Chapter 43 – Grown-Ups Are So Hard to Please

To be honest, Yan Fengru was quite touched.

But she was inherently a strong and decisive person. Once she made a decision, she rarely changed it. Building a house might cost money now, but it would belong to Bo’er in the future—it would be passed down through generations as an ancestral home, a person’s foundation. This wasn’t something to be done carelessly. Once it was built, the matter would be settled.

As for the money, she had ways to earn it back.

During her years working as a maid in the prefectural city, Yan Fengru had learned a lot—like how money is dead, but people are alive. Could a living person really be stumped by dead money?

Besides, staying long-term at her maiden home wasn’t appropriate. That was one of the main reasons she was determined to build her own house. And there was also the incident with Gu Caihe bringing the Han family over to make a scene. Anyone who knew the situation understood she had come looking for trouble with her and her children—but outsiders might think it was the Yan family causing trouble.

Yan Fengru felt that Gu Caihe was brainless, and this definitely wouldn’t be the last time. If she kept running over to her maiden home to cause a ruckus, it would be maddening. But if they had their own courtyard, it would be a different story. Even if Gu Caihe came to make trouble, she’d have ways to deal with her.

After all, her target was clearly their little family of three, and they had nothing to hide or fear being slandered.

Simply put, Yan Fengru had gotten stubborn about it—she wasn’t going to let her maiden family’s name be dragged through the mud.

“I’ve already decided on this matter,” she said. “I plan to buy a plot of land right next to our family’s home. That way, it’s convenient to visit, and if you don’t mind, we can even open a small gate between the yards.”

The three brothers looked at each other and instantly gave up their objections.

Lin-shi and Ying-shi didn’t have anything more to say either. At this point, they could see how determined Yan Fengru was. So they finally said:

“Big Sister, it’s not something we need to rush. Let’s think it through. But if it’s right next door, then that’s not bad at all. It’ll make visiting you easy, and when your eldest son becomes a top scholar, we’ll help you look after the place.”

“Exactly! Bo’er looks so smart and sharp—he’s got the makings of a future top scorer!” Lin-shi wasn’t as good with words as Ying-shi, but she chimed in quickly.

Sure enough, when this was mentioned, Yan Fengru’s face lit up with a smile. The brothers thought about it and realized—if that’s how things were, then it wasn’t much different from staying in the main family house. Since Big Sister was so insistent, she must be confident. It wasn’t right for them to keep stopping her.

Besides, they knew just how stubborn their big sister could be. Most likely, if they kept objecting, she’d go right ahead and buy bricks from the kiln and hire a mason to build the house herself. And then what? Could they really just sit back and not help?

Not helping would mean they weren’t real brothers!

Thinking about it that way, their objections really didn’t mean much at all.

The three brothers: “…”

Gu Yuzhu was secretly hiding behind the door and eavesdropping. After hearing everything, her eyes sparkled with excitement! They were going to have a new house!

Actually, she had been expecting this for some time now. Her older brother had been successfully admitted to Qingsong Academy, but Gu Yuzhu hadn’t known whether her mother would build a house in the village first or take them to town.

If it were up to her, she’d definitely prefer staying in the countryside. Rural life at the time was simple and honest. Though there were people like Gu Caihe, Yuan-shi, and Little Jiang-shi, for the most part, folks didn’t even lock their doors and would return lost items they found. Every household had children, and the kids all played together. The villagers watched over each other’s children.

That kind of environment was great for a child’s mental and physical development. Town life… Gu Yuzhu thought carefully—it was a bit more complicated.

More importantly, if they lived in town, how would she explain the origin of her vegetables?

Just thinking about it made her want to cry… She was a five-year-old girl—no land, no fields. Even if she grew tons of crops in her space, how was she supposed to bring them out? She couldn’t even start to imagine—just thinking about it made her want to cry from frustration!

Still, kids in ancient times matured earlier. Gu Yuzhu thought that maybe in a few days she could try acting cute with her mom, ask her for a patch of backyard land so she could “experience the joy of farming”? The thought made her eyes sparkle again.

It really was better to live in the countryside. If they had their own home in the village, that would be a solid foundation for their little family. Though Gu Yuzhu had lived in dorms for most of her past life and returned only to a mountaintop Taoist temple, she was still a native daughter of the Flower Nation—everyone understood the saying: “A house is a person’s root.”

When the time came, if her mother went to town with her brother, she could stay behind. After all, they’d only be a small gate away from her aunts. Her mom probably wouldn’t object.

The next morning, Gu Yuzhu brought this matter up with Yan Fengru.

Yan Fengru didn’t think much of it and asked, “What does our little Zhu’er want to grow?”

“I want to grow lots and lots of yummy things! I want to plant a cherry tree first,” Gu Yuzhu answered after some thought.

Yan Fengru immediately thought of her younger sister’s cherry grove and understood. “Alright. I’ll talk to your aunt about it another day.”

“Mhm mhm! I also want to grow vegetables. Mom, your cooking is so good—it’s a waste for it to be just for me and big brother. Why don’t you open a food shop?”

This made Yan Fengru turn her head and seriously look at her daughter, her eyes gleaming.

Faced with such a look, Gu Yuzhu instinctively felt a little guilty.

“My sweet girl, you really are mama’s precious one. You’ve thought of the same thing I have. I’m planning to go into the food business. Your brother’s schooling will cost more and more, and we’ll need money. So, what do you think we should sell?”

She hadn’t expected her five-year-old daughter to suggest something like this—Yan Fengru was both surprised and delighted. At this point, her question was a genuine inquiry.

But alarms blared in Gu Yuzhu’s head. She’d never raised a kid in either of her lifetimes and had no clue just how “smart” a five-year-old was supposed to be. So she started counting off on her chubby little fingers:

“Cake… meat buns… sesame flatbread…”

Ah! No! Just thinking about those things made her drool!

Don’t underestimate the wisdom of ancient working folk—many of the famous foods from the Flower Nation of modern times had been passed down for thousands of years. The era Gu Yuzhu had traveled to already had a lot of great foods.

Still, the same food made by different people could taste completely different. Take, for example, her mother’s noodles—they were chewy and packed with flavor. Back when she had visited her eldest uncle’s in-laws, the noodles made by her aunt couldn’t compare at all to her mom’s.

Yan Fengru had been full of hopeful excitement, but when she saw her daughter acting like a little glutton, she couldn’t help but chuckle. She wasn’t disappointed—just thought her daughter was so adorably greedy. Well, who has that many genius children anyway?

But in the eyes of a mother, her child was always a little genius—those mom goggles were thick.

Of course, Yan Fengru didn’t know what “mom goggles” were, but that didn’t stop her from pinching her daughter’s soft little cheeks and planting a kiss on them.

“Alright, alright, my little foodie. Whatever you love most, Mama will make it for you!”

“R-Really?”

“Of course!”

Gu Yuzhu: “……” Sigh! Grown-ups are so hard to please! What should she say was the most delicious? This really was a tough decision!

After all, she was someone from the foodie capital of the world!