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After breakfast, Zhao Danshi took everyone out to the fields and assigned them their tasks for the day.

"You'll weed these few mu of fields. Put the weeds you pull into baskets, and we'll carry them back together at noon. If you spot any bugs while weeding, catch them too and put them in this spoon. We'll take them back to feed the chickens, understand?"

"Understood!" Blackie and the others shouted.

"Good work. We'll stir-fry river snails for lunch." Zhao Danshi encouraged them, then slung a hoe over his shoulder and went to loosen the soil with Li Ping.

They had been watering a lot lately. If they did not loosen the soil regularly, it would easily harden, which was not good for the crops' growth.

Zhao Danshi and Li Ping worked all morning. At eleven forty, they went to find the group of teenagers.

"How is it? How much weeding have you done?" Zhao Danshi called to them with a smile from the ridge between the fields.

"We've cleared all the weeds from these two mu of land, Uncle Danshi. Come down and see if we got them all?"

Zhao Danshi did not stand on ceremony. He came down and inspected the fields carefully, only to find that they had indeed pulled every weed cleanly and had not damaged any crops.

"It's all clean. Come on, we're done for the morning. We'll work again this afternoon."

Li Ping loaded basket after basket of weeds onto the flatbed cart, and the group pushed it home. Blackie and the others were still carrying two spoonfuls of bugs in their watering scoops. Most were cabbage worms, though there were also grubs, cutworms, and other insects. They had filled two and a half scoops in total.

When they got home, Li Ping said to Zhao Danshi, "I'll toss this grass into the pond first, then feed the chickens and ducks."

"Sure. By the time you get back, it'll probably be time to eat."

They now weeded roughly once every half month. The weeds they pulled were never thrown away, but put into the pond instead.

Quite a few fish in the pond could eat grass. The grass along the bank was not enough to feed them, and the lotus had not grown much yet, so these weeds were an effective supplement to their food supply.

As for the bugs, they were excellent feed for chickens and ducks.

The chickens and ducks at home were raised freely and basically left to roam. They were only shut into cages at night so small wild animals like weasels would not bite them to death. They got plenty of exercise and had strong resistance, so eating this small amount of bugs would not harm them in the slightest.

Zhao Danshi washed his hands and face, then went to pick up Dou Dou. He played with him for a while before heading into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

The river snails had already been trimmed almost completely. Zhao Danshi planned to stir-fry them in two batches. While he cooked one batch, the teenagers trimmed the snails in the courtyard, so nothing was delayed.

Zhao Danshi chopped the side dishes with a clatter. He looked impressive, and his knife work was fast. The teenagers had never seen anything like it. Once they had watched him, their eyes were full of admiration whenever they looked at him.

"Uncle Danshi, were you a chef before?"

"Bullshit. I was a designer." Zhao Danshi laughed and cursed. "Have you ever seen a chef as handsome as me?"

Blackie grinned. "If you became a chef, then there would be one."

"Back then, I was a designer who graduated from a prestigious university. Why would I need to become a chef?"

Chengtou was unconvinced. "Then why did you come home to farm?"

Seeing that he was still unconvinced, Zhao Danshi grew serious. "Do you know how long I've been farming since I came back?"

Chengtou nodded. "I know. You came back last year."

"Then tell me, has my farming been successful? Am I well-known?"

Blackie protested, "It's all farming. What's the point of all that fancy stuff?"

"How is it pointless? I farm well, so people from all the surrounding villages come to me to buy vegetables. You all know that much, right?"

All five teenagers nodded in unison. If Zhao Danshi had not been famous, their families would not have agreed so easily to let them come help him work.

"See? That's the benefit of studying. If I want to sit in an office in the city, I can sit in an office. If I want to come back and farm, I can farm. No matter what I do, I can support myself. And speaking of farming, the vegetables I grow are better than everyone else's. They sell for one or two yuan more, and I never have to worry about not being able to sell them. So tell me, is going to university useful or not?"

Blackie hesitated. "I don't want to come back and farm after graduating from university."

"Then don't farm. You can sit in an office then." Zhao Danshi chatted with them cheerfully as he deftly poured the finished stir-fried river snails into the back pot, then added pork bone broth and let them braise.

"Bring me that bucket of trimmed river snails. I'm going to cook the second batch."

"Uncle Danshi, your stir-fried river snails smell amazing. You're cooking so much. Can you finish it all?"

"We can't. Some of it is for other people." Zhao Danshi directed them. "Come on, who can help me make the fire bigger?"

Chengtou snatched the spot and squatted down to tend the fire.

Zhao Danshi began stir-frying the river snails again. The room was thick with steam, and he almost could not breathe. "Leave Chengtou here to tend the fire. The rest of you, pick and wash the Chinese cabbage and scallions. Once I'm done with the snails, I'll stir-fry the vegetables. Oh, wash more garlic too. We'll stir-fry cured sausage later."

The teenagers hurried off to grab buckets and basins, competing to wash and pick vegetables.

Once the second batch of river snails was done, Zhao Danshi scooped them up and poured them into the back pot to braise with the first batch. Then he washed the wok and started cooking the vegetables.

Li Ping knew Zhao Danshi's pace well and came back at just the right time. Everyone sat around the table on the veranda and began eating lunch amid lively chatter.

While they ate, Zhao Danshi continued lecturing them. "See? How can studying be useless? I've read more books, so even my cooking tastes better than the average person's."

This time, the teenagers were completely convinced.

Seeing his smug little expression, Li Ping asked him with his eyes, Did you get into an argument with those kids?

How could that be? Zhao Danshi gave him an incredulous look. Am I that childish?

Li Ping lowered his head and chuckled.

Blackie looked at one of them, then the other, and said enviously, "Uncle Danshi, everyone in your family is so good-looking."

"You've got a good eye!" Zhao Danshi burst out laughing, forcing him to pick a side as he pointed at Li Ping. "Who's better-looking, me or him?"

Blackie could not decide. The others said either Zhao Danshi or Li Ping was better-looking, while Blackie tried to smooth things over. "Both are good-looking. They're handsome in different ways."

"Hey, you really know how to talk." Zhao Danshi patted him on the shoulder. "You've got a future, kid."

Zhao Danshi had scooped out about two jin of river snails. Over the course of the meal, everyone sucked every last one of them clean.

Even after finishing, the teenagers still wanted more. "Uncle Danshi, isn't there more in the kitchen basin? Bring out some more."

"You guys better not forget that when you sold me those river snails yesterday, you charged me five yuan per jin."

"We didn't forget, we didn't forget. Uncle Danshi, bring out some more. How about we go catch river snails for you again next week?"

"I don't want to eat river snails three weeks in a row. Forget the snails. Next week, finish your homework early and come back to work for me."

The teenagers agreed readily, and Zhao Danshi was quite pleased to have recruited such quality labor.

Though these teenagers were young, they were not at all sloppy when it came to farm work. Especially when they worked seriously, they had sharp eyes, quick feet, and plenty of strength. They worked even faster than average adults.

That afternoon, Zhao Danshi and Li Ping took a short nap. Then they packed the river snails into one-jin portions in food storage containers, wrapped them with ice packs, and drove together to the county town to send the parcels through SF Express.

Zhao Danshi had already contacted the courier and placed the orders online. Once the parcels were dropped off at the express outlet, they could be sent that day. Depending on the distance, they would arrive the next day within the province or within three days outside it. By then, the ice should not have fully melted.

Besides sending parcels to the ten selected fans, he also sent one each to both sets of parents and Ran Yuanyao.

The five boys had worked at Zhao Danshi's home all day and were especially satisfied when they left, each saying that they would come again next week.

Blackie asked, "Uncle Danshi, are you still taking people here?"

The work at Zhao Danshi's home was not hard, the food was good, and they got paid. It was much better than riding their bicycles around aimlessly, and Blackie could not help wanting to bring a few more friends over.

Next week, they would also need to fence off the pond area to raise ducks, which required a lot of labor.

Zhao Danshi agreed immediately. "I'll take reliable ones, but not too many. Eight people at most. If there are more than eight, I won't be able to accommodate everyone. If they come, I'll still give each of you a fifty-yuan red envelope. Just say you're here for social practice, so no one says I'm hiring child labor."

"Okay." Blackie swung onto his bicycle. "I'll ask around. Thanks, Uncle Danshi. See you next week."

"See you. Be careful on the road, and don't run off somewhere else to play."

After Zhao Danshi sent out the river snails, Ran Yuanyao called him the next day after receiving his parcel. "I got the delivery. Thanks. Who cooked these river snails? They're so delicious!"

"Who else could it be but me?" Zhao Danshi laughed. "Don't you think my cooking has improved a lot?"

"It has. I opened the parcel right in the office, and the smell was so tempting my coworkers couldn't sit still. Such a big box of river snails was divided up between them in just over ten minutes. You have no idea—while we were eating them, a patient came over to ask about his condition. He was a big grown man, and the smell nearly made him cry with craving. But he had dietary restrictions, and the way he looked at us was so resentful."

Zhao Danshi said happily, "Then I'll send you more next time."

"Sure. You don't need to send me many raw vegetables. I don't have time to cook anyway. But if it's prepared food, feel free to send it over."

"Okay." Zhao Danshi agreed. "How have you been lately?"

"Same as always. I'm so busy I barely have time to use the bathroom." Ran Yuanyao said, "But it's pretty good too. I've learned a lot recently. It looks like our hospital wants to focus on training me."

"Congratulations!"

"How about your side? How is Dou Dou? How far have things gotten between you and Li Ping?"

"About the same. There's still a layer of window paper between us that neither of us has pierced, but it feels like we're almost there. Oh, and Dou Dou has started growing teeth. Just a tiny bit. He always wants to bite things. He bit me a few days ago, and it actually hurt."

"Kids are like that. I'll come see Dou Dou one weekend."

"Sure. Come whenever you're free. I'll make you something delicious."

"Oh, someone here recommended a particularly good formula. I've already bought it through a purchasing agent. Once it arrives, I'll send it to you so Dou Dou can try it." Ran Yuanyao said, "If Dou Dou likes it, I'll buy more once he finishes it."

Zhao Danshi did not refuse. "Sure."