Chapter 557: Chapter 557: Tiger Sculpture
Nian Shutong, with her little white mouse in tow, returned to the small wooden house. There was still some time before dinner, and with nothing else to do, she simply grabbed her tools and joined Ha Ha and Lin Mu to work together.
The appearance of Nian Shutong invigorated Ha Ha to work even harder.
Lin Mu also cast a curious glance at Nian Shutong.
As Nian Shutong who was hunched over her work didn’t look up, she said, “Why are you staring at me? Can’t I do some work?”
“You should know, I was the only one working on Blue Star at the beginning.”
Saying this, Nian Shutong even felt a bit wistful; indeed, it hadn’t been easy for her.
Before Nian Shutong could finish her lament, Lin Mu interjected, “Why feel guilty?”
Guilty?
Who felt guilty?
Nian Shutong cast a glance at Lin Mu, whose work pace exceeded her own, and suddenly got competitive.
Ha Ha, Lin Mu, and Nian Shutong, the three of them, worked like beasts, tirelessly and without complaint.
The three were engaged in clearing the land, a job that required no particular skill—just digging, weeding, and moving rocks.
With plenty of strength at their disposal, they worked both well and quickly.
The more Nian Shutong worked, the more she enjoyed it. It had been a long time since she’d toiled like this.
The movements were simple and didn’t tire the mind, allowing her to be fully invested body and soul.
Nian Shutong was increasingly enthusiastic about her work and even felt she should come more often to help out. While she was intently digging, her hoe struck something hard.
She dug fiercely downward and pulled it out with strength, adeptly tossing it aside.
Before the object, resembling a rock, hit the ground, Xiao Bai called out.
“Master, it’s Brother Hu.”
The hoe in Nian Shutong’s hands seemed to come to life, reaching out in Lin Mu’s direction and effortlessly hooking the flying tiger statue back.
Lin Mu dodged to the side and said, “You don’t have to get physical just because you can’t outwork me.”
Having already retrieved the tiger statue, Nian Shutong then stood up straight and looked at Lin Mu.
“Lin Mu, did you teach yourself to joke around? Your training doesn’t seem quite up to par.”
“Mm, I learned from you.”
Lin Mu’s remark, ‘I learned from you,’ left Nian Shutong once again at a loss for words.
Finally, she just lowered her head and laughed. It was quite nice; perhaps this was Lin Mu’s true nature, one that had been suppressed by continuous pain before.
Now, she seemed very much alive.
The three continued their work until Fu Yunhe came to call them.
He stood at the edge of the field and shouted to the three who were so focused on their work that they didn’t look up, “Time to go home for dinner.”
No movement, no response.
With no choice, Fu Yunhe resorted to announcing the dinner menu.
“Master Fan has made delicious, fragrant beef stuffed buns, pan-fried dumplings, and sweet milky bread, a pot of seafood medley, and winter melon radish meatball soup…”
“I’m coming!”
“Time to go home for dinner.”
“Let’s go, I’m starved.”
Ha Ha rushed ahead, the first to head towards the small wooden house, with Lin Mu close behind. Only Nian Shutong walked to Fu Yunhe’s side and stopped, saying to him, “Your descriptive skills have regressed a bit; you could have made it sound even more appetizing.”
Fu Yunhe took the tools from Nian Shutong’s hands and replied, “Master Fan’s craftsmanship is the best adjective.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
Nian Shutong, too, couldn’t help but quicken her pace a bit and soon reached the small wooden house. Everyone washed up, took their seats, and began tonight’s dinner.
After dinner was over, Wang Fu came looking for me.
“Boss, the cherries and mulberries are ready to be picked.”
Nian Shutong got up quickly, followed by a crowd of people, heading towards the fruit trees.
By the time they arrived, under the dim lights, the big red cherries hung on the branches like little red lanterns.
“Everyone, try them for yourselves.”
Nian Shutong already reached out his hand, picked one off, didn’t even bother washing it, and directly popped it into his mouth.
The firm and crisp texture, the thick flesh amplified the crunch, and after chewing for a while, the sweet taste climbed up to the tip of the tongue, delicious.
“Mr. Nian, these cherries are super tasty.”
Ji Sisi was already getting a bit addicted, and besides, cherries aren’t as big as peaches, you can’t eat many even if you want to, but you can eat a lot of these.
“If you like it, eat it, we have our own, plenty to go around.”
Nian Shutong too enjoyed the texture, standing under a tree and ate for a while.
When this group nearly picked one tree clean, they finally stopped.
Nian Shutong said to Wang Fu, “You arrange the picking starting tomorrow.”
“Understood, Boss.”
After finishing the cherries, Nian Shutong brought the group over to check out the mulberries, a different taste, absolutely conquered everyone.
These mulberries were sweet, incredibly sweet.
However, after the group finished eating, everybody’s lips and fingers were stained purple to almost black.
Dou Dou and Ha Ha were the worst off; the two almost had their faces covered.
Ha Ha, who was initially mocking Fu Yunhe, was stunned when Fu Yunhe pulled out a mirror, and after a glance at it, was scared by his own reflection.
“Who is this person?”
Fu Yunhe collected the mirror with composure and said, “Who do you think it could be in the mirror?”
Ha Ha pointed at himself incredulously, “Then why has my face changed color?”
No one offered Ha Ha an answer, but after being shocked for a second, he continued to pick and eat mulberries.
“Since it’s already black, might as well eat more to get my money’s worth.”
The others around thought Ha Ha’s logic was sound, not bothering to wash their hands and continued eating mulberries.
But when the group finished eating and went to wash their hands, they found that the color from the mulberries was not easy to wash off.
Even after vigorously washing for a long time, there were still traces around the fingers and mouth.
Nian Shutong watched everyone and said jokingly, “Tomorrow we are definitely going to attract attention.”
If this group went out, people who didn’t know any better might think they had all been beaten up,
with something of a black eye color.
In the end, it was Fu Yunhe who produced some cleaning supplies, and after scrubbing hard, they slowly managed to clean off the stains.
There was no live streaming tonight; after eating fruit, everyone went back to rest.
Nian Shutong also took his newly found tiger sculpture and went to cultivate.
Life in the small wooden house was calm, but it was not the same elsewhere.
Three months had passed since Nian Shutong sold the seeds, and the first batch of people who bought the seeds and planted them on time were about to harvest their first crops.
And among this first batch of people, the Chi Family accounted for eighty percent.
The first seeds Nian Shutong sold were rice seeds, and at that time, to compete with the Chi Family, he released some rice seeds, but the quantity wasn’t great, and the Chi Family secretly bought most of them.
After they arranged for people to plant them, no one went to check until someone reported they could be harvested, and only then did they remember this matter.
However, when a Chi Family supervisor received this news, he didn’t understand why harvesting rice was reported to him. Couldn’t the subordinates do it themselves?
The person who came to report simply said, “Supervisor, I think you better have a look yourself.”