Miguo strolled over to the hunting team's training grounds, where the newly recruited members were learning archery.
After training a batch of members, Miguo no longer directly served as the archery coach. He feared being tied down, and like Gu Qingcheng, learning to enjoy idleness and freedom.
"Young Master Gu Er, could you spare some time to guide us?"
The archery team usually relied on the older members for guidance and support. Seeing Miguo appear, the new hunting team members were very excited. They knew Miguo's archery skills were top-notch, and they flattered him by calling him the most skilled divine archer, hoping he would teach them a few tricks.
Miguo chuckled at their words, "I'm not the most skilled archer in this village, so don't praise me like that."
"Haha, there's someone better than you? I don't believe it."
One of the newcomers said flatteringly.
Miguo smiled and said, "If I were to place an orange on your family member's head, would you dare to shoot it with an arrow? And you'd have to guarantee a bullseye."
Everyone thought about it carefully, their faces changed, and they all said, "We wouldn't dare!"
"But this person dares, and his accuracy is exceptional, hitting the fruit on his head and pinning it to the wall."
Miguo said wistfully.
"Then who is this divine archer?" everyone was curious.
"Don't try to guess. You just asked me the secret to becoming a divine archer. I think the secret is as she said, practice more.
And another point is to have strong concentration!"
Miguo waved his hand and left, leaving behind an air of mystery for everyone, and also allowing these newcomers to ponder on their own.
The master leads the way, but cultivation depends on the individual.
Learning archery is impossible without shortcuts; diligent practice is essential.
As for Miguo himself, he still wakes up early every day and practices archery 500 times in the backyard until his arms are slightly sore and numb before stopping.
Now his archery skills have reached the level of consecutive shots like Gu Qingcheng's, but honestly, if he were to place a fruit on his own family member's head and shoot, he still wouldn't dare, fearing he might hurt someone. In essence, it still stems from a lack of confidence in his own archery skills, so in terms of realm, he is still a big step behind Gu Qingcheng.
With new plans in mind, the next day Gu Qingcheng and Miguo descended the mountain together for reconnaissance.
Gu Qingcheng had not been down the mountain for some time. She had heard people say how chaotic the town below the mountain was, with robberies and outright theft happening everywhere. She wanted to experience it firsthand to formulate Phoenix Village's response strategy based on the current situation.
No matter how detailed others described it, it was not as good as experiencing it on-site herself.
To be responsible to herself and to the villagers of Phoenix Village, Gu Qingcheng had to make this trip.
It took an hour and a half to reach Chuncheng, but only half an hour to reach Zhanchun Town at the foot of the mountain. Therefore, Gu Qingcheng and Miguo chose the shorter route and went to Zhanchun Town.
Now, the major merchants in Zhanchun Town were all very familiar with Gu Qingcheng.
The blacksmith shop owner, upon seeing Gu Qingcheng arrive, knew a major buyer was here and treated them exceptionally well.
Gu Qingcheng, true to her wealthy style when descending the mountain, first scoured the blacksmith shop, buying all the farming tools like hoes and sickles.
She also bought all the large and small pots that had been made, and various types of knives and other kitchen utensils.
Every time the blacksmith saw Gu Qingcheng, it was like seeing a walking gold ingot. Although he sold all his finished products to her, he couldn't help but mutter:
"These iron pots were ordered by Old Zhang San. He's coming to pick them up tomorrow. If you buy them all now, how am I supposed to manage? I'm afraid I won't be able to deliver them to him on time."
"Why is Zhang San in such a hurry for this pot?" Gu Qingcheng asked.
"Oh, he's splitting his family. There are four sons in the family and three pots. They are short one pot to give to the youngest son, so they need to have one more pot made before the family can be split."
"Alright, with your craftsmanship, can't you make another pot in a day?" Gu Qingcheng ignored his grumbling. She asked, "Aside from forging desperately, how has your business been recently?"
"Alas, business hasn't been good. It's rare to encounter generous buyers like you. I feel like I have half as many buyers this year as last year."
The blacksmith shook his head when this topic came up.
"Oh? Why? Is it due to the natural disaster?" Gu Qingcheng asked.
"Besides the natural disaster, there's also a locust plague that ate all the newly sprouted rice shoots in the fields and devoured the vegetables. People are starting to worry if there will be enough rice in the latter half of next year. Many people are using their money to buy rice and hoard it. Everyone is hoarding rice, so other expenditures naturally decrease."
The blacksmith seemed to understand analysis.
Gu Qingcheng nodded, acknowledging his words.
After leaving the blacksmith shop, she stored the purchased ironware in the storage cabinet. She truly felt the streets were deserted along the way, and many residents' clothing had become quite worn.
When they first visited Zhanchun Town, people seemed to be living quite comfortably, with good attire and high spirits, appearing calm and composed. The current feeling was completely different.
Gu Qingcheng saw an elderly woman selling vegetables by the roadside, her face full of worry, carrying a basket of mustard greens to sell. She proactively stepped forward and asked,
"Auntie, how much are these mustard greens?"
"Young master, if you take the whole basket, I'll sell it to you for 20 coins. I'm selling it cheap. My mustard greens are the best, sweet and crisp. For pickling, people in town always choose my mustard greens."
The old woman said, eagerly peeling off a leaf of mustard greens to show Gu Qingcheng and Miguo, proving her words were true.
The sound of the leaf stalk detaching from the stem was crisp, and the cut surface was clean without fibrous strands, indicating the vegetable was indeed low in fiber.
Seeing her eagerness, Gu Qingcheng said,
"Auntie, don't worry, I'll buy all your vegetables. Do people in your village make a living selling vegetables? Didn't you mention there's a locust plague? Why are your vegetables still so beautiful?"
The old woman, overjoyed that Gu Qingcheng wanted her vegetables, quickly stood up, tears in her eyes, and said,
"Our village is about three li from town. Although the village wasn't rich, life was actually passable. Everyone grows vegetables and sells them in town to make a living.
But in the past two months, a locust plague ate away all the green leaves in our village, including the vegetable leaves.
No one has vegetables to sell, and the crops in the fields were also ravaged by locusts. Everyone is worried.
The reason I still have mustard greens to sell is that my original house was on the mountain. Later, my son got married, and he built a house in the village at the foot of the mountain. However, the vegetable patch on the mountain was not abandoned. I often go up the mountain to tend to it. Unexpectedly, during this locust plague, only the vegetable patch on the mountain was unaffected."
"I see," Gu Qingcheng said. "Then will the villagers in your village have to flee famine?"
"Fleeing famine is not to that extent. Everyone has some stored food. Moreover, the government has already begun to control the locust plague. If we can hold on until the locust plague passes and replant, we will still have some harvest.
Besides, there are ponds, reservoirs, and rivers here. If there's really nothing to eat from the fields, people will go fishing and dig up freshwater shellfish to eat.
People won't starve to death anytime soon, and there's no sign of famine."
The old woman explained everything truthfully.