BDSMST -Chapter 26 The “Farming Squad” That Refused to Leave

The second day. The third day…

Time passed in a strange yet steady rhythm—hard labor during the day, rewarded with delicious feasts at night.

Wei Ziqian and the other young masters seemed to have undergone a complete transformation.

At first, they complained endlessly, full of resentment. Then they grew numb and simply endured it. And gradually… they even began to find a hint of enjoyment in it.

When they saw the wasteland they had personally reclaimed expanding day by day, an indescribable pride welled up inside them. When they learned how to properly handle a hoe or how to identify edible wild greens, they felt the satisfaction of mastering new skills.

Of course, their greatest motivation was still the outrageously sumptuous dinner each evening.

Jiang Suisui’s cooking seemed to have no limits.

One day it was a pot of rich, savory pork rib soup. The next, crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside pan-fried fish fillets. The day after, sweet-and-sour pork that whetted the appetite. The side dishes were always the endlessly enjoyable, subtly sweet Jade Cabbage, or the crisp and juicy golden cucumbers.

There was no elaborate plating. No rare or extravagant ingredients.

Yet with pure, ultimate flavor alone, the dishes firmly captured the hearts—and stomachs—of these top-tier gourmands.

Every day, what they looked forward to most was sitting in the courtyard after work, waiting for Jiang Suisui to emerge from the kitchen with that day’s “surprise.” The excitement surpassed even waiting for imperial chefs to serve dishes in the capital.

Before they knew it, seven or eight days had passed.

The wasteland had nearly been fully reclaimed.

According to their agreement, it was time for them to return to the capital.

That afternoon, several luxurious carriages arrived outside the estate. Stewards and servants from each noble household had come to fetch their young masters.

“Young Master! This old servant has searched everywhere for you! Please come back at once—His Grace and Madam are frantic with worry!” cried the elderly steward of the Duke’s residence when he saw Wei Ziqian’s farmer-like attire and sun-darkened skin. His eyes nearly filled with tears.

“Yes, Third Young Master! The Marquis has already said that if you don’t return soon, he’ll break your legs!” wailed Qian Duoduo’s attendant.

The servants chattered anxiously, all assuming their young masters had suffered immensely and were desperate to rescue them from this “sea of misery.”

But the reaction of the young masters completely stunned them.

“What’s the rush?” Wei Ziqian wiped sweat from his brow and looked at the neatly leveled field with deep satisfaction. “I’m doing just fine here. I’m not going back yet.”

“Not… going back?!” The old steward’s eyes nearly popped out. “Young Master, you… you’re not running a fever, are you? What’s so good about this wilderness?”

“What do you know?” Wei Ziqian shot him a look, as if a city dweller were scolding a country bumpkin. “I’m experiencing life and tempering my will! Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility upon a man…’? Didn’t you ever study?”

He delivered this speech with absolute confidence.

Qian Duoduo nodded vigorously. Patting his stomach—which had noticeably slimmed down but now looked sturdier—he told his attendant, “Go tell my father I’ve learned a great deal here! When I return after completing my studies, I’ll make him see me in a new light! Oh—and don’t forget to send over my purple clay tea set. The spring water here will make excellent tea!”

The other young masters chimed in as well, each offering grand-sounding excuses to justify staying behind for further “advanced training.”

The stewards and servants were dumbfounded.

Their young masters were indeed darker and leaner than before—but their spirits were brighter than they had ever been in the capital. Their voices were strong, their eyes lively. There wasn’t a trace of misery or mistreatment about them.

What on earth was going on?

Did this shabby estate possess some kind of magic?

The servants couldn’t make sense of it—but they dared not defy their masters’ orders.

In the end, they had no choice but to return to the capital with empty carriages, their minds full of confusion. Before they left, Wei Ziqian even specially instructed his steward to bring more changes of clothes next time—and… some high-quality wound medicine.

After seeing the servants off, the young masters felt as though a burden had been lifted. They all seemed noticeably more relaxed.

Their decision to stay wasn’t actually that complicated.

The hardship was real.

But so was the joy.

Here, there were no elders constantly supervising them, no academic pressure weighing them down. Each day, they faced open fields and honest labor. Every drop of sweat they shed turned into tangible results.

That grounded, solid feeling was something they had never experienced in their life of luxury in the capital.

And on top of that—there was the unparalleled food!

For the sake of that dinner every evening, they were willing to reclaim even more land!

Thus, the group that had originally come to “inspect” and “mock” ended up transforming into a willing, self-appointed “farming squad” that refused to leave.

The estate suddenly became lively.

Jiang Suisui looked at the energetic half-grown boys filling the courtyard and did not chase them away.

She knew that although these youths were dandies, behind each of them stood powerful aristocratic families in the capital. Their presence here formed, invisibly, a protective umbrella for her and Gu Xuan.

At the very least, the Yongning Marquis’ household would no longer dare act rashly against them.

Besides, having so much free labor was hardly a bad thing.

She walked over to Gu Xuan, who was carefully shaving a length of bamboo with a small knife, preparing to make a new feeding trough for the chickens.

“Looks like your ‘friends’ don’t intend to leave,” she said lightly.

Gu Xuan didn’t even look up. He merely snorted.

“A bunch of spineless fellows, bought off by a few meals,” he scoffed. Yet the corners of his eyes curved upward uncontrollably.

After all, he was now the “teacher” and “foreman” of these so-called spineless fellows. Every day he directed these older boys around, ordering them to work. The feeling was exhilarating.

Jiang Suisui saw through his obvious duplicity but said nothing.

Instead, she was thinking: with more people, management could no longer remain as casual as before.

She would need a new, more effective set of rules to manage this temporarily assembled “farming squad.”

That evening, after dinner, Jiang Suisui gathered everyone in the courtyard.

“Since you’ve all decided to stay, starting tomorrow, we’ll be using a new system.”

She took out a wooden board. Written on it in charcoal were several lines of text.