When Doctor Yang called for dinner, A Feng hurriedly wiped away her tears. "Oh no, I forgot to go back and cook."
Yuan Man already knew that his cousin was the cook hired by Tian Jing. "Sister Feng, I'll accompany you to apologize."
"Yes, yes, and thank you again, Tiantian and Zhenguo. If they hadn't hired me, we would never have been reunited in this lifetime."
Doctor Yang decisively put down the pig feed he had prepared. "I'll go with you."
Yuan Man knew what his uncle wanted to do. "The Li family is large."
"It's precisely because there are many people that there's more food. Let's go, stop dawdling."
Doctor Yang walked ahead with his hands behind his back. Yuan Man locked both doors and told his cousin to follow.
As soon as Doctor Yang stepped through the gate, he called out, "Bring out more bowls and chopsticks, we're all here to mooch a meal."
Mother Li had started cooking herself when A Feng didn't return. Fortunately, her daughter had already killed the chicken.
While she was stewing the soup, she asked Tiantian if she wanted anything else added.
Tiantian told her to just make a clear broth and to make more of their own vegetables, as her grandfather liked them.
She ended up making a large bowl of each vegetable, because Tiantian said that A Guang ate a lot.
She had soaked two wild rabbits and stewed them with radish chunks in a large pot.
It had kept her quite busy, and A Feng still hadn't returned, so she was getting annoyed.
It was Tiantian who came to help, telling her that A Feng was Yuan Man's cousin.
Who would have thought that cousins would meet in the Kū Mountain amidst the vast sea of people.
Mother Li then felt at ease.
Just as the food was being served, the guests arrived.
And they had to be hosted.
Tian Jing saw Doctor Yang arrive with his disciple and A Feng and knew that he intended to protect his disciple and her cousin.
She asked, "You didn't cook?"
"We did. My disciple was busy with her reunion, so I cooked." Doctor Yang sat down at the table unceremoniously and cupped his hands towards Grandpa Xiao.
"Old Mr. Xiao, we've come uninvited and are disturbing you."
Grandpa Xiao waved his hand. "You're too kind. It's more relaxing to be casual."
Doctor Yang became even more at ease. "Haha, it's good to be casual. I've been hiding in these mountains for over twenty years and am used to the simplicity and freedom here. I don't want to leave."
Grandpa Xiao agreed. "That's true. As soon as I arrived here, I felt much more relaxed. The air here is even leisurely."
The two elderly men, close in age, chatted amicably.
Tian Jing said to Yuan Man, "Go get the food your master made and we'll process it. Otherwise, with so many people..."
Yuan Man felt a little uncomfortable. "We just came to express our gratitude. If it weren't for you, my cousin and I might never have had the chance to meet again."
Tian Jing looked at Yuan Man in surprise. It seemed this person wasn't naturally cold and taciturn.
"It's alright, I'm also a casual person. If there isn't enough food, there isn't enough. Doctor Yang and my husband are like sworn brothers, and he's very comfortable here. Go get the food."
Doctor Yang, who was still chatting, waved impatiently at his nephew. "Hurry up and get it."
"Okay."
Yuan Man then rushed back.
A Feng apologized to Tian Jing. "I'm sorry, I..."
"It's alright," Tian Jing waved her hand. "When family reunites, there's always so much to say. Be mindful of the time next time. When you're not busy, you can chat with your cousin."
"Yes, yes, thank you for appreciating my cooking and bringing me back. It's only because of that that I had the fortune to meet my family."
"That's fate."
One table wouldn't be enough, so Mother Li had arranged for two tables.
The women and children sat at the kang table in the east room.
A Feng reheated Doctor Yang's dishes, and fried the rice with eggs.
Some of each were served to both tables.
The meal that was finished first was surprisingly the one A Feng had processed.
Doctor Yang was displeased. "Yuan Man, why didn't you inherit your family's traditional culinary skills?"
Yuan Man replied without looking up, "Whose cooking do you think I eat the most of?"
In the east room, Tian Jing also had a question. "A Feng, wasn't it said that your family's culinary skills ended with you?"
"Yes," A Feng nodded. "From childhood, many of us siblings learned cooking, but A Man didn't like it. Instead, he liked medicine."
"He argued with my uncle for a long time. My uncle, in anger, told him to find a master himself. If anyone was willing to take him as a disciple, he wouldn't object."
"I didn't expect A Man to actually find a master. Once he became a disciple, he stayed by his master's side every day, rarely returning even once in one or two months."
"Later, due to the changing times, my uncle's clinic closed down. We only heard that he went down to the countryside with his master, with no general direction."
"Afterward, among us who stayed in the capital, I was the only one left."
"Actually, his cooking skills are not bad. He just doesn't like being tied to the stove."
Tian Jing was surprised. "Doctor Yang isn't his master?"
"No, he's his uncle. His master survived those years but didn't live to see the notice for returning to the city. On his deathbed, he told A Man to find his uncle."
So Doctor Yang gained a disciple for free? No wonder he happily spent his life savings to buy a new building plot.
"Eat, eat."
Tian Jing stopped prying into others' privacy.
After the meal, A Feng busied herself clearing the table, washing dishes, and tidying the kitchen.
Mother Li watched, quite satisfied.
Tian Jing handed her daughter over to her mother-in-law and busied herself with the seedlings.
The watermelons could still be planted for a late harvest, but she wouldn't bother with the villagers'.
Li Zhenguo accompanied her in the east side room, relaying Village Chief Ou's words to his wife.
Tian Jing shook her head. "I'll quietly help a little with the crops behind the village, but I won't do anything else. Otherwise, as soon as I leave, it'll all fall apart."
"Yes, that's what I mean. Shall we go up the mountain tomorrow?"
Tian Jing quickly told him about the barley.
"I said I'd bring Dà Mai into the mountain to show her the true appearance of a hero."
What angered Li Zhenguo was something else. "Do the villagers think that since this year's watermelons are a bust, they won't need my elder brother anymore, and thus are ignoring Sister-in-law's pleas for help?"
"I don't think that's entirely it."
Tian Jing had a different opinion. "It's also because Ouyang Meihua has a bad reputation, and Zhao Xiaofang's character is truly baffling. Without anyone to lead, they're afraid of being the first to stick their neck out against that so-called 'Big Sister'."
"However, if you're unhappy, you can retaliate. I have no objections. Anyway, I won't be bringing watermelon seedlings to anyone's house this time."
"Oh, and Li Jianguo, you're not allowed to help him anymore. It's practically like giving money away."
"He's just a do-gooder. I'm not holding him accountable for saving Guo Xiaoli, that's already his good fortune. You're also a do-gooder."
Li Zhenguo quickly apologized to his wife. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again. When I was little, cousin Jianguo saved me. He doesn't remember, but I do."
"Alright, the life-saving debt is repaid then."
"Yes, yes, I'll listen to Tiantian."
Tian Jing remembered something else. "You don't need to go into the mountain with me tomorrow. You go buy steel bars and cement. Also, try to find out about Zhao Xiaofang's 'Big Sister'."
"See if we can use Zhao Xiaofang to send that 'Big Sister' back in, and make them turn on each other."
Li Zhenguo agreed. "Okay, I'll take care of this trouble."
How dare she throw his niece into the river? A trip to prison had made her bolder.
As for Dà Mai's romantic problems, they could only be handled with a hands-off approach like Tiantian's.
"What's wrong with Minmin now?"
"Hmph!" Tian Jing snorted. "She's gotten too big for her boots. She has two sons. Plus, her sister-in-law's status has elevated her."
"I don't know how the villagers are flattering her. This is something you need to go and scold her into realizing."
Li Zhenguo's face was full of anger. "I'll go right now. I'll bury her so deep in the earth she'll never get out. Her sister-in-law is already overwhelmed by her own status, and yet she's gotten so arrogant. What kind of behavior is this?"