Chapter 717: 491 The Bizarre Witch
Like the Shen Family, the Gong Family was one of the rising stars in the Imperial Capital, yet there were some differences between them. The Gong Family had three members engaged in the scientific field, which, in the Imperial Capital, was quite an extraordinary feat.
Additionally, Gong Junnan had been known as a prodigy since childhood and was famous in the Imperial Capital as a little genius.
Shen Xuanming listened to Xiaobao’s words, his neck swelling red; he just looked at her, at a loss for how to retort.
Upon hearing that her dear granddaughter was in a conflict, Yan Junmei hurried over, her voice preceding her arrival, “What’s happened here, who has upset my Xiaobao?”
Yan Junmei stood by Xiaobao’s side, only to see her granddaughter glaring fiercely with her eyes at the Shen Family boy.
In her heart, though, she was wondering, which family’s child was this thoughtless? Today was Xiaobao’s first birthday, her day to be happy.
The Shen Family, seeing Yan Junmei’s gaze fall upon Xuanming, quickly came forward to apologize: “Mrs. Gu, we are truly sorry. It was our Xuanming who misbehaved, causing some friction with the young miss, upsetting her. Xuanming, hurry and apologize to the young miss. Today is her first birthday, and besides, you are the elder brother; you should apologize to her.”
This Xuanming, how did he manage to get into a tiff with the young miss again.
Today was supposedly the young miss’s home turf, and if word got out that the Shen Family deliberately caused trouble at the Gu Family’s little granddaughter’s birthday party, who knows what unpleasant rumors would spread.
Although Shen Xuanming didn’t really want to apologize, his mother gave him a twist behind his back.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have made you angry. Actually, I just wanted to befriend you by making you mad. My name is Shen Xuanming, can I come to play with you in the future?”
Xiaobao pouted, “I don’t want to be friends with you; you’re just a liar.” Xiaobao turned and approached Gong Junnan, smiling at him ever so kindly, “Can we be friends, big brother?”
This big brother was really handsome, even more so than her own brother, and most importantly, he had helped her, which meant he was a big brother with a sense of justice.
He snorted coldly in his mind; based on his understanding of his sister, she must have taken a fancy to this boy’s good looks.
Feeling ignored by Xiaobao, Shen Xuanming’s face reddened even more.
This Xiaobao, parading such disrespect in front of so many adults, she had truly angered him. Just wait, Xiaobao, one day you will come begging to my door, pleading for me to be your friend, hmph.
“They are just children; as long as they play happily, it’s good,” said Yan Junmei, seeing that Xiaobao didn’t give anyone a nice face and deciding not to delve too deeply into the petty matters of children.
“Mrs. Gu is right, today the young master and young miss are the stars of the day, they are the most important,” responded the Shen Family, echoing Yan Junmei’s words.
Gong Junnan was somewhat taken aback by Xiaobao’s forwardness.
He had found Xiaobao amusing at first, but now he felt she was truly bold.
“Sure, we’re friends now. My name is Gong Junnan, I’m definitely older than you, so can I be your big brother?” The other party was really too small, a head shorter than him.
Xiaobao nodded her head, the smile on her face showing how happy she was: “Okay, Junnan big brother, remember to come find me later.”
Shen Mingxuan heard Xiaobao’s ‘Junnan big brother’ and almost threw up.
For Xiaobao, aside from Shen Mingxuan the annoying ghost, the birthday celebration for the boy and girl twins had been very satisfying overall.
In the evening, the twins insisted on sleeping with Xiaofeng and Gu Yecheng.
Since it was Dabao and Xiaobao’s day, Xiaofeng naturally agreed.
After dinner, Dabao and Xiaobao washed up early and played in their parent’s room.
Xiaobao set her white plush toy aside and started to play a game with her mother.
Xiaofeng, though she had not raised children in her previous life and didn’t understand how mothers from that life took care of their children, had her own set of parenting principles.
It was to spend more time and interact more with them.
By being close with them, the children would naturally be closer to you and easier to manage.
Speaking of which, the twins had not caused her any trouble since they were born, not fussy at night, not noisy during the day, no worries about eating, and their behavior was more like that of little adults.
Thinking of this, she recalled a saying from her previous life and felt that her children must have come to repay a debt of gratitude, for she had given them too little of her attention—so little, it was almost as though she had neglected them.
At this age, children should be prone to whining, yet they were quite sensible.
Xiaobao looked up and saw her mother staring at her motionlessly, holding up her own face with both hands: “Mom, what’s wrong, have you become cuter again?”
It’s really embarrassing when someone looks at you like that, Mom.
Xiaofeng pinched her face: “Yes, the more I look, the more I find you and your brother good-looking, like you’re here to repay a favour to me.”
“Sister, don’t believe the sweet nothings from Mom. To adults, their own kids are always the best,” Gu Dabao responded earnestly.
“I also think my mom is the most beautiful and the loveliest,” Xiaobao sweetly smiled at Xiaofeng, proving once again that her words were always sweet.
“You are all treasures that heaven has bestowed upon me.” Xiaofeng hugged the two of them close, “If one day, Mommy changes and becomes different from now, would you still love Mommy?”
The ones she couldn’t bear to leave behind the most were them, they were still so young.
When she came to this world, they were only two months old inside her, watching them grow inside her belly, feeling their movements, until their birth.
In the blink of an eye, it was time to talk about leaving, and the thought was truly hard to discard.
“Whatever Mommy becomes, Mommy is still our Mommy,” Xiaobao said, not understanding the meaning behind her words, as he looked up at her.
“Mom, no matter what I become, I am still your mommy who loves you very, very much.”
When Acheng stepped into the house, he saw the mother and daughters embraced together in a beautiful, harmonious scene.
Early in the morning, when Xiaofeng looked at her face, she noticed a big red bump had suddenly appeared. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a pimple.
It was strange; ever since she came here, she could hardly remember what it was like to have pimples on her face.
Ever since she started eating vegetables and fruit from the space, her skin had improved day by day. Now, the sudden appearance of a pimple was quite unusual for her.
Perhaps the food she had eaten in the past few days was too “hot,” causing the breakout.
It was just a pimple, so she didn’t take it to heart.
She had to make a trip to Shihe Village today.
The Chengbei Factory had invented a new product related to sweet potatoes. The person in charge of Chengbei would lead a team to Shihe Village to buy sweet potatoes.
Since she didn’t have much else to do, she decided to go along and check it out.
“Mr. Su,” Zhao Youqian had never imagined their village’s sweet potatoes would catch Mr. Su’s attention.
When he had taken Mr. Su to the village, he wanted to show that their land was special and could be used to grow things like carrots.
Unexpectedly, upon his visit, Mr. Su took an interest in their sweet potatoes.
Their village might not have much of others, but they had an abundance of sweet potatoes.
In fact, there were many products that could be developed from sweet potatoes.
For example, sweet potato noodles, a favorite that could be turned into ready-to-eat food, like the 21st-century spicy and sour noodles.
They could also make sweet potato-flavored chips.
However, since the Chengbei Factory had just started operations not long ago, products would naturally have to be enriched one by one. Surely, more snacks would be developed in the future.
When Xiaofeng returned to Shihe Village, the villagers had already heard that Zhao Youqian was bringing her boss to buy a large quantity of their sweet potatoes. As for the price, as long as it wasn’t lower than the local market price, it was negotiable.
Zhao Tiansheng, of course, had heard the news, so he had gone back home early.
The sweet potatoes grown at his home were all his, and now that they could be sold, he had to come and collect the money. If Zhao Xiaocao got hold of the money, she would surely hide a part of it.
In the past, Zhao Youqian’s home had drawn quite a crowd, waiting for him to bring the boss over. The villagers were aware of the high price paid for the sweet potatoes sold by the Youqian and Uncle Dog families last time.
They understood that it was alright to pay a higher price due to the relationship they had.
“Youqian, you’ve really become skilled, working for such a big boss. You’re making something of yourself.”
“Yeah, do good work with the boss.”
Youqian felt somewhat overwhelmed by the villagers’ enthusiasm.
But today he was in charge of communicating with the villagers, and he needed to show some authority, “Folks, listen to me. This time we need a total of twenty thousand pounds of sweet potatoes. Of course, we will stop once we reach that amount. So everyone, come to my place and register your name first. We’ll go house by house.”
“I’m second in line.”
Xiaofeng watched the villagers in the courtyard without speaking, just letting Uncle Dog accompany her around the village.
As they passed a somewhat run-down house, an old woman suddenly rushed out, holding a basin and began to circle Xiaofeng, tapping the basin. Xiaofeng felt an inexplicable eeriness listening to this sound.
Uncle Dog, watching the old woman’s antics, was quite embarrassed, “Mr. Su, this is the witch doctor of our village. She is quite famous around these parts.”
In rural areas, naturally, there are still people like witch doctors.
Even in the technologically advanced 21st century, if you go to the countryside, you will see that there are many old women still practicing as witch doctors.