Before leaving, Yan Zheng thought about it and finally decided to bring Xiao Hei along.

Jiang Xi looked into its big, dark eyes and said seriously, "Little Blackie, whether you're hungry today depends entirely on your abilities."

Perhaps her words had an effect, because the little guy was exceptionally excited as soon as he left the house. He had been to this road many times before, and he ran ahead without being watched for a moment. Luckily, he was still with us, and would turn back to wait for us from time to time.

Passing by the breadfruit trees they had planted earlier, the two stopped to observe them. The two trees were still somewhat wilted, with the leaves drooping, but fortunately they had not withered.

Yan Zheng said, "It will probably take some time, just like when a person is injured and needs to recuperate."

Upon arriving at the field, the first thing that catches the eye is the cornfield, which is several times taller than the wheat and vegetable fields.

I initially thought they would be sparse, but after they grew taller, I realized that the area they cover is quite considerable, swaying in the warm sunshine, full of vitality.

She excitedly put down her basket and ran towards the cornfield.

Little Black, who had been following them, saw Jiang Xi start running and immediately dashed after her like a bouncy rabbit, jumping left and right, following Jiang Xi like a shadow, having a great time.

Yan Zheng watched the man and the leopard frolicking around and chuckled, calling out, "Slow down, watch out for snakes."

Hearing his voice, Jiang Xi calmed down a bit and even tapped him with a stick when she went into the field.

It's already March, and according to the timeline in her hometown, the cornfields should be as tall as her shoulders in March.

But it was already the cold season, and whether it was due to lack of fertilizer or the climate, the corn here was growing noticeably slowly, the plants were not very upright, let alone producing corn; they were still just bare corn stalks.

It's also possible that there are too many weeds. She thought she would have to weed again when she came back, and she should bring the composted fallen leaves with her next time she comes.

Yan Zheng stood on the edge of the field and observed for a while. Seeing that the two were alright, he patted the deer's neck and began unloading things from the wooden cart.

Basket, sickle, shovel, rake.

After the rain, some fallen leaves were left in the irrigation ditches of the vegetable garden, so he took out a rake and cleared them all out.

After inspecting the corn, Jiang Xi went to the wheat field. To her delight, the wheat looked to be growing well, with lush green leaves.

Seeing the clean vegetable garden was a bit of a surprise. There had been a lot going on these past few days, and everyone was in low spirits. Du Ling had done all the odd jobs in the field, and looking around, there were only a few weeds.

Her eyes welled up with tears.

It feels so good to work together as a team.

Jiang Xi watched as the sweet potatoes sprouted out in clumps, taller than her knees, growing as long as rapeseed; if they continued to grow, they might even bloom.

Looking at the wooden cart, she thought for a moment and discussed it with Yan Zheng: "Why don't we just cut all these sweet potatoes and take them back? I want to see if we can extract sugar from them."

Yan Zheng was very surprised: "You could even think of that?"

Jiang Xi chuckled: "For kids like us who grew up in the countryside, every vegetable has endless potential in my eyes."

Amused by her tone, Yan Zheng smiled and nodded, "Okay, I'll do it, whatever you say."

Fortunately, I took a sickle with me when I went out.

"Okay, then I'll go check on the cucumber."

While Yan Zheng was picking sweet potatoes, Jiang Xi took a stroll around the melon patch.

The melon vines grew faster than she expected, and since there were no trellises to climb them, they lay sprawled on the ground.

Jiang Xi took a stick and poked around, discovering that some of the melon vines had already sprouted flower buds, but the buds were still small, only about the size of a fingernail.

Fortunately, the plants survived.

The tomatoes, however, made her gasp. The tomato plants were already knee-high, but some were noticeably weak, with thin and soft main stems. Even those that did grow tall were all crooked and lopsided.

Fortunately, she discovered it early.

Jiang Xi glanced around and picked up some thumb-thick branches from the edge of the woods, deliberately choosing the ones that looked straight.

Insert a stick about the thickness of a finger near the base of the tomato. It had just rained yesterday, so the soil was still quite moist, making it relatively easy. With a little force, the stick could be driven quite deep.

Then, she pulled out some vines from the vines and tied the tomato plant and the stick together.

My grandma used to plant tomatoes this way, saying it would prevent the plants from falling over.

As Jiang Xi recalled how her grandmother grew tomatoes, she clumsily learned and explored little by little.

Du Ling silently followed behind Yan Jing'an.

Yan Jing'an didn't deliberately bully her today; he was just as unsmiling and aloof as ever.

Du Ling knew she couldn't beat him, and as she got further and further away from the village, she became even more cautious.

Yan Jing'an glanced at her and asked, "Besides animals, what else do you usually eat?"

Du Ling thought for a moment and organized her thoughts: "Grass leaves... red berries... yellow berries... and grass roots."

Before he could finish speaking, Yan Jing'an was speechless.

He bluntly stated, "We really shouldn't have had too high hopes for you."

He can't even speak fluently, and he probably doesn't recognize some of the things.

Seeing the displeasure on his face, Du Ling quickly added, "I've seen them before... I know where they are."

Yan Jing'an became interested in this: "You mean if I give you a certain fruit or plant, you can find its exact location in this area?"

Du Ling nodded.

Yan Jing'an's expression softened slightly: "It's not entirely useless. Fine, come with me today."

"I'm faster, so you have to keep up with me as fast as you can."

Before Du Ling could react, Yan Jing'an set off in one direction.

At first, he walked very fast, and Du Ling could only try her best to keep up, not daring to relax even for a moment.

Yan Jing'an only slowed down as he got further and further away from the village.

Whenever he went in a different direction, or encountered a new plant he had never seen before, he would go up and examine it, casually asking if it was edible or usable.

Du Ling tried her best to answer based on her limited memory. She said that when the wild bear was around, it wouldn't let her touch many things, which meant that she really couldn't eat those things.

After confirming all the key information, Yan Jing'an would close his eyes and rest for a while.

The two of them walked and stopped for a whole morning in the woods.

Du Ling wanted to take advantage of the time while he closed his eyes to rest to take care of her personal matters.

He had just taken two steps.

An annoyed voice came from behind: "Quiet, don't move around, you'll interfere with my memorization."

Du Ling blushed and stammered, "I want to... go to the toilet."

Yan Jing'an asked with a puzzled look, "You were so slow just now, wasn't it because you went to the toilet?"

Upon hearing this, Du Ling felt as if a stone was stuck in her throat. This was a veiled criticism that she was slow, but she had already been trying her best to catch up.