Chapter 7: A Little Genius

However, looking at Jiang Tang’s expression, she was certain she wasn’t lying; it really was her first time doing it.

Lu Changzheng asked himself, if it were his first time, he would find it very difficult to do as well as Jiang Tang.

Although she seemed like a blank sheet of paper, did she have an astonishing talent for learning?

The next few days completely verified this guess of Lu Changzheng’s.

Whether it was laying roof tiles, patching the floor, or even using wood to make furniture, Jiang Tang could guarantee that she would learn it as soon as she was taught.

Lu Changzheng looked at the courtyard before him, which could be said to have been tidied up by Jiang Tang’s own efforts, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

And this young girl before him seemed completely unaware of what an incredible thing she had done.

No matter what the task was, she always maintained a sense of enthusiasm.

It was as if she had an inexhaustible supply of vitality.

Time flew by, and five days passed in the blink of an eye.

In those five days, Jiang Tang had also tidied up the small courtyard until it was spotless.

Lu Changzheng had been very busy these past few days, but he hadn’t forgotten about the courtyard, mentioning that logistics would be sending over some furniture today.

The furniture Jiang Tang had made herself consisted only of small trinkets; without large pieces of timber to work with, she could only casually make small items.

Things like small stools, small chairs, small cabinets, and wooden boxes.

In the morning, she was busy with the courtyard of her new home, preparing to follow the example of other families in the compound and plant vegetables in the yard.

Not long after, comrades from logistics sent her a bed, a double-door wardrobe, two chests of drawers, a square table, four long benches, as well as a vanity and a desk.

This entire set of furniture was brand new.

Jiang Tang didn’t know what new furniture signified, but the others in the family compound knew it all too well.

Most of their furniture was provided by logistics for free.

For free items, naturally, you kept using them as long as they were functional. Only when they were truly unusable would they replace them with another half-old piece for you.

Only when you paid out of your own pocket was the furniture brand new.

To pay for so much furniture, it wouldn’t cost less than seventy or eighty yuan.

This Lu Changzheng was truly willing to spend money.

When some of the older women thought of this, they couldn’t have been more frustrated.

It wasn’t as if there weren’t any eligible young women among their own relatives.

But when they tried to introduce them to Lu Changzheng, let alone give them a pleasant look, he wouldn’t even bother to lift his eyelids.

They just couldn’t understand: what was so good about that Jiang Tang? How could she make Lu Changzheng treat her like this?

With this mindset, quite a few people looking for gossip gathered outside Jiang Tang’s courtyard.

Jiang Tang had just finished arranging the furniture in the house when she saw a group of people gathered outside the yard.

She thought for a moment, wondering what they were doing.

She closed the door, intending to go to the river to cut some reeds to weave a fence.

"Hey, you, the Lu family’s, the Lu family’s."

Zhou Xiuju saw Jiang Tang coming out and called out to her.

Jiang Tang, holding a firewood knife, didn’t know the other party was calling her, so she walked straight away toward the river.

Zhou Xiuju:???

The other family members watching:???

This Jiang Tang was arrogant enough!

Was she acting so arrogant just because her husband was a battalion commander? This haughty attitude was truly detrimental to the unity of the families.

Soon, a rumor spread throughout the compound.

The content of the rumor was that Jiang Tang was a person who looked down on everyone; despite being from the countryside, she looked down on country folk!

The subject of the rumor didn’t know she had become the object of others' gossip.

At this moment, she had arrived at the river outside the family compound. Seeing the winding, twisting river and the many fish within it, she really wanted to drop her knife and go catch some.

"No, work first, work first!"

Although she had been a human for nearly ten days, she had lived as a ginseng root for eight hundred years, and the habit of occasionally talking to herself was something she couldn’t change for the time being.

After admonishing herself, she rolled up her sleeves and began to cut the reeds.

After cutting the reeds, she would go wading.

With this thought in mind, Jiang Tang worked quickly, and before long, she had cut a large bundle of reeds.

Placing them neatly to the side, Jiang Tang put down the knife and rolled up her pant legs, preparing to enter the water.

The icy river water washed over her feet, feeling very refreshing.

Not far away, there was a group of children playing in the water, splashing and laughing. Jiang Tang looked at them with curiosity and walked over.

"Little friends, what are they doing?"

Jiang Tang walked up to Maodan, who was squatting on the bank, and pointed at the children splashing in the river.

Maodan was seven or eight years old, wearing a pair of large shorts, his skin tanned to a shiny black.

Seeing the woman beside him who was even fairer than the flour in his house, his face turned red in a flash, and he instinctively jumped away, distancing himself from her.

Jiang Tang:???

She didn’t quite understand.

With a look of confusion, Maodan didn’t dare look her in the eyes, stammering as he shouted, "You’ve never even seen someone floating?"

"Floating?"

Jiang Tang frowned; she really hadn’t.

But once someone explained it, she understood—so the doggy paddle was called "floating"?

When Maodan saw that this fair and pretty woman really hadn’t seen others "float," he suddenly felt a sense of accomplishment. He stood up, put his hands on his hips, and pointed at the river with a somewhat arrogant attitude.

"Learned something today, right? This is the legendary 'White Stripe in the Waves'."

"White Stripe in the Waves?"

Jiang Tang still couldn’t quite understand what that meant.

Her eyes were fixed on the people splashing in the river, and her hands, hanging at her sides, moved slightly.

"Haha, you aren't trying to learn how to swim on the shore, are you?" Seeing this, Maodan laughed even louder.

Laughing to himself wasn't enough, so he called his little friends over: "Hurry up and look, there’s someone here learning to swim on the shore, hahahaha!"

His own swimming skills weren't great; compared to his friends, he was a total novice.

Having finally found someone even worse than him, he naturally had to make fun of her.

Perhaps because he was being too arrogant, as he laughed, his foot slipped, and with a splash, he tumbled into the water.

The spray of water flew onto Jiang Tang’s face.

She raised her hand to wipe the water from her face and stood up, preparing to leave.

"Hey, Silly Egg, aren't you going to learn to float anymore?" Maodan asked, splashing water from within the river.

Jiang Tang ignored him.

She knew Maodan was talking to her, but she didn't respond.

Because she wasn't a "Silly Egg," and she had already learned how to do this "swimming" thing, so she didn't want to play with these little brats.

Jiang Tang returned to the reeds she had cut, preparing to carry them home.

"Hey, what’s that over there? It looks like a person."

"Yeah, it really looks like a person."

The voices of several children rang out behind her. Jiang Tang, who was bundling the reeds, looked up and saw several children swimming toward the middle of the river.

Her brows furrowed, and she had a bad premonition.

Maodan wanted to go too, but he choked on two mouthfuls of water and retreated back to the bank, watching the middle of the river in a panic.

Jiang Tang walked over to him and asked with curiosity, "What are they doing?"

Maodan, who was looking anxious, snapped at her, "Saving someone! Are you really a Silly Egg? Can’t you see they’re saving someone?"

"Oh!"

Jiang Tang nodded; she understood.

So this was saving someone!

The next second, she leaped into the water.