Chapter 135: How to Sleep Tonight

Chapter 135: Chapter 135: How to Sleep Tonight

Hearing Tyler’s words, Ophelia beamed with joy. She excitedly wrapped her arms around his neck and showered him with kisses.

"Tyler, you’re amazing! I like you so much."

At that moment, Zerev walked in carrying roasted meat. Upon hearing Ophelia’s words, his bamboo-slender fingers dug tightly into the Stone Bowl.

Seeing Zerev enter, Tyler gently helped Ophelia up and asked softly, "Princess, would you like to go outside and take a look right now?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Ophelia shouted excitedly.

As the two prepared to head out together, Zerev slammed the Stone Bowl heavily onto the ground.

He looked at the three little dragon cubs wagging their tails and said coldly, "Eat by yourselves."

Then, he turned to Ophelia. "I’ll go with you."

Only then did Ophelia realize her fingers were tightly intertwined with Tyler’s. She awkwardly pulled her hand away.

"Alright, let’s go together."

A trace of loneliness flashed through Tyler’s eyes the moment Ophelia withdrew her hand. Even though he had braced himself for this, it still broke his heart to see the Princess deliberately distancing herself from him for Zerev’s sake.

Flanked by Zerev on one side and Tyler on the other, Ophelia left the Fuzu Tribe.

The atmosphere along the way was incredibly awkward, but Ophelia’s attention was immediately diverted the moment she saw the lush green rice paddies and cornfields outside the tribe.

She stepped into the paddy and bent down to inspect the growth of the rice seedlings. They were growing well, though perhaps due to the changing climate, they weren’t quite as robust as the first crop.

She sighed. To increase the yield, the rice needed to be top-dressed with fertilizer. Otherwise, given their current state, there was a high probability of empty husks by the time they were ready for harvest.

"What’s wrong, Princess?" Tyler asked with concern, noticing her dejected look.

"The rice needs fertilizer, or the yield will be low. But if we have to fertilize, promoting double-season rice is going to be difficult."

If she were to plant double-season rice on a large scale, she would have to provide not only the seeds but also the chemical fertilizer herself, which would inevitably arouse suspicion. Therefore, she decided to temporarily shelve the plan for double-season rice and prioritize other crops suitable for the current season.

She remembered that winter wheat could be planted right now. After a moment’s thought, she resolved to pull up the rice and plant winter wheat seeds instead.

"What? You want to pull up all this rice?" Tyler was utterly shocked.

He looked at the lush rice plants with great reluctance. After all, cultivating rice required a massive amount of water. All these paddies had been irrigated bucket by bucket, carried by him and his tribesmen. The thought of suddenly uprooting them pained him.

"Don’t worry, pulling them up is just to plant better food." Ophelia leaned in close and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I have a crop in my space that can be planted in winter, and its yield is about the same as rice.

"If we can successfully grow it, we’ll have food to eat all year round. We won’t have to rely solely on rice every year."

Although the Beast World had now mastered rice cultivation, their overall agricultural development was still very limited. Since she couldn’t promote double-season rice, she would just have to win with quantity and variety.

Hearing this, the reluctance in Tyler’s heart faded significantly.

Wasting no time, Tyler and Zerev set to work, pulling up an entire acre of rice. Planting was a slow process, but uprooting went quickly. Ophelia composted the soil again, planning to plant the winter wheat in a couple of days.

Next, Ophelia headed to the watermelon patch. The melons were already the size of grapefruits. The maturation period for watermelons was eighty days, meaning they would be ripe in about sixty more days.

She carefully scoured the patch, picking up a few melons and tapping on them. Then, she discovered that one of the watermelons actually had a hole bored right into it, revealing the still-pink flesh inside.

"Why is there a hole here?" Tyler asked, puzzled.

Zerev crouched down and looked around before snatching a little creature out of the adjacent dirt.

"It’s a hedgehog."

"Oho, you little rascal. You dare sneak into my field to steal food?" Ophelia pinched the scruff of the little hedgehog’s neck and tapped its tiny nose.

The hedgehog was still quite young, only about the size of a woman’s palm. Its quills were soft, and there was still some pink watermelon flesh stuck to the tip of its nose—undeniable proof of its "crimes."

"SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK." The little hedgehog wriggled and struggled, but to no avail.

"What should we do with it?" Zerev furrowed his brows.

Ever since he had the little dragon cubs, he had lost all resistance to soft, cute little animals. His once-icy heart had gradually warmed, and he was no longer as harsh and ruthless in his dealings as he used to be.

"How much can such a tiny thing eat? Let’s just let it go."

Little did Ophelia know, letting it go would trigger an entire series of consequences—though that is a story for another time.

After finishing her inspection, she calculated that this acre of land could yield around three hundred watermelons, which was nearly double the output of wild ones. And that was only because Ophelia had deliberately controlled the yield. If left unchecked, based on modern agricultural standards, an acre of land could produce at least three thousand kilograms of watermelon.

At ten catties per melon, three thousand kilograms amounted to a staggering six hundred watermelons. If she were to suddenly unveil six hundred watermelons in one breath, it would likely scare people half to death.

Finally, Ophelia visited the cornfield. The corn was growing nicely too, with stalks already as tall as a person. Many had already sprouted ears of corn. Since the maturation period for corn was the same as watermelons, both would be ripe for the picking in just over a month.

When she brought out such a massive harvest of watermelons and grain, it would definitely shock the entire Ten Thousand Beasts City. By then, the reputation of the Fuzu Tribe’s shops would soar to entirely new heights.

Ophelia strolled around the fields for a while, and the pent-up frustration she had felt from being cooped up at home for days finally dissipated.

By the time they returned, the sky had already grown dark.

Tyler and Zerev went to prepare dinner. After eating, the three of them looked at each other in silence. Ultimately, it was Tyler who stood up to clear the dishes, remarking with feigned casualty.

"I’ll go wash the dishes. I’ll be back late, so you should sleep with Zerev tonight, Princess."

Ophelia’s cheeks flushed slightly as she stammered, "I... I can sleep by myself, too."

But Tyler gave her a comforting smile. "You have to look after the three little dragon cubs at night. You can’t possibly handle them all by yourself.

"Zerev is their father, so it’s naturally his duty to help you. You don’t need to feel embarrassed."

Though she felt awkward, Ophelia was ultimately persuaded by Tyler.

The three little dragon cubs might seem perfectly well-behaved during the day, but at night, they turned into absolute little demons. They had boundless energy. Not only did they run around recklessly, but they also loved to chew on anything they could get their teeth on. They had already dug a hole in the corner of the wall, and they had even managed to pry up one of the green stone tiles on the floor.

If there truly was no one to keep an eye on them at night, they would turn the place upside down.