Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 26 - 25 Who are we looking for

Chapter 26: Chapter 25: Who are we looking for?

Chapter 26 -25: Who are we looking for?

The three of them took another route towards the location of the chestnuts.

Along the way, they encountered a pheasant.

Xiao’er decisively struck its head with a stone, leaving the unfortunate bird grandiosely knocked out.

“Wow, sister, you’re amazing, amazing!” exclaimed Jinghao excitedly.

Jingrui was also shocked.

How come Xiao’er seemed to be getting even more resourceful since waking up from her injury?

But no matter how capable she became, she was still his little sister.

Not far away, an old man and two young boys, shocked at the sight before them, had no intention of coming forward and took another route down the mountain instead.

Xiao’er glanced over and recognized the old man as Doctor Luo.

The two young boys, dressed in embroidered robes, were clearly not from the village.

Realising they probably had their reasons for avoiding her, she decided to ignore them.

As the three men moved further away, one of the boys suddenly exclaimed, “I remember now—wasn’t the eldest of those three the person we saw in town last time?”

Doctor Luo, being familiar with Shen Chengyao’s family and having treated Xiao’er for her injuries before, said, “They are villagers from the foot of the mountain.

Those three children are far more well-behaved and sensible than other village kids.

And their parents are also good people.” He had a rather positive impression of Xiao’er’s family.

Upon hearing this, the purple-robed boy’s expression remained unchanged, clearly not interested.

The blue-robed boy, in contrast, excitedly relayed the details of their last encounter in town.

“So it was like that.

The Hu Mansion’s men came to capture somebody in town.

Mrs.

Li intended to sell Xiao’er, but they aimed for Mrs.

Li’s daughter instead.

Turns out they were the ones behind it.”

“Master Luo, what exactly happened then?

Please tell me quickly.” The blue-robed boy enjoyed a good gossip.

Doctor Luo then spoke of his version of events.

At the end, he added, “They’re quite clever.

Had they told their parents about it from the start, it wouldn’t have been a success.”

It was only now that the purple-robed boy spoke, “Master, do you think it’s him the state diviner was talking about?”

Upon hearing this, Doctor Luo fell silent for a while before shaking his head, “Probably not.” In all his time in the village, he hadn’t noticed anyone particularly special.

After all, finding one person in a sea of people was easier said than done.

Elsewhere, Xiao’er and Jingrui had tied the legs of the pheasant and were struggling to carry it down the mountain.

“Xiao’er, let’s harvest the chestnuts tomorrow.

We can’t take all this stuff back home.”

“Brother, I want to eat chestnut chicken.

Let’s pick a few to bring home.” Jinghao was drooling at the thought of the chestnut chicken.

They’d captured a wild pheasant and if they picked some chestnuts now, they could have fried chicken with chestnuts for dinner.

“Then let’s pick some.”

However, they ended up stripping all the chestnuts, filling a sack, which Jinghao rolled down the mountain.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, Xiao’er took Jingrui’s basket and asked him to go home and call Shen Chengyao to help haul home their bounty, foreseeing the exhaustion if they three tried to do it all.

Shen Chengyao arrived quickly with a cart.

Seeing the items on the ground, he furrowed his brows and sternly asked, “Did you go into the deep mountains?”

“No, we just went a little further in than usual.

Brother Zixuan has taken us there before and said it was rather safe,” Xiao’er quickly explained.

She didn’t want to lose the chance to explore the mountains just because they had to follow adult’s rules.

“Yes, we didn’t.

There are tigers in the deep mountains.

I wouldn’t dare to go.” Jinghao also promised.

“Don’t worry, Dad.

I wouldn’t take my brother and sister into the deep mountains,” Jingrui also assured.

Relieved by these words, Shen Chengyao pointed at the herbs in the basket and asked, “What are all these?

What are you going to do with them?”

“Dad, these are herbs.

Sister says they can be sold for money.

This one is licorice, this one’s purple gromwell…” Jinghao explained while pointing at the herbs in the basket.

“When did Xiao’er learn so much about herbs?” Shen Chengyao was quite surprised to see Jinghao so knowledgeable about the herbs.

“I saw Doctor Luo pick them before and asked him about them.

I just remembered,” Xiao’er calmly lied without blushing or losing her breath.

Upon hearing this, Shen Chengyao stopped inquiry and asked, “Did you take this pheasant from someone else’s trap?” He worried that the children didn’t realize that game caught in traps usually belonged to someone else.

After all, there was a general understanding in the village not to touch things caught in another person’s traps.

“No, it was Xiao’er who threw a stone and knocked it unconscious with a perfect hit to the head.”

“That’s right.

Sis’s aim is superb.

The two pheasants were also knocked out by her.” Speaking of this, Jinghao’s eyes were full of stars.

He admired and envied her so much.

Shen Chengyao was a bit surprised after hearing this.

He knew how hard it was to catch these animals, and Xiao’er had knocked them out with a stone.

This seemed too easy, or perhaps, Xiao’er was simply too incredible to have aimed so accurately.

Looking at Xiao’er, he thought, she is his own daughter after all, but somehow she seemed different.

Could it be true that after a great disaster, good fortune must follow?

Even with challenging prey, she effortlessly knocked them out.

There was also the previous time when she caught fish.

He believed these were blessings from heaven for Xiao’er.

Considering this, he felt he should instruct Mrs.

Liu to go to the temple and offer some incense money to thank the Buddha for sparing their daughter from great danger.

Correct, he must hurry to show gratitude to the gods.

If not, what if they took Xiao’er away?

Shen Chengyao said nothing more, quickly loaded everything into the cart, then lifted them onto it, pushing the cart quickly home.

He had to discuss this matter with Mrs.

Liu urgently.

After bringing the items home, Shen Chengyao went to the grain drying field again, where Mrs.

Liu was busy with the little sister.

The crops had been collected from the fields, but the subsequent drying process also required a lot of effort.

At this moment, practically every household in the village was busy stripping corn kernels, picking peanuts, drying sweet potatoes, and so on.

Jinghao found a cage and put the rabbit family of six in it: “Sis, should we raise these rabbits?

When we have more and bigger rabbits, we can make more silver by selling them.”

“Sure.

But you need to clean rabbit droppings promptly.

You also need to wash and dry the vegetables fed to the rabbits.”

“Should we raise the pheasants as well?” Jingrui thought of the eggs that pheasants lay, which meant they could sell both chickens and eggs.

“But I want to eat chicken.” Jinghao was not satisfied with that idea.

“Didn’t we get two?

We can eat one and raise the other.” At home, they had no chickens, so Jinghao was considering raising even one.

Xiao’er noticed that the belly of the sow was a bit big and guessed that it might be pregnant: “Let’s raise the sow as well; its belly is a bit big, maybe it’s carrying piglets?”

The two of them looked at the sow’s belly, which did seem a bit big.

But nobody had ever raised a sow before: “How do we raise this sow?”

“We should raise it like one raises cows, right?” Xiao’er didn’t know, but she had a space full of grass, so she wasn’t worried about not being able to raise it.

“We will keep it for now; if we can’t manage, we will figure it out later.” After saying this, Xiao’er rummaged through the basket of herbs and then secretly took out some apples and oranges from her space and placed them at the bottom of the basket.

She also secretly took some herbs from her space.

The difference was clear when you compared them.

The herbs from the space were of superior quality.

Xiao’er handed two oranges to Jingrui and Jinghao, one for each: “While you guys were digging for Poria cocos, I came across these oranges while chasing the wild rabbit.

I picked all the ripe ones.

Go ahead and eat.”

Holding the oranges in their hands, Jingrui and Jinghao scrutinized them from every angle.

They had never seen such big oranges before.

After sniffing them and smelling their sweet scent, they found themselves reluctant to enjoy them.

Xiao’er ignored them, took one for herself, washed it in the kitchen, cut it into quarters, and started eating.

After a long afternoon of hiking, she was both tired and thirsty.

Jinghao watched as Xiao’er started eating but still didn’t want to consume the one in his hand: “Sis, this orange is so big.

Let’s share it, and save one for our parents.

We can sell the rest.”

“Right, this orange has grown so well; it should be easy to sell.” Jingrui didn’t want to eat it either.

Xiao’er didn’t bother to persuade them.

There were plenty of oranges to eat in the future.

If they didn’t want to for now, that was fine.

“Sure, let’s share it then.

I’m full.

You guys go ahead.

Bury the seeds in the vegetable garden when you’re done.

If they grow, we’ll have plenty of oranges in the future.”

Hearing this, Jinghao carefully spat out the seeds, vowing to water them daily to ensure quick growth.

The three of them shared, with one piece of orange left over.

Jinghao didn’t want to eat any more, and Jingrui wanted to leave it for his sister, so he declined to eat it.

Thinking of Jingjie, Xiao’er suggested: “Hao’er, take this piece of orange and give it to Jie’er to eat.

Also, take a couple more for Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt.”

Jinghao agreed readily, and Jingrui added: “Aren’t we preparing chicken tonight?

Let’s invite Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt to dine with us.”

Xiao’er felt that the brothers had been raised well.

They were cordial to each other and were grateful to those who helped them.

They were reluctant to eat more themselves, but without hesitation, gave to those kind to them, seeking ways to give back even more.

This was rare in children, who were often greedy and protective of food.

She couldn’t help but commend the two brothers.

Jingrui helped Xiao’er and worked together to slaughter the chicken and prepare the meal.

In the evening, with smoke rising from most homes, Xiao’er made a corn and chicken organ porridge, fried several scallion pancakes, and at Jinghao’s request, stir-fried chicken with chestnuts and a dish of garlic-flavored greens, as well as cold cucumber.

She also minced the chicken breast to make some meat sauce, which you could spread on the scallion pancakes; it was absolutely delicious.

Upon returning from the grain drying field, Mrs.

Li could smell emanating from the kitchen in the west wing of the house and decided to go check it out.