Chapter 658: The Farm Game System of the Fifty-Year-Old Mother (15)

Seeing the helpless look on her face, Zhishu Xifu knew she had no intention of looking for a partner for the time being.

And rightly so; having jumped out of the pit that was the Zhuang family only a month or so ago, she was likely still feeling anxious, so it was normal for her to have no heart for finding a partner.

"Stop teasing her, you all. Yangyang is only twenty-four after the New Year; it won't be hard for her to find someone if she really wants to. Once she gets her life on track, even if we don't urge her, she will consider the big events of her life on her own."

The women who had been enthusiastically wanting to introduce a partner to Xie Yang finally quieted down.

Of course, they only quieted down in speech; in their hearts, they were still thinking of setting Xiao Xie up with the children of their relatives.

In later generations, the current Xie Yang would be a little rich woman—she had a house, savings, and no elders to wait upon.

Although she had once had a ten-year engagement, because she was only a Child Bride and had never properly bowed in marriage or consummated the union, she was very different from an ordinary twice-married woman.

Moreover, she was not old; she was only twenty-four after the turn of the year. Didn't some girls in the city who married late also wait until after twenty to look for a partner? It wasn't as if one couldn't find someone who was twenty-four and unmarried.

It was a pity that their own sons were either already married or still just half-grown boys; if they had any of the right age, how could they bear to recommend such a well-conditioned girl to others?

Xie Yang did not know the little schemes in the hearts of the women present. She ate a piping hot pig-slaughtering feast and bought a strip of pork belly—three parts fat, seven parts lean—from Zhishu Xifu, planning to go home and mince it for bamboo shoot meatballs to boil in a vermicelli and three-delicacy soup for the New Year.

"Yangyang, wait a moment."

Before leaving, she was stuffed with a basin of pig blood by Zhishu Xifu:

"Take it back to stir-fry with snow mustard or chives. If you don't have snow mustard, come pull two stalks from my place. Do you have chives planted? If not, come cut a batch from mine."

Xie Yang really did not have snow mustard.

She did not stand on ceremony with Zhishu Xifu and took two stalks from her home.

This suddenly gave her an idea, and on the way home, she asked Ace: "Can the Smart Vegetable Garden grow seeds that I provide myself?"

For example, "Ice Cream Radish," which was not in the garden's seed vault, or vegetables like snow mustard that hadn't been unlocked yet.

Ace: 【It is possible, but after harvest, they cannot be stored in the Nongchang warehouse, and the harvest period and quality cannot be guaranteed.】

"As long as it's possible, that's fine!"

As soon as Xie Yang returned home, she rummaged through the Aircraft Cargo Hold for the snow mustard seeds she had hoarded from the previous plane and the Ice Cream Radish seeds she had obtained from the plane before that.

When she saw the bag of Immortal Grass Seed she had brought out by chance, her eyes couldn't help but light up.

That's right! Since the Smart Vegetable Garden could simulate the growth environment of any crop, surely it would be suitable for growing Immortal Grass, right? Why not waste a seed or two to try?

Ace: 【Host, although seeds from the outside world can be planted, Ace cannot predict the growth cycle. It is recommended that the Host does not occupy all the vegetable plots, so as not to affect the experience point progress bar.】

"Don't worry, I'll occupy at most two plots."

Thus, when a new batch of vegetables matured and were harvested with one click, she manually sowed one Ice Cream Radish seed in one of the plots, while the remaining plots continued to be planted with seeds provided by the Farm Game System.

If the Ice Cream Radish could have a bumper harvest, she would plant Immortal Grass next time.

After sowing, the timer started.

On the first day, the Ice Cream Radish seed sprouted; on the second day, the sprout grew much larger; on the third day, it began to shoot...

According to this progress, Xie Yang predicted that the maturity period of the Ice Cream Radish would be about ten days, which was at least four times faster than natural growth.

Although it couldn't compare to the heaven-defying speed of the farm's own seeds, compared to the natural growth cycle, this speed could also be called heaven-defying.

Being able to eat crystal-clear, sweet, and refreshing Ice Cream Radish that was better than Watermelon in ten days—Xie Yang was very satisfied with this.

Thus, for the future Smart Vegetable Garden, she planned to grow Immortal Grass in one plot long-term; one plot would be for vegetables and fruits she wanted to eat but were not in the Farm Game System's seed vault or were not yet unlocked. The remaining seven plots would continue the previous planting method—two or three plots for newly unlocked crops, and the rest for continuous rotation of Wheat, which satisfied her taste buds, hoarded grain, and farmed experience points.

Xie Yang tirelessly developed new ways to play the Farm Game System, and before she knew it, the end of the year arrived.

On the morning of the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the vegetable garden rose to Level 1, and Rice was unlocked.

Although there were various Tribute Grade Rice in her hoard, and the fine grain stolen from the Zhuang family also contained this year's new rice, who would complain about having too little Rice? Especially super fresh Rice that was planted today and harvested tomorrow!

She planted all seven plots with Rice in one go.

While other families were slaughtering chickens and ducks, steaming rice, and making New Year cakes on the twenty-ninth, Xie Yang was busy clanging away, grinding a stone mill.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, she harvested the rice from the seven plots with one click. Each plot yielded 20 heavy rice ears, and the grain threshed from each ear was surprisingly as high as ten catties.

"..."

Xie Yang was dazed.

Could this still be called rice ears? They should be called rice trees!

While marveling at the magic of the interstellar game, she used the stone mill to grind it into Rice and cooked a pot of fragrant new rice with scorched rice at the bottom.

She offered a bowl in front of the portrait of the Kitchen God and offered two bowls for the original owner, including her late relatives.

The rest was her staple food for the day—fragrant and crispy scorched rice, crystal-clear white rice; the dishes included red-braised pork with thick oil and red sauce, top-grade white-cut chicken with blood in the bones but not in the meat, red-braised Fish symbolizing "abundance every year," and a meatball and vermicelli soup made with meatballs, winter bamboo shoots, wood ear mushrooms, cabbage, and small river Shrimp.

With meat, chicken, fish, and shrimp, she had a sumptuous New Year's feast that could be called top-tier for the times!

"Awoo—you damned thieving rats!"

"The fine grain! Our family's fine grain! Eaten by thieving rats until not a single grain is left!"

The cold wind brought Qiu Caohua's angry roar again.

Xie Yang: "..."

No way? Only just discovered it now?

It was already New Year's Eve; before this, hadn't Qiu Caohua gone to scoop out fine grain?

Qiu Caohua was such a shrewd person. As the New Year approached, her married daughters would definitely bring their husbands back to their maiden home for the holidays. She would treat them with coarse grain to let them know that after the family had paid Xie Yang six hundred yuan, they were so poor they could barely make ends meet—let alone not having touched fine grain for many days, even the coarse grain was bottoming out.

Both of her sons-in-law were honest men. After hearing their mother-in-law complain, they couldn't just do nothing, and since this year's harvest was decent, they had their wives send over some fine grain after returning home.

The fine grain sent by the two daughters provided for the old couple for a period of time.

It wasn't until she went to measure the rice on New Year's Eve that she discovered the fine grain sent by her daughters was gone.

In normal times, eating a few less meals of fine grain was nothing, but today was New Year! How could they not cook white rice for the ancestor worship? If the ancestors knew, they would curse them to death.

Thus, Qiu Caohua took the chipped bowl used for scooping rice and went to the small cellar where the grain was hidden to scoop some.

Upon scooping, she found the fine grain was gone! In its place was a floor full of shredded burlap sacks.

Her three big bags of refined Rice and White Flour that she had scrimped and saved to hide! They had actually been stolen by rats! Stolen until not a single grain remained!

"You thousand-cut thieving rats! You've set your sights on our Old Zhuang Family, haven't you? The money was bitten to dust, and the fine grain was stolen until not a grain is left. How are we supposed to spend this New Year now!"

"Oh, my heavens! What kind of evil did our Old Zhuang Family commit to deserve this!"

"..."

Xie Yang had thought Qiu Caohua had discovered the fine grain was gone long ago, and that she just hadn't heard it because she happened to be in the mountains when the wailing and cursing started; so it turned out she only just discovered it on New Year's Eve?

But it had to be said, accompanied by Qiu Caohua's wailing, the New Year's Eve dinner in her mouth tasted even better!

As long as the Zhuang family was not living well, she could rest easy.