Jiang Xuerui nodded, looking very happy.
Having finished their visit and pleasantries, Huo Duan and Gu Fengyan, neither of whom were good at dealing with these older women and aunts, quickly slipped away after a few sips of tea.
After moving to the new house, all the old houses in the village were used as medicine warehouses, and only their old bedrooms were left empty in case they needed to stay overnight when they came back.
After Jiang Xuerui quit her job, only Ye Shan and Huo Xiuling were left to collect the medicinal herbs.
The courtyard was neat and tidy, and clean. Ye Shan was doing things in an orderly manner. The two of them were packing up their stall, probably after seeing off the villagers who came to sell medicinal herbs.
"Aunt, Brother Dashan." Gu Fengyan was the first to enter and greet them.
Ye Shan moved the table away. Huo Xiuling was sweeping the floor when she saw them. She quickly put down her broom and asked, "Erdan and Yan Ge'er, why are you back? Is something wrong?"
Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan sat down. Gu Fengyan said, "We came back to see Rui Ge'er... Aunt, you just need to take care of Da Shan Ge's wedding. If you need any help, just let us know. We've been in the village these past few days."
Huo Xiuling nodded and poured them water. "Speaking of which, I haven't seen Rui Ge'er for five days. I heard he fainted last night and only found out he was pregnant after seeing Doctor Liang. Is he alright now?"
Gu Fengyan nodded. "It's fine."
Huo Xiuling was relieved after hearing this.
Huo Duan added, "But before the baby is born, Rui Ge'er will probably be too busy to take care of things here. We were thinking of discussing it with Aunt, and asking Uncle to come and help out when he has time after my brother's wedding is over. We'll still pay him. I wonder if Uncle would be willing?"
Without a second thought, Huo Xiuling laughed and said, "You're right, that's what I was planning too. I'll ask his father to come and help out when he has time, and I won't charge him for it. I can manage it all by myself now... and with Dashan handling the bookkeeping, you can save on wages..."
After discussing it for a while, Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan couldn't persuade them otherwise and had to agree.
In the afternoon, Ye Shan and Huo Xiuling finished taking care of things in the courtyard and went back, leaving only Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan.
The mattresses and blankets in the room had been washed and put away in advance. Since they would be sleeping here for the next few days, they took the opportunity to take the blankets and blankets out to air them.
Afterwards, we cooked a simple meal using the vegetables from the backyard that we hadn't had time to harvest.
After tidying up inside and out, before I knew it, night had fallen.
The moonlight was beautiful. After finishing his tidying up, Gu Fengyan sat under the peach tree, enjoying the night breeze. The peaches on the tree were fully ripe, the size of fists hanging from the branches, swaying and tempting to be picked.
While Huo Duan was taking a bath, Gu Fengyan picked a few, washed them clean, and brewed a pot of cold tea, placing it on the stone table to wait for him.
After washing up, Huo Duan grabbed a piece of clothing and went straight to the tree.
"Be careful not to catch a cold... Is it good?" He draped his coat over Gu Fengyan. "Let me try it."
He took a bite from the half-eaten food in Gu Fengyan's hand.
Gu Fengyan glanced at him, "I've already eaten."
"Where haven't you eaten before? Why would I complain about this?" Huo Duan said with a roguish grin, biting into a peach.
Gu Fengyan choked on his breath and glared at Huo Duan, "Have you no shame?"
"Ugh, this looks ripe, but it's so sour." Huo Duan grimaced as he changed the subject.
Gu Fengyan was led astray by him and looked at the bright red peach in his hand.
It is indeed a bit sour.
“I’ll pick some for Rui-ge’er another day. Today I saw that everything he ate was sour…” He thought of Jiang Xue-rui and sighed, “It’s really tough for him. He vomits everything he eats. His face has turned as white as snow after just a few days. He even fainted last night.”
Huo Duan was tossing a peach in his hand when he heard this and laughed, "Although you can get pregnant, the chances are not very high, and the pregnancy is much more difficult than for women... But don't worry, Ah Yan, I always pay attention."
Although it only happened a few times, Huo Duan was indeed careful and didn't let it get inside much. He also cleaned it up promptly. Giving birth is an extremely painful and cautious thing, and he didn't want Gu Fengyan to have a child without being prepared.
Gu Fengyan was stunned for a moment... Speaking of which, Huo Duan was indeed very careful every time, and would carry him to clean up as soon as it was over.
But he hadn't thought of any of that; it was just a simple sigh.
“No wonder… I had forgotten.” He said, looking down.
His tone was somewhat sullen.
Although he knew that Huo Duan was worried about him, Gu Fengyan couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart... Huo Duan had never said that he wouldn't go back regarding the system mission.
Things that lack guarantees and promises will inevitably lead to speculation.
It's speculated that Huo Duan might not be doing this out of pity, but rather because he wanted to go back and didn't want to be a burden, which is why he didn't want to have children.
Gu Fengyan dared not think any further and quickly stopped, feeling utterly disgusted with himself...
How could Huo Duan be such a person? How could he make such a dark and despicable assumption about his beloved?
However, Huo Duan had already noticed the subtle changes in his emotions.
"What's wrong?" He turned his head to meet Gu Fengyan's gaze, took his hand, and squeezed it comfortingly. "Why are you unhappy? Tell me?"
He now wishes he could hold him in his mouth and protect him in the palm of his hand, how could he bear to see even the slightest displeasure in his heart?
Gu Fengyan looked at him for a while, "President Huo, I haven't asked yet, what's the progress of your mission?"
"Why are you suddenly asking this?" Huo Duan's heart skipped a beat, but his smile remained unchanged. "Around two percent, I guess."
Gu Fengyan nodded, "I was just asking..."
"I think kids are quite cute," he said casually, glancing away from the subject.
Huo Duan's heart pounded even harder, and his eyes widened... What did he say?
The child is quite cute.
Huo Duan suddenly laughed for a while, staring at Gu Fengyan, "I'm not going back."
"Huh?" Gu Fengyan seemed not to have heard him clearly, and subconsciously asked again, "What did you say?"
Huo Duan kissed the corner of his eye, "I'm not going back. To hell with the mission. I don't want to look at any place without you, not even the most blissful paradise."
Caught off guard, Gu Fengyan froze, her eyes darting away. "I don't care about that. You can think it over yourself... Don't regret it later."
Huo Duan loved his insincere manner, and deliberately frowned, thought for a moment, and said seriously:
"That makes sense. After all, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Maybe I should go back..."
"You dare!" Gu Fengyan glared at him, almost as if he wanted to devour him. "If you dare, I will hate you for this life and the next. Not only will I hate you, I will also curse you to grow old alone!"
Huo Duan laughed for a while, then pulled him into his arms, saying, "How could I? I wouldn't live long without you."
"Tch, all talk and no action, who would believe that..." Gu Fengyan muttered, her face flushed.
A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter Forty-Three
The houses in the village weren't as big as those in the county. At night, they squeezed onto a small bed, and Huo Duan inevitably started to get handsy. They had to get up early the next day, and Gu Fengyan was so tired that her eyelids were drooping. Annoyed by the disturbance, she simply kicked him off the bed.
Huo Duan didn't learn his lesson and continued to harass Gu Fengyan, only learning his lesson after being kicked twice by Gu Fengyan.
I slept soundly through the night, a rare treat.
They got up very early. Huo Xiuling was busy with household chores, so the two of them would have to take care of things here for a while.
After getting up and washing his face, Gu Fengyan picked a handful of tender bok choy from behind the house, cooked two bowls of plain noodles, and picked some peaches, washed them, and made them into dessert.
Huo Duan set out the table and ledgers, and the two ate their meal before starting their work for the day.
The courtyard gate was open, and Zhang A's wife and several familiar villagers came in first. Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan went up to greet them.
Aunt Zhang knew they were back yesterday, and said with a smile, "Back to help your aunt? She's so busy, running back and forth, it's tiring to watch."
“Rui’er is pregnant, so Huo Duan and I came back to visit and help out our aunt…” Gu Fengyan took her wicker basket and took out the medicinal herbs. “Sister-in-law, you’re here so early.”
There were only a few medicinal herbs at the bottom of the huge wicker basket, weighing only about six pounds.
There was much less than before. Gu Fengyan didn't pay much attention, assuming that Zhang A's wife hadn't been found today. However, when he weighed the next few villagers, they all only had a thin amount.
That's strange," he raised an eyebrow.
Huo Duan, who was standing to the side, also noticed this and said with a smile, "The ladies are having bad luck today; there are far fewer medicinal herbs than usual..."
Aunt Zhang sighed, "You wouldn't know if you weren't in the village, but these days almost all the medicinal herbs on the mountain have been harvested. We got up early and managed to gather quite a lot!"
"So that's how it is." Gu Fengyan frowned after hearing this.
This is a serious problem. No matter how many medicinal herbs are on the mountain, if they are harvested day by day, they will eventually be exhausted. Ye Shan and Huo Xiuling were probably too busy with their work to think about this, and he and Huo Duan also overlooked it.
Huo Duan spoke a few more words to Zhang A's wife and the others before seeing them off.
Just as Aunt Zhang said, the medicinal herbs collected by the later groups of villagers were far less than what they collected.
After finishing their work, Gu Fengyan and Huo Duancai discussed the matter while packing up their things.
"Luckily we discovered it early, otherwise our business would have been completely ruined once all the medicinal herbs on the mountain were harvested." Gu Fengyan lay back on the cool chair to rest, glancing at Huo Duan as he packed his things and went in and out.
After Huo Duan finished moving the load, he walked over to Gu Fengyan and picked up the corner of his clothes that had fallen onto the muddy ground. "I'll ask those herbal medicine merchants who travel to other places to buy some herbal medicine seeds another day. It's better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish..."
"You want the villagers to grow medicinal herbs?" Gu Fengyan asked, sitting up.
Huo Duan smiled and nodded, "This is a good thing. There is a lot of abandoned land in the village, and the soil looks suitable for the growth of medicinal herbs."
Gu Fengyan thought about it and felt it made sense. He took the hem of the clothes from Huo Duan's hand, stood up and stretched. "It's good, but we still need to study which medicinal herbs are most suitable to plant... There are so many medicinal herb seeds, we can't plant everything."
The method for selecting the types is also simple: just choose the best quality medicinal materials from those brought by the villagers.
If it grows well in the wild, it won't be much worse when artificially cultivated.
Huo Duan nodded. The sun was high in the sky. He thought Gu Fengyan was stretching and about to get up, but he ended up lying back on the chair, shielding his eyes from the sun and dozing off.
"How can you be so lazy?" He leaned down and rubbed his lips against Gu Fengyan's cheek, amused. "Dozing off in the blazing sun, aren't you getting sunburned?"
Gu Fengyan lowered his arm, "Too lazy to move, I'll take a nap..."
He paused, his eyes crinkling with amusement, and spread his arms wide. "Or will you help me move it?"
Huo Duan chuckled, pulled Gu Fengyan into his arms, stretched out his long legs, and kicked the lounge chair under the peach tree. "You're spoiled."
"It's only been a few days, and you don't even recognize people when you get out of bed," Gu Fengyan said, biting Huo Duan's earlobe with displeasure.
He thought Huo Duan was going to put him down, but to his surprise, he lay down on it himself, holding Gu Fengyan in his arms and using him as a mattress.
"I want to recognize people when I go to bed, but Ah Yan won't let me go..." Huo Duan smiled maliciously.
Gu Fengyan choked, moved slightly, and tried to get down.
It's a wonder he can carry me.