The villager, eager to share the gossip, pulled Zhenzhu to sit on a bench in front of her house, right next to the slave market, having witnessed all manners of cruelty. "You know nothing. Let me tell you, but don’t spread it around. The story goes : Butler Hui had an affair with the wife of his master because the restaurant’s master was always busy with work and hardly ever home. When he did come home, he was too tired to pay attention to his wife, who, still young and beautiful, felt lonely and eventually had an affair with Butler Hui. The maids in the household would sneak out and gossip about it, making it no secret. But Butler Hui was greedy; he embezzled a little money from the master every day. That alone wouldn’t have been too bad, but his greed got the better of him, and he started stealing larger sums, blaming a loyal maid for it. When she refused to take the hush money, fearing she might reveal his crimes to the master, he got rid of her. Before being sold off, that girl was beaten and then sold off; she’s the young girl there. Knowing the truth about the money and the affair, the two gardeners, who were twins, planned to tell their master. Unfortunately, Butler Hui caught wind of their plan first and falsely accused them of stealing a precious jade belonging to the master’s family. The young wife, fearing exposure, helped Butler Hui convince the master to punish them by beating, mutilating, and selling them off. Still not satisfied, fearing they might speak out later, they cut out the twins’ tongues before selling them," the villager recounted fluently, as if afraid someone else might steal her thunder. She was well-versed in such sordid tales. "Ah, that’s so pitiable," Zhenzhu empathized deeply. Good intentions led to their downfall. If not treated promptly, who knew if they would survive? Slave traders who bought them were likely not taking them for treatment. Zhenzhu bid farewell to the villagers and approached the mentioned slave shop. "Do you fancy any particular slave? Feel free to choose. We have both men and women, even children," the slave trader greeted her eagerly. "I’m interested in those two boys and the girl," she pointed at the cage with the twin boys and another with the young girl. The slave trader was visibly pleased that someone was interested in what he considered trash. He had taken them in without cost, thinking their condition might improve over time for sale. However, their situation seemed hopeless. He did not even know if they would make it. If he paid a doctor to treat them, it would not be worth the payment, considering their condition made it uncertain how much they could fetch. Moreover, he worried they might die in his shop. "Ah... You’re interested in these three? You have quite the eye, Miss. These boys, though injured, are strong and will recover with a little care. Plus, without tongues, they won’t bother you with unnecessary chatter. The girl was a maid in a large household, very skilled in her work," he said, trying to upsell their qualities, which only made Zhenzhu want to vomit in disgust at his lack of empathy. He did not different from that evil Butler Hui. The three of them thought they were doomed to die miserably in that cage, never expecting anyone would come to buy them. For a moment, a glimmer of hope passed through their eyes, only to fade again. "How much for them?" Zhenzhu didn’t want to engage in lengthy conversations with this slave trader. "50 taels each," he offered, setting a high price initially. Normally, slaves as injured and close to death as these could fetch up to 30 taels, considered a good price. Buyers would have to spend a significant amount on their treatment, without any guarantee of recovery. He offered a high price initially, expecting to haggle. "Deal. 150 taels for all three, and please prepare the contract," Zhenzhu agreed immediately, not bargaining because she saw that the three slaves were conscious and listening to her conversation with the slave trader. She didn’t want them to feel further demeaned. "Y... Yes, Miss. Please wait a moment," he replied, surprised. The young lady didn’t haggle at all, which was quite fortunate. He hurriedly went to prepare the slave contracts. Zhenzhu paid the 150 taels as agreed, without shortchanging a single coin. Before heading to the slave market, she had withdrawn money from a bank. "Xin Xi, go hire a carriage," she instructed. "Right away," he responded, quickly finding a carriage for hire. The slave trader helped lift the two males onto the carriage swiftly, as if afraid Zhenzhu might change her mind. Before leaving town, Zhenzhu didn’t forget to stop by a doctor’s office, hiring a young doctor and a female assistant to accompany them on the carriage. Soon, they arrived at the house, where the carriage went around to the workers’ quarters at the back. Xin Xi jumped down, fetched a large blanket and mattress from his quarter, and prepared everything neatly. This house had two rooms; they placed the two injured males in one room and the female in another. Once the girl recovered, they planned to move her to another quarter, but now she had to stay here for convenience during the recovery period. Xin Xi assisted the doctor in carrying down the injured, despite being smaller and somewhat awkward in handling them. The doctor gently cleaned their wounds and bloodstains, applying herbal medicine all over their bodies as if wrapping them in herbs. Xin Xi served as an adept assistant throughout the process. The female patient was tended to by the female assistant, fortunately with less severe injuries than the twins. After everything was settled, Zhenzhu asked Xin Xi to look after the patients and returned to the main house to inform her parents and the household of the situation. Overwhelmed by the narrative, Miss Wang teared up. Without delay, she prepared porridge and food suitable for the patients to take to them. Leaving them in each other’s care, Zhenzhu locked herself in her room to continue her spirit energy cultivation as usual. She had already created 456 spirit energy channels, pushing herself to progress to the dark blue tier as quickly as possible. One of her motivations was Hui Lin. However, Zhenzhu was unaware that her speed in spirit energy cultivation was so exceptional that even the geniuses of the various states would have to bow down in respect. No one had managed to create 456 spirit energy channels in just three months of practice. Over the past six days, Zhenzhu confined herself to her room to practice her spirit energy, following a simple routine of eat-practice-eat-practice. On the morning of the seventh day, after finishing her training, she bathed, dressed, and went to the back of her residence which was a workers’ quarter. Although she was the one who had brought those slaves back, she hadn’t checked on their condition at all in the past few days. Today, she decided to see if their conditions had improved. "Eh?" But as she stepped out, she was surprised to see that more than a third of what used to be a grassy field had been turned over and divided into several vegetable plots, with a water channel built above them. Her mulberry garden had also been equipped with a water channel. Thıs content belongs to 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮·𝙣𝙚𝙩 That was quick! She thought, astonished. Considering it would take at least five days to complete such work with the help of He Lei, He Ming, and Xin Xi, but other than the vegetable plots, there was also a water channel, it seemed her father must have hired day laborers to assist. Zhenzhu was pleased with this efficiency; it was wise to spend money on hiring help rather than attempting to do everything oneself. Money should buy convenience, not endless labor. It was better to hire and got sometimes for themselves to practice their spirit energy cultivation. "Big Sister Zhu, you’re here?" Xin Xi called out, leading two large oxen. "Eh, where did these oxen come from?" "Master He bought them. He also bought a cart, it’s under that big tree. He said it’s for transporting vegetables to the market." Xin Xi was responsible for letting the oxen graze on the remaining grassy area that hadn’t been turned over yet. "Oh, you’re letting them graze? Where is everyone else?" "He Furen and Yu’er are taking care of the patients in the back house. Master He and Brother Ming are sowing seeds in the garden over there." "I see. Go ahead then, I’ll check on the patients." Upon entering the workers’ quarter, Zhenzhu saw a young woman with a bruised face serving porridge to one of the twins lying on a mattress. Her face was bruising, wounds on her body still visible, but much better than how they were the first day. Miss Wang was feeding the other patient. He Yu was nearby, enjoying green bean cake. "Big Sister! You’re here! Come have green bean cake with me. Xiao She and Baihu won’t eat, I tried giving them." Oh, little one, they wouldn’t eat your snack, they would only eat your flesh. "You’re always thinking about eating." "Not true! I helped Father in the garden yesterday." Sure, more like causing trouble. Zhenzhu smiled. "Lady, I want to thank you for saving us," the young woman said, once she saw Zhenzhu, she quickly placed down the porridge bowl and knelt, banging her head on the floor repeatedly. Zhenzhu winced at the sound. "Alright, alright. I accept your thanks. You don’t need to call me Lady; just call me Younger Sister Zhu." Zhenzhu was uncomfortable being addressed so formally. How could this girl call her a ‘Miss’ when she was just an ordinary farm girl, not the lady from wealth, Zhenzhu feeling itchy and awkward as if she was not accustomed to such reverence. "How could I, miss? I am a servant, and you are my master. Thank you for rescuing me. Without you, I would have died there. This gratitude is too great for me to ever repay." Tears streamed down her bruised cheeks as she spoke. Zhenzhu felt exasperated by her constant self-debasement. But what Zhenzhu didn’t know was that this girl was born a slave in another master’s house, branded a slave from birth, used and abused daily. She had internalized her status deeply, seeing her masters as beings far above her. Now, facing a new master who refused to acknowledge her as a slave, she was overwhelmed with emotion. "Enough, enough. Call me whatever you like. Why are you crying so much? Are you made of water?" "Thank you, miss. My name is Zhen Peipei. You can call me Peipei." Young girl smiled, her tears was gone. "Alright, Sister Peipei, are you feeling better?" "I must be called just Peipei, miss. How could I dare to be your big sister?" The servant girl protested. Sighing, Zhenzhu gave up trying to argue with her. "Alright. Alright. Are you feeling better?" "Much better, thanks to Miss’s care. The wounds are healing, and the bruises will fade soon. I’ve been helping Miss take care of Feng Yi and Feng Xian. They were beaten worse than I was." She looked sympathetically at the twins, who were now mute from their injuries. "Ah, ah, ah ah ah ah." "Ah ah, ah, ah ah ah." Two patients remembered this girl. Even though their consciousness was not in a fine state, they knew this girl was the one who bought them. They had been looking for her these past few days but to no avail until now. Unable to express their gratitude, their hearts ached. Zhenzhu observed the twins that were lying on the mattress. Though they were emaciated and sunburned, their injuries were healing. Despite being identical twins, their faces were distinct enough to tell each other apart, but what was similar now were their eyes, filled with gratitude. "They probably want to thank you, Zhu’er," Miss Wang said. "Don’t worry about it. From now on, we are all one family. Get well soon." Zhenzhu couldn’t tell who was Feng Yi or who was Feng Xian; she decided to wait until they were better. "Thank you, mother, for taking care of them," Zhenzhu expressed her gratitude to her mother. During these days, her mother must have taken great care of them. "It’s nothing, my child. Seeing them breaks my heart. Just see how depraved a person could be.” Miss Wang always compassionate, felt deeply for the abused youths. If it were her own children who suffer this kind of torment, she would have died. "Yes, mother. I’ll leave this to you. I’ll help father with the garden work." Zhenzhu walked out to the vegetable plots where He Lei was busy scattering some seeds into the furrows, while He Ming was diligently planting small seedlings that had been nurtured earlier. "Ah, Little Sister Zhu, you’re here? Perfect timing. Once we finish planting these vegetables, we’ll need to water them. Could you help by fetching some fish scales to mix into the water?" "Of course, get me some of those, I’ll help you plant them down." Zhenzhu helped her brother with planting the seedlings until the sun was high in the sky. Afterward, she went to inspect the water channels her father had constructed. To her surprise, the water channels were more elaborate than she had anticipated, extending to every plot. A fine mesh spread over the vegetable beds ensured an even distribution of water, reminiscent of a showerhead from her previous life. Additionally, stone reservoirs were built alongside the plots for water storage, revealing her father’s unexpected talent in this area. When lunchtime came around, He Lei and He Ming paused their work to eat. However, they didn’t return to continue with the gardening afterward. "Why aren’t we finishing the vegetable plots? There’s still so much left to do," Zhenzhu inquired. "We only work in the garden during the morning. Didn’t you know? In the afternoons, Father teaches us the martial art of wind-counter punch, along with Yu’er and Xin Xi," He Ming explained, clearly excited. It must be said that being a spirit energy cultivator is considered the basic level for general practitioners of spirit energy cultivation. Spirit energy cultivators can extend their abilities into various fields. For instance, those who focus on agricultural spirit cultivation use spirit energy to nourish plants and vegetables. Those who specialize in glyph cultivation focus on drawing glyphs with spirit energy, becoming glyph artists. Those who specialize in medicinal cultivation focus on controlling spirit energy to aid in the refining of elixirs. Those who specialize in weapon forging focus on controlling spirit energy to help forge weapons. Culinary spirit cultivators focus on controlling spirit energy to enhance food creation. There are many other branches of spirit energy cultivation as well. Thus, being a spirit energy cultivator is merely the foundation. Zhenzhu herself is focused on calligraphy, using her spirit energy for drawing characters. Since He Ming and He Yu lacked the aptitude for memorizing character patterns, He Lei suggested they pursue martial cultivation, which encompasses various disciplines like swordsmanship, spear techniques, saber techniques, whip techniques, index, and unarmed combat. The majority of spirit energy cultivators focus in martial, they often serve as soldiers, guards, or be a martial. But most martial arts are inherited within schools or teachers, some kept secret within specific sects. Having been a soldier, He Lei had learned the wind-counter punch technique, which he passed on to his children. It’s a basic martial skill taught to ordinary soldiers that can be enhanced by spirit energy cultivation. He Ming was so excited. He wanted to be a soldier. He dreamed of becoming a great warrior, carrying victory flags in battles. "Can I learn it too? I’d like to have some self-defense skills," Zhenzhu expressed her interest, recalling her previous improvisations in fighting off thugs. It would be of great benefit to learn some self-defense. "Father said he’d look for a suitable technique for you since the wind-counter punch technique isn’t suited for ladies.". Although He Lei was a former soldier, his rank was not high, the techniques he had learnt were just the common one, moreover, he was not born in to a prominent family, did not have a martial legacy to teach his children. "Ah, that’s disappointing. Fine. I don’t have to learn self-defense. But is there a technique to escape quickly? I’ll have to ask Father." Zhenzhu preferred avoiding conflict, valuing her safety over fighting. She wondered if there were skills specifically for escapes. -----Read ‘Rebirth: This Farmgirl Has Spirit Fish Scales’ before anyone else with more Chapters at https://www.jinovel.com/en