"Come to the kitchen, big brother brought delicious food for our family," Jay replied to Nining and led her into the house.
His mother was still missing in the kitchen, as neither her mother nor her father had returned from the fields.
As the harvest drew near, the workload increased. Therefore, sometimes, near harvest time, many villagers took on additional work in the fields.
This was to ensure a good harvest, as this was their primary source of income.
Farmers' children, accustomed to adulthood from an early age, were taught to do various household chores to help their parents.
Nining, for example, could do some household chores like feeding the family's pets and watering the vegetables in the backyard garden.
She could also warm up food. However, Nining hadn't been taught how to cook food because her parents were afraid.
If Nining threw away the family's food while she was preparing it, especially when food became valuable and scarce, her parents would be even more cautious.
"What did you bring?" Nining asked curiously, asking to get down from Jay's embrace.
"Here..." Jay immediately pulled out some ripe wild kiwis he had previously saved.
"Ahhh... aren't these kiwis?!" Nining said, her eyes sparkling.
"Yes... these are kiwis. You can eat them while I cook some dishes," Jay replied.
Meanwhile, while Nining was busy eating the kiwis Jay had brought, Jay glanced at the food storage in his kitchen.
There, he added 2 liters of rice to the food storage, ensuring his family didn't run out of food.
After a few days of eating the rice he had brought, the amount had dwindled.
And Jay, who had become accustomed to eating rice, really didn't want to eat sweet potatoes and potatoes as their main meals anymore.
He would only make potatoes and sweet potatoes as side dishes, not main dishes.
Jay soaked the mussels he had brought, letting them sit for a while, adding salt to the water to help them expel the impurities.
Meanwhile, Jay began to thoroughly wash the lotus roots he had found.
Jay already had the idea in mind to sauté the lotus roots and make a soup and stir-fry of mussels with some fresh vegetables.
During the cooking process, Jay noticed that the few kiwis he had brought for Nining had been devoured quite quickly.
Seeing this, Jay smiled, feeling a little pity for her, as the current situation was clearly not easy for a child her age.
"Are you still hungry?" Jay teased Nining.
"Hmm...Nining can still eat a lot, big brother," Nining replied cheerfully.
"Okay, then I'll cook rice for today's main dish," Jay replied again.
"Good...hahaha...Nining loves rice..." Nining cheerfully replied to Jay.
"Then, now help me wash the rice and light the other stove," Jay replied again to Nining, giving her a simple instruction.
Jay knew that a good education for children Nining's age involves them in limited adult activities.
This helps them learn and understand that there are responsibilities they must fulfill when helping adults do things.
"Okay..." Nining replied cheerfully.
While waiting for Nining to finish her task, Jay then picked out some vegetables like chilies, spring onions, cabbage, and carrots for today's menu.
After picking enough, Jay began to clean and chop them neatly.
After that, he also began to clean the clams that he had soaked enough.
Soon, the fragrant aroma of the stir-fry and clam soup Jay had made filled the kitchen.
Simultaneously, the rice that Nining had cleaned also began to cook on the other stove.
The two of them looked cheerful in the kitchen, occasionally chatting about the village.
From Nining's story, Jay learned funny stories about incidents that children Nining's age had experienced in their village.
#######
The next day, Jay woke up earlier than usual because he wanted to select some rice seeds ready to be planted in his room.
After collecting some potatoes and sweet potatoes from his house as seeds for his room, Jay was still short of rice and corn seeds for his other staple foods.
So, this time, he could only look for rice seeds in his village's rice fields that were about to ripen, and to do so, he needed to search for them carefully.
Secretly.
If he did this openly, he would be punished, as all the rice in his village was currently collectively owned by the entire village.
Walking into the village's expansive rice fields, Jay, noting that less than a month remained until the rice was ready for harvest, saw a refreshing morning scene.
Under the warm illumination of the morning sun, the atmosphere on the rice paddies, ready for harvest, felt incredibly beautiful.
It was like a rural landscape painting, capable of soothing even the weary.
After enjoying the sight, Jay began to walk slowly around the edge of the rice paddies.
Using his spatial powers, he began to pick out some of the rice seedlings that were about to ripen, selecting a few within a short distance.
He did this selectively, taking only a few seedlings from each rice field.
Jay continued this process, traveling around the hundreds of rice fields in his village.
What he didn't expect was the substantial yield, with Jay estimating he'd harvested at least 30 kg of rice seedlings.
Seeing the nearly mature rice seedlings in his space, Jay couldn't wait to plant them and let time pass tenfold.
With the space's capacity, Jay could already imagine that the 30 kg of nearly mature rice seedlings would ripen in just a day or two.
Because, following the existing cycle, rice can be harvested in about three months, and assuming the 90 days were sufficient, time would be tenfold faster.
He could harvest the rice indoors every nine days, but this time the seedlings planted indoors were nearly mature.
It would naturally take less time.
After all this, Jay immediately returned home, preparing to gather his equipment to gather animal feed.
However, when Jay returned home, Nining, who usually loved to play, was still sitting casually on their front porch.
As if she were waiting for Jay to arrive and want to make a special request, Nining looked a little anxious.
And upon seeing Jay's arrival again, the slightly anxious Nining perked up again and quickly ran over to Jay, shouting, "Brother... take Nining... with you to look for animal feed!!!" Nining shouted coquettishly.
Seeing Nining's sudden behavior, Jay was surprised and wondered, "What's going on?"