Over the next two weeks, the Farmhouse Courtyard settled into a strange rhythm of rapid growth and peaceful ease.
Freed from ten years of restraint and torment, Li Xiaoyue seemed to have shed her old soul and been filled with new life.
Although the timidity and insecurity ingrained in her still made her instinctively lower her head around strangers, she was visibly smiling more often.
She would quietly water the newly planted flowers in the courtyard.
When no one else was in the kitchen, she would hum off-key songs.
The way she looked at Chen Lin had gradually shifted from dependence and gratitude to something more-a young girl's admiration and affection that even she had yet to notice.
Meanwhile, business at the Farmhouse Courtyard had entered a period of explosive growth.
With the opening of the Natural Bathing Beach, tourists from Yicheng and the surrounding towns and counties poured in like a tide.
The Farmhouse Courtyard's daily visitor count had reached a staggering thousand!
From opening at ten thirty in the morning to closing at ten at night, the courtyard's twenty tables were almost never empty.
Eventually, things became downright absurd.
Some determined diners brought their own folding tables and chairs and lined them up on the open ground outside the courtyard, all for a taste of the legendary "Immortal Cuisine."
They had practically turned the entrance to the Farmhouse Courtyard into a bustling open-air food stall.
Village Party Secretary Chen Guoguang grinned from ear to ear at the sight, telling everyone he met that Chen Lin was the pride of Chen Family Village.
At the reservoir construction site, Chang Chenghu's crew was working flat out. All the foundation piles for the Water Restaurant had been completed, and truckloads of building materials kept arriving.
According to Chang Chenghu's promise, the