Fruit Farmer In A Cultivation World

Sen Lin's little farm saw little to no guests during winter. Few villagers were bored enough to walk up the hill that had practically no inhabitants.

Unlike the center of the village that saw people get together despite the cold to gossip and pass time, the hill was practically a lifeless place.

Sen Lin had gotten used to this though. He was prepared for such isolation when he had chosen to build his house in this hill. A few villagers had advised him against it but he had been adamant. For no particular reason other than the fact that he felt at peace here.

There was also the possibility of clearing some land to build his orchard but that would have to wait for a long time. At least until he had more than enough money to not worry about small expenses.

He was in a comfortable position now but who knew how long it would last. After all, drought and famine were quite common.

Sen Lin still remembered the winter three years back. More than a dozen villagers had died because of the poor harvest. The death count would have been much higher if not for the relief grains sent from the capital.

He would have been among those dozen unfortunate individuals if it weren't for aunt Tong, who went out of her way to help him.

So, when he saw her visiting him out of the blue, he did his best to treat her the best he could.

"Aunt Tong, here have some tea."

The middle-aged woman took a sip and spoke in her usual kind voice, "Little Sen, did you meet your new neighbors? Knowing you, you probably haven't gone to greet them yet."

Sen Lin smiled with a little guilt.

"I haven't gone to greet them but I ran into the little girl yesterday."

"I knew it. How can you be like this? Don't you know how hard life can be? Especially for the ones who move into the empty houses during winter. The village does the minimum as instructed by the city lord but we, the common folks, can't be like that. If we don't help each other in times of need, how can we survive when tough times fall on us?"

Sen Lin listened with his head down. If those words were coming from someone else, he'd have probably walked away as he had experienced first-hand how cold people were in his last life, as well as when he was roaming the streets on this one. But the ones speaking those words were none other than the aunt Tong who had taken great care of him in this life.

It wouldn't be an understatement to call her his savior. If it weren't for her, he'd have probably lost his life many times over.

The least he could do was go along with her wish if they weren't unreasonable. Not only because he owed her a great debt, but also because he found her warmth and kindness too precious to be spoiled because of his cynical outlook on life.

"Anyways, forget about it if you don't want to. Still, you should help them as their neighbor. Since you said you ran into little Ying, you should have seen how scrawny she is. The world hasn't been kind to her and her grandfather after her father died."

Aunt Tong then pointed at the basket she had brought along.

"I got some food from other villagers to give to them. Gao Xuan also agreed to bring some firewood tomorrow. If I recall correctly, you should have the coat you used to wear when you were younger. If you have no use for it, you should give it to little Ying. Though it will be too big for her, she will eventually grow into it."

Sen Lin nodded obediently and retrieved a somewhat worn-out fur coat he used to wear until a few years ago. This coat had helped him drive the cold away on multiple winters.

Every year, the villagers would collect some of their older clothes and give it away to those in need but Sen Lin hadn't been able to give the coat away as he treated it as something precious.

It was aunt Tong who had gotten this coat for him when he was fourteen. As his very first complete winter clothing that was in decent condition in this life, it had much sentimental value to him.

Now that aunt Tong was asking him to give it to the little girl, he could only agree to her request. After all, it was something originally given to him by the kind lady in front of him.

Furthermore, he had seen the little girl's condition yesterday. If he still refused to part with the coat he had grown out of, he wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully.

Aunt Tong checked the coat casually. Seeing that it was still in good shape, she nodded lightly and folded it underneath her arm.

Sen Lin carried the basket she had brought along and followed after her. Soon, the two were standing in front of a red house.

Aunt Tong knocked on the door and Sen Lin stood behind her.

The door creaked as a small face peeked out of it.

"Aunt Tong, please come in."

The young girl opened the door after seeing who it was. After she was done, she was surprised to see a young man accompanying the woman.

Aunt Tong walked in and greeted an old man who was adding firewood to the hearth.

"Madame Tong, welcome. What brings you here?"

"Nothing much. I brought some vegetables and grain." She answered while pointing to the basket Sen Lin was carrying and continued, "Also, I wanted to introduce you to little Sen. He lives in the farm down below. He's too shy to come greet you himself so I dragged him along."

Sen Lin nodded with a polite smile to greet the old man and the other party did the same.

Aunt Tong called the little girl over and had her try the coat. Though still baggy and reaching all the way down to her thighs, it was a better fit than the one she was wearing. Additionally, it was in a better condition and would do a much better job at keeping her warm.

The old man seemed touched. Seeing his moved expression, Sen Lin felt like he could understand. His heart had also thawed after receiving aunt Tong's kindness in the past.

Aunt Tong made the girl sit on her lap and talked while staying by the fire.

"Uncle Yu, I tried asking the village chief to move you to the houses near the village center because I know about your leg injury. Unfortunately, the houses there are all occupied by some people brought by the thugs in the East Ridge city. You're going to have to pass the winter here as the villagers are unwilling to provoke the thugs. I am sorry."

"No. No. Please don't apologize. You've already done so much for me and my granddaughter. We're just grateful to not have to sleep on the streets. You even went out of your way to bring food and cloth to us."

Even after listening to the old man's words, aunt Tong didn't feel good about the situation. If anything, it only made her feel worse for not being able to do more for this young girl and her grandfather.

She couldn't help but curse at the thugs who were causing trouble, occupying houses meant for those in need during the harsh winter when they were perfectly fine.

It wasn't until the old man repeatedly assured her saying he was fine that she stopped talking about the troublemakers.

"Sigh… It's a pity that Wei Mao was taken away by the immortals. If he was still here, he would have surely chased those scoundrels away." Aunt Tong spoke with regret. "Forget it. Uncle Yu, I know it's probably difficult to reach me if you need help because of your leg but you can always send little Ying to ask Sen Lin for help. He's your neighbor and you don't have to feel too bad about troubling him. He was also in the same situation as you guys when he first came to this village."

Sen Lin and the old man exchanged some polite words, partly because they didn't want to get on aunt Tong's bad side.

She nodded approvingly at their exchange and spoke to little Ying, "You should come find me if little Sen doesn't help out, okay? I'll teach him a lesson for you."

Sen Lin's mouth twitched after listening to her words. She still treated him like a kid.

"Come on aunt Tong, I'm already 20. You should put some trust on me."

"What if you're 20? Aren't you still the same way you were when you were 13? If you really want me to stop treating you like a kid, you should hurry up and get married. If you can't muster the courage to approach a girl on your own, I can match you with someone. Look at little Wang, even though he's two years younger than you, he already has two children."

Sen Lin stopped speaking. This was the only nagging of aunt Tong's that he couldn't deal with. He made an excuse about not having fed Blacky and slipped away quickly.

Watching him leave, she clicked her tongue in annoyance.