Chapter 88 — IAVD (QT) Chapter 88

Why was Dad so perceptive?

Under her father’s calm, appraising gaze, Ji Jingyu felt as though all her secrets had been exposed under the sun.

She felt uneasy, wanting to find an excuse to explain, yet had no idea where to begin. Her hands could not help clenching into fists.

Rebirth was simply too metaphysical. Unless she was absolutely forced to, she truly did not want to say it.

“Forget it.” Seeing the anxiety in her eyes, like a little trapped beast spinning helplessly in a snare, Ji Xiu could not bear it and relented. “If you don’t want to say it, then don’t. It’s rare in life to stay muddled. Let’s go home first. Dad will just pretend he knows nothing.”

Ji Jingyu looked at him with grievance. “You really won’t ask anymore?”

Ji Xiu countered, “Do you want me to keep asking?”

Ji Jingyu fell silent. “If one day I’m ready, I’ll tell you this secret.”

“Alright.” Ji Xiu rubbed his daughter’s head and smiled. “Let’s go.”

On the rest of the way, neither father nor daughter spoke. They returned home in silence, their moods somewhat complicated.

Even so, no matter how troubled she felt, Ji Jingyu did not forget to explore the space.

She squeezed out a drop of spiritual spring water in the space and dripped it into a large sea bowl filled with water. Following Ji Xiu’s suggestion, she poured half of it onto the jujube sapling that had grown out of a crack in the rocks behind the house. Then she went to the river to scoop up a few small fish and shrimp, filled a container with water, poured in the remaining half of the spiritual spring water, and left it in the kitchen to wait for results.

At dawn the next day, she could not wait to get up and ran behind the house to look at the jujube tree.

Ji Xiu had already arrived earlier and was standing under the jujube tree, examining its changes.

Indeed, the sapling that had been less than a meter tall yesterday had suddenly shot up to two meters, taller than Ji Xiu by a head. The main trunk had thickened by two rings, and the sturdy branches were covered in green leaves, even cracking open the stone crevices.

Ji Jingyu felt a wave of unease. Such a big change would not be noticed by others, would it?

“Girl, go get the hoe. This tree changed too much. It’s not safe to keep it here. I’ll transplant it to the mountain.” Ji Xiu seemed to have the same thought. Being more decisive, he quickly came up with a solution.

Ji Jingyu’s eyes lit up slightly. She responded and trotted to the front yard to fetch the hoe. Father and daughter worked together to pry open the stones, dig out the jujube tree, and replant it on Jingfeng Mountain.

Jingfeng Mountain had rather peculiar terrain.

On the left side, closer to Liuzhuang Village, there were mostly grasslands and forests, with gentle slopes.

The village children herded cattle here.

On the right side, closer to Rongshu Village, the area was full of jagged rocks and dense woods. There was a natural stream on the mountain that formed a treacherous river.

Five years later, this place would be spotted by an outside businessman and developed into a rafting scenic area, gaining some fame in the city.

However, businessmen did not do losing deals. He opened another road, letting tourists take buses directly into the scenic area, which brought no economic boost to the surrounding villages. At the same time, because the developer was shortsighted and unwilling to expand operations, the place quickly declined again. The scenic area was abandoned and unmanaged, wasting this beautiful river.

Ji Jingyu felt a bit regretful. She looked a few more times in the direction of the river before following Ji Xiu down the mountain.

Ji Xiu noticed her behavior and stopped.

After glancing at the river, a dark glint flashed in his eyes. He recalled overhearing people in town yesterday discussing contracting barren mountains.

Thoughtful.

“Girl, let me tell you something. I probably won’t go out to work anymore.”

Ji Jingyu froze, surprised and delighted. “Really?”

She had planned to keep her dad at home and not let him go work elsewhere, but she had not yet found the chance to bring it up. She had not expected him to say it first.

Ji Xiu nodded. “Let’s contract Jingfeng Mountain. We’ll farm on the mountain from now on. With your spiritual spring, we shouldn’t lose too much.”

Contracting barren mountains these days was basically a gamble.

Some people raised pigs on the mountain and ran into trouble, working half a year only to recoup the cost of piglets. Some opened tea plantations but ran into cash flow issues and ended up hundreds of thousands in debt. Some ran farmhouse inns, but because the location was remote and had no特色, they worked from morning till night and still could not earn enough to eat.

Under normal circumstances, Ji Xiu would not have chosen this path either.

But now, Ji Jingyu had an extra space, and the spiritual spring inside had the effect of accelerating plant growth.

Such a good thing could not be considered ordinary even in the cultivation world. For ordinary people, it was extremely precious.

If he took Ji Jingyu into the city to do business, and did not want this space to be discovered, they could only leave it idle, which would be too wasteful.

Only on this remote barren mountain, far from outsiders, could they use it more frequently without exposing it.

Ji Xiu asked Ji Jingyu, “What do you think?”

Ji Jingyu could not ask for more. In fact, she had thought all night yesterday, and the best choice was to stay in their hometown. First, she could take care of her dad’s health. Second, she could make full use of the spiritual spring.

But why was it that every time she had not even had the chance to say it, her dad already knew what she was thinking?

That was just too amazing.

Ji Jingyu nodded with starry eyes like a little fangirl. “I’ll listen to Dad.”

Ji Xiu smiled, rubbed his daughter’s head, and the two went down the mountain together.

When they got down, the sky had just fully brightened. Tian Chunfang was still sleeping inside. Of course, even if she were awake, she would not cook for the father and daughter. She was deliberately trying to use this tactic to force Ji Xiu to soften.

How could Ji Xiu possibly pay her any mind? He took the family’s passbook and documents and brought Ji Jingyu straight to the village head’s house to discuss contracting Jingfeng Mountain.

When the village head heard his intention, he was overjoyed. But when he looked at the money Ji Xiu brought, his expression turned awkward.

“Ji Xiu, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, but you should know Jingfeng Mountain has at least one to two thousand mu. Even if half of it has poorer conditions and is harder to develop, so the price is lower, this one hundred thousand still isn’t enough.”

Ji Xiu spoke up. “Village head, give me an honest number. What’s the minimum?”

The village head thought for a moment and held up fingers. “At least four hundred thousand.”

Ji Xiu had a sense of it now and began pondering how to earn the remaining three hundred thousand.

Ji Jingyu chimed in from the side. “Dad, for rural self employment and entrepreneurship, national policy seems to have subsidies and some convenience in loans. How about we go ask at the bank?”

Ji Xiu had considered this too, but he did not like owing money, so he had been hesitating.

Now that Ji Jingyu also thought it was a good idea, he thought it over and nodded. “Alright. Let’s go ask in town.”

Just in time to eat a bowl of beef rice noodles and xiaolongbao on the way.

Yesterday, Tian Chunfang had not cooked for them. If it were not for the afternoon when he brought Ji Jingyu to town to see a doctor and they ate something nearby, they would have been starving by now.

Ji Xiu had not expected that he would ever be this down and out.

After breakfast in town, he took Ji Jingyu to the bank and the town government. After clarifying the policies, he felt reassured.

The bank could provide a loan of two hundred thousand. After Ji Xiu chatted with the manager for a while, it increased to three hundred thousand, to be paid off over ten years, with the option of early repayment if conditions allowed.

As for the village committee, since other villages had already been energetically contracting barren mountains while Liuzhuang Village had yet to make a move, the village head was also a bit anxious. After a meeting with committee members, they expressed willingness to lower the price.

In the end, after running back and forth for four or five days, Ji Xiu contracted Jingfeng Mountain for thirty years at a price of three hundred and twenty thousand, with a total area of one thousand nine hundred and eighty mu.

…

When Ji Xiu returned home from the village committee with the contract, the news spread with him.

Some joked that Ji Xiu must have made a fortune outside, otherwise how could he make such a big move. Others worried that his contracting the barren mountain would fail, and that he would end up like Liu Laosan from Rongshu Village, who had contracted a barren mountain to plant peach trees. The peaches were hard to preserve and could not be transported out of the mountains, so most of them rotted on the trees, with creditors knocking on his door every day.

Ji Xiu waved his hand. “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. I definitely won’t plant peach trees.”

As for what to plant, he had not decided yet and planned to go back and consider it further.

Seeing him say this, everyone else could not say much more. They advised him a bit, told him to call if he needed help in the future and not be shy, then dispersed.

Ji Xiu smiled and thanked them for their goodwill, then returned home with Ji Jingyu.

When they got home, they saw Tian Chunfang standing at the door holding a cleaver, her face black as charcoal.

Seeing the two enter, she slammed the cleaver into the wooden door. “Good, you two. I was wondering what was going on, never home all day. Turns out you made big money, got generous, eating big meals outside every day, and even have spare money to contract mountains.”

She stretched out her hand, her tone fierce. “Hand over the money!”

Ji Xiu frowned slightly. “What?”

“Don’t play dumb!” Tian Chunfang glared. “Your contracting the mountain is already all over the village, and you’re still pretending with me. You have money to contract a mountain, yet you only give me two thousand yuan a month to brush me off. Do you take me for a beggar? Hurry up and hand over all the money. And that damn contract too. Take it out. I’ll go raise hell at Zhao Laojiu’s place later. There’s no such logic. He’s a village head with task quotas, that’s his problem. His family has money, why doesn’t he contract mountains himself? Cheating us common folks out of our hard earned money. I must argue it out with him and make him return the money to me…”

She spat everywhere, gesturing wildly, speaking with great agitation.

For more than ten minutes, Ji Xiu did not say a word.

Tian Chunfang grew unhappy, her eyebrows raised. “Why are you standing there like an idiot?”

“There’s no money at home,” Ji Xiu said calmly, starting to calculate accounts for her. “I go out to work, but I have to come back for spring sowing and summer harvest, so I work less than seven months a year. And it’s not like there’s work every month. Counting it up, my wages are about six thousand a month. Then there’s social obligations, meals, rent. At the end of the year, I only earn a bit over thirty thousand. Every year I give you fifteen thousand and save another ten thousand. But you forgot. Last year my dad got sick and we sent ten thousand. The year before that, your mom broke her leg falling in the fields, another ten thousand. And holidays, household supplies, New Year goods, all kinds of things, everything costs money. You refused to pay, so it all came out of my pocket. Calculate it. Where is there any money left?”

Tian Chunfang was muddle headed in other matters, but when it came to counting money, she was quite sharp. Her face darkened as she asked in a rough voice, “Then where did you get the money to contract the mountain? I heard contracting a mountain costs at least several hundred thousand.”

Ji Xiu said, “I borrowed three hundred thousand from the bank.”

“What, what?” Tian Chunfang had never heard such a huge number in her life. Her head spun and she almost fainted.

In her view, contracting a mountain was a business that would definitely lose money. Ji Xiu borrowing money to contract a mountain was simply madness.

“Crazy, crazy. No, I’m going to Zhao Laojiu’s place to make a scene. This money must be returned…”

Ji Xiu interrupted her. “I signed the contract. I don’t want to breach it. The mountain is contracted for sure.”

Tian Chunfang stared at him with venomous eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t mean anything special. I want to do something of my own, not work for others every day. From now on, you play your mahjong, I contract my mountain. I’ll still hand over household expenses as usual, as long as you don’t interfere with my contracting the barren mountain.”

“Then what about the money? The three hundred thousand owed to the bank. What do you plan to do?”

“I’ll plant things on the mountain. One day, I’ll be able to pay it back.”

“What a pipe dream in broad daylight.” Tian Chunfang did not believe him at all. She looked at Ji Xiu with disgust, then suddenly realized something. “I get it now. You’re dreaming of getting rich, having a delusional episode. No wonder you’ve been off since you came back.”

Ji Xiu was helpless. “Say whatever you want. The mountain is contracted, no matter what.”

Seeing that no amount of sarcasm worked, Tian Chunfang’s expression grew agitated.

Ji Xiu refused to go return the money, and she really could not force him. This household was indeed under her control, but Ji Xiu was still the main laborer. This money was earned by him. If he refused to return it, dragging him there would be useless. Moreover, she could not suppress him now.

After thinking it over, Tian Chunfang glared at Ji Xiu with disgust, went back to her room, packed two sets of clothes, and left in silence toward her parents’ home.

Ji Xiu and Ji Jingyu watched her go without stopping her.

This home was actually the same with or without her. When she stayed, she did not help anyway. The inside and outside chores still fell to the father and daughter. She only cared about playing mahjong, and even when she cooked, she only cooked for herself.

Ji Xiu sighed and glanced at Ji Jingyu. “Later, let’s go eat something in town.”

For more than ten days, they had been making do with meals in town. The breakfast shop opened in the morning. In the afternoon, they could only make do at small eateries. The dishes there were inconsistent. They did not eat well every day, but it was still better than Ji Xiu’s cooking, so he brought the child there daily.

However, this was not ideal. If possible, it would be better to find a neighbor to share meals with, give them some money, and have them prepare two extra sets of bowls and chopsticks each day. That would be more convenient than going to town.

Ji Xiu pondered candidates. The Li Shengnan family next door was quite good…

“Dad, let me do it.”

Ji Xiu came back to his senses, looked up at Ji Jingyu, and showed a bit of distrust. “You?”

“I started cooking when I was seven,” Ji Jingyu said confidently about her culinary skills. “When she was at home, she wouldn’t let me enter the kitchen. Now that she’s not here, the kitchen is free. I’ll handle the three meals a day.”

Ji Xiu thought about it and agreed. This daughter of his would have over a dozen chain restaurants under her name in the future. She must have talent in cooking.

“Then… you give it a try?”

Ji Jingyu rolled up her sleeves, lifted her chin, and smiled proudly. “Dad, just watch.”

Ji Xiu smiled, put away the documents and contract, and followed her into the kitchen to help.

Ji Jingyu truly lived up to being a future restaurant chef. She worked swiftly and efficiently, every movement carrying a unique rhythm. Whether washing rice or cleaning the pot, everything flowed smoothly and beautifully.

With a filter, it could be posted straight to a video site.

Ji Xiu could not help much and could only do some odd jobs.

Suddenly, a strange water sound came from a corner of the kitchen, dull and faint.

Ji Xiu and Ji Jingyu looked up and both fell silent, because they realized it was the bucket from five days ago, the one they had filled with spiritual spring water and small fish and shrimp for experiments.

After discovering the jujube tree’s growth, they had been busy contracting the barren mountain and completely forgot about it.

And since it was placed in a corner and blocked by things, Tian Chunfang had not noticed it these days either. Thus, the bucket had been forgotten until now.

“…The fish and shrimp inside are still alive?” Ji Xiu felt something subtle.

Ji Jingyu felt the same. “There’s spiritual spring water inside. They should be alive.”

Just not sure what they looked like now.

The two walked over, lifted the bucket out of the corner, tilted it, and held it up to the window. They saw that the small fish and shrimp inside had completely changed.

They had been very small when scooped up, and due to their species, they normally could not grow large.

But after five days, the finger sized fish fry had grown to arm length, and the shrimp that were once so transparent they were barely visible were now nearly palm sized. They were crowded together in the bucket, even fighting, which made one think…

Worthy of spiritual spring water.

“Daughter, tonight let’s eat braised fish and boiled shrimp,” Ji Xiu said.

Ji Jingyu licked her lips. “Sure.”

Such fresh shrimp had even pinched the fish tails in several places. So lively. Eating them in their original fresh flavor was best.

Ji Xiu said, “Then I’ll go kill the fish first.”

He pulled the cleaver off the door, went to the hand pump under the eaves, and in three minutes cleaned and processed everything, then sent it back to the kitchen.

The rest was handed over to Ji Jingyu.

Half an hour later, the father and daughter sat at the dining table, eating their first proper meal in days.

The braised fish was cooked with garlic shoots, whole garlic cloves, ginger slices, and chopped green chili, removing the faint fishy smell and leaving only rich freshness. Because it had been reduced over high heat, the sauce was thick and clung to the fish meat. The whole dish was rich with oil and red sauce, salty, fragrant, and mildly spicy. One bite was enough to feel completely satisfied.

Ji Xiu felt that with this braised fish, he could eat three bowls of white rice.

As for the palm sized local river shrimp, they were unprecedented.

River shrimp were extremely fresh ingredients, but had a flaw. Most species did not grow large. For example, the river shrimp around Liuzhuang Village, even in undisturbed waters, would at most grow to finger size, just enough for a taste of freshness.

But now, after staying in spiritual spring water for five days, they had grown to palm size. Just the shrimp meat weighed nearly half a liang, yet it was not tough at all. The meat was white and delicate, even more tender than ordinary river shrimp. Simply boiled in salt water, they were unbelievably delicious, carrying a unique freshness in the mouth.

Besides these two dishes, Ji Jingyu had also prepared a stir fried green vegetable.

Her skills were good, and even the greens tasted excellent, crisp and tender, not inferior to the two main dishes.

With two meat dishes and one vegetable, Ji Xiu ate three and a half bowls of rice, finishing everything, then patted his stomach in satisfaction.

He had really not eaten this happily in days.

“Daughter, how about we also raise some fish and shrimp on the mountain? There’s a river on the mountain, right? Use nets to enclose it. Don’t let big fish escape, let small fish come and go freely. When we want to eat, we can just scoop up the big fish.”

Ji Jingyu was no less satisfied. She rubbed her small belly, glanced enviously at Ji Xiu’s unchanged stomach, and agreed. “Sure. We can drip a drop of spiritual spring every three to five days and free range them in the river. Wild ones taste even better than farmed ones.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Ji Xiu made the final decision and reminded Ji Jingyu, “I’ll clean up the dishes. Go rest. We’ll be busy tomorrow.”

Ji Jingyu chuckled, in a very good mood. “Mm, Dad. I’ll go back to my room first.”

She returned to her room, touched the Barbie doll on the table, lowered her head, and began doing homework.

This was a peace she could not enjoy when Tian Chunfang was at home. If Ji Xiu had not returned, she would be washing dishes and pots at this time, boiling hot water for Tian Chunfang to soak her feet, then watching her find a pile of strange little chores for her to do. Only after finishing everything, around nine or ten at night, would she be able to squeeze out some time to do homework.

Now, without Tian Chunfang’s sarcastic mockery and scolding, the house was very quiet. The cool summer breeze passed through, and her mood was calm and at ease.

She finished her homework, went to bed to rest, and even in her dreams, the corners of her mouth were lifted.

After washing the dishes, Ji Xiu also returned to his room, changed the bamboo mat and blanket on the bed, closed his eyes, and rested.

The next day, father and daughter went to Jingfeng Mountain to survey the situation, conducting on site inspections and drawing a one to one map, making preliminary plans.

They only had eighty thousand left now and had to be careful with expenses.

In the end, they decided to clear miscellaneous trees on the steeper slopes and plant some fruit trees. On the flatter areas, they would rebuild terraces to plant vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, and green beans. They would also reserve a plot to plant annual summer fruits like watermelon, melon, and strawberries.

Since they had just contracted Jingfeng Mountain and were not very familiar with planting, everything was still exploratory.

But Ji Xiu knew he would not lose money.

Even without Ji Jingyu’s spiritual spring, he would not do a losing business.

Now, with the spiritual spring, it was like adding wings to a tiger.

After deciding what to plant, in the afternoon, Ji Xiu left Ji Jingyu at home to do homework and went to town himself to contact an excavator. They would spend three days leveling the terrain, smoothing the slight undulations.

On the fourth day, Ji Xiu still had to go up the mountain when his older brother came to ask when he planned to harvest the rice.

Only then did Ji Xiu remember that he had come back for the summer harvest.

But at this time, he had no time to spare for other matters, so he entrusted the rice harvesting to his older brother, asking him to help contact a harvester.

Ji Xiu’s older brother also knew that he had contracted a barren mountain and readily agreed. He patted Ji Xiu’s shoulder, told him to take it slow, and said that once the family’s rice was all harvested, he and their father would go up the mountain to help.

Ji Xiu quickly thanked him.

In the original owner’s memories, his relationship with this older brother had always been good. Even though the brother had two sons, and the two elders who favored sons over daughters had given the house to the older brother when dividing the family, the brothers were still on good terms.

He believed his brother’s words were sincere, though he did not know whether the two elders would agree to let him come.

Ji Xiu thought about it, shook his head, and continued working.

…

After the land of Jingfeng Mountain was leveled, purchasing seeds and farming tools was also put on the agenda.

Ji Xiu and Ji Jingyu planned to go to the city to look for connections and find a reliable middleman to make recommendations for them.

It was also at this time that Tian Chunfang returned from her parents’ home.

This time, she even brought two of her brothers with her. Upon arriving home, she arrogantly dropped a bomb.

“Divorce. I want a divorce!”