Mountains and giant beasts, cabins in the woods

The giant gray wolf traversed the city, walking uphill between the buildings in the east of the city, and returned to the farm at the foot of the mountain.

A wolf's nose pushed open the bamboo fence, and two more gray wolves came over, exchanging warm greetings.

Inside the container, with a loud rumble, everything came to a complete stop.

Liu Xingmo and Liu Sanniang went out and untied the thick ropes binding the gray wolf, freeing it from its burden.

"Awooo—!" "Woof!"

The three big guys immediately started wrestling, which is how they play.

"Stop it!" Liu San Niang shouted.

Three gray wolves tucked their tails between their legs and scurried into the wolf den.

Above, the moon and stars are few. In the distance, lights are dim.

It was a quiet night.

In the dimly lit farm, Liu Xingmo saw a glimmer of light coming from the small garden where foxtail grass was planted.

The needle-like point stood still under the moonlit sky, its pure sword energy transforming into tangible white light, spreading among the roots, flowing along the stem, expanding in the veins of the leaves, and dissipating into the night.

The entire blade of grass was illuminated, the white light flickering like breathing, like a quietly burning flame.

A small spike emerges from the tip of the foxtail grass, radiating the most dazzling white light, like a brilliant longsword.

Liu Xingmo leaned against the iron fence, reached out and gently touched the leaves, and did his best to infuse the wood energy in his body.

The flame and the longsword suddenly shone even brighter.

The silver moon hangs high, casting its bright white light across the mountains and rivers.

"This is yours." Liu San Niang walked over and handed over a money bag containing the money from selling medicine.

"Thank you, Third Sister. Wait a moment, I also have something for you."

Liu Xingmo drove the insect cart and was the first to return home.

Entering the dimly lit hall, I picked up the spirit stone lamp by the door and lit it. I then climbed up the stone staircase on the wall to the fourth floor and entered the attic.

Walk to the study on the east side, use the spirit stone lamp to illuminate the wall lined with bookshelves, and find the book you want.

Liu Xingmo, clutching the booklet, hurried back to the farm.

He found the woman by the large pot where firewood was piled up: "Third Sister, this is something I wrote, take a look."

"A new story?" Liu San Niang's eyes lit up, then she said dejectedly, "I can't read..."

"It's not a story, it's a textbook." Liu Xingmo turned the pages. "It's full of simple arithmetic problems and instructions on how to write Arabic numerals."

What is Arabia?

"It's a place, you don't need to know where it is. Anyway, this kind of number is very convenient, and it's used all over the world." Liu Xingmo stuffed the book into Liu Sanniang's hands.

"Thank you." Liu San Niang touched the paper, her feelings inexplicably complicated.

She put down the book and got back to work. Feeding three gray wolves was indeed a troublesome task.

"You must watch it! You can ask me if you don't understand anything. Goodbye." Liu Xingmo waved and disappeared at the farm gate without looking back.

"I learned it before, but I don't understand it anymore..." Liu San Niang murmured, then took out a match, struck it, and lit the firewood in the stove.

The firelight reflected in his black pupils, burning brighter and brighter until it turned into a raging inferno.

……

Liu Xingmo returned to Mushroom Castle and closed the door.

He opened the small iron gate in the hall and entered the alchemy workshop.

Sumali sat in her studio, lit a candle, and revised the blueprints.

Liu Xingmo pulled out another chair at the desk and sat down. "Mary, did the new parts arrive today? How are they?"

"Everything's fine, it's all installed. If my guess is right, we can start full-scale production tomorrow."

"That's great! I also met with three caravans today and discussed cooperation plans."

"I'll leave everything to you, Xingmo." Su Mali put down her pen and paper, looked up at her husband, and a faint smile appeared on her face. "I always trust you to do things."

The candle flame flickered gently, illuminating the cold, heavy steel machinery and the couple who smiled at each other.

Liu Xingmo placed the money pouch on the desk, making a crisp metallic sound as the coins clattered together: "I also asked Liu Sanniang to help sell medicine, and it's very effective! I plan to cooperate with her long-term in the future."

Sumali's gentle expression instantly stiffened: "My dear husband, tell me about your sales plan, and I'll give it a second review."

"Three caravans from different sectors each received a daily quota of 50 bottles of potion, with a wholesale price of 1.9 yuan per bottle, which were then sold to Xizhen and Nancun and Beicun respectively. The White Horse Caravan was specifically responsible for procuring raw materials and delivering them."

"No problem, perfectly reasonable."

"As for the rest of the medicines we produce, we'll leave that to Liu San Niang to sell throughout the entire Central City."

Sumali twisted her long black hair around her index finger, creating a curl, and asked, "Why give it to that woman? We might as well just give it all to the caravan."

"Caravans always need middlemen to make a profit. Selling a few hundred bottles with a profit of one cent adds up to tens of dollars," Liu Xingmo said, counting on his fingers. "And Liu San Niang herself has excellent sales skills. With the gray wolves carrying the cargo containers, she can easily sell her goods throughout the city. It also saves us the trouble of setting up our own shop."

"Ha..." Sumali sighed, "What did you offer that woman to make her willing to help you?"

"I'll use newspaper to help her 'give up,' which is actually also helping our potion 'give up,' killing two birds with one stone!"

"Fine, let's leave it at that."

Sumali lowered her head, staring intently at the design drawings on the paper.

Liu Xingmo also took out the design drawings of the entire factory and began wiring and piping, and designing the light bulb lighting system.

Silent all night.

The next day, early in the morning.

"Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling!" The clear sound of the copper bells echoed in the attic.

Liu Xingmo threw off the covers and jumped up, opened the window, poked his head out, and saw a man driving a buggy, towing a large pile of packages.

It was Tie Shengcai from the White Horse Caravan who was now in charge of liaising with Mushroom Fortress.

Liu Xingmo quickly went downstairs, opened the door, lit the spirit stone lamp, and led the car into the hall and to the workshop entrance.

"Brother, just leave your things here."

"Good. These goods were all carefully selected by me; the quality is absolutely top-notch." Tie Shengcai untied the ropes, opened the package, and said, "Take a look, they're all pretty good, aren't they?"

Liu Xingmo flipped through the items and nodded repeatedly: "Hmm, as expected of Zhongcheng's good stuff, it's much more upscale than Xizhen's."

"Brother, I'll be frank, this is the total price!" Tie Shengcai handed over a detailed bill.

"This price is a bit too expensive." Liu Xingmo frowned.

"You get what you pay for!" Tie Shengcai quickly said. "I'm here for long-term business, I'm not trying to rip you off."

"I understand that this batch of goods is indeed worth the price. But the cost is too high."

An unexpected situation arose.

Back in Xizhen, a potion made from one yuan's worth of raw materials sold for two yuan, which was just right.

Using this as a benchmark, things went wrong when applied to Central City.