Chapter 302: New Year’s Gift ( 1 )
The villagers with a deeper mind understood the Village Chief’s intentions and no longer held any dissatisfaction with his action. But those who were petty-minded but foolish were unhappy.
During the distribution of the offerings, they would still make some sour remarks. Although they were reprimanded by the village elders, it didn’t lessen their jealousy. Instead, it made them more unhappy with Yao Zhi.
When Wang Shen saw this, she pulled Yao Zhi to the side and explained to her the meaning of the first bowl.
Yao Zhi was surprised by this and said, "Aunt Wang, I didn’t know. If I knew, I wouldn’t dare to accept it."
Wang Shen patted her hand and sighed. "I know you didn’t have any intention and were tricked by the Village Chief. But since you already accepted it, there is no point in returning it."
"In the future, you should be more careful in your conduct. You might have a good intention by helping others, but not everyone is grateful."
"Men see the world more and would have a bigger worldview compared to us women. So, before you make any decision, discuss it with your husband."
"With your husband’s protection, no one would dare to question you or ask you for unreasonable things. If you have any trouble, you can come to the Village Chief or me."
Yao Zhi nodded and replied, "Thank you, Aunt Wang. I will keep your words in mind."
Wang Shen was happy to see how good-natured she was. Not many people would be able to accept other people’s suggestions or opinions. So when she saw how open-minded she was, she liked her more and more.
"Why are you being so polite with me?"
"You and your husband are basically saving the lives of my entire family. Without your husband, I would have lost my son. Without you, my family wouldn’t have any grains left and would starve to death. So, if you have any difficulties, don’t keep it to yourself."
"I will. Thank you, Aunt Wang," Yao Zhi smiled.
After the brief conversation, they finally took their leave and returned home. From the beginning to the end, the sacrificial ceremony took around 2 hours.
When they returned home, it was only 7 o’clock in the morning. Holding the first bowl of the offerings, Yao Zhi thought for a moment and handed it to Xi Yi.
"Heat it up and give it to Ah Qi."
The moment Xi Yi heard this, she gave her a deep curtsy, bowed her head, and accepted the bowl with both hands. "Thank you, Master."
This time, Yao Zhi didn’t correct her. It was her blessing for the child, hoping he would grow up healthy and happy.
After the busy morning, they finally started their morning routine. Today, Yao Zhi asked the Ling squad to help her harvest the vegetable gardens after breakfast.
In the front yard, they harvested all the sweet potatoes, cassava, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers. In the backyard, they harvested cabbage, white radish, carrots, eggplant, scallions, garlic, onions, peppers, and ginger.
The chili peppers were pulled out and transplanted to the wasteland near the backyard.
They worked for several hours before they finished harvesting everything and weighing it. The total yield of her crops surprised not only the Ling team but also herself.
Perhaps it was because she watered them with water mixed with spiritual spring water, the total yield of her garden reached 2,779 kg. Since the crops varied, she asked the Ling team to separate them and store them in sacks and bamboo baskets.
When they were done, it was already past noon. As she wiped the sweat on her forehead, she said, "Let’s have lunch first."
"Master, what do you want to do with these?" Ling San asked.
Yao Zhi thought about the Fei Long Escort Agency brothers and said, "It’s a new year, let’s share our harvest with our friends and family."
They thought that their Master would sell these things to earn some money. Unexpectedly, she wanted to give them to others as a gift.
After they washed the dirt from their bodies, they gathered in Ling Shi’er’s room and sat around the table. For today’s lunch, Xi Yi prepared the meal according to Yao Zhi’s order.
Besides steamed white rice, there was a huge bowl of braised pork, steamed fish with ginger and mushrooms, stir-fried vegetables with pork slices, chicken herbal soup, and a lot of dumplings.
To celebrate their first new year together, she also took out 5 jars of her apricot wine.
Sitting at the main seat, Yao Zhi looked at everyone and said, "Thank you for everyone’s hard work. Today, feel free to eat and drink to your heart’s content."
She poured a cup of apricot wine for herself and raised it. "For a better year to come, cheers!"
Everyone quickly filled their cups and raised them. The children couldn’t drink alcohol and were given juice instead. "Cheers!"
After the first cup of wine, everyone started to eat.
As they ate, Ling Shijiu suddenly bit into something hard while eating his dumpling. Frowning, he thought he bit a stone. When he spat it out, his eyes widened when he saw that it was actually a gold nugget.
When everyone saw this, their eyes were also full of shock.
Seeing this, Yao Zhi laughed and said, "Congratulations, Shijiu! You got the gold nugget!"
Although it was only 1 tael of gold, it was equal to 100 taels of silver. Everyone was envious of his luck and couldn’t help but stare at the rest of the dumplings.
Noticing their thoughts, Xi Yi said, "There are a total of 5 gold nuggets hidden in the dumplings."
As soon as she said this, all the chopsticks moved to the big bowl of dumplings. Soon, the fight over the dumplings started. With their Master present, they didn’t dare to go overboard and only snatched food for fun.
The meal lasted for almost 2 hours. All of the food was eaten, and the gold nuggets were obtained by Ling Ba, Ling Shi’er, Ling Shiqi, Ling Shijiu, and Xi Si.
After they cleaned up the table and washed the dishes, Yao Zhi led everyone to prepare the gifts.