Farm Girl's Manor

A day’s time had blinked by, and after seeing off Mo Qingze, Mo Yan had instructed Xin Er with a few words and then locked the courtyard gate.

Standing at the door, Mo Yan could still faintly hear the laughter and frolics of Xin Er and Zhenzhen. She stared at the entrance of the alley until she was sure no one would pass by, then darted into Space, quickly moving out the cabbages and rice that she had prepared the night before.

The whole process took less than a minute, and Mo Yan felt incredibly fortunate that she had rented this house back then. The alley, which led to only their home deeper in, turned at the corner into a dead end, forming an "L" shape with the rest of the alley—it was impossible to discover without actually walking in.

It wasn’t long before Elder Meng arrived. Since the alley was somewhat narrow, the mule cart couldn’t enter, so Elder Meng stopped at the entrance to the alley.

"Sss, girl, how did you get so much rice?"

Seeing the two baskets full of gleaming white rice, Elder Meng sucked in a breath of cold air. For ordinary peasant families, rice was something they only got to enjoy during festivals, but now Mo Yan had brought out two whole baskets of it.

Mo Yan sighed, "Those people have suffered greatly, and I thought about mixing some rice to cook into a vegetable porridge. Making it thicker would be more nourishing to eat."

After hearing this, Elder Meng’s eyes filled with admiration when he looked at Mo Yan, "Girl, you are a kind and good child. I am not as good as you! But rice is precious; how long can you keep this up?"

His full goodwill made Mo Yan feel all the more that Elder Meng was a kind-hearted person: "Elder Meng, thank you for your reminder. I won’t do this again in the future!"

In reality, she didn’t have much rice on hand. Over a month and a half, the rice plants in Space had been harvested three times, totaling three thousand catties. After husking, they had yielded two thousand catties of rice. Besides, her family needed to eat as well, so she planned to take out twelve hundred catties. The remaining would be substituted with potatoes and sweet potatoes, which weren’t much different from rice.

Mo Yan and Elder Meng together lifted the rice and cabbages onto the cart, then covered them with a large piece of oilcloth to avoid arousing suspicion due to the significant amount of rice.

...

As dawn was approaching, Lin Yong, who suffered from insomnia for most of the night, got up with dark circles under his eyes. He left the refugee camp and came behind the city gates, finding them firmly shut, which made him somewhat uneasy.

Even though he knew that Miss Mo wouldn’t deceive him, he couldn’t be at ease without seeing her or the food. He feared she might have been held up by something or that her family would not agree. Tossing and turning for most of the night, it had taken a great deal of self-persuasion for him to finally fall asleep.

Standing beside him were more than a dozen young men, sharing his sentiments. As each day passed, life became harder, and more people were carried out. Now that there was a chance to survive, all of them wanted to firmly grasp onto it.

As soon as Mo Yan and Elder Meng stepped out of the city gate, they saw Lin Yong, who had been waiting.

Lin Yong’s eyes lit up at the sight of her, and even his stern face softened significantly.

"Miss Mo, you’ve come!"

Mo Yan greeted him with a smile, unaware that these simple six words contained so much—every worry, every anxiety, vanished with those six words.

When Lin Da and the others heard that Mo Yan was the kind-hearted lady, they were all very excited. They crowded around the mule cart, greeting Mo Yan warmly, with flattering words tumbling out free of charge, making Mo Yan blush with embarrassment.

Noticing Mo Yan’s discomfort, Lin Yong snorted coldly. The men sheepishly grinned and scattered, standing orderly and properly.

Under the guidance of Lin Yong and the others, Elder Meng drove the mule cart to an empty porridge shed inside the camp. The stoves there were still functional, with two large pots available, and a large pile of firewood lay on the ground—collected the day before by Lin Yong rallying the clan men. From then on, this would be their porridge distribution spot.

Upon lifting the oilcloth, Lin Da and his companions rubbed their eyes in disbelief, overwhelmed with excitement. It was rice, two full baskets of gleaming white rice! Since their time there, they had almost exclusively eaten rough or stale rice congee, with good rice only tasted two or three times. They were already content with that, but now, Miss Mo had brought so much!

Lin Yong was also staggered, staring blankly at the rice for a good while before approaching Mo Yan and bowing solemnly with a clasped handshake, "Miss Mo, deep gratitude can’t be expressed in words. If ever there is use for me, Lin Yong, I shall not hesitate, even at the cost of my life!"

Mo Yan was startled and hastily waved her hands, saying, "You don’t have to do this. It’s just a little something from me, no need for you to repay anything. But my family isn’t wealthy, so this isn’t something we can afford every day."

After hearing this, Lin Yong showed no sign of disappointment, "I just hope that Miss Mo does not overextend herself! As I said before, if you ever need me, I will not hesitate, even at the cost of my life."

Knowing Lin Yong’s character, that he wouldn’t take back his words once said, Mo Yan had no choice but to let it be.

Many hands make light work, and Mo Yan hardly had to lift a finger before everything was taken care of. By now, the pots were boiling, rice’s rich fragrance intermingling with the sweet scent of cabbages, spreading through the air. Lin Da and the others, maintaining order, couldn’t help but swallow as their nostrils flared at the smell.

Just then, Zhang Hu, who bore a grudge with Lin Yong, came over with a dozen henchmen, hoping to grab a share, but seeing Lin Yong by the stove looking like ice, he felt a twinge in his belly, spat a thick wad of phlegm onto the ground, and walked away with his men, reluctantly.

Lin Yong happened to see this scene. Not expecting Zhang Hu to know better, he couldn’t be bothered to react, only to find that before long, Zhang Hu returned with an even larger group of men...