The eldest daughter-in-law, Sun Xiaocao, was washing dishes in the kitchen, while the eldest son, Niu Manshan, was weaving willow baskets. The second son, Niu Mantian, was making straw sandals.
The third son, Mancang, was using a broken sickle to make a slingshot for his nephew, and the youngest son, Mandi, was playing with the Niu family’s five-year-old grandson, Niu Youfu.
Thankfully, the room was spacious; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to accommodate so many people, and everyone could still do their own thing.
“I think I heard someone calling out. Mandi, go outside and take a look.”
Tian Cuilan stretched the thread, scraped the needle against her hair, and naturally instructed her youngest son to go to the door and see who had come.
Su Mi called out once, then tucked the flashlight into her Dimensional Space. She planned to wait a minute, and if no one came out, she would call again. Just then, she saw a boy around ten years old open the door and emerge from the house.
He ran over quickly.
“Hello, I’m a newly arrived educated youth today. I need to speak with the village chief about something. Is the village chief at home?”
“My dad is home! Come on in!”
Niu Mandi was already accustomed to educated youth showing up at their doorstep. He pulled open the waist-high fence gate and welcomed her inside.
“Dad, someone’s looking for you—a newly arrived female educated youth today.”
Before either of them had even entered the house, Liu Mandi shouted out, though not too loudly.
So when Su Mi entered the room, everyone glanced her way before returning to their own tasks, though their ears perked up.
“Village Chief Niu, I’m sorry to disturb you so late. It’s just that I only arrived in the countryside today, and there are many things I don’t quite understand, so I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”
“You’re Comrade Su Mi, right? Come, sit here. This is just how things are around here—don’t mind the conditions.”
Village Chief Niu straightened his posture and politely gestured to the other side of the kang table.
Then he called out loudly toward the outside.
“Eldest daughter-in-law, bring Comrade Su a bowl of boiled water.”
A woman’s voice from the direction of the kitchen responded.
Su Mi walked over to the kang table and casually took the items from the bamboo basket, placing them on top.
“It’s my first time visiting, and I feel a bit awkward, so I brought a few things to avoid being impolite and getting laughed at. I hope Uncle Niu won’t mind that it’s not much.”
“What are you doing, child! Don’t be so formal. Take these things with you when you leave. I can’t just accept things randomly—that would be a mistake!”
Village Chief Niu’s gaze shifted from the pile of items on the table, and he spoke with a stern expression.
“What are you being so fierce for? This young lady is here for the first time, unfamiliar with the place. If she’s come to see us, she must have something important. If you scare her off with your fierceness, what if something happens? What if something goes wrong because you scared her away?”
Before Su Mi could speak, the woman sitting inside the kang mending clothes spoke up, glaring fiercely at her husband.
Then she turned around with a smiling face, radiating such kindness that one might think they had imagined the earlier glare.
“I heard the old man call you Little Su, so I’ll call you that too. Don’t mind him—sometimes he gets carried away being the village chief. Tell Auntie, what brings you here so late at night?
If it’s something I can help with, Auntie will think of a way. If not, there’s still your Uncle Village Chief. If even he can’t solve it, then there’s nothing to be done.”
Tian Cuilan spoke this way, but she was still very measured and didn’t make any grand promises. Of course, this was also in consideration of the pile of items on the table.
“Auntie, hello. It’s just that I’ve had a weak constitution since childhood and suffer from neurasthenia, so my parents had me learn our family’s traditional medicine from my grandfather. I’ve made some progress now, but of course, that’s not why I’m here. Mainly, I want to rent a house to live alone. I was wondering if there are any vacant houses in the village that could be rented to me.”
As Su Mi spoke, the village chief’s eldest daughter-in-law, Sun Xiaocao, brought over a large bowl of boiled water, steaming hot, likely just boiled.
“Oh, so that’s what it is! There is a house, but it’s quite old and dilapidated. Are you, a young girl, brave enough to live there?”
There was indeed a vacant house in the village, built by a former landlord for farmhands to watch over the fields.
The house wasn’t large, with two rooms, and it was fully equipped, but it was just too run-down.
It was also quite remote from the village, with vast fields in front and mountains behind it.
Su Mi actually had her eye on this very house. After all, in the original story, the female protagonist had rented it and dug up several chests of gold, silver, and jewelry from underground.
This also gave her second admirer a significant boost when he later went into business.
He even bought several courtyard houses in Beijing. As everyone knows, decades later, any one of those courtyard houses would be worth hundreds of millions.
“Auntie, I’m not picky. It’s just that I prefer strong flavors in my food, so it’s better for me to cook alone. Also, since I’ve been learning medicine from my grandfather since childhood, I still want to find time to study more. Researching medicine requires a quiet environment. As long as it’s livable, I can just repair the walls and roof. I can pay for it myself. I just don’t know who has the skills for this kind of work, so I’ll have to trouble you, Auntie, for help.”
Su Mi cleverly emphasized once again that she knew medicine.
Everyone in the room naturally heard her. The first time, they didn’t think much of it. After all, in their impression, those who knew medicine—and knew it well—were elderly people in their sixties or seventies, or at least middle-aged men.
A young girl claiming to know medicine probably only meant she could recognize a few herbs.
But when she mentioned it a second time and said she wanted a quiet environment to study medicine, that was different.
“Little Su, it seems your medical skills are quite good!”
Tian Cuilan, the village chief’s wife, holding the clothes in her hand, asked curiously.
“Auntie, just call me Su Mi—Mi as in ‘sweet.’ They’re alright, I suppose. My grandfather said I’ve already graduated. Anyway, I can handle common colds, fevers, headaches, minor ailments, and treat bruises and injuries without any problem. My dad even said I could take over his job directly. If I hadn’t been sent to the countryside, I would have been preparing to take the medical university entrance exam. Both my parents are doctors and nurses, and my second brother is studying at a medical university. When my grandfather was alive, he was a well-known local practicing physician. So, I’ve been learning medicine since childhood, and I’m quite confident in this area.”
Given the opportunity, Su Mi naturally highlighted the source of her excellent medical skills, hoping to avoid trouble in the future.
After all, she really didn’t want to work in the fields because it was completely unnecessary. Just from the original owner’s memories, pulling weeds in the fields all day would be unbearable for her back, let alone anything else.
She had suffered and worked hard enough in her previous life.
In this life, if there were any conditions—no, even if there weren’t, she would create them—to make her life easier and more comfortable.
Once she got through these few years, she could return to the city and live a laid-back life.
As for learning from the female protagonist to do business, start an enterprise, and be busy all day long without a moment’s rest—
That simply doesn’t exist.