Chapter 20: Brother Ye Personally Leads the Way

So you’re telling me the original host wasn’t here to secretly learn skills?

Jiang Manman found it funny just thinking about it—this all worked out perfectly for her.

“Well, that’s not bad at all.”

Hearing Tang Xiaomin’s voice fade into snores, Jiang Manman continued her workout—Pamela Reif’s intense sweat session. She was doing it twice a day now, planning to gradually increase to four times a day once her body adapted.

She also reminded herself: drink more water, eat less. A royal breakfast, a filling lunch, and a beggar’s dinner.

So yeah, her breakfast was amazing. Not only did she have malted milk powder, but she also discovered two hidden cans in Hao Fangfang’s room.

Hilarious. The original host gorged on fatty meat, while the stepsister sipped on malted milk.

She wondered if that stepsister of hers was already on the way to the Great Northwest.

After breakfast, she headed straight to the pig farm.

Aunt Liu was relieved not to see the new chubby Jiang comrade today.

Yesterday had utterly worn her out.

When people said Jiang Manman had gone to gather pig fodder, Li Hongmei’s face instantly darkened.

From the first moment she saw Zhou Ye in the village, she had her eye on him—not to mention that he oversaw the entire pig farm.

She had applied multiple times to help gather pig fodder at the farm but was always rejected.

Now this new Jiang comrade got to go do it? Why her?

“Captain, why can Jiang Comrade go collect pig fodder and I can’t?”

The captain hadn’t expected such a fuss over a simple work reassignment.

“Comrade Li, the pig farm is short on pig grass, so they needed someone efficient.
If you worked as fast as Jiang Comrade, I’d send you too—but you don’t.”

“But you don’t work as fast as she does!”

Li Hongmei took a deep breath, clutching her burlap sack tightly, eyes dark and brooding.

She was sure—Jiang Comrade did this on purpose.

She had deliberately performed well the past two days just to get selected for pig fodder duty.

No way. Time to strike back. She decided—today she’d finish her chores quickly and head to the pig farm.

Jiang Manman had reported to the pig farm early in the morning.

“Brother Ye, Jiang Comrade’s here with you—oh right, you guys live together.”

Jiang Manman: “……”

Zhou Ye rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Can you not? If you don’t know how to speak, just don’t.
What do you mean we ‘live together’? Our houses are just next to each other—we’re neighbors. So what if we came together?”

Ge Mazi scratched his head.

“That’s what I meant. Fine, I’ll be more careful next time.
Anyway, I’ll leave things to you guys. I’m off to sleep.”

He had night duty last night and could rest this morning.

Four aunties were in the pigpen cooking up pig slop and cleaning. Jiang Manman joined three male comrades in gathering pig grass. She recognized one—Qian Duoyu.

The second was a scrawny dark-skinned teen named Liu Jianye, about eighteen or nineteen.

The third was a fair-skinned boy called Wang Jiaxing, probably sixteen or seventeen—the youngest among them.

The skin tone contrast between the two was quite something.

Which made Qian Duoyu the bland one in the group.

Well, not quite. His stingy reputation made him memorable.

Honestly, Jiang Manman couldn’t help but label him as a freeloader.

Also, he was short with shifty eyes. The kind of guy who annoyed you no matter what he did.

“Hey, Jiang Comrade, never thought we’d be gathering pig grass together today.
Wanna team up?”

Jiang Manman smiled politely but distantly.

“No thanks. I prefer working alone.”

“A girl alone on the mountain? That’s dangerous!
There are all kinds of snakes, bugs, rats, and who knows what up there.”

“I gather pig grass up there all the time—I’ve got experience.”

Seeing him pitching himself so hard, Zhou Ye remembered what Jiang Manman had said yesterday about this guy being a mooch. His face darkened.

He casually grabbed a bamboo basket from the pig farm yard.

“Let’s go. I’ll come with you today and guide Jiang Comrade.”

Wang Jiaxing and Liu Jianye exchanged a glance, then picked up their own baskets and machetes and headed up the mountain.

Jiang Manman glanced at Zhou Ye, carrying the stick he had carved for her yesterday in one hand, a kitchen knife in the other, and her basket slung over her back as she began gathering pig grass.

Zhou Ye looked at her.

“I’ll get you some realgar powder to carry later.”

Jiang Manman raised a brow.

“You can get realgar powder around here? Well then, thanks in advance.”

Zhou Ye looked at her again.

“Common pig grasses include paper mulberry leaves, Spanish needles, chickweed, morning glory, wild wheat, wild rapeseed—they all love that stuff.”

Jiang Manman nodded.

“Your pigs really eat well around here.”

“Of course. How else are they supposed to get fat?”

He glanced at Jiang Manman again.

Jiang Manman: “Why are you looking at me?”

Zhou Ye turned away.

“No reason. I was just curious—what kind of household do you come from?
How did you end up… this plump?”

“Ordinary working-class family—what kind of conditions do you think?
But my mom used to be a military doctor. She passed away and left us a pension.
My stepmom works at the meat processing plant—she didn’t mind letting me eat meat!”

She chatted as she swung her machete—swish swish swish—cutting the tall grasses and stuffing them into her basket.

Suddenly, there was a loud flapping sound. Jiang Manman paused and looked at Zhou Ye.

“There are wild chickens and rabbits all over this mountain. Sometimes even wild boars show up.
The chicken stew with mushrooms you made the other day—that was from up here, right?
How’d you catch that wild chicken? They’re fast and alert.”

Before he could finish, Jiang Manman threw her kitchen knife at the wild chicken in one smooth motion.

The chicken dropped dead instantly. Zhou Ye shut his mouth like he’d never asked.

“…You’ve got good aim.”

Jiang Manman didn’t know why she was so accurate. She’d never learned how to throw.

She picked up the chicken.

“Guess we’re having chicken again tonight.”

Zhou Ye was speechless. Who eats meat every single day?

This Jiang Comrade was… something else. He wasn’t even sure what.

No wonder she was so well-fed. Was the universe personally feeding her?

He only earned thirty yuan a month at the pig farm.

If he kept buying meals from her at one yuan each, wasn’t that basically working for free?

Thinking about it that way, Zhou Ye found the whole thing terrifying.

Maybe… he should just marry this plump comrade?

Uh…

No, no.

He’d brought it up last night and she hadn’t agreed.

Forget it. This time, he had to resist. It was just food!

He could survive on anything before she came along.

Determined, he made a vow: he would no longer be tempted by Jiang Manman’s cooking.

He had to guard his wallet.

Before long, the two of them had filled a basket with pig grass—about thirty jin (roughly 15 kg).

That was just the morning haul. If she kept this up, in a few days she could gather the required fifty jin in a single morning and have the rest of the day to herself.

That thought made her feel all warm and fuzzy.

Of course, that’s when someone had to come along and ruin the mood.

Well—no, not really. This wasn’t ruining anything. It was just more drama to watch.