed. 

Lu Jiu bent down to pick them up, stroking its smooth fur as she teased, “You’ve got an eye for good stuff.” 

Seeing this, the yellow dog, which had been lying down, also moved its head closer. 

“You two are practically becoming spirits,” Lu Jiu said with a laugh. She petted the dog’s head before turning to open the bedroom door. 

— 

Elderly people tend to wake up early. 

It was only five-thirty, and her aunt was already making breakfast. 

Her uncle wasn’t idle either; he was loading food for the chickens and ducks onto the tricycle. 

Lu Jiu quickly went over to help. 

Her uncle, Lu Guoqing, tried to dodge her help. “No need, it’s dirty. I can carry it myself.” 

Lu Jiu didn’t argue; she just made sure to support the load with her hand every time he lifted something. 

Seeing this, Lu Guoqing smiled and wiped the sweat off his face with the towel hanging around his neck. With a loving tone, he asked, “Why are you up so early? Did something scare you? You shouldn’t have slept in a separate room from Xinxin last night.” 

He was referring to the incident with the murderer the day before. 

Lu Jiu shook her head. “I’m not scared.” She might have been afraid before, but after awakening her demon soul, such things no longer frightened her. 

“Our little Peony has grown up,” Lu Guoqing teased, as if he were talking to a child. 

“Are you heading into the mountains now?” Lu Jiu asked. 

“After breakfast. If we wait any longer, the chickens and ducks will start causing a ruckus. I’ll also collect the eggs while I’m at it.” There were hundreds of chickens and ducks on the mountain, and just gathering the eggs took quite a while. 

With the heat, this work needed to be done during the cooler parts of the day, either early morning or late evening. 

“I’ll go too,” Lu Jiu offered. 

“Huh? You want to go collect eggs?” Lu Guoqing asked in confusion as he turned back from washing his hands. 

Lu Jiu nodded. “Isn’t there an empty plot of land next to the vineyard? I want to take a look at it.” 

Lu Guoqing understood. “You’re thinking about renting it to grow flowers? But it’s already owned by someone.” 

“What… it’s owned?” Now it was Lu Jiu’s turn to be confused. When she had visited the vineyard yesterday, the land looked abandoned. 

Seeing his niece’s puzzlement, Lu Guoqing frowned and explained, “It’s contracted by your Fifth Granduncle’s family…” 

“I have a Fifth Granduncle?” 

“You wouldn’t know him. His name is Lu Daqiang…” 

Though referred to as Fifth Granduncle, there was no blood relation; it was just a customary way of addressing someone of the same surname and village. 

A few years ago, after making money from growing grapes, many people in the village became interested in doing the same. However, with limited available land, Lu Daqiang managed to acquire most of it through connections. 

But growing grapes isn’t as simple as planting them in the ground; it’s actually quite demanding. You need to set up trellises, water, fertilize, prune, and protect them from pests—there’s a lot of work involved. 

Unfortunately, Lu Daqiang’s family was full of lazy people, and they were unwilling to spend money on hiring labor. After a few years, they hadn’t grown many grapes, and the land had become a burden. 

It’s not that no one wanted to take over, but the asking price for transferring the land was too high. 

Hearing this, Lu Guoqing added a word of caution: “Do you really want it? The price might be hard to negotiate. Didn’t you already rent a plot in the city?” 

Lu Jiu explained, “The plot in the city is for growing flowers to supply the flower shop.” Besides, that plot was already filled with plants. 

Lu Guoqing washed his face with cold water and asked, “I remember it’s over ten acres, right? Isn’t that enough?” 

Lu Jiu replied, “Not enough. I want to plant only peonies on the land next to the vineyard.” 

Lu Guoqing was taken aback, thinking that planting only peonies might be too much, especially since they weren’t edible. But then he remembered his younger brother’s wealth and didn’t think much of it. 

Well, as long as the child likes it, that’s what matters. 

Lu Jiu was unaware of what her uncle was thinking. Actually, after discovering she could extract spiritual energy from flower seeds, she had decided to rent another plot to plant peonies. 

Once the spiritual energy is extracted, the seeds wouldn’t go to waste; they could be used to make oil. 

That would be peony seed oil infused with spiritual energy—a rare and valuable product, whether for beauty or cooking.