DNDAS

Chapter 59: Carrying a Tree

Everyone: ...

This was a bit awkward.

Fortunately, Song Yu was very open-minded. He stood up with a pat of his buttocks and shook his head at his colleagues. "It seems we can only wait for the boss to return before eating the fruits." This Langgan Tree discriminated against half-bird yao cultivators like him.

"What is everyone doing?" Zhuang Qing stood at the top of the spiral staircase, staring with furrowed brows at the noisy group below.

"Boss," Xu Yu and everyone else laughed dryly. "We're plucking fruits. But this tree... won't let us."

Zhuang Qing recognized the fruits as the ones that Fu Li had brought home a few days ago. The tips of his brows shook. He did remember Fu Li mentioning that he had plucked them from the bureau, but he hadn't expected the fruits to have been plucked from this tree.

Zhuang Qing walked to the tree and looked around. "Where's Fu Li?"

Xu Yuan explained Fu Li's whereabouts. Zhuang Qing turned and glanced at the tree behind him. This tree turned out to be the Langgan Tree? Thinking of the few Zhuyu fruits at home that had already started wrinkling from sitting too long, Zhuang Qing decided to go back later and polish them off.

"Boss, why don't you give it a try too?" Chu Yu thickened his skin and asked. "All of us tried it, but this tree is just way too stingy, just like..."

Everyone cast sidelong glances at him at once. The tip of Chu Yu's tongue had a change of direction. "Just like Grandet."

Zhuang Qing glanced at him. He didn't move, because he had previously attempted to pluck its fruits. However, this tree was very resistant, so he never did it again. Now that the employees once again spoke of this, Zhuang Qing glanced at Song Yu, whose clothes were even torn. He remained silent.

After close to thirty seconds of silence, the Langgan Tree at the side suddenly moved. Its branches shook, and two vines swept up a few fruits, extending them to Zhuang Qing.

Zhuang Qing stared blankly for a moment before stretching out his hands. A few fruits fell into his palms. They were ice-cold, and even emanated a mild sweet scent. With a complex mood, he looked up at the Langgan Tree that hadn't even given him a leaf in the more than hundred years it had been at the management bureau.

"As expected of the boss, the Langgan Tree even took the initiative to give you fruits."

"Does the Langgan Tree discriminate against species?"

Zhuang Qing turned the fruits over in his hands. Suddenly, he let out a light laugh. He didn't know if he was overthinking, but he felt that the tree's sudden friendliness towards him was because of Fu Li. Turning around, he saw everyone else gazing expectantly at the fruits in his hands. After a period of contemplation, Zhuang Qing picked out the smallest fruit and shoved it at Chu Yu. "Share this."

Then, without care for the other people's reactions, he placed the fruits into his Qiankun pouch, turned, and left.

"One fruit for all of us to share?" Chu Yu held the Zhuyu fruit in a daze, unable to extricate himself from the shock even after a good length of time had gone by.

With such a degree of stinginess, did he feel no shame in being the boss of the management bureau? He looked up at the Langgan Tree. "Master Tree, how about giving us a few more?"

The Langgan Tree stood tall motionlessly, as if it was just an ordinary tree that understood nothing.

"A tree looking down on yao!" Chu Yu was incensed. Lowering his head, he stuffed the fruit into his mouth without the slightest hesitation. Then, he was beaten up by his colleagues till he cried out for his parents. Song Yu even threatened to beat him till he turned into a fish before giving him to Chef Bao to make braised fish.

From this, it could be seen that the emotional bonds between these colleagues were weak and lacking, unworthy of even a single fruit.

Layers upon layers of rotten tree leaves packed together could be found in the deep, desolate recesses of a mountain, giving off an oppressive aura. If one were to step on them, the leaves would reach above their shoes. Fu Li stood on a tree branch as he watched the three-headed dwarves in the distance crying bitterly from where they sat on the Fuchang Tree. He sighed. Their wails were indeed both loud and unpleasant to hear.

"Even if you cry till your throats are worn out, the Fenghuang won't return," Fu Li flew below the Fuchang Tree and spoke to the three-headed people. "Your lives will be gone if you're found by an evil yao."

The three-headed people were so frightened by the sudden appearance of a person beneath the tree that they hugged one another, forming a bundle as they jabbered something.

This was one of the ancient languages. Many yao cultivators could automatically understand human speech after taking on a human form and even mimic human languages. These three-headed people had very low cultivation and had to rely on the Fuchang Tree to live. Thus, they were much weaker than the majority of the yao cultivators when it came to languages.

Fu Li listened carefully before understanding that these three-headed people were asking who he was.

"I am Fu Li," Fu Li squatted and directly faced the eyes of a three-headed person who had jumped down the tree. "I know where the Langgan Tree is. As long as you protect the Langgan Tree, you'll definitely be able to wait for the Fenghuang."

He didn't think that these words would be able to move the three-headed people. But after the few of them whispered into one another's ears, they jumped down the tree together, and then dug out the Fuchang Tree from the ground, carrying the tree on their shoulders.

They so easily... believed him?

Fu Li stared blankly for a moment. "You're believing me just like that?"

The only three-headed person seated motionlessly on a tree branch turned to look at Fu Li. In somewhat shaky human speech, it said, "On... you, there is the smell of the Fenghuang."