Chapter 13: Going to Town to Earn Money

Grandpa Li agreed immediately. After a couple of bites, he began to show concern for Grandma Xu's health. "Is your leg alright?"

Grandma Xu suffered from severe arthritis; she was fine for normal walking, but climbing up and down hills would cause her pain.

Prompted by his words, Grandma Xu finally took notice of her leg. She said in surprise, "My leg doesn't feel like anything!"

Normally, every time she returned from a trip up the mountain, she would be in pain for a long time before it subsided, but today, there was nothing wrong at all.

Thinking back carefully, she felt that it seemed very easy when she was climbing up just now, as if she had been carried up by someone.

Grandma Xu even joked with Grandpa Li, "Could it be that Xiuwen knew we were coming up to see him and specifically came down to carry me up?"

Grandpa Li gave her a disgruntled glare and quickly made several "pei pei pei" spitting sounds. "Don't talk such unlucky nonsense."

Being carried by a ghost was not a happy thing; this old woman was really something.

Grandma Xu laughed twice, saying he was overthinking it, then turned around to pour him another cup of tea.

On the other side, just as Yang Fan heard the movements in the fields settling down and was about to turn and leave, a flash of white caught her eye in her peripheral vision, heading up the mountain.

Yang Fan focused her gaze, but saw nothing.

She didn't take the matter to heart and instead took a stroll around the surrounding mountains.

The crops Yang Xiuwen had planted on the mountain were all common fruit trees: oranges, apples, pears, loquats, cherries, tart cherries, bayberries, lychees, plums, jujubes... a wide variety.

The seasonal loquats, bayberries, and plums were already ripe, but the vast majority had been eaten by the ghosts.

Very well, starting from tonight, she would make them start working!

The two plots of land surrounding Yang Fan's house were the vegetable patches Yang Xiuwen had planted, which were currently overgrown with weeds. She rummaged through all the farm tools in the house and only found five hoes, some knives, two manure buckets, and a shoulder pole in the backyard.

She hadn't circled to the back to look yesterday, so she only now saw that there were three empty pigsties and one cow shed in the backyard.

There were traces of chicken droppings on the ground in the back yard; this area could be used to raise some chickens and ducks, and the pigs and cows could be raised in the pigsties and cow sheds.

There was spiritual energy here; if she raised livestock on fodder and vegetables grown with that spiritual energy, the meat would be top-tier.

She wouldn't sell these; just thinking about the taste made Yang Fan feel a bit hungry.

Before she had even raised them, her mind was already fantasizing about her future life: sitting in the courtyard, looking out at the lush green fields and curling wisps of cooking smoke, brewing a pot of hot tea, eating delicious dried fruit, and breathing in the spiritual energy.

For a beautiful future, the most important thing first was to earn money!

Not only did she need to pay the land rent, but she also needed living expenses.

Carrying her remaining hundred yuan in cash and the two hundred yuan on her phone, Yang Fan went to find Grandpa Li. She took his tricycle to the town, bringing along her small folding stool and that A4 sheet of paper used for street vending.

She didn't have spare money to make a proper sign, so she could only use this for now; once she earned money, she would replace it with a better one.

On the vehicle, Grandpa Li was still trying to persuade her not to continue renting the land, but Yang Fan replied firmly that she intended to continue.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade her, Grandpa Li gave up and changed the subject. Young people were fearless in their ignorance; they would have to suffer a bit of hardship to understand the difficulty of it.

"What are you taking that stool for?"

Yang Fan replied, "To earn money."

Grandpa Li asked one more thing, "Did you find a job in town?"

"I did."

Found a job so quickly? Didn't she just return yesterday?

Although Grandpa Li was somewhat puzzled, he didn't ask. After all, the way young people found jobs now was different from their time; everything was done on mobile phones.

Upon arriving at the town, Grandpa Li dropped Yang Fan off at the entrance. "Call me in a little while, and I'll come pick you up."

"Okay."

Yang Fan saved Grandpa Li's number and walked into the streets with her small stool.

The town was quite lively. Because of the nearby Sanqing Mountain scenic area, there were many tourists in town, including many "special forces" college students who were popular for mountain climbing.

"Shaping Town... we really went to the wrong place. This is nearly fifty kilometers away from the Waishuangxi Tourist Center!"

Yu Wenhao held his phone with a frustrated expression, complaining, "If I had known, I shouldn't have listened to Xiao Lin and gotten off the bus here."

The complained-about Xiao Lin was a girl wearing thick glasses. She hurriedly defended herself, "I didn't..."

"Didn't what? You can't even read a map, causing us to take the wrong road," Yu Lu complained. "If it weren't for you, we would be almost there by now. Now look, we don't even know where we are."

"Alright, alright, everyone, don't fight," Chen Anping said softly, trying to soothe their emotions. "I believe Xiao Lin didn't do it on purpose. Since it's already happened, we should hurry and find another vehicle."

It clearly wasn't her fault. It was because Yu Lu had said she felt unwell halfway through and couldn't continue sitting in the car, which was why she had suggested getting off here.

Moreover, when she suggested getting off, everyone had clearly agreed. Why was she being made the scapegoat?

Chen Anping's words failed to soothe her; instead, they made Xiao Lin feel very uncomfortable. She opened her mouth to explain, but Yu Lu beat her to it.

Yu Lu looked at Chen Anping with a shy expression. "Brother Anping, you're right. Now is not the time for arguing. Once we find a problem, we must solve it."

Yu Wenhao said, "Now we can only call another taxi to go to the Waishuangxi Tourist Center."

To go up Sanqing Mountain, besides taking the cable car, they would have to hike up from the Waishuangxi Tourist Center.

Chen Anping checked the time. "It's getting late. If we go now, we won't make it in time."

"It might be better if we find an inn here to stay in and head there early tomorrow morning."

"It's perfect, since everyone is tired after walking all day," Chen Anping's gaze drifted subtly toward Yu Lu. "Didn't Lu Lu say earlier that she wasn't feeling well?"

Being the recipient of his special concern, Yu Lu was incredibly happy. She nodded repeatedly in agreement with his suggestion.

Watching their sweet interaction, Yu Wenhao felt quite pleased in his heart. This was his good brother, and the girl was his sister.

He was very willing to see the two of them together.

The three of them settled on this, completely ignoring Xiao Lin's opinion.

Because of this, Xiao Lin was very angry, but since she had already come, she didn't want to tear faces with them for the time being.

Looking at the ambiguous backs of Chen Anping and Yu Lu, she cursed in her heart, *Crazy men and crazy women.*

The four of them were not from the same university. Yu Lu and she were alumni and roommates.

Yu Wenhao and the other boy were from a different university, and they were also roommates.

Yu Lu liked Chen Anping and wanted to use the trip to improve their relationship, so she had asked Xiao Lin to accompany her.

Xiao Lin happened to have business in the Sanqing Mountain area; otherwise, she wouldn't have been willing to come with them.

(End of Chapter)