Chapter 323: Establishing Intelligence Hall [Subscribe Requested]_2
Zhou Chun sighed lightly, feeling a great sense of pity for the situation.
In this way, the Zhou Family's deal almost ended in a loss.
The Foundation Establishment Pill wasted by the useless great-grandson, Zhou Yu, had brought a Black Jade Toad that could no longer provide Toad Cream.
If it weren't for Zhou Chun killing Zhou Yu and his grandson, thus obtaining their Magic Artifacts and relics, the loss would have been significant.
But if you consider the several third-grade Talismans that Zhou Chun had used, he actually didn't make much profit either.
However, such is the way of the world, you can't always only gain without losing.
To have both profits and losses is the ordinary experience of people.
Afterwards, Zhou Chun returned to his residence, took a few days to rest, and then set out for a visit to the Su Family in Jiangzhou.
Now that Zhou Chun was a son-in-law of the Su Family, upon reaching the gates of Su Family Mountain, he needed no further announcement and was granted direct entry.
It was only when he arrived at the cave dwelling of his spouse, Su Yuzhen, that she became aware of his arrival.
This surprised her quite a bit.
Upon meeting, she couldn't help but look at Zhou Chun and say, "Husband, what brings you here today to see me?"
"My lady, why do you say such a thing? Could it be that you are complaining about your husband not visiting often?" Zhou Chun said with a feigned displeasure on his face.
Then, without waiting for the slightly changing expression of Su Yuzhen to settle, he smiled and waved his hand, "My lady needn't mind it, your husband was merely joking with you."
Upon hearing this, Su Yuzhen's face brightened significantly, but she still explained, "Yes, I was merely surprised by my husband's sudden visit, not truly complaining or blaming you."
Having said that, she extended her hand and said, "My husband, please come inside with me first!"
Once they were inside, and Su Yuzhen had brewed the Spiritual Tea, Zhou Chun no longer held back and promptly revealed his intention for coming.
"This visit to see my lady is for two reasons: first, because it has been a while since we last met and I wanted to see you, and second, because I recently acquired a spiritual object that I wish to give to you."
As he spoke, he slapped his Storage Pouch at his waist and took out the Cloud-Swimming Swan Egg that he had exchanged for at the Underground Treasure Exchange Convention.
"This is the egg of a mid-level Spirit Beast, the Cloud Swan, and as I noticed that my lady hasn't tamed any Mount Beasts, I would like to offer it to you. Please smile and accept it."
Originally, he had exchanged for this Cloud Swan with the intention of giving it to Su Yuzhen as a Mount Beast.
And Su Yuzhen truly had not expected that Zhou Chun's sudden visit today was to bring her such a gift.
For a moment, she stood there stunned, looking at Zhou Chun in disbelief, almost doubting her own ears.
It wasn't until Zhou Chun handed over the watermelon-sized Cloud-Swimming Swan Egg to her that she looked down at the huge egg and realized that all of this was real.
Then, a warm surge instantly sprouted from her heart, flowing throughout her body, bringing with it an indescribable feeling that made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.
"My husband, you... have put your heart into this!" she said softly, cradling the egg in her hands.
Her heart was so full of emotions that she could not find the words to express them.
"If my lady likes this gift, then that is wonderful," Zhou Chun said with a slight smile, seemingly able to sense the affection in Su Yuzhen's heart, and at once stepped forward to embrace her.
For the following month, Zhou Chun stayed at the Su Family to accompany his spouse, going nowhere else.
And this gift brought their relationship much closer; Su Yuzhen truly felt a hint of affection for her from Zhou Chun for the first time.
Although this affection might not be particularly strong, it was priceless to her.
So much so that after they practiced dual cultivation several times, her cultivation growth rate was comparable to taking Elixirs, and her understanding of The Mysterious Art of the Plain Girl enhanced dramatically as if she had been enlightened.
Ultimately, Zhou Chun had to end her trip to the Su Family early, allowing her to focus on her secluded cultivation without wasting this opportunity.
Once Zhou Chun returned to the Zhou Family, she took over the family's power from Zhou Jiarui and resumed her duties as the Clan Leader.
By the time of her return to Fengguo, almost five months had passed without her dealing with family affairs.
Upon her return to the Central Peace Hall, the first thing she did was to check on the various arrangements she had made previously.
The results did not disappoint her; Zhou Zhengxun had dealt with those unusable Demon Beasts in the Zhou Family Beast Garden according to her instructions, clearing up quite a bit of space for other Demon Beasts.
Good news also came from Longxing Valley.
Over the past five months, not a single Zhou Family Death Warrior had died, but instead, they had gathered many Spiritual Medicine resources for the family.
According to a letter from Zhou Zhengyong, after mapping out a detailed map of Longxing Valley within a three hundred li radius, he had begun to arrange for exploration further afield and to survey the surrounding mountains and land for Spirit Ore resources.
Seeing this, Zhou Chun immediately wrote a reply, instructing Zhou Zhengyong not to rush for success and prioritize mapping and exploring the terrain. She warned him not to blindly venture deep into the wilderness and to minimize unnecessary losses.
This letter was sent by Zhou Daoyi since her Baibai was still weak and not suitable for travel.
Concerned about changes in the situation in Fengguo and news from other states in Jingguo Country, Zhou Chun came up with a new idea.
She gathered some of the Zhou Family Cultivators who were skilled in falconry and instructed them to select and train those among the mortals in the Zhou Family skilled in falconry to establish the Zhou Family's Intelligence Hall.
According to Zhou Chun's plan, the Zhou Family was to deploy Cultivators in marketplaces throughout the states of Jingguo Country and establish intelligence stations.
The mission of those Cultivators stationed in the marketplaces was to collect and promptly relay any significant information circulating in the local markets through swift falcon relays back to the family for the higher-ups to review.
This was a grand plan, and to see it through would require considerable resources and manpower.
The mere cultivation expenses of Cultivators stationed in each marketplace would be a substantial cost, not to mention the special subsidies for facilitating information gathering and special rewards for the prompt delivery of certain crucial intelligence.
However, it was anticipated that once this intelligence system was built as Zhou Chun envisioned, it would bring unexpected benefits to the Zhou Family.
No one knew the importance of intelligence information better than Zhou Chun.
"Hmm, to ensure that the intelligence isn't intercepted by others, it is necessary to train the intelligence personnel to use a completely new script," she mused.
As for which new script to use, Zhou Chun immediately had an idea in mind.
That would naturally be English, which had caused her a lot of headaches while studying it in her previous life.
The commonly used script in this world was quite similar to the one commonly used in her previous life, so using that would still carry the risk of being deciphered.
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But with the English alphabet, that possibility was completely non-existent.
No sooner had she thought of it than she began using her spare time to compile a translation dictionary, which the Family's Intelligence Cultivators could study later.
Time steadily passed, and soon another year went by.
In that year, Zhou Chun successfully completed the translation dictionary and taught it to a few Zhou Family Intelligence Cultivators.
The intelligence station in Yunzhou was also established first, sending collected intelligence to the family's mountain gate at regular intervals via eagle messages.
The establishment of this intelligence line also benefited the Frontier Base, allowing Zhou Jiapeng, who was stationed there, to communicate more conveniently with the family.
Meanwhile, Zhou Chun hatched out the "Corpse Moth" eggs she had acquired a year ago and secretly began nurturing this type of Demon Insect.
"Corpse Moths" thrive on things containing yin or corpse qi, so Zhou Chun would occasionally go to the cemeteries in mortal gathering places, allowing them to burrow into the graves and absorb the corpse qi contained within the remains.
However, Zhou Chun actually didn't hold much hope for these Demon Insects; she simply wanted to nurture them to reproduce eggs and make preparations in advance.
This way, if there ever was a conflict with the Corpse Demon Sect one day, she would have an additional card to play.
On the day when it was Zhou Chun's turn to take supplies to Longxing Valley for the exchange, the moment she arrived in the Valley, she received surprising news.