Chapter 4: The Magical Lake Water

  Chu's family was shocked and pinched himself, it hurts! He finally realized that all of this is real, and this is his own space, here, he is God. His hand stretched out, his mind moved, a big peach fell into his hand. Wipe the peach hair clean, took a bite. Delicious, not only sweet, but also left a lingering peach fragrance in his mouth.

  He ate one and felt a bit full. He thought to himself, this peach is probably the only one of its kind? Not to mention the peaches outside can't compare to this one, just one peach weighs seven or eight liang, and the flavor is also unmatched by other peaches.

  He didn't know how long he had been inside, but Chu Jiaqiang had traversed every inch of the mountain valley before exiting the Shanhe Map and returning to his old hut. He felt a bit dazed, having suddenly obtained an against-the-heavens divine artifact, yet without any purpose.

  Before, he had his own ideals, to make a career for himself in society, then marry a wife and live a carefree life. But after a year of social experience, plus the breakup, he became disillusioned with many things, feeling that everything is natural, and ordinariness is happiness. Now there's this thing that defies heaven and changes fate, which has left him at a loss for a while.

  "Never mind, let's take it one step at a time!" Chu Jiaqiang said to himself.

  He turned around and saw the dusty house, picked up a broom and started cleaning. Since he only cleaned one or two rooms, it didn't take long to finish. If he were to sweep the entire old house, it would probably take at least half a day.

  Chu Jiaqiang came to the orchard behind the house again, which was called an orchard, but in fact, the fruit trees did not cover several acres of land. At that time, due to the shortage of seedlings, they were all planted with a rough idea, and about ten fruit trees were planted per acre, and some could not survive, some were weak and spindly, looking like a large piece of empty land.

  Seeing several peach trees growing in the scorching sun, Chu Jiaqiang couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for them. He thought about fetching some water from the nearby ditch to relieve their thirst, but his heart skipped a beat. He only picked up the bucket, and with a flicker of his mind, a full bucket of clear water appeared before him, which was actually the lake water from the Shanhe Map.

  He first scooped up some water to wash his face, feeling refreshed and invigorated. The lake water was cooler than well water, and he used his hand to splash some on his face before scooping up another handful to take a drink. He found it cool and sweet, with a pleasant taste, and couldn't help but take a few more sips. Finally, he poured the remaining water into the ditch and led the bucket under the tree.

  Chu Jiaqiang watered each fruit tree with half a bucket, and after watering all of them once, an hour had passed. The sixty or so fruit trees didn't originally need that much time, but the ground was full of weeds as high as his thighs, restricting his movements.

  It seems that no one has come here for a long time. Chu Jiaqiang thought to himself, and he didn't find it strange either. Almost every household in the Chu family village had fruit trees planted in front of and behind their houses, so there was no need to run so far to pick fruits to eat. At most, some mischievous children would come to cause trouble, but that was extremely rare. The children in the village would always have this idea: what's at home is not as good as what others have, what's planted is not as good as what grows wild. They might be more fond of the various wild fruits in the mountains, even if some of them didn't taste as good as those grown at home.

  He returned to his original place and was immediately frightened by the changes in front of him.

  "Damn it!" He couldn't help but blurt out a curse.

  Only to see the originally half-dead peach tree had clearly become lush and verdant, the peaches on the tree which were originally the size of eggs now only slightly smaller than a bowl. He looked around at other places, fortunately the fruit trees hadn't grown at a speed visible to the naked eye, otherwise it would truly drive people mad. But Chu Jiaqiang still shivered with fear, thinking: this water absolutely cannot be used openly and aboveboard in the future, or else the consequences will be unimaginable.

  "With the landscape painting, being a farmer isn't bad either!" Chu Jiaqiang suddenly muttered to himself, but then shook his head with a bitter smile. He had never thought of coming back to be a farmer before, and now this idea suddenly popped up, feeling a bit absurd. Think about it, a university graduate, with a decent-paying job outside, running back to till the fields, wouldn't others think he's crazy?

  When he carried the bucket back to the water ditch, he found that many small fish had gathered here. There were several carp with big heads, bigger than palms, and some loaches, as well as some yellow eels, all drinking water with their mouths open. They didn't escape when they saw people, which made Chu Jiaqiang even more surprised. He poured another bucket of lake water into the ditch, and those fish were even more joyful.

  "It's the lake water playing tricks again!" Chu Jiaqiang sighed bitterly.

  Look at the time, it's almost eleven o'clock. If I don't go back now, Second Uncle and his family might come looking for me. He thought of turning around to leave, but his eyes swept over those huge peaches and citrus fruits. Chu Jiaqiang went back into the house, found a cloth bag, picked some peaches and citrus fruits, and plucked a few strings of yellow skin. He also wanted to pick some pomegranates, but thinking that Second Uncle's family didn't have many people, it wasn't necessary to pick them and waste them, so he had no choice but to give up. He slung the bag over his shoulder and strolled back to Second Uncle's house.

  As expected, on the road, I saw Jia Wan's little girl listening to MP3 and walking towards the old house. When she saw Chu Jiaqiang, she shouted: "Brother! Dinner is ready!"

  "Brother! What's in the bag on your back?"

  "The fruit behind the old house looks pretty good, let's pick some and try them." Chu Jiaqiang smiled slightly.

  "Oh? Can that fruit be eaten? I went last year, it seemed to have grown fruit too, but it didn't taste good." Chu Jia Wan pulled Chu Jia Qiang's hand and walked back.

  Chu Jiaqiang immediately felt a strange sensation, this little girl had grown up and developed in all the right places. Her chest bumped into Chu Jiaqiang's arm, causing him to stiffen for a moment before quickly driving away his distracting thoughts, reminding himself that she was his own sister. He glanced at her sideways, and actually, she looked quite pretty.

  "Hehe! You haven't been here all year, I said how come the weeds are so dense. Now it's really something inside, I'll show you a peach, don't be scared." Chu Jiaqiang took advantage of the opportunity to pull out his arm, open the cloth bag, and take out a big peach from inside.

  "Wow, it's so big? I've never seen such a big one in the town. It's strange, how can this be? Last year they were only as small as eggs, how can there be such a huge change? This is unreasonable!" Chu Jia Yan snatched the peach and examined it up and down, discovering that not only was the peach unusually large, but its surface was also extremely tender, with a light red color indicating that the honey peach was ripe.

  Chu's eyelid twitched, this girl was too sensitive, Ma Shan felt it didn't make sense, it seemed that the lake water inside should be used more cautiously in the future.

  Back at Second Uncle's house, Second Uncle and Second Aunt were also startled by these fruits. They hadn't tended to that orchard for a long time and didn't expect them to grow like this. Everyone washed a peach and ate until they were half full.