RYEY -Chapter 405 A Chilling Sense of Being Watched

“Brother Huan, all the wheat that’s still alive has been moved into the greenhouses. What a pity—only this little is left. I don’t know how we’re supposed to allocate it this spring.”

Wang Xiangyang walked over with his head hanging low. Li Huan glanced at him—despite the freezing weather, there were beads of sweat on his forehead, showing just how anxious he was.

“Don’t worry,” Li Huan said. “Things are already like this. We’ll take it one step at a time. Didn’t everyone raise pigs this year? Once the pigs are sold, that’ll be a sizable income. And if worst comes to worst, come spring I’ll take everyone into the mountains to hunt. That’s still a source of income.”

“If I’d known it would turn out like this, I should’ve gone to repair the river channel before the New Year. Sigh…”

Li Huan: “……”

Wang Xiangyang still couldn’t shake off his rather narrow way of thinking about making money.

“Did you find anything suspicious about anyone in the village?”

“No. I led the security team to search every household. We didn’t find any gasoline, nor any traces of gasoline being used.”

“Not even at Chen Weimin’s place?”

“No. I basically conducted carpet searches at Fenqiu’s, Chen Weimin’s, and a few other shaved-heads’ homes. I even turned over the pigsties. There was nothing.”

“Have people clean up all the burned wheat. While they’re at it, apply some fertilizer and carry some water over. And keep whatever plastic sheeting is left—those were donated by the Hexi troops. Xiao Dan went out of his way to deliver them; it wasn’t easy for him either.”

“Alright. Thanks to Xiao Dan, thanks to the troops. I’ll go get people right away.”

In fact, there was no need to call anyone. The villagers were already there. This wheat was the money in their pockets, the grain in their mouths, and their hope for a better life in the future. How could they give it up so easily?

The river surface had already frozen over, so they could only use well water for now. Some villagers carried water, some cleaned up, some applied fertilizer, and others dug soil.

Everyone worked with their heads down, very consciously. And Cheng Qiao took the opportunity to cheat a little, secretly dripping spatial water into every bucket.

When the land contaminated by melted plastic sheeting was irrigated with well water infused with spatial water, the wheat that had been on the brink of death actually regained some vitality. The villagers were all experts at judging wheat—one look and they were overjoyed, hurriedly insulating and protecting whatever wheat was still alive.

Seeing her handiwork, Cheng Qiao felt secretly pleased. Saving even a little was worth it—this wheat was the villagers’ lifeline. Of course she had to find a way to save it.

Just as Cheng Qiao was about to leave, she suddenly felt a chill crawl up her back—a sensation of being firmly stared at. She spun around sharply and looked over.

What met her eyes was the vast Xiangyang Mountain. Snow blanketed the entire mountain, reflecting light under the sun. At the mountainside, something seemed to flash past—but Cheng Qiao couldn’t be sure whether there was really something there or if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

Her fingers twitched slightly. She really wanted to release Little Redhead to scout things out, but then she changed her mind. Little Redhead hadn’t been cultivating for very long—if the opponent turned out to be an ability user, Little Redhead wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Qiao, you can’t go up the mountain right now,” Aunt Wang said. “The heavy snow has sealed it off—it’s dangerous. And Xiangyang said the security team saw someone running toward the mountain. They even said that person must have a death wish.”

Seeing Cheng Qiao stare at the mountain for so long, Aunt Wang thought she was thinking of going up. At this time of year, going into the mountains really could cost you your life.

Cheng Qiao nodded repeatedly, thanking Aunt Wang for her concern.

“I know. Aunt Wang, why don’t you head back first? You look exhausted—your voice doesn’t even carry anymore.”

“Alright then, I’ll head back.”

Aunt Wang didn’t go straight home. Instead, she took the keys to Li Huan’s house and went to help cook and boil water. Secretary Hao and that soldier were both working in the fields—it wouldn’t do not to host them properly.

Xiao Dan came running over in a hurry. It turned out that he had received a mission and learned he’d be delivering plastic sheeting to Xiangyang Village. He was overjoyed, and while delivering the sheeting, he took the chance to go home for a visit.

When his father learned that Xiao Dan was heading far away—back to Cheng Qiao’s hometown, no less, which was also his future daughter-in-law’s hometown—he quickly took out something and handed it to Xiao Dan.

Xiao Dan knew at a glance what it was: snow lotus his father had risked his life to dig up in the mountains. After drying it, he had planned to sell it for money—money meant to help Xiao Dan get married.

“Second Sister-in-law, this is a medicinal herb my dad dug up in the mountains. He couldn’t bear to use it himself, so he heard from the village doctor that it could be dried and stored. Take a look—how much do you think this could sell for?”

Cheng Qiao took it and couldn’t help sighing inwardly at the waste. Such a good snow lotus hadn’t been processed in time; half its medicinal efficacy had already been lost. What a pity.

“Are you planning to go to the Chen family with the bride price, but you’re short on cash?”

Xiao Dan lowered his head. The roots of his ears really did turn red. His family had always been poor. Because he joined the army, and his parents worked hard, they managed to build a blue-brick, tiled-roof house back home, waiting to marry him off.

But after the house was built, the family was nearly broke again. Over the years they’d only managed to save three hundred yuan. That would be enough just for the bride price—but he’d learned that Qin Guoqing’s father had directly given Li Le’s family a thousand yuan, and that put pressure on him.

“Second Sister-in-law, I brought three hundred yuan. But back then Commander Qin—no, Brigade Commander Qin—gave Guoqing’s wife a thousand yuan, plus a lot of coupons. I can’t lose to Qin Guoqing, can I?”

Cheng Qiao froze for a moment, then looked at Xiao Dan with disapproval.

“Qin Daqiang was a regimental commander with a relatively high income and no family burdens—spending a thousand or two wasn’t difficult for him.

But you have many siblings, and your parents don’t have stable incomes. Why compare yourself to Qin Guoqing? That’s just not rational.

And if you give Cuihua’s family a thousand yuan, how are they supposed to prepare a dowry? That would be putting them in a bind.”

“Xiao Dan, listen to me. You really don’t need to give Little Niu such a big bride price. Otherwise, they won’t be able to prepare a dowry. I’ll give you a thousand yuan for this snow lotus.”

“A thousand? No, no—that’s too much. The village doctor offered a hundred yuan to buy it. My dad felt something was off. The village head’s youngest son once picked one too when he was little—it sold for three hundred yuan back then. We were all so envious.”

Cheng Qiao shook her head. She looked at the snow lotus in her hand. Though it was half-dried and a bit wilted, the flower was as large as a lotus, with long, soft white hairs on the back of the petals—clearly a top-grade specimen.

A thousand was indeed a bit much; eight hundred would’ve been about right. But Xiao Dan had tirelessly helped transport plastic sheeting for the villagers, braving the elements without complaint. They had to show some appreciation.

“It’s not too much. This snow lotus is top-grade. If your dad—or anyone else—finds snow lotus like this in the future, I’ll buy it.”

“All for a thousand yuan?”

“Depends on the quality. Exceptional ones might be a bit more; poorer quality ones will be cheaper. But don’t risk your lives for money. If you do, I won’t buy your medicinal herbs anymore.”

Hearing this, Xiao Dan was overjoyed. A thousand yuan—that was an astronomical sum! No wonder Second Sister-in-law could disappear into the Qilian Mountains for days on end. So medicinal herbs were really that valuable.

Seeing the light bursting forth in Xiao Dan’s eyes, Cheng Qiao felt extremely satisfied. She had provided a new way to make money—as long as they paid attention to safety and didn’t get greedy.

“Thank you, Second Sister-in-law. I still have an unseemly request. You must agree to it—otherwise I…”