“I’m used to waking up early. Your elder brother has already cooked the porridge, and the braised meat has been sliced. After washing up, you can eat.”
“Oh, okay.”
Qin Zhiyu was still a little groggy as she carried the chipped enamel basin with a peony pattern toward the kitchen.
When she saw Qin Zhishu already up, she wasn’t surprised.
Her second brother woke up early every day to do morning reading.
“Morning, Second Brother.”
Qin Zhishu was placing several bowls of porridge he had just served out, wiping the stove with a piece of coarse cloth.
The rich aroma of braised meat filled the air, instantly waking Qin Zhiyu up.
Her stomach began to growl.
“Second Brother, is there hot water… Huh? Why is your face so red? Your ears are really red too.”
Qin Zhishu awkwardly raised a hand to scratch his ear and said with a straight face, “It’s from the steam. The hot water is in the wooden bucket outside.”
Qin Zhiyu was still a little slow to react. Hearing this, she simply said “Oh,” tilted her head, and walked outside.
A little while later, Qin Zhifeng also got up.
After breakfast, the three brothers left together.
Mother Qin and Qin Yan were still asleep, while Qin Zhiyu took the clothes to the small river in the village to wash them.
The Qin family didn’t have a well, and only a few rural households even had water pumps.
Normally, they had to fetch water from the well at Uncle Dayuan’s house across the street corner.
Although he didn’t mind, it still felt awkward to fetch water there every day.
So the family used water rather sparingly.
Basically, if they could avoid using it, they would.
Taking advantage of the quiet while no one else was around, Xu Sangluo tidied up the courtyard.
She also watered the small vegetable patch with some spiritual spring water.
Because the weather was cold, only scallions and wild garlic were still growing in the patch, and even then only in a small area.
The rest of the vegetables had already been pulled up and eaten, though new seeds had likely been scattered.
Now a patch of tiny green sprouts had appeared.
From her many years of farming experience, she could clearly tell they were cabbage and radish seedlings.
But their growth wasn’t very good; most looked a little wilted.
In some spots, there were no sprouts at all—those seeds had probably died.
Her eyes rolled thoughtfully, and she took out some seeds of her own and planted them in the empty spaces.
She planted only chickweed greens and Shanghai bok choy.
The former had a short growing cycle and could be eaten in about twenty days, while the latter was cold-resistant—perfect for winter planting.
She thought that when she had time, she could go outside and see if she could dig up some soil and make a few wooden boxes to grow more vegetables, placing them under the eaves or even indoors.
That way, during winter, they could still eat fresh vegetables without exposing the existence of her spatial dimension.
The Qin family didn’t raise poultry.
After all, Mother Qin already had to go up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables—how could they afford to keep livestock?
Speaking of going up the mountain, an idea suddenly came to her mind.
Perhaps she could find an opportunity to take a look there.
Nearby was a small mountain that wasn’t very tall. Many villagers often went there to gather wild vegetables and mushrooms.
However, it was said that there were wild animals in the mountains, so most people only dared to gather things below the mountainside or near the foot.
While she was thinking about it, the open courtyard gate suddenly swung as a child ran in.
Hearing the noise, Xu Sangluo turned to look.
The child saw her first and froze for a moment before immediately becoming nervous, glancing around.
“Little brother, is something wrong?”
The child looked about eight years old with dark skin. Perhaps he had run too fast, because a faint flush colored his face.
“I… um…”
When Xu Sangluo spoke, the boy—guessing who she must be—didn’t know where to put his hands and feet, stammering awkwardly.
“Hm?” Seeing how nervous he was, Xu Sangluo gave him a gentle smile and teased lightly, “Don’t be nervous. I’m not going to eat you.”
The boy looked up, momentarily stunned by her smile, and his face turned even redder.
But he hadn’t forgotten why he came.
Stammering, he said, “Um… are Brother Xiaofeng and the others here? Sister Xiaoyu is fighting with someone by the river.”
“What?” Xu Sangluo’s expression immediately turned serious when she heard this.
“You said Xiaoyu got into a fight with someone—how is she now?” she asked while already walking out the door.
The boy was startled by how quickly her expression changed. Becoming even more nervous, he nodded.
“Yes… I don’t know how things are now. There are a lot of people over there. I was afraid Sister Xiaoyu might get beaten up, so I… I ran here to find—”
“Please help lead the way,” Xu Sangluo said urgently. She quickly shut the courtyard gate behind her and hurried off.
However, by the time she arrived, the commotion had already ended.
There were quite a few people standing in the water by the riverside now, bending over the stone steps to wash clothes while chatting.
The river itself was quite large. Stone cliffs lined both sides, and the water was deep, a dark green that seemed bottomless.
Along both riverbanks were rows of long stone steps and small carved openings, made for people to conveniently wash clothes or fetch water.
Xu Sangluo first scanned the crowded stone steps but didn’t find Qin Zhiyu.
Finally, she spotted her at a small broken opening farther away.
She was crouching alone on a cracked stone, bending over to wash clothes.
It wasn’t far from the two rows of busy stone steps where the others were gathered, but compared to their lively chatter, she seemed almost isolated.
Xu Sangluo quickened her pace and walked over.
As she passed the long stone steps, quite a few people looked up at her.
It had to be said—Xu Sangluo’s appearance was very eye-catching.
She wasn’t the breathtaking kind of beauty that could topple kingdoms, but she had the gentle, graceful charm of a girl from the Jiangnan water towns. Her temperament was refined and elegant, and every movement naturally drew attention.
Most importantly, she was very fair-skinned.
Not dazzlingly white, perhaps, but at least in Luoxi Brigade, no one could compare.
As the saying went, fair skin could cover a hundred flaws—let alone when she was already pretty.
She truly stood out among the crowd.
Not many people in the village actually knew Xu Sangluo.
When the people by the river saw her, they were surprised and curious, nudging those beside them to ask.
Where did this young woman come from? Could she be a cadre sent from the county to inspect or deliver notices?
Xu Sangluo walked straight over. Before she even got close, she called out,
“Xiaoyu.”
Qin Zhiyu was struggling to wring out a piece of clothing. Hearing the voice, she instinctively turned around.
Then she saw Xu Sangluo walking toward her.
She quickly set the clothes aside, stood up, and lifted her arm to wipe her face.
“Sister Sangluo, why did you come?”
Xu Sangluo quickly looked her over.
Fortunately, aside from her braids being messy, she didn’t seem to have any obvious injuries.
“I heard you had a conflict with someone. What happened?”
Qin Zhiyu’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Sister Sangluo, how did you know?”
“Never mind how I know. Are you hurt? What happened? Where are those people?” Xu Sangluo frowned as she stepped closer, scanning her up and down again.
Hearing this, Qin Zhiyu subconsciously avoided her gaze.
“No… it was just a little argument while everyone was chatting.”
Xu Sangluo narrowed her eyes, her gaze falling on the two crooked ponytails at the back of Qin Zhiyu’s head, strands of hair sticking up messily.
“Really?”
Only then did Qin Zhiyu remember that her hair had been pulled loose and she hadn’t fixed it yet.
She scratched her head awkwardly and forced a smile.
“It got caught on a tree branch by accident.”
Seeing that she truly didn’t want to talk about it, Xu Sangluo sighed and didn’t press further.
She glanced at the bucket of laundry.
“How much is left?”
As she spoke, she rolled up her sleeves and stepped toward the stone.
Qin Zhiyu hurriedly said, “There’s not much left. I’ll finish washing soon. Sister Sangluo, you should go back first.”
She was worried that those people might start saying unpleasant things again later.
If Xu Sangluo heard those messy, upsetting remarks, it wouldn’t be good.
After all, the reason she had gotten into a conflict earlier was because someone had said something far too nasty.