Chapter 40 – Blocked on the Road

Xia Daohua often ran into the mountains, and each time she came back, she never returned empty-handed. Naturally, this attracted the attention of those with ulterior motives.

Ever since her second aunt, Sun-shi, deliberately stopped her and unceremoniously rummaged through her basket, Xia Daohua had become more cautious.

Most of her game and valuables were now quietly tucked away into the storage compartment of her space supermarket. In her actual basket, she only placed worthless firewood or pigweed.

At most, she’d add a bit of cheap herbal medicine. She wouldn’t even put in too many wild vegetables or mushrooms.

So from that point on, whether it was Sun-shi, Wu-shi, her occasionally appearing eldest aunt Liu-shi, or nosy neighbors who showed up unannounced—none of them could get anything out of her.

With this cheat-like artifact in hand, the fourth branch of the Xia family began to flourish.

However, apart from Xia Youtian and Jiang-shi, who were genuinely honest and kind, the younger generation all had sharp minds and strong personalities. No one would spill information easily.

Moreover, the whole fourth branch was hardworking and frugal.

Outsiders could only see that they were constantly busy with work and wore bright, contented smiles, but they didn’t witness them feasting or wearing new clothes and fancy hats.

There was one very noticeable change, though.

The fourth branch’s entire family looked visibly healthier.

Especially the growing children, Lihua and Wulang, were clearly taller and sturdier than the other village kids their age. Their limbs were strong and muscular.

Their eyes looked livelier, their bodies more robust—it was impossible not to notice.

Even little Linghua, who was always munching on something with her chubby mouth, had grown a round little belly.

Though it wasn’t obvious under her clothes, Xia Daohua noticed and took every opportunity to surprise-attack her, poking at her soft tummy.

Linghua would giggle uncontrollably, laughing while trying to escape, and in the process, her reaction time had grown impressively quick.

Xia Youtian and Jiang-shi had already sown the new wheat seeds.

But to be safe, they didn’t plant the entire field with the new variety. They deliberately reserved two plots to sow with last year’s saved seeds.

By March, spring planting should begin. Beiguan Village was a little colder than other places, so planting just after the Double Third Festival (the third day of the third lunar month) was still considered timely. As long as it wasn’t later than the fifteenth, it was fine.

It was said that beyond Beiguan Town, after crossing several ridges, the weather got even colder.

Grass didn’t even sprout until after the Qingming Festival over there!

For now, there was no visible difference between the new wheat and the old wheat. Both looked the same—lush, green sprouts just beginning to emerge.

Even so, both Jiang-shi and Xia Youtian were somewhat nervous inside.

But when they saw the green shoots poking up from the soil, they breathed a silent sigh of relief. Neither voiced their worries, instead reassuring themselves inwardly:

“At least the new seeds sprouted on time. They’re not lagging behind the old seeds. That’s a good sign.”

The whole family diligently tended to the fields. They even pulled out the wild grass growing alongside the wheat sprouts.

It wasn’t a difficult task, and even Xia Daohua could do it.

However, pulling weeds barehanded quickly rubbed her palms raw.

A child’s skin was delicate—sometimes it even broke the skin.

Xia Daohua realized she couldn’t let this continue.

She furrowed her brow and tried to recall labor scenes from her past life in the countryside.

Hmm… lawn mowers and herbicides were out of the question.

With no industrial foundation here, even if she flapped her little transmigrator butterfly wings as hard as she could, she couldn’t conjure those up.

Her space supermarket was well-stocked but designed for city life. It didn’t carry small farming machinery, fertilizer, or pesticides.

She was lucky even to find things like flower fertilizer, plant care products, and seeds—courtesy of the greenery section in one corner of the store!

After much brainstorming, Xia Daohua finally decided to take out some hemp twine and make homemade gloves for her family.

Cotton thread would make better gloves, but she couldn’t spin or process cotton herself. And pulling it from the supermarket would be hard to explain.

Fortunately, the family already had hemp twine on hand.

In Great Chu, farmers paid part of their taxes in hemp goods.

Jiang-shi had already soaked and retted a good amount—there was plenty to spare.

Even if Xia Daohua used some, there’d still be enough left to pay taxes.

Just in case, she also quietly pulled some twine from the space supermarket and stored it in her stash.

Xia Daohua wasn’t very skilled at glove-making.

She struggled for an entire afternoon and only managed to finish one lopsided glove. The palm part was woven, but the fingers were awkwardly sewn on.

When Jiang-shi saw this ugly glove, she doubled over laughing.

Then she pulled Xia Daohua into her arms and planted kisses on both her cheeks.

Xia Daohua had to use all her willpower not to wipe her face.

But once Jiang-shi understood her intent, her gaze softened. The way she looked at Daohua was so warm it made her uncomfortable.

Jiang-shi usually only looked at Xia Youtian that way!

And now, looking at her, it was not only sweet—but faintly curious and probing?

Xia Daohua felt a chill on her scalp.

Thankfully, after a while, Jiang-shi stopped staring and grabbed a bundle of twine, called Lihua over, and the two of them got to work.

By dinnertime, Jiang-shi had already finished two pairs of gloves, and Lihua had finished one—each one much neater than Daohua’s first try.

After dinner, Jiang-shi measured the children’s hands and began making properly sized pairs for everyone.

The next day, every member of the fourth branch wore their new, simple hemp gloves.

When weeding, Xia Daohua’s palms no longer burned. Her comfort improved greatly, and her work efficiency shot up.

Later, Jiang-shi made two more pairs of gloves to give to the elderly couple.

When Xia Youtian went to market again, he brought not only his handmade willow and bamboo baskets, and Jiang-shi’s embroidered handkerchiefs, sachets, insoles, and shoe tops—but also ten or so pairs of hemp gloves.

Hemp was easy to come by, but gloves were still a novelty. They priced each pair at five copper coins.

Xia Youtian didn’t expect much—just wanted to test the waters.

To his surprise, a discerning customer bought out his entire stock on the spot.

Twelve pairs of gloves sold for sixty copper coins.

Just that alone earned him more than he usually made on market day.

Feeling delighted, Xia Youtian was preparing to head home when someone suddenly clapped him hard on the shoulder.

Pain shot through his side, and his entire arm went numb.

Startled, Xia Youtian spun around in panic, thinking he’d been waylaid by a robber.

But then he saw the face of the person blocking his path—

And realized… he knew them.

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(End of Chapter 40)