CHAPTER 407: CHAPTER 104: THE GREAT HARVEST AT YANQING FARM

After sitting by the artificial lake for a while, Xiao Xian forced herself to visit the classroom.

She remembered a map of China hanging on the back wall of the classroom, marked with well-known mountains and rivers.

Located in the southeast of Jilin Province, Changbai Mountain was marked only as a triangular icon on the map. Xiao Xian estimated the distance; going to Changbai Mountain would involve crossing provinces.

Compared to the trip from Guizhou to Beijing, it was somewhat closer. But she had also heard Zhuo Feng mention the northeastern region’s frigid climate. Fortunately, it was nearing summer, so the weather should not be too harsh.

If she let Little White Jiao travel day and night, they should be able to reach Changbai Mountain Area in a day. It’s just that Zhou Ziang hadn’t made clear which spot in the Changbai Mountain Area she could find the replenishment of Spiritual Energy.

She felt embarrassed to go back and ask again. If she kept asking, she feared that the reticent Dr. Zhou might just take her there himself.

Ever since she knew that Zhou Ziang was the person who had saved her five years ago, her feelings had changed, a change so profound that even she couldn’t define it.

If she had to describe it, she’d say she no longer disliked him. In fact, she began to somewhat like him. That likability was different from her feelings for her grandfather, the villagers, Zhuo Feng, Xuerou, and Yiyi.

Never one for a tumultuous heart, ripples began to form within her. To prevent these ripples from turning into terrifying waves, she knew she had to reduce the frequency of her meetings with Zhou Ziang. Deep down, she sensed that he was also avoiding something.

As a person who had traveled through time, she could openly love family and protect friends. Yet, taking an additional step on another level seemed rather difficult.

She could only take one step at a time and see where it led her. When she arrived at Changbai Mountain, she would scrutinize the situation. Relying on her years of experience absorbing Spiritual Energy and her understanding of various types of trees, finding a suitable source of Spiritual Energy shouldn’t be too difficult.

Before setting off for Changbai Mountain, Xiao Xian first went home to Yanqing. She was still concerned about the incident at the Milk Feed Factory a few weeks ago. She had instructed Little White Jiao to protect Zhuo Feng and his wife at the farm, but it wasn’t long before the eager White Flood Dragon had returned, reporting that the Milk Feed Factory had temporarily ceased production, with not a soul or bird in sight.

Later, when Zhuo Feng called on the weekend, nothing seemed amiss. Instead, he mentioned that the farm’s first batch of sweet potatoes was nearly ready to be dug up. If Xiao Xian could make it home for the weekend, she could have the honor of digging the first spade.

The ceremonious first dig of sweet potatoes paralleled the tradition in Ge Village of making the first cut at harvest. When Zhuo Feng called, Xiao Xian had not yet encountered the accident at Miaofeng Mountain, so she promptly promised to ask for leave from the basketball team to return home.

But after she had agreed, she coincidentally encountered the underground black vehicle and the Xu Family sisters, followed by the depletion of her Spiritual Power. To avoid worrying Zhuo Feng, it seemed better to head home for the weekend first.

Xiao Xian had Xuerou help arrange a fake hospital admission letter from a doctor she knew, which she then submitted to the Academic Affairs Office, asking for a half-month leave. On Saturday afternoon, she went straight back to Yanqing.

Not long after Xiao Xian left the school, the school sent her leave request to the infirmary, where Zhou Ziang was responsible for verifying its authenticity. Seeing the half-month leave on the document, he felt a restless anxiety, signed it, and then clutched the medical leave slip in his hand.

This girl, with her limited capabilities, was yet so stubbornly proud. If only she had accepted his help, it would not have been so troublesome.

"Never mind, her family must surely be backing her," Zhou Ziang thought, agitated as he shoved the medical leave slip into his drawer.

Her family members? Zhou Ziang remembered the look of despair in Xiao Xian’s eyes when she was in the infirmary earlier.

She was the little girl who had bought corn on the streets of Guiyang five years ago. That... the elderly man sent to the hospital.

Zhu Shijun? The government official Zhou Qiang mentioned who had been jailed? Zhou Ziang had some recollection of the elder Zhu Shijun, after all, a man immersed in officialdom for decades, who faced old age yet still had those resolute eyes unwilling to bow to the common ways, was rare.

If Xiao Xian’s grandfather was Zhu Shijun, and Zhu Shijun was not a Cultivator, he was an ordinary person who, like anyone else, could pass away in the face of illness.

So, could it be someone from her maternal lineage? No, that was also incorrect; her parents had passed away early due to the matters concerning Zhu Shijun.

If not from the elders, then none of her relatives and friends bore any traces of Cultivation.

Could she be a Natural Cultivator? Without any lineage, the thoughts that continuously intruded into Zhou Ziang’s mind left him stunned.