Hutou was the naughtiest child among his peers in Laokeng Village. At six, his biggest dream was to be like his younger uncle.
His younger uncle didn’t work but still had meat to eat!
But his mother often said that his uncle barely scraped by with meager meals, only now living comfortably, and that in the future, he might not even be able to support children.
Hutou didn’t see it that way. He considered himself a big kid now and could clearly see that his uncle lived much more comfortably than his own parents.
When his mother said the uncle had no grain to eat, Hutou saw him carrying sack after sack of white flour home.
When his mother said his uncle couldn’t have meat, Hutou knew that from time to time his uncle would sneak up the mountain to hunt wild chickens, and sometimes even saved a drumstick for him!
Hutou swallowed hard, craving his uncle’s roasted chicken again.
However, when his mother said his uncle couldn’t live in a good house, Hutou agreed.
Indeed, there were few houses in the entire village worse than his uncle’s.
He stood in front of the yard gate holding a bowl with several plain steamed buns, knocking incessantly.
“Uncle, Uncle, breakfast!”
Hutou called out confidently. Since Xu Chuan moved out, he had often delivered breakfast to him.
If Jiang Yulan were there, she would surely feel relieved about her youngest son’s secluded home; being a bit hidden was better, otherwise Xu Chuan’s reputation as a lazybones would only grow.
Who has a nephew wake them up in the morning?
Hutou was unsurprised by the lack of movement in the yard.
After all, his uncle always took several rounds of shouting before waking.
Hutou, being his uncle’s most loyal supporter, perfectly guessed that his uncle was still sound asleep.
Instead, the one awakened by Hutou was Cheng Baozhu.
The room was already brightening, and Baozhu let out a soft moan, stretching her arms and yawning with her eyes closed.
“Smack!”
Baozhu froze—someone was on her bed!
The next moment, she remembered exactly where she was.
“My dear daughter!” Xu Chuan covered half his face, “Only the second day of marriage, and you almost blinded me with a hit.”
Baozhu still had one leg on him; she sat up and kicked him toward the edge of the bed. Xu Chuan, still stinging from the blow, almost fell off.
Before he could get angry, Baozhu quickly pointed outside. “Someone’s calling you.”
Tears nearly in his eyes, Xu Chuan shouted toward the door, “Hutou, stop yelling!”
At the gate, Hutou was startled. Why was his uncle so easy to call today?
He shouted even louder, “Uncle, breakfast! Big white buns!”
Xu Chuan had no choice but to get up and open the door.
Outside, the morning sun had reached the top of the small hill opposite the gate, flooding the slope with light.
The mist that usually lingered among the distant green hills had vanished, and the morning chill had completely dissipated.
“Creak!”
The yard gate opened just as Gao Gangtie, returning from mushroom picking on King Mountain, passed by Xu Chuan’s gate and teased, “Oh, Hutou’s bringing breakfast to you again! This kid really doesn’t know any better, not even realizing what day it was last night.”
Hutou scratched his head, confused, while his uncle lunged forward, grabbing two large handfuls of mushrooms from Gao Gangtie’s basket, yelling, “We split this when we meet!”
“Hey, not so much!” Gao Gangtie swung his basket and ran off, ignoring Xu Chuan’s antics.
Xu Chuan laughed at his retreating figure.
He took the bowl from Hutou and stuffed half the mushrooms into Hutou’s arms. “Go back and tell them these were picked early this morning by your aunt, got it?”
Hutou didn’t really understand.
“You just tell them they’re from your aunt. Don’t mention Uncle Gangtie,” Xu Chuan reminded him. Gao Gangtie’s mother was a fierce woman, and he definitely wouldn’t dare reveal the mushrooms were taken.
Now Hutou understood, his uncle had set him up to lie!
Xu Chuan was his mother’s beloved, and Hutou was his grandmother’s treasure, so when Hutou repeated his uncle’s little lie with wide-eyed sincerity, Jiang Yulan believed it.
Oh, look at her grandson Hutou’s honest face—how could he lie?
Elders say that a girl changes after marriage and again after becoming a mother. Jiang Yulan thought this seemed true.
She was delighted, wandered a few laps in the vegetable garden, then cut some chives for the kitchen to make dumplings for the newlyweds.
To her, these few mushrooms were worth more than meat!
Li Cuifen, drying clothes in the yard, felt a little spark of jealousy. She worked hard day in and day out without praise, yet Baozhu only received a few mushrooms and a stack of compliments—how unfair.
Just as she scowled, she saw her mother-in-law secretly pull out a few small ginseng roots from the room, and her expression brightened. This was for her youngest son’s chicken soup.
Deep in King Mountain, ginseng could be found, but few could actually dig any. This batch had been discovered by Xu Baoguo early in the year.
Xu Baoguo, the family patriarch, had once been a capable worker in the team. Why “once”? Because now he was weak.
At the start of the year, Xu Baoguo and a group from the village went winter hunting in King Mountain. Something went wrong, and when they came down, three were carried down on stretchers.
Xu Baoguo had the worst injuries. After half a month of recovery, he improved, but the doctor said he couldn’t return to his old self for the whole year.
Jiang Yulan had been taking care of Xu Baoguo, ensuring he followed doctor’s orders. From the start of the year until November, he hadn’t gone into the fields, only doing light tasks like drying grain or collecting rice spikes.
Yet that winter trip had yielded a ginseng root for the household.
He proudly held his pipe. “I secretly found this at Old Bay Ridge, hiding it from the team leader, nobody knew.”
Ginseng! Li Cuifen was overjoyed.
Yes, Li Cuifen’s happiness erupted. Her youngest son’s doctor had recommended ginseng for recovery, and it was impossible to buy such old ginseng with the family’s finances.
Now, fortune smiled upon them. This even softened Li Cuifen regarding the bride price for her youngest son; otherwise, Jiang Yulan demanding 180 yuan would have been risky.
The two women, well-versed in each other’s temperaments, understood each other thoroughly.
This ginseng was Li Cuifen’s “cooling medicine.” Whenever Jiang Yulan tried to provoke the elder daughter-in-law, Li Cuifen would secretly fetch two slices, and her irritation would dissipate.
Jiang Yulan silently felt pleased—she still had some leverage.
Today’s weather was fine, crisp autumn air, and cloudless.
Villagers in Laokeng Village used these days of leisure to replenish themselves after the hard work of the harvest, hoping to make up for the losses.
These past two years had been good, and everyone had some savings. Today someone stews meat, tomorrow someone slaughters a chicken. The village air would be filled with the aroma of meat for several days, until mid-November when work resumed.
At the village’s end, Xu Chuan stood dazed.
Cheng Baozhu was anxious, wondering whether he remembered what happened last night.
“System, are you sure you dragged him in last night?”
[Of course.]
The system displayed the points table. Originally zero, Xu Chuan’s points had risen to three.
Baozhu: …Only three? If she remembered correctly, three points could only be exchanged for six candies.
System: [These are double points for beginners. After this month, such tasks would only yield 1.5 points.]
He had just learned to read; the points were merely symbolic.
Xu Chuan wiped his face, fingers moving across the table, scribbling random strokes, his expression worsening.
Baozhu held back excitement. “What’s wrong with you?”
Xu Chuan was incredulous, glancing at the yard gate. “I think I encountered a ghost.”
Baozhu froze. “A ghost?”
He nodded, leaning in. “Last night I dreamed that a ghost dragged me somewhere. The ghost insisted I learn to read and cook, and said it would shock me if I refused.”
Baozhu: …Huh?
“You think it’s ridiculous, right? But now, I feel it wasn’t a dream,” Xu Chuan murmured. “Because I can suddenly write all those characters.”
He had never been studious; he spent seven years completing a five-year primary school. Without his father’s whipping, he might have never graduated.
He had mostly forgotten his elementary education, yet after one night, he could write fluently.
This had to be a ghost!
Baozhu was silent.
She hadn’t expected Xu Chuan to confide everything in her, even with her calm nature, she wouldn’t have revealed the system.
Xu Chuan hadn’t overthought it. He recounted his miraculous experience, including the never-angry teacher, the womb-like machine, and the space that was part kitchen, part garden…
System: Good thing it isn’t linked to this chatterbox.
In the end, Xu Chuan sighed. “The ghost said it would come again today. Should I drink some talisman water?”
Baozhu shivered. “Don’t. Talisman water is superstition. Besides, it might anger them. It hasn’t harmed you and is teaching you to read and cook—it’s clearly a good ghost.”
System: …It isn’t a ghost!
And yet talisman water is superstition, so ghosts aren’t?
Xu Chuan thought, fine, it’s a bad ghost then. A good ghost gives money… cough cough. This one, dragging you to learn or shocking you, was a decidedly bad ghost.
Yet Baozhu said it so convincingly that Xu Chuan, though nervous, agreed. “I’ll observe for a few more days.”
Baozhu nodded eagerly. “Remember to learn as much cooking as you can. I’m very picky!”
Xu Chuan: …If he dies someday, it’ll definitely be Baozhu’s doing.