Xie Ling sobbed miserably as she worked, feeling thoroughly wronged. Wen Ya had rested for ages without a word of criticism, yet the second she stood up to stretch her back, she got chewed out.
Over in her own row, Wen Ya overheard the commotion and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. That was close! I almost got caught slacking off too.
Still, she couldn’t help thinking that Xie Ling had terrible luck. Having been called out twice in a single morning, the team leader was definitely going to keep a hawkish eye on her from now on.
As these thoughts crossed her mind, Wen Ya suddenly spotted a figure working a few yards ahead of her in her own row.
Thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, she wiped her brow and blinked. Sure enough, someone was there.
It was Ling Hao, plowing through her plot and pulling weeds for her.
She hurriedly hurried over to him.
“Ling Hao, I can do this myself. Go take care of your own plot!”
“I’m already done with mine,” he replied softly.
“Ah! Already?”
“Mhm.”
“Well, then go back and rest! I can finish the rest on my own.”
“When you cook lunch later, make a portion for me too,” he said smoothly. “I’ll supply my own grain.”
“This…”
“My own cooking tastes awful,” he added with a straight face. “I’m afraid I’ll poison myself.”
“Ah…”
“You wouldn’t want to see me end up poisoned, would you?”
“…Alright then.”
Wait a second! If you don’t know how to cook, why did you move into your own place? Are you playing me?
Watching Ling Hao work at breakneck speed, she swallowed her protests and hurried back to her section to keep pulling.
Was she really taking on a side job as his personal chef now? Still, glancing at the mountain of weeds ahead of her, the word no died in her throat.
Fine, I was practically cornered into this anyway.
With Ling Hao joining in, the remaining weeds were cleared in no time.
Over in the adjacent row, Xie Ling watched Ling Hao slaving away for Wen Ya, gnashing her teeth so hard they nearly shattered.
What on earth does Ling Hao see in her? Am I really beneath her? I’m great too! I’m way more capable than Wen Ya!
The more she brooded, the angrier she grew, and the angrier she grew, the more lost in thought she became—until she couldn’t even tell what her hands were pulling out of the dirt.
“Educated Youth Xie! What do you think you’re doing?!”
A sudden, thunderous roar shattered the air, startling everyone in the field. Every head snapped toward the noise.
Xie Ling jumped out of her skin. Looking up, she met the team leader’s rage-twisted face glaring down at her.
She stared back blankly, completely oblivious to what had just happened.
“I ordered you to weed!” the team leader bellowed, his voice trembling with anger. “Look at what you’ve done!”
“Weed… huh?” Xie Ling stammered, bewildered.
The team leader pointed a furious finger at her hands.
“Is THAT what you call weeding?!”
Xie Ling glanced down at her hands and instantly dropped everything like a red-hot coal.
Clutched in her fingers—alongside a clump of grass—were several uprooted corn stalks! Scattered across the ground around her feet lay half a dozen more, snapped and wilting in the sun.
The workers nearby gasped as they saw the carnage, while those further away strained their necks to see what was happening.
The team leader looked ready to blow a fuse. He immediately summoned the work-point recorder.
“Deduct twenty work points from her!” he barked, before dropping to his knees to inspect the damaged corn stalks, desperately trying to see if any could be replanted.
These sprouts were already so tall—what an utter waste of good crops!
Observing the scene from afar, Wen Ya shook her head. Ah, the classic adage: Long live socialism, pull up the crops and spare the weeds.
A few gossip-loving villagers hustled over to inspect the damage. The moment their eyes hit the flattened corn stalks, a collective gasp went up.
“Oh, sweet heavens! How could someone be so destructive? Look at how she slaughtered those stalks!”
Even those who had hesitated to get involved wandered over at the commotion.
When they saw the ruined field, genuine anger flared among the locals. What were those stalks? They were grain! They were their very livelihood! How could they not be furious seeing their hard work trampled?
If a brand-new youth had made an honest mistake, they might have understood—everyone has a learning curve. But Xie Ling had been pulling weeds perfectly fine earlier. To suddenly “mistake” corn for weeds was something no one bought for a second.
Listening to the sharp insults hurled by the villagers, Xie Ling was thoroughly terrified and completely numb. She honestly didn’t know what had come over her; she had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t paid any attention to what her hands were grabbing.
After attempting emergency CPR on the damaged stalks, the team leader stood up, his face grim.
“You get ZERO work points for this plot today,” he spat at Xie Ling, “and you’re being fined another twenty work points on top of that!”
“…Okay,” Xie Ling mumbled, keeping her head low, not daring to utter a single word of protest.
“From this moment on, if you ruin one more crop, I’m reassigning you to scrub the pigsties!”
With that final threat, the team leader stormed off in a huff.
Xie Ling didn’t dare say a word. She dropped back down and resumed weeding, tears streaming down her face as she worked, too terrified to slack off ever again.
As noon approached, Wen Ya’s plot was fully cleared.
She exchanged a quick word with Ling Hao, and the two walked back to their cottages one after the other.
Reaching her unit, Wen Ya stripped off her heavy outdoor gear, washed her hands, and prepped the kitchen.
A moment later, Ling Hao walked through the door carrying a bag of grain and some fresh vegetables. Seeing Wen Ya tied into a small apron and bustling around the stove, his eyes softened.
“I brought over some grain and veggies. Should I set them here?” he asked, gesturing toward a wooden stool.
Wen Ya turned around, her lips twitching slightly at the sight of the heavy sack.
Looking at the generous mound of grain and produce, she couldn’t help asking:
“Isn’t this… a bit too much?” Are you planning on eating here permanently?
“It’s not much,” Ling Hao said casually. “I have a big appetite, so feel free to cook extra.”
He wasn’t lying. As a supernatural ability user, his metabolism required significantly more calories than an average person’s.
Wen Ya didn’t stand on ceremony either. She asked him roughly how much food it took to fill him up, and whether he wanted a full meal or just enough to get by, so she could measure out the rice accordingly.
When he insisted he wanted to eat until he was full, Wen Ya eyed his supply again—it actually looked like it wouldn’t even last a full month at that rate.
Noticing her skeptical glance, Ling Hao quickly added:
“Don’t worry, just cook normally. I’ll bring over more grain and veggies whenever we run low.”
“Alright, I’ll start cooking then.”
“Mm. You cook, I’ll tend the fire. From now on, I’ll handle all the firewood.”
“I can chop my own firewood,” Wen Ya protested softly. “You’ve already helped me with so much field work today—you don’t need to chop wood for me too.”
She felt guilty enough about him doing all her heavy farm labor; taking his food and cooking for him was already giving her the better end of the deal.
Ling Hao didn’t argue, but silently resolved to chop a huge pile of firewood for her that afternoon regardless.
For lunch, she made braised eggplant and smashed cucumber salad, along with a ring of crispy cornmeal cakes pressed against the inner rim of the iron pot.
Originally, Wen Ya had planned to plate his food so he could carry it back to his own house to eat, but Ling Hao found the back-and-forth too troublesome and insisted on eating right there in her kitchen.
Both of them ate until they were completely stuffed. Ling Hao was thoroughly impressed—Wen Ya’s culinary skills were top-tier, making even simple home-style dishes taste incredible.
After lunch, while Wen Ya began washing the dishes, Ling Hao grabbed a hatchet and a coil of rope and headed up the mountain.
By the time Wen Ya finished scrubbing the pots and grumbling to herself, Ling Hao was nowhere to be seen.
Honestly, this guy… I need to make things clear to him tonight. He’s going to have to wash his own dishes—I can’t be doing them every single time!
She had completely forgotten how much he had just helped her in the fields. Truth was, Wen Ya hated washing dishes. Back when she lived alone, she had no choice, but after getting a dishwasher in her previous life, she had grown thoroughly spoiled.
Just as she finished her quiet grumbling, she looked up to see Ling Hao walking into the yard, shouldering two massive, thick bundles of firewood.
He marched straight into her woodshed, dumped the load, and began stacking the logs neatly.
“You went to chop firewood?” she asked, startled.
“Mm. I noticed your wood pile was running low, so I took a quick trip up the mountain.”
“…Thank you.”
Wen Ya felt an instant pang of guilt over her thoughts just moments ago. Ling Hao was being so attentive and helpful in every way possible, yet here she was, pettily complaining about washing a few extra dishes. I really am terrible!