Everyone wanted to take a look at my new house, but I very firmly said no because it was my own special place where other people were not allowed to enter. I suppose that eventually I would satisfy their curiosity, but in the meantime, I took all my meals and met with my apprentices at the courtyard house and spent the rest of my free time at the ranch house.

The summer heat had abated somewhat, and it felt like the cooler autumn months were already on their way. I turned off the air conditioning and simply opened the windows to enjoy the fresh air. Right now, it wasn’t that cold, but I would definitely add a fireplace before winter. I looked forward to spending quiet nights alone, sprawled out on a plush rug with Mr. Bear in front of a roaring fireplace.

My new Rose Garden turned out to be self-maintaining, since the plants stayed in their peak condition even when I didn’t water or weed them. That must be because of the power of the Cash Shop. The only drawback was that the scent of the flowers tended to be a little overwhelming. Either they were a special variety bred to make perfume, or they were spirit plants, too. I reduced the number of rose bushes before I found out that I could collect rose hips. When Deming confirmed that they were edible, I simply moved the plants away from my window. Tonight we would be having rose hip soup for dessert.

The house, somewhat regrettably, didn’t have a self-cleaning function except for the toilet and shower room, but that was fine as long as I didn’t make a mess. I sent my laundry to the main house and did all my own cleaning.

In the next two weeks, I spent my time doing the usual stuff: farming, woodcutting, foraging, fishing, hunting, and a bit of combat practice, along with lots of herblaw training.

The days flew by, and tomorrow was the first day of the summer harvest season. I walked around the fields to inspect the fruits of my labor one last time.

The wheat plants were about three feet tall and now, right before harvest time, their golden heads were heavy with grain. They were giving off a very gentle yellow glow. The air was filled with the sweet, earthy scent of the ripe wheat, and I could hardly wait to wield my scythe.

As for the corn plants, they were now taller than me. Their vibrant green color was almost painful to look at because they were covered in a bright green glow. The corn silks were brown and dried out, a sign that the plants were ready to be harvested. It was a pity that lightning had destroyed part of the cornfield because Deming was already planning a wonderful post-harvest feast, and I would’ve loved it if we had more sweetcorn to use.

The vegetable field was an even more satisfying sight. It was a riot of colors, a bright patchwork of vivid yellows, reds, greens, and earth tones. There was corn, squash, beans, basil, garlic, parsnip, turnip, daikon, potato, sweet potato, carrot, bell peppers, radish, tomato, eggplant, cucumber, bok choy, spinach, bitter melon, jicama, ginger, leeks, cauliflower, pineapple, melon, taro root, ube, chili peppers, and sui choy, all ready for us to harvest tomorrow.

All the crops looked picture-perfect, as though they had been taken out of a food magazine photograph. Just yesterday, I had taken a regular carrot from the kitchen and held it up beside the carrot that I was growing and saw that the difference was astonishing. The spirit carrot was perfectly formed and vibrantly orange. The regular carrot looked deformed and washed out when they were placed side-by-side.

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Though it wasn’t harvest time yet, I was greatly tempted to bite into both carrots to check the difference in taste. Fortunately, I still had enough self-control not to do so.

My mouth watered at the thought of eating freshly plucked vegetables with the meat we had hunted yesterday. Based on our usual food consumption, the upcoming harvest should be enough to last us until the end of autumn.

The only fly in the ointment was that we wouldn’t be able to use the wheat right away, since we didn’t have the facilities for it. The rice mill was only good for processing rice, so we would have to send Shuye with the wheat to have it milled by an acquaintance of Deming’s. Naturally, the Demon Chef knew a lot of people who were in the food business.

Inspection done, I went to the main house to check on my apprentices and eat dinner. My energy bar always filled up completely when I woke up after a good night’s sleep, but it was different for them. If they completely exhausted their energy the day before, it did not refill completely the next day, so I told them to rest for now in order for them to be ready for the harvest.

“Teacher, will we level up our farming tomorrow?” asked Mo.

The three of them were restless and twitchy with nerves.

“She already told us that harvesting gives the most experience! We’re definitely going to level up,” said Lari.

“Eat your vegetables, and go to bed early tonight,” I said. “Harvest season lasts for two weeks, so we have plenty of time, but we also have a lot of crops. Make sure you rest properly.”

“I hope I can sleep tonight. I’m so excited!” said Kharli.

Everyone’s eyes were sparkling, and even Deming had a spring in his step today.

Though we had discussed what we were going to do many times before, the kids were excited and kept on asking me the same questions.

I wondered if I should stop thinking of them as “the kids.” It’s not like I was much older than them, and they were fourteen, which meant that they were teenagers. However, the master-disciple or teacher-apprentice relationship was considered similar to that of a parent and child, so they treated me like a much older woman.

“We’ll harvest the vegetables first, since Deming is waiting for that. Then we’ll do the wheat field, and we’ll save the corn for last,” I said. “Shuye will be watching, and he will transport the crops for us.”

My Farm Guide, as usual, would be responsible for taking all of my products to the market because I didn’t want to bother with it myself. It’s not like I needed the gold, and the planting season followed immediately after harvest season.

“How much do you expect to get for the wheat and corn?” asked Lari.

Trust my [Ambitious] apprentice to be the only one who asked about money.

“Quite a lot!” I said.

The three of them put their heads together and whispered into each other’s ears. I pretended not to hear them.

“Do you think she knows?” Kharli gave me a dubious look.

“She definitely doesn’t.” Mo shook her head.

“I think she comes from a rich family. She doesn’t seem to care about money.” That was Lari.

I let their words wash over me as I ate my dessert, grass jelly in sugar syrup, a very refreshing dish for the hot summer. When we finished eating, I said, “Alright, soak in the hot spring for as long as you can, then go to your rooms and rest. The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you’ll wake up.”

We said our goodnights, and I went to the ranch house to do some herblaw before retiring for the night.

I woke up before dawn and made my way to the main house for a hearty breakfast, dressed in the farmer's clothes from the System menu, which consisted of coarse brown homespun pants, a crude cotton top, and conical hat. I regretted my choice of attire the moment I stepped into the outer courtyard.

Nooooo! I mentally screamed.