Chapter 2226: Chapter 2201: Stirred Feelings

Manbao nodded vigorously.

Bai Shan saw water droplets hanging on her face, so he took out a handkerchief to wipe her face.

Manbao reached out to take it, but Bai Shan dodged, "Your hands are dirty."

Manbao looked at his hands and found that after he put down the fish, he washed his hands in the wooden bucket. Although they weren’t very clean, they were much cleaner than her hands covered in mud and grass.

Manbao placed her hands in the wooden bucket, rubbed them together, and leaned her face towards Bai Shan to make it easier for him to wipe.

Bai Shan chuckled and wiped the water droplets from her eyebrows. When the handkerchief touched her eyebrows, Manbao instinctively closed her eyes. His gaze softened, his throat moved, and then he gently kissed her eyelids—a brief touch that Manbao hadn’t reacted to, only feeling something soft touch her eyes.

She couldn’t help but open her eyes and stared at him in a daze.

Bai Shan was stunned for a moment too, then his face turned beet red as he awkwardly turned to look at Daji. Daji quickly averted his gaze and looked up at the sky.

Bai Shan blushed even more, grabbed Manbao’s hand, and softly asked, "Is Uncle Zhou here?"

Manbao’s face also reddened, leaving her unsure whether to respond or not.

Because her father was indeed not present, but Keke was there.

Keke ignored them, expanded the scanning range, and cleared the space in this area.

Manbao sensed it and exhaled slightly, but when Bai Shan didn’t hear her reply, he guessed the answer and blushed even more, feeling slightly embarrassed.

After all, he had kissed someone’s daughter in front of her parent.

Seeing him so awkward, Manbao glanced at Daji. Seeing Daji still looking at the sky, she quickly gave Bai Shan a peck on the cheek.

The soft touch of her lips on his cheek made Bai Shan’s heart skip a beat, and then it started racing, leaving him momentarily weak-limbed. He looked at Manbao and then looked back at Daji. Daji had already lowered his gaze to the ground, but remained turned aside facing them.

Bai Shan held back a smile and asked softly, "Is Uncle Zhou not here?"

Realizing his voice was a bit husky, he awkwardly cleared his throat. Opposite him, Manbao nodded with rosy cheeks.

Bai Shan grabbed her fingers and the two played with their hands in the water of the wooden bucket. The fish occasionally tried to poke their heads out, but Bai Shan playfully hit their heads and mouths, knocking them back down.

They played for quite a while, their mood eventually settling down before they pulled their hands out of the water bucket, sniffed their hands, found them to be a bit fishy, and exchanged silly smiles.

Manbao glanced at Daji, who had already returned to sitting under the tree, seemingly resting with his eyes closed, and softly said, "He’s coming..."

She didn’t specify who was coming, but Bai Shan understood she meant Uncle Zhou was arriving, so he dutifully let go of Manbao’s hand, stood up beside her to block Daji’s view. His spine straight, like a pine on a cliff, he seemed as if he wasn’t the one whose face was red enough to drip blood a moment ago.

Manbao looked up at him and smiled, then reached out to touch a silver fish, which disappeared in the wooden bucket.

She hesitated for a moment before Keke said, "Host, this silver fish has considerable research value. Selling it on the forum to other research labs could earn you quite a bit of points."

Manbao glanced at her drastically reduced points, noting that despite some replenishment recently, it wasn’t much—even wild antelope only earned 8,600 points, whereas a small bird had earned many points previously.

So throughout this period, constantly digging flowers and plants had only accumulated a little over 50,000 points in total. Some plants weren’t worth much, only earning around twenty points.

From Keke’s words, the points earned from this fish are even higher than those from the antelope?

Manbao hesitated for very little before recording another silver fish. While gastronomic desires can be frequently satisfied, earning points isn’t lasting.

Manbao pulled her hands out and went to the lakeside with Bai Shan to wash their hands.

Bai Shan washed for quite a while before gently asking, "Is Uncle Zhou still here?"

Manbao shook her head.

Bai Shan then smiled and squeezed next to Manbao to wash their hands together.

But washing hands doesn’t take that long. The two crouched by the lakeside playing with water, occasionally pulling on water plants and tossing water around. Above their heads, the shade from the lakeside trees filtered through the gaps in leaves, brightly swaying as the leaves moved. Manbao reached out to chase the light spots, feeling very happy.

Bai Shan looked at her laughing face and couldn’t help but smile, too.

Daji felt they’d lingered by the lakeside too long, got up and walked towards them a few steps, thought about it, and retreated to the side, summoned a guard to inquire about the situation over there, then approached, "Young Master, Mr. Zhuang caught several fish, Young Masters want to grill fish, do you and Miss Man want to go have a look?"

Bai Shan didn’t want to go, turned to fetch their veils, then went to grab Manbao’s hand, telling Daji, "There seems to be a melon field nearby, we’ll go look over there. You can take back the fish in the wooden bucket, leave the big ones to stew for later, the rest are at your discretion."

Daji:...

Daji glanced at their clasped hands, could only nod in agreement but didn’t go back himself, instead handed the bucket to a guard, then followed Bai Shan and Zhou Man at a distance.

People in the small town know the fields shouldn’t be too close to the lake, not only because rising lake waters could flood the land but also because cultivating land too close would damage the lake waters.

The lakeside is mostly trees and wild grasses growing unchecked, only going quite far out is where fields can be found.

Fields somewhat closer have channels diverting water for irrigation, thus planted with wheat, further out is sorghum and barley.

There’s not much sorghum; Manbao and Bai Shan walk hand in hand past the field ridge, can see it hasn’t grown well, probably due to poor yield, so local people rarely plant it.

Beyond the poorly growing areas lie melon fields, many are melon fields. Some have wooden poles on the ground, looking like the framework of a house except without walls and roofs; it could be seen that this was once probably a house-like structure.

There were people in the field; seeing two strangers hand in hand approaching, although they’d never seen them before, judging by their attire and appearance, it’s known they’re guests who entered the town yesterday.

Thus, the melon farmers in the field greeted them warmly.

Their Chinese wasn’t very good, could only vaguely shout "Hello."

Bai Shan smiled and greeted them with local language, then pointed to those frameworks asking, "Is that a house?"

The melon farmers gestured animatedly to explain, "It’s a greenhouse, February and March are very cold, melon seedlings can’t survive, guests come to buy melons in June, so we build a house in February, cover it with thatch, and the seedlings survive."

Melons grown in such greenhouses actually don’t taste as good as normally grown ones, but they can be harvested a month earlier, and guests passing by will pay a high price, more valuable than regularly grown melons.

This method was taught by a passing guest from the Central Plains, heard people from the Central Plains cultivate vegetables this way in winter, it’s incredible.