Allure of a Country Maiden

Seeing Xiao'er manage to cook all by herself left Shen Chengyao feeling both relieved and heartbroken. Mrs. Lu had planned to cook when she returned, but to see a child of Xiao'er's age take the reins - even the younger ones knew how to boil water and make ginger soup - left her deeply moved. There were indeed people in the house who were put to shame by this child.

The adults quickly washed up, changed their clothes, and came out for dinner. Initially, they thought it would be good enough if Xiao'er could manage to cook those dishes, but now they couldn't believe they were feasting on such delectable meals.

Hunger got the better of everyone and they began to eat heartily. Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Lu were considered the best culinary talents among the Shen family, but even Mrs. Lu felt somewhat insecure today; her cooking now seemed inferior to that of a child.

"Xiao'er, this is your first time cooking, isn't it? Your mother taught you well. This meal you've prepared is even better than what your fourth aunt makes," one of them said.

Actually, given the limited spices available, the tastiness of the dishes was largely due to the water from Xiao'er's secret space. The chestnuts, cabbage, and cucumbers she'd used were all taken from the vegetable garden and secretly replaced with product from her space. Even the water used for cooking was from there. How could it not taste good?

"Does it really taste good? Then I'll make more for fourth aunt in the future." At this point, all Xiao'er could do was play along with the praise, telling them things any child would say when they receive approval. It would indeed be unusual for someone to cook this well on their first attempt. Fortunately, the original host had often helped Mrs. Liu with household chores, so she'd seen how Mrs. Liu cooked and picked up a few tips.

"Your fourth aunt will be waiting eagerly!" Mrs. Lu responded with joy.

"Delicious, even better than the dishes your mother cooks!" exclaimed Shen Chengyao as he ate with gusto.

"Are you saying that you find the dishes mom cooks not delicious? I'll have to tell her when she comes back!" Xiao'er joked.

"Your father didn't say that your mother's cooking isn't good. You child, you've even learned how to tattle now!" Everyone laughed at his comment.

Everyone ate with cheer, finishing off every single dish.

After dinner, their energy levels were restored, and they all decided to hasten back to the fields to finish the harvest. Last night's heavy wind and rain had flattened the crops, the grain lying on the ground. If they weren't harvested soon, they would sprout, wasting the food unnecessarily.

The three siblings also helped with the threshing, albeit at a slow pace. Threshing by hand was indeed laborious. Xiao'er made a mental note to develop a threshing machine in time for the next season's rice harvest.

Xiao'er rolled up the kang bed mat and spread the threshed paddy on it for drying. Even though she had her secret space, where she could store it without worrying about it sprouting, she still prepared a method to dry the rice's surface moisture. That way, if Shen Chengyao asked, she would have an explanation.

The kang bed was actually built by Shen Chengyao's grandfather, who was also known as Mr. Shen, after he migrated from the North and settled here. Initially, people here slept on wooden beds, but the severe cold during winters prompted them to shift to the warmth of the kang bed. As a poor man, Mr. Shen didn't have enough quilts and the kang produced heat with mere firewood gathered from the mountains. This didn't require any money unlike quilts or clothes that needed to be bought. Mr. Shen was able to sustain his family with his kang bed-making craftsmanship.

Shen Chengyao, Shen Chengzu, and Mrs. Lu spent their days hurriedly picking up the crop in the field and their nights threshing it. After working tirelessly for four days, they finally managed to harvest the paddy from the two households' high-yielding eight mu of land and the average yielding four mu of land. Fortunately, the rain stopped after three days. Because their farm was the last to harvest, some of the grains had sprouted. Luckily, they didn't constitute a significant portion.

After harvesting the paddy, they also harvested the peanuts, corn, and sweet potatoes from the dry land, and the soybeans and sesame from the sandy land. That's when Xiao'er discovered that the farming methods here were flawed. Sweet potatoes, which don't require fertile soil, should be grown in sandy land, while sesame plants should be grown in fertile soils with good drainage. She planned to rectify these issues the following year.

Mrs. Li was really cunning. Initially, Mr. Shen and Shen Chengyao proposed that they first harvest their own fields before moving onto others. But, Mrs. Li refused, insisting that each household should complete their harvesting before moving onto the next. That way, she argued, there would be no confusion and they wouldn't have to redistribute the workload. But once her own field was harvested, she found an excuse to leave.

However, with experience comes wisdom. Perhaps this wasn't necessarily a bad thing for the brothers - Shen Chengyao and Shen Chengzu. There are many people in this world who selflessly help others without expecting anything in return. But this generosity does not include connivance or taking undue advantage. Anyone would grow weary of such manipulation and would chose to avoid it, choosing distance over submission. The kinder the person, the more empathetic they tend to be. If someone treats them well, they will treat the person even better in return. But they will distance themselves from those who only aim to manipulate for their own gain, believing their motives to be impure. Unbeknownst to such people, the loss that comes with their departure is ultimately theirs to bear.