Chapter 19: Discovering the Lotus Pond

“Mom, let’s build our house next to the Yu family’s, okay?”
Wu Linghong finally spoke up after watching the two of them eat without much appetite.

He originally planned to build it down the slope, but after surveying the terrain, he realized the higher ground would be better.
He’d casually brought it up that afternoon, and Father Yu had readily agreed.
After enjoying that meal just now, he made up his mind—they’d build right next door to the Yu family.

That way, during mealtimes, they could smell the aroma of the Yu family’s cooking. Surely that would make their meals more appetizing too.

“Mom listens to you~”
Wu’s mother didn’t object.

Over the years, she had seldom interacted with others—
First, because her son was a hunter. People in the village had taboos about those who took lives, always feeling uneasy around them.
Second, because of her own leg issues, she could only stay home and watch over Tiantian.

“The Yu family is really easy to get along with~”
Wu Linghong reassured her, worried she might feel uncomfortable being close to neighbors.

“You little rascal! How old do you think I am? You think I still care about that?”
Wu’s mother finished her porridge and pulled out a pouch of silver from her pocket.

“Here—this is the silver I’ve been saving up for your marriage. Sigh… Since we’re building the house, use this first!
Anyway, you haven’t…”
Her voice choked up mid-sentence.

“Granny, don’t cry~”
Tiantian saw her grandmother’s tear-filled eyes and immediately dropped her chopsticks to throw herself into her arms.
Her own eyes turned red with worry.

Wu’s mother buried her face in her granddaughter’s shoulder, weeping softly.

“Mooom~~ why are you bringing this up again…”
Wu Linghong felt a headache coming on. Every time this happened, he’d freeze up like a lost child.

Marriage and children had always been his mother’s greatest wish.
But it wasn’t just that no one wanted to marry him—he didn’t want to drag someone else into hardship.

“Don’t cry anymore. Once the house is built, who knows—maybe someone will want to marry me.”
Upon hearing this, Wu’s mother actually looked up. In the past, only Tiantian could comfort her like this.
Her son was a rough man—clueless and incapable of soothing words.

But today’s comment hit just right.

After all, in their village, you could count the families who had brick-and-tile houses on one hand.
She was putting everything on the line to build this one—maybe something really would change for the better.

“Hmph! You’d better make that happen then~”
“Granny, no more tears! Tiantian will blow away your sadness~”
Soon, the grandmother and granddaughter were giggling together again.

Wu Linghong counted the silver in the pouch—eighty-six taels and eight hundred copper coins.
More than enough to build a spacious courtyard.
He never thought they’d saved up so much over the years, especially since his mother’s condition required herbal treatments every month, and his niece needed to eat well too.

As evening fell, Yu Nuan carried in the sun-dried quilt and brought one to Mother Yu’s room.

“Dad, go sleep on the bed. I’ll take Gou Wang to my room.”
“It’s so hot right now that I can’t use a quilt anyway. Wait until the weather turns cold, then let him sleep with you.”

Unable to persuade him, Yu Nuan took a quilt and returned to her room.

Although it was summer, her room had a huge crack as wide as an arm running down the wall facing the bed.
There were a lot of mosquitoes too.
Even if it wasn’t cold, it was scary—at night the wind howled through the gap.

Their house was also the most isolated one in the village.
She constantly felt as if glowing eyes were watching from the woods behind the house…

She was terrified of ghosts and monsters.
So much so that she barely dared to drink water at night, afraid of needing to get up to use the toilet.

Before, she wouldn’t even dare use that old blanket—it felt too rough and gave her the creeps.
But now that she had a proper quilt, with her arms and legs tightly wrapped up, she instantly felt much safer.

The next morning.

Yu Nuan carried Gou Wang into the kitchen to feed him milk powder, then handed him to Mother Yu.
Mother Yu took the opportunity to take some measurements—she planned to start making clothes for her today.

She also stashed away the other two bundles of fabric, insisting she could sew everything herself.
Hiring someone else would cost money or food—something she was reluctant to part with.

Yu Nuan didn’t argue—so long as the clothes were wearable, that was enough for her.
As for stitching techniques or sewing patterns, those weren’t things she cared about.

Today, she planned to go check on the cornfield. On her way out, she moved the seeds that had been drying in the sun into a shady spot.
She could only sow them at night—summer soil temperatures were better then.
Besides, the two types of vegetable seeds she had didn’t tolerate heat well and needed lots of moisture.

“Dad~ later, could you sprinkle a bucket of water over the plot in the backyard? Not too much, just a light splash…”
Let it soak up some humidity, and she’d give it another watering at noon—then it should be ready.

“Got it~”
The eucalyptus branches trimmed yesterday were excellent for firewood.
Father Yu was in the courtyard bundling them up.

Their cornfield wasn’t on the dry land across the village but instead located on a sloped patch further up a hillside.

As she passed by the slope, she happened to run into Wu Linghong leading a group of people surveying the land.
After greeting him, Yu Nuan slipped into the field.

Looking at the corn stalks, which hadn’t even grown taller than herself, she rubbed her temples in frustration.
This was clearly an unimproved variety, and she had no idea what kind of yield it would produce.

The husks looked big at first glance, so she tore one open:
“Ugh—looks big on the outside, but it’s all for show! This husk is just a self-deceiving ruler, huh…”

Inside, the corn cob was barely the thickness of her index finger, with only three or four scattered kernels.
She couldn’t believe it and opened a few more—only to be completely dumbfounded.
The disappointment was real.

How to put it…
This corn might be fine for firewood, but as food? Absolutely hopeless.

Frustrated, she turned around and walked off, unwilling to waste more time on this doomed field.

Past the cornfield was a small hillside.
She didn’t know who it belonged to, but for now, foraging in the mountains seemed more practical.
If she could find something to sell, even better—after all, her family didn’t have a single coin to their name.

A breeze rustled the trees, and dry leaves fluttered to the ground.
She circled around to their own hill and ventured deeper, gripping a sickle in her hand—not afraid in the least.

Luckily, there were no graves in this mountain. Otherwise, wandering alone in the forest would have been a bit scary.

She climbed further past a slope, through a bamboo grove, and beyond some eucalyptus trees to a smaller incline.
The ground beneath her feet was soft. Looking up, she saw the area was covered in pine forest.
Going even deeper, the trees thinned out, and the soil turned loose and reddish.

At a lower spot ahead, she noticed a small pond.

And to her surprise and delight, the pond was filled with blooming lotus flowers—many had already wilted, revealing their seed pods.

From what she remembered, the original owner of this body—and her family—had never even seen lotus roots before.
In ancient times, limited transportation made information scarce.
Most people only ate what generations before them had passed down.
Many “delicacies” were actually discovered during times of famine.

As for things that grew in muddy water like this? Unless they were widespread, the odds of someone stumbling across them were low.
Even if someone was curious, digging up lotus roots meant getting into thick muck—who would bother with that?

She surveyed the area—no signs of snakes or other creatures.
From her space, she pulled out some bug-repellent spray and carelessly spritzed it over her clothes and pants cuffs. A little protection was better than none.

Then she picked up a branch about two meters long and as thick as her wrist and walked to the pond.
Lush grass surrounded the water. She set down her basket and cut a whole load to carry back.

Bright red balsam flowers bloomed on the embankment next to the pond—also called “golden phoenix flowers.”
She remembered using them to dye her fingernails as a child.

She extended the branch into the pond to test the depth—lotus roots could also grow in swampy areas.
Since they were deep in the mountains, she wanted to play it safe and measure for peace of mind.

Perfect.
The stick sank only halfway—meaning the mud was just over a meter deep.

Generally, lotus ponds didn’t house large animals. She only heard a few frog croaks.

Snakes?
Probably not.