Chapter 182 Entering the Mountains, Enhanced Abilities

Sun Baorong swung his fist, and the old man fell down immediately. An elderly person couldn’t withstand his punch. When he was taken to the hospital, he was told that his nasal bone was broken, and he lost two front teeth.

The compensation he received was far from enough to settle what had happened today. When Sun’s family received the news and rushed to the county town, the old man’s son was forcing Sun Baorong to sign an IOU.

Due to this impulsive act by Sun Baorong, he not only had to pay for the hospitalization expenses and dental implants but also for nutrition, lost wages during recovery, and compensation. He couldn’t let the matter go without recompense.

Even with all the money from home, it wasn’t enough. Sun Baorong’s wife had to borrow some from her parents to settle the matter.

But when Sun Baorong returned to the village, he wasn’t calm. He started teaming up with his elder brother, Sun Baowen, to confront their second brother, Sun Baoqing. It was only then that the villagers learned that Sun Baoqing’s job was also obtained due to an accident involving Shitou’s mother, Sun Mei.

Now, the Sun family’s reputation in Qingshan Village and even in Chaoyang Commune was thoroughly tarnished. Forget marrying off their daughters, no one dared to marry Sun’s granddaughters for fear of being associated with the Sun family’s bad reputation.

Now the most anxious person was the eldest daughter-in-law. Their daughter was already seventeen this year, which was considered to have ruined her marriage prospects. They had to rely on relatives from her maternal family to consider marrying her off far away.

As for Luo Qiao, no matter how they argued, these days there wasn’t much work in the fields. The village secretary had given everyone a two-day break, mainly because the captain and the village secretary noticed that the members were just chatting and not doing much work in the fields. They decided to let everyone rest for two days and have some freedom to do what they wanted.

Luo Qiao was delighted this time. She had been wanting to find an opportunity to go deep into the mountains of Daqing Mountain, and now her wish was fulfilled.

The next day, after preparing breakfast early, Lu Yichen and Shitou ate quickly and left. They mainly didn’t want anyone passing by to see them and spread any unpleasant gossip.

Therefore, Lu Yichen and Shitou paid special attention to this and were particularly experienced.

A few days ago, Lu Yichen brought back a lot of fine grains, and yesterday he also brought back a lot of meat. So, for breakfast, she made dumplings and stored some in the space. It was just right for lunch.

Today, Lu Yichen had to go to work. Before leaving, Luo Qiao took Shitou’s lunch over. It included steamed buns made from two types of flour yesterday, dumplings made this morning, and green bean soup boiled in advance yesterday.

She informed Shitou that she might not return by noon and told him to have lunch here on his own. She added water to the large pot, placed rice in the steamer, and lit a small fire with dry branches to keep the rice warm until noon.

Entering the mountains made her extremely comfortable, thanks to her affinity with plants due to her wood-based abilities. Over the past half year, Luo Qiao had honed her skills to the point where she could almost take on ten opponents alone.

This gave her the confidence to venture deeper into the mountains. The further she went, the more soothing it felt both physically and mentally. It was as if every pore in her body had opened up. She sat down under a big camphor tree.

Without the crystal core of the apocalypse, she had to try absorbing the essence of plants to enhance her abilities. Perhaps plant essences were purely natural and more beneficial for absorption compared to the crystal core used in the apocalypse.

By the time she finished, the leaked abilities had nourished the surrounding plants and made them lush and green. It seemed her abilities had significantly strengthened compared to before.

It looked like she needed to come to the deep mountains more often. Relying solely on accelerating the growth of fruits and vegetables might never boost her abilities in her lifetime. However, how far she could go by absorbing plant essences was something she wasn’t quite sure about.