“Brother Zhao, then what’s inside that other bag?” Li Menglan asked curiously, pointing at the other bag on the ground.
“This…” Zhao Qingyun said rather carelessly, “The things inside can’t be eaten; they’re just nice to look at. They’re gifts brought back by a few friends of mine who went out to sea. I heard they come from the other side of the ocean.”
Zhao Qingyun glanced at Li Menglan and said somewhat awkwardly, “Lan’er, I’m sorry… Brother Zhao’s learning is shallow, and I don’t know what it actually is either.”
“Uh… Brother Zhao, could it be that you don’t recognize it either?” Li Menglan asked curiously.
Li Menglan’s words made the outstanding youth before her feel thoroughly uncomfortable.
Li Menglan stopped stubbornly trying to get the answer she wanted from Zhao Qingyun. She reached out to take the bag from his hands and opened it with a suspicious expression.
Ah… A cry of pleasant disbelief escaped from Li Menglan’s mouth. Good heavens… Li Menglan’s eyes widened in shock. My God! Wasn’t this the legendary corn?
“Lan’er, what’s wrong? Is it—” Zhao Qingyun had been wearing a worried expression, but when he inadvertently caught the fleeting joy in Li Menglan’s eyes… he asked somewhat uncertainly, “Could it be… Lan’er, you recognize what’s in this bag?”
Three golden-yellow dried ears of corn lay quietly in the bag. Li Menglan had originally been puzzled—during the period right after she transmigrated, why had she only eaten dark, hard steamed buns without ever seeing cornmeal… So it turned out that Yunliang Kingdom simply didn’t have this thing! No wonder.
“Brother Zhao, do you have any more of this corn at home?” Li Menglan didn’t answer Zhao Qingyun’s question, instead asking carefully.
Uh… What did she mean? Zhao Qingyun was somewhat confused by Li Menglan.
Nonetheless, he shook his head and said, “No more. My friends only brought five or six in the first place. I kept half because I saw the yellow color was very pretty and thought it looked exotic. I originally thought you might like it, so I brought them for you.”
Zhao Qingyun couldn’t understand why Li Menglan was so happy. “Lan’er, do you really recognize this thing? What… use does it have?”
“Brother Zhao, Lan’er can’t tell you just yet.” Li Menglan left him in suspense and said, “Wait until next year… Then you’ll know.”
Li Menglan looked at the three ears of corn in the bag and nearly drooled. Hehe… Since corn had already appeared, was there still any need to worry about starving?
“Brother Zhao, you sit for a while; I’ll go call Big Brother to help me plant the lotus roots.” As if remembering something, Li Menglan ran out like a gust of wind.
This girl… Zhao Qingyun shook his head and laughed somewhat helplessly, the corner of his mouth carrying a trace of doting that even he hadn’t noticed.
The enclosed courtyard of Li Menglan’s new home was rather spacious. Apart from the foundation occupied by the house, the front courtyard, pond, and grain-drying ground, there was also nearly one mu of vegetable land in the back courtyard.
Li Menglan had planned it this way so it would be convenient for her family to grow vegetables. Even when they wanted to pick vegetables to eat, it wouldn’t be so troublesome—they wouldn’t need to walk far. Just go out the back door from the kitchen.
Li Menglan passed through the small path beside her house. In the vegetable field behind, not only were the men, women, old and young of the Li family busy, but even Old Master Zhao, who had come with Zhao Qingyun, was currently holding a hoe with proper form, hehe, hoeing the ground together with Li Menglan’s paternal grandfather and maternal grandfather.
Winter vegetable gardens were rather barren. The materials of ancient times hadn’t been as abundant as those of later generations to begin with; in winter, it went without saying. Ordinary families just planted some simple, easy-to-grow vegetables like Chinese cabbage, radishes, and celery. The Li family also only grew these three kinds, plus a small plot beside it where some garlic was planted.
“Big Brother, come over and help me with something.” Li Menglan walked to her eldest brother Li Zhiming’s side and said with a smile.
“Alright!” Li Zhiming didn’t even ask what his younger sister wanted help with. He handed the vegetable seeds he’d been sowing to Li Zhihao beside him and walked over from the vegetable field.
The brother and sister arrived at their courtyard one after another. “Little sister, speak up—what do you want Big Brother to help you with?” Li Zhiming didn’t understand why Li Menglan was standing in front of the empty pond that held no fish yet, only filled mostly with water, carrying a cloth bag in her hand.
Li Menglan raised the bag in her hand. “Didn’t I say last time that I wanted to plant some lotus flowers in this pond? Today, Brother Zhao specially dug some up from his own pond to give us. Big Brother… help me plant them first!”
Medical conditions in ancient times were rather backward. If possible, when the weather was too cold, unless necessary, Li Menglan wouldn’t go down into cold water, lest she leave behind any lingering illness in the future.
“Just this? Sure!” Li Zhiming had thought his sister’s urgent summons was for something major. Wasn’t it just planting some lotus roots? A trivial matter.
Old Master Zhao really did just as Zhao Qingyun had said—he settled down to live at Li Menglan’s house just like that, becoming half a “Li” family member. Every day he tagged along eagerly behind the two old men, Li Fujin and Old Man Zhang; sometimes farming together… sometimes following everyone up the mountain.
The men of the Li and Zhang families went up the mountain to chop firewood; Old Master Zhao went up the mountain to hunt. In less than two days, the people of Shangliang Village all knew that a strange, wealthy old man was living in Li Menglan’s home. It was said… that old man had once been a high official.
Along with that, the villagers of Shangliang Village looked at the Li family differently on ordinary days. They had originally been extremely envious that the Li family had built such a beautiful house in a short time; now, their envy only deepened.
Fortunately, the people of ancient times were rather simple and honest in their thinking. Although some would be jealous of Li Menglan’s family, there really weren’t any who came to their door to cause trouble. Perhaps it was also because Li Menglan’s home was rather remote; after all, there was still quite some distance from here to Shangliang Village.
What satisfied Old Master Zhao most about the Li family was the delicious food Li Menglan cooked up in all sorts of ways. Especially when he could drink a few cups of home-brewed rice wine with his meal at night. Goodness… Old Master Zhao increasingly didn’t want to return to his own home.
Thinking about it, in the vast Zhao household, apart from Old Master Zhao and Zhao Qingyun, the rest were all maidservants and servants. How could it have the liveliness and warmth of the Li family?
With his own grandfather refusing to go home, Zhao Qingyun had no choice but to run back and forth between the Li family and Qingshui Town; he even began staying over at the Li family, just like his grandfather.
“Little Uncle, come.” Li Menglan directed Zhang Wenli to place the freshly made washbasin stand in a corner of Old Master Zhao’s room. A small, exquisite wooden basin was set lightly upon the stand; at the same time, a face towel made of blue homespun cloth was also draped lightly over the top of the stand.
“Girl Lan, what are you doing?” Old Master Zhao asked curiously from the side.
“Grandpa Zhao, this is called a washbasin stand. From now on, every person in our family will have one in their room, with their own personal washbasin and face towel.” Li Menglan smiled slightly and pointed to a corner of the face towel, where a simple English letter was clearly visible. “Grandpa Zhao, look, I’ve embroidered different markings on the face towels; this way, everyone won’t mix them up.”
The attentive Li Menglan had recently noticed that every time Old Master Zhao and Zhao Qingyun washed up, they weren’t very comfortable. Thinking about it, wealthy families definitely had certain standards. Besides… even she herself wasn’t very accustomed to so many people in her family sharing one washbasin and one face towel.
After speaking with the elders of her family, Li Menglan pulled Zhang Wenli into making these washbasin stands and washbasins.
These days had grown increasingly cold, and the men of the Li and Zhang families went up the mountain more and more frequently. Why? What else could it be? In the entire Li family—uh, of course not counting the guest room where Old Master Zhao and Zhao Qingyun stayed—apart from Li Menglan’s room, everyone in the Li family slept on a kang. With a kang, how could they do without firewood?
Therefore, in order to have a warm winter, all the men in the family worked even harder.
If someone went to the Li family’s backyard, they would see that inside the simple wooden shed in the Li family backyard—more than ten meters long and five to six meters wide—firewood was already stacked neatly and fully. This winter, there was no need to worry.