The Amusing Adventures of a Directionally Challenged Dad and Daughter-Chapter 94

Chang'an and her father didn't wait until spring to resume their work. As soon as the weather cleared and the snow stopped, they got back to labor.

Of course, the ox was put to use—digging through the yellow clay with hoes was too exhausting, so harnessing the ox to a plow saved both time and effort.

The father-daughter pair continued their great wall-building project.

While others might say cultivation makes time fly, for them, it was the endless toil that blurred the days and nights together.

By the time they nearly finished the wall, they suddenly realized the Spring Festival had long passed. Were they the legendary "chosen laborers"?

Does work bring them joy?

Pah!

If only mules and oxen knew how to tamp earth for walls, she would’ve surely turned them into "chosen labor beasts."

Once the wall was complete, the two chopped down thin wooden strips, sharpened them into spikes, and planted them around the perimeter—just like how people in her past life embedded broken glass on top of walls.

Now, the silver wolves would have to use the newly opened back gate to enter the mountains. If they dared leap over the wall, they might end up as wolf skewers.

The winter wheat they had planted last year was now overrun with weeds—so much so that the grass grew better than the wheat itself.

Chang'an watched in disbelief as Old Gu Six casually yanked out the already struggling wheat seedlings, mistaking them for weeds.

"Dad, what in the world are you thinking? Sure, crops thrive by fate, but you’re outright severing that fate! At least give them a chance to grow!"

Old Gu Six glanced down at the uprooted wheat in his hand, silently dug a hole, and replanted them. Then he looked at Chang'an with an innocent expression.

His hands had a mind of their own—his eyes saw weeds, but his hands refused to obey.

"Sweetheart, is that a person floating on the sea out there?"

Chang'an peered through the open valley gate and spotted a dark lump clinging to a wooden plank in the distance. Too far to tell if it was human or not.

"Not sure, can’t see clearly. Hurry up and work, Dad—we still have sweet potatoes and potatoes to plant, and you need to sell sweet potato vines in the mountains. We’ve got plenty to do."

She ran out of the wheat field and struggled to shut the heavy gate.

There. Now they couldn’t see it anymore.

"Dad, don’t open this gate unless absolutely necessary. It’s a pain to move."

"Got it."

Meanwhile, the person drifting ashore was rescued by villagers gathering seafood along the coast. Three men carried the unconscious woman to the valley.

Faced with the tightly shut gate, they hesitated—should they knock?

The young woman was clearly on the brink of death, and their own homes were too far away. These were the only people living by the shore.

"To save a life is to build a seven-story pagoda of merit," they reasoned confidently. Surely no one would stand by and watch a young life slip away.

So they knocked. And knocked. Until their hands went numb—but no one answered.

Thinking the occupants hadn’t heard, they shouted, "Anyone home? Help! A life is at stake!"

A clump of mud suddenly flew out from inside, smacking the loudest one square on the forehead.

A cold, murderous voice followed: "Take whatever you brought and get lost. If you keep shouting, I’ll feed you all to the wolves."

The three men shuddered, nearly dropping their burden.

Unaware that Chang'an’s family actually kept wolves, one persistent soul tried again: "Brother, please, show some mercy. We’ve got a drowning victim here. Our homes are deep in the mountains—we can’t carry her that far."

Chang'an rolled her eyes so hard they might’ve gotten stuck. "Are you brain-damaged or just plain stupid? You saved her, so why dump her on us? Not our problem! Scram, or I’ll chop you up for fish bait!"

The three exchanged helpless glances. One threatened to feed them to wolves, the other to fish—these valley dwellers seemed no better than the murderous bandits outside.

One whispered, "Big bro, maybe we should just leave her here. They’ll have to come out eventually."

"No way. What if they toss her back into the sea? Then our rescue was for nothing. Let’s take turns carrying her. Hope she survives the trip..."

He squatted down, hoisted the woman onto his back, and trudged toward the mountains, the other two scrambling after him with their buckets.

Back in the fields, the father and daughter paid no attention to the commotion. Even if the strangers had left the woman at their gate, they wouldn’t have bothered to check.

Too much farming left to do—who had time for distractions?

They pulled weeds at a leisurely pace, taking five whole days to clear one measly acre. If they’d been born in the work-points era of her past life, they’d have starved to death.

After finally finishing the wheat field, they moved on to plowing the sweet potato and potato patches.

The mule had been thrilled when the ox arrived, thinking its plowing days were over. Joke was on it—now they had to split the work.

Ox took the sweet potatoes; mule got the potatoes. Surprise!

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Grumbling loudly, the mule got back to work. One ox, one mule—the mule brayed, the ox lowed, neither understanding a word the other said.

However, judging by the increasingly irritable mule and the ever-lively old ox, it seemed the ox had said something the mule didn’t want to hear.

By the time the sweet potatoes and potatoes were planted, they had already dragged things out for over ten days. Then came the vegetables—extra cucumbers were sown, perfect for eating as fruit in the summer.

By the time all the fieldwork was done, more than a month had passed. On this day, Old Gu Six headed into the mountains with a full basket of sweet potato vines and thirty pounds of sprouted potatoes to sell.

Chang'an, worried he might get himself lost, sent the silver wolf along with him.

Since what he was selling were items meant for planting, it wouldn’t do to leave too late—if they arrived wilted and limp, they might not fetch a good price.

Chang'an wanted to go with him, but Old Gu Six wouldn’t allow it.

He set out at dawn, and after seeing him off, Chang'an returned home to take radishes from her space and dry them into pickled strips. Before drying them, she first marinated a bowl of spicy-sour radish strips to snack on.

She had always found spicy radish pickles particularly appetizing with meals and hadn’t had them in a long time. Suddenly, she craved that taste again.

In her past life, she had stumbled upon them online by accident, tried them, and grown fond of them ever since.

While Chang'an busied herself with food at home, Old Gu Six, guided by the silver wolf, made much quicker progress and reached the nearest neighbors by evening.

There, eight households lived together, drawing water from a spring they had dug themselves.

Old ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‍Gu Six introduced them to sweet potatoes and potatoes, explaining how to plant them. He had brought samples—some raw, some cooked.

After tasting them, the villagers all wanted to buy seeds, but the price was steep, and not every family could afford it.

"Here’s what we’ll do," he said. "I’ll sell the potato sprouts individually—you can buy as many as you want, and I’ll cut the pieces accordingly. The sweet potato vines will also be sold by the stem—buy as much as you can afford."

The villagers had no money, and he didn’t have a scale—selling by weight might even leave him at a loss. So, selling by the piece made sense.

The villagers thought this was a great solution. One family bought ten potato sprouts and ten sweet potato vines, another took twenty of each, and the largest purchase was thirty potato sprouts and fifty sweet potato vines.

Old Gu Six glanced at the sky. "It’s not completely dark yet. Have you prepared your fields? If so, let’s head there now. I’ll watch you plant and correct anything you do wrong."

They agreed this was reasonable. Their fields were already plowed—they just hadn’t had enough seeds. Now, they could finally put the land to use.

Old Gu Six first demonstrated how to plant potatoes and sweet potatoes, then let the villagers try themselves.

Only after everyone had finished planting and he saw no issues did he leave.

Before going, he reminded them, "When you harvest, remember to save some for seeds. If you sell to others, don’t price them lower than mine. And before you think of playing the generous benefactor, remember—you bought these seeds from me with your own silver."

(Author’s note: Apologies for the late updates these days. The author’s been dealing with one thing after another. My little brother took a sip of the medicine I was steeping in water.

He found it sweet, then boldly downed the whole thing in one go. I’ve never been so speechless in my life.)