Zhou Li looked down, gently stroking Tuanzi's little forehead. "When Lord Dumpling grows up and becomes a Great Demon," he said, "make sure not to follow Huai Xu's example."

"Lord Dumpling is a Great Demon!"

"Just don't follow Huai Xu's example."

"I won't! Huai Xu is the worst!" Tuanzi wriggled in Zhou Li's arms, her little feet always kicking in rather inconvenient places, yet she was entirely unaware. "Only the most, most, most terrible demons are as annoying as Huai Xu!"

"Exactly!"

"So, are you upset because of Huai Xu?"

"Yes."

"It's all Huai Xu's fault!"

"Exactly."

At this moment, Zhou Li's phone rang again.

He subconsciously reached for his phone. Only after picking it up did he realize his vision wasn't great at the moment, and his hand stiffened. This feeling of knowing he had a message but not being able to read it was terribly uncomfortable.

Huai Xu quickly peeked over, glanced at the screen, and said, "It's a message from Aunt Jiang."

"What did she send?"

"Hmm?"

"Help me take a look."

Zhou Li handed his phone to Huai Xu.

Unexpectedly, Huai Xu leaned back, showing no intention of taking the phone, his expression serious. "I can't do that. That's your privacy! Later you'll accuse me of always snooping through your messages..."

"Isn't that what you do?"

"That's why I'm not looking!"

"But you always look!"

"Nonsense! I do not!"

This Old Monster was truly something else.

Zhou Li was speechless but still spoke softly to him. "It might be something Aunt Jiang has to tell me, or she might be worried about me. If I don't reply soon, she might get worried."

"I can't look!"

"Aunt Jiang even made pan-fried dumplings for you the other day." Zhou Li changed his approach. He had already decided to get back at Huai Xu later.

"Call me Big Brother!"

Zhou Li withdrew his hand.

Fumbling for a moment, he successfully enabled the accessibility mode, which he had previously taught Zheng Zhilan how to use step-by-step. It really wasn't easy to operate, though. After quite a while, he finally figured it out, and his face was almost instantly covered in black lines—

The message was from Huai Xu.

Zhou Li slowly turned his eyes towards him, only to see the Old Monster with his fist covering his mouth, his shoulders shaking slightly. He was about to burst out laughing.

"KUKUKUKU... HA HA HA..."

"Sigh..." About half an hour later, Zhou Li turned off the accessibility mode. The Old Monster pulled the same trick again, sending him two messages.

One was supposedly from Brother Nan, the other from Hong Ran. But Huai Xu had overlooked the fact that Brother Nan was marked as a special contact for Zhou Li, with a unique notification sound, and Hong Ran usually only messaged Zhou Li at night.

"This time it's for real!"

"I promise!"

"I swear!"

"Hong Ran is so busy, managing a myriad of things, and still messaged you! There must be something important. You should check it!"

"Really, really..."

Zhou Li watched his performance expressionlessly throughout and felt a vague annoyance, even more so than before. The Old Monster was just teasing him earlier, but now his actions were clearly insulting his intelligence.

Finally, the one who went to dig yams returned.

Brother Nan caught a grasshopper, handed it to Zhou Li, and asked, "How's it going? Getting an early taste of old age?"

Zhou Li nodded, feeling a twinge of guilt.

Soon, they were going out to pick corn again. Zheng Zhilan had planted two rows of sweet corn behind the house. They planned to pick a few tender ears to boil for lunch and also bring back all the pears.

Zhou Li turned his head towards Huai Xu. "You should go too."

Huai Xu immediately frowned. "What do you mean? You don't want me to stay by your side, right?"

"Don't you love climbing trees?"

"When have you ever seen me climb a tree?"

"...I figured you could help pick some pears. You could munch on them while you're up there; it's pretty cozy," Zhou Li said subtly. "And while you're at it, help me pick the biggest one to try."

"I'm not going. I need to take care of you here."

"That's not necessary."

"Yes, it is."

"Go on."

Zheng Zhilan smiled as she watched from the side and said considerately, "Huai Xu, come pick pears with us. I'll leave Qinghe here to take care of him."

Huai Xu: ??

The Old Monster was actually displeased and said earnestly, "Am I worse than Qinghe!?"

Zhou Li fell silent.

Isn't it obvious? he thought.

「Around noon.」

Brother Nan cut a slice of pear and fed it to Zhou Li, saying, "My hometown actually has a pear tree too. It's not by our doorstep. This kind of local pear bears small fruit, and they don't look pretty, but they taste really delicious."

Zhou Li nodded. Indeed, it wasn't bad. The pear wasn't very juicy, nor was it very sweet, but it had a rich fragrance.

Then Brother Nan picked up a small red thing and fed it to him. "These are small tomatoes we picked from the back. They're washed clean. Did you ever try them when you were little? They're especially delicious with some sugar."

"Never had them."

"Your village doesn't grow these?"

"They do, but I never picked them."

"Your childhood must have been really boring."

"Hmm."

"Are they tasty?"

"Erm..." Zhou Li thought for a moment. "Better than big tomatoes."

"What about compared to the cherry tomatoes sold in supermarkets?"

"These are tastier."

"Hehe..."

These small tomatoes were wild, and generally, the biggest they grew was to the size of a pigeon's egg. Zhou Li remembered that when he was a child, a family in his village had many of them. When the tomatoes ripened, the lush vines would be laden with what looked like red lanterns, but they were usually monopolized by that family or pilfered by the village kids.

Unlike the large tomatoes sold in supermarkets, which increasingly lacked tomato flavor, these had an original, sour taste.

After being washed and dipped in sugar, one bite made the sugar crunch sweetly between the teeth. The small tomato would burst with juice, its sour flavor mingling with the tomato seeds and sugar for a refreshing taste.

Brother Nan continued holding a gourd scoop full of the small "lanterns," eating one herself and feeding one to him, while whispering, "We used to have a lot of these behind our house, but over time they became fewer and fewer, and now you can't see them anymore."

"The environment," Zhou Li commented.

"This place is a paradise."

"Maybe."

"Try this!" Brother Nan suddenly brought something else to Zhou Li's mouth.

"That's your fist," Zhou Li said, his head aching.

"You really can see!"

"Alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you. Here, hold this and eat." Brother Nan stuffed the gourd scoop into Zhou Li's arms. "I'm going to help Little Zheng cook. She's in a good mood today and said she's going to make a big feast."

"Hmm."

Zhou Li watched Brother Nan's tall figure walk away. It was a pity her walking stance was so dominant, just like a man's.

Only then did Lord Dumpling's small head pop out from behind Zhou Li. She looked around cautiously. "Has Li Daimao left?"

"Hmm."

"What are you eating?"

"Small toma-toes," Zhou Li said.

"Lord Dumpling wants to eat too!"

"Here."

Zhou Li handed one to her. As he glanced around, he saw Huai Xu return from killing the rooster. Zhou Li picked up another tomato and tossed it casually.

Huai Xu caught it subconsciously! He then froze, blinking.

"???"

"Brother Nan's small tomatoes," Zhou Li promptly said, interrupting Huai Xu's dawning realization.

"No, that action just now, it was a bit..." Huai Xu was full of question marks, scratching his head as he spotted Big Yellow licking bones nearby.

"They're very tasty."

"What's so special about these? Weren't they everywhere back in the day?" Just as Huai Xu's attention was diverted, Zhou Li threw another small tomato. It traced a parabola in the air. Perhaps because Zhou Li's eyesight was poor, the throw was a bit off.

"SWISH!"

Huai Xu caught it again!

He just couldn't resist!

At the same time, his peripheral vision caught Big Yellow nearby suddenly perking up. Even Lord Dumpling, who had crawled back into Zhou Li's arms, was looking on eagerly.

"Tasty?"

Watching Zhou Li's flawless expression, Huai Xu hesitated, chewing the small tomato. "It's... it's alright..."

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