Chapter 120: The Dispute

“You don’t need to mention Uncle Zhang; he’s an outsider to you.”

“I heard from your brother and sister that you’ve become quite formidable—killing even fifth-grade dungeon monsters without hesitation. Your brother, sister, and I are your closest family. Remember where those fruit cores come from, and be sure to get a few for us in the future.”

“You know the dungeon world will expand, right?”

“One day we’ll have to move, and surely we’ll want to bring our belongings along?”

“And your brother and sister, sometimes they kill so many monsters in the dungeon that they can’t carry everything back. That’s such a waste.”

Chen Biqin droned on, about to say more.

Raising her eyes, she saw her eldest daughter’s slight frown and immediately swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue. “Anyway, as long as you’re aware, I won’t nag anymore. I’ll go make some wheat cakes.”

Yu Yan: “...”

Actually, she didn’t find Chen Biqin annoying.

After more than three years without hearing her mother’s nagging, suddenly hearing it again felt strangely comforting. Of course, her mother’s words included consideration for her and the twins, but human nature is selfish at its core.

As long as that selfishness isn’t harmful to others, a little is harmless.

She used to find her mother annoying because many of her requests were beyond her ability, which, put bluntly, triggered her feelings of helpless rage. Now, she had deliberately reserved over twenty space lotus slices in her pocket dimension.

Hearing such remarks didn’t upset Yu Yan too much.

At most, Chen Biqin’s attitude felt entitled, which made her a bit uncomfortable, hence the subconscious frown.

But that discomfort was easy to handle.

Whenever she felt like it, she would package the space lotus slices prepared in advance for her family and let them absorb and refine them. Until then, she wouldn’t go against her own wishes just because her mother nagged a little.

That was the secret she had learned over the years for not feeling resentful when dealing with her mother!

She refused to follow her mother’s usual routine.

Whatever her mother wanted, she would mostly reject outright. Then, when she was in a good mood, she would give some accordingly, within her ability. This way, if her mother asked for something, it became a matter of Yu Yan feeling generous enough to show filial respect.

At first, her mother naturally wasn’t pleased.

She would explode in anger, pick apart everything, even accuse Yu Yan of being unfilial, saying all sorts of things.

But gradually, Chen Biqin realized the more she fussed, the less Yu Yan gave, so over time, she learned to be wiser. For example, just now, Yu Yan only frowned slightly, and Chen Biqin hurriedly stopped and said no more.

Watching her mother busy in the kitchen, Yu Yan found it somewhat amusing.

Their mother-daughter relationship had somehow reversed without them noticing.

Her mother no longer seemed like a mother, but rather like her eldest daughter.

Still, compared to the tense relationship they used to have, she was satisfied with this.

“Mom, I finished eating. I’m going to check on my younger siblings.”

The twins hadn’t returned for a long time. She wondered if something had happened.

Yu Yan planned to go see them.

“I finished eating too. I’ll come with you,” Yun Duo’er quickly put down her bowl, carefully covering it as if hiding something. Yu Yan didn’t expose her little trick. Yun Duo’er ate slowly—unlike Yu Yan, who had lived through three years in a past life and gotten used to eating as fast as the wind blowing fallen leaves.

There was clearly still half a bowl left in the bowl.

Seeing her eat so heartily, it didn’t seem like she disliked the food.

Once enhancers reach the mysterious rank, ordinary food no longer holds much nutritional value. If Yu Yan and Yun Duo’er wanted, they could eat dozens of pounds of buns and digest them quickly enough to eat dozens more!

So the little one didn’t want to be separated from her.

Yu Yan understood, patted Yun Duo’er’s head, and took her hand as they stepped outside.

Fenghe Village had a clan hall.

The clan hall was located next to the village’s central basketball court, a traditional courtyard-style building. The eaves were carved with antique charm. Whenever there was a major event, villagers would gather in the clan hall to discuss strategies.

Yu Yan guessed this wouldn’t be an exception.

The distribution of fifth-grade spirit beast meat was such a big matter that it warranted using the clan hall.

Sure enough, as they neared the hall, Yu Yan heard bursts of arguing inside—

“You say that’s how it’s divided, so what do we do?”

“What do you mean what do you do? Didn’t you all eat inside the dungeon? I remember your abilities came from eating spirit beast meat of seventh grade or higher. Do you really want to settle for this fifth-grade meat?”

“Exactly!”

“Yu Wei, we’re all from the same village after all.”

“You’re eating earth-rank meat. Even if we get more of this mysterious-rank spirit beast meat, what difference does it make? If it were me, and the daughter of the Yongde family gave me a piece of earth-rank spirit beast meat, I wouldn’t want any of this fifth-grade meat.”

“...Good things shouldn’t be hoarded by one person. Yu Rui, you should control your cousin!”

The villagers’ words darkened Yu Wei’s face completely.

He had indeed gained a third-rank earth attribute ability from eating seventh-grade mystical turtle meat. Precisely because of this, he needed higher-grade spirit beast meat of the same element to advance. Among the eight high-grade spirit beasts Yu Yan brought back, most matched the earth and wind attributes, suitable for their group and Lou Yuhui.

Knowing the villagers were so unreasonable, it would have been better if they had eaten all the meat inside the dungeon.

Even if they couldn’t finish it, leaving it behind in the dungeon was better than bringing it back for these ungrateful wolves! Lou Yuhui pressed down on Yu Wei’s shoulder. Unlike Yu Wei and the others, Lou Yuhui had seen more of the world.

Born into a noble family, he had witnessed many betrayals and disputes over interests.

He wasn’t fazed by such things. “Everyone, calm down. Since there’s no agreement, I have a suggestion.”

Seeing all eyes on him, Lou Yuhui cleared his throat. “These mysterious-rank spirit beasts were all hunted by Sister Yan. She alone has the right to decide their distribution. How about we wait until she comes out of the S-rank dungeon and let her decide?”

“This way, no one can object, right?”

The crowd stirred.

Lou Yuhui’s words left them with no retort.

But if they really followed his suggestion, it was clear they would lose out.

These few had traveled with Yu Yan and were naturally closer to her. If Yu Yan allocated the meat, she would surely give more to Lou Yuhui and a few others. The village had hundreds or even thousands of people!

Don’t be fooled by eight spirit beasts—that wouldn’t amount to much meat when divided among families.

The crowd exchanged glances, then all turned their attention to several village officials. After some jostling, the village chief stepped forward and pulled out Yu Yongde, who was shrinking with his shoulders from the crowd.

“I think there’s no need to trouble the daughter of the Yongde family, right?”

“But isn’t she still in the S-rank dungeon, fighting for herself and her daughter to get out?”

“She worked so hard to bring back so many spirit beasts. If we bother her over such a small matter as distributing spirit beast meat, aren’t we useless? Luckily, Yongde is here, and Yu Yan is his biological daughter.”

“Alright then, let Yongde decide how to distribute the spirit beast meat. What does everyone think?”