After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

Time passed little by little.

Cang Yao is coming more and more frequently.

It used to be by the stream, now it's at home.

They initially came in the evening, but later they came at noon.

Lin Chu was reading inside, and she sat on the stone stool by the door waiting quietly without urging him. Occasionally, she would peek inside, but if she saw Lin Chu still writing, she would quickly retreat back inside.

Mr. Chen couldn't hold back any longer.

That day, he went out to sunbathe and saw Cang Yao sitting at the door. He finally couldn't help but turn around and ask Lin Chu, "Who is that girl at the door?"

"Friend," Lin Chu said.

"A friend?" Mr. Chen squinted at Cang Yao. "Which family?"

"From the mountains."

Mr. Chen didn't ask any more questions, but his eyes clearly said, "Where did this girl from in the mountains come from?"

He glanced at Cang Yao several times, then at Lin Chu, and finally shook his head. He then moved a chair to the other side to bask in the sun.

After Cang Yao left, Mr. Chen called Lin Chu over and said in a low voice, "That girl is not like a child from an ordinary family."

"What's wrong?"

"Did you notice the material of her clothes? I've never seen anything like it in all my years. It doesn't get dusty or wet, and it feels so light when she walks. And her shoes, the soles are spotless. Where in our village do you find roads like that for her to walk on?"

Lin Chu knew exactly what was going on, but could only say, "It's probably from a wealthy family in the town on the other side of the mountain."

"In town?" Mr. Chen shook his head. "There's no such material in town. When I was young, I went to the county town to take the imperial examination and saw the county magistrate's daughter. She wasn't even dressed as well as I was."

Lin Chu did not respond.

Mr. Chen muttered a few more words like "of unknown origin" and "probably ran away from a wealthy family in the city," and finally sighed, saying "Don't cause any trouble," before continuing to read his book.

A few days later, Cangyao learned to knock on doors.

When Lin Chu first knocked on the door, she opened it and saw that the woman was holding a bowl containing several small, uniformly sized, golden-brown grilled fish, sprinkled with a little salt.

"Here's some food for you." She shoved the bowl into Lin Chu's hands, her ears turning slightly red.

Lin Chu looked down at the fish in the bowl, then looked at her.

Her fingers were covered in charcoal ash, and there was a small burn hole in her cuff, indicating that she had been through quite a bit of work.

In this world, beings that have gained sentience and those that have not are already completely different beings.

Although Cangyao is a koi fish, once she gained intelligence, she became worlds apart from those ignorant little fish.

Therefore, she ate the fish with great joy and without any burden.

"Did you bake this?"

"Hmm." Cang Yao nodded, her eyes slightly unfocused. "I... I passed by a house and saw them grilling something, so I tried it out."

Lin Chu imagined the scene: a little koi carp squatting at someone's door, staring at the person grilling fish, then going back to the stream to start a fire and experiment, its eyes watering from the smoke.

"What are you laughing at?" Cang Yao glared at him, her eyes wide and round.

"It's nothing." Lin Chu picked up a piece of food, put it in her mouth, and chewed it.

The fish was very tender, the salt was just right, and the skin was baked until slightly crispy. It tasted much better than what he made himself.

"It's quite delicious."

Cang Yao's eyes lit up immediately, but she tried to suppress her smile and pretended to be indifferent: "It's alright, it's my first time baking."

Lin Chu ate all three fish, even gnawing the bones clean.

Cang Yao watched from the side, and only after he finished the last one did she take the bowl with satisfaction, say "Then I'm leaving," and run away with the bowl in her arms.

For the next few days, Cangyao brought food every day.

It all started when Lin Chu casually remarked, "Your fish is pretty good," and the next day she brought over a bowl of fish soup.

The third day was for steamed fish, the fourth day for stewed fish, and the fifth day for braised fish.

"Besides fish, can you cook anything else?" Lin Chu finally couldn't help but ask.

Cang Yao paused for a moment, thought for a moment, and answered very seriously, "No."

Lin Chu looked at the bowl of braised fish in her hand, which looked and smelled delicious, and didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Okay, the fish is pretty good too."

Cang Yao was a little unhappy; she felt that Lin Chu was just giving her the runaround.

The next day, instead of fish, she brought a pheasant.

Live.

When Lin Chu opened the door, he saw Cang Yao holding a pheasant flapping its wings in both hands, with a few feathers still stuck to her face, looking at him smugly: "We're not eating fish today."

Lin Chu paused for two seconds: "It's alive."

"yes."

"Would you kill him?"

Cang Yao looked down at the pheasant in her hand. The pheasant was also looking at her, clucking.

She looked up, her eyes slightly blank: "Should...it be?"

Finally, it was Mr. Chen who killed the chicken.

As the old man plucked the feathers, he muttered to himself, "Where did this girl come from? She's quite good at catching pheasants, and she's got a lot of brute strength."

He plucked a few hairs, then looked at Cang Yao and said, "Girl, you're quite strong."

Cang Yao sat on the stone stool by the door, resting her chin on her hands and giggling.

The chicken soup that night was delicious.

Cang Yao drank two large bowls of wine, and after finishing, she said to Lin Chu very seriously, "I'm going to catch a rabbit tomorrow."

"No need," Lin Chu quickly stopped her. "The chicken is fine."

Cang Yao thought for a moment and said, "Then we'll catch rabbits the day after tomorrow."

Lin Chu gave up.

Mr. Chen was quite happy.

Since someone brought him wild game every few days, his complexion has become much rosier.

One day, Lin Chu overheard him chatting with the villagers, saying, "My Chu'er is so lucky, that girl from the mountains cooks for him every day," his tone full of pride.

Lin Chu pretended not to hear.

Time flies.

Autumn has arrived, and the leaves on the trees by the stream are beginning to turn yellow.

When Lin Chu went to the stream that day, she saw Cang Yao squatting by the water, braiding her hair in front of a bronze mirror.

She got the bronze mirror from somewhere; the edges were worn and scratched, but she polished it until it shone.

She was very serious about it, weaving and unraveling, weaving and unraveling, her brows furrowed in a frown.

"What are you doing?" Lin Chu walked over.

"Bragging." Cang Yao said without looking up. "I see all the girls in the village braiding their hair. I can't do it well."

Lin Chu sat down next to her: "Didn't you make up a pretty good story last time?"

"That time it was luck." She slammed the bronze mirror on the ground. "I'm not so lucky today, I tried to weave it three times and it still didn't work."

Seeing her puffed-up face, Lin Chu reached out and pulled her braid back.

Her hair was soft and slightly cool; the touch of it felt like silk as it slid across my fingertips.

"Shall I give it a try?"

Cang Yao paused for a moment, then quickly turned her head away, presenting the back of her head to him: "If you can't make it up well, just take it apart and start over."

Lin Chu chuckled, running her fingers through her hair and braiding it strand by strand.

He used to help the younger girls in the village with knitting, so his skills weren't too bad.

Cang Yao's hair was smooth and silky, making it easy to braid.

Halfway through writing, Cang Yao suddenly spoke up: "Lin Chu."

"Um?"

Do you think it looks good?

She spoke very softly, as if she were asking a very small question.

Lin Chu continued working: "It looks good."

"Really."

"real."

Cang Yao's ears slowly turned red.

She didn't turn around, but buried her chin in her knees and whispered, "Then I'll make these every day from now on."

Lin Chu finished braiding the hair, tied the end with a red string, and patted her shoulder: "All done."

Cang Yao picked up the bronze mirror, looked at herself from left to right for a while, then turned back with her eyes crinkling: "Lin Chu, you're quite skillful with your hands."