Chapter 36: Hand It Over

Zhou Yu chuckled and tapped An’an’s tiny nose. “Little one, did you miss me too?”

“Uncle~” An’an called sweetly, then suddenly leaned in and planted a big smack of a kiss on his cheek.

Madam Zhao and Qin Ying’s expressions changed at once. Qin Ying quickly said, “Lord Zhou, An’an is still young and doesn’t understand—”

Zhou Yu was stunned. A faint milky scent lingered at the tip of his nose, and his cold cheek felt a warm, soft touch. His heart couldn’t help but start to warm.

Coming back to his senses, his eyes filled with a smile. He gently tossed the little one in his arms into the air.

An’an giggled gleefully.

How could she not laugh? She just gained 0.1 energy units!

Let her calculate: when her mother is with the handsome uncle, the emotional energy value doubles. That means both contributed 0.02 each, and grandma contributed 0.01~

Wait, that doesn’t add up!

Hold on, let her recalculate. The three of them just got really emotional, so the energy is doubled—meaning each of them contributed 0.02.

But when the handsome uncle and her mom are together, the energy is doubled again. That means each of them contributed 0.04, plus grandma’s 0.02… Doesn’t that add up?

Wahaha! This System really is a little genius!

From the looks of it, she really does need to push their relationship forward quickly. If they’re already giving her so many surprises just being close, once they actually become husband and wife, then—

Oh my, wouldn’t she level up in no time?

If the handsome uncle also gets promoted, helping even more people, the merit energy she could earn… would be immeasurable!

Seeing her laughing so happily, the adults around her couldn’t help but be infected by the joy and smiled as well.

But the weather outside was too cold. Zhou Yu quickly handed An’an back and urged them to head home. He added, “Huzi can go home too. We basically don’t need his help here anymore.”

Some village women had already come voluntarily to help boil water and cook, so Zhao Hu had little left to do.

Qin Ying hesitated slightly and said, “Lord Zhou, there is something I need to report to you.”

Zhou Yu looked a bit helpless. “Miss Qin, you really don’t need to be so formal with me.”

“It’s like this,” Qin Ying said softly, “As you know, I brought back some soil from the place where mushrooms grow, and at home, we had some old wood that had grown black fungus before.

“After we returned, we started experimenting with growing mushrooms and fungus.

“We haven’t succeeded in growing black fungus yet, but we’ve managed to grow a batch of mushrooms…

“It doesn’t take much to grow mushrooms—decayed grass and wood are everywhere, and everyone has wood ash. As long as the fungus is well nurtured, we can harvest mushrooms continuously.”

Zhou Yu’s eyes lit up. “This isn’t something easily explained in a few words. How about this—tonight, come to Uncle Chen Jiu’s house and we’ll talk it over in detail.

“Also, bring some of the mushrooms you’ve grown for me to see. It’s cold and windy today, so go home and rest early.”

He then had someone call Zhao Hu over to escort them home.

The Zhao family had no choice but to leave for now.

After an early dinner, Madam Zhao had Qin Ying carry An’an, while she and her son carried two mushroom cultivation troughs and went to Uncle Chen Jiu’s house.

Zhou Yu was sitting in the main hall chatting with Uncle Chen. When he saw them arrive, he quickly invited them to sit.

Uncle Chen looked at the mushrooms and was both surprised and delighted. “Niece-in-law, did you grow these yourselves? My heavens! This is amazing!”

Madam Zhao beamed with pride. “Uncle Jiu, Yingzi figured all this out. Let her explain it to you.”

As soon as they entered the house, An’an started clamoring to go to Zhou Yu. He took her into his lap and gently removed the large coat wrapped around her. Seeing that Madam Zhao and the others were still standing, he said politely, “Please, have a seat.”

Xu Xia brought over two small stools and first pulled Zhao Hu to sit.

Only then did Madam Zhao and Qin Ying sit down.

Qin Ying began explaining the process of growing mushrooms, and specifically pointed out, “These two troughs of mushrooms are slightly different.”

The difference was visible at a glance: one wooden trough was full of large, plump mushrooms, while the other had sparse and smaller ones with less vibrant color.

Zhou Yu quickly asked, “Why is that?”

Qin Ying smiled and explained fluently, “Actually, the soil mix for growing mushrooms was the same. I used the soil I dug from the mountain, mixed with rotten wood, decomposed grass, soybean stalks, crushed corn cobs, and wood ash.

“The only difference is that one batch was heat-treated, and the other wasn’t.

“The fungus strains were the same. As long as the environment is warm and moist enough, the fungus grows very quickly…”

Zhou Yu listened intently.

Uncle Chen Jiu kept slapping his thigh, laughing heartily. “Oh my, what a clever girl Yingzi is! You’re the blessing of our Tongshu Village!

“If everyone can grow mushrooms, then even without grain this winter, we won’t starve!”

Qin Ying blushed with embarrassment, laughing softly. “Uncle Jiu, don’t say that. This isn’t just my achievement—my mother and Huzi also did a lot.

“Besides, if I hadn’t followed Lord Zhou to dig wells and discovered wild mushrooms, I wouldn’t have thought to cultivate them. So Lord Zhou deserves credit too.”

Zhou Yu laughed. “It really has nothing to do with me. In fact, I even scolded you for going up the mountain on your own.”

“Looking back now, I owe you an apology.”

Qin Ying quickly stood up and waved her hands. “Please, I don’t dare accept that!”

An’an snorted and gave Zhou Yu the back of her head. She hadn’t forgotten about that scolding!

But everyone else was focused on the mushrooms and didn’t notice her little temper.

Zhou Yu motioned for Qin Ying to sit again and asked a few more detailed questions, which she answered one by one.

Once Zhou Yu felt he had no more doubts, he turned to Uncle Chen and said, “Uncle Chen, how about this—let’s make Tongshu Village a mushroom cultivation pilot site.

“Let’s see whether this mushroom cultivation is a one-off success or something that can be widely adopted.

“If the whole village succeeds, then we can promote it more broadly.”

An’an’s eyes sparkled. Wow! If this gets promoted, won’t the merit energy increase again?

Wahaha! Mama is the best!

She then reached out to Qin Ying for a hug.

As soon as Qin Ying took her back, An’an gave her a big, noisy kiss on the cheek.

Qin Ying’s smile immediately blossomed, her eyes curving with joy.

Zhou Yu was momentarily dazed.

Unknowingly, Qin Ying’s appearance had recovered to about seventy or eighty percent of what it used to be. Her eyes and brows were bright and lovely.

An’an’s curved brows and apricot eyes, with cheeks like peach petals—she looked like a little celestial child.

With these two faces together, anyone would believe they were real mother and daughter—such a beautiful sight.

But Zhou Yu knew propriety and quickly looked away. He stood and gave Qin Ying a deep bow. “If this method proves effective, Miss Qin will have truly benefited the people.”

Qin Ying hurriedly stepped aside. “Lord, you… you overpraise a humble woman!”