Chapter 122: The Bean Sprout Sprouting with All Its Might

With the help of the villagers, Gu Xiaoshu and his kin found the reclamation of the wasteland far less grueling than it had been over the previous two days.

The men sent to assist were all sturdy laborers who worked with impressive speed. Although some in the village felt a twinge of resentment seeing so many hands dedicated to the Gu family's plot, most were aware of the circumstances and understood why the village chief had ordered the assistance.

Nevertheless, some of the village women remained indignant. They felt that even if the land had been won thanks to Gu Xiaoyao, she had no right to draft the primary laborers of other households to work her own fields.

"Look at Chengjin’s wife—usually so frail and quiet, yet she’s quite the schemer, isn't she? Getting other people's men to toil on her land," one remarked.

"Exactly," another chimed in. "With so many people helping them today, they’ll surely clear a massive amount of ground. It was just a small favor she did; is it really worth all this?"

"The village chief has lost his senses, too. Gu Xiaoyao is a member of this village, and since she helped win the competition, she has a share in the land. It was her duty to contribute; there was no need to let her take such a huge advantage."

These gossiping women didn't stop at spreading heartless rumors; they actively sought out the families of the men working for Gu Xiaoyao to stir up trouble.

"Why aren't you saying anything? Those are your own husbands out there! How can you just let them work for someone else?" they prodded, winking and nudging, desperate to incite a scene.

But no one was a fool. They understood the situation perfectly—which was precisely why the village chief had selected those specific families to help.

"That’s enough," one of the wives replied coolly. "Stop your incessant chatter. If you have this much free time, you’d be better off getting some work done yourselves."

"We don't mind," another added. "It’s only for the morning. It’s not as if they’re going to be helping for days on end."

Had it been a multi-day commitment, they might have felt differently, but a single morning was entirely acceptable.

Seeing the women return to their work, the gossips fumed in silence, cursing them for being so spineless.

At noon, Gu Xiaoyao walked out to the fields and found that the performance of the Chu Qingsong brothers had undergone a complete transformation. Seeing that everything was in order, she did not linger. Upon returning home, she went to the utility room to check on the soybeans.

After using her supernatural ability to modify them yesterday, she discovered that the sprouts had already broken through the hulls, reaching about half the length of a pinky finger.

The growth rate was not particularly fast; if she weren't worried about drawing suspicion, she would have loved to accelerate them further. At this pace, however, she could harvest a batch by tomorrow to test the market in town.

After locking the wooden door of the utility room, she looked at the sky and decided it was time to start dinner.

"Xiaoyao, let me handle dinner. You can just lend a hand. After that sleep, I feel much better—I’m perfectly fine now," Mother Li said. Having woken up, she felt a lightness in her body and a complete absence of pain, as if she had been restored to the vigor she possessed when she first married into the Gu family.

"Mother, I’ll take care of the cooking. You just help me tend the fire; you haven't fully recovered yet."

Gu Xiaoyao arranged some stones in a circle and built a fire inside. Once the flames were roaring, she placed two prepared rabbits over the heat to roast.