The next day.
Early in the morning, as soon as Jiang Heng exited her cultivation state, she heard the sound of pouring rain.
It was raining.
And it was coming down quite hard.
Raindrops pounded against the window, splashing into big watery blooms that quickly merged and slid down, but the leftover dust dirtied what had once been a clean window.
The rainwater was truly dirty, but of course, it was also rich in nutrients. Once the rain stopped, the plants would definitely shoot up in no time.
At least today, there was no need to work.
No need to pick mushrooms, no need to gather mulberry fruit.
Jiang Heng lingered in bed a while longer.
Honestly, on rainy days like this, listening to the steady white noise of the rain made sleeping quite comfortable.
She dozed off again for a bit, and only around eight o’clock did she get up and go downstairs to make herself a bowl of noodles.
She used the leftover Mushroom Soup from yesterday to cook them.
The noodles were delicious and savory; she didn’t add any extra seasoning, just relied on the Mushroom Soup’s own fresh and salty flavor.
Eating such a steaming hot, incredibly tasty bowl of noodles on a chilly morning left her completely satisfied.
Since there was no need to pick mushrooms in the morning, Jiang Heng spent her time practicing Martial Techniques in the spacious living room.
In her previous life, her main focus had been the archer’s path, just like playing a ‘shooter’ in a game—suited for long-range combat, but rather fragile up close.
As a secondary focus, she studied the Spirit Plant Path.
With her Water, Wood, and Earth Spiritual Roots and natural affinity for Spirit Plants, she had achieved quite a lot in the field of cultivation.
After reaching Foundation Establishment, her Master once wanted her to specialize in this path.
Though her combat strength was a bit lacking, she would never be short of spirit stones.
If you could cultivate powerful Spirit Plants, whether it was Pill Cultivators, Talisman Cultivators, Array Cultivators, Sword Cultivators, and so on, everyone would need them!
But, thanks to the experience of two lifetimes, Jiang Heng cared a lot about her combat strength, so she firmly refused.
Her Master then found other Elders to teach her Martial Techniques, but unfortunately, she wasn’t very talented with the sword, knife, or Music Attack.
Instead, she took a liking to archery, which few people studied.
Once she started learning, she fell in love with it. Hiding at a distance and firing cold arrows was just too satisfying!
Still, no matter what you learned, you had to build a solid foundation.
Otherwise, if someone noticed and attacked you, you wouldn’t even have a chance to dodge. Being fragile, you’d be taken out in one go—how terrible would that be?
Right now, Jiang Heng was practicing a Body Refinement Technique that exercised her whole body.
After reaching Qi Refining First Layer, her body had already been tempered by Spiritual Energy once, and her Strength had increased.
But this increase was due to spiritual power, not her own physical strength.
For example, right now, she could only lift about two hundred jin in one go, but with training, even if her cultivation didn’t improve, she’d be able to move heavier things.
Following the Cultivation Technique in her memory, Jiang Heng practiced again and again.
The first round went smoothly, but by the second, she was starting to feel the strain, especially in her legs, which grew heavy.
By the third round, she was already gritting her teeth, but as long as she could persist, the more she trained, the more benefits she’d gain.
Finishing the last move, Jiang Heng was drenched in sweat as if caught in the rain.
Looking closely, there was even some filth expelled from her body through the Body Refinement.
She disliked this sticky feeling, so she quickly performed the Dust Removal Art, cleansing herself and making her body feel fresh again.
By then, it was already past ten o’clock.
The heavy rain had turned into a drizzle, but it was still falling.
Not far from her house, there was a Small Ditch.
Normally it was dry, but today, a lot of rainwater had gathered and was rushing along with a loud sound.
But the sky was still dark and overcast. It looked like it would keep raining for at least another two days.
Jiang Heng had originally planned to rest a bit before making lunch, but as she listened to the sound of water flowing in the Small Ditch, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
She had planned to reclaim the remaining land in mid-May—one mu for rice paddies, half a mu for wheat, and two mu for sowing grass seed.
After letting it grow for ten days or so, she’d build a Chicken Coop, Sheep Pen, and Pig Pen, and raise some chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, and sheep.
And paddy fields needed water.
With this much rain now, if she blocked off the opening in the paddy field, wouldn’t she have ready-made water?
Getting water was much easier now than it used to be.
In her childhood memories, when the family needed water, they’d dig a channel from a pond up high, letting it flow through other people’s fields to reach their own.
Nowadays, most families would just buy a Pump and use pipes to draw water directly from the outskirts of the Village using a neighbor’s electricity.
But even that wasn’t as convenient as it was right now!
Jiang Heng quickly found her umbrella and changed into her old shoes for going up the mountain before heading out.
As soon as she stepped outside, the moisture in the air clung to her freshly washed skin, making her feel sticky.
Holding her umbrella, Jiang Heng headed straight for her family’s fields.
In previous years, when her parents were still around, there weren’t many people farming in the Village, so they’d managed to swap their land with others, making all their plots adjacent.
It wasn’t far—just a two-minute walk.
At the moment, all the field openings were left open, so the rainwater would naturally flow out through them.
For example, her two mu of vegetable fields had slightly raised planting beds from when she tilled the soil earlier, so now the water was pooling in the low trenches and wouldn’t affect the crops much.
Jiang Heng found the field she planned to plant rice in and walked around it, locating the opening.
With a light tap of her toe, earth-type spiritual energy gathered beneath her, and the surrounding soil shifted, quickly sealing up the opening tightly.
Just as she finished, the rain started pouring down again, and a shallow layer of water quickly pooled in the field, unable to escape, accumulating more and more.
As expected, by the next day, the water in the sealed field had already submerged most of the grass.
The rain had lessened a lot, but it was still falling.
At this rate, once the rain stopped tomorrow, she’d need to hire someone to plow the field, buy seedlings, and get people to plant them. She wasn’t sure if she had enough money for all that.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to worry for long before discovering that her previous Company had finally transferred her pay!
She’d been so busy she’d forgotten today was payday.
Just as she’d expected, it was a little over fifty thousand.
Part of it was reimbursement for medical expenses she’d paid earlier, another part was a bonus, and the rest was last month’s salary.
As soon as the money arrived, Jiang Heng immediately transferred thirty thousand to her aunt’s family.
Then, umbrella in hand, she went to Aunt Shen’s house.
Jiang Heng still had plenty of mushrooms she’d kept for herself, so she brought a small bag over and mentioned the repayment.
When they’d borrowed money before, it was all in cash, but she didn’t have any on hand now, so she had to come ask for a bank card to transfer the money.
Today, Uncle Jiang Guoxia happened to be home too.
He’d just washed his feet and was wearing slippers, his pants legs rolled up, with some mud still visible—probably just came back from checking the fields.
Seeing Jiang Heng, he was a bit surprised, “Why are you out in this heavy rain? Come on in!”
Aunt Shen heard the commotion and hurried out. Seeing the mushrooms in Jiang Heng’s hand, she scolded lightly, “We haven’t even finished the mushrooms you gave us last time! Bringing more? You should keep them to sell!”
Actually, since they were such good stuff, the old couple had only tasted a bit themselves, drying the rest to bring for their son the next time they visited.
Jiang Heng smiled, “I still have plenty, so I brought a little over. This batch tastes even better.”
Jiang Guoxia took them and said, “Then how about staying for a meal? Let your aunt cook fish for you. I just checked the fields, and the opening at the Small Pond got washed out. I picked up a two-jin fish that got stranded in the field.”
Aunt Shen nodded, “Yes, it’s a pretty big one. Stay and eat with us.”
Jiang Heng was surprised, “Fish got washed out like that?”
Jiang Guoxia replied, “Of course. If you go now and block the outlet with a net, you could probably catch quite a few more.”
Jiang Heng was tempted.
The Small Pond was a bit far from her house, and since she’d returned, she hadn’t been over there.
Plus, last time, her aunt had specially bought her some fish to eat, but it was clearly farmed fish—she could taste the odd flavor and forced herself to eat half.
After that, she didn’t even want to think about fish.
But now things were different—her spiritual energy had increased, and she could use the Spiritual Rain Technique.
The fish in the Small Pond definitely weren’t farmed.
She quickly said, “Then I’ll go check it out later! If the net doesn’t work, I can just catch them myself!”
She could take the fish home and keep them in water infused with spiritual energy for a day; that earthy smell would be mostly gone and the taste would improve.
The more she thought about it, the more eager she became, so she said, “Uncle, Aunt, my company’s money just arrived. How should I pay you back?”
The two were both stunned.
Although Jiang Heng had mentioned she’d repay them this month, they hadn’t expected the money to come so soon and were a bit hesitant.
Aunt Shen worried, “Will you have enough left after paying us back?”
Jiang Guoxia added, “Yes, it’s not urgent for us. Your brother Xiao Ming’s wedding isn’t for a few months yet.”
Jiang Heng laughed, “I’ll be fine! Once the rain stops, I can sell more mushrooms. My income is still steady, so Aunt, do you want to get your bank card, or should I just transfer it directly to Xiao Ming?”
Since she’d said that, they didn’t insist anymore. “Just send it to Xiao Ming. We don’t really know how to use the bank card anyway.”
Jiang Heng nodded, called Jiang Anming, and explained.
He was a bit embarrassed and kept saying there was no rush, but Jiang Heng cut him off, “Brother, don’t be so polite. I’ve got the money ready, and it’s no use sitting in my account. Alright, I’m hanging up—I’ll send it to your WeChat. I’m going to catch fish now, so I’m in a hurry.”
Jiang Anming:
How did his little sister become so assertive after not contacting him for a while? Wasn’t she always quiet and reserved?
“Alright, alright.” Jiang Anming relented. “Be careful catching fish.”
“Mm-hmm.” Jiang Heng hung up, found him on WeChat, transferred twenty thousand over, and he accepted it right away. With the debt paid, Jiang Heng felt much lighter.
Only the fifty thousand owed to her uncle’s family remained, and she should be able to settle that by the end of the month.
In high spirits, she said, “I’m off to catch fish! Uncle, Aunt, if there’s not enough fish, I’ll bring some from my place!”
Aunt Shen was finally able to relax and smiled even more brightly, “Hey, you’re bragging before you’ve even caught any?”
Jiang Heng dashed out into the rain, tossing back, “I’m really good at catching fish!”
And with that, she disappeared from sight.
Jiang Heng hurried home, grabbed a Plastic Bucket and a Fishing Net. The net was a bit old, but it would do. She rushed over, hoping there wouldn’t be anyone else at the Small Pond—otherwise, she’d have to find another way.
Once she arrived, she found there really was no one there.
There weren’t many people in the Village to begin with, and even fewer who farmed.
Probably only her uncle had noticed the situation.
Because of yesterday’s heavy rain and today’s ongoing drizzle, the water level had risen a lot.
The pond was connected to the fields by a concrete pipe, which was usually blocked with mud, but now it had been cleared, and water was gushing out with a loud noise.
Jiang Heng quickly tied the Fishing Net with a rope at the outlet.
All the water had to pass through it, and so would the fish. In just a short while, she saw several half-grown fish caught in the net.
Too small.
Jiang Heng was a bit dissatisfied; dealing with small fish was a hassle.
So, holding her umbrella in one hand, she used the other to cast the Spiritual Rain Technique.
A small-scale Spiritual Rain fell right near the outlet.
In less than two seconds, the water around began to churn, and several sizable fish surfaced, trying to get at the Spiritual Rain falling into the water.
Then, before they knew it… they were swept by the current through the concrete pipe and landed straight in her Fishing Net.
She only used the Spiritual Rain Technique for about ten seconds before stopping.
This time, it wasn’t because her spiritual energy was depleted—it was because the net was full!