It was already afternoon, so they couldn’t start today.
He was being very generous.
The last new student had worked from six in the morning until midnight.
Still, despite his generosity, the new student seemed unsatisfied.
Feng Yiqiao added, “Once you accept the task, there’s a penalty of 0.5 merit points if you back out!”
Li Yang quickly responded, “No, teacher! I won’t back out. I just…”
Feng Yiqiao felt a bit guilty.
He had just been fooling around with the new students.
There was no actual penalty; she would just be unable to accept any other tasks for the day.
“Fine,” Feng Yiqiao said. Seeing that the new student was still hesitating, he finally couldn’t hold back, “Well, if you want to sleep in, you can come at nine.”
Li Yang froze.
Feng Yiqiao gritted his teeth.
“You can work until five in the afternoon, and you can take an hour’s break at noon.”
Li Yang continued to hesitate, and Feng Yiqiao couldn’t hold back anymore. “It can’t be less than this! You know, this is one merit point, which equals ten thousand yuan!”
“That’s not it, teacher…” Li Yang finally spoke up, whispering, “I just wanted to ask, can I start harvesting wheat now?”
Feng Yiqiao: “???”
Li Yang added, “I’ll do some today, and finish tomorrow.”
Feng Yiqiao was stunned. He paused for a moment before saying, “Well, tomorrow you’ll still work the full day, from eight to six…”
Li Yang nodded firmly, “No problem!”
Feng Yiqiao reminded her, “You won’t get paid for the afternoon work; it’ll be like doing it for free.”
Li Yang nodded seriously, “I know!”
Feng Yiqiao thought this was all so surreal. After a while, he uncertainly said, “Well… you can go ahead and start harvesting the wheat.”
Li Yang smiled brightly: “Alright!”
She went to grab the sickle, and Feng Yiqiao stood there watching for a while before quietly walking toward the second and third lazy members of the group.
The third person, Xia Putao, asked curiously, “Big Brother, how’s the new student? Easy to fool?”
Feng Yiqiao murmured, “I suspect we’ve caught a real fool this time.”
Li Yang was impatient, she only had two years left to live, and so many options were waiting to be used.
Even if they gave her decades, she could burn through it in no time.
She wondered how many years of life one stalk of wheat could give.
If it were like four-leaf clovers, one stalk giving ten years… oh, Li Yang’s smile could probably rival the sun itself!
Li Yang grabbed the sickle, and as soon as she held it, she realized this sickle was no ordinary one. It looked like an average sickle, but it was surprisingly heavy.
The system beeped: [Detected low-quality star weapon. Would you like to consume life to purify it?]
Oh no!
It was a “star weapon”!
No wonder the Agriculture Department at the military academy even had special sickles!
Li Yang didn’t use her life to upgrade the sickle’s quality.
First, her remaining life was too short, and second, the sickle wasn’t hers.
If it suddenly upgraded, she wouldn’t know how to explain it.
She decided to just make do for now.
Li Yang walked toward the wheat field with the sickle, and as she got closer, she realized that the star power in this wheat field was very dense.
Each drooping wheat ear was filled with star power, glowing like a blazing golden fire.
This mutated wheat was very different from regular wheat.
First, it was huge—ordinary wheat is about 80 to 90 cm tall, but this wheat started at least 2 meters high, looking like a “wheat tree”!
Second, the mutated wheat stalks were thick and sturdy, visibly solid.
Li Yang looked at the wheat, thinking, “I feel like an axe would be easier to use.”
However, the only tools available were sickles, and Li Yang didn’t ask if there was an axe.”
Let’s give it a try!”
Li Yang thought that since the teacher recommended the sickle, it should be better than an axe!
As for how to harvest…
Fortunately, there was a ready-made template nearby, probably left by the previous new student who took the task.
“That’s why we’re using a sickle…” Li Yang roughly understood, “So all I need to do is cut off the wheat ears.”
She swallowed, suppressing her excitement, and swung the sickle at the huge wheat ear.
With a loud thunk!
It felt like hitting a steel bar.
Li Yang had already encountered four-leaf clovers, so she was mentally prepared.
She remained calm and channeled the star power within her body, applying it to the sickle. With a clang, she swung again.
Her physical strength was extraordinary, and with her mental power boosting her, she targeted the weak spot on the wheat stalk, using at least 400 points of force.
There was a sharp crack.
The wheat ear wobbled.
Li Yang quickly made a few more cuts and successfully harvested it.
A ding sounded.
A line of text appeared on the system panel:
[Lifespan +1 year.]
Li Yang’s face lit up with joy.
One year was great! She was very satisfied!
Not only was the wheat harvest so easy, but there was also so much wheat here!
Li Yang didn’t waste any time. She swung the sickle quickly, cutting through the mutated wheat.
[Lifespan +1 year.]
[Lifespan +1 year.]
The continuous notifications made Li Yang feel energized. She worked tirelessly, filled with passion and determination.
This is the Agriculture Department!
This is the ideal life of a happy little farmer like her!
On the other side…
The three members of the Agriculture Department watched, stunned.
Lü Shunshun stopped sleeping and lazily propped himself up, his eyes half-closed. “She has so much energy…”
Xia Putao, with his high mental power, took a closer look and, confused, said, “She’s already opened three star orifices!”
Feng Yiqiao muttered, “That’s why I said, we’ve caught a real fool this time.”
Opening three star orifices means at least a first-tier, third-stage strength, and she’s just a new student…
This suggests either her background or talent is extraordinary.
The most likely possibility is that both her background and talent are exceptional.
Such a prodigy… why would she want to come to this godforsaken Agriculture Department to harvest wheat?
Xia Putao’s imagination ran wild.
“Big Brother, do you think there’s a possibility she’s a rich young lady who has never seen wheat before, so she came here out of curiosity to harvest it?”
Lü Shunshun also started to speculate, “Very possible. This rich young lady has probably eaten mutated wheat her whole life, and now she’s quoting ‘Who knows the food on the plate, every grain is hard-earned,’ and thinking of coming to our Agriculture Department for an experience?”
Feng Yiqiao, influenced by them, couldn’t help but start to imagine this scenario too.
But he was older and more experienced, so after taking the phone from Xia Putao, he immediately searched the new student’s name.
“Her name is Li Yang… Do you know any great master surnamed Li?”
Xia Putao shook his head.
“Doesn’t seem like it.”
Lü Shunshun asked, “Is it a fake name?”
Feng Yiqiao replied, “How could it be! This is Zhongdu Military Academy!”
Tasks are assigned with the name used in the admission registration; who would dare to use a fake name to enroll?”
“Could she be some rich young lady?”
The three weren’t sure. Maybe they were too ignorant and didn’t know of any great family surnamed Li.
After all, China is vast, and some remote provinces have little contact with Zhongdu, so it’s possible she could be from a distant royal family.An hour later…
Lü Shunshun, getting tired, yawned and said, “Probably not. What rich young lady would be so tough? She’s been working for an hour already.”
Two hours later…
Xia Putao also sounded disappointed and sighed, “I thought our Agriculture Department would be getting a big shot, some kind of fortuitous encounter.”
Three hours later…
Feng Yiqiao began to feel a little uneasy.
He muttered, “This kid is really earnest.”
She’s been working so hard despite him telling her there was no pay today, and now he feels embarrassed.
As evening fell, Feng Yiqiao could no longer sit still.
Though he usually used tricks and schemes, it was all for the livelihood of his family.
He had no choice—his teacher was spoiled, his second sister lazy, and his third brother mischievous. If he didn’t support the family, they’d all go hungry.
But now, to bully a young girl, even his small conscience started to hurt.
“Take a break.” Feng Yiqiao walked over to Li Yang and said, “Your star orifices are almost empty.”
Li Yang had indeed consumed a lot of energy.
She had been working for three hours, and her three star orifices, which had just filled with star power, were almost depleted.
However, Li Yang didn’t feel tired at all.
Tired?
In three hours, she had easily earned 90 years of life!
If she weren’t so close to the lifespan limit, she could’ve worked for another three hours!
Li Yang wanted to reach 100 years and said, “Teacher, I’ll finish these last few stalks before resting.”
Feng Yiqiao: “You really have energy!”
Li Yang saw her lifespan had reached 100 years, and the system gave a prompt:
[Please note, lifespan has reached the maximum limit.]
She finally stopped and smiled brightly at Feng Yiqiao, full of energy, saying, “Teacher, I’ll come back early tomorrow!”
Feng Yiqiao, seeing her like this, felt even more guilty.
He couldn’t help but say, “Well, would you like to stay for dinner before you leave?”
Li Yang blinked. “Can I?”
Feng Yiqiao replied, “Sure, but we don’t have anything fancy. We’ll just make steamed buns from the wheat you harvested.”
Li Yang was surprised. “Steamed buns made from mutated wheat?”
Feng Yiqiao nodded. “Yes, and with a little pickled vegetable. If you…”
Before he could finish, Li Yang cheerfully said, “Thank you, Teacher! I’ve never had mutated steamed buns before!”
Feng Yiqiao: His conscience hurt!
This wasn’t some rich young lady here to experience life.
This was clearly a poor, honest, and naïve girl who was tricked and still felt grateful!