Saihu's Wife

A cold cucumber salad, a tomato and egg soup, a plate of stir-fried shredded potatoes, pheasant stewed with mushrooms, and a clay pot of roe deer meat-dinner was that simple, tasty, and delicious.

Saihu received rice mixed with meat from just under half a roe deer leg, but rather than enjoy it alone, he gently pushed his bowl toward Little Tangyuan's spotted dog, then looked at his young master with eyes full of expectation.

"My goodness, Saihu, is Little Flower going to be a mother?" Ye Huan looked at Little Flower's belly, a smile tugging at his lips as he teased, "You rascal, you want me to support your wife too? You're really getting somewhere in life."

He affectionately stroked Saihu's head, then took a chicken head, chicken feet, and chicken breast from the clay pot, carefully added a scrap of roe deer meat for Saihu, mixed it with rice again, and handed it to him.

Saihu immediately crowded over in excitement, wolfing down the delicious meal as though, at that moment, he were the happiest dog in the world.

Little Tangyuan clutched the roe deer meat, eating until her mouth glistened with grease. Ye Huan tucked a chicken drumstick into her other hand, leaving her momentarily unsure which one to gnaw on.

He had a little to drink with his grandfather. Grandpa drank his homemade tiger bone liquor, while Ye Huan drank ordinary beer. In the hot weather, he couldn't handle baijiu.

"Oh, you two are having a drink?" A voice entered the courtyard along with its owner.

"Uncle, have a seat." Ye Huan passed the visitor a small stool. This was their village chief, Ye Daming, his grandfather's nephew, forty-six or forty-seven years old and his father's cousin.

"Uncle, happy now that Xiao Huan's back to keep you company?" The village chief made himself at home, sitting down, taking an empty bowl, then opening a beer and picking up a piece of roe deer meat with his chopsticks.

"Roe deer? Not bad, Xiao Huan. Got it in the mountains?"

"Yeah, I went into the mountains this afternoon and met this little fellow. I treated its injuries, and its parents gave me this as payment." Ye Huan pointed his chopsticks at the little white wolf gnawing on chicken.

"Oh, that's a wolf, isn't it?" The village chief was surprised. "Is that all right?" This last question was directed at Ye Huan's grandfather, his uncle.

"What could happen? Don't worry." Grandpa took a sip of liquor.

The village chief nodded. If his uncle said it was fine, it was fine.

"What are your plans now that you're back?" he asked Ye Huan. "Not planning to leave again?"

"Huh? Uncle, how did you figure that out?" Ye Huan was surprised.

"You brat, in all these years, when have you ever stayed home longer than a week? How long has it been this time? A month, right? I'm not stupid."

"Hehe, true. I'm not planning to leave this time. I'll farm here and keep Grandpa company," Ye Huan said with a smile.

"Keeping your grandpa company is a good thing, but what about your job?" the village chief asked.

"I quit. I'm not going back. Wouldn't doing just about anything here be better than working for someone else? With all these fields and plots, and such a big mountain, am I really going to starve?" Ye Huan said.

The village chief nodded. "If all the young people in the village thought like you, it wouldn't have ended up like this, with nothing but old people and children left."

"That's normal. Didn't I work away from home too? The city is convenient, after all. Hospitals, shopping malls, schools-if you want something to eat, you can order takeout anytime and someone will deliver it to your door." He hadn't even mentioned foot baths and massages. He'd gone a few times, but found them too expensive.

Ye Huan said it couldn't be helped. If not for the space, he had no idea when he would have come around to this way of thinking and returned to the village.

"Yeah, we can't compare with the city in the end." The village chief nodded and drained the beer in his hand.

"Take it slowly. Once things improve, people will gradually come back."

"What are you planning to do now that you're back?" the village chief asked.

"Try growing organic vegetables and grain. There's no rush with raising livestock; enough for us to eat will do." Ye Huan had thought up his excuse long ago. Over by the fruit trees on the mountain behind his house, he was already casually raising a few hundred chickens, ducks, and geese, along with a few dozen pigs, cattle, and sheep, simply letting them roam free.

"Will it work?"

"I don't know. I've got to try, right? What if it works? Besides, I have improved seeds from a classmate at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. I'll give them a try."

"New seeds from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences? Are they any good?" the village chief asked doubtfully.

"It's all unknown, but if I don't try, who'll know whether they're good or bad? Grandpa and I aren't short of food anyway, so I'll give it a go. If it works, my parents won't have any reason to nag me," Ye Huan said with a smile.

"You brat, give it your best. If it turns out to be a good path, the village will consider working with you. We're poor, so no one's willing to come back," the village chief said.

"Sure, we'll see when the time comes." Ye Huan had no objection. How much could he manage alone? He'd work himself to death. But if the whole village worked together, wouldn't he be able to throw off the burden and become a man of leisure-oh, no, a technical adviser?

Grandpa watched his eldest grandson, his heart brimming with happiness. All these years, though he had never said it aloud, there hadn't been a moment when he wasn't hoping for this day. Every Spring Festival, his eldest grandson's exhausted body would barely get a few days' rest before phone calls urged him back to work.

At one point, the old man had wanted to sell off the few private treasures he had kept for years so his eldest grandson could come home and stop working.

In the end, however, Ye Huan had talked him out of it. Ye Huan himself had said he would come home whenever he grew tired. Now that he had suddenly obtained a Spring Water Space, he hadn't held out even a single day.

"I'll go have a look around the county town in a few days. The vegetables are coming in, so I'll check whether there are any sales channels while I'm there." Mainly, a year had passed inside Ye Huan's space, and he had stored up quite a lot of ingredients. He would keep those to eat, so the produce in the courtyard could be sold.

As for the medicinal herbs he had planted as an experiment, such as ginseng and Solomon's seal, those still had a long way to go.

"All right. I trust you to handle things. You're the only university graduate in our village!" The village chief nodded. "These vegetables of yours really are delicious. I think you can definitely make it work."

After that came idle chatter: what had happened in whose household, whose child had made a fortune and bought a car when they came home for the New Year, and so on.

Ye Huan finished eating early and took Saihu and Little Flower out for a stroll to help digest their food, carrying Little Tangyuan away with him as well. "Grandpa, Uncle, keep drinking. I'll take Tangyuan home!"

"Mm, go ahead!"

"What a beautiful night." Ye Huan gazed at the stars in the sky and sighed.

The countless stars in the night sky

Lit up the hope in people's hearts.

"Saihu, how many puppies do you think your wife is carrying this time? I don't care, I'm definitely taking one. That's not negotiable." Ye Huan drew his gaze back and spoke to Saihu while holding Little Tangyuan.

"Woof, woof!" Saihu agreed.

"What are you so smug about? How do you know there are two? Are you an ultrasound machine?" Ye Huan was speechless. Every time he understood Saihu's barking, he had the illusion of saying, You'd better behave yourself, brat. Don't mess with me. Haha, Lu Huan amused himself into laughter.

Little Flower, meanwhile, followed Ye Huan with elegant steps as they headed toward her home. Of all the dogs in the village, Saihu was the only one she fancied. Besides, her young mistress often went over to mooch meals, so after enough visits, she and Saihu had naturally become familiar with each other.