I started on a deserted island and encountered Ying Zheng, who insisted I was an immortal.

"What happened to the wolf?"

Zhang Ying found it amusing, "The dog you keep at home was a wolf in its ancestry."

"Wolves can become very docile if the methods are right; it's something written into their genes."

gene?

Wang Ruoshu heard another unfamiliar word.

She silently repeated the two words in her mind several times, memorizing them; it was yet another term from the celestial realm.

"Why didn't you kill it?"

She then asked, "Aren't the island dangerous because there are wolves?"

Zhang Ying paused for a moment.

"This island is big enough, and there's plenty of food, so it won't bother me."

"We'll see..."

He paused, his voice lowering slightly.

"It's better to see a living creature every now and then than to stare at rocks and trees every day."

......

hole.

Wang Ben was shirtless, covered in sweat, and his face was covered in white powder, looking like a snowman who had just crawled out of a pile of flour.

He stood with his hands on his hips, looking smugly at the huge stone mill in front of him and the sack next to it containing the fruits of his afternoon's labor.

Ying Zheng and Meng Yi sat to the side, watching his expression, and couldn't help but chuckle.

"The master is back!"

Meng Yi first spotted the figure in the woods.

Wang Ben immediately puffed out his chest, waiting to receive the praise.

Zhang Ying carried bamboo and held the person in her arms as she walked out of the woods.

He gently placed Wang Ruoshu on a clean stone, then leaned the bamboo against the rock wall at the cave entrance.

"Sir! Look!"

Wang Ben pointed at the sack, his voice booming like a bell.

"Twenty-three catties! A full twenty-three catties of flour!"

"I didn't stop for a single moment all afternoon!"

He patted his muscular chest. "How's my strength?"

Zhang Ying glanced at the bag of flour, then looked at Wang Ben's praise-seeking demeanor.

His face was full of disdain.

"this one?"

"If I brought a pig over and hung a string of roasted potatoes in front of it, it would grind more flour than you could in a whole day, circling this mill."

Zhang Ying's voice was not loud, but it was exceptionally clear.

"With that strength, wouldn't it be better to chop down a few more logs?"

"You're quite something to compete with animals for work."

"You...you brat, you've gone too far!"

Wang Ben was so angry that he trembled all over, and his clenched fists cracked.

"I'm not bullying you, I'm just stating a fact."

Zhang Ying's tone was so calm, as if she were simply saying that the weather was nice today.

You don't believe me?

As Zhang Ying spoke, she actually turned and walked towards a corner deep inside the cave.

There was a fence around the area, where several half-grown wild boar piglets were kept. He had caught them while hunting and was raising them to fatten them up.

He casually picked out the strongest one, the piglet still squealing and struggling.

Ying Zheng and Meng Yi were both stunned.

What are you doing, sir?

Zhang Ying found a rope and quickly put a simple harness on the piglet, connecting the other end to the millstone's pusher.

He then picked up a long pole from beside the fire, threaded a sizzling sweet potato onto one end, and hung it in front of the piglet, keeping it at a distance where it could see but not eat.

"Hmph! Hmph!"

The piglet smelled the aroma, its eyes turned red, and it charged forward on all fours.

The millstone was thus driven to turn round and round at a steady and powerful speed.

It was much faster than what Wang Ben had just pushed.

Wang Ben was completely petrified.

He stared blankly at the pig struggling to run for food, then looked down at his own hands, which were covered in blisters.

A tremendous sense of absurdity overwhelmed all his dignity as a general.

I, Wang Ben, am a valiant general of the Qin Dynasty, renowned for my military exploits.

Today, in the matter of grinding flour, I lost to a pig.

"puff."

Ying Zheng couldn't help but laugh out loud, but he quickly covered it up with a cough.

Meng Yi's lips twitched, and he desperately looked down at his toes, his shoulders shrugging.

Wang Ben's face changed from a liverish color to a deathly gray.

He felt his worldview had shattered.

Just then, Ying Zheng and Meng Yi seemed to remember something, exchanged a glance, and their expressions became extremely excited again.

"teacher!"

Ying Zheng strode forward, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"Meng Qing and I just carefully observed and calculated next to that 'automatic rice pounding machine'."

He held up two fingers.

"With just two people working together to add feed and harvest the grain, that magical machine can husk thousands of kilograms of wheat for our Great Qin in a single day and night!"

Thousands of kilograms!

Wang Ben's worldview, which had just been shattered, was once again shaken by these three words.

"Sir, your abilities are truly... truly..."

Ying Zheng couldn't find a suitable word to describe it, and in the end, he could only bow deeply.

Zhang Ying ignored their excitement and looked at Wang Ruoshu, who was still sitting on the rock with her ankles red and swollen.

"Wait."

A moment later, he made some ice from saltpeter.

Zhang Ying wrapped the ice cubes in cloth to make a simple ice pack.

He walked up to Wang Ruoshu and squatted down.

"Bear with it."

He applied an ice pack to Wang Ruoshu's swollen ankle.

"hiss……"

Wang Ruoshu gasped and instinctively shrank back.

Zhang Ying held down her calf with one hand to prevent her from moving, while using the other hand to control the ice pack, gently rolling and rubbing it on the injured area.

His movements were focused and gentle.

Looking at his face so close to hers and his earnest expression, Wang Ruoshu's cheeks involuntarily flushed.

This man, despite his sharp tongue, can be so gentle in his actions.

She no longer resembled a fierce daughter of a military family who had grown up in the barracks; at this moment, she was as delicate as a small white flower in the wind, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Wang Ben's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw his daughter looking like this.

Is this still my daughter who could arm wrestle with a military captain?

"Sir, you saved my daughter last time with your 'Transferring the Essence Technique,' and now you possess such medical skills. This old man..."

Wang Ruoshu's face flushed bright red, as if it could bleed, and she wished she could disappear into the ground.

The warm touch on my lips that day on the beach vividly resurfaced in my mind once again.

Looking at Wang Ruoshu's infinitely shy appearance, and then at Zhang Ying who was intently applying a foot poultice to her feet, Meng Yi paused, stroking his beard.

His inner calculations began to click rapidly.

My niece, Meng Tian's daughter, is also well-educated, gentle, and virtuous. If she could marry you, sir...

"gentlemen."

Ying Zheng cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Zhang Ying.

"There is something I cannot understand, and I hope you can enlighten me again."

Zhang Ying didn't even look up, continuing with her work: "Speak."

"That is the method of 'creating something from nothing'."

Ying Zheng's tone was extremely devout.

"How can ten pounds of flour yield fifteen pounds of steamed buns? Sir, could you... in front of us, 'discover' the potential of that flour once more?"

He quoted Zhang Ying's fabricated words verbatim.

Zhang Ying sighed and finally raised her head.

Explaining science to these ancient people is like casting pearls before swine.

Fine, I'll show you country bumpkins who've never seen the world another thing.

"OK."

He stood up and clapped his hands.

"We've got no idea what to have for dinner, and eating only steamed buns is getting boring."

I'll make some more steamed buns for you today.