Chapter 60 – Moving In for the First Time

An’an sighed.

“Such a tiny little person already knows how to sigh?” Aunt Zhao chuckled. “We don’t follow those folks who sigh all the time from a young age—sigh too much and you’ll sigh away all your good fortune!”

Zhao Hu patted her little head too. “That’s right. You’re just a little kid. What worries could you possibly have?

“Whatever it is, we’ve got it handled! All you need to do is eat and sleep, and sleep and eat!”

An’an couldn’t help rolling her eyes. Eat and sleep, sleep and eat—that’s what pigs do!

But thinking about it more carefully, ever since she came to this world, it really did look like she had been doing nothing but eating and sleeping…

Facts were facts, whether she liked hearing them or not was another matter.

So she wriggled out of her uncle’s arms and scooted far away on her little butt, deliberately showing him her backside.

Zhao Hu burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Aunt Zhao turned to Qin Ying and said, “Since there’s nothing else going on, why don’t we bring the big bamboo basket inside and keep husking corn kernels?”

Qin Ying hesitated a bit. “But you’re both injured…”

“It won’t interfere with working!” Aunt Zhao was adamant. “It’s my foot that’s hurt, not my hands.”

Zhao Hu also wiggled his hands to show they were fine. “My hands still work…”

“Stop trying to act tough,” Aunt Zhao said, having seen Hu Dayong crush his hand underfoot. It was still swollen. “You just play with An’an for a while.”

Qin Ying brought two small stools inside. Aunt Zhao climbed down from the kang (heated brick bed), sat on one of the stools, and began husking corn kernels while quietly chatting with Qin Ying.

Zhao Hu played with An’an for a while. But An’an was thinking about her self-check, so she pretended to fall asleep.

Zhao Hu tucked her in with a quilt, added two pillows to block drafts, then got off the bed wanting to help with the work, only to be driven back to his room by the mother and daughter to go sleep.

As for An’an…

She checked her Heavenly Eye Scan again—oh! The range had expanded to ten li (approx. 5 km), and it no longer required physical contact. As long as she locked onto someone, she could see a simple profile of their life. But for more detailed information, physical contact was still necessary.

The surveillance range had also extended to five li, and within one li, she could even hear sound.

Moreover, the effect duration of the Koi Fish Blessing had increased to ten days—and now it was controllable.

Eh?

An’an’s lips twitched in excitement. This feature was worth exploring.

Previously, the Koi Fish Blessing only lasted one day and wasn’t controllable. For example, when she gave a blessing to her family, the effect was maxed out. The same went for plants and their byproducts.

Now, she could control the intensity of the blessing—set it to whatever level she wanted.

Before, giving individual blessings to others was usually ineffective, and group blessings would lose 90% of the effect. That hadn’t changed.

Lately, her mother and the others had been worrying over why their mushrooms were growing too well.

Now, she could reduce the blessing level given to the mushrooms to just 10%. That way, their mushrooms would only be slightly better than others’, and people wouldn’t get jealous.

But that still wasn’t a fundamental solution.

What was?

It would be for the whole village to become prosperous—so they wouldn’t care about such tiny gains.

So for the handsome uncle, she should still give him the full Koi Fish Blessing!

And next time, she’d also try blessing the people around him to see if that would work.

Last time, during the well digging, it seemed like the people around him couldn’t even tolerate 10% of the blessing. She still didn’t know why.

Logically speaking, people around him should be good folks too!

What other functions were there?

Whoa! How did she miss this earlier?

The treasure-hunting feature had been unlocked!

Although it was just the beginner version and could only locate some cheap, low-value items, it had the potential to level up!

Hehehehehe…

Unable to hold back her happiness, An’an let out a chuckle.

Aunt Zhao and Qin Ying both stopped working and turned toward the kang. Seeing An’an’s little body trembling slightly but not moving otherwise, they assumed she hadn’t woken up.

Aunt Zhao whispered, “What kind of sweet dream is she having?”

Qin Ying smiled and shook her head. “Mom, it hasn’t rained yet—so technically the drought isn’t over. How much grain do you think we should plant next year? We ought to plan for both possibilities.”

“Well,” Aunt Zhao clicked her tongue, “let’s see what Uncle Chen Jiu says. We’ll follow his lead.

“I think the same as you. Who knows when this drought will end?

“Not to jinx it, but what if the well suddenly dries up, and the crops aren’t ready to harvest yet? Wouldn’t that be a disaster?

“To be safe, we should keep our essentials close.”

She suddenly smiled. “What we can think of, Uncle Jiu surely can too. No need to overthink it.”

“Mm.” Qin Ying nodded. “I wonder how long Lord Zhou plans to stay here. Didn’t he say he was going to move in? But now there’s no word…”

Humans can’t help but talk about someone.

Just as she said that, they heard movement outside. Qin Ying quickly stood up. “You all stay put. I’ll go take a look.”

An’an’s ears twitched. She activated her surveillance and was instantly delighted.

Hey! Mom just mentioned the handsome uncle, and here he was!

What’s that called? Telepathic connection!

The Zhao family and the western neighbor shared a short wall. You could see each other’s yard while standing outside.

Zhou Yu was carrying a blanket in his arms, while Xu Xia and the other guards were carrying large bundles.

Seeing Qin Ying, Zhou Yu smiled and nodded at her.

Qin Ying gave a curtsy and asked, “Lord Zhou, do you need help with anything?”

“No,” Zhou Yu shook his head. “But, if it’s convenient, could we have dinner at your place tonight? We forgot to buy a cooking pot.”

The stove in the west house worked fine, but the two large iron pots had mysteriously disappeared. There weren’t even bowls or chopsticks.

Qin Ying owed him a big favor, so of course, she couldn’t refuse and nodded her agreement.

Zhou Yu replied, “It’s cold out. Please go back inside.”

Qin Ying curtsied again before turning to go back and relayed the situation to Aunt Zhao and Zhao Hu.

Aunt Zhao quickly said, “Are you going to be able to cook alone for that many people? How about bringing the ingredients in here, and I’ll help cut them. Let Huzi tend the fire.”

“There aren’t that many people, are there?” Qin Ying wasn’t entirely sure. “I only saw four. I’ll ask again later.

“If it’s just them, I can handle it myself. We still have frozen tofu, spiced tofu, and frozen dumplings.

“I’ll make a big stew, steam one of the cured fish Lord Zhou gave us before.

“Then stir-fry the cured pork with garlic shoots, the sausage with mushrooms, shredded radish with soaked bean sprouts, and make a cold bok choy salad—that’s six dishes.

“We’ve still got cornbread and flatbread left over from the New Year, and I’ll cook a pot of porridge. That should be plenty.”

Aunt Zhao nodded repeatedly. “Alright, let’s do that then…”

Before she finished speaking, Xu Xia’s voice came from outside.

Qin Ying hurried out to meet him.

Xu Xia was carrying a basket covered with cloth, so it wasn’t clear what was inside.

He smiled and said to Qin Ying, “Miss Qin, we have a lot of people, and we don’t want you to go to too much trouble. The lord asked me to bring some ingredients over. Just use whatever you see fit!”

With that, he turned and ran off.