Ruan Qiao and Ah Qi walked forward together.
After only a few steps, Huihui ran over, grabbed onto Ruan Qiao’s clothes, and tugged her toward a large tree beside the path.
Its expression was urgent.
Ruan Qiao reached out and patted Huihui’s head, then quickened her pace.
When they reached the base of the tree, Ruan Qiao stopped instantly.
“Perilla?” Her voice was full of delight.
“Oh my, this whole area is full of perilla!”
Perilla is a plant commonly found in Ruan Qiao’s original world and also a type of Chinese herbal medicine; summer is the perfect season to eat it.
It has a distinct aroma, people who like it are very fond of it, while those who can’t stand the smell are just as common.
Ruan Qiao, of course, belonged to the first group.
In the past, during summer, she loved going to the market to buy some perilla to cook with grilled fish or scrambled eggs. Especially when she had a craving for barbecue, she would buy some to wrap meat in.
She found it delicious and also cleansing to the palate.
Besides stir-frying, perilla has other culinary uses.
For example, her aunt would use it every year to pickle ginger, the tender ginger would turn a soft pink and taste pleasantly sour and crisp.
Whenever Ruan Qiao visited her home, her aunt would make her take home a big jar.
It was perfect with rice or porridge.
Also, the leaves make a beautiful color when boiled in water, and Ruan Qiao had even tried making perilla syrup following an online tutorial.
Scooping a spoonful into iced water, the color, the flavor, was absolutely amazing!
Ruan Qiao never expected that climbing this mountain today would bring such a huge surprise!
Looking at this vast patch of perilla, so much that it seemed impossible to finish eating it all, she felt that the long walk and all the sweat she had poured out were completely worth it.
“Hurry, hurry, come help me pick! I just bought some meat, so we can go back and have a barbecue!”
“Ah Qi, let’s head down the mountain a bit earlier today. How about you go catch some fish again?
Don’t underestimate these leaves, grilled fish with them is incredibly delicious! You catch the fish, and I’ll cook it for everyone!”
Ruan Qiao was so happy that she practically wanted to spin around on the spot.
She immediately started assigning tasks to everyone, and no one minded at all.
Her excitement was contagious.
Without a word, Ah Qi grabbed the bamboo basket he had brought up earlier and began picking the leaves.
The other little ones also gathered around.
Even though they didn’t know how to pick properly, they still enjoyed joining in.
Seeing this, Huihui suddenly felt like a hero. His tiny tail wagged so vigorously that it seemed like it might spin off completely.
He held his head high, feeling on top of the world!
He stood as close to Ruan Qiao as he could and pushed himself against her with all his might.
Although he couldn’t speak, his entire body clearly said one thing: “Praise me! Praise me now!”
Unfortunately, at this moment, Ruan Qiao’s eyes were glued to the perilla leaves, she was dazzled by this unexpected treasure.
Her mind was filled with all sorts of recipes.
She was already torn over whether to stir-fry it, fry it, or make a cold dish.
She completely ignored the little one’s desperate plea for attention.
Huihui felt deeply wronged.
He stared at Ruan Qiao for a long time and realized she didn’t even glance at him.
The little guy immediately got annoyed. He lowered himself and, using his big head, rammed hard into Ruan Qiao’s arms.
Ruan Qiao didn’t see him coming and had no chance to defend herself.
The sudden impact scared her, and she let out a sharp scream, stumbling backward and nearly falling onto her back.
Fortunately, Ah Qi reached out and grabbed her, or she would have fallen flat on her back!
Seeing that Ruan Qiao had been bullied, the other little ones immediately jumped into action.
They squeaked and chattered as they rushed at Huihui, and in an instant, the five little ones were rolling around in a fight.
Ruan Qiao, held by Ah Qi, swayed a few times before regaining her balance.
She was a bit dazed, not understanding how she had somehow offended Huihui, making him angry at her.
It wasn’t until she saw several children ganging up on Huihui that she realized what she had overlooked.
She quickly ran over and “rescued” Huihui from the circle of little attackers, holding his big head and rubbing him vigorously to calm him, then planting a heavy kiss on top of his head.
Only then did she say, “It’s not Huihui’s fault today. I was just too happy and forgot to praise our little treasure. Huihui, you’re amazing, today you’ve done something really great!
No one is allowed to bully you, and later we’re all going to eat the delicious things you caught!”
Huihui didn’t expect Ruan Qiao to fall over like that.
So even though he felt wronged, he didn’t dare fight back against his little friends.
Now, being called a “treasure” by Ruan Qiao in front of everyone and even getting a kiss, all his grievances vanished instantly.
The little tuft of fur on his head, which had grown at some unknown time, turned a faint pink from shyness.
Against his long gray-and-white fur, it looked especially beautiful.
Ruan Qiao was astonished and couldn’t help reaching out to touch it.
She realized that the fur had really changed color, it wasn’t stained by anything, and she was even more shocked.
She couldn’t resist stroking it again.
“Ah Qi, Huihui’s fur has changed color!” she quickly called out.
Ah Qi, who was picking perilla leaves nearby, came over and ran his hand over Huihui’s head. Then he crouched down, inspecting carefully, and said, “Seems like he’s about to enter the transformation stage.”
He then turned to Ruan Qiao: “Take him to see the doctor when you have a chance.”
In an instant, Ruan Qiao felt an immense pressure slam down on her head.
Her heart thumped loudly.
Even though she knew the little ones’ ages weren’t far apart, just a few months’ difference…
She thought, Couldn’t they all have done this at different times?!
This was truly almost too much to bear.
Seeing the worry in Ruan Qiao’s eyes, Ah Qi said nothing, but took her hand and squeezed it firmly.
The message was clear: “I’m here. Don’t be afraid.”
Ruan Qiao managed a small smile, but the weight in her heart didn’t lighten at all.
Who knew when Ah Qi would regain his memories?
And if he really did… would he still be willing to stay here and help care for these children with her?
Ruan Qiao didn’t hold out much hope.
Everyone has their own responsibilities and burdens, and clearly, the responsibility and pressure of running the orphanage fell on her, not Ah Qi.
Still, entering the transformation stage early wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for Huihui. It showed that his constitution was improving.
A healthy body is necessary for an early transformation, and a healthy body also means a greater chance of success.
With that thought, Ruan Qiao felt her spirits lift and her determination reignite.
Although there was a huge patch of perilla here, she didn’t let them pick too much.
It was hot, and if they took too much, it wouldn’t stay fresh by the time they got back.
Besides, the little ones climbed the mountain every day for training, it wasn’t hard for them to pick a few leaves each day.
“Ah Qi, help me dig up a few plants with their roots. I want to see if we can grow them in the orphanage.”
Ruan Qiao had always known that perilla was a hardy plant, not picky about soil.
It could grow in mountains, mud, or even building ruins; once it took root, it would spread into a patch in just a few years.
She figured that if it could grow on the mountain, it should grow in the orphanage too.
If transplanted successfully, they could cultivate it on a large scale next year.
“Oh, and Ah Qi, when you come up to train tomorrow morning, pick some more to bring back. In the afternoon, we’ll head into the city together, take Huihui to see the doctor, and maybe check if the collection station wants perilla too.”
Remembering this, she hurriedly added the reminder.
Ah Qi, of course, didn’t refuse.
After picking the perilla, it was getting late. Since everyone was still thinking about lunch, they didn’t stay longer in the mountains. After packing up, they planned to head back.
At that moment, Ruan Qiao’s phone rang.
She dug it out of her backpack and saw it was a call from Jian, raising her eyebrows slightly.
Ruan Qiao didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she smiled at Ah Qi, her eyes squinting with happiness.
She said cheerfully, “I sent another batch of photos last night before bed… could it be that Jian saw them again? If that’s the case, we’ve basically got next week’s meat money covered.”
With that, she quickly answered the call.
Before she could speak, Jian excitedly said, “Ruan Qiao, do you know the video you posted last night has made it into the top three on the view rankings?!”
“Ah?” Ruan Qiao was taken aback.
She didn’t really understand what the view rankings were and hadn’t checked carefully yesterday.
Hearing Jian say that so suddenly, her first reaction was simply: That’s impressive.
Without thinking, she immediately asked, “Do you want to repost it?”
Jian seemed a little stunned by her question, and there was a brief silence on the other end.
Ruan Qiao then realized she had blurted out her thought just like that, it might not have been very appropriate, almost like she was pressuring someone to make a choice.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, she quickly explained, “Jian, sorry, I didn’t mean anything else.
It’s just that when you called, I was discussing lunch with my family…
I just used the payment you transferred from yesterday to buy meat, so…”
“So… you thought I’d be sending you meat again,” Jian said, laughing as he picked up the thread of her words.
“Exactly, sorry to make you laugh,” Ruan Qiao said honestly, completely open.
This actually earned her a little more respect from Jian.
Of course, Ruan Qiao had seen the photos and videos she posted.
Not just her, practically everyone on the site had seen them.
“Buying meat for the little cuties” had already become the hottest topic on the entire website today, shooting straight into the top ten trending searches.
The two videos Ruan Qiao posted had even reached third place on the view rankings, and the two sets of photos had made it to the front pages as well.
Everyone who saw them was not only charmed and itching to pet those fluffy, adorable little faces, but many also felt a pang of emotion at the strength and courage these little ones showed at such a young age. Their hearts ached for them.
People like Jian, who were single, felt like immediately placing an order to buy ten pounds of meat for the little ones!
And that’s not even mentioning the many mothers among the website’s audience.
Mothers couldn’t bear to see children suffer. Call it overprotective maternal love or whatever else you like. At the very least, they had both the means and the willingness to help these children.
From Ruan Qiao’s words, Jian could tell that she probably had no idea about what was happening online.
So he reminded her, “Why don’t you check your space first? To be honest, I think you probably won’t need to worry about the kids’ meals anymore. You have no idea how many people want to send them meat now. Also…”
Jian paused, a little embarrassed, then said, “My monthly salary isn’t very high, but I can still buy a few pounds of meat for my little treasure. Don’t make him eat fish again, it’s too heartbreaking. From now on, I’ll send ten pounds every month… no, twenty pounds. How’s that?”
Ruan Qiao: “…” Shocked!
After hanging up with Jian, the first thing Ruan Qiao did was click into her online space, and she was immediately met with a flood of comments.
Because she had come late, the earlier comments praising the little ones’ cuteness had already been pushed down. What she saw now were all:
“Crying! I just want to know how I can donate money to the little treasures? I want to buy meat for them!”
“Me too!”
“Want to buy meat +1”
“Want to buy meat +2”
“Same question.”
“Same question +1”
…
Besides these, the rest were nothing but crying-face emojis and wails.
Ruan Qiao took a deep breath.
Ah Qi, curious, leaned over and, seeing row after row of crying-face comments flooding the screen, looked at Ruan Qiao in shock: “What did you post yesterday?”
Ruan Qiao put her hand to her forehead, not wanting to say a word.
She shoved the phone into Ah Qi’s hand. “You see for yourself.”
Ah Qi set down the bamboo basket, picked up the phone, and scrolled through the comments. After finishing, he fell into a long silence.
Ruan Qiao smacked her forehead in frustration and said gloomily, “I really didn’t expect this. I wanted to earn some money to buy meat, but…”
“But you don’t want to accept help like this,” Ah Qi finished her sentence for her.
“Yes.”
Although she was happy to see the little ones loved by so many people, Ruan Qiao had never intended to ask for help this way.
It made her feel like she was… playing the victim.
This was something she had never imagined before posting the videos.
Even though they were in some difficulty now, it was far from a situation that required donations from strangers.
The more Ruan Qiao thought about it, the more she regretted posting the videos, feeling that it had been somewhat thoughtless.
At the time, she had only wanted to show off a little, proud-mom style, how well-behaved and sensible her little ones were.
She didn’t expect things to escalate like this.
But it had already happened, and regretting it now would change nothing.
“Let’s head down the mountain first. We can deal with everything after lunch. The meat we bought has probably arrived by now,” Ruan Qiao sighed.
Food is the most important thing in the world, after all, especially today, having found the perilla and bought so many delicious things.
She didn’t want her own emotions to ruin the happiness of the whole group.
At this moment, all the little ones held their heads high, looking puzzled as they listened to the two adults talk.
They couldn’t understand most of what was being said.
But when Ruan Qiao said, “Let’s go home for lunch,” they immediately perked up, full of energy again.
One by one, they nodded their little heads energetically, their eyes sparkling.
Without waiting for Ruan Qiao’s instructions, Huihui and Xiao Wang ran over to Ah Qi and bumped their heads against the bamboo basket in his hands.
Xiao Wang even used his front paws to tug at the basket straps, showing a strong desire to help carry it.
“No need,” Ah Qi said, patting the two little ones on the head. Then he pointed ahead: “Five minutes, one round trip. Start now.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the little ones who had just been seeking attention vanished instantly.
The other three, who had been snuggling against Ruan Qiao, scattered just as quickly, disappearing right before her eyes.
Ruan Qiao immediately regained her enthusiasm.
She quickly turned on the camera: “Come on, let me record this. When we get back, I’ll edit it and post it so everyone can see how amazing our little ones are!
Oh, Ah Qi, later you help me film the cooking and our lunch too. I’m making a few dishes today, and we’ll post them all together.
This way everyone can see that with us, the little ones aren’t living in hardship, they can eat well, eat freshly made food. Everyone doesn’t need to worry so much.”
Hearing Ruan Qiao say “our” over and over, Ah Qi couldn’t help but show a faint smile.
He didn’t reply, just hoisted the basket back onto his shoulders and let out a soft “hm.”
His steps were even lighter than before.
Ruan Qiao’s mood lifted a little as well.
Looking at the camera in her hands, she remembered Jian’s suggestion from the phone call.
“Jian just said we should do a live stream. You heard that, right? What do you think?”
“I’m fine with anything. Whatever makes you happy,” Ah Qi replied, simple and straightforward as always.
That was exactly what Ruan Qiao had expected.
She considered it for a moment and said, “I think it’s doable.”
Although Ruan Qiao had studied agriculture, she hadn’t ignored other things before.
She once had a big dream: to save up after graduation and rent a piece of land in the countryside to start her own plantation.
Now that live streaming and online sales were so popular, and with this idea in mind, she had naturally been following many agricultural bloggers and streamers.
She had even done research on the feasibility of selling agricultural products through live streaming.
So when Jian suggested that she start a live stream, Ruan Qiao immediately felt excited.
Jian wanted her to go live to drive traffic for the company, but Ruan Qiao suddenly realized she could use this opportunity to promote the vegetables in her garden that were about to mature.
The last time she went to a supermarket, the difference between the supermarket’s fruit prices and the wholesale purchase prices had left a deep impression on her.
If she could use live streaming to showcase her garden and the strawberries about to ripen, without giving middlemen a chance to pocket the profit, then she felt starting the stream would be worthwhile.
From another perspective, it would also be a way to fulfill her own dream.
Since they had left early in the morning, even after a long walk in the mountains, they returned to the orphanage just after ten o’clock.
Ah Qi, carrying the bucket, took the little ones to catch fish as Ruan Qiao had instructed, while she quickly set about transplanting the perilla they had brought back into the seedling room.
After this period of careful tending, the seedling room was now lush and thriving.
The mycelium of the oyster mushrooms had already densely woven through the straw piles, and the mushrooms were about to sprout.
The planted lettuce and bok choy had already grown several pairs of leaves and were nearly ready for harvest.
The hydroponic tomatoes and strawberries were growing vigorously. Although they were still far from fruiting, just looking at the lush green leaves made it feel like a harvest was imminent.
The seedling room was easily Ruan Qiao’s favorite place to be.
Although working here was far from easy, dirty and exhausting, with tasks like turning soil, fertilizing, pinching tips, and catching pests, none of it was light or simple.
Yet doing these tasks always brought Ruan Qiao a deep, heartfelt satisfaction.
This time, instead of using the purchased nutrient soil, she took a spade and dug up ordinary mountain soil from a slope that had previously been cleared of weeds, planning to plant directly in it.
Since there was still a large patch of thriving perilla on the mountain to experiment with, she didn’t need to be as careful as she had been with the strawberry seeds stripped from the fruit.
Moreover, she wanted to see if the plants could be successfully transplanted and grown in large quantities, so it made sense to give them a relatively rough environment.
There was nothing better than using mountain soil similar to their original growing environment.
She shoveled a basket of soil back to the orphanage, sifted out the roots and stones, sterilized it, and placed it into the planting boxes…
By the time all the perilla seedlings had been planted, an hour had already passed.
Since she had already done most of the preparation for lunch, the chicken was in the stew pot, and a large piece of pork belly had been sliced thin—Ruan Qiao wasn’t in a hurry.
She carefully watered the seedlings again until thoroughly soaked, then moved each box to a shaded area to let them recover.
Only when she heard the little ones chirping and squeaking outside did she tidy up her things and quickly take a shower.
Washing away the stickiness and changing into dry clothes, Ruan Qiao regained her energy.
She tied her hair up high and took the camera as she headed toward the standalone unit with a kitchen.
“I’m here!”
Pushing open the door, she called out once, then was immediately drawn in by the rich aroma of chicken soup, inhaling deeply in delight.
It smelled amazing!
Ruan Qiao didn’t expect the chicken here to smell so fragrant when stewed!
The aroma made her feel like there was no difference from the free-range chicken her aunt had once bought for over a hundred coins.
Suddenly, she thought that the eighty coins she had spent on this chicken were really worth it.
As soon as she stepped inside, Ah Qi and the little ones came to meet her.
They lined up, all looking at her with eyes full of admiration.
Ah Qi instinctively swallowed, then, a little embarrassed, asked, “What is this you cooked? Why does it smell so good?”
“Chicken,” Ruan Qiao said. “Didn’t I tell you I bought a chicken? What, you’ve never had chicken soup before?”
“Chicken?” Ah Qi blinked.
Images of all kinds of chicken dishes flashed quickly through his mind.
He tried hard to think, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t remember any of the chicken he had eaten resembling the stew in the pot right now.
“I’ve never eaten it,” Ah Qi said firmly, shaking his head.
He was certain, if he had ever eaten something this delicious, he would never forget it.