T/N:
Heikou (Black Dragon Pass)
Heicheng (Black Dragon City)
Censorate (Supervisory Court)
...
The military training drill showed that the recent training hadn't been in vain. Even Lou Zhao was surprised that the demons from both inside and outside the city had developed enough trust to rely on each other. He couldn't help but glance at his little wife beside him.
After the drill, the participating demons and hunting team members not only faced the Queen again but also received personal praise from the King.
Upon returning to the palace, the Demon King vanished in a flash.
One moment, Yin Jixue could feel him behind her, and the next, there was a ripple in the air.
"Leaving so suddenly—did something urgent come up?" Yin Jixue muttered to herself. But since there was nothing she could do to help, she quickly put it out of her mind.
After the military training, the city held a sports festival, divided into youth and adult categories, to help everyone burn off their pent-up energy.
A few days after the sports festival ended, the temperature began to rise.
Teng She asked her when they could resume work. Yin Jixue instructed him to send people to test the temperature in the mines first. If it was suitable for normal activity, they could start.
They ended up waiting two more days before the temperature in the mines finally reached a level where work could begin.
Yin Jixue noted the temperature for future reference. When the outside temperature dropped to -20°C, they could enter the mines to work. The temperature inside the mines was still unknown.
The happiest about the resumption of work were the city's demons. They were finally free from being cooped up at home all day with nothing to do, and they no longer had to help their kids with homework—something they weren't good at anyway!
With winter over, the school reopened, and the little rascals finally gave their families some peace.
Several foreign merchants who had been hibernating also came to the Supervisory Court to bid farewell. Once the weather warmed up, they could hit the road.
Following Yin Jixue's instructions, the Supervisory Court showcased their pencils.
"This is a unique product of Black Dragon City—the pencil. It's specially designed for writing on paper and is even more convenient than a brush. If you make a mistake, you can erase it with animal hide." Meng Qiu, who had a naturally mature and steady demeanor, demonstrated the pencil's use, leaving the foreign merchants thoroughly impressed.
A unique pencil from Black Dragon City, paired with paper—this was something they could auction off for a high price at trading houses.
By the time they left the city, though they hadn't been robbed, they hadn't taken any of their original goods with them. Instead, they had exchanged everything for Black Dragon City's specialties.
However, the glass and paper gave them some reassurance. They were sure to fetch a high price. As for the pencils, they decided to give them away as freebies with the paper.
As they looked back at the towering buildings, they noticed that the Supervisory Court had replaced all its windows with transparent glass, making it even more impressive than their palaces.
This further reassured the foreign merchants. They had seen it with their own eyes—glass was going to make them a fortune.
While some left, others arrived. The city lord of Black Dragon Mouth sent a letter, proposing a visit at the end of the month. However, he had already gathered the manpower Yin Jixue needed and sent them over.
Over the winter break, Yin Jixue completed many tasks and earned a lot of construction materials. This year, she planned not only to build more dormitories outside the city but also to turn the area into a residential community, complete with a leisure square and stone benches, to give the out-of-town workers a sense of belonging.
The planned green spaces in the square couldn't support native demonic plants, but they could grow crops!
Fruit trees, for example, could be planted as greenery. In her previous life, she had seen pear trees lining the streets. When the season came, the falling pear blossoms were even more beautiful than cherry blossoms.
Planting trees wasn't just for outside the city. The roads inside the city were also planned to have green belts.
Originally, she had considered having each villa in the city have greenery in front of its door to enhance the city's aesthetics. It had been just an idea, but now it was about to become a reality.
Thanks to the system, she had successfully obtained a batch of fruit trees.
There weren't too many—just enough to plant one tree on each side of every household's door.
Yin Jixue selflessly had Meng Qiu personally lead a team to the palace to collect the seeds and saplings. She even instructed Teng She and Gou Chen to each lead a team of city defense soldiers to provide full protection until the plants took root.
The deterrence was up to them. Yin Jixue laid out the most severe consequences: stealing fruit trees planted in the city or others' fields would result in immediate expulsion from the Black Dragon Clan. The offender would become the common enemy of the clan, banned from Black Dragon territory for life, and their children would not be allowed to live in the clan.
The consequences were so severe that everyone understood the importance of the task. This was the first time the Queen had entrusted them with such a critical mission, and no one wanted to mess it up.
She had preemptively claimed the rewards and stacked them in an unused room. Since the Demon King had been absent for days, she didn't have to worry about him catching her.
Once all the construction materials, seeds, and saplings were transported out, Yin Jixue finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The fields had already been allocated. The demons could choose between working or farming, with farming also counting as work hours.
Black Dragon City's minimum guarantee was that no demon would starve. However, once the harvest came in, the palace would no longer provide three meals a day at the cafeteria. But if they pay their dues to the palace in the form of grain, they could still eat at the cafeteria.
In the early stages of farming, there were no taxes. The seeds were provided by the palace. The first harvest was for seed saving, the second for stockpiling, and only the third harvest required payment to the palace—just 20%.
The first batch of staple seeds Yin Jixue distributed were chunks of sweet taro. Planting sweet taro was similar to planting potatoes—they had to be cut into chunks, though lime wasn't needed.
Sweet taro didn't need to be saved for seeds. The first two batches were mainly to give the demons buffer time to stockpile more grain.
The seeds were from the palace's inventory. Once distributed, it was time to harvest the second batch of sweet taro from the palace garden and the fields outside the city.
There was still some time before planting could begin. The fields could be pre-fertilized, though it wouldn't make much difference on the scorched earth.
The good news was that the snow was melting, and the scorched earth wasn't as hard as usual, making it easier to turn the soil.
Farming was temporarily put on hold. No one would take the seeds home early. They were all waiting for spring to collect them uniformly. For now, they worked as temporary workers in the mines.
As the palace's sweet taro supply dwindled, the maids began to panic. Were they going back to the days of food shortages?
Before their panic could set in, Yin Jixue directed the soldiers to dig up the sweet taro from where it had been planted.
Only then did the palace staff realize that the Queen had secretly planted another batch.
Yin Jixue hadn't explained that sweet taro could regrow, leaving the easily startled maids feeling ashamed.
The sweet taro outside the city was also harvested. This batch was even larger, with most being the size of honeydew melons. Yin Jixue recalled an agricultural proverb she had heard as a child: "When winter wheat is covered with three layers of snow, you can sleep on a pillow of steamed buns the next year."
The harvest of this batch of sweet taro reassured many demons who had chosen to farm. The second batch wasn't smaller—it was even bigger.
Yin Jixue didn't plan to continue planting sweet taro in the palace. She wanted to grow common vegetables and fruits. With conditions improving, it was time to improve their diet.
The garden she had messed up was turned into a vegetable plot. Seeing scorched earth used to grow vegetables and trees made the palace staff heartbroken, but then they remembered the Queen's miraculous abilities. Maybe she could bring the dead back to life!
The Demon King, who had been missing for days, finally returned.
"I spent three days stalking these long-haired rabbits. They're very cautious and hard to catch alive."
He presented her with a whole litter—twelve baby rabbits.
Yin Jixue was surprised: "Why are you suddenly giving me this?"
"Last time, I accidentally hurt you. I wanted to make it up to you. I thought you might need long-haired rabbits." He had overheard during the drill that the hunting team had once given her long-haired rabbits, but they hadn't been alive.
Yin Jixue smiled faintly: "I was the one who attacked first. If anyone should apologize, it's me."
After recent interactions, she realized the Demon King wasn't what she had misunderstood him to be, and she had let go of the incident.