As Lili thought about it, she started to giggle. Doctor Sikong couldn't help but find it amusing. What was going on in that little head of hers?

Lili chuckled: "I'm thinking that I can finally go back to my old profession."

Doctor Sikong didn't understand what her old profession was, so he didn't ask any further questions. He simply said, "I've treated all the people you asked me to treat, including your grandfather and the one in Liucheng. Their conditions have stabilized. My injuries are almost healed too. I plan to leave in a few days."

Lili exclaimed in surprise, "Ah? Grandpa Sikong, you're leaving? What will happen to my fourth brother? And shouldn't you rest your injuries a little longer?"

The Divine Physician Sikong smiled and said, "When I said 'leave,' I meant to go back to the mountain where I originally lived in seclusion. After all, my medical books and countless prepared elixirs are all there."

Lili: "Oh, so you're not going to travel the world again? You're just coming home for a short stay?"

"Hmm." Doctor Sikong hesitated for a moment, but seeing that the little girl was still quite reluctant, he didn't object to her suggestion of a short stay. "It's just a few mountains away. Every ten days, I will go to check on your grandfather and that old lady Liu. You don't need to worry. As for your fourth brother, I also welcome him to come and stay anytime."

After saying that, Doctor Sikong casually mentioned, "Isn't your family going to build a new house? You can reserve a guest room for me when the time comes."

Lili's reluctance vanished instantly, and she looked at Doctor Sikong with bright eyes: "Grandpa Sikong, are you saying that once our new house is built, you'll live here?"

Indeed, the Shen family simply didn't have any extra rooms. The small room where Doctor Sikong lived was the original storage room, which was very small, just big enough to fit a bed and a table. It was really difficult for Doctor Sikong.

You wouldn't guess it, Doctor Sikong seems like a man of few words, but he's actually very sentimental.

The divine physician Sikong neither said he was right nor wrong: "We'll see."

Just then, Shen Jiaqing ran over, clutching a leech that was constantly crawling around. She excitedly said to Doctor Sikong, "Master, Master, look! Leeches! Didn't you say yesterday that Grandpa Yang needed them to treat his leg? There are plenty in the ditch over there. Do you want some?"

Upon seeing this, Physician Sikong immediately followed Shen Jiaqing to the irrigation ditch to catch some: "Of course I want it, why wouldn't I?"

Lili chuckled, watching the two squatting by the ditch catching insects, and didn't ask any questions.

Harvesting rice is no easy task, but fortunately, the Shen family has many members and great strength. After a whole day of hard work, they finally harvested all the rice.

They decided to leave today's problems for tomorrow. Before the sun went down, Shen Lao Er and Shen Lao San worked together to carry the rice bed over and slammed the rice from the winnowing basket onto the rice bed.

This was the first time Lili had ever seen a rice threshing bed in person. It was an ancient tool used to thresh rice grains. The rice was threshed onto the rice threshing bed, and the grains would fall off and drop into the baskets below the threshing bed through the gaps in the middle.

Threshing looks easy but is actually difficult. Although you can get the grains off the rice with just a little effort, the physical exertion required to repeat the same action with so many rice grains is considerable.

The Shen family took turns working, but they were still exhausted.

Except for Shen Jiahao, who took a couple of breaths and then continued working, everyone else rested, panting heavily.

Pear was handing this person a handkerchief one minute and a water pouch the next.

"There's just too much, too much, I can't keep going." Shen Jialu collapsed onto the pile of stalks that had been harvested, utterly exhausted.

Shen Lao Er took a big gulp of water and wiped his sweat: "Yes, there's just too much this year. With so many people in our family, we would have finished by now in normal times."

With the sun about to set, everyone was exhausted from the day, so they quickly ate a few pancakes for lunch.

Old Mrs. Shen said, "Let's go back first. I think the rest should be done in another hour or two. Let's go home for dinner, take what's done home, and finish the rest tonight."

"I think that's a good idea. Let's go home and have dinner to replenish our energy."

These past few days everyone has been harvesting rice, and the fields are full of rice stalks. Many people have left the rest of the rice in the fields after harvesting half of it, so they're not worried about anyone stealing the rice.

We're all from the same village, no one would do something so despicable.

The Shen family carried the baskets of grain and went home for dinner, feeling reassured.

Lili looked back and wondered why she had this feeling that someone might actually do something wicked.

Shen Jialuo instinctively reached out to take his younger sister's hand, but missed. Turning around, he saw Lili staring blankly at the field and asked, "Little sister, what's wrong?"

Lili pursed her lips: "Brother, Lili always feels that someone wants to do something bad."

"Doing something bad?" Shen Jialuo glanced at the pile of unharvested rice in the field. "Little sister, are you afraid someone will steal our rice? Don't worry, no one will. Everyone does this every year, and no one has ever stolen it!"

Shen Jialuo patted his chest confidently, and seeing that Lili was really worried, he said, "Then let's eat quickly later, and your brother will come with you to see!"

Lili nodded: "Okay."

Shen Jialuo led Lili home. Lili looked back again. Everyone had gone home for dinner. Only piles of rice stalks and a few scattered unharvested rice plants remained in the field. There was no one there.

Lili's intuition grew stronger.

During the meal, Lili ate the steamed egg custard absentmindedly, taking small bites.

Shen Jialuo was still stuffing himself, wanting to finish quickly, but when he saw that his sister was so worried that she couldn't eat anymore, he simply stopped eating, put down his bowl and chopsticks, and pulled Lili up.

"Come on, I'll go with you to take a look!"

"Um!"

Yang looked at the two children running out in surprise: "Hey, where are you going? You haven't finished eating yet, aren't you afraid your sister will go hungry!"

But the two had already opened the courtyard gate and run out. Madam Yang asked in surprise, "Where are you going? You're not even eating. Did I make the food too salty today?"

Old Mrs. Shen frowned and said, "Jiahao, go and stay with your younger siblings. It's too late and not safe."

"Okay, I'll go right away."

Shen Jiahao hurriedly chased after him, while Old Mrs. Shen, thinking about the small half of rice in the field, had a bad feeling.

Old Mrs. Shen put down her chopsticks and said in a deep voice, "Eat quickly, everyone, and go finish harvesting the rice as soon as possible."

In the darkness of the night, in the Shen family's fields, a furtive figure stared intently at the stacks of rice on the ground.

Aunt Li picked up a stalk of rice, her hand unable to resist touching the plump grains.

"So many, and so big!"

Aunt Li gasped in astonishment; the Shen family's rice was more than twice the size of hers!

Even before the grains were hulled, she could already clearly see the difference. Regardless of the taste, the size and appearance of the hulled rice were at least of good quality.

The stack of rice in front of me is as tall as half a person and as wide as a person.