After Ling Yuan left, Yu Huan immediately circulated her spiritual energy around her ankle. In an instant, the slight redness and swelling disappeared, and her ankle returned to its original condition.
Back in her room, she bolted the door and entered her spatial dimension to take a look. The barrier around the courtyard entrance had disappeared.
The fertile farmland had expanded to ten mu, with the additional land stretching from both sides of the courtyard to the fruit trees.
Because she had spent a relatively long time interacting with Ling Yuan this time, just half an hour of cultivation had been enough for her to break through to the middle stage of the second level of the Hehuan Art, bringing her cultivation close to the late stage.
She walked over to the ten mu of farmland, circulated her spiritual energy, and waved her hand. The seeds she had collected earlier scattered across the fields.
There was no need for her to work the land herself. The spiritual energy inside the space was sufficient to let the crops grow naturally.
She had no idea how long it would take before the crops were ready for harvesting. She could only observe their progress patiently.
When Yu Huan’s parents returned home, they immediately noticed the smell of medicinal oil. They asked their daughter whether she had been injured, but Yu Huan casually made up an excuse and managed to brush off their questions.
Although her ankle was already fine, Yu Huan didn’t leave the house for the next two days. Whenever she had free time, she practiced drawing talismans inside her spatial dimension.
Since her cultivation had improved, she wanted to see whether it would also help with her talisman-making skills.
As expected, the longer she could sustain the flow of spiritual energy while drawing a talisman, the more attempts she could make.
After countless attempts over two days, she finally succeeded in drawing three high-grade Peace Talismans.
On the third day, after completing her usual task of cutting pigweed, she returned home to prepare lunch.
“Comrade Yu, are you home?”
Hearing someone call her, Yu Huan walked out of the kitchen. She immediately spotted Song Yujie standing outside the courtyard gate.
“Educated Youth Song, are you looking for me?”
“Hehe… Comrade Yu, is your foot better now?”
Yu Huan was slightly surprised that Song Yujie knew about her injured foot. After thinking about it, she figured Ling Yuan must have told him.
“My foot is fine now.”
“Did you come here for something?” Yu Huan asked curiously.
“Ahem… Well, here’s the thing. My brother caught a rabbit, and we’d like to ask you to cook it for us. We’ll pay you with money and ration coupons, just like last time. Would that be okay?”
Song Yujie felt a little embarrassed. After all, coming all the way to someone’s house just because he wanted something delicious was rather…
“Sure! Bring me the rabbit, and I’ll cook it for you right now.”
Yu Huan agreed readily.
“Wait a moment.”
Seeing that she had agreed, Song Yujie immediately went over to the nearby bushes, retrieved a rabbit he had hidden there, and handed it to her.
Yu Huan accepted it.
“I’ll bring it over when it’s time for lunch.”
“Great! Then I’ll head back to work first.”
Song Yujie had only managed to slip away for a short while to come here.
“Wait, Educated Youth Song. Where are you working?” Yu Huan suddenly remembered something from a few days ago and casually asked.
“My brother and I are working together. We’re at the wasteland too.”
“You weren’t there when I went over last time. I happened to be away.”
“Oh, I see. Then go ahead and get back to work.”
Yu Huan nodded without saying much.
By lunchtime, the weather had become increasingly hot.
Yu Huan stuck a Cooling Talisman onto herself. Even while walking under the blazing sun, she couldn’t feel the heat at all.
Looking completely fresh and cool, she appeared at the entrance of the educated youths’ courtyard.
The educated youths who had just finished work were all drenched in sweat. When they saw Yu Huan looking so refreshed, the male educated youths weren’t the only ones who noticed her. The female educated youths were filled with envy and jealousy.
Lin Zhiyu, who was cooking nearby, looked particularly displeased.
Chen Meiling, who was working alongside her, was also consumed by jealousy.
“She must have come looking for Educated Youth Ling again. What a shameless woman!”
Lin Zhiyu agreed with her inwardly but didn’t show it.
In the eyes of everyone at the educated youths’ residence, she had always been a gentle, refined, and well-mannered beauty. Apart from those two occasions when she had lost control because of Yu Huan, she had always maintained that image.
Seeing that Lin Zhiyu wasn’t responding, Chen Meiling muttered to herself for a while. Eventually, finding it pointless to continue talking alone, she shut her mouth.
Song Yujie and Ling Yuan were washing their hands and faces in the courtyard.
When Song Yujie saw Yu Huan approaching, he tugged at Ling Yuan’s sleeve. However, Ling Yuan had no intention of going over. He merely gestured with his eyes for Song Yujie to handle it.
Song Yujie smiled and walked to the entrance, reaching out to take the basket from Yu Huan.
“Comrade Yu, you’ve worked hard. Let me take that.”
“Here, hold it carefully. There’s also some mung bean soup I made. You and Educated Youth Ling can share it later.”
Yu Huan let go of the basket and reminded him.
“There’s mung bean soup too? Thank you so much, Comrade Yu! Wait here for a moment. I’ll go get your money and ration coupons right away.”
Song Yujie’s smile grew even wider.
“No need. Just consider it repayment for the favor your brother did me last time.”
“I’ll come back for the basket this afternoon. I should get going now.”
Seeing that Ling Yuan still hadn’t come over, Yu Huan lost interest in staying. After saying that, she left without waiting for anyone to respond.
“Hey! Hey, Comrade Yu! Wait!”
Song Yujie called out several times, but Yu Huan didn’t even turn around. He could only carry the basket inside helplessly.
“Brother, Comrade Yu brought you some mung bean soup.”
Song Yujie placed the large basin of rabbit meat on the dining table and handed the mung bean soup separately to Ling Yuan.
Then he turned to everyone else and announced:
“My brother caught this rabbit so everyone could have something better to eat. We specifically asked Comrade Yu to cook it for us. Her cooking is especially delicious, so everyone should have a taste later.”
After all, they were all living under the same roof. It wouldn’t be right to keep enjoying good food by themselves all the time.
When lunchtime arrived, everyone who tasted the rabbit meat praised it enthusiastically, saying how delicious and fragrant it was and how wonderful Yu Huan’s cooking skills were.
Only Lin Zhiyu didn’t touch a single piece. She ate her bowl of thin sweet potato porridge with pickled vegetables instead.
No matter how delicious something cooked by a village girl might be, she had no interest in eating it.
Chen Meiling, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying the meal. She had already forgotten that she had secretly insulted Yu Huan just moments earlier.
There were so many people that, after dividing a large basin of rabbit meat among everyone, each person received only two or three pieces.
Nevertheless, everyone ate with great satisfaction. After finishing their meal, they felt as though all their exhaustion had disappeared.
The mung bean soup, which had been chilled in a deep well, tasted especially refreshing.
Ling Yuan drank the entire portion of mung bean soup by himself and gave the meat allotted to him to Song Yujie.
Seeing his brother give him all the meat, Song Yujie was deeply touched once again.
His older brother really was good to him!
After lunch, they returned to their room.
“Brother, Comrade Yu didn’t take any money or ration coupons. She said it was to repay you for helping her last time.”
Song Yujie suddenly brought it up.
Ling Yuan was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, seemingly already asleep. Only after a long while did he respond.
“Let her be.”
Over the next few days, Yu Huan didn’t have time to look for Ling Yuan either. She devoted all her energy to developing her spatial dimension.
In less than a week, her crops were ready for harvest.
Using her spiritual energy, she gathered the rice, sweet potatoes, and corn and stored them in the grain storage room.
The remaining watermelons and muskmelons were piled up at the edge of the fields.
After reorganizing the farmland, she decided to plant nothing but rice this time.
She also needed to find a way to sell the fruits as soon as possible. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough room to store everything.
Thinking of this, Yu Huan didn’t hesitate any longer.
Early that morning, she headed to the secluded house in the county town.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Who’s there?”
After a short while, a rough male voice came from inside.
“I’m here to see Li Qiang,” a young boy replied.
A little while later, the door opened. When Li Qiang saw the young boy standing outside, his face lit up with delight.
“Ha! It’s you, kid! Come on in!”
Once they entered the house and sat down, Li Qiang couldn’t wait to ask:
“What good stuff have you brought this time?”
“Definitely good stuff. Top-quality muskmelons and watermelons.”
The young boy was none other than Yu Huan.
“How much do you have?”
“Ten thousand pounds of watermelons and five thousand pounds of muskmelons.”
Li Qiang was completely stunned.
That was an enormous quantity!