Chapter 17
17.
The next day, the sun was still hidden in the clouds in the east, but it was already broad daylight.
Guan Yue has already woken up. She gets up at about the same time every day now, probably around seven in the morning, which is Chen Shi. She is now just like the real ancient people, resting at sunset and working at sunrise.
When she got out of bed, she propped herself up on the edge of the bed and couldn't help but curl her fingers slightly.
It hurts a little.
Guan Yue held her hands in front of her eyes. Clean strips of cloth were wrapped around her palms and fingers. The person who did this work was very careful. Except for her fingertips, no skin was exposed. Moreover, the cloth was just the right tightness. She did not feel any tightness or discomfort when bending and straightening her fingers.
"It's much better than the ones I made before," Guan Yue thought.
I must say, he's a man after all.
Having lived in this world for a long time, Guan Yue has become increasingly accustomed to the strange feeling of the reversed gender roles. If she were to return to her original world, she might find it difficult to adapt.
Guan Yue sat on the bed for a while, then got up.
She still had to work today and couldn't be late—even though Rui Xi hadn't made a specific agreement with her about the world, Guan Yue still subconsciously followed her usual work schedule and left home.
The wild fruits from the morning were gone, and there were hardly any bird eggs left. However, Guan Yue dug up something that looked edible from her backyard. It must have been planted a long time ago, but the original owner hadn't taken care of it. She didn't expect it to be so tenacious and grow.
These past few days, Guan Yue has been trying to tidy up her yard. It's overgrown with weeds and looks like a dilapidated abandoned house from the outside. Especially after learning that she doesn't have any farmland, she's planning to take good care of it and see if she can plant something like Cheng Lingjun's house.
However, her yard is smaller than Cheng Lingjun's, so she probably can't grow too many things. She can at least manage to grow some vegetables.
Guan Yue got up early and pulled some weeds in the backyard. She happened to pull out a rather sturdy weed. She pulled it out with some effort and found that the rootstock underneath was a tuberous thing, about the size of two fists, and she estimated that it weighed two or three pounds.
Guan Yue looked at the surrounding terrain. It seemed that the crops used to grow there had been neglected and overgrown with weeds.
Guan Yue peeled the skin off the thing, cooked half of it, and tasted it. It tasted like a starchy food, edible, but the flavor wasn't great. It was a bit like a potato, but not quite. She was a little uneasy, but then she thought that since it could be grown at home, it must be edible. She planned to ask Cheng Lingjun about it at noon.
After finishing the half-eaten food, she boiled two bird eggs, barely filling her stomach, before going to Ruixi's house.
She usually doesn't eat much in the morning, but not anymore. She has to do heavy farm work, so she has to eat more. That's why she plans to tidy up her yard. When Guan Yue arrived at Rui Xi's house, she found that the village chief had already gotten up.
She hurried inside—Rui Xi's door was open, and she saw people busy inside. Rui Xi was sitting in a chair with a simple wooden frame in front of her. She was beating a bundle of rice stalks on the frame, and grains of rice were falling down and being collected in a winnowing basket.
When the village chief saw Guan Yue coming over, he only gestured to the sickle on the ground and said, "You go and harvest the rice yourself today. I'll leave the rice here to thresh it and dry it in the sun to prevent it from spoiling."
Guan Yue saw a pile of millet already stacked next to Rui Xi, indicating that it had been drying for quite some time. Feeling a little embarrassed, she quickly picked up a sickle from the ground and headed towards the field.
Rui Xi glanced at her hand and asked, "What's wrong? Is it blistered?"
Guan Yue paused, "It is a little longer, but it's okay, I can still keep working."
Rui Xi nodded, seemingly not intending to discourage Guan Yue from working. She patted the remaining grains on the wooden frame and took a bundle of rice stalks, saying, "I have some medicine here; you can apply some."
"I've already taken the medicine, thank you, village chief," Guan Yue replied with a grateful smile, then said, "I'm going to harvest the rice now."
Rui Xi stopped what she was doing and watched Guan Yue's departing figure. She thought to herself, "This handbag is wrapped so well, it's completely different from yesterday's. Could someone have wrapped it for her?"
Guan Yue had rested well today and was full of energy. Apart from a slight stinging sensation in her hands at the beginning, she didn't feel anything as she worked. When the sun was at its strongest, Guan Yue looked up and found that she had already finished most of the job.
She truly is a natural-born agricultural genius.
Her current speed is about the same as the village chief's; she can finish a large acre of land in half a day. At her current efficiency, she should be able to finish it in another two days. Moreover, she is younger and stronger than the village chief, so she can definitely work faster and longer.
Hmph... Guan Yue couldn't help but feel smug. She cleaned the mud off her feet, delivered the rice back to the village chief's house, and went home covered in dust.
Before long, he saw Cheng Lingjun standing at the door.
The other person was obviously waiting for her. Guan Yue looked at his neat and tidy appearance, and then at herself... she couldn't bear to look at herself. Helpless, she could only go over and greet him, "Have you... eaten?"
Before she could finish speaking, Guan Yue could already hear her stomach rumbling. What a disappointment!
Cheng Lingjun lifted the food box in her hand, "I ate, and brought you some food on the way."
Guan Yue was startled and overjoyed. She wanted to take the food box from the other person, but when she saw the hands that had turned the color of a rag, she was at a loss for what to do.
Cheng Lingjun sighed, "It's gotten like this again."
His tone was as if he were talking to a naughty child.
Guan Yue quickly said, "It's alright, let me wash my hands first."
She hurriedly tried to tear the strips of cloth off her hand, but ended up pulling on her wound, causing her to hiss softly in pain.
"Don't move."
Cheng Lingjun stopped her rash behavior, took a kettle from his own home, and let a thin stream of water flow from the kettle to wet Guan Yue's strip of cloth. He then slowly peeled it off, revealing her slightly red and swollen hand underneath.
"It's alright, changing the medication should help."
Cheng Lingjun breathed a sigh of relief. "Let me take care of your hand first, then we'll eat."
"Actually..." Guan Yue only said two words before she dared not say more. She wanted to say that they could eat first, but Cheng Lingjun seemed unyielding, so she kept quiet.
After waiting for a quarter of an hour, Guan Yue's hand was re-bandaged. She said happily, "You have such skillful hands. Everything you do is so beautiful."
Cheng Lingjun glanced at her slowly, "Let's eat first."
Guan Yue carried the food box inside, opened it, and saw that it contained white rice and bright green vegetables.
Although, but, why is it all vegetarian?
Guan Yue didn't know she was a carnivore. She had never been so fond of meat before, and now she gets uncomfortable if she doesn't smell meat for a few days.
Even an egg would be better than nothing.
Perhaps her body had been overworked and she really needed to eat some meat. Guan Yue didn't think Cheng Lingjun was hiding meat for himself and not giving it to her. Considering the remote village and the two orphans and their father, it was probably not easy for them to eat meat.
Guan Yue ate while thinking, and soon she finished everything.
It was good enough to have something to eat. Guan Yue washed the dishes neatly, thought for a moment, and then found the few remaining bird eggs at home. She divided two of them, and with the remaining two, along with the new type of blocky food she had found that morning, she brought them to Cheng Lingjun.
"Do you know what this is?" Guan Yue asked, pointing to the half-piece.
“It looks like the root of some kind of crop,” Cheng Lingjun examined it carefully. “Where did you find it?”
Guan Yue recounted how she found it and described its taste: "It doesn't have much flavor, and it's a bit sticky when you chew it."
"This... doesn't sound appetizing. Why would you grow this?" Cheng Lingjun asked, puzzled.
"Ah, this," Guan Yue was stunned for a moment. Oh right, what she found in her backyard was planted by "her"!
"I...I forgot."
The amnesia technique makes its reappearance, perfectly concealing everything.
Cheng Lingjun could only say, "I don't recognize it either. Perhaps you can ask the village chief."
"That's true," Guan Yue nodded and said, "I'll ask her tonight."
Guan Yue was about to leave when Cheng Lingjun called out to her, "You still have two eggs here..."
Guan Yue placed the eggs in the food box. Cheng Lingjun opened the food box and found the two tiny creatures, pitifully small, in the spacious wooden compartment of the food box.
"It's a bit too little, but I'll find some more when I have time," Guan Yue said somewhat awkwardly. "I really haven't had any free time these past few days..."
“That’s not what I meant,” Cheng Lingjun said, somewhat amused. “You probably don’t have enough to eat either, so take it back and eat it yourself.”
Cheng Lingjun had a general idea of Guan Yue's situation. Given her dilapidated and empty house, and the fact that she couldn't bear to throw away something she dug up in the backyard that she didn't know if it was edible, the two bird eggs were probably one of the few precious treasures in the family.
"It's nothing," Guan Yue waved her hand and said, "It's just a few eggs, I have more at home."
Cheng Lingjun didn't believe her. "Really, you don't need it. Take it back."
Guan Yue ignored everything else, pushed the food box back with both hands, and easily stepped through the door. Her voice trailed off behind her, "It's just two bird eggs, don't give them back to me, or I won't want your cooking anymore."
Cheng Lingjun watched her graceful retreating figure, feeling both amused and touched.
Now I understand her personality. If I help her even a little, she'll immediately pay me back. If I don't accept this bird egg, she'll definitely find somewhere else to return it. Oh well.
Cheng Lingjun shook her head and stewed the two eggs with sugar that night for Li Guang to eat.
"So sweet, so sweet," Li Guang said, his little face beaming as he ate the sweet egg soup.
Cheng Lingjun waited until he finished eating before saying, "This was a gift from Guan Yue."
"Huh?" Li Guang's face scrunched up. "It's her again..."
Cheng Lingjun's expression remained calm. "What's wrong? Doesn't it taste good?"
"Delicious..." Li Guang licked his lips, somewhat reluctantly. He felt that his father and that woman were getting closer and closer. The water tank at home was always full. His father said that it was a gift from that woman surnamed Guan, but he had never seen it. His father just often mentioned it.
He wanted to tell his father not to get too close to that woman, but he hadn't seen them together. Besides, the rabbit and water were both gifts from Guan Yue, and now the eggs were too. He felt embarrassed to say anything bad about Guan Yue.
I should have known better than to eat what she gave me.
Cheng Lingjun secretly looked at Li Guang's annoyed face and thought to herself, "It seems that it's right to talk to Xiao Guang more about Guan Yue's good points. In this way, Xiao Guang may gradually reduce his prejudice against Guan Yue and will not be so resistant to her."
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