CHAPTER 605: CHAPTER 111_6

Yin Meng retorted, "Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?"

Jiayi hastily waved her hand and said, "I rarely come back."

"That’s the village guardian, almost every village has someone like this."

In the past, due to parents not caring enough and poor medical conditions, it was common to see people with mental issues in the village.

As they aged, with family members either passing away or growing old, these people gradually lost those who took care of them, and many were abandoned and left to wander early on.

Village guardian is a term with good wishes, though it is true there are extraordinary gifted ones where the line between genius and fool is blurred, but most are really just fools.

This term, along with the mythologized roles attributed to them, is a tacit agreement tying them to their village.

From another perspective, having a village guardian and seeing them live healthily proves that the village’s basic living standard is at a certain level, and also that the local customs are still simple and wholesome, aligning with the villagers’ simple wishes for a good life.

Initially, Yin Meng didn’t think she had stumbled upon a "treasure," but as the fool kept eating, and a chirping sound started to emerge nearby with more and more rats appearing out of nowhere and starting to eat the food on the ground, Yin Meng’s view of the fool changed.

It seemed like she really had encountered a "village guardian."

With the rats being drawn in, it was time for Yin Meng to get to work.

"Jiayi, open the bag."

"Okay." Jiayi opened the fertilizer bag she was holding.

"Don’t let your hands tremble, endure it."

"Okay!"

Yin Meng pulled out a whip, swung it then retracted it, snatching a rat with the whip into the fertilizer bag.

One, two, three, four...

Jiayi had already closed her eyes, her hands trembling, yet still holding the increasingly heavy fertilizer bag.

"That’s enough."

Hearing that, Jiayi opened her eyes and looked down at the bag full of rats crawling over each other, and felt her stomach churn.

Yin Meng took the bag, tied it with a rope, then slung it over her shoulder.

"Let’s go."

"Okay, Meng Meng." Jiayi wanted to stay close to Yin Meng like before, but seeing the bulging bag, she kept a slight distance.

As they passed by the fool, Yin Meng stopped, looked at him, and said:

"Thanks."

The fool seemed not to hear and continued eating what was in his hands.

Instead of going straight home, Yin Meng stopped in front of a house, took out some money, hoping the owner would let her borrow the kitchen and some ingredients to cook a meal to take away.

The host was very polite, straightforwardly inviting Yin Meng to stay for dinner and not to worry about paying.

Yin Meng refused the invitation, insisting on paying, but the host still refused to take her money; after helping Yin Meng start the stove, the host brought out a can of pork lard and pointed to the seasonings on the counter and vegetables in the cabinet, signaling Yin Meng to use whatever she needed.

Yin Meng truly took the liberty, taking down all the smoked pork hanging from the beams without cleaning, just chopping it directly and throwing it into the pot.

The host’s expression finally changed.

Yin Meng once again took out money, asking if it was enough.

This time, the host took the money with a sheepish expression, continuously saying, "That’s enough, that’s more than enough."

This was right after the intensive training had ended, and she and Run Sheng had followed Xiao Yuan to River Crossing. Normally, after such training, they would have returned to the school store to help.

Both she and Run Sheng were used to earning money hands-on, as making money itself brought them joy.

Jiayi placed the bag of rats aside and then happily went to the back to help with the stove, laughing as she said:

"I always enjoy cooking on this kind of stove when I return to my hometown, it’s so much fun."

While cooking, Yin Meng said, "You wouldn’t find it fun if you had to rely on a stove for cooking every day."

After moving to the city, she still preferred gas stoves, but unfortunately, Run Sheng didn’t allow her into the small kitchen in the store basement. When they had late-night snacks, it was Run Sheng who cooked, firmly refusing to let her help, not even to pass the salt or MSG.

Even her master, Aunt Liu, after tasting her cooking, also complimented her: "Meng Meng, you really have the life of a young mistress."

She added:

"If I had your cooking skills, the old lady would probably not let me cook, fearing it would dirty my face and hands."

Actually, there was half of a sentence left unspoken:

"She’d also fear it might cost her life."

Yin Meng, while chopping and cooking, decided when the seasonings tasted right to start adding them. During this, she also pulled out various little bottles from her person and added to the pot, and eventually, even thickened the sauce.

"That’s enough, stop cooking."

Jiayi immediately got up and went to the stove, looking at the pot of terribly presented food with even more colorful than a rainbow,

she exclaimed:

"Wow, it smells so good, Meng Meng, you’re amazing!"

Yin Meng’s lips slightly curled up.

This was the first time someone had complimented her cooking while she was cooking.

"I’ll try a bite first."

Jiayi picked up some chopsticks, attempting to scoop a piece to taste.

The stove was burning vigorously, no matter how odd the dish, the ingredients were at least cooked.

"Snap!"

Jiayi’s chopsticks were slapped away by Yin Meng.

"Don’t eat, just stay alive and continue praising me."

Yin Meng enjoyed the feeling of cooking, but she wasn’t deluded enough to really think her cooking was suitable for her own people to eat.

There weren’t enough bowls, so Yin Meng planned to buy a spoon and a small crockpot from the main family.