"Heh heh heh," Tian Jing couldn't help but laugh. "All you know is how to say 'good'."
"Of course, I have to listen to my wife," Li Zhengguo gazed devotedly at the smiling Tian Jing.
"Then go and sneakily bring in the wooden box."
"Okay."
The two planted all the vegetable seeds. After Li Zhengguo fetched water and thoroughly soaked the soil, Tian Jing used her abilities sparingly. Seeing the seeds sprout two small tender leaves, Tian Jing stopped.
Witnessing the accelerated growth firsthand, Li Zhengguo was deeply shocked. He had heard about it, but seeing it was entirely different from hearing about it.
Tian Jing reached out and pinched Li Zhengguo's cheek. This dazed and adorable look was so different from his usual demeanor, making his ordinary face incredibly attractive.
Li Zhengguo grabbed her small hand. "Don't leave me."
He lacked a sense of security. Tian Jing nodded and promised, "Life is unpredictable, but I still promise: wherever I go, I will take you with me."
Li Zhengguo brought her hand to his lips, his eyes fixed on the person in front of him. "I will definitely keep a close eye on you."
Outside, Li Min called for dinner. The two, clinging to each other, finally left the room.
That night, Li Zhengguo of course personally took care of her washing up.
Feeling his carefulness, Tian Jing couldn't help but ask, "What are you feeling when you do this?"
"Joy."
"Aren't you tired of it?"
"Not tired."
"Don't you know that human hearts are greedy? You take such meticulous care of me, and after a while, I'll get used to it. If you ever slip up, I might even lose my temper."
"Go ahead and lose it, I'll take it," he replied.
Unbidden, she thought of how he had endured the original owner's unreasonable tantrums, and figured he could probably handle her temper too. Tian Jing dropped the topic.
Another night of meticulous care passed. Upon waking, Tian Jing was no longer procrastinating; there was quite a bit to do today.
"Hurry, we need to go to Zhangshan to chop bamboo, fell trees, and the kitchen walls still need plastering."
Li Zhengguo pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately before letting go and getting up.
This man is so unhygienic! Tian Jing chided him mentally, but couldn't help the smile that curved her lips.
After breakfast, Tian Jing and Li Zhengguo headed up the mountain with their baskets. They instructed Li Mu to close the courtyard gate and not let anyone in.
Deep in the mountains, Tian Jing grabbed Li Zhengguo's hand and they ran swiftly. Their first stop was a dense forest, near the slope where ginseng grew.
Their second stop was the source of the Ku River. Well, not exactly the source; the source was further within the Ku Mountain range.
They simply found the stream of the Ku River within the Ku Mountains. After crossing it and heading east, they soon reached the country road leading to the county town.
This time, Li Zhengguo got "car sick."
It was because Tian Jing had been taking him by skimming across the treetops. Fortunately, once they reached the only country road leading to the county town, Li Zhengguo's "car sickness" subsided.
"You'll get used to it after a few more times," Tian Jing comforted him. Li Zhengguo, pale-faced, leaned on her shoulder. "Yes, take me with you more often, so I can get used to it."
"Okay."
After passing the five-mile bend, Tian Jing pulled Li Zhengguo into the low hills on the left and leaped onto the treetops, heading towards the back of Zhangshan.
Finally setting foot on solid ground, Li Zhengguo plopped onto the ground. He needed a moment to recover.
Tian Jing found the patch of bushes first. Sensing the jar beneath the roots, she used her ability to make the roots of the bushes move in the soil, quickly pushing the jar out of the ground.
To Li Zhengguo, it looked like a jar had automatically risen from the earth.
Tian Jing opened the jar and examined its contents. She had been in a hurry the previous night and hadn't looked closely. She discovered that the jar contained only about a dozen gold bars and a genuine golden key.
Tian Jing took out the golden key and handed it to Li Zhengguo. "This, her biological mother once asked for. She didn't know. Later, her mother inexplicably became wealthy. Do you think this has anything to do with it?"
"Probably," Li Zhengguo said, carefully examining the delicately crafted small golden key. "Try to bend it. Gold is soft." Su Dan Novel Network.
Tian Jing's heart stirred. She controlled her strength and gently tried to bend the key, but found it wouldn't bend. It wasn't gold?
Li Zhengguo took it and tested it gently. "This looks like brass. If Xiao Wei got rich from this, then this must be a key to something, and it has to be the original key to open it. Be careful not to break it; brass is brittle."
"Actually, if it weren't for her resentment, I wouldn't really want to go after those things. What's the use of taking them? I'd be reluctant to sell them, and if I didn't sell them, they'd just take up space. I can't take them with me when I die."
"It's a form of security. Might as well take it while it's free."
"My ability is my security!"
"Yes, yes, put it in the basket, and let's go back to chop bamboo."
Tian Jing placed the key at the bottom of the jar, covering it with the gold bars. If this key could truly open something, then these ten gold bars would likely be less than the cost of the key itself.
Back in the depths of Ku Mountain, Li Zhengguo's complexion had improved considerably. He truly was getting used to it.
Tian Jing buried the jar beneath the tree in the dense forest that she had communicated with, and asked the tree to guard it for her.
Having received wood-elemental energy, the tree happily swayed its leaves, promising to keep it safe.
Tian Jing, amused, told it not to kick the jar away.
Li Zhengguo looked at the tree, which seemed to have gained sentience. He grabbed Tian Jing and asked worriedly, "Will it run away? Will it talk?"
"It's not a mutant plant, so neither of those is possible," she replied.
Li Zhengguo was relieved. He didn't want any spirits or monsters to appear. Although it was forbidden after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tian Tian was from another world. Who knew what uncontrollable changes might occur?
Exiting the dense forest, Li Zhengguo used stones, and Tian Jing used her abilities to control plants. Together, they hunted four rabbits and two pheasants before stopping. She accelerated the growth of shepherd's purse to cover the prey, then cut five or six bamboo poles at the foot of the mountain, and headed home.
Li Zhengguo first processed the chickens and rabbits, then scraped the oil from the rabbit skins and soaked them. He carried them to the west room for storage before calling Chen Suozhu for help.
He didn't intend to have Tian Tian help him fell trees, nor with plastering the kitchen walls; helpers were needed for those tasks.
Chen Suozhu was happy when Brother Li asked him to do more work. Seeing Li Min leaning on a lounge chair knitting a sweater, he opened and closed his mouth, wanting to say something caring, but being too clumsy with words to know what to say.
Li Zhengguo quickly urged him to start working; there was too much to do to indulge in romantic thoughts.
Tian Jing, with Li Mu, was in the kitchen preparing food.
When Li Mu heard they were making dumplings, she quickly called her daughter in to help knead dough and roll out wrappers.
She and Tian Tian prepared the shepherd's purse, made egg crepes, chopped chicken, and mixed two types of fillings: shepherd's purse and egg, and shepherd's purse and chicken.
They wrapped and cooked them as they went. Li Zhengguo alone ate sixty.
Chen Suozhu ate fifty and felt too embarrassed to eat more, as Aunt Li had packed thirty for him to take home.
Tian Jing and Li Mu each ate twenty.
After eating fifty dumplings, Li Min looked at the remaining dough and filling, and continued to roll out wrappers.
She wanted to eat more. Since her sister-in-law didn't mind her eating so much, she intended to eat her fill. She had never eaten dumplings until she was completely full before.