Transmigrated into a Farmhouse: The Stepmother Spoils Her Child to the Heavens

How could we possibly afford such good rice?

There were still some chestnuts at home, so Lin Cai simply used them to cook rabbit. The aroma of the dish wafted into the yard as soon as it was cooked.

Lin Bao, who was playing with the children in the yard, ran into the kitchen after smelling the aroma: "It smells so good! Little sister, how come your cooking skills are getting better and better? This smells so good!"

Little Chunhua ran in after her, sniffing the air: "Mommy, it smells so good! When can we eat?"

"I can smell it too! It smells so good! I really want to eat it!"

Seeing his sister's craving, Sanhu couldn't resist either, so he moved closer and sniffed, inhaling all the aroma.

After the rabbit was cooked, Lin Cai put a portion in a bowl and handed it to Lin Bao.

Lin Bao took the rabbit and went straight out.

Gu Zhan sat at the dining table, in front of him was a bowl of rice and a bowl of dark, unidentifiable dishes.

It was described as a dish, but it was impossible to see what it was. Lin Bao happened to be there when he came over and saw him eating it.

"Wow, my old Gu, you don't eat this stuff every day, do you?"

It was dark and lumpy, and it was impossible to tell what it was or how he ate it without batting an eye.

"What's up?"

"Of course I have something to say. Why would I come to you if I didn't?"

As Lin Bao spoke, he placed the bowl on the table, removed the lid from the bowl, and pushed it over.

Then she put the dark bowl aside and said, "Don't eat your stuff anymore. Try this. I guarantee you'll want more."

Don't ask him how he knew, because he had already eaten a piece on the way here, and the taste was absolutely divine.

Gu Zhan's face remained expressionless, but he picked up a piece of rabbit meat with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, and that was the end of it.

No matter how much Lin Bao stared at him and asked, he wouldn't answer a single word. He simply ate it and that was it, without offering any comment.

When he returned, Lin Bao was very unhappy. How could you do that?

It tasted delicious, but after eating it, that person didn't say a word, and his face was expressionless, just like a piece of wood.

After Lin Cai saw him leave, she made two more dishes. Now several people were waiting for him at the table.

Seeing him return, Ershi immediately pulled him over: "Third Uncle, why are you so slow? We're starving!"

A large bowl of braised rabbit with chestnuts, plus two bowls of wild vegetables and a staple food made of coarse grains and rice, filled the group to their hearts' content. After eating their fill, Lin Bao didn't want to move anymore.

Turning around with a grin, he asked, "Little sister, what are we having for dinner tomorrow?"

"Weren't you supposed to bring the ingredients?" Lin Cai turned around and reminded him.

Lin Bao nodded in return: "Yes, you're right. I'll provide the ingredients, and I'll bring more delicious food tomorrow."

There are many wild chestnuts on the mountain. Every time she goes up the mountain, she can carry a lot of chestnuts back. After peeling the chestnuts, Lin Cai uses them all to make pastries.

Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye, and the chestnuts on the mountain are almost gone. I wonder if they've been targeted.

Not long after they made chestnut pastries, the villagers of Gujia Village also went up the mountain to pick chestnuts.

Because they didn't have the skills to make pastries, several families would gather chestnuts and then loiter outside the Gu family's house from time to time.

At first, Lin Cai thought something was wrong with them, but when she stopped them, they said nothing was wrong.

She didn't know what they were up to, and since they said everything was fine, she didn't bother with it.

But when she heard what Xiaochunhua brought back, she realized that they had come to learn from her.

They all wanted to learn how to make chestnut cake, but they were unwilling to come and learn openly, because these days, no matter what kind of master you apprentice under, you have to pay tuition.

They didn't want to pay tuition, so they planned to learn secretly. However, Lin Cai made chestnuts indoors, so they couldn't see from the outside and thus learned nothing.

For this reason, the chestnut cake business only lasted for half a month. Lin Bao felt a little sorry that his sister could no longer make pastries.

He suddenly had an idea, so he moved closer to the girl and said, "Little sister, I have an idea that can help you continue doing business. Do you want to hear it?"

Lin Cai, who was tending to her vegetable garden, stopped and glanced at him.

Winter is approaching, and some vegetable seeds should be planted by now. Actually, Lin Cai doesn't know much about growing vegetables; she just plants whatever she sees others planting.

The weather in the south is relatively dark and damp, but not very cold, so some vegetables can survive the winter.

"Tell me your ideas first."

“We don’t have chestnuts on our mountain, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have them on other mountains. If you still want to make them, Third Brother will get you some chestnuts right away.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Cai stopped what she was doing.

Are you sure you won't get beaten up?

The mountains here all belong to their owners, or more precisely, to each village. If you're on someone else's land, would they let you up the mountain?

"Hey little sister, what are you saying? I just went up the mountain to get some chestnuts, how could I get beaten up?"

"Besides, that thing was left on the mountain and nobody wanted it anyway, so what's wrong with me bringing it back?"

That makes sense, but Lin Cai shook her head: "You can use the money to buy chestnuts from them, but I don't approve of you going to their place to get chestnuts yourself."

Upon hearing that money was being used to buy it, Lin Bao immediately shook his head. If that was really the case, he might as well take his men there in the middle of the night himself.

In the end, Lin Cai rejected the idea. Before going to bed that night, she counted the money they had earned in the past month.

Although most of them were copper coins, these odds and ends added up to four or five taels of silver.

If she could just do one more business deal and earn some more money, she could then send a matchmaker to propose marriage.

But plans can't keep up with changes. Something went wrong with Huani, and when Sanhu came running back, panting, he couldn't even finish his sentence.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Why are you running so fast? Is someone chasing you?"

"No, no, it's my older brother. He got into a fight with someone."

Gu Dachui has always been good-tempered. Even though the original owner treated him so badly, he never laid a hand on him. Why is he fighting with someone now?

Lin Cai quickly asked Sanhu to take her there, and sure enough, she saw Gu Dachui with blood on the corner of his mouth.

It looked like the fight had already taken place and they had been separated. When Lin Cai arrived, the onlookers made way for her.

As she approached the center, an old woman sat down on the ground, exclaiming, "Oh dear, what terrible things have I done!"