Chapter 14: Shenghuo Village

At lunchtime, the three Jin brothers who weren't around since morning finally came back. Only to find a weird atmosphere lingering in the kitchen.

Aunt Li was busy serving food onto the table. Weimin, Haoran, and Mei Li were already seated. However, there seemed to be something going on and the three people refused to look at each other.

After the embarrassing laundry situation, the brothers who have never been intimate with a woman were now feeling extremely uncomfortable.

It was as if they committed some crime. But, at the same time, they couldn't help but want to examine that fabric further. Worse, they started thinking about how it would look on their wife's body…

How would it look on her chest? She had fair skin, although due to the lack of nutrition in the past few years, her skin was still looking a bit dry. However, the thought of the delicately pretty woman's exposed arms and clavicles, and the soft twin mounds covered only by a thin fabric... Haoran and Weimin felt antsy all morning!

As for Mei Li, she decided to pretend nothing happened. Must play dumb!

The brothers greeted each other and Aunt Li.

Shufen sidled up next to her. She could smell a faint scent of medicine on him. "Little girl, how was your morning? What did you do?"

Before Mei Li could answer, Haoran coughed uncomfortably and Weimin choked on the water he was sipping. Shufen gave them a questioning look.

"Alright, let's eat!" Aunt Li announced. Aunt Li did the cooking since Mei Li was washing clothes in the morning. Actually, when those two guys were confused about the dudou, she grabbed the underwear and shooed them away.

She continued to do her laundry and they did not press to help her anymore.

The seven people in the kitchen dug into the food, which was still meager considering their poor finances.

Mei Li turned to Mingyu. "Big brother, are you busy this afternoon?"

Mingyu looked at her. Thinking about their conversation last night, an unfathomable light flashed in his eyes for a quick moment.

"Not really. Do you want my help with something?"

"I want to see your village. I have been here for over a week now and I'm still not familiar with the surroundings. Can you take me around?"

Mingyu found that slightly pleading look she gave him hard to refuse.

"Okay, I'll show you around. Put on a warmer jacket. It's still chilly outside." His gaze and voice were cold and nonchalant, but Mei Li was still happy with his words of concern.

"Alright! Can you show me our fields, too?" Her smile was warm. She felt that this eldest Jin brother was quite thoughtful.

"I'll go along with you." Shufen said in between bites of food.

Weimin, who didn't want to be left behind, also expressed that he wants to tag along.

After lunch, Aunt Li happily saw them off at the gate, reminding the brothers to properly introduce the village to their wife.

By the way, Haoran simply followed them out without discussion, as if saying 'I am coming along and that's that.'

Since Longwei felt that it wasn't right to be the only one to remain in the house, he decided to go with them as well.

And so, a crowd of six people - five tall and handsome men and one petite and delicate young woman - could be seen exploring the village that afternoon. Naturally, a few restless tongues in the neighborhood started wagging.

The Jin brothers showed Fu Mei Li the various important parts of the village. All the way, her questions flowed like a river.

She wanted to determine where she was relative to the capital and the overall country. The brothers didn't mind as they thought she was a lady from the capital and has never been to a farming village before.

Not long after, Mei Li figured that Shenghuo Village was part of Yingjing County.

In the Tang dynasty, the empire was subdivided into Circuits, which were equivalent to provinces. Within each Circuit, there were several Prefectures. Inside a prefecture's territory, there will be various Counties, which were further subdivided into Villages and smaller Hamlets.

Shenghuo Village was part of Yingjing County, one of the five counties in the Ya Prefecture. As for the Circuit or province they belonged to, it was called Jiannan. The closest and biggest city nearest to them was Chengdu, which was around a five to six days journey by carriage.

The current dynasty's capital, Chang'an, was eight to ten days away depending on the speed of travel. It was where the imperial city was located and the emperor resided in the Daming Palace.

With these pieces of information and upon comparing them to her modern knowledge, Mei Li figured out that she was currently in the southwestern part of the country. To the west of her was already Tibet, which wasn't considered part of the mainland yet.

In modern times, this area would be part of Sichuan province. When she realized that, Mei Li couldn't help but think of all the delicious Sichuan cuisine she had eaten in her previous life. She was craving good food so bad, what to do?!

Mei Li and her husbands leisurely walked around the village, which was located in a small river valley surrounded by mountains to the north, east, and west.

From a bird's eye view, one can see that a small river flows from the west mountains towards the center of the village. Upon reaching the center of the valley, the river then bends southwards.

This small river, which the villagers called the Clearstone River, connects to the main river of Yingjing County, which was twice as wide as the village's river. True to its name, Clearstone River is very clear and clean and one can see freshwater fishes darting in and out of the depths. It was beautiful!

Shenghuo Village was located at the center of the valley and the Clearstone River divided it into two rough parts. The northwest, north, and east side of the village were considered one part while the south and southwest were another part.

For convenience, those villagers who lived on the northern and eastern side, technically north of Clearstone River, were considered Upstream folks.

Those on the opposite side of the river were the Downstream folks.

Immediately surrounding the randomly scattered village houses at the center of the valley were the residents' farmlands. Right now, the fields were being prepared for rice planting.

The rice paddies filled with water shimmered in the afternoon sun and reflected the clear spring sky. Mei Li breathed in the pollution-free air and enjoyed the magnificent views all around.

Soon, in summer, when the rice are at their growing stage, this area will be so lush and verdant. In the fall, the golden stalks of rice ready for harvest will surely be another stunning view.

At the moment, it was early spring so the village was filled with nature bursting to life. Foliage was becoming greener and flowers were starting to bloom. There were lively colors everywhere, tantalizing the eyes.

Mei Li also eyed the not so distant mountains surrounding Shenghuo Village. The peaks differ in height but they were also showing beautiful spring colors. Their reflections flitted on the river giving a sense of majesty all around.

Mei Li was stunned at the beauty surrounding her. The nature here seemed so raw. She wished she had more eyes to take in everything!