Chapter 144: The Bug Runs Automatically
The plump auntie said, “It’s truly hot this year.”
Auntie Lu replied, “Yes, indeed. The chickens at home are so hot they won’t even eat.”
The plump auntie felt a wave of empathy. “My family had four chickens die from the heat! And two others were looking all listless, so I just slaughtered them to eat.”
Auntie Lu remarked, “That’s not bad then. Slaughtering them early means you can at least drink some chicken soup, which is a bit better than the bitter days of the past.”
The plump auntie agreed, “Yes, life is certainly much better than before.”
—By coming to work at the manor, she had brought back needles, thread, grain, fabric, and shoes, so her household could finally function properly again.
Moreover, her mother had told her today that the owner here wanted to hire her as a long-term worker and have her come every single day from now on. She no longer had to worry about not being able to make a living.
Auntie Lu said, “It’s all thanks to Xiaxia.”
The plump auntie added, “It’s all because Owner Xiaxia is generous.”
The two spoke in unison, and upon hearing each other’s words, they instantly burst into laughter.
See? They both agreed that thanks to Xiaxia, everyone was living a good life.
Auntie Lu even took a cue from the plump auntie. “You’re doing it right. I should follow your lead and change my phrasing to call her Owner Xiaxia as well.”
The plump auntie didn’t detect anything amiss at all and nodded. “Yes, Owner Xiaxia is young, but she is truly capable and full of ideas.”
Once Jian Xingxia finished settling the guests, she hurriedly ducked into the kitchen, deeply terrified that some supernatural or monstrous slip-up would occur.
Instead, the scene she beheld was a picture of absolute harmony. Even A-Feng was there.
A-Feng had just returned from the stream, running into the kitchen to look for items. “Auntie, two more guests by the stream ordered the camping package. Mistress Lin said it’s the thirty-yuan package, so we don’t include a whole watermelon, but we can give them a sliced platter.”
For packages priced at fifty yuan or above, Jian Xingxia would provide a ten-catty watermelon for a group of two to three people, letting them submerge it in the stream water. It looked beautiful, turned out incredibly picturesque in photos, and tasted delicious—ice-cold and refreshing without being so freezing that it shocked the teeth like a refrigerator would.
The thirty-yuan package only provided the bamboo camping tables and chairs, mats to sit on the ground, small buckets for playing in the water, and towels for wiping down, plus a fruit platter and a small snack platter.
A-Feng had already delivered seven or eight watermelons this morning, along with two fruit platters. The watermelons had to be freshly sliced. Lin Sanniang was busy arranging the lunchtime seating batches and clearing the tables and chairs, so run off her feet, she had told A-Feng to come to the kitchen to look for them himself.
The plump auntie was busying herself before the hearth, so Auntie Lu took the initiative.
“You need watermelon, right?”
“Yes, Auntie. Mistress Lin said to take it from the refrigerator.” A-Feng conveyed the message clearly.
He didn’t actually know what a refrigerator was, but that was what Lin Sanniang had told him.
Hearing this, Auntie Lu naturally understood completely. “Alright, I’ll go check the refrigerator. There should be some.”
Since the word “refrigerator” had been spoken so naturally, Auntie Lu didn’t harbor a shred of doubt regarding A-Feng’s background.
She went to the refrigerator to fetch a watermelon, and the plump auntie pointed it out for her: “Owner Xiaxia said to use this specific knife exclusively for slicing watermelons and fruit.” It was separated from the knives used for raw meat, vegetables, and cooked food.
Auntie Lu did as instructed. After slicing it cleanly, she even wrapped it in plastic wrap before placing it into the bamboo food box A-Feng brought.
“Alright, take it over.”
Auntie Lu scrutinized A-Feng a couple more times, thinking that although the boy looked refined, his facial features truly bore no resemblance to Jian Xingxia’s. He was either the younger brother of a friend, classmate, or acquaintance, or he must have been born to Jian Xingxia’s stepmother previously.
Auntie Lu didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary, only marveling in her heart at how kind-hearted and tolerant Jian Xingxia was. If it were the Fangfang in their family, if they didn’t let her come home for the summer holiday, she would bring half her class back to tear the house down!
As Auntie Lu thought about this, she asked the plump auntie, “Sister, how many children do you have?”
The plump auntie replied, “Just one, a daughter. She just gave birth to a little girl.”
Auntie Lu was in her fifties and the plump auntie was in her forties; they were close in age, with the plump auntie being slightly younger. Auntie Lu felt it made perfect sense—the plump auntie was younger, so having only one child was completely normal. She herself had given birth to two sons first, and only when she was around thirty-seven or thirty-eight did she have Fangfang.
Auntie Lu remarked, “Having just one is good; daughters are more caring. I have two sons and a daughter. Those two sons both ran off and started families elsewhere, so now I only have my youngest daughter to keep me company.”
The plump auntie deeply agreed. “My single daughter is worth several sons of other people. She’s incredibly filial!”
Auntie Lu offered her sincere envy, “Then you’ve raised a good daughter.”
“Exactly! Elder Sister, let me tell you, my sister-in-law gave birth to three sons, and the worry it caused was simply endless… A few years ago, the eldest one actually broke someone’s leg, and they had to pay a massive amount of compensation!”
“Oh my, I just hope my sons and daughter live honestly. No matter what they do, just don’t break the law! Don’t turn bad!”
“Precisely! When I picked a son-in-law for my daughter, it was the same—I didn’t care about anything else, I just wanted him to be a good, honest person, and stay far away from those filthy matters.”
“My daughter is still young. I want her to study for a few more years and start a family a bit later.”
“Elder Sister, I couldn’t tell, but you actually value your daughter quite highly, even letting her study.”
“Ah, our household isn’t the type to favor boys over girls. If the sons can study, then the daughter naturally should study too. It’s better for a girl to read more books; it keeps her eyes sharp and her heart clear, so I can feel more at ease when she picks a partner in the future.”
“True, true indeed…”
After Jian Xingxia entered the kitchen, she didn’t dare make a sound.
She thought to herself that in this world, there might truly be a set of bugs that could run automatically. Two people from completely different space-time backgrounds were actually chatting and working together through a bizarre twist of fate. They were even having a fantastic chat!
Jian Xingxia silently backed out of the kitchen.
She felt the plump auntie and Auntie Lu were getting along perfectly right now. If she chimed in, this bug might just stop running.
With Auntie Lu joining in, the plump auntie was also bursting with drive. A-Feng withdrew from the creekside as well, working alongside Jian Xingxia and Lin Sanniang to arrange the lunchtime matters.
The weather was hot, so the dishes freshly carried out from the kitchen didn’t need warming plates and could be served directly.
Jian Xingxia registered the orders on her end. “For lunch, you may choose two meats and one vegetable. The soup is fixed. For the staple food, we have white rice and sweet potato coarse grain rice. May I ask what you honored guests would like to eat?”
The guests, who had already played in the manor all morning, had long since mastered the spirit of the immersive ancient-style guesthouse through the archaic phrasing of Lin Sanniang and A-Feng.
They responded decisively, “Trouble you to give me a portion of the poached meat slices, a portion of the stir-fried eggs with chilies, and for the vegetable, I’ll have the stir-fried cabbage with pork cracklings! White rice, many thanks!”
There were also young children who, guided by the adults, cupped their hands toward Jian Xingxia. “Sister, I want a portion of the velvet chicken slices and a portion of the stir-fried tomatoes with eggs. I don’t want green vegetables. Can you give me a bit more of the tomatoes and eggs, Sister?”
Jian Xingxia smiled. “Of course you can.”
Lin Sanniang scooped the rice, and A-Feng carried the food boxes, delivering them one by one.
As the dishes hit the tables, the first batch of guests began to eat. Jian Xingxia waited nervously for their feedback.
She wasn’t entirely certain what kind of feedback the guests would give after eating an “individual meal package” at an agritainment spot. The guests’ word-of-mouth reputation was directly captured and rated by the system, and to meet the reputation conditions, the manor had to continue upgrading.
Having already experienced the joy of a system upgrade, Jian Xingxia didn’t dare slack off in the slightest.
