Chapter 37

The wheat plants have turned yellow both above and below, and the wheat fields have entered the waxy stage.

So the busy farming season began the next day. At six o’clock sharp, the big iron bell in the village rang, and everyone had to go to the drying yard to listen to the village chief’s work arrangements.

Song Ruan brought breakfast and went to the drying yard with her family.

“Little sister, why is the corner of your mouth swollen?” The second brother turned his head to look at his younger sister and suddenly spoke.

The family members who were walking together all turned their eyes to her.

Song Ruan panicked for a moment, but she pretended to be calm: “There was a mosquito in the room last night, and I got bitten…”

Song Wu said, “Oh!” without any doubt, “Didn’t we just fumigate your room with mugwort? How come there are still mosquitoes? I’ll go back and fumigate your room with mugwort again tonight.”

After saying that, everyone continued on their way without noticing anything. However, Ye Hongmei stared at her daughter’s swollen lips for a long time, wondering what she was thinking.

When we arrived at the drying yard, some people sat on the ground, while those who were more particular would find a clean stone to sit on. Everyone chatted while eating the breakfast they brought, waiting for the village chief to arrange work for them.

Song Ruan could only eat the hot sweet potatoes in small bites, but the corners of her mouth still hurt from time to time.

So when Yang Bin and the others came over, she only greeted his mother and sister, and turned her head away, ignoring him.

Yang Bin touched his nose guiltily, and didn’t dare to get close to her. He just stood beside her, watching her chew the sweet potato slowly and carefully.

By the time Song Ruan finished eating a sweet potato, the village chief had assigned the work.

Most people were assigned to the wheat fields to harvest wheat.

Song Ruan and some other people who were usually short were assigned to weed the cornfield.

Because their relationship was confirmed, Yang Bin no longer had to help her with work secretly when everyone went home at noon, and he could do it openly.

Therefore, Yang Bin quickly finished his morning work and came to the cornfield to find her.

Seeing him coming, Song Ruan snorted, turned around and continued to pull out weeds, pretending not to see him.

The corn stalks were tall and others couldn’t see them, so Yang Bin approached her and coaxed her, “Does it still hurt, huh?”

“Humph, it’s all your fault. My second brother saw that my lip was broken.”

Yang Bin raised his eyebrows slightly: “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have been so weak and easily teased by you.”

Song Ruan widened her almond eyes: “How did I tease you?”

Yang Bin raised the corner of his lips imperceptibly: “You responded to me suddenly…that’s why I didn’t control the strength well…”

“You…” Song Ruan felt embarrassed and angry when she heard it. Her face swelled up like an inflated pufferfish.

“Okay, fine, blame me? Okay?”

“No, this must be my fault.” Yang Bin keenly caught the unkindness in his partner’s tone, “How about I go hunt a pheasant and we can make beggar’s chicken? Haven’t you always wanted to eat it?”

Good food can heal everything.

Song Ruan’s attention was immediately diverted, but if she stopped being angry immediately, would it make her seem greedy?

She struggled with herself for a while, and finally swallowed her saliva and asked, “Will we be discovered?”

“Just be careful.”

Seeing that she had no resistance to delicious food, Yang Bin smiled silently, and then went to hunt pheasants.

Not long after, Yang Bin brought back a pheasant, which had already been processed.

Song Ruan couldn’t help but admire this man’s ability to survive. He probably wouldn’t starve to death no matter where he was thrown.

Yang Bin often went up the mountain, so he always carried matches and salt with him. Together with some seasonings that Song Ruan asked him to collect, it was enough for them to use.

While Yang Bin went to collect firewood, Song Ruan used a sickle to slice up ginger and stuffed it into the chicken’s stomach to remove the fishy smell; then he rubbed the peppercorns and stuffed them in to enhance the flavor; then he added a little bit of salt to enhance the flavor.

Looking at the small handful of chicken mushrooms and matsutake mushrooms that were picked together, Song Ruan simply washed them, stuffed them into the chicken’s stomach, and then sealed the chicken’s stomach with peeled bamboo sticks.

Wrap the chicken with several layers of large leaves, then apply a layer of wet soil on the outside and bury it in the ground.

Yang Bin came back with the firewood, started the fire, and asked her to watch the fire while he helped her weed.

Because she was not buried deep, the fire burned for more than half an hour before it died down.

“Go wash your hands, I’ll get the chicken ready.”

Yang Bin came over and took over the hot job. Song Ruan didn’t argue with him and went to the small river nearby to wash her hands and face with peace of mind.

After washing, he picked two banana leaves, spread them on the ground as a stool, and filled the cup with sweet Yuquan water.

“Yang Bin, where is your water cup?” Song Ruan looked up and asked.

“Over there where I was working just now.”

“Then I’ll get it.” Song Ruan stood up and took Yang Bin’s cup, secretly poured out the water in it, and filled it with Yuquan water from the space.

When she came back, Yang Bin had already washed his hands and torn a chicken leg into strips and placed them on a large leaf before handing it to her.

“Thank you.” Song Ruan took it, picked up a chicken leg and took a bite.

The chicken is fresh and fragrant, and has fully absorbed the flavors of chicken mushrooms and matsutake mushrooms. After swallowing it, the fragrance remains in your mouth.

Song Ruan was extremely satisfied and felt happy all of a sudden.

Yang Bin used to grill food often when he went up the mountain, but he had never made beggar’s chicken. He didn’t expect that ordinary ingredients could be made so delicious.

He didn’t know how she could make the chicken so tough, firm, fresh, fragrant and not greasy.

Song Ruan finished a chicken leg and two chicken mushrooms and stopped eating. She drank water while watching the man opposite her eat.

He eats in a very handsome manner, eating quickly without appearing rude.

After Yang Bin finished eating, he realized that she was staring at him, and his face suddenly became hot. The beggar’s chicken she made was so delicious, and he must have looked ugly because he ate so quickly just now.

Yang Bin felt a little uncomfortable because he didn’t maintain a good image in front of his sweetheart. He subconsciously picked up the water cup beside him and took a sip of water to cover up his panic.

But I didn’t expect the water to be sweet and fragrant.

He was stunned: “This water…”

Just as he was about to say this, he was interrupted by a voice.

“Song Xiaomei – Song Xiaomei -“

“Someone is coming, hurry up.” Song Ruan quickly called Yang Bin to help destroy the body.

After they covered all the traces with soil, the cries became closer.

“Song Xiaomei”

Song Ruan recognized it as the voice of Aunt Liu, the most gossipy person in their village.

Song Ruan was very confused. They didn’t have much contact with each other normally, so why did Aunt Liu come to see her?

Although she was puzzled, she still responded: “Aunt Liu, I’m here.”