An Ning was simply An Ning. She required no one’s approval or verbal embellishments.

She was a description in and of herself.

This was what Jiang Xia thought, but in the end, it all distilled into one sentence: An Ning is just An Ning.

Jiang Xia himself had no idea just how gentle his voice was when he said it.

However, Master Tang, who was across from him, took it all in.

"You’re right. An Ning is just An Ning. I look forward to meeting this young lady."

"You will."

Jiang Xia set the table while Master Tang waited for Grandpa Jiang. Li Chengze also returned right on time.

The four of them, four grown men, began to eat.

"WOOF WOOF!"

"I didn’t forget you. Here you go."

Jiang Xia placed the food he had prepared for Da Huang into its bowl on the floor.

Da Huang’s bowl was clean and sparkling. It was obvious its owner washed it every day.

Master Tang noticed Da Huang’s food was almost the same as theirs, perhaps just with fewer seasonings.

"So it really was Housekeeper Huang."

"Of course. I just embellished it a little, but it was all essentially true."

The Jiang family began their breakfast, as did the An family.

Thanks to last night’s herbal meal and her own formidable powers of recovery, An Ning could already eat normally.

After finishing a hearty meal, An Ning finally felt like she had come back to life.

"Starving is a terrible feeling."

"That’s for sure. When you’re starving, you feel like you could eat a handful of dirt."

An Sancheng remarked with a sigh. They had all lived through that period of famine.

After breakfast, the An family’s busy day began.

An Ning went to the greenhouse, An Sancheng headed back up the mountain, and An Guoqing was busy with matters at the livestock farm.

An Guoping went to town to pick up the test papers and exercises his teacher had prepared. After he finished them, he would take them back.

Lin Cuihua stayed home to do the laundry and cook, while her sister-in-law went with An Guoqing to the livestock farm.

The entire village was bustling with activity. Even Jiang Xia had gone to help the An family.

With nothing else to do, Master Tang took a stroll and gradually found his way to An Ning’s greenhouse.

Arched frames, perfectly straight rows, a blue canopy.

Master Tang was curious. He had never seen anything like it.

An Ning, who was working on a trellis in the distance, saw Master Tang approach and waved to him from her perch.

"Master Tang!"

"An Ning."

Master Tang walked over to the base of the structure. As he examined it up close, he began to guess its purpose.

"What are you planning to grow in here?"

"I’m planning to grow vegetables."

Master Tang nodded again and again. "This way, you’ll be able to eat vegetables year-round, just like in the south."

"You’ve been to the south?"

Master Tang nodded.

"A few times. This is an excellent method, but vegetables grown this way tend to be a little lacking in flavor."

As an Herbalist, he placed great importance on flavor. If it were up to him, he wouldn’t buy off-season vegetables like these.

"Do you know any way to make the vegetables taste better, then?"

"I’m not necessarily trying to make a fortune from this. I just want to be able to eat some fresh vegetables in the winter."

’An Ning’s primary goal was to practice using her spiritual power during the winter, but she couldn’t say that out loud.’

"It’s hard to say for sure. You can try to simulate the natural growing environment as much as possible. If you don’t shorten their growth cycle and use natural farm fertilizer, the flavor shouldn’t be too different."

Perched on a crossbeam, An Ning nodded in understanding. "Then I won’t shorten their cycle. I like tasty vegetables, too."

An Ning’s open-mindedness and magnanimity surprised Master Tang and gave him a small moment of enlightenment.

He stood there for quite some time, long enough for An Ning to climb down from the structure.

"Master Tang, you said vegetables grown like this don’t taste as good. Does that mean the flavor of pigs and chickens raised in pens is also affected?"

Master Tang shook his head, then nodded.

"As long as you’re not deliberately feeding them things to accelerate their growth, the flavor won’t be much different."

"Animals are a lot like people, really. They have to eat healthy to grow healthy."

"For an animal, growing up healthy is what makes its meat delicious."

"Their living environment is also important. It should be clean and tidy at the very least. Of course, if they have the open space of the great outdoors, the flavor might be even better."

An Ning listened intently, thinking hard.

She and Master Tang stood there and talked for a long time.

Master Tang had exceptionally unique insights when it came to food and drink, which were very important to An Ning.

The two chatted happily until noon. Master Tang left first, and after working a little longer, An Ning went home as well.

Back home, An Ning brought up what Master Tang had said at the dinner table.

"Brother, I think quality is what will allow us to succeed in the long run."

"Alright. We’ll do as you say."

Neither An Guoqing nor his wife had any objections.

An Ning shared her thoughts. "Our operation is still very small, and the current farm is big enough for now. But if we succeed and make a profit this time, it probably won’t be big enough anymore."

"So, for the next phase, I was thinking we could move the farm directly onto the mountain, onto the land I’ve leased. I’ll set aside an area where the pigs and chickens can roam, and we’ll just need to fence it in."

An Sancheng chimed in thoughtfully, "We could plant sea buckthorn or thorny flowers. We could use them to enclose the pigs, and we could even raise some bees on the outer perimeter. Nothing would go to waste."

"Then, inside the pig enclosure, we can plant pig-fodder directly. That would save a lot on grain."

"And the chickens—we don’t have to let them run completely free. We can just use wire mesh to build a run for them on the mountain. They can eat insects, but they won’t be able to get out and ruin the fruit trees."

When An Sancheng finished, everyone in the family just stared at him.

"What’s wrong? Is it a bad idea? Well, you all can think of something else then."

"No, Dad! I think it’s a fantastic idea!"

An Ning praised him outright. "Dad, I think you were born for this kind of work. Your plan is so thorough, it’s much better than mine."

An Sancheng was a bit flustered by An Ning’s praise and smiled sheepishly. "Eat, let’s just eat."

The family resumed their meal, and when they were done, they got back to work.

After resting at home for two days, An Ning set off for the provincial capital again and returned with the seeds.

She not only bought a wide variety of vegetable and fruit seeds, but also quite a few fruit tree saplings.

By this time, the clearing of the mountain land was already one-third complete.

An Sancheng had more than half the workers start digging holes, preparing to plant the saplings.

The rest of the workers continued clearing the land, so both tasks were proceeding simultaneously.

Work on the greenhouse was also ongoing.

Every day, the villagers were incredibly busy. Nearly every household had one, two, or even three people working for the An family.

After An Ning returned with the saplings, they faced a new problem: securing a water source.

Although there was a river at the foot of the mountain and a stream up on it, the question was how to channel the water.

An Ning thought a simple pump would solve it, but several people objected.

In the end, five people headed up the mountain: An Ning, Jiang Xia, Master Tang, Uncle An, and an expert in Mysticism they had specially invited.

They planned to find a viable route by approaching the problem from three angles: Mysticism, science, and the need to avoid the ancestral graves.