Chapter 24 Zheng Zheng Can Plant Rice Now~

Chapter 24: Look Who's Planting Rice Now, Zheng Zheng!

The next day, Wen Yuchen was roused by the squawking of geese. It was 6:30 AM, still early.

He had fallen asleep with Zheng Zheng before 10 PM last night, so waking up this early didn’t feel too bad.

After feeding the poultry and livestock in the yard, Wen Yuchen quickly washed up.

These past couple of days on the show had kept him too busy for his morning workouts, and he felt his muscles and joints hadn't gotten a proper stretch, which was quite uncomfortable.

He started with a simple warm-up, rotating his head, neck, hands, and feet, and stretching his muscles.

After the basic stretches, Wen Yuchen stood with his feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly inward, knees slightly bent and lowered.

He made loose fists, with his right fist turned upward and placed near his right cheek, and his left fist pressed downward below his left chest; both elbows pushed outward as if supporting a mountain, forming a horizontal brace.

This was the Liangyi stance, a fundamental posture in Baji Quan.

At this hour, most people were still resting, and there were only a few comments in the live stream chat.

"What's he doing?"

"Is he trying to build a martial arts persona?"

"Wow, you have to admit, with those long limbs, his horse stance looks pretty cool."

...

Whether it was the Liangyi stance or the horse stance, holding it for five or six minutes would be exhausting for most people.

But Wen Yuchen had been practicing martial arts for over a decade, and twenty minutes felt as easy as taking a sip of water.

Feeling good about his condition, Wen Yuchen withdrew from the stance.

He took a few deep breaths, clenched his fists, and drew circles with his arms from his waist upward until they were level with his shoulders, arms straight and fists facing each other.

Then, swiftly sweeping his hands behind his head, he flicked his sleeves and performed a fist-and-palm salute in front of his chest—right hand open behind, left fist in front—the Baji Quan salute.

Next, he turned sideways into a bow stance, arms extended as if measuring the heavens, followed by a series of moves: an elbow thrust, a bow-drawing posture, a hammer strike, and connecting back to the Liangyi stance. After completing the set, Wen Yuchen felt truly warmed up.

"Holy crap, he's actually got skills."

"Pfft, probably just for show."

At first, Wen Yuchen’s movements weren’t very fast, but they flowed smoothly from one to the next. He went through the entire Baji Quan solo routine three times, each time faster than the last.

By the final round, Wen Yuchen moved as if on fast-forward—swift and powerful, especially when stomping the ground, like he was trying to split the earth.

Every move, every stance, produced sharp whooshing sounds as his hands and feet cut through the air, clearly picked up by the microphone.

"..."

"No joke, he could punch me and make me spit blood."

"Damn, who said he was all show?"

"Did you guys hear that?"

"My husband is so full of energy early in the morning."

By the end of the final round, sweat dripped from Wen Yuchen’s forehead down to his chin.

He lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face, exhaled softly, and then strolled casually toward the bathroom.

"This man has become so sexy all of a sudden."

"I'll be your new husband."

"What the hell." A sleepy-eyed Lu Chenghe personally stepped in to ban a few accounts that were drooling over Wen Yuchen, then turned around and called Yuan Hui.

He needed to hurry up and get back his wife and child—he couldn’t rest easy otherwise.

Yuan Hui, who had worked until 2 AM the previous night, heard his phone ring: "..."

Seeing it was his boss, he resignedly answered, "President Lu, what can I do for you?"

Lu Chenghe got straight to the point: "I want to live across from Xiao Li’s place. Make it happen, and the sooner the better."

Yuan Hui: You really don’t see me as human.

Still, he replied quite politely, "Yes, President Lu."

"When it’s done, you get a week off and a raise." With that, Lu Chenghe promptly hung up.

Well, the time off and raise successfully soothed Yuan Hui.

Ever since the old man died, President Lu had been getting more and more unrestrained.

Wen Yuchen took a quick shower, put on a white hoodie and jeans, and came out with a towel on his head.

He had just started cooking the eight-treasure grains that had been soaking overnight when he heard the little one calling out for Daddy from inside the room.

Xiao Zhengzheng sat on the bed with messy hair, eyes still squinting. Seeing Wen Yuchen come in, he immediately reached out for a hug.

Wen Yuchen picked him up and washed his chubby little face with warm water.

After changing Zheng Zheng’s diaper and clothes, the twenty-two-month-old baby got his morning milk.

By 8 o’clock, the father and son were having breakfast.

Zheng Zheng drank almost half a small bowl of eight-treasure porridge and half an egg white.

Today, the group headed straight to the rice fields.

The sun was quite strong, so Wen Yuchen took out sunscreen and carefully applied it on Zheng Zheng again. A tan was no big deal, but getting sunburned was serious—he couldn’t let that happen.

Besides the village chief, several other villagers were there today, including the auntie from last night.

Pan Jing arrived with his little microphone: "Good morning, everyone—big friends and little friends! The weather is wonderful today. Does anyone remember what the villagers of Yuanhe Village grow?"

Well now, how convenient—our Zheng Zheng has a good memory. He shouted, "Rice!"

His memory was good, and the other children weren’t far behind.

A bunch of kids shouted their answers all at once.

Hearing this, Pan Jing laughed and said, "Our little friends have excellent memories! That’s right, it’s rice. Today, the director has invited the grandparents, uncles, and aunties of Yuanhe Village to teach everyone how to plant rice seedlings. How does that sound?"

"That sounds like a fun activity, kinda like yesterday’s loach-catching activity."

Pan Jing then began reading his task seriously: "Today, we've invited villagers from Yuanhe Village to teach everyone the third step of planting rice, which is transplanting seedlings. Each guest group will be assigned two plots of land. By 11:30 AM, the guest who completes the transplanting fastest and is most successful will receive 300 points. The second place will get 250 points, the third place 200 points, the fourth place 100 points, and the last place will only get 50 points.

Points accumulate daily. All guests can use points to pick today's ingredients at our program's vegetable and fruit shop or redeem them for lunch at our small restaurant."

"What’s this about a small restaurant?" Xingxing asked curiously.

Pan Jing: "The small restaurant provided by our program serves tasty, good-looking meals—don’t worry. However, it only serves lunch."

The small restaurant was pretty appealing for the guests, especially since, aside from Wen Yuchen and Meng Feihang, the meals prepared by the other guests yesterday were a mess, leaving the kids unhappy.

Among them, Xixi had it the worst, even calling her father overseas to beg him to take her back home.

Of course, Richard turned her down flat.

At the director's signal, the guests went off to seek advice from the villagers.

Wen Yuchen was ready to slack off, thinking that even the last place would get 50 points, and he still had coupons, so why worry?

But little Zhengzheng wanted first place. Yesterday’s last-place finish had left a negative impression on this competitive kid.

Zhengzheng held his dad’s hand, looked up, and said very seriously, "Daddy, we gotta get first place, okay?"

His big, round eyes were full of hope. Wen Yuchen didn’t have the heart to let him down. He patted Zhengzheng’s head and agreed, "Okay, first place."

Hearing this, Zhengzheng smiled happily, revealing his small, white baby teeth.

The auntie from yesterday, upon seeing the father and son, walked over with a bright smile.

Wen Yuchen nodded and said, "Thanks for helping us out today."

The auntie grinned and picked up Zhengzheng. "Aw, no need to be so formal! My surname is Liu, just call me Auntie Liu."

"Okay, Auntie Liu."

Zhengzheng, sharp, hugged Auntie Liu’s neck and sweetly called her "Grandma."

Auntie Liu laughed so hard her eyes crinkled, pinched his little nose, and said, "You little smarty-pants."

Auntie Liu personally helped Zhengzheng change into waterproof pants and rain boots, then set him down to let him splash around in the water.

Auntie Liu, holding a bunch of seedlings in her left hand and one in her right, showed Wen Yuchen: "Watch how I do it. Hold a bunch like this in your left hand, take one seedling with your right hand, pinch its root with your thumb and index finger, support the seedling with your middle finger, and gently insert it into the mud.

The depth of insertion matters too—keep it around three centimeters. If it’s too deep, it’s bad for growth; it won’t turn green properly and is more likely to die. If it’s too shallow, it’ll fall over easily, and you’ll have to replant it, wasting effort.

Also, when transplanting, step backward as you plant each seedling—it’s more convenient. The seedlings shouldn’t be too dense. Between rows, keep a distance of 9 to 10 inches, and between each plant, about 5 to 6 inches."

Under Auntie Liu’s guidance, Wen Yuchen gave it a try. Out of five seedlings, three were not up to standard. Auntie Liu pointed at the seedlings and said, "Look, these two are too deep—they’re noticeably shorter than the properly planted ones. The shallow one is sticking out too much."

Wen Yuchen nodded repeatedly and said, "Let me try again."

Little Zhengzheng also nodded seriously and said in his baby voice, "Me twy again."

"You little smarty," Auntie Liu said with a smile, handing Zhengzheng a seedling. "Come on, Zhengzheng, give it a try."

Zhengzheng took the seedling, pinched it with his little fingers, submerged half his arm in the muddy water, and planted the seedling into the mud.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t bad—just a little messed up because his small hands couldn’t control the force well, slightly damaging the seedling.

Aunt Liu gushed, "Oh my, look at our Zheng Zheng, he can even transplant rice now! So amazing. What a capable little one."

This praise made Zheng Zheng so overjoyed he seemed to forget everything else, just grinning from ear to ear at Aunt Liu.

He really liked this grandma—she always praised him.

Wen Yuchen glanced at the two with a smile in his eyes, and a phrase involuntarily came to mind.

The audience's thoughts were on the same wavelength as Wen Yuchen's.

"Our young master can transplant rice now~"

"Your young master can transplant rice now~, so awesome"

"Hahahahahaha"

"Grandma has praised our Zheng Zheng so much that his little kitten tail is practically purring"

"Hey, today Zheng Zheng is cat-ear Zheng Zheng"

"Little kitty, smoochie, smoochie, smooch"

Wen Yuchen had gotten the hang of it, so he took Zheng Zheng over to their two plots of land and got to work.

Zheng Zheng was still too young to handle the task, so Auntie Liu found a small baby basket for him, placed some seedlings inside, and said, "Sweetie, watch closely. When Daddy runs out of seedlings, you carry your little basket over to give them to Daddy, then come back to Grandma, and I'll refill it for Zheng Zheng."

"Okay!" Zheng Zheng replied cheerfully.