After settling the matter of the burial plot, Luo Mingchen went to inspect the five mu of land. He planned to grow some vegetables to sell.
All five mu had been left abandoned and would need weeding and plowing first.
The soil here wasn’t like the soil in his space. In his space, he only needed to plant the seeds and harvest a few days later. Here, he would have to deal with pests and apply fertilizer as well.
Luo Mingchen dug out a hoe and a sickle from the storage shed at home. Whether he could grow anything or not, he decided to start by turning over one mu of land as a test.
This place was full of people who knew how to farm. Even if he didn’t know how, he could learn. As long as he was willing to work hard and supplemented things with the seedlings from his space, he would definitely be able to grow vegetables.
The dynasty here wasn’t one Luo Mingchen recognized from history, so when he saw chili peppers—a crop that had only been introduced much later in his original world—he wasn’t particularly surprised.
Under a large tree, Luo Mingchen handed a basket of fruit and a large jug of water to Huo Yuhui.
“You three stay here and play. Don’t run around. I’m going to work the field. When it’s almost time to eat, remember to call me. Other than going to the latrine, don’t go home by yourselves. If you need to use the latrine, tell me first. Understand?”
Those instructions were mainly directed at Huo Yuhui. Huo Xiang was a little absent-minded, and Huo Xinyue couldn’t even speak properly yet.
Huo Yuhui nodded.
“Little Daddy, I understand.”
Only after hearing his answer did Luo Mingchen smile and ruffle his hair.
“Good boy.”
When he noticed Huo Xiang and Huo Xinyue staring at him expectantly, Luo Mingchen helplessly rubbed their heads as well before shouldering the hoe and heading to the field.
The land wasn’t far from their house. According to Huo Yuhui, Huo Yan had specifically exchanged for this plot. Previously, whenever Huo Yan was away, Lin Tianlei’s family would simply farm the land as if it belonged to them.
Huo Yan hadn’t said a word.
But when harvest season arrived, he simply reclaimed everything for himself.
The matter had caused quite a stir in the village, yet nobody sided with Lin Tianlei’s family.
After suffering such a major loss, how could Lin Tianlei and his wife possibly accept it?
What they didn’t know was that Huo Yan had quietly exchanged six mu of premium farmland with someone else and gotten five mu of premium land closer to his house in return.
Thinking the original fields were still his, Lin Tianlei’s family had deliberately pulled up the new owner’s rice seedlings and vegetable sprouts, ending up paying a large amount of compensation before finally behaving themselves.
Of course, another reason there hadn’t been trouble in recent years was because the fields were located right in front of Huo Yan’s house. Since nothing was planted there and the land wasn’t rented out, it remained abandoned. Every year, taxes still had to be paid to the county office, so nobody bothered touching it.
Still, Luo Mingchen was curious why Huo Yan had never sold the land. Instead, he had spent silver every year paying taxes on unused fields.
Huo Yuhui didn’t know the answer either, and Luo Mingchen couldn’t exactly question a dead man, so he tucked the mystery away in the back of his mind.
He spent the morning turning over one mu of land.
After lunch and a short nap, he sowed seeds and then took the ox out to graze.
The chili pepper and white radish seeds came from his space. They had already sprouted, but he wasn’t sure how well they would grow outside.
He remembered one of the researchers saying they were mutated varieties and particularly easy to cultivate.
As the sun began sinking toward the horizon, Luo Mingchen shouldered his hoe, led the ox, and walked beneath the large tree.
“Let’s go home.”
“Okay.”
Huo Yuhui immediately threw away the stick he had been holding.
Luo Mingchen noticed several crooked words scratched into the dirt.
Looks like I’ll need to visit the school and ask around.
He couldn’t let Huo Yuhui waste his youth staying home and babysitting forever.
On the way back, Luo Mingchen looked at Huo Yuhui, who was carrying his little sister on his back while holding his younger brother’s hand.
“Is there a school in the village?”
“No. We’d have to go to the town. Not many people around here are willing to send their children to study.”
As he said that, Huo Yuhui looked somewhat dejected.
Back when he lived with his biological family, he had been able to secretly attend lessons at the clan school.
After coming here, he had lost all of that.
His adoptive father had wanted to send him to school, but there was no one to care for his younger siblings. The brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and books that Huo Yan bought for him had all been stolen by those people.
This time, he had voluntarily given up asking his adoptive father to buy more books. He had said they could wait until Little Daddy arrived. Once there was an adult in the household, those people wouldn’t dare come and steal things again.
But that wait had lasted an entire month.
And when the person finally arrived, he seemed to have become someone else…
“Then tomorrow we’ll go ask. If they’re accepting students, you and Huo Xiang can start attending classes in a few days.”
Hearing that, Huo Yuhui stopped in his tracks and stared at Luo Mingchen in disbelief.
After hesitating for a while, he finally said, “Little Daddy, studying costs a lot of money.”
Luo Mingchen shrugged.
“What’s the point of earning money if not to spend it? You two aren’t little anymore. You need to learn something. I’m not asking you to earn official titles. Just don’t grow up illiterate. At least learn enough arithmetic to count money. The minimum requirement is being able to understand people when they’re insulting you instead of grinning foolishly along with them.”
Huo Yuhui couldn’t help laughing.
“Okay.”
Huo Xiang also laughed foolishly along with them.
Seeing her brothers laughing, Huo Xinyue joined in too.
“Dodo! Hungry.”
Luo Mingchen perked up.
“Then let’s walk faster and get home to cook.”
With that, he led the ox ahead at a quicker pace.
The three siblings hurried after him.
The setting sun stretched their shadows long across the ground.
Although they weren’t related by blood, from now on they would be family who depended on one another.
After a full day of work, Luo Mingchen would be lying if he said he wasn’t tired.
But compared to battling wits with zombies and risking his life hunting for food, this level of exhaustion was nothing.
Summer was unbearably hot.
Luo Mingchen thought that since his clothes were already soaked through with sweat, dried, and soaked again, he might as well wait until after dinner to bathe. Otherwise, he’d just end up drenched in sweat all over again.
“Little Daddy, um… actually, Xiao Xiang and I can bathe by ourselves.”
Huo Yuhui looked somewhat embarrassed.
As the eldest, he had previously been scrubbed clean by Luo Mingchen along with his younger siblings.
“Oh? Really?”
Luo Mingchen’s eyes were full of doubt.
The two older boys had just as many lice as Huo Xinyue, and he had scrubbed layers of dirt off them.
Only after washing all three children did Luo Mingchen realize their skin was naturally fair—so fair they practically glowed.
“We can. Before, we just didn’t have much water, so we didn’t want to waste it.”
To get water, they had to use the village well and ask a nearby uncle to help draw it for them.
As for the well at home, Huo Yan had blocked it with a large stone before leaving. He was afraid something might happen while the three children were alone, especially with Huo Xinyue being so young.
After Luo Mingchen removed the stone, the water jar was filled every day, so there was no longer any concern about running out of water.
After hearing the explanation, Luo Mingchen realized it made sense.
The two boys were old enough now. Whether they knew how or not, they needed to learn to bathe themselves. He couldn’t keep helping them forever.
“Alright. I’ll wash Yueyue. You two wash yourselves.”
“Okay.”
Luo Mingchen specifically checked on them and, seeing that they could indeed manage on their own, breathed a sigh of relief.
After all three children finished bathing, he sent them to wait on the bed.
The white candle flickered under the summer breeze.
Luo Mingchen squeezed some shampoo into his hair.
The water moved like tentacles, massaging and scrubbing his hair for him. Once the washing was done, the foam could be rinsed away immediately, leaving him free to bathe at the same time and saving a great deal of effort.
While he was washing, Luo Mingchen suddenly heard the sound of someone landing nearby.
Turning around, he saw a tall man dressed entirely in black.
The man had just vaulted over the wall.
When he saw Luo Mingchen bathing in the courtyard, he froze.
And when his gaze landed on the dancing water tentacles hovering above Luo Mingchen’s head, he was even more stunned.
No matter how he looked at it, that was definitely not something a normal person could do.