Chapter 8

Feng Xiuzhen was afraid that her daughter would be hungry, so she asked her to eat first.

Yunyu went to the kitchen. Grandma Yun had already brought the food to the table. There was stewed grass carp and cornbread. The grass carp was a wild carp from Heqing Lake. Grandma Yun went to Heqing Lake in the middle of the night to catch the fish using a fish basket. After the two small grass carp were cleaned, they were fried on both sides till golden brown. Then, after adding some accompanying ingredients, the fish were then simmered in well water for half an hour. The whole house was filled with a fragrant smell. The bread was made of corn flour and white flour. It was attached to the pot where the fish was stewed, absorbing the fish soup, and had a fragrant burnt taste and soft texture.

Stewed grass carp with cornbread pasted in the pot (炖的草鱼，贴的玉米饼 Dùn de cǎoyú, tiē de yùmǐ bǐng)

(T/N: Honestly, I have never seen this style of fish cooking and did not bother googling until I decided to translate and WOW it looks so yummy!)

This dish and bread were all cooked using firewood. There was a gas stove and all kinds of modern equipment in the house, but Grandma Yun said that these dishes made using modern equipment were not as good as when they were made using firewood. So, the kitchen at home still kept the old stove.

Grandma Yun usually used that for cooking. Feng Xiuzhen found it troublesome and liked to use gas.

Grandma Yun did not like the smell of tap water either, so the well in the yard was still there.

There was an old water tank in the kitchen. Usually, the water from the well is pumped into the water tank. The tap water installed at home was used to wash vegetables and clothes.

Grandma Yun called Yunyu to eat, “Xiao Yu’er eat quickly. Go back to the house to sleep after eating. You must be very uncomfortable after traveling for most of the day.”

“Grandma, I’m not tired.” Yunyu sat down to eat, “After I finish eating, I’ll go out for a walk.” She wanted to see what the two fields were like.

This matter had to be resolved. Wu Dashan cannot be allowed to bully her mother like this.

The meals at home were more delicious than those in the imperial capital. They were all wild or grown in their own fields. They avoid using pesticides for those grown in their own fields. The food was not as delicious as those nourished by spiritual energy, but the taste was good enough.

After eating, Yunyu washed the pots, bowls and chopsticks by herself. This was not the first time her body had done this kind of work. But she was a little clumsy. Luckily, she managed to complete it.

Yunyu put the tableware and chopsticks in the cupboard then went out to take her suitcase to her room. When she got to her room, Grandma Yun was making her bed. Yunyu helped with it and asked Grandma Yun about the exact locations of the two fields. After learning of the locations, she told Grandma Yun that she was going to go out. Grandma Yun grumbled, “Why are you going out in such a hot weather? Bring along an umbrella. Don’t get tanned, or else when you return to the city you’ll be laughed at.”

“Grandma, I’m not afraid.” Yunyu acted coquettishly, “Then I’ll go out for a walk first.” She had her spiritual spring, how could she get tanned.

“Go early and come back early. What do you want to eat tonight? Grandma will make it for you.” Grandma asked.

Yunyu turned her head and smiled, “I love to eat everything Grandma makes.” She waved to Grandma Yun and went out. There was a bamboo forest nearby, and the path was beautifully built. She thought a lot while walking on the road. Facing the Yun family was easier than she imagined. She had the Yun family blood flowing within her veins, as well as the emotional memory of the original Yunyu. Hence, when facing the Yun family, her heart would soften. It was the same feeling as when facing her emperor father and queen mother.

Although it was only the beginning of June, the sun at noon was still a bit dazzling. Most people do not like to go out to work at this time. They usually do farm work in the morning and evening. Yunyu walked for more than ten minutes to Heqing Lake. She remembered that the lake water was still clear when she was a child, but now the lake water was a little turbid. This lake could not be ranked in the entire country of China, but it was quite large for Qinghe Village, about the size of more than 2,000 mu of fields, and it was the main irrigation channel for the nearby fields.

In addition, nowadays, it is easy to lose money when venturing into all kinds of farming and planting. Hence, the lake had not been contracted for all these years. It was early summer. There were a lot of lotus leaves planted in Qinghe Lake, and many of them were budding. After half a month, these lotus leaves and lotus flowers will be in full bloom and the lake will have a uniquely beautiful scenery.

The produce of the lake was owned by several nearby villages. Occasionally, some villagers come to fish. When it is lotus root harvesting season in autumn, many people will come to dig for lotus roots to eat.

The paddy field Feng Xiuzhen drew was the three-mu paddy field below the lake. It was very convenient to irrigate and her family also had a few mu of paddy fields nearby.

After seeing this, Yunyu went to the other dry land that was said to be very bad. The dry land was twice as large as the paddy field. The area was quite large as the village probably also felt that the dry land was not good. It was at the foot of the mountain. It can be said to be part of a hilly terrain, yet the hills were not high. Yunyu could still see a lot of gravel when she walked over. It can be seen that it will not be easy to plant things in a place like this, so it was no wonder that he didn’t want this land.

Yunyu let out a small, “Ye?” (T/N: sound of exclamation in surprise). She looked at the piece of land under the rock at the foot of the mountain, and saw that it was surrounded by a faint mist. It was naturally impossible for it to fog up at this time. This was a spiritual energy, a very light spiritual energy.

This position had a faint spirit energy!

Yunyu wanted to step forward and remove the big stones, but she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw a man in his fifties who was quite buff. The man froze when he saw her. This man was Wu Dashan who pushed Yunyu’s mother down, and he obviously recognized Yunyu.

Yunyu snorted (T/N: “Hmph” sound).

When Wu Dashan heard this, he was displeased and said angrily, “You this little doll (T/N: said sarcastically and in a belittling manner), what are you hmph-ing for? What the hell did you learn when you were away? Don’t you even know how to respect your elders?”

Yunyu was angry, so she could not help but to retorted, “It’s okay to rely on the old and sell the old (T/N: 倚老卖老 yǐ lǎo mài lǎo – flaunt one’s own seniority/ look down on others). But when you pushed my mother, weren’t your hands and feet very quick? Now you are pretending to be an old man?”

“You stinkin’ brat!” Wu Dashan glared angrily at Yunyu but he could not do anything to her. After all, he was in the wrong when he pushed Feng Xiuzhen.

Yunyu ignored him, and looked carefully at the faint spiritual energy in front of her. If there was spiritual energy, there must be something underneath, but it should not be a treasure. A place like this would not have Heaven and Earth treasure (T/N: rare plants or minerals with special effects). Those kinds of things could only be found deep in the mountains where people are few and where the spiritual energy would be much richer. It was even more unlikely that it was the tomb of the ancients. The treasures in the ancient tombs would only bring evil spirits and not spiritual energy. She figured that it should be groundwater.

The groundwater was not polluted, so it was normal for it to carry a trace of spiritual energy.

As for whether it was a drinkable underground spring or a hot spring type, she could not be sure.

This measly spiritual energy was incomparable with her spiritual spring. Her spiritual spring was formed by spiritual energy, and every drop was rich in spiritual energy.

Yunyu felt that this land was much better than that paddy field.

She hesitated, turned and asked Wu Dashan, “Uncle, do you really not want this land? Are you insistent on changing it with my family?”

Wu Dashan had also come to see how the dry land was and what could be grown.

There were many rocks around there, and nothing grew well.

He actually was a little regretful of that incident. They all belonged to the same village, and it was not easy for Feng Xiuzhen to bring up three children over the years. He was an asshole when he was young, but he never did anything really harmful. It was nothing more than fighting. Now that he was older, his personality was a lot more restrained. His family all called him out for pushing Feng Xiuzhen, however his stubborn temper flared and he refused to admit it, but he was also unhappy in his heart.

Wu Dashan made a sullen face and did not say anything.

“Uncle, then this piece of dry land belongs to our family. You are not allowed to change your mind later. When I go back, I will tell my mother and ask her to agree to it and go directly to sign for it.”

Yunyu was very happy. She merely went out and managed to harvest a piece of quality land.

Wu Dashan was very angry thinking that Yunyu deliberately used words to provoke him. He originally wanted to admit to his mistake, but now he ignored it and said, “Okay, this is what you said. Go back and tell your mother. Let her go to the village committee office in the afternoon to sign for the land!”

Yunyu smiled, “Okay, uncle. We can agree, and we won’t go back on our word.”

Wu Dashan was so angry that he wanted to leave. As he turned away, he heard Yunyu calling him from behind, “Uncle, since you gave this land to our family, I will give you a divination for free today.”

“What are you talking about, girl?” Wu Dashan was a little stunned, and when he looked back at Yunyu, he thought he had heard it wrong.

Isn’t this girl a top student in the imperial capital? What kind of divination? Fortune telling?

Yunyu said with a smile: “Uncle, you have a bloody disaster today.”

Wu Dashan’s face was a little distorted, and he did not come to his senses for a while.

“Uncle, did you come from the south road today? When you go back later, take the north road to avoid today’s bloody disaster.”

The south road was full of potholes and stones, but the road was very close. One could get home in a few minutes. The road to the north was beautifully built, but it was a detour. Many people felt that it was too far, so they liked to take the shortcut. The road to the south was not really a road at all, but there were a lot of people walking.

After Yunyu finished speaking, she did not care for Wu Dashan’s reaction and climbed to the top of the mountain to see the feng shui nearby.

When Wu Dashan came back to his senses, Yunyu was gone.

He scolded, “What is the little girl learning in school!” He did not believe Yunyu’s words at all, thinking that Yunyu was cursing him. After all, he did rob them of the good paddy field by Heqing Lake. Cursing, Wu Dashan turned around and still decided to use the south road to go back. The road was not easy to walk, but it was close. He had been walking for so many years that he could walk back home with his eyes closed. However, half-way through, he did not know what happened, but he twisted his foot and he fell forward, hitting his head on a sharp stone.

In that instant, a bloody hole was pierced in his head and blood dripped down immediately.

Except for the pain, Wu Dashan was completely stunned. Did what the little girl say come true?

With such a big hole in the head, and with the blood flowing like that, what else could it be but a bloody disaster.

When Wu Dashan came home with the blood on his head, the blood had already flowed all over his face and even on his clothes. Aunt Tian almost fainted when she saw the person, “Wu Li! Wu Li! Stop playing games and come down quickly! Something happened to your dad!” Her first thought was that Wu Dashan went out to fight with someone again.

Wu Li ran downstairs and was frightened when he saw his father’s bloody face. He immediately pushed out the small battery operated bike and took his father to the town’s hospital.

Battery Operated Bike (小电瓶车)

In fact, there was also a small clinic nearby, but Wu Li, seeing his father’s blood bleeding like that, was so frightened that he ran directly to the town hospital.

He did not dare to ask anything on the way. When they got to the hospital, the doctor was shocked. When the wound was examined, it was found that it was not a serious problem, just that there was heavy blood loss. After cleaning the wound and stitching it up, the doctor prescribed some medicine and told Wu Dashan to eat more blood-enriching food before allowing them to return.

On the way back, Wu Li asked his father what was going on.

His father did not say a word all the way. Could it be that he lost the fight?

It took a long time before Wu Dashan said, “I fell and hit a stone.”

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Yunyu wandered around for a long time before returning. Wu Dashan would definitely not listen to her. After she told him his fortune, there was still a trace of blackness on his forehead. It still had not dispersed which meant that the bloody disaster would definitely occur. He would have to go to the hospital to bandage it, and would not have time for a while.

When she was about to get home, she saw Wu Li bringing his father home using a small battery operated bike.

Wu Dashan had a band of gauze wrapped around his head, looking a little absent-minded.

Yunyu waved at them, “Uncle, I’ll go back and discuss with my grandma and mother. They’ll head to the village committee office to sign in a bit.”