The timeline system has gone awry; they insist that steamed buns are a magic pill.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Li Qingqiu was a little puzzled. He hadn't done anything out of line recently, except for not selling mushroom branches, but he knew about that.

"Third brother, how old is your female classmate?"

"what?"

Li Qingqiu almost spat out his porridge after taking a sip. He turned to look at Li Qingmei and said, "Oh, you old sixth brother, it's you again."

"Hey, how's your relationship with that female classmate? What does her family do?"

"No, Mom, he's just an ordinary junior high school classmate. He just happened to have some time to come over for a day. Don't overthink it," Li Qingqiu quickly explained, while glaring at Li Qingmei. "You've done something terrible."

"Actually, Mom, it's like this."

Li Qingqiu quickly explained, not wanting to be misunderstood. "The projectionist this time is actually my junior high school classmate. She heard that a movie was going to be shown in our brigade, so she came along to spend the day with us."

"It really has little to do with me."

"It's alright, I wrote this letter especially for you?"

"Yes, third brother, my little sister already said that girls don't usually write letters to male classmates so casually." Li Qinghua said, as if to say, "Don't hide it from me."

"Well, Li Qingmei, you've revealed quite a bit," Li Qingqiu could only sigh helplessly. "Actually, I wasn't really classmates with them for more than a few days. I just helped her out with a small favor back then, and she's always remembered it."

"That means there's an emotional foundation."

"Second brother, what you said is very true. Don't say it again next time."

Li Qingqiu was completely speechless. What did he mean by "emotional foundation"? "He works in the county, he's a young cadre in the county revolutionary committee compound. The gap between us is too big. Second brother, stop talking nonsense. Don't make a fool of yourself."

"Okay, okay, it's alright then. How old are you? What's your family situation? Is there anything you can't tell me?"

"Twenty, I don't know much about your family situation, but I guess you could say you come from a cadre family."

"Not very old, and from a good family, sigh."

Shi Lan Hua sighed. "How does it look?"

"There's probably no one prettier than her in our commune."

"It looks good."

Shi Lan Hua fell silent. "Let's eat. Don't say anything bad when they come over."

"Such great conditions, third brother, I believe you. You two are just ordinary classmates." Li Qinghua sighed and patted Li Qingqiu on the shoulder. "Third brother, don't overthink it."

"No, what do you mean?"

Li Qingqiu thought to himself, "What's wrong? Do you think you're not good enough after hearing Han Caiju's conditions? You guys are really something."

"Dinner's ready."

"Dad, do you think so too?" Li Qingqiu looked at Li Fuhai, who hadn't spoken, unwilling to give up.

"What are you looking at? You're not the same kind of person as them. It's too tiring to think about it."

Goodness, I really think your son is unworthy. I am a powerful cultivator, and no matter how awesome Han Caiju is, she is still just a mortal. Let alone her, I am more than a match for any great person.

"Third son, it's better to find someone who can do farm work and live a stable life. Don't think about anything else."

"No, you guys are really underestimating us."

"Alright, I didn't underestimate you, but we should still eat within our means and not try to climb too high, or we'll end up with a sore backside." Li Fuhai tapped his pipe. "Let's eat."

"Let's eat, let's eat."

Well, really. Li Qingqiu was a little annoyed. What? He was a handsome man, and not short at all.

Although he didn't graduate from junior high school, he's a top student from a 211 university, a prospective civil servant, and besides that, he's also got a lot of system lottery draws and skill cards, making him an all-around little farmer.

"I'm not eating anymore, I'm full."

Li Qingqiu was furious. At first, you all asked a lot of questions, but after hearing Han Caiju's conditions, you all stopped talking and gave each other knowing looks. Li Qingqiu was really annoyed.

[A sigh from a family of cultivators—My son is a toad trying to eat swan meat. Host, rise up! You must tell your family of cultivators that you are a black swan. Mission reward points +10]

"A toad?"

Li Qingqiu almost jumped up. Who, who is the toad? You are the toads! What kind of family doesn't want this? Take it away quickly!

With a snort, Li Qingqiu stood up and went back to his cave to lie down for a while. He was furious; he was so angry that he was driven crazy.

"How did I end up looking like a toad?" Li Qingqiu grumbled, grabbing two hot agar nutmeg pills and eating them. Recently, Li Qingqiu had figured out that taking pills could improve basic attributes, such as those that replenished qi and blood. After taking them for a while, he gained two points in constitution and one point in agility.

"Maybe eating a hundred agar nutmeg pills will calm you down and improve your physical condition."

Li Qingqiu had made up his mind: he would visit the steamed bun shop more often, or at the clinic if all else failed; perhaps he could find some more remarkable elixirs there.

"A bunch of mortals, unaware of your abilities, immortal master. Toads, haha."

Li Qingqiu decided not to bother with them. After eating the agar nutmeg, he felt much better, turned on the radio, and went to sleep.

"Knock knock knock".

Who is it?

"Third Brother, it's me."

"You traitor, you're gone."

"Pfft."

Li Xianjing, standing outside the door, couldn't help but laugh. Her third uncle was actually calling her aunt a traitor. Li Qingmei muttered under her breath, "How old are they? Still acting like children." "Third brother, I was wrong."

"What's the use of knowing you're wrong? Just commit suicide to atone for it."

Li Qingqiu snorted, while Li Qingmei outside the door was both amused and exasperated. "Third Brother, it's not that serious, is it?"

"Then what did you say was wrong?"

"I'm going to go to bed."

Li Qingqiu started acting like a child, which made Li Qingmei and Li Xianjing exchange a helpless glance.

"Third Brother, how about I kowtow to you and admit my mistake?"

"That works too."

As soon as Li Qingqiu said this, the door was pushed open, and Li Qingmei angrily appeared. "Third Brother, are you really going to make me kowtow?"

"Since you said it yourself, I reluctantly agreed."

Li Qingqiu didn't care. She was just a little girl, acting like the sixth brother. She was too naive to even think of joining his ranks. It didn't seem like a big deal for him to be the third brother and have his younger sister kowtow to him.

"snort."

"Little Aunt".

Li Xianjing nudged Li Qingmei.

"Third Brother, I really know I was wrong."

"Alright, that's settled then."

The thought of those two girls treating him like a toad made him furious.

"It's okay, you guys go back first, I'm going to sleep."

"That third brother, and his female classmate, how old is she, what does she do, what's her family like, what does she look like?" Li Qingmei asked hesitantly, as this was a task her mother had assigned her, and she hadn't been able to find out the details yet.

"Mom told you to ask. Okay, I knew it. Why did you come here to apologize?"

Li Qingqiu was about to pick up a broom to hit someone when Li Qingmei quickly dodged and ran outside the door, still staring longingly at Li Qingqiu.

"Get lost."

After going to bed, Shi Lanhua brought up the same question from the previous night again at breakfast the next morning, driving Li Qingqiu crazy. "Mom, the other girl is my classmate's friend. I've only met her once, no, twice. We have absolutely no connection."

"oh."

"I see."

"Fine," Li Qingqiu sighed. Never mind, she decided to head to the educated youth settlement for a while to find some peace and quiet. But then she ran into Li Qinghui at the crossroads. "Where are you going so early?"

"I went to Wangjiazhuang."

Li Qinghui stamped his foot. "Today, Wangjiazhuang and Zhangjiazhai produced snow mushrooms. My dad told me to go and take a look yesterday. Not to mention, more than a hundred mushroom branches yielded five or six hundred catties of snow mushrooms, which is worth two or three hundred yuan. The villagers of Wangjiazhuang are overjoyed."

"Is that so?"

"What about Zhangjiazhai?"

"More or less."

Li Qinghui suddenly remembered something. "I think Wangjiazhuang will probably come to you again in the next few days to buy mushroom branches."

"It's no use coming to me, the mycelium is gone."

They insisted there was no mycelium, and even if the Emperor himself came, it wouldn't make a difference. Li Qingqiu wasn't going to tolerate these guys. Besides, there wasn't any extra mycelium to begin with.

"Then they're going to be disappointed."

Li Qinghui said with a laugh, "Wang Dapao just said he regretted not buying more; if he had bought them all, it would have been at least a thousand catties."

"Is that so?"

"Go ahead and regret it," Li Qingqiu thought to himself. "I'll regret it even more if I can't buy it anymore. If the county promotes the fifth-generation strain, that will be even more hilarious. It's hard to persuade this damned guy with kind words. Fortunately, the members who got it for free will only be disappointed at most."

"By the way, go back and tell Uncle Fuyuan that the mushroom branches ordered by the team have been prepared and we'll pick them up at the educated youth settlement later."

"I'll go back and tell them, and I'll come pick it up later."

Li Qinghui said somewhat embarrassedly, "Qingqiu, do you have any more here? Your sister-in-law wants to ask if she can buy a few."

"Will five branches be enough for you?"

"That's enough, that's enough, five branches are more than enough."

"Okay, I'll take them back together later."

"Thank you so much."

"Don't mention it."

Li Qingqiu waved his hand. Although Li Qinghui initially looked down on him, their relationship improved a lot after several trips into the mountains to dig for winter bamboo shoots and hunt wild boars. "Qinglian, ask Qinglei and the others too. If they want some, I'll save a few branches for them. But there aren't many mushroom branches left; this is probably the last batch."

I'll ask about it later.

It's unlikely anyone would refuse, so Li Qingqiu is being considerate of them. Li Qingqiu, as the treasure-hunting team leader, is quite generous. "As soon as possible, within the next couple of days."

"I know, don't worry, I'll go find them in a bit."

Li Qinghui glanced at the hilltop. "The snow has melted a bit. When do you think we can go back into the mountains to dig for winter bamboo shoots?"

"Digging like this will be quite physically demanding."

Not to mention the snow, the soil is frozen solid, so ordinary tools won't work unless everyone has a shovel to dig through the frozen soil as easily as digging tofu.

"When I have some free time, I'll take you to dig some up around the hillside to eat during the Lunar New Year."

"Okay, let us know when the time comes."

After chatting for a few minutes, Li Qinghui returned to the brigade headquarters, while Li Qingqiu went straight to the educated youth settlement and grabbed a free breakfast. "Zhao Nan, you don't need to get up so early every day. There's not much mycelium left; it'll only last a day or two."

"It's always better to get it done sooner rather than later."

"This girl has a rather stubborn temper; she stayed up late again last night."

Li Qingqiu thought to himself, why doesn't she learn from Yin Yi? She does whatever she can with mushroom branches, takes a break after each one, goes to bed early and gets up early, and does as little as possible except for food, just like Li Qingqiu. Li Qingqiu even suspected that Yin Yi was practicing the lazy eating method like him.

At first, Yin Yi pretended to be quite diligent, but after getting to know Li Qingqiu better, she stopped pretending and became a master of laziness, even more so than Li Qingqiu. When Li Qingqiu discovered this, he was astonished.

"Little Flower, come here."

Li Qingqiu called Xiao Hua, who was happily playing with Xiao Bai, over. "You didn't complete the task I gave you well."

"Sister Zhao Nan, don't go to sleep, Xiao Hua said so."

"Third Uncle, don't blame Xiaohua, I did it myself."

Guo Zhaonan saw that Xiaohua's eyes were brimming with tears, looking pitiful. "I'll definitely go to bed early tonight."

"I mean what I say, Xiaohua. Remember to help your uncle keep an eye on things."

"Um."

Xiaohua nodded vigorously.

"Let's take Xiaobai to play."

"Little White is really interesting, it takes a stroll early in the morning."

"Born in the Year of the Dog."

Li Qingqiu laughed and said, "The pig spirit beast's intelligence is about the same as a smart puppy. Calling it a pig-dog is actually more appropriate. This thing is also particularly clean and takes a bath every few days. Really, even Pigsy probably doesn't have this problem."

"Yin Yi, do you think it would taste good if Xiao Bai were roasted clean like a suckling pig?"

"Ah, Li Qingqiu, Xiaobai is so cute! You're a good person, let's not roast Xiaobai, okay?"

"I hate it when people call me a good person, unless they call me 'good brother,' then I'll consider it."

"Good brother."

Yin Yi's sweet, childlike voice was so soothing that Li Qingqiu shuddered and got excited. "What's the point of eating roast suckling pig now?" he thought.

"Fine, I won't eat anymore."

Li Qingqiu said with a smile, "Let's go, I'll take you to dig some winter bamboo shoots, and we can scout out the place while we're at it."

"oh."

Yin Yi immediately slung her basket over her shoulder and followed Li Qingqiu eagerly, while Guo Zhaonan watched. "Won't Yin Yi become Third Aunt? That seems pretty good. Yin Yi's cooking is delicious, and I love it. Third Uncle also loves good food."

"But Yin Yi and her third uncle are both lazy and don't like to work. If they get together, will they go hungry? And what if they have another child who takes after their parents...?"

"Sigh, whatever, Uncle San is capable enough not to starve."

That morning, all the mushroom branches in the team and those ordered by the commune members were delivered. In the afternoon, Li Qinghui and his family were to deliver them as well, along with the mushroom branches ordered by his eldest and second sisters-in-law. Less than fifty mushroom branches were left at the educated youth settlement.

"I didn't expect it to be finished so quickly."

"Alright, let me calculate the money." Li Qingqiu calculated the money and checked the accounts.

"Zhao Nan made the most, eighty-four branches."

Li Qingqiu handed sixteen yuan and eighty cents to Guo Zhaonan, then Li Qingmei, Li Xianjing and the others around sixty yuan, twelve yuan each, Xian'an and Xianle a little less, ten yuan or so, and the least was Yin Yi less than five yuan.

Xiao Hua also received a small amount as a reward for her hard work, and Li Qingqiu later added another 10 cents as a bonus.

"Take tomorrow off."

"Perfect timing to watch a movie."

The team started discussing the film location that morning. They initially suggested either using a well or a threshing ground, but ultimately chose the threshing ground because it had piles of straw around it that could block some of the wind.

"Watching a movie in this freezing weather is really unbearable."

The next morning, the brigade sent a cart with an oxcart to the commune to pick up the people. It wasn't until around 9:30 that Han Guodong and the others arrived at the commune.

At this moment, Li Qingqiu was being helped by Shi Lanhua to tidy up the cave, as her blind date would be arriving soon.

The girl I'm meeting this time is from Wangjiazhuang. I heard that her family has been butchers for generations. She's strong and energetic, and she can lift a basket weighing over 200 jin (100 kg) with ease. I also heard that she can carry a load of over 300 jin (150 kg) for two li (1.5 km) without stopping.

"Mom, I think someone as unreliable as me is not good enough for that girl. I deserve to do more work that I'm so capable of."

Li Qingqiu wanted to struggle a bit more, but this girl was too fierce. He was afraid that if he didn't say something right when they were meeting, she would punch him and kill him.

"They're already on their way, hurry up and get ready."

"Mom, could you help me set up a classmate with my boyfriend?"

Li Qingqiu would never marry this strong young woman; he was joking. "At worst, I'll take a loss and marry Yin Yi. Although she's younger, more innocent, cuter, has a better figure, and cooks better, I can barely accept it."

"Go away, stop talking nonsense. Yin Yi is probably not even sixteen years old yet."

"So what if you're not sixteen yet? I don't mind. You can raise him for two years first."

"Hurry up, wash your face and get to the intersection. People will be here soon."

Li Qingqiu felt utterly hopeless. She figured if she explained things clearly, she'd only get two feet of cloth back at most—what a terrible situation! She dawdled until she reached the village intersection, wishing she could bury her head in a snowdrift. Thankfully, Aunt Liu wasn't there.

"Li Laosan, I heard you're on a blind date today?"

"Has the girl arrived yet?"

"Ring ring ring".

"They're here."

There were three bicycles and one oxcart.

"What a beautiful girl."

"Li Qingqiu".

Wu Xiaoyue spotted Li Qingqiu at the edge of the crowd and waved. Immediately, all the chatting women turned to look at Li Qingqiu. "Is this Li Qingqiu's blind date?" everyone thought. "No way, who is Li Qingqiu? How could she have a blind date like this?"

Some older women, especially those with young children, were envious, thinking that Li Qingqiu was not a suitable match for such a girl.

"Li Qingqiu".

When they saw Han Caiju greeting Li Qingqiu, they were completely stunned. This girl must have stepped out of a painting. How does she know Li Qingqiu? Which one is Li Qingqiu's blind date?