“Ah-choo ah-choo ah-choo!” Rubbing his nose, Shao Yunan mouthed, “It must be that Shijing misses me. Well, Qing and Nizi must have missed me too.” His hands swiftly plucked fresh leaves from the Ancient Tea Tree.

“Roar!” Below the tree, Brother Tiger urged and Shao Yunan consoled him. “Just wait a little longer. We haven’t finished picking the tea yet. Time waits for no one and since the weather is good today, we should pick more.”

“Uncle!” In the distance, Jiang Moxi returned riding on Big Gold, holding a sack of something unknown, which seemed quite heavy. Shao Yunan clicked his tongue. “Uncle An is still busy. Do you want to go back or wait ‘outside’?”

“Wait.”

“Alright.” Jiang Moxi was brought over by Big Gold. Big Gold lay down and Jiang Moxi poured the contents of the sack onto the ground. Shao Yunan looked down and exclaimed, “Moxi, where did you get this?”

Jiang Moxi raised his head and replied, “Ebony.” Shao Yunan stopped plucking tea leaves and hurriedly descended from the tree, asking, “Where did you get it? How did you know it’s ebony?”

Shao Yunan’s scalp tingled as he asked, “Did you chop it yourself with an axe?” Jiang Moxi nodded and Shao Yunan’s eyes swept over him. Sure enough, there was an axe strapped to Little Gold’s back. Shao Yunan quickly took Jiang Moxi’s hand to inspect it. “Ebony is very hard! What if you hurt yourself?”

“Spiritual Spring.” Shao Yunan’s movements froze. This kid’s hands were dirty, but there was no injury. He did know that he could use the spiritual spring to clean wounds… Genius children had their own set of problems.

Jiang Moxi requested, “Ebony, Uncle.”

“How long?”

“Long.” Jiang Moxi pointed to where he was standing and then at a large ancient tree. Shao Yunan estimated it to be at least 20 meters long. My goodness, this is a valuable find. However, Shao Yunan was puzzled. “Aren’t valuable items usually buried in the ground or rivers? How did you find it on the ground?”

“On the ground.”

“It was just lying on the ground?”

“Yeah.” Shao Yunan thought for a moment and said, “Uncle An, will keep picking tea. After I’m done, we’ll go take a look.” He picked up the small piece of ebony that Jiang Moxi had brought back and examined it. “It does look like ebony, but let Uncle An finish his work first.”

“Quick.”

“Picking tea can’t be rushed; you need patience. How about going into the space?”

“…Okay.” Shao Yunan sent Jiang Moxi and Little Gold into the space and quickly climbed up the tree. In his previous life, he had a long ebony tea table, which his big brother had bought for him for over seven million yuan. It was his most luxurious tea table, which he kept in the space, and couldn’t bear to use even once. 

This kid just stumbled upon a piece of ebony. In the modern world, a single piece of ebony would be worth billions, not to mention if it were used to make furniture or artwork. And even if he found it, he couldn’t claim it as his own.

Despite the temptation of the ebony, Shao Yunan finished picking the tea first. The sun was about to set and he concluded today’s work. Tomorrow, he would be able to pick all of it and then it would be time for processing.

He placed the tea leaves in the space to dry and then rode Brother Tiger, following Little Gold to the location of the ebony. They were deep in the forest, with no paths to follow. Without Brother Tiger, it would take who knows how long to walk here with just two legs.

Even so, when Shao Yunan arrived at the spot where Little Gold and Jiang Moxi found the ebony, it was already completely dark. Shao Yunan took out two emergency lights and handed one to Jiang Moxi. The greatest advantage of having three tigers with you was that you didn’t have to fear danger, whether it was dark or deep in the woods.

After walking a few steps, Shao Yunan saw the “monstrous object.” When he saw the ebony tree, half of it laid on the ground and half in the water. Shao Yunan’s mouth nearly stretched to his ears. Setting aside how long this tree was, its diameter was already two meters and above.

“It’s a treasure, definitely a treasure.” Shao Yunan happily touched the ebony tree and kept chanting. Of course, he did not really want to sell it for money, but ebony of this quality was hard to find even for 10,000 gold. He actually had a whole tree… what is it, if it is not a fortune?

“Uncle.” Jiang Moxie tugged at Shao Yunan. “Ship.” Shao Yunan returned to his senses and looked down at him. “You want to take the ebony to build a ship?” Jiang Moxi nodded.

Shao Yunan’s first reaction, “Extravagant!” Clearing his throat, he touched Jiang Moxi’s head. “Ebony is very hard. It’s fine for you to make some ornaments and furniture, but to use it to build a ship is too wasteful. The other thing to consider is how many ebony logs do you have to find in order to build a ship? You’ve read books, you should know how ebony is formed. Finding one is one’s luck, finding a second one is God’s luck.”

“Uncle, immortal.” Shao Yunan coughed. It’s true that to make up one lie, you have to use countless lies to round it up! “Uncle An is an immortal in Heaven, but he is a mortal in this world. Most importantly, ebony is very heavy. A boat made of ebony will sink as soon as it hits the water, so what’s the point of talking about sailing.”

Jiang Moxi looked at Uncle An and after a few seconds, his shoulders slumped, clearly disappointed. Shao Yunan couldn’t bear to see him so disappointed and encouraged him, saying, “You should thoroughly check the information in the space again. Uncle An also doesn’t know which wood is most suitable for building a ship. Uncle An and Uncle Jing will find various types of wood for you to experiment with.” Jiang Moxi nodded.

“Uncle An will put this piece of wood into the space, ok?” Jiang Moxi nodded. Shao Yunan sent Jiang Moxi and Little Gold into the space and then he placed his hands on the ebony wood, closed his eyes, and concentrated. The ebony wood was so large that it would be troublesome if he accidentally hit the flowers and plants in the space.

In a different location under the same sky, two men sat in a simple general’s tent, their faces still filled with excitement and self-blame. Jiang Kangchen, who had been exhausted all the way, had just been brought back to the camp by Dai Mingrong and Dai Zhanxiao. If Jiang Kangchen’s eyes weren’t too tired to stay open, the two generals would still be bombarding him with questions.

Edited by: Jaisland

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