Qin Yao finished a slice in two or three bites, seeing that the others were still eagerly waiting for her command, she then nodded to signal them to start eating.

The Dragon and Phoenix Twins immediately reached out, grabbing a slice in each hand, and started eating, with juices flowing everywhere.

Da Lang and Second Lang, being a bit older, were at the age of caring about manners, so they each ate their slice quite gracefully.

Seeing the five members of the family eating so happily, Mrs. Li and Yin Le, with some anticipation, each took a slice, took a bite, and were unexpectedly delighted by its sweetness.

"It’s so delicious!" Yin Le exclaimed joyfully.

Mrs. Li nodded repeatedly, unwilling to speak, just to take a couple more bites of the melon.

For a while, the only sound in the courtyard was the crisp munching of people eating melons.

Little Lai Fu, who was playing near the school building site, heard some village children say they saw Yin Le bringing Da Lang and Second Lang back with tasty cool melons, and he ran home expectantly, only to find he was a step too late, with just a basin of green melon rinds left.

Smelling the lingering sweetness in the courtyard air and seeing his mother and the women slouching in the main room with satisfied looks, Little Lai Fu, who couldn’t get even a bite of the melon, felt his young heart was shattered.

With a wail, he burst into tears!

Qin Yao laughed heartily, quickly instructing Da Lang and his siblings to take the poor child to the field to pick a few more melons.

Only then did Little Lai Fu stop crying and, grinning widely, happily followed Da Lang and the three siblings to the watermelon field.

After resting for a while, seeing the sun moving west and the weather not so hot, Qin Yao took Yin Le out to check the watermelon fields of other villagers to see how their crops were doing.

This year, quite a few melon fields in the village were hit by heavy rains, and the rescued melon seedlings were planted crookedly, so the quality of the watermelons upon maturation was still unknown.

Her family’s crop was doing quite well, though not as red as hoped, the taste was still nice—crisp and sweet.

From close to far, Qin Yao first checked the nearby households and then went to those at the foot of the mountain.

Quite a few villagers followed her along the way, all curious about the harvest in other people’s melon fields.

Unlike Qin Yao’s watermelons, most of the village’s melon fields were not as carefully tended, resulting in small and not very round melons.

It’s not that the villagers were lazy, but their main tasks were to grow soybeans, rice, and other staple crops, leaving little energy for the melon fields.

Most of the watermelons from these fields, when cut open, were light pink in color, not very appealing in appearance.

Fortunately, they still had a bit of sweetness, juicier than regular red dates and yellow pears.

The melons from the old house weren’t bad, with a regular appearance but red flesh, juicy and moderately sweet.

As she went deeper, Qin Yao lowered her expectations for this year’s watermelon harvest in Liu Family Village.

Unexpectedly, on a hillside, she stumbled over a large watermelon.

Looking down, it was even bigger than the ones from her field, about the size of a modern basketball, and perfectly round.

If she hadn’t just seen those crooked melons down the mountain, Qin Yao wouldn’t believe this was grown from her distributed seeds.

"Whose household does this belong to?" Qin Yao pointed to the watermelon at her feet, turning to ask the village families following her.

A man dressed in tattered coarse cloth, barely covering his rear, with a grass-woven loincloth, messy hair, and bare feet, stepped forward.

Qin Yao recognized this man; he lived in the deepest part of the village in a mountain nook, his name was Liu Fendan, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

Qin Yao remembered him because his poverty was notably stable and outstanding, still owing a hundred catties of grain to the clan.

His wife had long since returned to her family and remarried due to their poverty, taking the only three valuable pottery bowls with her.

These years Liu Fendan has been on his own, raising a skinny son, barely making ends meet by renting fields to farm.

During the off-season, the father and son would take broken wooden bowls to beg for food.

Unfortunately, during the New Dynasty’s distribution of mountain forest and fields, when everyone received something, his family encountered a landslide while clearing land, burying all their fields and relatives, leaving him alone.

Thanks to the old village chief who reported his case to the government, he was classified as a common household, exempting him from field taxes, surviving with rented fields and clan aid.

After having a son, life became even harder.

Given such circumstances, no matter how diligent one is, with such a thin foundation, even in the negatives, recovery is as hard as climbing the sky.

Liu Fendan sullenly said, "This year I was hoping to pay off the clan debt with this acre of melon field, so I took extra care of them. They seem to grow similarly to those in the village chief’s field, but who knows if the inside is red."

Qin Yao asked him, "Want to find one to cut open and see?"

Liu Fendan’s eyes showed a hint of reluctance, but he still went into the melon field and selected one that was smaller and less round to hand to Qin Yao.

"For the clan’s care these years, this melon is to thank everyone." With just one melon and accounting for favors, his stinginess made the villagers shake their heads.

But considering his situation, they understood and didn’t mock him, handing a knife to Qin Yao, asking her to cut it open.

Qin Yao sliced it open, revealing a vibrant red color inside, exclaiming, "Looks quite good."

Continuing to cut the melon into small pieces, she distributed them for everyone to taste, also handing a piece to Liu Fendan.

"This is your own grown melon, you should try it too," Qin Yao said.

Liu Fendan had never tasted watermelon before; smelling the sweetness on his hand, he couldn’t help swallowing a mouthful of saliva, and lowered his head to take a careful bite.

The fresh sweetness instantly spread over his tongue, astonishing Liu Fendan, who hadn’t even tasted much sugar, making him swallow it immediately.

He licked his lips, marveling that such delicious fruit existed, no wonder last year it could sell for thirty cents a jin!

The rest of the watermelon, he devoured in one go.

After finishing, seeing Qin Yao and others nodding in satisfaction, he felt both delighted and pained.

That melon must have weighed seven or eight jin, that’s more than two maces of silver gone with just a few bites.

Qin Yao didn’t address his distress, wandering into the field and noticed that Liu Fendan had turned each melon to ensure even coloring.

"Your melons have good appearance and taste, should fetch a good price," Qin Yao assured him.

Liu Fendan was thrilled, "Really?"

Qin Yao nodded, "Yes."

Liu Fendan squatted down in joy, gently caressing his melons, bubbling with happiness.

The other villagers grew anxious, quickly asking, "Village Chief, what about ours? How much can they sell for?"

Qin Yao replied, "I don’t know, let me inquire first."

"By the way, do you plan to sell your melons yourselves or do you want me to find someone to buy them all at once?"

Qin Yao clarified, "Bulk selling will definitely be much lower than market price but saves you time and hassle, take some time to think about it, no rush to answer me today. Let me negotiate the price tomorrow first."

With that, she waved her hand, dismissing everyone to return home.