Chapter 101: Ch 101: The Tilling Begins
While the omegas received careful instruction on which seeds suited the current season, how to place them at the proper depth, and the correct way to water the young crops, the alphas were summoned to the vast farmland and the string-marked plots that waited for them.
Su Wanyan walked with the others toward their assigned sections. But before they separated, she, Qin Yuran, and Zhao Yichen stopped for a brief moment and bumped fists.
"Good luck, you two," Su Wanyan said, her smile gentle.
"You too," Zhao Yichen replied, giving her shoulder a firm, friendly pat and grinning.
Qin Yuran clapped the other shoulder and grinned wider. "You need to win first place for the kids."
Su Wanyan nodded, the image of Mo Xingxue, Shen Guoxing, and Mo Yan rising clearly in her mind. The thought softened her expression even further. "Naturally. I want to give them the best."
Qin Yuran and Zhao Yichen exchanged a look and chuckled. "Speaking like a true alpha right there," Zhao Yichen said, giving her a playful punch on the arm.
Su Wanyan only laughed and shook her head. The two alphas headed off to their own plots, still grinning. Gu Chengze was already in position at his section, gaze fixed on the open earth in front of him. He never once glanced toward the others, every line of his posture announcing the solitary, focused type.
The live barrage, watching both the warm exchange and Gu Chengze’s isolation, offered its usual brand of "pity."
[Aw, poor Gu Chengze... Anyway, did y’all see Su Wanyan’s smile? She’s so cute!]
[LMAO, DESERV—COUGH! I meant, awww, Poor little alpha!]
[How could.. how could they do those to him? That’s so (NOT) sad.]
[Guys, let’s not bully him. I mean he didn’t even do anything right.]
[LMAO, ALMOST STARTED TO CALL FOR A HITMAN TO KILL YOU!]
[LMAO, DON’T TWIN! I DON’T WANT TO DIE YET! I still have to be there on mine and Su Wanyan’s wedding.]
[...She’s Mo Xingxue’s wife, you homewrecker.]
[Hey, hey, pipe down. I don’t want to be a homewrecker.]
[...]
[...Don’t do it. I’m warning you..]
[...YOUR MOM!]
[YOU LITTLE SHI—!]
[I DON’T WANNA BE A HOMEWRECKER
I JUST KNOW I CAN BE BETTER, BE BETTER, BE BETTER!]
[...GET THEM! THEY’RE GOING TO GET US CANCELLED!]
[My poor ba.. bab.. baaa.. bastar—baby. My poor baby.]
[Me while reading all these comments: DON’T! DON’T! DON’T! DON’T... Don’t stop~ go on.]
[LMAO, HOLY PEAK REFERENCE!]
[How fast I caught that.]
While the chat continued its performance of sympathy, Su Wanyan and the remaining alphas settled into their marked plots. Just in time as the camera crew finished their final adjustments and stepped back. One staff member lifted a speakerphone.
"Good morning, Teachers!" She called energetically, her voice carrying clearly across the open land. "I am aware that you already know your task, but let me explain it properly." She said, pulling out a prepared note from her pocket.
"This is a recurring daily task that earns the local currency used here in the village. Today’s work is special, however. The results will decide which house each pair receives." The woman said, a playful, mischievous smile forming at her lips.
Qin Yuran and Zhao Yichen both shivered slightly. PD Xu Cui and his staff really did share the same mischievous streak, they thought.
Meanwhile, Su Wanyan only smiled, relaxed and unhurried, in clear contrast to Gu Chengze’s fierce determination and the worried expressions on the other two faces.
"Now, please pick up the hoe beside you," the staff member instructed, gesturing toward the tools at their feet.
Su Wanyan glanced down, took the hoe in hand, and settled into a balanced stance. The others did the same and waited.
"In 3.. 2.. 1.. start!"
The three other alphas sprang into motion at once. Their movements were hurried and clumsy, the lack of experience obvious in every awkward swing and unbalanced step.
Su Wanyan remained still for a heartbeat, eyes on the soil, a small mischievous curve at the corner of her mouth. Her gaze sharpened for an instant—too brief for the cameras to catch—then she drove the hoe into the grass and began to work.
Even at speed her posture stayed perfect, back angled to protect against later strain. Each stroke landed with clean precision. From a distance it looked less like a person farming and more like a machine built solely for this task.
The barrage reacted with a mixture of awe and growing chaos, the farming enthusiasts especially vocal.
[As expected of my wife!]
[OUR wife!]
[Oh, yeah, LMAO. My bad, twin. My bad.]
[All kidding aside, how is she doing that? Is she some kind of a robot?]
[...Robot or not, my ports are wide open and ready for her to input.]
[...I BEG YOUR PARDON??]
[This young lady has great potential in farming... She should just quit her job and focus on farming instead... I’m sure she’ll end up quite known in this area, and maybe she might be the reason why agriculture would boom.]
[While I agree with you saying she has great potential and to your last statement... SHE AIN’T QUITTING HER JOB! Stop stealing people from the medical industry!]
[LOLOL, WAR! WAR! WAR!]
[WHAT IS THIS WOMAN’S NAME? I NEED IT..... ASAP!]
[Hello! So, this woman is named Su Wanyan, she’s an alpha, a doctor, a wife, and a mother... EHE!]
[Su Wanyan is so amazing. I thought she’ll have a hard time like the other guests... but she proved me wrong.]
[Fr, fr, what can’t she do?]
[Confess to Mo Xingxue.... THIS is something she can’t do.]
[Ah.]
[Ah.]
Su Wanyan continued working with a quiet grin. I knew it would work, she thought.
She had never farmed before and had never held a hoe until today. But the moment she decided to treat the tool as a weapon, Arms Sovereignty settled into place. The hoe became an extension of her arms, weight and balance instantly familiar.
Verdant Stewardship then revealed the precise weak points of every root system, showing her exactly where to strike. Flowing Steel refined her posture and strength so the blade never sank too deep or too shallow.
The Perfect Foundation potion kept her energy steady even after continuous work. Together the skills produced the clean, efficient progress the cameras were recording.
Now, although she was the last one to start, she not only caught up to the others, but she was now also steadily pulling ahead.
She hummed under her breath while she worked—another sharp contrast to the frustrated groans and occasional curses rising from the neighboring plots. To her the task felt almost like a mobile farming game, only the dirt and the sun were real.
The other three alphas remained clumsy at first, but time slowly smoothed their efforts. Posture improved. Strength found better balance. After twelve minutes Zhao Yichen straightened, stretched both arms high, and let out a satisfied hum when his back gave a solid pop. After another satisfying stretch, he then looked across the field at his competitors.
Qin Yuran was still groaning and sighing with every stroke, clearly frustrated yet refusing to slow down. Zhao Yichen laughed quietly. Stupid, he thought with fondness. His gaze then shifted to Gu Chengze.
What he saw surprised him. The man’s work had begun rough, but it was steadily becoming more controlled—not good yet in a sense, but it was improving. Zhao Yichen glanced at his own uneven progress and sighed. Then, he shrugged. At least I’m not friendless, he thought, chuckling softly.
Then he looked toward Su Wanyan’s plot.
His eyes widened. What.. what kind of monster is she? Zhao Yichen thought, his mouth falling open, even forgetting for a moment that this was a competition. Why? Well, because, her section was already halfway cleared. The rows were clean, the soil even, every movement still precise and unhurried. Meanwhile, he and the others had barely finished a fraction of a single pass.
Zhao Yichen stared until the shock faded enough for him to remember himself. He snapped back to work, competitive fire finally catching. He knew he would never be able catch to catch up to Su Wanyan, but the other two were still within reach. For Jiji, he told himself, and his pace quickened.
Su Wanyan straightened a minute later and rolled her shoulders, easing a mild stiffness from her back. She then stretched her slightly sore back. She studied the ground she had covered and nodded once. Not bad, she thought, a satisfied smile gracing her lips. Even at a leisurely pace she had covered a substantial amount of ground.
She stretched her neck from side to side and glanced at the others. Soft laughter escaped her at their labored states. She shook her head, feeling a genuine flicker of pity—for Qin Yuran and Zhao Yichen. When her eyes reached Gu Chengze, whose movements were growing sharper and more impatient by the minute, the pity vanished.
Well, he deserves to suffer, she thought, and returned to her work with another quiet chuckle.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
HOLY SHI—! I WAS GOING TO UD EARLIER, BUT I COULDN’T BECAUSE MY ELDER COUSIN CALLED ME AND WE JUST CHATTED AND STUFF (it lasted for 1 hour and 35 minutes or so).... LMAO!