Rice Noodle Rolls (Revised)

Would he think he was Gu Yanqing's presumed heir and, just like in the book, compete with the male lead for him?

Xu Han thought it was highly likely. She had always believed in heredity—the sort of thing people meant when they said temperament took after the mother and character took after the father. Qiao Wanqing was so greedy for wealth and status, and Gu Siqiao in the book had clearly inherited that trait from her. Koukou might...

"Ah, Koukou," Xu Han said with a sigh as she picked him up. "What am I supposed to do with you?"

Koukou looked innocent and utterly unaware of the world. When Xu Han picked him up, he flashed a huge smile, drool running down the front of his clothes.

Rice Noodle Rolls (Revised)

There had been no further movement from Gu Yanqing's side. Xu Han had even changed to a new phone number. He had probably tried to contact her again by phone, but failed.

Xu Han did not care how he planned to handle things afterward and simply kept herself busy.

She bought some off-season cucumber, tomato, eggplant, and other seeds, planted them, and watered them with little Koukou's "Divine Urine," hoping to see whether they could bear fruit out of season without a greenhouse.

With the boost from the "Divine Urine," the plants grew very quickly after sprouting. Before long, they were lush and flourishing. Though they had not yet borne fruit, judging by their growth, there was hope.

Still, although their vegetable garden was large, it could not grow that many things. Xu Han noticed a patch of wasteland beside their home. The soil was quite fertile, and she did not know why it had been left uncultivated.

Xu Han went to ask Grandma Qiao whose land it was. If possible, since they had no use for it anyway, they could simply rent it to grow vegetables. The owners could keep their land from going to waste and earn money, so they would surely be willing.

The answer was beyond Xu Han's expectations. That land actually belonged to them.

"Our closer branch of the family originally had several communal plots. To make farming easier, everyone divided up a piece for themselves. But after your... parents passed away, your granduncle Xinde saw that I was just a timid old woman, easy to bully. He insisted his family had a share in this plot too and said I was not allowed to occupy it on my own. Every time I planted something, they came and pulled it out. We fought over it several times, and I could not be bothered to keep struggling, so I let it go to waste."

How could they bully people like that?

From Qiao Wanqing's memories, Xu Han vaguely knew that their branch of the family did not get along with the others. They did not even bother maintaining surface-level relations.

It had been fine while Qiao Wanqing's parents were still alive. But after they died in an accident, Grandma Qiao was infertile and had no children to support her. Her only adopted daughter had married far away, her husband had died, and she herself was naturally timid and weak. Those people became increasingly blatant in bullying her and taking advantage of their family.

Xu Han asked, "If they won't let us farm it, why don't they come farm it themselves?"

"Their son made money, and the whole family moved to town."

"They've all moved away, so why are they taking up so much land? And if we plant it, they won't even see it from town."

"Someone in the village will tip them off," Grandma Qiao said with a sigh. "People are just like that. Even if they have no use for something, they still have to fight over it, just so you can't have an easy time."

Xu Han nodded thoughtfully. Sure enough, no matter how simple and honest the people in a place might be, there would always be good and bad hearts, greed and extravagance. It was unavoidable.

"But," Xu Han asked again, "do we have the land deed or some kind of use certificate for that plot?"

"We have a land ownership certificate, but it's useless. They won't reason with you."

"Who's going to reason with them?" Xu Han sneered. "Grandma, go buy some paraquat tomorrow. We'll clear that land and use it to grow vegetables."

Grandma Qiao wanted to say something more, but seeing how confident Xu Han looked, she said nothing.

Although she and Qiao Wanqing had never been particularly close before, she had witnessed Qiao Wanqing's changes. She always felt as though Qiao Wanqing had become... a completely different person.

But what did it matter if she had changed? She got along better with the current Qiao Wanqing, so why should she care what kind of person she had been before?

That plot had not been abandoned for very long, and the soil was still good. After killing the weeds with paraquat, the two of them carried over some farm manure, such as pig and chicken dung. Then they hired someone from the village with a machine to plow the land, turning all the manure into the soil.

Once that was done, Xu Han did not rush to plan what to grow. Instead, she thoroughly watered the soil with a hose, then pulled up a basket of the poorer, overcrowded greens from the field. Together with Grandma Qiao, she spent over an hour planting the entire plot with greens.

Looking at the uneven rows of greens scattered across the field without much care for neatness, Xu Han contentedly patted the dirt from her hands. Next, she would just wait for the fish to take the bait.

After washing her hands, Xu Han went to check on Koukou first. He was still asleep, his tiny hands curled into fists beside his head. His lips, so much like Gu Yanqing's thin, lightly pressed ones, were currently pursed. His chubby cheeks were puffed out, making people want to poke them.

The irresponsible mother Xu Han did exactly that.

Koukou shifted uncomfortably.

Finding it amusing, Xu Han mischievously poked him again.

Disturbed in his sleep, Koukou turned his face away.

Growing addicted to it, Xu Han laughed and poked him twice more. Tormented by his irresponsible mother, Koukou's little mouth drooped, looking as though he was about to wake up crying. Only then did Xu Han smilingly tug his blanket into place and spare him.

But just as she was about to leave, she heard a long, drawn-out pffft from beneath Koukou.

Xu Han: "..."

—Xu Han was quite familiar with that sound. It was clearly the noise little Koukou occasionally made when he pooped.

Suffering the consequences of her actions, Xu Han resignedly picked him up, cleaned him, and changed his diaper.

After dealing with Koukou, Xu Han saw that it was still early and decided to make some rice noodle rolls.

A few days ago, while cleaning the house, Grandma Qiao had found a stone mill used for grinding soy milk pudding and tofu. Xu Han suddenly thought she could make rice noodle rolls herself.

Back when Xu Han was in college, she had especially loved a rice noodle roll shop outside the school gates. They did not have that food in her hometown, and the first time she tasted it, she had been amazed. She felt it was practically a rare delicacy in the world.

Rankings

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Transmigrated into a Book

Sweet Romance

Sweetness Is Justice