The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 272: Chapter 272: He Asked

The next few days continued in the same way.

By the third day, however, Ji Huan didn’t let Ji Mingfang work in the fields anymore.

In truth, she had never intended for Ji Mingfang to be part of the harvesting process.

She had assigned him to the second phase of the work. Once she, Widow Xie, and Ji Xuelan finished in the fields, everyone would tackle the third phase together.

But Ji Mingfang was unwilling to take wages for nothing. Besides, the contract was signed, and not letting him work made him feel uneasy.

Ji Huan worried that forcefully refusing to let him work in the fields would hurt his pride, so she tacitly allowed it.

And he did work very hard. In terms of both speed and efficiency, he left Ji Huan in the dust.

But it was also true that the work was taking a toll on him.

His right leg didn’t bother him much during normal walking, but who would have thought it would swell so badly from the heavy labor? Spending the whole day bent over or squatting left half his body numb with pain.

He didn’t mention it to his family. Ji Xuelan only discovered it when she caught him secretly soaking his feet in hot water at night.

Coincidentally, the spices harvested over the first two days were piled up in the backyard, in urgent need of processing.

"Cousin, when I said I needed your help, I wasn’t just being polite. I’m no philanthropist; I wouldn’t pay someone and not let them work. It’s just that everyone has a role they’re suited for, and every role has its own important value. To be frank, the second phase is even more critical than the first."

Ji Huan had always been direct.

And compared to vague reassurances, Ji Mingfang clearly preferred this kind of honesty.

"But, I don’t know how..."

"I’ll teach you."

The second phase was to sort the spices according to how they were commonly used. This step determined the form the spices would take in a dish and the effect they would have, so it couldn’t be done carelessly.

"As for how to sort them, first you need to know the most common forms spices take—"

The first form is whole.

This means the spice is kept intact without any processing. It’s simply added to water and cooked with the food, allowing its flavor to dissolve completely into the broth and be absorbed, thus seasoning the dish. Examples include bay leaves, sesame seeds, and so on. This is the most traditional, primitive, and also the most common way to use spices.

The second form is ground.

This involves grinding the dried spices into granules of different sizes or into a powder to be mixed directly with food, such as ground pepper.

The third form is extracted.

This involves extracting the active essential oils from the spices, which are then added directly to food during use, like Sichuan peppercorn oil. However, due to limitations in distillation and extraction technology, this form wasn’t currently achievable.

Ji Huan spent the better part of the day teaching Ji Mingfang. He took his notes very seriously, and his memory was so good that she hardly needed to repeat anything.

Listening from the side, Ji Xuelan couldn’t help but click her tongue in amazement.

"No wonder Wan asked you to do this. You’re the only one suited for it. If it were me, I really couldn’t remember all that in such a short time."

Widow Xie added, "We just provide the brute strength. We can’t compare to your younger brother, who not only works hard but also has to use his brain."

Ji Mingfang was rarely praised like this, nor had he ever been affirmed for any particular skill. In the past, back in the Ji Family, that kind of treatment was reserved exclusively for Ji Liantang.

He was happy inside, but he just didn’t know how to respond.

"The one who uses his brain is amazing, and the ones who use their strength are just as amazing. Everyone is amazing."

After spreading the praise evenly, Ji Huan noticed Ji Mingfang’s discomfort and said, "Well then, I’ll leave this to you, Cousin."

Ji Mingfang didn’t make any flowery promises, only giving a solemn nod to reassure her.

Ji Huan thought he would need at least a day or two to really get the hang of it. To her surprise, when she returned from the fields at dusk and rummaged through the piles of sorted spices for a while, she couldn’t find a single one in the wrong pile.

She was filled with nothing but admiration. It just goes to show that delicate work requires a delicate touch.

There was still a portion left to be processed, and Ji Mingfang wanted to finish it all in one go. Ji Huan disagreed, asking if he wanted a raise or was just trying to waste her lamp oil on purpose.

Ji Mingfang sheepishly stopped and followed a snickering Ji Xuelan home.

Dinner was another simple affair. After her bath, she lulled Dabao to sleep, but when she lay down on the kang bed in the east room, she was exhausted yet couldn’t fall asleep.

It was the twenty-second.

Yesterday and today, she had been somewhat distracted, constantly paying attention to any commotion in the village.

But the village was as quiet as ever, with no earth-shattering events to be seen.

’Were the results delayed? Or did Song Jing...’

Deep down, Ji Huan knew that if Song Jing failed the county-level exam, the road ahead for them might actually be easier.

Conversely, if Song Jing rose steadily through the ranks, it was hard to say if they would even have a future together.

’But knowing is one thing.’ She still hoped Song Jing would get what he wished for.

’All those ten years of arduous study had to be worth his effort. As for everything else... we’ll just have to take it one step at a time.’

Ji Huan rolled over and stared blankly at the night sky through the window.

’Sigh... dating in ancient times is such a pain.’

’All this sneaking around, worrying about this and that.’

’It’s nothing like my past life, where if two people were interested in each other, they’d give it a try, and if it didn’t work out, they’d just break up.’

For a moment, Ji Huan couldn’t tell which world was better suited for her current situation.

’Honestly, have I ever thought about a "happily ever after" with Song Jing?’

She wasn’t shy about admitting her fondness for Song Jing, and she openly accepted that her heart was moved. But when she tried to think about the long term, she couldn’t see that far ahead.

Song Jing believed that once he passed the provincial exam, he could propose to her in grand style, and no one would dare to gossip then.

Perhaps.

But what about Song Jing’s mother?

Mrs. Meng almost never left her home, so Ji Huan had never met her. But from what Widow Xie had said, she had a rough idea of what she was like.

She had suffered so much, raising Song Jing and cultivating his talent all by herself. It was only natural that she would have high hopes for her son’s success.

It wasn’t that Ji Huan was putting herself down, but just based on her status as an orphan girl, she didn’t think Mrs. Meng would ever agree to let Song Jing marry her.

The trouble was predictable, and she hated trouble more than anything.

But since she had nodded her agreement that day on Nanshan, there was no reason to abandon Song Jing and back out halfway.

In the end, she wanted to try.

She wanted to see if there was any chance they could walk this path together.

"I’ve been busy these past few days and haven’t had time to watch you constantly, so you need to be disciplined... Lift your hand... The situation is better than I expected, but you need to keep practicing your grip."

Ji Huan lowered the tramp’s sleeve, then squatted down to roll up his pant leg.

The tramp placed a hand on her shoulder and said in an unquestionable tone, "I’ll do it. You... sit down and rest."

Ji Huan looked up, stunned. The tramp met her gaze for a second before looking away slightly.

Ji Huan was gratified. ’The patient finally understands how hard the doctor’s job is.’ She was naturally happy to save herself the trouble.

The tramp rolled up his pant leg and began doing leg lifts and kicks on his own. Ji Huan watched for a moment before telling him to stop.

"The top of your foot is still a little swollen, but it’s nothing serious. The range of motion is still less than eighty degrees, so you have to keep exercising. You have six heel lifts left; by the end of the month, you should be able to put your whole foot down."

The tramp’s hands, resting on his knees, twitched as if he wanted to say something, but Ji Huan had already turned and entered the kitchen.

She came out of the kitchen carrying a basin of water, just about to give the tramp another hot compress, when she heard Hu Dacheng run into the yard, shouting.

"Sister Wan, you have to come see! The good-news messengers are here! It must be Brother Song! He passed the Scholar exam!"

Ji Huan wasn’t paying attention and collided squarely with Hu Dacheng.

The wooden basin fell to the ground with a CLANG. Water splashed everywhere, and the basin rolled and rattled far away.

If the tramp hadn’t quickly stood up behind Ji Huan and grabbed her shoulders to steady her, she absolutely would have been knocked head over heels by Hu Dacheng.

Once she was steady on her feet, Ji Huan ignored her soaking hem and shoes and grabbed him to ask, "Really? Song Jing passed?"

Hu Dacheng nodded vigorously, then shook his head.

"I saw the messengers at the village entrance and ran to tell you. Some people are saying it’s for Ji the Fourth, and others are saying it’s for Brother Song..."

"It has to be Song Jing!"

Ji Huan threw out the sentence, hitched up her skirt, and ran out of the yard.

Hu Dacheng wanted to run after her but was stopped by the tramp.

Hu Dacheng thought the man needed his help with something, but he only asked one question: "Who is Song Jing."

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