Across the snow-covered plain outside that north gate of Frost-Pine Town, five hundred ox-sized mountain war-wolves lay convulsing on their sides in the snow, their coarse gray coats drenched in freezing sweat. The forbidden [Berserk Blood-Boil Pills] that Lin Fan had shoved down their throats threatened to rupture their heart-meridians within thirty breaths!
Holding her shiny [Rank 2 Little Fairy Pink Watering Can] in both small hands, six-year-old Su Nuannuan didn’t hesitate for a single second.
“Hang on, big doggies! Nuannuan is coming with sweet honey water!”
Tucking up the hem of her pink rabbit-fur winter dress so she could run faster. The six-year-old girl trotted right up to the front pile of whimpering war-wolves—with eight-year-old Gu Nian walking. Protectively at her left shoulder carrying two extra wooden buckets of warm spring water from the gatehouse well.
Grandpa Yao poking his chubby green plush turtle head out of her backpack to direct her aim!
“Little fairy, sprinkle two drops right over the bridge of each wolf’s nose so the honey-mist enters their lung-meridians on the inhale!” Grandpa Yao instructed briskly, adjusting his tiny gold spectacles with his flipper.
“Okay, Grandpa Yao! Shhh-shhh, good doggies, drink the sweet rain!”
Tilting the rose-shaped spout of her [Rank 2 Little Fairy Pink Watering Can]. Six-year-old Su Nuannuan infused a gentle stream of her [Rank 2 Perfection: Sweet Honey-Candy & Healing Aroma Empress Body] into the warm spring water and sprinkled a shimmering. Rainbow-tinted mist of honey-sweet droplets across the snouts of the first thirty convulsing war-wolves!
Pitter-patter... HUMMM!
What happened next made all five hundred hardened Blood-Wolf Mercenaries—and the three hundred townsfolk watching from the stone battlements—hold their breath in sheer wonder!
The instant those warm, honey-scented water droplets touched the blistering, blood-foaming snouts of the dying mountain war-wolves. The [100% Universal Detoxification & Calming Law] of Nuannuan’s upgraded physique washed straight through their nostrils into their overheating heart-meridians!
Hiss—purr!
In less than ten seconds flat:.
- The scorching, corrosive sulfur-blood toxin of Lin Fan’s [Berserk Blood-Boil Pills] was completely neutralized and flushed out of the wolves’ bloodstreams as harmless white steam;.
- The terrifying bloodshot crimson in all five hundred pairs of wolf eyes faded back into clear, intelligent amber-gold;.
- And the tearing, heart-bursting agony in the giant beasts’ chests was replaced by the soothing, delicious flavor of warm wildflower honey and mountain spring water!
Right in front of Commander One-Ear Scar’s tear-stained face. His six-hundred-pound mount—along with Vice-Captain Bull’s beloved wolf Old Gray and all one hundred and fifty giant war-wolves in the front pile—stopped foaming at the mouth. Took a deep, painless breath, and rolled over onto their bellies!
Instead of baring their fangs or growling, all five hundred six-hundred-pound mountain war-wolves let out a chorus of happy. Puppy-like “Awooo-yip!” whines, thumped their bushy gray tails against the snow like giant oversized sled-huskies. Stretched out their big pink tongues to affectionately lick the toe of six-year-old Su Nuannuan’s small pink winter boots!
“Hehe, stop licking, big doggie, that tickles Nuannuan’s toes!” six-year-old Su Nuannuan giggled brightly. Reaching out with her bare, warm little hand to scratch behind the ears of Commander One-Ear Scar’s six-hundred-pound war-wolf—which immediately rolled onto its back with all four giant paws in the air.
Begging the six-year-old girl for a belly rub!
“Old Gray! Your nose stopped bleeding! Your heart is beating steady again!”
thirty-eight-year-old Mercenary Vice-Captain Bull burst into loud, blubbering tears of joy.
Hugging his giant tail-wagging wolf around the neck while all five hundred mercenaries across the field cheered and wept with relief!
Even forty-two-year-old Commander One-Ear Scar—whose backside was still throbbing like a drum from Gu Changsheng’s twenty belt lashes—pressed. His scarred forehead against the snowy flagstones in front of six-year-old Su Nuannuan’s boots and sobbed like a child:.
“Little Fairy! Our five hundred war-wolves were raised with us from pups in the freezing northern ridges! That rat Lin Fan poisoned them to use us as cannon fodder, and Little Fairy saved every single one of their lives with a pink watering can!
From today on, One-Ear Scar’s life belongs to Little Fairy and Patriarch Gu!”
While the five hundred giant war-wolves wagged their tails around Nuannuan and eight-year-old Gu Nian’s yellow bunny slippers—and. The fleeing Lin Fan disappeared into the northern pine forest with his [Protagonist Luck Halo] cracking again from. 22% down to 16% after losing his entire hired army—sixty-two-year-old Grandpa Fu marched briskly out through the town gate!
Behind Grandpa Fu marched twenty-four-year-old Auntie Qin carrying a large medicine hamper. Thirty-five-year-old Captain Gu Tie leading eighty mansion guards with heavy wooden pry-bars (to help unstick the glued mercenaries from their saddles once they surrendered). Rank 2 Mid Poison-Hand Wu leading his eighty-one pink-aproned herb gardeners carrying buckets of warm vinegar water!
“Brother Scar! Brother Bull! Long time no see!”
forty-five-year-old Poison-Hand Wu called out cheerfully as he strolled up to the front pile of glued Blood-Wolf Mercenaries in his spotless pink honeybee gardening apron.
Resting his iron hoe over his shoulder with a wide, rosy-cheeked grin. “Last month when we drank wine at the Black-Sand Tavern, you laughed at our Five-Venom Scorpion Gang and boasted that your five hundred iron cavalry could trample any town in Azure-Cloud Prefecture! How does it feel to get swept into a pile by Little Master Nian’s broom and glued to your saddles by Little Fairy Boss’s sneeze?”
Stuck to the ground on his knees beside his giant tail-wagging war-wolf, forty-two-year-old Commander One-Ear Scar. At Rank 2 Peak, stared at Poison-Hand Wu’s bright pink honeybee apron and then looked at the healthy. Ruddy glow on Poison-Hand Wu’s ten fingers—which every outlaw in the county knew had been rotting black from thirty years of scorpion-venom backlash!
“Old Wu?!” Commander One-Ear Scar gasped, temporarily forgetting the stinging belt-welts on his backside. “Your ten rotting poison-fingers...
they’re completely healed?!
And why has your Rank 2 Mid internal qi grown twice as pure as it was last month?!”
“Hehe, because four days ago Little Fairy Boss patted my head once, cured thirty years of venom rot in my hands. Hired our eighty-one brothers as the official Herb-Field Squad of the Gu Clan!” Poison-Hand Wu puffed out his chest proudly, pointing at the embroidered yellow honeybee on his pink apron.
“Let me give you a piece of brotherly advice, Scar-Head: when Butler Fu reads out your property-damage bill in a second.
Don’t argue and don’t try to haggle—beg to put on the pink apron as fast as you can! One bowl of Patriarch Gu’s noon lunch stew is worth more than ten years of freezing in the northern mountains!”
Right on cue, tapping his [Jade-Abacus Cane] on the granite highway and adjusting his spectacles over his single bright eye. The old butler unrolled a six-foot-long itemized bill in front of the kneeling Commander One-Ear Scar:.
“Ahem! Commander Scar, by order of Town Magistrate Liu and Gu Clan Patriarch Gu Changsheng, here is the official municipal invoice for today’s disturbance:.
- Item One: Rebuilding the northern ridge wooden watchtower — 20,000 silver taels.
- Item Two: Two thousand hoof-and-paw dents in Frost-Pine Town’s newly swept northern highway — 50,000 silver taels.
- Item Three: Mental distress and extra stove-charcoal fees for thirty West-End Orphans and forty-six elderly widows — 80,000 silver taels.
- Item Four: Five hundred bowls of Little Miss Nuannuan’s Rank 2 Honey-Spring Detoxification Water at charity veterinary rates — 50,000 silver taels.
- Grand Total: 200,000 Silver Taels! Do you prefer to pay in silver ingots or by community labor?”
Commander One-Ear Scar swallowed hard, looking back at his five hundred men—who didn’t even have iron belt buckles left to hold up their trousers:.
“Butler Fu, if we had two hundred thousand silver taels, we wouldn’t have been tricked by that eyebrowless rat! Put us to work—my five hundred brothers and five hundred wolves will haul stones, dig ditches, and pave roads until every copper coin is paid off!”
“Deal!” Gu Changsheng smiled, standing up from his bamboo lounge chair. Spending 5,000 Dad Points inside [Dad’s Care-Package Upgrade Box] to fuse five hundred sets of coarse cotton cloth with a [Rank 2 Good-Citizen Discipline & Hygiene Array]!
[ DING! 5,000 DAD POINTS DEDUCTED — MASS CHORE-APRON FUSION! ]
* Remaining DP : 192,190 DP.
* Output Item : 500x [Rank 2 Perfection: Pink “Good Citizen”
Bunny Chore Aprons (Municipal Construction Set)]!
* Item Effect :.
1. Boosts masonry, bricklaying, and road-paving stamina by +50%!
2. Built-in Politeness Law: Any wearer who utters a curse word,.
spits on the street, or slacks off during work hours is.
automatically forced by the apron’s array to perform 100.
synchronized frog-jumps while singing “I Am a Polite Little.
Bunny”!
3. Nuannuan Darkening Drop: 11% -> 10% (Matching Gu Nian’s 10%!)
4. Daily Income Surge : +65,000 DP/day -> +70,000 DP/day!
As soon as Poison-Hand Wu’s gardeners washed the sticky black-licorice taffy off the saddles with warm vinegar water. Captain Gu Tie’s guards handed out the five hundred bright pink cotton aprons stitched with smiling white cartoon bunnies!
“Remember the apron rule, mountain brothers,” eight-year-old Gu Nian called out seriously in his yellow bunny slippers, holding his iron-wood broom like a drill sergeant while six-year-old Su Nuannuan petted the giant war-wolves’ heads. “In Frost-Pine Town, nobody is allowed to say bad words in front of the school or spit on the sidewalk! If you say a bad word, the bunny on your apron will make you do frog-jumps!”
Five minutes later, when Commander One-Ear Scar and all five hundred burly. Scarred mountain mercenaries stood in neat rows outside the north gate wearing bright pink cotton aprons stitched with smiling white cartoon bunnies—and when Vice-Captain Bull accidentally muttered “Damn. This pink apron is tight” and was immediately forced by his apron to hop up and down one hundred times.
Singing “I am a polite little bunny, I wash my hands and sweep the floor!”—the entire town of Frost-Pine laughed until the snow shook off the city wall!
“Great heavens, my legs are hopping by themselves! Boss Scar, help!” Vice-Captain Bull cried out on his forty-fifth frog-jump, his brass nose-ring jingling in rhythm with the nursery rhyme.
“Shut your mouth and keep your language clean, you idiot—or I’ll make you do another hundred jumps after you finish!” Commander One-Ear Scar barked in terror. Clapping both hands over his own mouth so he wouldn’t accidentally swear and join the frog-jumping choir!
Watching the three-hundred-pound Mercenary Vice-Captain Bull hop up and down in the snow with his hands held above his head like two floppy rabbit ears. Singing “I am a polite little bunny, I wash my hands and sweep the floor!” at the top of his lungs. The remaining four hundred and ninety-nine Blood-Wolf Mercenaries stood straighter than pine trees, terrified to let even a single impolite syllable slip past their teeth!
“Good—everybody’s posture is looking much healthier already,” twenty-eight-year-old Gu Changsheng nodded approvingly as he folded up his bamboo lounge chair and picked up his wolfberry thermos. “Grandpa Fu, Captain Gu Tie, and Brother Wu. Lead our five hundred new construction brothers and their five hundred sled-wolves to the eastern lot to set up their winter tents and wash up before dinner.
Since tomorrow morning Nian’er and Nuannuan are taking their winter math test in the East Hall. Starting at seven o’clock sharp tomorrow, Commander Scar’s five hundred brothers will begin laying the bricks for our new ten-acre [Gu Family Elementary Martial & Reading School]!”
“Yes, Patriarch Gu!” Captain Gu Tie and Poison-Hand Wu saluted in unison, while sixty-two-year-old Grandpa Fu tapped his abacus cane and called out cheerfully to the pink-aproned mercenaries:.
“Line up in rows of ten behind your wolves, gentlemen! In our Gu Clan, every honest worker gets a hot bath, a clean straw mattress. Two bowls of hot meat-and-radish soup at six o’clock—and anyone who finishes his frog-jumps without complaining gets an extra steamed bun!”
Hearing that they were actually going to be given hot baths and two bowls of meat soup instead of being locked in a freezing dungeon. The five hundred pink-aproned mercenaries exchanged amazed glances, patted the heads of their tail-wagging war-wolves. Marched neatly through the north gate behind eight-year-old Gu Nian and six-year-old Su Nuannuan!