Yet Gu Yan still refused to speak to her, continuing to cover himself in dirt.
When others were present, he maintained that feigned foolish demeanor.
It seemed to be his shield—by acting differently from everyone else, he could survive.
But Meng Jiao could sense that the ferocity and wariness in his eyes when he looked at her had diminished slightly.
At least in Gu Yan’s heart, Meng Jiao was different from others.
She never looked at him with pity, never thought of him as pathetic.
That afternoon, Meng Jianhua went to the village committee.
Being educated and having served in the military, he had come to Blue Bay Village to assist with development, aiming to boost the village’s productivity.
The village officials held him in high regard, which meant he had been swamped with work since arriving in the village.
Sometimes he couldn’t even return for lunch, though he always made sure to prepare Meng Jiao’s meals before leaving each morning.
Meng Jiao had initially planned to stay home and study the dimension, but after repeated inspections, she found it contained only a few items.
She secretly took some vegetable seeds Meng Jianhua had bought, scattered them in the black soil of the dimension, and watered them with the spiritual spring water, waiting for the day they would sprout.
As for the books inside, they were all related to medicine.
Meng Jiao had never studied such subjects, but upon opening those books, it felt as if the knowledge was already imprinted in her mind.
With nothing else to do, she spent her time studying inside the dimension.
On this day, while Meng Jianhua was at a meeting, Meng Jiao was in the yard learning to pick vegetables when she accidentally dropped a leafy green, which rolled right to Gu Yan’s feet.
Seeing this, Gu Yan instinctively flinched and pulled back his foot.
Meng Jiao walked over and said to him through the fence, “Could you pick that up for me? Thank you.”
Gu Yan kept his head down, his disheveled hair hiding his expression, and remained motionless.
Meng Jiao waited for a moment, and when he didn’t respond, she prepared to go around and retrieve it herself.
Just as she turned away, a faint rustling sound came from behind.
She looked back and saw the vegetable being picked up by a thin, mud-stained hand, which then passed it under the fence toward her.
The hand moved swiftly, trying to withdraw immediately after handing over the vegetable.
Though dirty, it was unmistakably a young boy’s hand—distinctly jointed, slender, and jade-like.
The moment she saw that hand, Meng Jiao felt it should be holding a pen, not crouching here, living like a wild person.
Over the past few days, Meng Jiao hadn’t deliberately inquired about Gu Yan’s circumstances, only gleaning fragments from the chatter of the neighbor’s aunt.
His parents were lazy and shiftless, never bothering with him. The village, unable to stand by, had assigned his father some work in the fields, but his father was inconsistent, and the crops soon withered.
Although Gu Yan appeared simple-minded, he sometimes went to the fields to tend to the vegetables himself.
It seemed he understood that if he could cultivate the land well, he would have food to eat.
The villagers, pitying him, occasionally offered him assistance.
Everyone said he was nothing like his parents, as if he were from another world—some even speculated he might have been adopted.
But the child had indeed been brought home from the hospital by them, with the birth certificate to prove it. Thus, such speculation naturally fell apart.
Meng Jiao actually agreed with what everyone said. Although she hadn’t seen her parents’ faces clearly during these many days—after all, her father spent most of his time sleeping inside the house, drinking until he passed out and waking only to drink again.
Her mother always left before dawn and didn’t return until dark, and no one knew what she did during the day.
The only thing Meng Jiao noticed was that her mother always brought back some food for her whenever she returned. That was one of the rare opportunities for her to get something to eat.
Although she felt sorry for him, Meng Jiao didn’t show any pity in her expression.
She knew he disliked people looking at him with that kind of gaze.
Everyone has self-respect, and Gu Yan was no exception.
“Thank you,” Meng Jiao said immediately, reaching out to take it.
Her fingertips accidentally brushed against the back of his hand.
In that instant, Gu Yan recoiled as if burned, leaping back several steps and crashing into the pile of firewood behind him with a loud clatter.
He lifted his eyes to look at Meng Jiao, his gaze filled with startled panic and a trace of anger.
A faint blush even spread across his face, making his dirty features appear strikingly beautiful.
He glared fiercely at Meng Jiao as if she had committed some unforgivable offense, then turned and quickly disappeared back into the dilapidated house, slamming the rickety door shut with a bang.
Holding the green vegetable, Meng Jiao stood still, staring at the closed door for a moment before feeling both amused and exasperated.
This reaction… was a bit too extreme.
It seemed that to be neighbors with this little hedgehog, she would need even more patience.
A few days later, during the evening, Meng Jianhua returned home unusually early. The father and daughter sat on small stools in the yard to eat dinner.
The sunset glow dyed the sky a warm orange, and the distant mountains looked as if they were edged with gold.
The fresh air made Meng Jiao take several deep breaths.
“Jiaojiao.”
After finishing his last mouthful of rice, Meng Jianhua put down his bowl and chopsticks: “Dad wants to discuss something with you.”
“Go ahead, Dad.” Meng Jiao looked up.
“You see, you’ve been in the village for some time now. You can’t just stay cooped up at home every day. It’s summer vacation now, and children your age in the village—some help with work at home, while others…”
Meng Jianhua paused, as if carefully choosing his words.
“Our village has limited resources. The school is over at the Commune, about ten miles of mountain roads away. If you want to go to school, Dad can wake up early every day to take you. If you don’t want to go, you can stay home, and Dad can teach you to read.
Or… look at Xiao Cao next door. She’s about your age and goes with her mother every day to cut pigweed. If you turn it in to the production team, you can earn some Work points and exchange them for snacks or something.”
Meng Jiao listened quietly.
In the current rural areas, educational resources were scarce, especially in remote mountain villages like Blue Bay Village. Many children, particularly girls, were considered lucky if they made it through a year or two of elementary school and learned a few characters.
More often, they stayed home to help with work, earning meager Work points to supplement the family income.
She thought it over. She had been continuously studying medical texts in her dimension, and having lived two lifetimes, she wasn’t worried about falling behind in literacy. Practical experience was more important to her now.
Going to cut pigweed would allow her to integrate into the lives of the village children, familiarize herself with the environment, and also provide opportunities to explore the mountains. She might even find some useful herbal medicine.
“Dad, I’ll go cut pigweed,” Meng Jiao made her decision.
“As for school… let’s talk about it when the semester starts. For now, you can just teach me to read.”
She didn’t want Meng Jianhua to work so hard picking her up and dropping her off every day.
Meng Jiao still preferred dealing with nature.
Besides, she remembered that Gu Yan sometimes went to cut pigweed too…