Chapter 212

As Chu Yanhuan chatted, the conversation turned to work. He said to Ming Chunxi, "Senior brother, I'd like to go to the city center tomorrow, so I'll be going to your place in the afternoon."

Ming Chunxi: "We have weekends off, and we usually don't work on weekends, so you don't need to come over."

"Wait! No work on weekends?" Chu Yanhuan's eyes widened, and he blurted out, "What are you going to do if you don't work?"

Ming Chunxi: "Rest. You can do whatever you want. We'll try our best to keep our time within eight hours on weekdays. Tomorrow we should go up the mountain to cut bean stalks."

Chu Yanhuan found it unbelievable. "Is the pace of life this slow here?"

Ming Chunxi: "There are also companies with a fast pace."

Zhao Hexi chimed in from the side, "Other companies are moving very fast. Let them compete. We won't compete; we'll win with our products."

Chu Yanhuan rubbed his nose and, taking advantage of Qing Mengzhu's inattention, sent a message to Ming Chunxi: [Now I finally know what "the hero's grave in the gentle embrace" means. So this is what you're like at home, Senior Brother.]

Chu Yanhuan: [That time you slept in the office seems like something from a past life.]

Ming Chunxi:[.]

Chu Yanhuan grew increasingly curious as he looked at Ming Chunxi: "[What are we going to cut bean stalks on the mountain tomorrow? Can I come with you?]"

Ming Chunxi didn't reply to Chu Yanhuan, but only said to Qing Mengzhu, "Yanhuan also wants to come up the mountain with us tomorrow."

Chu Yanhuan looked at Qing Mengzhu, "Is it okay?"

Qing Mengzhu and said, "Of course, if you don't mind getting up so early."

After listening to Qing Mengzhu's words, Ming Chunxi gave Chu Yanhuan a look, indicating that it was okay.

Chu Yanhuan twitched his lips, finding it hard to believe that this person, exuding a homely air, was actually the award-winning heartthrob Ming Chunxi.

This person should have finished working out at the gym at 4 a. m., wearing a white shirt and black trousers, sporting a watch more expensive than a house, driving a luxury car to a top international company, or starting a business in the city center, their net worth skyrocketing in seconds.

However, he seems quite happy now, and his physique and appearance are even better than before, which is truly amazing.

The next day, Qing Mengzhu and Ming Chunxi went up the mountain at 6:40.

Chu Yanhuan set an alarm to come find them. His steps were unsteady as he climbed the mountain, and he had huge dark circles under his eyes.

He finally understood why the two of them hadn't asked him if he was going to the city. Since he was up the mountain so early, he could easily make it to the city after he finished climbing!

Chu Yanhuan dragged his feet behind them, saying, "Your schedules are too healthy."

Qing Mengzhu: "It's alright, it's already quite late today. We usually get up earlier."

Chu Yanhuan said weakly, "Thank you for accommodating my schedule."

Before he could finish speaking, a hazel grouse darted out from beside Chu Yanhuan's feet and ran into the grass on the other side.

Chu Yanhuan was startled by the sudden appearance of the hazel grouse and shouted, "Ah, what's that?!"

Qing Mengzhu: "The hazel grouse, don't be afraid, it's just an ordinary little animal."

Chu Yanhuan, still shaken, exclaimed, "Oh no, it's not small at all! It's huge! Is it a wild animal?"

Qing Mengzhu: "No, we raise them ourselves; we have a breeding license. The pickled bamboo shoot and hazelnut chicken soup you had before was made with this kind of hazelnut chicken."

Chu Yanhuan: "I understand. That one in front is--"

Qing Mengzhu followed his gaze and said, "Our family raises thirty cattle, which are also free-range in the bamboo forest."

Chu Yanhuan: "They're so big, won't they hurt people?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Normally they won't. But if they're in heat, they might be a bit irritable. Just keep your distance. They're not very aggressive."

Qing Mengzhu originally led two bulls down to raise, separating the bulls from the cows.

He later discovered that cows go into estrus every month, and the estrus period usually lasts only one day. So he would count the days and isolate the cow. If the cow still got pregnant, he could only let nature take its course.

The cattle must have heard them making noise, which is why they came out of the barn to check on them.

Qing Mengzhu was worried that they would frighten Chu Yanhuan, so she made a gesture to drive the cattle back.

The cattle were quite obedient; seeing Qing Mengzhu's actions, they turned around and slowly went back.

Chu Yanhuan had never observed cattle so closely before, and he was a little scared. But seeing how obedient the cattle were, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.

Chu Yanhuan turned to Qing Mengzhu and said, "I've noticed that all the animals in your household seem to be very well-behaved?"

Qing Mengzhu nodded. "Yes, most animals are very well-behaved."

His answers were somewhat perfunctory, and his facial expression wasn't quite right.

Ming Chunxi immediately realized what was wrong and asked in his ear, "What's wrong?"

Qing Mengzhu sniffed. "Can you smell something strange?"

Chapter 212

Qing Mengzhu finished speaking, Chu Yanhuan couldn't help but take a deep breath.

The air in the bamboo grove was moist and refreshing, and it didn't smell strange at all.

As Chu Yanhuan thought this, he turned his head and saw Ming Chunxi with a serious expression, nodding in agreement, "It is a bit strange."

Qing Mengzhu: "It came from the front."

Chu Yanhuan took a deep breath. "What's strange about it? It's just the normal damp smell of a bamboo forest, and it smells quite nice, better than a typical bamboo forest."

Qing Mengzhu: "We'll know once we go up ahead and take a look."

So they walked forward together.

They parted the bushes, and a herd of cattle retreated at Qing Mengzhu's gestures, leaving only a few piles of fresh cow dung behind.

Qing Mengzhu looked at the cow dung and said, "It smells just like cow dung."

Chu Yanhuan, who had just taken several deep breaths, thought, "..."

Ming Chunxi: "Most likely."

Chu Yanhuan couldn't help but say, "The smell of this cow dung isn't strange at all."

Qing Mengzhu: "It's a bit different from the cow dung we had before. It smells a bit strange. I'll go get a shovel and shovel it away."

Qing Mengzhu quickly grabbed a shovel and shoveled the cow dung into the house.

Ming Chunxi shoveled with him.

The two of them shoveled very carefully, as if they were digging up some kind of treasure.

Chu Yanhuan looked at them from the side again and again, but couldn't see anything special about those piles of cow dung.

After shoveling cow dung and pouring tea into the cow's water trough, they continued up the mountain.

The beans planted on the mountain are all on the sunny side, so they have to walk a long way to cut down the bean stalks.

They were quite busy recently and couldn't harvest the bean stalks in time, so the stalks have long since withered and turned yellow, and the bean pods on them have also dried up.

If you don't control your strength when chopping, the beans inside the pods will fall out.

Chu Yanhuan cut the bean stalks for the first time, he saw some beans fall out and reached out to pick them up with a pained expression. "Why aren't you picking them up?"

Qing Mengzhu: "It's alright, it's all our mountain. If the beans fall to the ground, they'll sprout next spring."

Chu Yanhuan glanced at the round, golden beans in his palm and still felt a little regretful. "You guys seem quite philosophical about it."

The soybeans from Qing Mengzhu's family are truly excellent—plump, round, and golden. You can smell their fragrance when you hold them up to your nose.

Chu Yanhuan suspected that the soybeans he had bought before were fake soybeans, otherwise how could they be so different from those from Qing Mengzhu's family?

Qing Mengzhu inspected the soybeans and was quite satisfied with this round of harvest.

When they were planting, they couldn't buy staple food from the Interstellar Mall, so he had to go to several places and carefully select a batch of "Good Grade+" soybean seeds.

After this round of planting, the "Good Grade+" soybeans have become "Fine Grade- ". Judging from the vitality of these soybean seeds, Qing Mengzhu confident that they will be planted to "Fine Grade" quality next year.

Cutting bean stalks is rather boring, Qing Mengzhu planted their beans in a rather scattered manner, so they had to run back and forth up and down the mountain.