When Shi Yan and his two companions returned to Mountain-Venerating Village with the stone tablet, Su Ran and Ye Qingyu were walking slowly along another road.
Their pace wasn't as fast as the others— Feng Xiaotian and Shui Bing'er were carrying out the divine test in the Far North, Feng Lingtian was fighting in the Slaughter City, and Shi Yan and Bai Yu were still activating the Mountain God Bloodline in Mountain-Venerating Village.
Su Ran and Ye Qingyu, on the other hand, didn't have a specific destination. They were simply heading north to enjoy the scenery and accompany Ye Qingyu home to visit her parents, so they weren't in a hurry.
Su Ran walked ahead, with Ye Qingyu beside her, keeping a step or two apart. They would occasionally exchange a few words, and sometimes fall silent.
On the tenth day of their journey north, Ye Qingyu turned a corner ahead and led Su Ran onto a dirt road.
The outline of the village entrance was already visible in the distance. Su Ran suddenly stopped, looking at Ye Qingyu with some nervousness. "Are your parents really not bothered that I'm Food System Soul Master? Will they think I'm not good enough for you? Should I bring something with me when we meet for the first time?"
Seeing his expression, Ye Qingyu smiled helplessly and pinched his cheek, "Don't worry, my parents don't even know much about Soul Master. They only care about whether there's enough to eat and whether someone is easy to get along with. You meet both criteria, so be confident."
"Besides," Ye Qingyu walked beside him, gently patting his shoulder, and casually complained, "You've asked about this so many times already. Anyway, you're already here with me, there's no escaping, so don't worry so much, just go."
Su Ran had no choice, but she still subconsciously glanced down at the inconspicuous black wristband on her wrist; it was Mustard Seed Storage.
Inside, there were not only the prepared Mirror Sausage, but also a small packet of things he had prepared in advance. He took a deep breath and continued walking forward.
The village is small, with only a few dozen households clustered together, surrounded by rice paddies. By the end of July, the rice had already sprouted ears, appearing as a sea of green and yellow from afar, with waves of rice rippling in the wind.
But Su Ran didn't notice the scenery; she noticed the rice stalks—although they didn't fall over in the wind, their color was off, grayish, and the tips were thinner than normal.
Su Ran unconsciously slowed her pace, glancing at the scene a few more times.
Ye Qingyu didn't notice; she called out from ahead, "Come on, we're here!"
Su Ran withdrew her gaze and quickly followed.
Ye Qingyu's parents were already waiting at the door. Her father was a tall, thin man with tanned skin and wrinkles around his eyes when he smiled; her mother was short and wore a faded apron, wiping her hands on it several times.
Su Ran walked up to them and bowed, saying, "Hello, Uncle and Aunt, I'm Su Ran, Qingyu's... boyfriend."
"Good child, we've heard of you before. Qingyu often mentions you in her letters, and we've always wanted to meet you."
Ye Qingyu's mother reached out and took his hand, leading him inside. Su Ran could feel the warmth of Mother Ye's hand, carrying the heat from the stove; it felt like having a mother, and he felt very at ease.
As Mother Ye pulled Su Ran into the house, she kept sighing, "Ever since we knew you'd be arriving today, we've been preparing dinner and waiting for you."
Su Ran was pulled into the house by her. After taking a couple of steps, she stopped, turned around, and took out a small package from the black bracelet on her wrist. She handed it to Ye Qingyu's mother. "Auntie, this is rice cake I made myself. I used Wind Grain rice. Please try it and see if it suits your taste."
The mother paused for a moment, then took the package and opened it. Inside, the rice cakes were neatly cut, white in color, and smelled faintly of rice. She smiled and said, "You silly child, you didn't need to bring a gift..."
"Of course," Su Ran said.
Ye Qingyu stood to the side without saying a word, but her gaze lingered on Su Ran for a moment—she didn't know when Su Ran had prepared this, but Su Ran's thoughtfulness made Ye Qingyu feel very happy.
After a while, we started eating. Several simple home-style dishes were laid out on the table, with vegetables and soup, and the portions were quite generous.
Mother Ye kept piling food into Su Ran's bowl: " Little Su, eat more, you're too thin." "This fish was just caught this morning, it's very fresh." "Try this..."
The food in Su Ran's bowl was piled up like a small mountain. He was really struggling to keep up and secretly glanced at Ye Qingyu, his eyes filled with a pleading look.
Upon receiving the signal on the other end, Ye Qingyu immediately cleared her throat and said, "Mom, just let him pick it up himself."
"That won't do. It's Little Su's first time here, I have to take good care of her." Mother Ye said without looking up, and kept putting another piece of fish on Su Ran's plate.
Ye Qingyu glanced at Su Ran helplessly, her expression saying: I helped, but it was no use.
Su Ran lowered her head, took a bite of rice, and smiled slightly, but said nothing more.
After dinner, Ye Qingyu's father chopped firewood in the yard. As Su Ran helped clear the dishes, she glanced at the rice paddies outside through the window.
The color of those rice stalks was still wrong—not just one or two, but the whole field. He hesitated for a moment, then spoke up, "Uncle, the rice fields outside... the harvest wasn't very good this year, was it?"
Ye Qingyu's father stopped, glanced at him, and sighed, "You figured it out too?"
"Sigh, the rainfall was normal this year, but the rice just isn't growing well. The ears are thin and the grains aren't fully filled. Everyone in the village says it's because the land is bad, and we've been planting it for too long."
Su Ran put down her bowl. "Uncle, can you take me to see it? I know a little about farming."
Father Ye paused for a moment, then nodded. He led Su Ran to the nearest field outside the village, squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil, rubbed it, and smelled it.
"The land isn't sick," Su Ran said, "It's just been severely depleted. Planting the same crop for too long has drained the soil of its nutrients; it needs rest."
Su Ran squatted down and brushed away the soil around the base of the rice stalks. "Uncle, look, the roots aren't deep; they're all on the surface."
There's still fertilizer underneath, but it hasn't been drawn down. The most important thing now isn't fertilizing, but letting the soil recover.
"What should we do then?"
"Don't rush to plow the land," Su Ran said. "After harvesting this season, let it rest for a while. Return the straw to the field to allow the soil to recover its fertility."
After spring arrives, plant something else—crop rotation, alternating with a crop of beans or vegetables so they don't compete with rice for the same nutrients.
After listening with a frown, Father Ye remained silent for a while. "... People in the village don't really believe in these sayings."
"It's alright, Uncle, you don't need to believe everything," Su Ran said. "Let's try a small piece first and see how the harvest is next year."
Father Ye looked at him, then at the thin, weak rice stalks in the field, and nodded. "Alright, let's give it a try."
Su Ran stood up, patted the dirt off her hands, and glanced at the rice paddy in front of her. The wind blew from the other side of the paddy field, and the rice ears swayed gently, as if they were also waiting for an answer.
He stood there, and suddenly felt a very slight vibration in the soil beneath his feet—not the earth shaking, but something deeper responding to him.
He looked down at the soil beneath his feet and froze.