Chapter 21

twenty one,

"How many days will it take for your injury to heal?"

...

Is this flirting? Or teasing?

When Guan Yue closed her eyes at night, all she could hear was Cheng Lingjun's low, deep laughter. She felt that he was teasing her like a child, and that he was just giving her a way out so that she wouldn't feel so burdened.

But he did indeed take a few buckets of rice back, seemingly accepting her reason. Guan Yue lay in bed, silently calculating when her injuries would heal.

Three days? No, no, no, two days should be enough. Guan Yue remembered that although she fought fiercely, there was a rice bag weighing over 20 pounds pressing on her chest and abdomen. When those bastards punched her twice, they hit the rice bag instead of her. Guan Yue estimated that the other party's internal injuries were more serious than hers.

It looks like she's fighting three against one, but actually it's one against three... no.

Fortunately, those three people didn't really want to fight her, otherwise she would definitely have been seriously injured before Cheng Lingjun could call for help.

Is fighting really all about momentum?

Guan Yue lay in bed, thinking about all sorts of things, and then fell asleep without realizing it.

So came two days of rest and recuperation.

Guan Yue wanted to recover quickly these past two days, but unfortunately, she had fought with three people, and even though her injuries weren't serious, she still couldn't move freely. In addition, Cheng Lingjun came to check on her several times, so Guan Yue didn't dare to do anything reckless.

Aside from having dinner with Guan Yue on the first day after her injury, Cheng Lingjun only delivered the food to her door afterwards. After Guan Yue finished eating, Cheng Lingjun would time it perfectly to take the dishes back, making it impossible for Guan Yue to quietly wash the dishes herself.

Guan Yue asked him why he only brought her food later, instead of insisting on spending time with her or anything... She didn't mean that.

Cheng Lingjun smiled and said that she was afraid that she wouldn't even have the strength to eat on the first day, so she watched her finish eating. Knowing that she could eat on her own, she didn't overstep her bounds.

The food was still very good these past two days. Cheng Lingjun made soup for her in different ways. The second day it was chicken bone soup, the third day it was wild crucian carp and vegetable soup, and the fourth day it was a simple wild vegetable and egg soup. Guan Yue didn't know where he got the meat and eggs, but thinking of what Li Guang had said before, she was sure that Cheng Lingjun had used his own savings to buy them. As Guan Yue ate and drank, her guilt grew stronger every day. She wished she could go back to normal and repay him by going up the mountain and down the river.

Every time Guan Yue ate something, she would ask them if they had eaten it. Cheng Lingjun would always say they had, but Guan Yue never believed her and insisted on sharing half with them. Cheng Lingjun would have to share half in front of her before Guan Yue would eat it.

By the fourth day, Guan Yue no longer wanted to stay in the house to recuperate. The bruises on her body had not yet faded, but she felt that she was already better and could at least walk around without any problems.

Cheng Lingjun looked at her with a skeptical expression, "Really healed?"

Guan Yue nodded firmly, "Of course, I'm basically fully recovered, but I still look a bit gruesome. But as I said, I wasn't seriously injured; those three people were more seriously injured than me."

Cheng Lingjun did hear what Guan Yue said. Guan Yue also told him that she was no longer unemployed and that she now owned her own land. Moreover, the land was rented from the owner of the house where Cheng Lingjun lived, with the village chief acting as guarantor.

Guan Yue had long been eager to make a big splash, but her injury had prevented her from completing her plans.

"I originally planned to grow some vegetables in my yard, but now that I have land, I don't need to grow vegetables in this yard anymore."

"So what are you planning to do?" Cheng Lingjun actually knew that even during her few days of rest, Guan Yue had been tidying up her yard. Now, the messy weeds were gone, and her little yard looked much neater.

Guan Yue stroked her chin and pondered, "I plan to raise some chickens and some other livestock."

"Raising chickens?" Cheng Lingjun said, "That's a good idea. I had the same thought before, but unfortunately I'm too busy to manage it on weekdays, so I gave up."

The villagers of Dahuai Village are all self-sufficient. Most villagers grow some crops and raise some chickens and ducks. They can feed their livestock with any surplus vegetables or crops. Even if they don't have meat to eat, they can collect some eggs to supplement their diet. Some people, like Cheng Lingjun's family, do not raise any livestock, but they have able-bodied women in their families who can go up the mountain to hunt, so they can be considered half hunters. If they really can't hunt on their own, they will go to Guping Town, which is dozens of kilometers away from Dahuai Village, to buy some meat.

Dahuai Village is closest to Guping Town. People from the village will go to Guping Town every three to five days, and most of the crops grown by the villagers will be sold in Guping Town.

Cheng Lingjun also sells his own embroidery in Guping Town, but he rarely goes to the town. He usually asks others to sell his embroidery and buy some necessities.

If possible, Cheng Lingjun would also like to go to other towns, but other towns are farther away than Guping Town. Few people from this village go to other towns unless they hire a carriage by themselves, which would be too troublesome.

Cheng Lingjun was already very busy taking care of Li Guang, tending the vegetable garden, and handling household chores. Raising livestock would only make things worse. Therefore, if she wanted to eat any meat, she could only buy it from the villagers or occasionally ask someone to bring some back from Guping Town.

Fortunately, when he left his wife's family, he took some of his own savings with him, which allowed him to rent this house. In addition, with the crude embroidery he made in his spare time, he was able to make ends meet.

But it was clearly impossible to ensure that Li Guang and himself would live a life free from worries about food and clothing.

Whenever Cheng Lingjun thought of this, he couldn't help but feel guilty. Fortunately, Li Guang never complained and would comfort him instead, even saying that he didn't like to eat meat, which made him, as the father, feel both heartache and relief.

Cheng Lingjun said, "In a few years, when Xiaoguang grows up, he might be able to spare some time to raise some livestock."

When Li Guang grows up and becomes more sensible, he can help with some housework, and he will have more time to embroider things. They can save up to buy a few chicks and ducks, and then the lives of the father and son will be better. For now, it's enough to take care of the present.

Guan Yue nodded. It was necessary to raise them; they couldn't survive without meat.

Guan Yue held up a tree branch and gestured in the yard, "How about we raise chickens all over this area? This whole area..."

"How's this part?" Cheng Lingjun leaned over her shoulder and asked.

"How about raising something else here?" Guan Yue's light-colored eyes darted around. "Like, a few rabbits?"

"A rabbit?" Cheng Lingjun was a little surprised, but still managed to follow her train of thought and said, "A rabbit is fine, there's plenty of meat, it's just that I'm afraid they're hard to raise..."

"Hmm..." Guan Yue doodled on the ground, but her mind was racing with a hundred little calculations. She didn't actually want to raise rabbits just to eat them. She was thinking about the rabbit that fell from the sky and was given to Cheng Lingjun at the beginning. That rabbit was the key that unlocked her friendship with Cheng Lingjun. Without that rabbit, they might not be able to get along as well as they do now.

However, since she brought up the rabbit, why does Cheng Lingjun seem to have forgotten about it?

Guan Yue continued to scribble on the ground, somewhat frustrated. Cheng Lingjun looked around her yard and was surprised to see some clods of earth piled up in the corner.

"This is……?"

Guan Yue turned her head to look, said "Oh", and said, "Those are the sweet potatoes I dug up these past few days."

Upon closer inspection, Cheng Lingjun realized that they were indeed sweet potatoes, with the plant parts removed and all piled together. At first glance, they looked like clods of dirt picked up from somewhere.

"Didn't the village chief say they were useless?" Cheng Lingjun didn't understand why Guan Yue had collected all these sweet potatoes. Was she going to keep them to feed the chickens?

Guan Yue walked over, bent down, picked up a sweet potato, and asked, "I think it should work. I've tried various methods these past two days, and I think it's effective."

"What's the use?"

Have you ever heard of taro balls?

Taro balls?

Guan Yue tried to explain it in a more ancient way: "It's a kind of meatball that's chewy, round, and elastic..."

Cheng Lingjun asked in confusion, "Isn't that just tangyuan?"

"Tangtuan...round?" Guan Yue waved her hand. "No, no, although it looks similar, it's a bit harder than tangtuan and not as soft and glutinous."

Guan Yue continued to explain, "There are also various colors... Although I don't know how to make them, I've seen them before, and they taste pretty good."

“Oh,” Cheng Lingjun responded slightly, but still didn’t seem very interested. Guan Yue knew that the other party must think that this was just glutinous rice balls.

Guan Yue pulled him into the kitchen and showed him the little bit of powder she had painstakingly ground from sweet potatoes. But this little bit of powder was too little; she had already used some of it beforehand, and it was really not enough to make taro balls.

Guan Yue was so anxious that she spun around in circles. Suddenly, she had a brilliant idea. "Why don't you take these powders? They can definitely be used for thickening sauces. At least they'll be of some use."

"What is thickening?" Ever since Cheng Lingjun learned that Guan Yue had kept the sweet potato, he had been listening attentively, even though he didn't understand it. If it were anyone else, they would have lost patience long ago, or would have suspected that Guan Yue had something wrong with her brain, always saying things that were incomprehensible. But Cheng Lingjun was different; he just listened carefully.

He probably found it strange too, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with Guan Yue's mind. He was obviously not interested in the potato either, but since Guan Yue was interested, he wouldn't interrupt her.

Although Guan Yue often reminded herself to be mindful of the differences between men and women in ancient times and not to be casual with them, she found it very comfortable to be with Cheng Lingjun. She had always been hesitant to communicate and interact with others, not because she thought others couldn't understand her, but because she felt that her emotional intelligence was too low, her words too dry, and while she could handle business matters, chatting was really too difficult.

Therefore, Guan Yue was always happier than anything else when she encountered a human who wouldn't have a boring conversation with her. Anyway, their residence was a bit remote, and not many people would pass by them on weekdays, let alone see them. As long as she and Cheng Lingjun followed the rules and were careful with their words and actions, no one would misunderstand them. After all, the innocent will remain innocent, and the guilty will remain guilty.