Chapter 35: A Hard Worker, Indeed!

Chapter 35: A Hard Worker's Allure

Lin Shu peeled a zongzi and offered it to He Guixiang, "Mom, don't just watch! Come and taste my cooking."

He Guixiang, after a bite, was full of praise. "Sweet, fragrant, soft, and glutinous—truly delicious." She ate slowly, savoring each tiny mouthful.

No sooner had she finished one, another was gently placed in her mouth. Lin Shu held up a zongzi, her eyes crinkling with a smile, "I can't finish both, Mom. Please help me with half of this one."

Such a small zongzi, how could she possibly not finish it?

Yet, these words warmed He Guixiang's heart deeply; her A Shu truly knew how to care for others.

Lin Shu hadn't truly had her fill, but compared to her previous life, she was immensely satisfied. Her appetite was small now; one and a half zongzi could easily make up half a meal.

After everyone had enjoyed their share of Guanyin Tofu and zongzi, Lin Shu carried a large basin of Guanyin Tofu, while Lin Xiaopu held four small, exquisite alkaline-water zongzi. They headed behind the vegetable patch to deliver the snacks to Zhou Ye.

Lin Shu had no idea how many trips Zhou Ye had made, but when she saw the fish pond's progress, she was astonished.

Good heavens, what a powerhouse of a worker!

Such a large fish pond, and the first layer of coarse gravel was already completely laid. When the sisters arrived, Zhou Ye was meticulously arranging pebbles, row by row, on top. A small mountain of pebbles had already accumulated beside the pond.

On the ground lay a large bamboo back basket, brimming with pebbles, not yet emptied.

To complete the fish pond as quickly as possible, Zhou Ye had even pressed his bamboo back basket into service for carrying stones.

Fortunately, Grandpa Gao's bamboo back baskets were renowned for their sturdiness; otherwise, after so many trips laden with stones, this one would have surely fallen apart.

Seeing the two approach, Zhou Ye leaped out of the fish pond, wiped the sweat from his brow, and his gaze flickered to Lin Xiaopu's hand before he asked Lin Shu, "Is this... zongzi?"

Lin Shu was slightly surprised. "Brother A Ye, have you eaten them before?"

The region Zhou Ye fled from must have been in the northwest, right?

Zhou Ye explained, "My hometown is all dry land; our staple food is mainly wheat. Sticky rice dishes like these are rare. Though I haven't eaten them, I've seen them and heard people discuss delicacies from other places. I heard that the prosperous Jiangnan region is particularly fond of zongzi."

Lin Shu's eyes curved into a smile. "Then you're in luck today—you get to try them! The fish pond is right behind the courtyard; did you smell the fragrance when the zongzi were cooking? How did it smell?"

Zhou Ye looked at her and nodded, "Fragrant."

"Here, take them quickly. I'm giving you four small zongzi; they'll barely be enough to fill the cracks in your teeth."

Lin Xiaopu immediately chimed in, "Brother A Ye, you got the most zongzi! Mom and Sister only had one and a half, I only got two, Dad got three, and you have four!"

Zhou Ye looked at Lin Shu. "One is enough for me. The remaining three, you three can each have one."

Before Lin Shu could reply, Lin Xiaopu mischievously interjected, "That won't do! Sister made the zongzi, so however she decides to divide them is how it should be. If you don't eat them, it's like saying Sister's cooking isn't good, and she'll get upset."

Lin Shu placed her hands on her hips, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Just eat when you're told to eat, none of that nonsense."

Zhou Ye had no more to say. He washed his hands with mountain spring water, splashed his face, and effortlessly lifted the large basin. The Guanyin Tofu, chilled with mountain spring water, was not only smooth and tender but also cool and refreshing—a perfect antidote to the heat for a man who had toiled all day.

After finishing the large basin of Guanyin Tofu, most of the heat in his body had dissipated.

Then came the small, exquisitely wrapped zongzi. It was Zhou Ye's first time seeing such crystal-clear golden zongzi. Holding one in his hand, the zongzi looked even more delicate and adorable against his large hands. For a moment, he found himself reluctant to take a bite.

"Hurry up and eat! Once you're done, Xiao Pu and I need to go see Dad."

Zhou Ye paused, then ate the golden, translucent zongzi. Two bites finished one, filling his mouth with the rich aroma of zongzi.

Delicious! If circumstances allowed, he would want to eat dozens, even hundreds, of such zongzi.

Seeing him enjoy the food so much, Lin Shu smiled contentedly, her eyes narrowing.

Wanting the horse to run without feeding it—where in the world was such a cheap deal? Though she couldn't fully feed Zhou Ye at this time, it was no problem to occasionally prepare a few snacks to keep his stomach happy.

Lin Shu glanced again at the rapidly progressing fish pond, smiling like a miser who had hit the jackpot.

She had hit the jackpot, truly hit the jackpot.

After feeding Zhou Ye, Lin Shu and Lin Xiaopu took the two snacks to the fields.

It was the busy farming season now. Except for those whose fields were close to home, many families would deliver meals to the fields, but mostly for breakfast. Besides, Lin Dashan and Zhou Ye usually worked quickly and didn't need delivered meals; they would return home to eat. So, at this time, one carrying a bamboo basket and the other a bamboo back basket was quite noticeable, inevitably drawing the attention of passing villagers.

Lin Xiaopu was lively at home but shy outside. Lin Shu, however, was thick-skinned; she would smile and greet everyone she met, calling this one "Auntie" and that one "Sister." When encountering curious onlookers, she would proactively explain, "Brother A Ye has been helping me dig the fish pond these past couple of days and couldn't go to the fields to help Dad hoe. Xiao Pu and I felt sorry that Dad was working alone, so we made some snacks for him."

"Auntie, it's nothing. Looking after Dad is what we should do."

"Granny, if I make extra next time, I'll save you some to try."

"Oh, Sister-in-Law, we're all from the same village. No need for formalities. I won't be shy about it with you in the future either."

Lin Xiaopu stared at Lin Shu in shock, utterly impressed.

"Sister, do you know everyone in the village already?"

Lin Shu replied without missing a beat, "Know them? I don't know any of those I just met."

"Then, then you..." She was as familiar as if she were their cousin.

"We're not familiar now, but won't we slowly become familiar later? I think everyone in our Sweetwater Village is very friendly."

Seeing these lively faces with healthy, rosy complexions, she felt extremely friendly. Not only were their complexions rosy, but their eyes also held hope and anticipation for a better life. Unlike the apocalypse, where the higher-ups were cold-hearted, the lower ones were numb, and the dead were walking dead with brains and intestines hanging out, smelly and ugly, only fit for head shots.

Lin Shu didn't miss her previous life at all; her current life was exactly what she had wanted most in her past life.

Lin Dashan, working in the fields, was thrilled to learn that his two daughters had brought food, grinning from ear to ear.

Seeing that the snacks included not only Guanyin Tofu but also three sticky rice zongzi, his smile deepened the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

After eating them, he felt so delighted he was walking on air, all the fatigue from a day's labor swept away. His daughter's cooking was even better than his wife's!

"Dad, don't overwork yourself. Take breaks now and then; your health is most important."

"Okay, okay, I'll listen to my daughter," Lin Dashan said with a sheepish grin.

"Does Dad still have water in his bamboo container? I brought some cooled boiled water; I'll refill it for you."

"There's still some, still some. If the bamboo container runs out, I'll just get some from the river to drink."

"Dad, besides mountain spring water, try to avoid drinking stream or river water, especially river water. You should drink boiled water, or you might get sick."

Lin Dashan nodded with a smile, "Got it, got it. I'll listen to my daughter."

After delivering the snacks, the two picked some purslane along the edge of the field.

Lin Xiaopu now had complete trust in Lin Shu; whatever Sister said to do, she would do.

"So this is also an edible wild plant! I’ve seen Yueya and the others use it as tassels when playing make-believe."

Lin Shu smiled as she snapped off a long stem, stripped away the smaller side stems, leaving only the central one. She then pinched it into small segments, skipping every other segment, leaving the remaining ones connected by the stem skin, forming a beaded strand. "Is this what you meant, Xiao Pu?"

If making this kind of beaded strand, sweet potato vines would be the best, but sweet potatoes aren’t in season at this time of year.

Lin Xiaopu nodded vigorously. "Exactly! But Sister made it even prettier!"

Lin Shu wrapped the purslane beaded strand around her hair bun. "There, now our Xiao Pu is also wearing tassels."

Lin Xiaopu reached up to touch it and giggled.

Just by poking around the fields and paths, the two sisters gathered quite a lot of purslane, nearly filling the basket they had brought for delivering the snacks.

"The best time to harvest is actually early morning or evening. Picking under the strong sun tends to make them lose their freshness, but since I plan to dry this purslane anyway, the harvesting time doesn’t matter much."

"Sister, no worries. We can go pick more tomorrow morning. Purslane grows everywhere in the mountains and fields."

"No more picking today. Mother must already be preparing dinner. Let’s go help."

"Heh heh, Brother A Ye's still waiting to try your loach and snails, Sister."

Lin Xiaopu remembered something, cupping her hand over her mouth and lowering her voice. "The wild boar A Ye hunted had plenty of fat. Mother rendered a good amount of lard and stored it away—I saw it! Sister, you should use some lard when you cook!"

"Pfft, you little clever one. Alright, today I’ll make dry-fried loach for you all."

The loach and river snails had been kept in cool mountain spring water for half a day, but that short time wasn’t enough to purge them properly—they still needed Chinese mugwort to remove the fishy smell.

He Guixiang helped clean the loach by removing the innards, while Lin Shu cut them into sections and placed them in a basin. She rubbed salt thoroughly both inside and outside the loach, then mixed in a large handful of shredded Chinese mugwort, working it in thoroughly. After marinating for about fifteen minutes, she heated the pan and added oil—not too much, but not too little either.

Lin Shu scooped several large spoonfuls from the jar filled with milky-white lard, sneaking a glance at He Guixiang. "Hehe, Mother, don't mind me. A Ye said he’ll go hunt more wild boars in the woods later."

"Use as much as you need. Mother isn’t stingy," He Guixiang said.

It wasn’t entirely true that she wasn’t stingy—usually, she rarely bought pork, and the lard she saved was reserved for when guests visited. But since this wild boar was hunted by A Ye, having this large jar of lard was already an unexpected blessing. If the children wanted to eat it, so be it.

The loach sizzled in the pan until golden brown. She added wild onions to release their fragrance, seasoned it, and sprinkled shredded Chinese mugwort over the top. The most amazing smell instantly filled the air.