The Fantastic Little Farmer

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Too Hard to Kill

”What are you talking about!” Zhang Yun’s face filled with disgust. ”Can’t you keep your thoughts out of the gutter, old man...”

No one knew a son better than his father. Having raised him since he was a boy, how could Zhang Fu not see that he was trying to hide something?

He stared at Zhang Yun for a few seconds, then lowered his voice and said seriously, ”I’m not an old-fashioned man. I’ve always supported you in whatever you do. When you wanted to contract those unwanted Shantangs, I supported you, too.”

Zhang Yun felt a bit helpless. ”Dad, if you have something to say, just say it.”

Zhang Fu went over and closed the kitchen door, whispering, ”Xiuxun is a good girl. She’s hardworking, capable, polite, filial, self-respecting, and pretty to boot...”

Zhang Yun didn’t interrupt to defend himself, waiting for the inevitable ”but.”

”Her husband passed away, so remarrying is perfectly justified. It’s very common in today’s society, and even if she marries someone in the same village, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Although gossip can be a fearful thing, as long as we swallow our pride, there’s nothing we can’t endure. The most important thing is that our own family lives well.”

”What exactly are you trying to say?” Zhang Yun urged.

Zhang Fu’s voice dropped even lower. ”If you’re interested in her—and I’m just saying if—I wouldn’t mind the gossip at my age. But!

”I can’t ignore your safety!”

His father’s serious tone instantly made Zhang Yun realize what he was getting at.

”Jiujin and his wife have been together for most of their lives, so it’s definitely not his wife who’s a jinx. You weren’t too familiar with it back then, but it wasn’t long after Xiuxun got matched and got her marriage certificate. They had picked a date, but before the wedding banquet was even held and before she had officially moved in, the accident happened!

”Jiujin and his son wanted to throw a grand wedding banquet, so they worked overtime at the mine to earn more money, and then... Do you think that was just a coincidence?”

Zhang Yun smiled bitterly. ”That is exactly what a coincidence is.”

Behind her back, the villagers all said Xiuxun was a jinx who had cursed her husband and father-in-law to death. However, she was beautiful, served her mother-in-law well, and could endure hardship while working in the fields. Aside from brushing off teasing jokes, she was polite and respectful to everyone. It was almost impossible to find any flaws in her. After she had been in the village for a long time, everyone gradually accepted her, and the gossip died down, though the underlying consensus remained.

Zhang Fu glared at him. ”It’s not good to speak ill of others behind their backs, but I still need to knock some sense into you, you little brat! Xiuxun hadn’t officially married into the family yet. If this happened to a normal family, they would have returned the bride price and married her off to someone else. Why didn’t Xiuqin’s House do that?”

”Why?” Zhang Yun asked, feeling perplexed.

”Because her luck is too cursed, of course! Her family knows it crystal clear, and everyone in her area probably knows it too! Cursing two men in her husband’s family to death before she even officially married into it—who would dare take her? What matchmaker could introduce her to anyone? She couldn’t just stay home and become an old maid, so she had no choice but to come over here and make do!”

Zhang Yun was left speechless. Although he didn’t know the details at the time, from what he had heard others say, most people felt that Aunt Jiu was too pitiful left all alone. They believed Xiuxun couldn’t bear it and came over to take care of her and live together.

”Dad, these are all just coincidences and people reading too much into things. There’s no scientific basis for it. What era are we in now? You still believe in people being cursed jinxes...”

Zhang Fu slapped him on the shoulder. ”Whether it makes sense or whether it’s scientific, I don’t care. But when it comes to this sort of thing, everyone would rather be safe than sorry! What if it’s true?”

He patted Zhang Yun’s shoulder again, then patted his own chest.

Zhang Yun was speechless once more. He didn’t care about himself, but he couldn’t let his dad worry about being cursed to death!

”Actually, there’s nothing going on between us. I just think... we shouldn’t be superstitious.”

Zhang Fu sighed. ”Sometimes you have to be a little superstitious. I’m cursed too. Your mom is already gone, and if you...”

He fell silent at that.

”Don’t be like that... By your logic, it was me who cursed my mom,” Zhang Yun said, not knowing how to comfort his father.

It had been many years. Zhang Yun felt he should help his dad find a new wife. His dad was definitely too embarrassed to do it himself, so the task fell to him. He had to do it while his dad’s equipment still worked; in a few more years, he really wouldn’t be able to...

Zhang Fu looked at his son, secretly pondering the matter. Claiming they had true feelings for each other was nonsense; it was simply an age of bursting energy where opposites easily attracted. It was about time to find a wife for his son.

”These are all irrelevant things. Let’s eat, let’s eat!”

The motorcycle had already been delivered. After dinner, Zhang Yun wanted to take it out for a spin, but he was afraid others would think he was showing off, so he let it go. He would ride it around when he went to town Ming Tian.

He also had the new phone he bought today, so Zhang Yun still had a new toy to play with. When the lights went out for bedtime, Zhang Yun entered the Peach Blossom Spring Space again.

But as soon as he entered, he immediately came back out to lock his bedroom door! What if his dad happened to walk in? If his room was empty late at night, his dad might suspect he had gone to climb the walls of Xiuqin’s House.

Entering the Peach Blossom Spring Space once more, Zhang Yun watered the ginseng and the original plants inside again, leaving the vegetable seedlings alone.

He looked at the small pool of water, which acted much like a well. After he used some, it would slowly seep back to full capacity. If he didn’t use it, it wouldn’t overflow once it reached a certain level.

Was the massive transformation of all the plants and animals due to the Spiritual Qi and soil in this space, or was it the effect of this water?

Zhang Yun couldn’t eat dirt, and he couldn’t bury himself in the soil, but he could stay in this space and drink the water!

He wondered what changes would happen if he drank the water from this pool and slept here for a night.

Zhang Yun really wanted to test it out, but seeing the vegetable seedlings that were as big as trees, he held back. It would be a nightmare if his body became gigantic too.

Right! The fish!

He had put a few fish in the pool that afternoon, and he wasn’t sure if the water had killed them. When he was scooping water to irrigate the ginseng just now, he hadn’t seen any fish.

Judging by the growth speed of the soft-shelled turtles, they should have turned into huge fish after half a day. If they were dead, they would float to the surface, which would be visible at a glance in this small pool.

Was this pool extremely deep?

Zhang Yun squatted by the pool and leaned over close to the water to take a careful look. It turned out not to be an abyss; he could see the bottom at a glance. It seemed to be only a few feet deep.

However, he did see clearly that the fish were still in the pool, swimming near the bottom. They hadn’t grown into giant fish; they had only grown to the size of two fingers in total.

Since they were just test subjects anyway, Zhang Yun didn’t need to eat them, so he let them continue living in the pool. Then, he remembered that he had also placed a small turtle inside earlier, which he hadn’t seen since.

Even if it had been bitten to death by the soft-shelled turtles, the shell couldn’t be eaten. He originally thought it might be hiding in some dirt clod, but after staring closely into the pool, he saw the little guy lurking at the bottom, lying motionless with its head retracted.

Seeing that it had only grown to the size of a fist, it clearly hadn’t grown nearly as fast as the two soft-shelled turtles.

What exactly were the rules of this Peach Blossom Spring Space?

There was nothing to explain it, so Zhang Yun stopped dwelling on it. He would just take his time observing the effects.

He didn’t drink the water directly, nor did he stay in the space for too long before exiting.

Time to sleep! He still had to take a trip into the mountains Ming Tian to pretend to dig up the ginseng!

The thought of the ginseng that could sell for a million Ming Tian made Zhang Yun so excited that all his sleepiness vanished. He picked up his phone to check the time and discovered an unread WeChat message.

”Are you asleep?” It was from Xiuxun.

It wasn’t as if Zhang Yun had never chatted with girls late at night, but right now, Xiuxun was only a few dozen meters away in a straight line. She was definitely lying in bed with the lights off at this moment, so looking at this ”Are you asleep?” gave it an entirely different vibe.

He wondered if, after this morning, noon, and evening, there could also be a late-night bonus.