Little Dumpling's flesh was plump, and even in the lightest clothes, she still felt hot. She began to miss the air-conditioning of her past life a little, or at least a can of cold soda or a slice of watermelon would do.
She suddenly remembered that the doctor's offices and lounges in each department of the hospital were equipped with large refrigerators.
Usually, colleagues would also put some of their favorite snacks and drinks in them. In addition, the small supermarket in the hospital also had refrigerators with even more stuff in them.
In her past life, she had died in the summer. Just a few days after she died, she was reborn with her spiritual awareness. There was probably still watermelon in the refrigerators.
Thinking of this, she became excited and immediately sunk her awareness into her spiritual space. Sure enough, she found a whole frozen watermelon in Dr. Shen's office refrigerator.
In addition, there were quite a few snacks and beverages like coke in the refrigerator. She didn't know which colleague had bought them, but now they came in handy for her.
Afterwards, she searched through all the refrigerators in the hospital's offices. Almost every refrigerator had watermelons in them. Some whole and some cut in half.
The small supermarket had the most. There were a good forty or fifty melons over ten catties each stacked in the back warehouse. In addition, each refrigerator had varying amounts of bottled water and beverages, and she also found quite a bit of tea.
Especially in the Dean's office. The whole fridge was filled with tea leaves. Moreover, they were all rare and exquisite teas.
The old man had disciples all over, and he also loved tea. So every year, students would try their best to find local premium teas to send to him.
After scouring everything, Jiang Yuqing was very satisfied as she exited her spiritual space and took a comfortable nap.
When she woke up, she signaled for Lu to dismiss the maids. Lu took a look at her daughter and guessed that the girl was going to show off her abilities again. She then told the maids to go rest as asked.
She poked her head out the window again and made sure no one else was around before nodding at her daughter.
Jiang Yuqing smiled and happily brought out a huge watermelon from her spiritual space. But who would have thought that in her excitement, she forgot that she was still just a little over one year old. The watermelon landed with a thud on top of her foot. A muffled "dong" rang out.
The watermelon split open.
Little Dumpling's smile froze on her face.
It just...hurt a bit.
Really hurt.
It really hurt!
Ah--she couldn't stand it anymore. It hurt too damn much! Little Dumpling plopped down on the ground as physiological tears came out.
It was over. Over. She didn't break her toes, right?
No way!
Even if her foot was broken, she couldn't cry! If her former colleagues knew that the top surgeon of the military hospital cried from getting hit by a watermelon, she would be laughed to death.
Lu was shocked dumb by this sudden turn of events. When she came to her senses, she immediately picked up her daughter and put her on the bed to take off her shoes and check her little feet.
In just a few breaths, the fairylike little feet visibly swelled up before her eyes. Lu's face turned white with fright. She immediately yelled for someone to ready a carriage to go to the medicine hall.
A few maids ran in and were also shocked when they saw this scene. They quickly ran out to call for a carriage...
In a hurry, they arrived at Huan'an Hall. It was the same old doctor from last time who liked to sass people.
The old doctor recognized her and asked what happened. Lu didn't dare tell the truth. She only said her daughter was hit by a large green-skinned pumpkin.
Upon hearing she was hit by a large pumpkin, the old doctor was both angry and amused. After carefully examining her, he scolded: "You little girl have such misfortune at such a young age. Luckily no bones were broken. Go back and apply some medicine wine to disperse the swelling. Nurse it for a few days and it'll be fine. Don't be naughty next time. You're not even as heavy as a pumpkin yourself, what ability are you showing off..." He grumbled on and on.
After applying the medicine wine so she wouldn't hurt, he also had the nurse stuff a piece of candy in her mouth.
Hmm--Jiang Yuqing felt that the doctor was a good doctor, and the old man was a good old man. Of course, it'd be even better if he wasn't so long-winded.
Lu thanked the old doctor and paid the fee, about to leave. Just then a group of people rushed in, headed by none other than her husband and brother.
Jiang Wenyuan was discussing affairs with some colleagues in the front courtyard when he suddenly heard maids from the inner residence come report that his little daughter's foot was hit by something unknown, and it seemed to be hit severely. His wife had already taken her to a medicine hall.
Jiang Wenyuan was shocked and after asking which medicine hall, ran out with the crowd of people following behind. Lu Pingzhang, who was discussing affairs together with him, was also shocked and ran out along with them.
Seeing his daughter's tearful big eyes and her little feet swollen like steamed buns,
Jiang Wenyuan felt distressed, and also both angry and amused. He really couldn't resist flicking the little antenna on top of his daughter's head, "Little troublemaker, what hit you to swell up like this?"
Lu gave her husband a strange look, and softly said, "This is not the place to talk. Let's go back first."
Jiang Wenyuan understood in an instant.
The group returned to the county office. Seeing his niece was fine, Lu Pingzhang returned to work in the front yard.
Jiang Wenyuan followed Lu back to the inner residence. The smashed watermelon was still lying on the floor. Its red juice flowed along the cracks and gathered into a small puddle on the blue brick floor.
Little Dumpling pointed at the watermelon on the ground, "Melon, melon, eat eat!"
"Is darling saying that this is a melon that can be eaten?" Since the little girl started babbling, the couple's baby language skills grew daily. Now, they had at least a six-level certification.
"Mm-hmm, melon, cut cut, sweet sweet." Oh, this melon had to be cut open with a knife to eat. The taste was very sweet.
Jiang Wenyuan picked up the large watermelon from the ground and felt its weight, exclaiming in surprise, "Good heavens, this is at least seventeen or eighteen catties. No wonder it smashed her foot like that."
He then solemnly said to his precious daughter, "Dear, you're still too small. In the future if you come upon something heavy again, you must not try to pick it up yourself. You can ask Mother or Father to help you, or even Licui and the others. Understand?"
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm." Little Dumpling hurriedly nodded her head. Having an accident like this once was enough. She would definitely not let it happen a second time.
Jiang Wenyuan personally carried the watermelon to the kitchen, washed it clean, then cut it into slices.
Looking at it, it had a green peel and red flesh, with brownish-black seeds inside. The more he looked at it, the more it resembled the winter melon described in a travelogue he read before. When he was in the capital, he had also heard of this exquisite fruit.
It was a tribute from the Western Regions. Because the journey was so far, the imperial palace only received a handful each year, making it extremely rare.
According to those who ate it before, this fruit was abundant in juice and very sweet-tasting. It was worthy of being a delicacy.
Thinking of this, he couldn't wait to pick up a slice and take a big bite. The cool and sweet juice instantly filled his entire mouth, then slid down his throat. It seemed like half the summer heat dissipated in an instant, leaving his whole body feeling refreshed.
Jiang Wenyuan's eyes lit up. He didn't even want to spit out the seeds, quickly finishing one slice. He nimbly put the remaining watermelon on a large tray and hurried back to the room.
As soon as he entered, he happily called out to Lu, "Wanniang, come quickly and try this. This melon is so sweet."
Lu glared at him, speaking unhappily, "It smashed my daughter's foot like that, I don't care how sweet it is."
Jiang Wenyuan laughed and placed down the tray, picking up a slice to hand over, "It's exactly because of this that we must eat it to get back at it for our darling."
Lu was amused by her husband's convoluted logic. Looking at the red watermelon, she hesitated for a moment before accepting it. She carefully took a bite. It really was cool and sweet, super delicious.
Jiang Wenyuan took his daughter into his arms and fed her a slice while asking, "Dear, does this melon have a name?"
Little Dumpling gnawed on the melon and mumbled unclearly, "Watermelon."
"Happy melon? What a joyful name."
"No--not happy, west, watermelon."
"Oh, it's called watermelon!" Now he heard clearly: "Your father read about a kind of melon called winter melon in books before that looks quite similar to this."
Little Dumpling nodded vigorously: "Watermelon, winter melon, same."
"So winter melon is actually watermelon! A melon from the Western Regions, so it's called watermelon. Not bad, the name is quite illustrative." As she nibbled, Little Dumpling carefully spit out the watermelon seeds onto the table. "Beans, plant." Seeds to plant. Her tongue hadn't learned the word "seeds" yet, so she used another word. But the meaning got across as long as it could be understood.
Upon hearing this, Lu immediately followed her daughter's actions and spit out the seeds to place together.
Jiang Wenyuan fiercely kissed the top of his daughter's head. His precious daughter really was clever to know to keep the seeds. As for whether they could grow or not, they'd know after trying next year.
Jiang Yuqing's constitution was cold, so after eating just half a slice, she stopped. Lu ate three slices, and Grandpa Lu finished off most of the remaining large half. He was so full that he didn't even eat dinner, which really impressed Jiang Yuqing. The origin of this watermelon was "unknown," so they shouldn't let outsiders know about it. But all the officials working in the yamen were clever. If they casually took it out, it was likely people would guess something, which could bring disaster instead of good fortune. If there were leftovers, it would be fine to secretly give a slice to Uncle Lu.
It was too late to plant melons this year. So Jiang Yuqing planted all of the leftover watermelon seeds in her spiritual space. With the magic of the spiritual space, she believed that before long, she would have more watermelons than she could eat.
Actually, things from the hospital could be endlessly duplicated. Even without planting, she could have endless watermelons. But she liked the feeling of planting and harvesting more.
Farming seemed an innate talent of the Huaxia people, or perhaps it was encoded in Huaxia genes.
After that, whenever Jiang Yuqing took watermelons out of her spiritual space, she never personally carried them anymore. On the hottest days, she would deliver some to Xijin Ferry and Xiushui Bay every few days, and Uncle Lu's place also had some. She repeatedly exhorted that they were only for family to eat, and must not spread the news.
Uncle Lu and Scholar Lu didn't suspect anything. They assumed it was a gift from some wealthy merchant who, for certain reasons, could not say where they were from. This was an unspoken rule of officialdom. They never imagined the source was their own niece.
During the days Jiang Yuqing was recovering from her injury, the wives of local gentry and wealthy households often visited. The women's conversations inevitably revolved around cosmetics, jewelry, clothes, fashion, and endless flattery about how cute and pretty Jiang Yuqing was. Listening to them made her want to fall asleep.
Jiang Yuqing understood the importance of socializing with these women. But understanding was one thing, liking it was another. She would rather be back at the farm at Xijin Ferry than listen to their boring gossip.
Occasionally some would bring their children, like the children at Xijin Ferry. The older ones treated her like a child, while those her age were hard for her to relate to. It was so boring she would rather hide in her room reading.
After several more days of this dullness, Jiang Yuqing couldn't stand it anymore and begged to go back to her grandparents and brother. Lu understood that she found the yamen boring and wanted to go home.
Although the couple was reluctant to be apart from their daughter, they were even more reluctant to see her unhappy. After thinking it over, they sent her back to Xijin Ferry. It was close enough that they could easily visit her or bring her to stay with them for a while.
Little Bun was very filial. Before leaving the yamen, she hoarded a large pile of watermelons for her elderly parents to eat after they returned.
As she wished, Little Bun returned to Xijin Ferry. Seeing her grandparents, uncles, and aunts who she hadn't seen for half a month, Little Bun couldn't wait to run over and snuggle up to each one. She gave every person a fragrant kiss and a small gift she had prepared herself.
Although they were inexpensive trinkets, they made the elders so happy they nearly fainted. A small cotton-padded coat really was the most thoughtful gift. She didn't forget to bring presents for everyone after going into town.
When her older brothers returned from school, Little Bun repeated the whole process, effortlessly winning over the group.
The next day was the end of the 10-day week. Both the yamen and the school had a rest day. Jiang Yuqing got up early. After waking up, she accidentally saw her father sleeping soundly with his bare chest pressed against her mother's back. Her mother also seemed to be naked. The sheet had slipped down, exposing large areas of fair, delicate skin covered in a pattern of red marks...
Cough cough. Jiang Yuqing averted her eyes awkwardly.
Was this something a little bun like her should see?
She decided that from today onward, she would sleep alone. No one could stop her.
To avoid her parents dying of embarrassment when they woke up, Jiang Yuqing tiptoed quietly out of bed and out the door to the vegetable garden.
