Chapter 53: New Encounter

He’s not bad-looking, about the same height as Jiang Youcheng, but not particularly tall.

This person is just so strange!

Song Jingyun really didn’t want to engage with him. Carrying the two buckets of water, he headed straight home.

Xun Yuanbai adjusted his beard, watching as Song Jingyun walked away. When even his figure disappeared from view, he turned, hands behind his back, and with a slight hunch, he strolled away.

As he left, he glanced at the village gate, which bore the three characters “Jiang Family Village”.

The young master of Jiang’s village.

This Jiang’s village would be a blessed place in the future.

To avoid Xun Yuanbai, Song Jingyun almost ran all the way home.

Observing her husband rushing back in a fluster, Jiang Mixia curiously peered outside. “Why are you running while carrying water? Is there a wolf out there?”

Scarier than a wolf!

Wiping off some sweat, Song Jingyun hastily explained, “It’s terrifying! That strange person I met at the temple last time found his way to the village. He wouldn’t leave me alone and said a lot of strange things…”

As Jiang Mixia listened to her husband’s account of what had happened, she furrowed her brow.

Calling himself a Daoist priest, asking her husband to save his life, thanking him repeatedly without any reason, and expressing a desire to repay her husband’s kindness? It was indeed as her husband had described – a strange person.

But if he claimed to be a Daoist priest, and had been pestering her husband at Deyin Temple and now found his way to Jiang’s village… Could it be that he knew something?

Did he know that her husband was a transcendent being from another world? Or did he know that her husband’s luck was stronger than usual? Why did he feel the need to express his gratitude?

Did he do something to her husband?

The more Jiang Mixia thought about it, the more serious her expression became.

Observing Jiang Mixia’s somber expression, Song Jingyun grew increasingly uneasy. “Are you okay, wife…?”

“I’m fine. It’s just that I find this person very strange. He might not be a good person,” Jiang Mixia replied, reeling back her thoughts and not intending to explain things to her husband so clearly. After all, it was just conjecture, and the reality might be different.

Her husband was so timid; she didn’t want him to be unduly frightened by this.

“It was right for you not to engage with him today. If you ever encounter someone like that again, come and tell me, and I’ll handle it.”

Jiang Mixia poured the water from the buckets into the cistern, picked up the shoulder pole and the buckets, and said, “You stay home and look after things. I’ll go fetch water.”

“I’ll come with you,” Song Jingyun followed.

That person was so odd. What if her wife encountered danger while alone?

“You should stay at home,” Jiang Mixia advised.

“What if that person comes to the house? I’m scared…” Song Jingyun looked at Jiang Mixia with a pitiful expression.

“I guess so.” After some consideration, Jiang Mixia decided to take him along. “Then come with me. If we encounter that person again, you can hide behind me.”

That wouldn’t do. He was a man and couldn’t hide behind his wife.

Thinking over these words, Song Jingyun swallowed his objections and simply nodded at Jiang Mixia. He took the shoulder pole from her and followed her out, heading towards the river.

The journey went smoothly, and they didn’t encounter the strange person again. Even on their way back, they searched around but didn’t see anyone suspicious.

“It looks like he’s gone,” Song Jingyun breathed a sigh of relief.

Leaving just like that made the situation even more peculiar.

Jiang Mixia, with a furrowed brow, scrutinized Song Jingyun. “Have you felt that something’s not right?”

“Not right?”

“Yes, have you felt uncomfortable or noticed anything out of the ordinary?” Jiang Mixia couldn’t shake the feeling that the so-called Daoist priest might have done something to her husband.

“If I were to say something out of the ordinary, there is something,” Song Jingyun said after some serious thought, as he rubbed his stomach. “I just had breakfast a while ago, but it feels like I’m hungry again…”

During this time, he had been feeling hungry more often. It seemed like his appetite was getting larger.

Jiang Mixia: “…”

Alright, it’s time to go back and make some dumplings.

In the modern world, Jiang Mixia was accustomed to cooking and had some culinary skills. Although not exceptional, her food was palatable and edible.

After coming here, she often helped with meal preparations with her mother, so she had no issues with basic cooking.

She selected leeks, chopped them, minced the meat, mixed the filling, made the dough, rolled it out, and folded the dumplings…

At lunchtime, Song Jingyun ate two large bowls of dumplings.

In the evening, there were some dumplings left from lunch, so Jiang Mixia pan-fried them and made a cucumber-tomato egg drop soup to go with it.

The next day, Jiang Mixia tried making steamed buns filled with sesame, tofu, vermicelli, and egg, along with a pot of tasty boiled pork slices.

The flavors were delicious, and Song Jingyun enjoyed the meals without any hesitation.

So, Jiang Mixia just listened as he burped contently.

After their meal, Jiang Mixia had Song Jingyun sit with a piece of bamboo strips, while she herself experimented with making something using the bamboo strips.

“Do you want a bamboo basket, my dear?” Song Jingyun asked as he saw her working. “I can weave one for you.”

As they spoke, Song Jingyun deftly wove a small round basket in no time. The edges were neat, the base was flat and sturdy – a well-woven basket.

“It’s a good basket,” Jiang Mixia nodded, then turned to Song Jingyun. “How can we make this bamboo basket hold water without leaking?”

“A leak-proof bamboo basket?” Song Jingyun lifted the newly woven basket and inspected it. “I don’t think so. The gaps are too large; it would leak.”

“So, I was thinking about reducing the size of these gaps until it doesn’t leak.”

The business of selling bamboo baskets, bamboo sieves, and sewing baskets was doing well at home, but these items were prone to being replaced, which could lead to a loss of business at any time. To sustain continuous profits, they needed to continuously develop new products. Moreover, the current products sold at home were all handmade, which was quite tiring. Jiang Mixia also wanted to expand production and develop a workshop to try to run the business as a full-time operation.

In order to ensure the scale of a workshop, they needed to constantly diversify their products, ensuring their variety and having a flagship product – something that would impress others.

Upon hearing this, Song Jingyun once again examined the bamboo basket, then looked at the bamboo strips, contemplating. “I think we should make the bamboo strips thinner. This way, the gaps between the bamboo strips will be smaller. If we weave this basket in multiple layers, one on top of the other, perhaps it won’t leak.”

“That makes sense,” Jiang Mixia nodded.

With the basic principles in mind, the next step was to put them into practice. They needed to determine the degree of thinness required for the bamboo strips and how to weave them in multiple layers to ensure the basket wouldn’t leak.

The two of them spent the entire afternoon and the following morning working in the courtyard.

As midday approached, Song Jingyun held up the finished basket. “Shall we try this one?”