novelraw Chapter 324 Time is of the essence
Chapter 324 Time is of the essence
Chapter 324 Time is of the essence
After drinking two glasses of water, Ling Chengen felt fully awake. She fastened the top button of her pajamas, lifted the covers, and got out of bed.
Bai Qingyu put on a nightgown and sat at the foot of the bed, saying, "Aren't you going to rest a little longer? You didn't sleep much last night."
Ling Chengen rubbed his temples, cleared his throat, and then said, "I already rested yesterday. If I continue to rest today, the workload will pile up even more."
Knowing there was no way to stop her, Bai Qingyu tied the belt of her pajamas, stood up, and said, "I'll go to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. You go wash up first."
Ling Chengen watched his departing figure, a hint of confusion in his eyes, but he quickly went to the bathroom in the back.
After it ended last night, Bai Qingyu helped her clean up, but she still felt she should wash herself thoroughly again.
Bai Qingyu entered the kitchen and found that there were already several people there.
Everyone in the family has a different schedule, so unless it's a pre-announced gathering, we usually eat separately.
If we bump into each other occasionally, we might end up eating together.
Chongzhen's work is tedious and fragmented, and he basically devotes a lot of time to it every day. Therefore, he is the first one to get up in the morning. He is also very good at cooking, so he usually cooks for himself. If he has time, he will prepare more food and keep it warm in the kitchen so that anyone who wants to eat can take it.
Yu Shaochen and Su Weihua have a more regular schedule. Every morning at 7:15, they appear in the kitchen on time and cook some simple meals. They always make extra for the next person. Then they leave at 8:00 sharp. Yu Shaochen arrives at the laboratory at the planting base at 8:20, while Su Weihua's workplace is closer. She arrives at the law enforcement team's office at around 8:10.
It was already 8:30 in the morning when Bai Qingyu entered the kitchen.
Only Yuheng and Shi Ruoan were in the kitchen.
The two occupied separate corners of the kitchen; one was washing the bottom of bowls and ceramic cups, while the other stood in front of the stove, slowly searching for the seasonings he wanted from the condiment area. Neither of them spoke.
Bai Qingyu paused as she entered the kitchen, wondering if turning back now would allow her to escape safely.
Yuheng turned and glanced at him, then sneered, "What are you doing standing at the door? Are you afraid of me or afraid he'll eat you?"
Bai Qingyu calmly walked into the kitchen, first looking at the small pot behind the stove. As soon as the lid was lifted, white steam rose up. He tilted his head slightly to disperse the misty steam, looked at the black sesame paste in the porcelain bowl, and turned to ask, "What's the main dish for breakfast?"
Shi Ruoan had already finished washing the dishes. She took a clean set and placed it in front of the stove next to her. She took out a plate of crab roe buns from the plate and turned to hand them to Bai Qingyu: "I have some more buns here, with crab roe filling. You should like them."
"They also have fresh shrimp wontons and mackerel wontons made this morning, which cook very quickly."
Bai Qingyu thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll cook some."
Yuheng asked, "Shrimp and egg noodles, would you like some?"
Bai Qingyu glanced at him and hesitated before asking, "Is the noodle you made edible?"
Yuheng's barbecue skills are decent, but he has hardly ever seen him make anything else. He always felt that the shrimp noodles made by him might poison someone.
Yu Heng's face darkened slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "Who do you think you are? I just rarely cook, it's not like I can't cook."
Shi Ruoan had already brought over a basket of wontons from the freezer and placed it on the counter. She adjusted the fire in the stove and waited for the fire to bring the water in the pot to a boil before putting half of the wontons into the pot.
Seeing that Bai Qingyu showed little interest in Yuheng's shrimp noodles, Shi Ruoan, sitting on the stool, asked, "How is Enen doing?"
Bai Qingyu picked up a piping hot crab roe bun, cooling her fingertips as she asked, "What do you mean?"
"About the pregnancy."
Bai Qingyu lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, deciding to let Ling Chengen talk to them about the incubation chamber himself. However, before he could speak, Yu Heng asked in confusion, "Even if you are pregnant, can't your merfolk also insert the cub into your birth canal in the early stages of your partner's pregnancy?"
Bai Qingyu had only heard about this matter, but before he met the Shi family, merfolk were very mysterious to the beastmen on land, so he always thought that this statement was probably just a rumor.
Hearing Yuheng say the same thing, he asked curiously, "Is this kind of legend actually true?"
Shi Ruoan shook her head and said, "Half true, half false."
"Male merfolk do possess reproductive cavities, but the vast majority of them do not voluntarily choose to take on the task of bearing offspring. Furthermore, merfolk no longer reject having offspring with other sea creatures, nor are they obsessed with maintaining the purity of their bloodline. Therefore, after hundreds of years, the reproductive cavities of male merfolk have degenerated to some extent."
"So what?" Yuheng raised an eyebrow. "You're also unwilling to take on the task of childcare?"
Shi Ruoan shook her head and said, "Of course I'm willing, but I haven't studied this kind of knowledge."
Sea priests must adhere to the rule of celibacy, so he was never given any such lessons from childhood. This ancestral experience was also lost because he was taken to the Sea Temple at a very young age.
“I can ask Pan Xing; perhaps he knows what to do.”
Yu Heng sighed softly, turned to Bai Qingyu and said, "Did you remember the key points I told you last night?"
Bai Qingyu leaned against the window and calmly said, "I'm using contraception."
Yu Heng frowned and said, "She and Shi Ruoan haven't been together for very long, so if you don't use contraception, there's a chance she might be pregnant with twins."
Bai Qingyu shook her head decisively and said, "Twins would be too much of a burden on her body."
Female beastmen who are pregnant for the first time have no experience, and if they have too many offspring, many unpredictable situations may arise.
He doesn't care whether he has children or not; he just wants her to live a healthy life until old age.
Although she has that kind of gestation chamber, what if that gestation chamber can only accept one child?
Bai Qingyu didn't pursue her secrets, nor did he want to pry into them further.
Yuheng shook his head and said, "Doesn't this make us look heartless and show no concern for her at all?"
Bai Qingyu snorted coldly: "So please use contraception when you have sex in the future. Enen has just come of age and is not even ready to be a mother."
Shi Ruoan had no right to interrupt, and Yu Heng simply nodded perfunctorily, saying, "I know what I'm doing."
"However, did you pay attention to your limits?"
Bai Qingyu rolled her eyes at him: "I will never hurt her."
Before going to see Enen last night, he made a special trip to see Yuheng first, wanting to find out whether a woman in early pregnancy could tolerate union with her partner.
Yuheng's answer was yes, it was possible, just a little attention was needed.
Because the time is too short and the embryo has not yet fully formed, there is still a lot of room for manipulation.
The embryo begins to take shape when it is one month old.
From this point onward, pregnant women must be treated with care, and it is best to avoid sexual intercourse with any partner until the third month of pregnancy.
Shi Ruoan scooped all the wontons out of the pot and put them in a large soup bowl. After covering it with the lid, she took out two slightly smaller bowls from the cupboard and placed them on a tray. She then took two spoons and two pairs of chopsticks and placed them next to Bai Qingyu before turning around to wash the kitchen utensils she had just used.
Bai Qingyu had also prepared some side dishes to go with breakfast, including some pickled cucumbers and stir-fried spicy and sour radish. He looked at the green and white side dishes that Shi Ruoan had placed on the tray and asked in confusion, "What are these two? I've never seen them before."
"Sea grapes and jellyfish salad."
Bai Qingyu hesitated and asked, "Can I eat this?" "I just ate this morning."
Upon hearing this, Bai Qingyu immediately had no more questions.
Ling Chengen does indeed have a special fondness for seafood, and he often thinks about eating some.
But she doesn't really like eating fish, especially freshwater fish with a lot of bones. She almost never touches them unless they are cooked exceptionally well.
After Bai Qingyu left, the kitchen returned to its original quiet state.
Yuheng ladled his noodles out of the pot and, before leaving the kitchen, suddenly said, "If you want to ask about transferring the cubs to yourself, you'd better do it sooner rather than later..."
"The larger the fetus, the more difficult the transfer becomes, and it is also more difficult for you to adapt to the process."
Shi Ruoan bowed slightly and said, "I understand."
The responsibility for this incident lies with him.
"I'll be able to confirm whether she's really pregnant in about another week."
Time is tight.
……
While Ling Chengen was handling official business, Zhilu happened to come to see her.
When Zhilu saw Ling Chengen, she was stunned for a few seconds, then couldn't help but laugh and said, "Did you do 'that' with your beastly husband at home?"
Ling Chengen sat behind the desk, quickly reviewing the documents and selecting the more important ones, placing them separately on his left.
Without even looking up, she said, "You called me here just to pry into my private affairs?"
Zhilu shook her head and said, "That's definitely not it. Your scent is too strong. I could smell that domineering aura as soon as I came in."
Ling Chengen stopped writing, sniffed his arm, but felt nothing.
She and Zhilu got down to business. This year, the planting of fire crystal cotton will not only continue to expand, but will be several times larger.
Because Beast City has annexed many small and medium-sized tribes, and since these tribes have been brought under the jurisdiction of Beast City, it is necessary to consider their survival situation as thoroughly as possible.
If joining Beast City makes life worse than before, then these people will eventually run away.
The two talked in the study for more than two hours, and finally Zhilu left with a complete planning document.
After Ling Chengen finished dealing with the backlog of official business, it was already completely dark. The light grass and lantern grass in the study also lit up. Ling Chengen got up and stretched his body, still waiting for news from the Crow Clan.
She didn't want anyone else to handle the aftermath of the Zhaoshishan incident, so she took it upon herself to handle it.
Yuheng has already found out who the culprit who shot the arrow from the north of the mountain is indeed related to the Daxing tribe, but is not an orc from the Daxing tribe.
Those people belonged to the Uja tribe.
In the initial battle at the beginning of the city's founding, Uga had already formed a grudge with them. However, due to the successive loss of several tribes that they were comfortable with, and then being ambushed by their neighbors who were waiting for an opportunity, Uga was severely weakened and lost the will to take revenge on Beast City.
As the Beast City expands year by year, its size is now comparable to that of the Great Xing Tribe.
Ujah became increasingly hesitant to directly provoke a war.
But at this moment, Da Xing suddenly set his sights on the City of Ten Thousand Beasts and began to plot against it.
The Daxing tribe would not easily provoke a large-scale war, because once a war begins, it requires continuous investment of manpower, financial resources and materials, and the result may not necessarily be good.
Therefore, based on the information gathered, the Daxing tribe finally decided to start by attacking the salt road of the Beast City.
The first batch of salt in early spring is especially important.
That's why the case of Zhaoshi Mountain came about.
Ling Chengen waited until eight or nine o'clock in the evening, but still received no news, so he finally decided to go home first.
As soon as she entered the courtyard, she saw Yuheng sitting on the railing.
Ling Chengen looked tired. He walked up the steps, leaned against a pillar, and asked, "Are you here tonight also to ask to share a room?"
Yu Heng shook his head and said calmly, "I'm not a hothead like Bai Qingyu. I'm not in such a hurry for this kind of thing. I just wanted to chat with you. But you came back too late tonight."
Ling Chengen leaned against a pillar and said softly, "We're waiting for news from the Crow Clan, but there's still no result."
"You want to find out about Fu Tong?"
Ling Chengen glanced at him: "Are you a tapeworm in my stomach?"
Yu Heng scoffed and said, "If you can't describe it, then don't. How could I possibly be like an insect?"
“When I fought her, I tore off one of her arms,” Ling Chengen said, raising an eyebrow. “Do you think her arm can grow back?”
"She's a spider-human beastman, right? She's probably regenerating, but it just takes time."
“Without the help of a witch doctor like me, she would have had to wait at least a year or two to regain a complete new arm.”
Ling Chengen clicked his tongue twice and said with a sneer, "Then she probably hates me to death. If she gets the news that I have returned to the city safely, she will definitely try to find an opportunity to assassinate me."
Yu Heng snorted coldly, "As long as you are in the City of Ten Thousand Beasts, even if she sends thousands of troops, she will not be able to touch a single hair on your head."
Ling Chengen asked in surprise, "So confident?"
“During this period, a lot of news about her and the Daxing tribe has been delivered to me.” Yu Heng said lazily, resting his chin on his hand. “Fu Tong’s methods are limited. One is to use her own advantages to make male beastmen who submit to her work for her. Another is her little spiders, which are ubiquitous and are like her eyes and ears.”
“But the City of Ten Thousand Beasts is full of plants that I have nurtured. If those spiders want to hide in the trees in the city, I will definitely be able to sense it.”
Ling Chengen asked doubtfully, "With so many spiders, how can you be sure they came from outside?"
Yu Heng raised an eyebrow and said, "Because there are no other small spiders in the city."
The City of Ten Thousand Beasts itself has no small spider-like beastmen, and you can even count the number of insectoid beastmen on your fingers.
The spider-beastmen in the Beast City were all natives of the Northern Wilderness. They were huge and extremely easy to identify. Yu Heng had dealt with them all before, and he would not mistake their aura.
Ling Chengen asked in surprise, "Not even ordinary spiders? That's impossible!"
Yuheng laughed and said, "Aren't you underestimating the Zerg orcs?"
"You've only developed less than one-tenth of their capabilities."