As May arrived, the days grew warmer. Wild grasses sprouted along the village’s quiet paths, mingling with the tender green shoots of newly planted crops, filling the air with the scent of life.

Compared to the thriving surroundings, Lin Qingxu’s daily routine was painfully simple, easily summed up in one line: feeding chickens, struggling with embroidery, practicing a “let-the-land-do-its-own-thing” style of farming, and enduring Fang Xiu’s relentless teasing.

Perhaps after feeding them twice a day, an odd bond had formed—especially with the bold and brash Red-Feathered Warrior. Once notorious for ambushing her at every chance, he had, surprisingly, changed his ways. On particularly good days, he would strut around her with exaggerated importance, his thick, clawed feet stomping in a grand parade. Every now and then, he’d stretch his neck and let out a loud crow, as if to remind the world of his formidable presence.

Lin Qingxu was thoroughly flattered.

As for embroidery… she had nearly lost all hope.

She had already made up her mind: if all else failed, she would embroider a chubby, round little panda—the national treasure—on the bellyband she would wear on her wedding day.

Given her disastrous stitching skills, intricate landscapes and floral patterns always turned into unrecognizable messes, it was better to embrace simplicity. At least a round, cuddly panda would look somewhat intentional. And since the concept of a “national treasure” didn’t even exist in this era, no one could call her out on it—even if her stitches made the poor panda look ridiculous.

Meanwhile, the small patch of land she tended had turned into a lush green paradise. The young bok choy leaves glistened under the sunlight, looking absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, they were still too short to harvest, delaying any sense of achievement she had hoped for.

As usual, Fang Xiu spent her afternoons on embroidery, while her mornings were either dedicated to house chores or visiting other households to teach embroidery techniques. She was widely respected for her needlework.

And thanks to a certain someone’s increasingly frequent visits, Lin Qingxu found herself growing more and more resentful.

Yet again, after begrudgingly walking Cui Yuying to the road and seeing her off, Lin Qingxu returned home, sulking all the way. The moment she stepped inside the kitchen, she pursed her lips and fixed Fang Xiu with a silent, piercing stare, her jet-black eyes brimming with unspoken grievances.

Fang Xiu cast her a sideways glance, her tone cool. “Say one more word, and you can forget about lunch.”

Lin Qingxu’s pursed lips twitched upward, swallowing her frustration. With a huff, she kicked aside a small log and plopped down by the stove, channeling her indignation into aggressively adding firewood.

Seeing her childish tantrum, Fang Xiu merely smirked and said nothing.

Lin Qingxu held back her grumbling all the way until lunch was halfway through. Seeing that Fang Xiu was in a good mood, she seized the opportunity during their casual chatter to slip in a question:

“Mother, are you planning to make Cui Yuying your successor?”

The smile vanished from Fang Xiu’s face. A sharp glare shot in Lin Qingxu’s direction, making her instinctively shrink her neck. Fearing for her food supply, she hastily shoveled a big mouthful of rice into her mouth.

Fang Xiu raised an eyebrow. “What’s this? Jealous, are we?”

Lin Qingxu gulped. Jealous? As if she’d dare.

She forced an awkward laugh and quickly grabbed another bite of vegetables to mask her unease. “No, no, just curious. If she really becomes your apprentice, wouldn’t that make her my junior?”

Fang Xiu let out a sharp laugh. “With your embroidery skills? If I were really your master, I’d have died of frustration by now.”

Lin Qingxu pouted. No way was she going to argue with that.

Instead, she probed further. “So… do you like her, then?”

Otherwise, why would her normally indifferent mother allow Cui Yuying to visit so frequently?

But after shaking her head, Lin Qingxu reconsidered. That didn’t seem right. Cui Yuying might come by often, but she had never seen Fang Xiu treat her with any special warmth—no extra questions, no casual chatter, and certainly no invitations to stay for a meal.

Could it be that Fang Xiu simply acknowledged Cui Yuying’s talent in embroidery and was holding off on making a decision?

Fang Xiu saw right through her thoughts. She shot Lin Qingxu a look before adding a sharp remark. “Miss Cui does have quite the talent for embroidery—so much so that even if you had an ox cart, you wouldn’t catch up. But as for liking her? Not particularly.”

Her pace of eating remained unchanged as she continued, “Since I’m already spending my mornings tutoring the neighbors in embroidery, I might as well pick someone pleasant to look at and quick to grasp the lessons. Saves me the trouble.”

“Huh?” Lin Qingxu’s chopsticks nearly slipped from her grasp.

She never would have guessed that her ever-calm, go-with-the-flow mother could also be… picky?

Fang Xiu ignored her overreaction. “So, why is it that you don’t like Miss Cui?”

Lin Qingxu had complained about Cui Yuying more than once, but her reasons were always vague. Either she grumbled about having an extra person around the house or whined that Cui Yuying’s visits disrupted her enthusiasm for embroidery.

Of course, Fang Xiu knew those weren’t the real reasons.

Lin Qingxu grimaced and finally admitted through clenched teeth. “Don’t you think she acts a little too weak and pitiful?”

Just saying it made her shudder.

She could already picture Cui Yuying’s soft, trembling voice calling her Sister Lin like a delicate flower swaying helplessly in the wind. The mere thought of it sent a wave of goosebumps up her arms.

Fang Xiu couldn’t help but chuckle at her reaction. “Her personality is simply different from yours and A’Wan’s. She was raised under strict parental rules, rarely allowed to go out. It’s no surprise she turned out this way.”

Lin Qingxu’s mind stirred. “Huh? Why did her family move to Lotus Village in the first place?”

She still remembered the first time she met Cui Yuying—it was during the selection for cultivation disciples. The man accompanying her back then must have been her father. Though she had only caught a fleeting glimpse of him, his demeanor didn’t seem like that of an ordinary farmer.

For once, Fang Xiu didn’t sidestep the question and simply treated it as casual mealtime conversation. “I don’t know much, but I heard the Cui family came from Qianyuan Village.”

Lin Qingxu was surprised, and her mind quickly spun with thoughts.

Qianyuan Village was nowhere near Lotus Village. Moving that far—practically crossing two entire major cities—wasn’t something a family would do on a whim. There had to be a specific reason.

Fang Xiu continued, “Her father was a local gentry. They lived comfortably, but then a scoundrel from a neighboring village—someone with both power and connections—set his sights on marrying their daughter. The Cui family, being mere landowners, knew better than to go against government-backed influence. With no other choice, Cui Yuying’s father took the family and fled.”

A spark of realization flashed in Lin Qingxu’s mind. “Wait a second… could it be that Cui Yuying keeps coming over because she’s looking for protection?”

The Su family—whom the Lin family was about to marry into—was both successful in business and well-connected in official circles. With their standing, a single word from them carried real weight in the village. Cui Yuying’s deliberate attempts to get close to her… Could that be her real motive?

Everything clicked into place, and Lin Qingxu suddenly saw things in a new light.

Fang Xiu shot her an amused glance. “Even if the Cui family were truly in trouble, Lotus Village isn’t like Qianyuan. That kind of influence doesn’t reach this far. If she really needed protection, wouldn’t she be better off seeking help elsewhere?”

Lin Qingxu watched as Fang Xiu neatly distanced herself from the whole matter with a single sentence and silently nodded.

Not stirring trouble, not getting involved—this had always been Fang Xiu’s way.

Whether it was due to their conversation or some other reason, Cui Yuying’s visits abruptly dropped at an alarming rate.

Without the ever-present delicate white flower unsettling her, Lin Qingxu was so overjoyed that even weeding the vegetable patch felt like a joyous event. She even secretly decided to embroider a few tall, graceful bamboo stalks next to the little panda on her dudou…

(duduo-undergarment covering the chest and abdomen)

During her two months in Lotus Village, Lin Qingxu had almost fully embraced the leisurely life of an ancient countryside girl. Almost.

^_^