As a result, when they went crazy looking for people at the time, the Ji Family caused quite the chaos, which allowed the Shanyue to capture many maids. However, the Shanyue leaders didn’t touch any of them and sent them all to Qu Qi.

Upon learning of this, the Ji Family almost clashed with the Shanyue. Losing a maid wasn’t important, but losing the Legitimate Daughter was. Although this generation’s Legitimate Daughter didn’t have to become the Chief Priestess, she still represented the family’s face, and the Ji Family was furious.

Fortunately, Qu Qi returned with a bunch of plants and found a group of weeping women at his place. After asking about it, he sent them all back.

If it weren’t for this, the Ji Family would have definitely clashed with the Shanyue. In such situations, even if they couldn’t win, they had to fight. It was all about the family’s honor.

It’s like how Yano Gaozhen and Ban Chao couldn’t let it pass back in the day. A Legitimate Princess and a Princess are entirely different matters; it’s all about dignity, hence the necessity to fight.

The Ji Family faced the same situation. Thankfully, Qu Qi swept this matter aside, and the Ji Family didn’t pursue it further. Instead, they became very interested in Qu Qi, considering that marrying their Legitimate Daughter to him was advantageous from any perspective.

With this thought, and the Legitimate Daughter herself being interested in Qu Qi, Ji Xue started frequently visiting Qu Qi. As for the result, there wasn’t much of one.

Qu Qi now mostly resides in the Shanyue’s new city. Following his earlier discovery of an unknown paddy, he has devoted all his energy to this area in hopes of finding another wild paddy seedling. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Although that wild paddy had various issues, the excellent gene of short maturity alone was worthy of Qu Qi’s cultivation efforts. Moreover, Qu Qi’s claim that the plant could feed ten million people wasn’t just idle talk.

A little over a hundred days of growing time is a miracle to Qu Qi, as it means three harvests a year could be possible.

As for lodging, diseases, empty grains, and other factors, they are not issues for Qu Qi. Sooner or later, he will cultivate a stable, inherited three-season rice.

Reaching this level, even with his Spiritual Talent, it requires years of continuous experiments to achieve, but at least there’s a clear goal.

The biggest problem right now is that Qu Qi can’t find another paddy with similar traits.

As the current boss of the Shanyue People, Qu Qi can ask them to collect wild plants from various places. However, during this era, botany is essentially an underdeveloped field, and most of the items brought back by the Shanyue People, while edible, lack research value.

Improving wild vegetables to taste better, and grow larger is meaningless to Qu Qi. Rice beats vegetables every time. The Shanyue People now feel quite frustrated, realizing that what used to grow by the corner of the government office truly was a Divine Artifact.

Unfortunately, it’s true that they had gold and jewels without recognizing them, referring to this group of Shanyue People, who, upon learning that the plant could allow their current paddy to be planted three times a year, almost considered cooking the guy who originally pastured the cattle.

One dan of rice costs 150 coins; one acre now produces three dans. Being able to plant once more each year means the loss of ten billion coins annually for one cow. The Shanyue People felt like dying over this, so whenever they saw grass growing by the wall, they immediately dug it up and gave it to Qu Qi, never letting any animal eat it.

Yet encountering such a miraculous plant was a rare accident, so naturally, Qu Qi hasn’t found another one so far.

But Ji Xue keeps coming to find her, thinking it over, Qu Qi plans to relocate and continue southward. After being unable to find rare materials here for so long, staying longer serves no purpose. So one night, Qu Qi packed up his bedding and escaped southward.

"It feels like, the further south I go, the more usable plants there are. Although some mushrooms taste good, they are poisonous." By this time, Qu Qi had fled south to an unknown place and casually found some things to start cooking soup.

Luckily, with Wuu Anguo as an Inner Qi Manifestation, even though Qu Qi was in dire straits, he wouldn’t turn into a wild man. He also expressed gratitude to Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing for granting him immunity to most toxins, otherwise consuming fresh poisonous mushrooms like this would sooner or later lead to poisoning.

As for Wuu Anguo, there was absolutely no need to worry. Mere poisonous mushrooms couldn’t pose a problem; for a creature like Inner Qi Manifestation, no amount of toxin could bring them down.

"But sir, do you really plan to stay here long?" Wuu Anguo asked, eating poisonous mushrooms without a flinch.

"Yes, many plants here have research value. Some can be eaten, and others can be used. Moreover, I now fully understand the growth principle of these things," Qu Qi said, picking up a mushroom, finishing it, and then taking out a large notebook to record related information.

"But staying here too long could easily turn you into a wild man," Wuu Anguo said, looking at Qu Qi, who was already quite disheveled.

"It’s fine; I can ask Brother Hei and Brother Bai to send me some supplies later. Besides, I don’t plan to go further south for now," Qu Qi said with a smile. He had identified his issues, and knew he needed to correct them.