Chapter 64

To gauge her abilities, Ye Chen used the Ranyi Fish in the water to evaluate the Taotie Cub’s combat power.

Currently, there were nearly a hundred Ranyi Fish in the water, which seemed plentiful but actually only enough to feed the Taotie Cub for about ten days. They couldn’t be her main food source; they were only good for satisfying her cravings.

The combat effectiveness of the Ranyi Fish in water would significantly increase. While individual strengths were not vastly different, they served as a straightforward measure of combat power. After going into the water, Qiongqi Cub’s current estimated combat power was about half of a Ranyi Fish; Li Li’s combat power was equivalent to ten Ranyi Fish. Zhou Bu, reluctant to test the water for fear of being knocked out, was not good at combat to begin with. He estimated he could handle at most three in a one-on-one fight. There was no need to test the other divine beast cubs and Ye Chen himself; they would be thoroughly beaten if they entered the water.

“Let’s see how many fish our little Taotao can handle,” Ye Chen gently placed the soft Taotie Cub into the water.

The Taotie Cub, full from eating, raised her little head and took a deep breath. With her horns aimed at a sturdy male Ranyi Fish, she dug the water twice with her front hooves, then broke through the water like a gust of wind, her horns aiming straight for the Ranyi Fish’s… waist!

“Roar!” The Ranyi Fish roared in anger. Before it could retaliate, the horns caught it and slammed it fiercely against the pool wall. After struggling for a moment, it lay still.

Seeing this, other Ranyi Fish nearby swarmed to attack the Taotie Cub. Agilely maneuvering through the school of fish, the Taotie Cub cut through the water leaving silvery trails, seizing every opportunity to bullfight, using her horns to fiercely strike. Gradually, five white-bellied fish floated to the surface.

“Uncle Li, rescue Tao Tao.” Seeing Tao Tao about to be overwhelmed, Ye Chen hurriedly called Li Li for help.

“Ke cheng!” Li Li transformed and jumped into the water, using his large claws to break through the crowd and scoop up the Taotie Cub, who was fighting fiercely. He lifted her out of the water and manually shook her dry on the shore.

“Xi Liu, liu, liu, liu!” The wet woolen ball shook vigorously.

“Tao Tao’s combat power when full is equivalent to five Ranyi Fish.” Ye Chen announced the test results, squatting on the shore with a smirk, using a small net to scoop up the five white-bellied fish, and cheerfully saying, “Fish soup tonight.”

After witnessing the Taotie Cub’s combat prowess firsthand, Ye Chen allowed her to hunt in the sea when she was full. Unless the mythical Northern Sea Monster descended, the Taotie Cub was essentially unrestrained in the shallow seas.

To be cautious, Ye Chen and the Taotie Cub agreed on the distance and time range for hunting. The Taotie Cub could only search for prey in a limited area near the Chaos Mark. After exploring the designated area, even if she found nothing, she had to return to rest. Despite her hardcore style, the Taotie Cub obediently followed the rules set by the Mountain and Sea Realm’s master, Ye Chen.

Besides safety considerations, Ye Chen also instructed Gao Ran to compile a comprehensive guide to rare Italian marine animals. It included various endangered marine species from the Ligurian Sea and other legally protected marine products. He ensured that the Taotie Cub memorized the entire guide proficiently, fearing lax discipline might nurture a destructive bear-like Taotie, which could harm the current ecosystem.

Mechanically, Gao Ran perfected the guide to rare marine animals for Ye Chen, his head full of unruly ideas.

“Chen Ge plans to vacation in Italy? No need to check this out.”

“Damn, is Chen Ge’s backyard connected to the Mediterranean Sea?!”

…No, no, I’ve really been reading too many online novels lately…

Gao Ran shook his head and decisively dismissed these thoughts.

Meanwhile, with all the necessary tools ready, Li Li set up a single bed in the East Wing room at superhuman speed, building a chicken coop at a rate of three per day near the farmland of the Mountain and Sea Realm. The coops were neatly arranged, and every day, there was a continuous migration of spiritual chickens to their new homes.

Ye Chen poked his head into the West Wing room, commanding briskly, “Numbers 91 to 120, pack your bags and line up.”

The thirty spiritual chickens scheduled to move today held their grass-woven nests in their beaks, silently and orderly forming two lines.

“Follow me, step on the correct path; if you stray, you’ll fall behind.” Ye Chen led the way, using the Qimen Dunjia calculation to guide the chickens into the Mountain and Sea Realm.

Li Li, truly a former Minister of Public Works, designed the chicken coops impressively grand: double-leaf active wooden doors, adorned with carved auspicious clouds and bird motifs, with flying eaves at each corner, all facing north and south…

“These chickens are getting royal treatment,” Ye Chen sighed sarcastically.

What particularly irked Ye Chen, a mere mortal, was that Li Li’s chicken coops not only dazzled in design and craftsmanship but also outclassed all other wood in existence: the dark sandalwood base was adorned with natural vermillion wood grain, each pattern uniquely exquisite and varied like tiger stripes, landscapes, or spider silk… and endlessly diverse. If you stared at the patterns for more than five seconds, they seemed to subtly move, almost lifelike, enhancing their aesthetic appeal.

If it weren’t for the difficulty in providing proof of wood species, origin, and legal sources, passing the forestry department’s scrutiny would have been impossible. Ye Chen almost wanted to rent a stall at the building materials market to sell wood directly.

“After living in such a good chicken coop, if you still can’t achieve an average of three eggs per chicken per day, who can you justify, hmm?” Exploiter Ye applied pressure to the chickens for performance.

The elderly hens were tense, with feathers scattered everywhere.

—A demanding client, enough to make one bald.

After settling more than a hundred existing mature hens and putting up eight children’s beds, the sandalwood available in the Mountain and Sea Realm had been completely cut down by Li Li. Plans to build furniture had to be temporarily shelved until the newly planted sandalwood matured. After clearing out the West Wing room, Ye Chen decided to wholesale another hundred young hens online, preparing to raise another batch of egg-laying chickens, doubling the eggs and doubling the happiness.

Apart from the chicken coops and beds, Li Li also found time to make several samples of hair growth devices using Qingsi Mu. These devices were extremely easy to make: simply splitting the Qingsi Mu^[1]Mu – wood into strips, planing them into smooth and uniform thin sticks, then connecting eight sticks together at the ends to form a pyramid shape. For a better appearance, they could be coated with a layer of varnish without affecting the absorption of spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

Li Li had been working tirelessly on these hair growth devices from morning till night these days. Although the device was designed to be lightweight and easy to use, its only flaw was its silly appearance. When Li Li wore it while working, he looked like a fool from a distance, and up close, it was indeed not an illusion that he looked like a fool. Due to Li Li’s healthy scalp condition and lack of hair loss issues, the Qingsi Mu’s hair growth effect was exceptionally good. In less than a week, his hair had grown from a shine to three centimeters long. Moreover, whether it was a psychological effect or not, Ye Chen faintly felt that Li Li’s eyebrows and eyelashes had also become thicker and darker…

“Our hair growth device also comes with the bonus of thickening and darkening eyelashes…” Ye Chen played with the hair growth device, already beginning to think of advertising slogans.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was the last day of the reality show recording. With Little Fresh Meat Ye in command, every segment of the program progressed smoothly, without the need to fix any shortcomings. Therefore, the final day of shooting ended unusually early. Ye Chen quietly slipped back into the Mountain and Sea Realm, patrolling the sandalwood forest.

For ease of observation of their growth, Ye Chen had arranged nearly two thousand trees based on their planting dates. He had grouped trees planted each day into dense formations, with fixed clear gaps between each formation, making it easy to determine when each batch of trees had been planted. The trees planted by Zhou Buchu were separated from Ye Chen by the Ranyi Fish, with Ye Chen to the east of the Ranyi Fish and Zhou Buchu to the west. Whenever Ye Chen had free time, he would also water and fertilize Zhou Buchu’s trees, participating in planting and imparting some divine agricultural power to stimulate the growth of the spiritual wood.

“Is it just my imagination…” Ye Chen examined a cluster of sandalwood trees he had planted personally half a month ago, plucking a small leaf and rubbing it in his hand, silently contemplating.

—Over the past half month, the growth of the newly planted trees in the realm was not as vigorous as before, indicating signs of delayed development, not just in this cluster of sandalwood. However, Ye Chen had been extremely busy during this half month and hadn’t paid much attention to the trees’ growth. Moreover, he couldn’t see any health problems with the trees; there were no signs of disease or pests. The most likely cause was insufficient nutrients — as the planting area expanded, the fertilizer from the spiritual chickens was increasingly inadequate. The new trees Ye Chen had planted were only fertilized with ordinary purchased fertilizer.

“Perhaps it’s related to the fertilizer? Store-bought fertilizer definitely doesn’t compare to the spiritual chicken manure…” Ye Chen nodded to himself, realizing he had identified the key issue and decided to take advantage of the upcoming few days of vacation before joining the TV drama crew to properly manage his own tree grove and reapply another round of fertilizer.

…

The next day, the cast and crew of “Leisure Holiday” bid farewell reluctantly, each going their separate ways.

Shen Mofeng’s movie starring role would start shooting next month. It was an avant-garde art film he always favored, destined for critical acclaim rather than commercial success, aimed at winning awards. Ye Chen’s upcoming project was a urban romantic comedy where he played the male lead with a significant role. Besides developing side businesses for extra income, the couple’s together time over the next few months would inevitably decrease. Luckily, both sets were primarily filming in the capital city, so they wouldn’t have to travel to remote locations for weeks on end like they did for “Climbing to the Top”. They could always find time to meet up.

Moreover, it seemed Shen Mofeng was up to something big again…

The night before they parted ways.

Shen Mofeng lay on his side in bed, propping up his head with one hand, looking disgruntled. “This damn show hasn’t announced the mystery guest yet… I’ve got a ton of material backed up that I can’t post.”

“…What kind of material have you been holding back?” Ye Chen asked cautiously.

“I’ve just been documenting our sugar during this time… don’t worry, there’s no solid proof.” Shen Mofeng clicked his tongue, “I’ll drop a Weibo every three days, that should cover until the show airs.”

Ye Chen’s head buzzed.

Ye Chen hesitated, “Every three days… one post?”

Shen Mofeng raised an eyebrow, “Too little?”

Ye Chen hurriedly replied, “No no no! It’s fine!”

Shen Mofeng seriously asked for advice, “Should I use a hashtag in my Weibo posts? It’ll make it easier for them to find it.”

“What… what hashtag?” Ye Chen was a bit flustered, “Don’t mess around!”

He knew this was probably a joke, but Shen Mofeng’s style was so assertive that using a hashtag wasn’t something he absolutely wouldn’t do.

Shen Mofeng smiled and reached out to grab Ye Chen’s waist, pulling him closer, “We won’t have much time to see each other these next few months. What should we do?”

Ye Chen thought for a moment, uncertain, “Seeing each other once a week should work…”

“It might not.” Shen Mofeng’s tone inexplicably lightened, “Filming locations are far apart, not close to home. Even if our schedules don’t align, it’s normal not to see each other for ten days or half a month.”

“I could visit your set when I have time?” Ye Chen felt a sudden emptiness hearing him say that.

“Once or twice is enough… coming too often…” Shen Mofeng deliberately made it difficult, “Are you thinking about going public?”

Embarrassed, Ye Chen said, “No.”

Shen Mofeng sighed, “No way, we’ll just film separately.” His pitch-black eyes hinted at a touch of bitterness.

Suddenly, Ye Chen sensed something unusual and nervously asked, “Do you… have a plan?”

Shen Mofeng chuckled, “What do you think? Can I let you go?”

Ye Chen recalled Shen Mofeng’s audacious move of joining the reality show crew out of the blue and skeptically replied, “But you surely wouldn’t parachute into my next drama crew, would you?”

Teasingly, Shen Mofeng quipped, “Why not? There’s nothing I can’t do. Maybe I’ll even replace the female lead and act opposite you?”

Ye Chen almost choked to death “…”

The author has something to say:

Today’s “No Money” midday news bulletin:

– After moving to new homes, the performance standards for egg-laying hens have been raised. The hens have protested to animal protection units, only to find out that animal protection units do not protect hens.

– Feeding the Taotie also emphasizes environmental protection and the conservation of species diversity.

– Ranyi Fish may become a unit of measurement for combat effectiveness. The owner of Mountain and Sea Realm claims this is not to trick mythical beasts into helping catch fish.

– The growth of trees in Mountain and Sea Realm has slowed down, and the reasons urgently need investigation.

【Mini Theater】

Exploiter Ye: From now on, I’ll go to the henhouse every midnight to learn how to crow like a rooster. The hens will think it’s dawn and lay eggs for me, then when it’s actually dawn, they’ll lay another batch! ╰(*°▽°*)╯

Hens: Exploiter Ye, you’re not human! Not human!

Guess what Shen Ge is up to…