Would he think he was the heir apparent to Gu Yanqing's property and, just like in the book, compete with the male lead for it?
Xu Han felt that was very likely. She had always believed in heredity—the sort of thing people meant when they said a temper resembled the mother and a personality resembled the father. Qiao Wanqing was so greedy and drawn to power and wealth; Gu Siqiao in the book had clearly inherited that trait from Qiao Wanqing. Koukou might...
"Hey, Koukou," Xu Han said with a sigh as she picked him up. "What am I supposed to do with you?"
Koukou looked innocent and clueless about the world. When Xu Han picked him up, he gave her a huge smile, drool running all down the front of his clothes.
Rice Noodle Rolls (Revised)
There had been no further movement from Gu Yanqing's side. Xu Han had also 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 busied herself with her own affairs.
She bought some out-of-season Cucumber, Tomato, eggplant, and other seeds, then planted them and watered them with little Koukou's "Divine Urine," intending to see whether they could bear fruit out of season without a greenhouse.
With the boost from the "Divine Urine," the plants grew extremely quickly after sprouting. Before long, they were lush and verdant. Though they had not yet borne fruit, judging from their growth, there was hope.
Still, although their vegetable garden was large, it could not accommodate that many crops. 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 its owners did not need it anyway, they could simply rent it to grow vegetables. The owners could keep their land from going to waste while collecting rent, so they would surely be willing.
The result surprised Xu Han. That plot of land actually belonged to their family.
"Our closer branch of the family originally had several shared plots. To make farming easier, everyone divided them up and took one each. But after your... parents passed away, your uncle Xinde insisted that his family had a share in this land too. Seeing that I was an old woman who was timid and easy to bully, he said I was not allowed to claim it for myself. Every time I planted something, they came and pulled it all out. We fought over it several times, and I could not be bothered to keep struggling, so I left it abandoned."
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. They did not even maintain surface-level civility.
Things had been fine when Qiao Wanqing's parents were still alive. But after they died in an accident, Grandma Qiao had no children of her own to support her. Her only adopted daughter had married far away, her husband had died, and she was timid by nature. Those people became increasingly brazen about 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."
"If they've all moved away, why are they still claiming so much land? Besides, even if we farm it, they can't 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 and make sure you don't have an easy time."
Xu Han nodded thoughtfully. Sure enough, no matter how simple and honest the people of a place might seem, there would always be distinctions between kind and wicked hearts, greed and extravagance. It was unavoidable.
Still, Xu Han asked, "Do we have a deed or a land-use certificate for that plot?"
"We have a land ownership certificate, but it's no use. They won't reason with you."
"Who's going to reason with them?" Xu Han sneered. "Grandma, buy some Paraquat tomorrow. We'll clear that land and use it to grow vegetables."
Grandma Qiao wanted to say something else, but seeing how confident Xu Han looked, she said no more.
Although she had not been close to Qiao Wanqing before, she had witnessed Qiao Wanqing's changes. She always felt as though Qiao Wanqing had become... a completely different person.
But what if she had changed? She got along better with the current Qiao Wanqing, so why should she care what kind of person she used to be?
That plot had not been abandoned for very long, and the soil was still good. After using Paraquat to kill the weeds, the two of them carried over some farmyard manure, such as pig and chicken dung. Then they hired someone from the village with a machine to plow the field, turning all the manure into the soil.
After that was done, Xu Han did not rush to decide what to plant. Instead, she thoroughly soaked the soil with a hose, then pulled out a basket of the poorer-quality, densely packed greens from the field. Together with Grandma Qiao, she spent over an hour planting the entire plot with greens.
Looking at the untidy, crooked rows of greens filling the field, Xu Han contentedly patted the dirt off her hands. Now, all she had to do was wait for the fish to take the bait.
After washing her hands, Xu Han first went into the room to check on Koukou. He was still asleep, his tiny hands clenched into fists and raised on either side of his head. His lips, so much like Gu Yanqing's thin, tightly pressed ones, were currently pouted. His chubby cheeks were puffed up, making people want to poke them.
Xu Han, his wicked mother, did exactly that.
Koukou shifted uncomfortably.
Finding it amusing, Xu Han maliciously poked him again.
Bothered beyond endurance in his sleep, Koukou turned his face away.
Having gotten addicted to it, Xu Han laughed aloud and poked him twice more. Troubled by his wicked mother, Koukou pursed his little lips, 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 all too familiar with that sound. It was clearly the noise little Koukou occasionally made when he pooped.
Xu Han, receiving her karmic retribution, resigned herself to picking him up, cleaning him, and changing 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 at home for grinding soy milk pudding and tofu. Xu Han suddenly thought that she could make rice noodle rolls herself.
When Xu Han was in college, she had especially loved a rice noodle roll shop outside the school gates. Her hometown did not have that food, and the first time she ate it, she had been amazed. She felt it was practically one of the rarest delicacies in the world.