The Fantastic Little Farmer

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Are the Fish All Crazy from Hunger?

Zhang Yun was wearing loose shorts after his shower, which was the only reason he hadn’t exposed his embarrassing state. If she examined his wound, how could he hide it? Even if he transformed into a disciple of the Crotch-Protecting Sect, it would be useless!

”Wait a minute, I’ll lay my cards on the table!”

”What?” Xiuxun looked at him in confusion.

Zhang Yun didn’t even need to pretend now; his face was already flushed red. ”I’m so hot and flushed... Actually, there’s nothing wrong with my body. It’s because I saw you. The moment you touch me, my heart races, and I get even hotter...”

”...” Hearing the underlying meaning, Xiuxun’s face also turned red.

”So, Xiuxun, you should go back first. I’ll calm down after drinking some cold water and sitting in front of the air conditioner for a while.”

”Alright...” If that was the reason, Xiuxun couldn’t really insist. However, she quickly added, ”Wait, no! You’ve touched... interacted with me before, and I didn’t see you have such a huge reaction... I mean, you didn’t have such a high fever.”

”Well...” Zhang Yun coughed dryly. ”Earlier at the fish pond, I was worried about you, and we were soaking in the water. In the cornfield, didn’t I leave in a hurry? And this morning, I was in pain.”

Xiuxun thought back and realized it seemed to be true. Their physical contact had always been very brief, just like how he had grabbed her just now and quickly let go.

Besides, she had seen the general state he was in this morning, even if she hadn’t paid attention to his body temperature.

Xiuxun’s face grew redder. She realized that if that was really the case, it would be inappropriate for her to stay any longer. She speculated that perhaps Zhang Yun was trying his hardest to hold back, and if he reached his limit, things might get out of hand.

Yesterday in the cornfield, she had acted with a do-or-die mentality, and it was only with Auntie Pang’s advice and encouragement along the way that she managed to do it. Now that she was out of that state, things were different. She wasn’t a casual woman, after all.

”Then... you just... handle it your own way. I’ll head back first.”

At the thought of Zhang Yun ”handling it his own way”—and that his thoughts might revolve around her—Xiuxun fled in a panic.

Zhang Yun didn’t see her out. The courtyard gate was left open anyway, and no one would come in to steal anything. He chugged a bottle of water and took off his T-shirt to cool himself down.

To distract himself, Zhang Yun stood directly in front of the air conditioner’s vent and scrolled through his phone.

He hadn’t checked his phone since returning from town. It turned out that Xiuxun had messaged him during dinner to ask about his wound. She had asked again after Uncle Fugui left. Getting no response, she probably assumed it was serious and found an excuse to come over and check on him.

Besides Xiuxun, Chen Hui had also sent a message asking if his snakebite was serious.

Ouyang Mingruo, on the other hand, hadn’t reacted at all. He didn’t know if she was undergoing examinations and treatment, or if she just hadn’t had time to check her Friends Circle.

No one else had messaged him privately, but his Friends Circle post had indeed garnered a ton of likes and comments.

There was no one gloating over his misfortune—or at least, no one commented as such. Some people thought Zhang Yun was joking and left joking replies, while others asked if the bite was serious.

With so many notifications, Zhang Yun couldn’t be bothered to reply to them all. Since they hadn’t messaged him privately, they were likely just commenting in passing and didn’t necessarily care about his actual condition.

There was only one exception: Yang Xiaoyun.

This female intern teacher—who was now a hot mom—had just added him on WeChat at noon. She also left a comment asking if his injury was serious.

Zhang Yun didn’t reply to her comment on his Friends Circle; instead, he opened their private chat.

”Thanks, Teacher Yang. It’s nothing serious.”

After sending the message, he saw the selfie they had taken together, which he had sent to her earlier. Zhang Yun didn’t even dare to tap on it, afraid his fingers would unconsciously zoom in to find a certain focal point.

However, he couldn’t resist opening her Friends Circle.

Yang Xiaoyun’s Friends Circle was set to be visible for three months. Scanning through it, he saw that most of the posts were about her twins, or pictures of them together. He didn’t see her man make a single appearance. None of the captions involved any public displays of affection, nor did they mention a guy at all.

Zhang Yun had heard before that many people—men and women alike—acted as if they were single on their Friends Circle, rarely mentioning their significant other. Some didn’t want people to say ”public displays of affection die fast,” while others simply enjoyed pretending to be single.

He wondered what kind of mentality someone had if they posted pictures of their kids but never mentioned their husband. He pondered if they were divorced, or if their relationship was on the rocks.

Zhang Yun didn’t really care, though. He was just looking to kill time. Yang Xiaoyun’s photos and selfies were truly quite pleasing to the eye.

Looking at them made his body run hot again. Zhang Yun went to check Ouyang Mingruo’s Friends Circle instead, wanting to see what kind of person she was.

As a result, it was set to ”visible for three days,” and there was absolutely nothing!

A few hours later.

Zhang Yun felt his body return to normal, and his mental state was excellent.

Seeing that the sky was getting dark and his dad still seemed to be asleep, Zhang Yun hurried downstairs to cook dinner.

Since he was cooking himself, he naturally used the vegetables from the Peach Blossom Spring Space; their nutritional value was definitely much higher. But as he plucked a few large leaves, he suddenly remembered he hadn’t fed the fish yet!

Previously, he fed them once in the morning and once in the evening. He would give them a little fish food and throw some cut grass into the pond for the fish to nibble on slowly.

Later, when the number of fish dwindled and he couldn’t figure out what went wrong, he stopped buying fish food. Still, he had to cut grass to feed them every morning and evening.

This morning, he went to get the ginseng, then dealt with the Mysterious Petal and getting bitten by a venomous snake, so he ended up not feeding the fish. If he skipped this evening feeding, they might actually starve to death.

Zhang Yun hurriedly left the house and headed to the fish pond.

With the vegetables available in the Peach Blossom Spring Space, he saved time on cutting grass. Right inside the wooden cabin, he chopped up the massive vegetable stalks and leaves that were inconvenient to take out and eat, using them to feed the fish.

Usually, the fish weren’t very enthusiastic about eating just grass. They were probably starving today. The moment Zhang Yun tossed a handful of chopped vegetable stalks into the water, a swarm of fish rushed over and fought madly for the food.

Zhang Yun felt a bit apologetic. The larger, older fish could probably endure the hunger, but the tiny fish fry he just put in yesterday might have starved to death...

After scattering the first batch, he chopped up another large basin full and tossed it in. Once again, the big fish frantically fought over it. He had no idea if the fry managed to get even a single crumb...

He wondered if there was something odd about this situation. He pondered if it was really just because they were hungry, or if they had sensed the wondrous properties of the vegetables from the Peach Blossom Spring Space.

Zhang Yun thought back to his own experience. The vegetables and fruits couldn’t compare to the Mysterious Petal, but their taste and texture were exceptional. He guessed that perhaps the tiny bit of Energy they contained was already incredibly potent for the fish.

He wondered what these fish would turn into after eating this.

Zhang Yun suddenly grew expectant. Seeing the sky darken further, he was about to head back to cook when he remembered one more thing he hadn’t done.

The ginseng!

There were seven stalks left of the earliest planted ginseng. Naturally, the older they were, the higher their value. However, since Zhang Yun wanted to repay Xiuxun and Auntie Pang this noon, he couldn’t give them ones of such high quality.

Taking advantage of the remaining daylight, he hurriedly found some ginseng seedlings and transplanted them into the Peach Blossom Spring Space.

Based on his previous Experience, if he transplanted them now and gave them to the women by Ming Tian morning, they should be appraised as ten-year-old wild ginseng. That would help them out a bit without drawing too much attention.

After finishing the transplanting, he watered the ”native plants” and the original ginseng. By the time he came back out, the sky was completely dark. Zhang Yun hurriedly jogged home.

He wondered if he would still have time to cook if his dad was still sleeping.

When he arrived at the courtyard gate, he heard the voices of his Uncle Fugui and his dad talking.

He wondered why Uncle Fugui was back so soon.

Zhang Yun felt a wave of helplessness, his first thought being that his uncle wanted to borrow money! Uncle Fugui had seen that he still had tens of thousands in cash after paying off the debt. If he asked to borrow some, considering he had previously lent money to Zhang Yun’s dad, it would definitely be hard to refuse.