Herb Garden

Everyone in the hall, including Qai's parents, was left open-mouthed by his suggestion—the proposal truly was enticing for the village elders.

And evidently out of them all, Xiao Ning was the most speechlessly in limbo as she did not know what to actually feel.

Apparently, there was no sign of any selfishness in Qai's words—everything that he said was to her liking and it could be inferred that she was the one who would benefit from it the most.

Xiao Ning did not say anything but it was obvious from her face that, to her standards, the terms Qai offered were very amenable.

So it didn't take long before all of the Gale Village guests gratefully agreed. They were so glad that it turned out better than they expected.

The guests admired Qai, not only because of the advantages of such an offer but also because they could not eventually reconcile how a youth his age could gain such profound wisdom and foresight.

And with the worry being solved, everyone simply relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the day.

The Gale Village guests stayed in the inn for the night and promised to send Xiao Ning back immediately as soon as she said her proper farewell to her family.

**************

After Qai and his father sent their guests off the following morning, Qai called the attention of his father.

"Father," he said. "Why don't we make it official?"

"Eh?"

Shu Wei was confused. He obviously did not get which was his son referring to.

"Let's make them officially the Shu family's inner disciples," Qai said with a wide grin.

'Inner what!?' Shu Wei thought.

He was obviously referring to the four he 'recruited'—Su Yu, Bing, Jing and Xiao Ning. They would, undoubtedly, be the key foundations in his dream of helping his family build a clan.

***************

Qai and Jing eventually started to till a portion of the land that day in the northeast wing side of the plateau so that Xiao Ning can start her work soon.

And so for the next few days, the family decided that the hunting task would primarily be spent to gather specific herbs to be planted in the 'Herb Garden.'

They also started to put up some new rows of small individual rooms in the southwing of the plateau.

With all these task at hand, the entire Shu family voluntarily worked doubly hard.

***************

With all the recent improvements, this was what the plateau actually looked like—the entire place was purposely divided into nine area or sections:

First, the west side was the main access or gateway to the plateau.

An inclined of about 10-meter width pathway originally there served as the entrance. And up northwest was still a largely forested area, while down southwest was where the inn and the small pill shop were located.

The center area of the plateau, on the other hand, was still an open space. It was temporarily used as the family's training ground. The northwing, meanwhile, which was just above the center, was where the stables and sheds were built while the southwing was the selected area for the small individual houses designated for their 'inner disciples.'

Finally, the eastern side was where the Main Manor with a large courtyard located together with individual houses for the Shu children.

A tall Darkwood Tree though and a water well especially built at the middle of the area made it more distinguished.

The northeast portion was where the newly tilled soil for the Herb Garden and down southeast was where the Treasury Hall stood.

Those three eastern portions were overlooking the relatively distant Darkwood Forest.

And with those distinct areas, the plateau looked to be more organized than ever.