Chapter 77: The Makings of a Bamboo King
Uncle Bamboo was truly so furious this time he almost passed out!
“You just want me dead, don’t you!”
“I told you to take me down the mountain, and now you’re telling me to hold on a bit longer? Don’t tell me—don’t tell me you’ve never owned land before? You don’t know that for us plants, every second counts when it comes to planting?!”
All the leaves on his body instantly turned as hard as iron. One leaf, the closest to Huai Yu, poked her in the shoulder—again and again, sharp and painful.
Huai Yu immediately quieted down.
She couldn’t remember if she’d owned land before, but judging from her current level of skill, she definitely had.
She owned some now, too. Quite a bit, actually—600 mu (about 100 acres)!
But at this moment, the landowner was at the mercy of the bamboo, so she drooped her head, dejected.
“But it’s really dark, I can’t see…”
“Useless!”
The bamboo leaves rustled violently, and not long after, the bamboo stalk and branches began to glow softly with a fluorescent light.
Slightly lighter than neon green, with a faint shimmer—like thousands of fireflies gathering together. The glow lit up Huai Yu’s face with a soft green sheen and cast a dim light over the surrounding mountains and forest.
“Happy now?”
Uncle Bamboo sighed.
“Hurry up. I must drink morning dew tomorrow.”
Huai Yu felt like her strength had increased.
No—maybe it was just that she was really good at pushing herself.
She used to carry trees or lug baskets weighing dozens of kilos from the mountain to the bus station when she had nothing.
But once she got comfortable? Just digging 20 square meters left her nearly useless.
Now she had a whole basket full of bamboo shoots, a multi-purpose shovel stuck on top, and a very long bamboo stalk dragging behind her…
Uphill, downhill, bumpy, winding forest paths—what a nightmare.
She panted heavily, but still had the energy to show off:
“Uncle Kuang Biao, I’m really trying my best…”
“Yeah yeah…” the bamboo yawned.
“You do your best. I’m taking a nap… Once I’m planted again, you can harvest two baskets of bamboo shoots every time I sprout.”
“Hmm… And if I ever decide to flower, I’ll give you the bamboo rice too.”
“Huh?” Huai Yu froze.
“Uncle Kuang Biao, you… want to flower…”
“What?!” he said lazily but proudly.
“I’m not allowed to bloom? If I feel like blooming, I’ll bloom!”
“See, this is why I say you humans are narrow-minded. Always projecting your ideas onto us…”
“Yes, yes, I was being narrow-minded!” Huai Yu quickly admitted fault.
“But isn’t it true that once bamboo flowers, it dies? Uncle, how old are you anyway?”
“Who said that? Some bamboos die after flowering because their time was up—they feel it coming and hurry to reproduce! Survival or reproduction—you gotta choose one, right?”
Uncle Kuang Biao sounded extremely confident, like a professor giving a lecture.
“That’s what we call instinct!”
“Of course, if they could keep living, they might not even bother reproducing… But they’re weak!”
“I’m different. Before everything changed, who knows how old I was? I just remember I had an owner who planted me in his yard as ornamental clumping bamboo.”
“You know what clumping bamboo is, right? Grows from the side, all gentle and tame. Too mild—never tries to take over land.”
“I was going to stay calm for my owner’s sake for two years. But you know what happened. Everything changed… I lost control, and my roots almost punctured his walls.”
“So I ran away in the night… Back then I had strength in my legs—I could run. Now all my strength’s in my body.”
“And after that, well, you know—I took root on this mountain. The big tree next door’s grown six rings since then…”
“Mhm, I’m already… six… no, seven—no, eight years old!”
Huai Yu: …
She had mixed feelings. First, she’d sunk so low that she was now listening to a bamboo give life lessons.
Second… if you used to run, Uncle, couldn’t you put in some effort now?
And third—
“Eight is old already? I thought bamboo could live 10 to 120 years. Are you one of those ten-year types?”
She was a little concerned.
“Ptooey, ptooey!”
The softly glowing leaves rustled angrily. The branches clattered—Uncle Kuang Biao was clearly pissed.
“I have the makings of a Bamboo King! How could I only live ten years?! Even 120 isn’t my limit!”
“But! I’m strong, so when I say I’m old—you call me uncle!”
Huai Yu: …
“Yes, yes, Uncle. Yes, King Bamboo Uncle Kuang Biao.”
And so the conversation carried on through the night. It was exhausting, but at least it made the long walk a bit more bearable.
By the time Huai Yu finally exited the mountain, it was almost midnight. In the middle of the night, with her glowing green figure, if there had been people around, she would’ve scared them half to death.
There had been clearings near the mountain edge where she could’ve planted the bamboo. But those were surrounded by small trees that hadn’t even developed sentience yet. A few had barely formed fuzzy emotions.
If she planted this tyrannical Bamboo King here, come next year, he’d probably claim the whole area.
Huai Yu thought and thought. Even for the sake of long-term sustainability, she grit her teeth and dragged him farther.
Next stop: the Rose Corridor.
She wanted to act tough, but she really didn’t want Uncle Kuang Biao getting into a fight with the Rose Corridor.
Whether he could win or not was beside the point. The Rose Corridor had been kind to her. Uncle Kuang Biao seemed powerful, but he hadn’t actually caused any problems yet.
If they fought and became enemies, it would ruin her chances of harvesting bamboo and shoots in the future.
“How about here?”
Huai Yu hesitated.
“Just a bit farther into the wastelands—give the Rose Corridor its own space…”
The bamboo shook once.
“Hah! You sure are keeping your distance. Any farther and I’ll be two miles away from that rose patch!”
“Tch! We evolved by our own strength. That rose thing relied on humans. You think I want to be anywhere near it?”
Kuang Biao muttered dismissively. But when Huai Yu asked again, his tone flipped:
“Actually, um… can you drag me inside your safe zone? The wastelands are too dangerous. I only want territory—not war.”
Huai Yu: ???
Didn’t you just fight a battle on the mountain? Now you’re scared of the wastelands? Just how dangerous are they?
“Why’d you stop? Oh—don’t tell me you’re looking down on me now! Hmph, ignorant brat!”
“The wastelands have been through six years of evolution. All the strong plants and animals already have prime territory. What—you want me, a powerhouse, to live under a tree?”
“And if I fight, it’ll be mutual destruction! Don’t think I don’t know your human tricks—waiting for me to be weak so you can chop my stalks and steam your bamboo rice… Tsk!”
“I’m not giving you the chance!”
