Chapter 168: Observing Work.
By the time Sunnie and Luka arrived back at the scene, the chipmunks were done with the job of clearing the land.
Sunnie was impressed. She guessed this was why they had been working for the boar tribe—they were that fast and effective.
She smiled as she approached them. She took her time speaking with them, and then the chipmunks turned on their leader. At the end of the discussion, they all turned to the beast husbands.
The leader cleared his throat, placed both hands behind his back, and said with his head down, "I’m sorry for what I said... you all aren’t lazy at all."
"Louder!" the chubby chipmunk snapped, and the leader repeated his apology to Sunnie’s beast husbands.
There was silence as the beast husbands stared at each other.
Luka smiled as he said, "We accept it."
Eris and Azure nodded. Zayn and Karl were quiet for a while before Karl cleared his throat. "Sure. Whatever. As long as it gets the work done."
Sunnie smiled at the scene. "That’s great. Now let’s get down to work." She turned to the chipmunks. "So what’s next?"
The leader explained, "We have to loosen the land." He described the processes involved as Sunnie nodded attentively.
The beast husbands were confused as they stared at each other.
The chipmunks demonstrated how it should be done, encouraging the men to join in to make the process faster.
He explained that they would dig, turn over the soil, break hard clumps, and remove roots—all to loosen the soil.
As he explained, Karl raised his eyebrows. "Why are we digging the ground if we’re just putting dirt back on top?"
The rest slowly nodded. "Yes, good question. Why?"
"I don’t see the point in it," Luka agreed.
"...." The leader was speechless. He was fighting every demon not to snap back with a rude response. But he held himself as Sunnie said, "Well, since he knows best, let’s just listen to them. Okay?"
She encouraged them, and her husbands nodded in agreement. They listened to her without much hesitation, and Sunnie saw this as progress.
The chipmunks divided the tasks among them while Sunnie carried the baby, who was fast asleep. She sat down on a rock at the side, watching them work according to the chipmunks’ instructions.
"Move here! No! Don’t dig that part!"
"Come out, little rabbit! It’s not done that way!"
"Hey! What are you doing? Are birds addicted to digging too deep?"
The leader kept snapping at everyone while assisting them to show them how it was done. He was already frustrated by the group of people who didn’t know a thing or two about farming.
Sunnie simply watched, struggling not to laugh out loud at the scene.
Karl paused, annoyed, as he turned to stare at Sunnie. But Sunnie flashed him a smile, and he rolled his eyes and continued working nonetheless.
While they worked, Little Black rushed out to Sunnie. "Look, I think I hurt my fingers," he explained.
Sunnie smiled. She had come prepared for this, so she got out her ointment from her system and gently applied it to his hand. "I told you not to go in there, but you insisted. Now you’ll have to bear it."
"I want to work," Little Black insisted.
Sunnie smiled as she applied the bandage. "Then learn to face the pain."
After she was done fixing his hand, Little Black rushed off into the farm again, ignoring Sunnie’s calls for him to sit down.
She shook her head. "What a stubborn one." She smiled as she soon saw Luka rushing toward her.
Luka knelt down before her where she sat and stretched out his perfectly fine hand. "Look, I think I hurt my hand. Fix it?" He smiled.
The other beast husbands stopped working and turned to stare at them.
Sunnie smiled. "You don’t look hurt, though."
"My bone. I think it’s my bone." He blinked at her with a smile. "Please fix it."
Sunnie smiled, shaking her head. "You little." She sighed as she got out her bandage and applied it to his finger. "Good now?"
He nodded with a broad smile. "Mmm." He turned and ran off to work.
Sunnie smiled, shaking her head. "How mischievous."
The rest stared.
"What a weakling," Karl muttered.
Eris smiled. "He’s become shameless. Competing with me, huh?"
---
By the time they finished loosening the land, evening was fast approaching. They couldn’t plant crops that day, so they decided to spread the fertilizer and call it a day.
"So, do we have any of that?" the leader asked.
"Maybe we can get some rotten leaves, animal manure, fish remains, crushed shells, or decayed plants. Things like that can help," the chubby one suggested.
"That means we can add fertilizer today. We’ll have to come another day for that after gathering it," another stated.
But Sunnie had made the purchase from the system. She pointed in a direction behind a tree. "Oh, I’ve gotten them ready. Over there," she smiled.
Luka and the rest went to get the five bags of fertilizer she had organized. As they brought them forward, Eris, Karl, and Azure instantly stepped back.
"What the hell is that smell?" Eris demanded. "I..." He covered his mouth.
Sunnie shrugged. "Manure?"
"I’m not touching that." Eris shook his head. "Never. I’m not going to make myself smell like that at all."
Karl scoffed. "I’m not even touching any of that. I can call it a day from here."
Zayn nodded. "Exactly. I didn’t volunteer for this."
Sunnie knew she had to convince them. She immediately let out a deep sigh, pouting sadly as she looked down.
"Are you okay?" Luka immediately asked.
"Feeling uncomfortable anywhere?" Azure inquired.
But Sunnie sighed as she said, "No. Not that. I just guess I’m alone in this... I’ll have to work on the fertilizer myself... without any help or assistance. Even though MY waist aches, I guess I have no choice. I’ll have to do it all by myself." She sighed deeply.