"Uncle, what are you doing?" Xiao Yuyan widened her eyes, her breath hitched.

Zhou Shiming was holding a hoe. His mouth and nose was covered by a cloth, but that was enough for them to know that it was him.

They all hurriedly walked over to Zhou Shiming. Xiao Fenghao snatched the hoe from him, eyes full of glare and displeasure.

As soon as they got closer, the smell from the lump on the ground nearly made them vomit. It was truly nauseating. They couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

"You brat, return that thing back to me!" Zhou Shiming furrowed his brows.

He reached out for his tool, yet Xiao Fenghao was faster, he effectively evaded Zhou Shiming’s hands.

At this moment, the Xiao family suddenly heard the long-lost notification.

[Mission Triggered!]

[Mission Objective: your rice plants are going to die! Keep your rice plants alive from Zhou Shiming’s malicious intention.]

[Reward: 80 System points.]

Huh? Xiao Qingya’s brain went blank for a moment. This mission was similar to the previous one yet not quite. She noticed there was a difference between the two.

The previous one told her to save the crops from near-failure harvest, but this time, it told her to stop Zhou Shiming’s malicious intention.

However, there was something that she didn’t quite understand. Why was the mission so closely linked to each other that they were almost similar?

[Host, watch which field that Zhou Shiming is targeting.]

The System reminded her. She looked up, and a realization dawned on her.

[He is trying to kill the other field filled with young rice plants?] She paused, and the little one made another observation. [Isn’t animal dung beneficial to plants, System?]

Currently, Zhou Shiming had snatched the hoe back from Xiao Fenghao. They were listening to Zhou Shiming’s indignant yet arrogant explanation.

"Your uncle has kindly purchased some fertilizer from the neighbour’s house. Although the fertilizer is smelly, it is cow dung, which is beneficial for the growth of your rice plants." Zhou Shiming explained.

He continued sarcastically, "You are a bunch of ignorant kids! You think you know much more than us adults? Anran, this is how you taught your children? They don’t appreciate kindness at all."

The Xiao siblings’ faces turned ashen. Xiao Yuyan frowned, and Xiao Yuxi still had the stubborn look on her face. Meanwhile, Xiao Fenghao was preparing to snatch the hoe back from Zhou Shiming’s hand.

Earlier, the System’s notification had distracted him, giving Zhou Shiming a chance to take back the hoe. Now, he was desperately waiting for the knowledgeable System to answer their little sister’s question.

Zhou Anran often received fertilizer from her father, Zhou Wenzhi, and she rarely thought much about the difference between fertilizer’s state. Does the one brought by Zhou Shiming have a problem?

Soon, they received the answer.

[Host, fertilizer from animal’s feces are indeed beneficial, but this malicious turtle brought fresh cow dung. Just check, don’t they look watery?]

Everyone secretly glanced at the cow dung. The System was right. It looked watery and fresh. It was unknown how Zhou Shiming was able to transport such a disgusting lump.

[Fresh fertilizer isn’t fermented yet. They still contain gas that will make your crops die from the heat. Plants can’t absorb the nutrition directly from the fertilizer, they rely on microbes and bacteria to break down and compose them.]

The System began to lecture the little one on knowledge about fertilizer. Xiao Qingya nodded, and as the System finished, she became angry.

That turtle man was really malicious, forcing his own sister to death just for the sake of his own interest. She already figured out most of Zhou Shiming’s plan.

He wanted to destroy their crops! It would have been a tough lesson for them had he been successful.

"Bad!" Xiao Qingya pointed to Zhou Shiming, her little brain was a little overworked in thinking how to drive him away. "Smelly!"

"Little Ya doesn’t like the smell?" Xiao Yuxi approached her. Xiao Qingya nodded furiously, still pointing to Zhou Shiming.

Xiao Yuyan furrowed her brows. "Uncle, this smell is really not good for children. Cow dung is full of bacteria, how about you take it back? Our rice plants are already growing nicely without it."

She sent a hopeful look to her mother.

Zhou Shiming kicked some cow dung to the young rice plants, splattering on them. It had taken him some effort to bring the nauseous cow dung into their fields, and yet, they refused!

"If it’s smelly, then let me do it. Bring your delicate little sister away from here." He pointed to the field hut not far from them.

Since his sister refused to cooperate, he needed to use more force on them. He suspected that Zhou Anran had more recipes on her, and he wanted her to come willingly to them, trading all of the secret recipes.

Xiao Wei’s identity might not be simple, and among the people in their household, it was most likely him who had given her the recipe. She was only revealing them now that she needed to support her children.

Another suspect was Xiao Jingran.

He was travelling with his master to study medicine and might gain recipes from foreign lands. Zhou Anran and her kids really hid deeply!

With their crops failing, once Zhou Anran and her family ran out of money, they surely asked them for help. After all, it wasn’t every day that they could sell recipes to merchants as generous as Merchant Yang.

Other merchants might have ulterior motives.

Speaking about channels to sell such recipes, he had better resources compared to Zhou Anran.

"Uncle, if the fertilizer is that good, why don’t you use it on your own fields?" Xiao Fenghao asked, his eyes slightly reddened when he saw Zhou Shiming throwing the fresh cow dung to their fields.

It was all their hard work! The work of his mother and sisters who tirelessly visited the field every day!

"I am already using it on my fields," Zhou Shiming said disdainfully. "What do you know? Your destitute family can’t even afford such a good fertilizer."

Xiao Fenghao’s anger reached its peak, and he jumped toward Zhou Shiming, punching him.