Madam Zou smiled and said, "You can stay for a year if you want. I'll have my cousin find you a house on the mountain. You can see the mist when you wake up in the morning. It's like a fairyland. Do you want to stay?"
"Yes, yes, yes... Sister-in-law, could you please ask your cousin to help me make the contact? I need to stay until before filming starts and then go back. I'll also invite Andy over; he'll definitely be very happy." Zhang Zhengrong nodded vigorously and took out her phone to contact her lover.
Everyone knows about his love life. Andy is his beloved, and the two are very close. Zou Hanqiu and his wife also have a good relationship with Andy and often eat together.
Mrs. Zou told her eldest cousin about it, and he said it was no problem. His eldest son had built a resort on the mountain, decorated in a very elegant style, and could reserve the best rooms for Zhang Zhengrong and his wife, where no one would disturb them.
Zhang Zhengrong became increasingly interested, inquiring about many things about the resort. His eyes were full of smiles, and he was in high spirits. Ye Qingqing's heart stirred. This was the first time she had seen Zhang Zhengrong smile so happily. It seemed that this trip had been worthwhile.
"Brother Rong, do you see those golden rice plants? Do you want to experience the hard work of sweating under the soil?" Ye Qingqing teased.
"I saw it! Fields of rice, it was so beautiful. I also saw many people harvesting rice, and some people were stepping on a wooden box. One person stepped on it while another person fed it in. It was very loud. Once it was fed in, the rice was threshed. It was really interesting."
Zhang Zhengrong observed very carefully and got more and more excited as he spoke. He was talking about manual threshing machines. Agriculture in the inland areas is not yet mechanized, especially in mountainous towns like Shengxian. Farmland is in small plots, unlike in the north where it is a vast expanse of land where tractors can drive freely.
In Shengxian County, rice can only be harvested by hand. If a few plots of land on this mountain are dry today, we'll go to another plot of land on another mountain tomorrow. Manual harvesting is more flexible.
My older cousin laughed and said, "Want to harvest rice? That's easy. My family planted more than three acres of land this year. We can go harvest after we finish eating."
"Why are you planting so many?" Mrs. Zou asked curiously.
"The rice bought outside isn't good, the rice we grow ourselves is much better. Three mu of land isn't enough to go around, so we'll have to buy from other people and send it to them later," my older cousin said with a smile.
If he weren't worried about his children and grandchildren in the city not eating well, he wouldn't have gone back to his hometown. He raises chickens, grows crops and vegetables himself, all of which are green and organic, so he can eat with peace of mind. Plus, doing more farm work is good for his health.
My eldest cousin is quite eloquent and has a high level of education, while his wife just smiles throughout and works quietly. The house is filled with the rich aroma of food and the smoky smell of firewood, making one's mouth water.
Ruan Yingzi couldn't help but whisper in Ye Qingqing's ear, "Madam Zou's eldest cousin's wife and her eldest cousin are such a mismatch. It's like a beautiful flower stuck in cow dung. The beautiful flower is the eldest cousin."
"What do you know?" Ye Qingqing rolled her eyes.
Although Madam Zou didn't explain, Ye Qingqing could guess that a family like her eldest cousin's was a major problem decades ago. Even the ugliest woman in the village wouldn't want to marry into such a family. Being able to marry a good woman like her eldest cousin's wife, who was honest, virtuous, hardworking, and thrifty, was already considered extremely lucky.
Moreover, she thought her eldest cousin's wife was quite good. In the countryside, looks aren't important; being able to work is what matters. Her eldest cousin's wife was strong and nimble, capable in both social and domestic settings. In the countryside, girls like that are highly sought after, and her eldest cousin was really marrying above his station!
My sister-in-law prepared a large table of authentic farm-style dishes: steamed duck, poached chicken, stir-fried chicken and duck giblets with pickled mustard greens, steamed pork with preserved mustard greens, stewed pork hock, steamed edamame, steamed fresh potatoes, steamed wild crucian carp...
It may not look very appealing, but it tastes incredibly delicious, especially when cooked over a wood fire, it's so good it'll make your tongue fall off.
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