Inheriting a Farm Made Me an Internet Sensation - Chapter 27.3

Lin Muhan gave a bitter laugh. She poured and drank two more glasses, then set the glass down heavily. She leaned over the table, propping herself up with her hands, and stared at Tan Xiao. “Give me a reason. A reason that will keep me from hating you.”

Could she say it?

Tan Xiao lowered her head, not daring to look at Lin Muhan.

Something as absurd as “transmigrating into a book”—she couldn’t say it.

Her reaction infuriated Lin Muhan.

She poured another glass, downed it in one breath, but still felt incredibly stifled.

She put down the glass, walked around the square table to Tan Xiao’s side, and forcefully rotated Tan Xiao and her chair ninety degrees so that Tan Xiao was facing her directly. “Say it.”

Tan Xiao was forced to meet Lin Muhan’s gaze. She could clearly see the anger and pain in Lin Muhan’s hazy eyes.

She opened her mouth, about to speak, when Lin Muhan suddenly leaned down and kissed her lips.

More accurately, it was a bite. Lin Muhan was using her teeth to vent the anger and dissatisfaction in her heart.

The taste of iron instantly filled her mouth. Lin Muhan didn’t stop, gnawing at her.

The stinging pain combined with the surging desire in her heart made Tan Xiao’s brow furrow. She unconsciously gripped the armrests of her chair.

She told herself to stay calm, and she tried her best to do so.

All that effort collapsed the moment Lin Muhan pried open her teeth.

She couldn’t suppress the desire in her heart. She wanted to be closer to Lin Muhan, to be one with her, to do even more “excessive” things to her.

At the same time, she was afraid—afraid that the desires that shouldn’t be growing in her heart would disrespect Lin Muhan.

While she was struggling internally, Lin Muhan pulled away from her lips.

Lin Muhan stuck out her tongue, licking away the blood at the corner of her mouth. Her fox-like eyes shimmered with tears, and her body swayed as if she might collapse at any moment.

Tan Xiao reached out to support her, but she dodged.

“Tan Xiao, one day you will regret today’s hesitation. I will make sure you regret it.” With that, she turned and headed upstairs.

Stop? Not only would she not stop, she would keep moving forward.

She could clearly feel it—feel Tan Xiao’s feelings for her, feel Tan Xiao’s restraint.

She didn’t know what Tan Xiao was hesitating about, but she firmly believed that one day, Tan Xiao would tell her everything.

Watching Lin Muhan’s staggering figure, Tan Xiao still followed her up. It was only when she saw Lin Muhan enter her room that she returned downstairs.

The beef on the plates had hardly been touched.

She carried them into the kitchen, cooked a portion of pasta, and brought it back upstairs.

Lin Muhan still hadn’t closed her bedroom door. Tan Xiao called out toward the bathroom where she heard the sound of running water, “If you don’t want to wake up hungry in the middle of the night, eat something.” After saying that, she turned and left the room.

That night, she didn’t sleep well. Whenever she fell into a deep sleep, she would see Lin Muhan angrily accusing her.

The resentment was so intense it felt as if ants were gnawing at her heart, leaving her in a cold sweat.

She checked the time on her phone, rubbed her tired eyes, grabbed her notebook and pen, and hurried to the field.

Once again, she felt she was so selfish and cowardly.

It would clearly be better to speak clearly between her and Lin Muhan, yet she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

As soon as nine o’clock arrived, the freshmen arrived at the field on time.

The students had been here twice before and were already familiar with Tan Xiao. Without waiting for her to speak, they each crouched down to check on the cabbage seeds sown on Friday.

“They’ve sprouted!” one student exclaimed.

“With the current temperature and enough humidity, they were bound to sprout,” a male student with glasses chimed in, pushing up his frames as he spoke.

Tan Xiao ignored their discussion and looked toward the road again. As she withdrew her gaze, an SUV came into view and pulled over. A minute later, a middle-aged man in a short-sleeved athletic set got out. Seeing her, he immediately raised his hand to wave.

The man’s arrival instantly caught the students’ attention. They whispered among themselves, wondering who he was.

The man walked over quickly and greeted them with a smile, “Hello, everyone. My name is Wang Yanpeng. Like you, I’m here to learn.”

Tan Xiao gave a slight nod in greeting.

Since everyone had arrived, she wasted no more time. She crouched down and used a small trowel to dig up a sprouted cabbage seed, posing a question: “The current temperature is 27°C. What humidity should correspond to this temperature?”

As soon as the question was asked, the students took out their notebooks and began to calculate.

Wang Yanpeng looked around in confusion. “Wait, since when did farming become so complicated? Isn’t watering just ‘all wet,’ ‘half wet,’ or ‘sprinkling a bit on the surface’?”

“What do you all think?” Tan Xiao asked back.

The boy with glasses raised his hand. “I think Student Wang has a point.”

“Then the question is: Why was your first instinct to take out your notebooks and calculate accurately when I asked about humidity?” Tan Xiao put down her trowel and pointed to the ground. “We are currently growing in the open air. Most agriculture in our country uses open-air methods. Crops can adapt to different temperatures at different times and seasons, so we can accurately judge a crop’s water status based on its condition.”

Wang Yanpeng crouched down, grabbed some soil, and rubbed it between his fingers. He said with certainty, “There’s no need to water right now.”

“Correct. Based on the current humidity, watering now would actually cause the seeds to rot. So, today’s topic is how to water accurately based on the crop’s condition and the soil’s humidity.” With that, Tan Xiao turned and led the students toward the greenhouse.

She had specifically not watered today for this lesson, so the students could learn how to water correctly.

An hour passed quickly, and the students were still eager for more, already looking forward to the next class.

They wanted to stay longer, but there was no shortcut between the farm and the school; they had to go all the way around, so they had to hurry to make it to their next class.

Wang Yanpeng, however, had no such time constraints and wandered around the greenhouse on his own.

Seeing Tan Xiao finish her work, he stepped forward. “The vegetables in here are different from the greenhouse vegetables I’ve seen before.” He pointed to the nearby lettuce. “They look delicious.”

Tan Xiao saw his hesitation. She put down her pen, picked up a trowel, dug up four heads of lettuce, and laid them on the ground. She looked around. “I’ll find a bag for you.”

Wang Yanpeng picked up the lettuce with both hands. “No need for the trouble. I’ll just put them in the car.” With that, he walked away with a smile.

Before coming, he had heard from Old Wu that Tan Xiao had many vegetables here that were completely natural, grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

No fertilizer or pesticides meant no residues.

Who wouldn’t want to eat residue-free vegetables? Especially when he saw how lush everything in this greenhouse grew. Take the cilantro and celery, for instance—you could smell their fragrance from over ten meters away.

Thinking of what Old Wu had told him, he stopped and turned to Tan Xiao. “Old Wu said you successfully transplanted that, Ghost Orchid.” He coughed awkwardly. “Could you… could you give me one?”

“Professor Wu mentioned that you’re in research; you probably won’t have time to look after it, right? I assume you’ve researched Ghost Orchids before—they can be quite delicate.”

“That’s a good point. Once an experiment starts, it’s day and night.” Wang Yanpeng changed the subject. “I’ll have my wife come and learn from you. She’s retired and has plenty of time. And I won’t take advantage of you—Old Wu mentioned you’re interested in time travel. My wife’s team studied it before. I brought her notes. Follow me.”

Upon hearing the words “time travel,” Tan Xiao was instantly intrigued. She immediately followed Wang Yanpeng to his car.

Wang Yanpeng placed the lettuce on the back seat, then opened the passenger door and took a notebook from his briefcase. “My wife is older, so she wasn’t with the team for very long. Everything she knows is recorded in there. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask her in person tomorrow.”

Tan Xiao took the notebook gratefully. “Thank you.”

Wang Yanpeng waved his hand, closed the car door, and walked around to the driver’s side, saying as he went, “Then it’s a deal. I’ll bring her over tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

After seeing off Wang Yanpeng, Tan Xiao couldn’t wait to open the notebook.

The first sentence written was: “Time travel has become a reality.” Her heart skipped a beat.

Would she find an answer?

She flipped through the notebook as she walked back toward the greenhouse.

Unfortunately, she went through the entire notebook without finding a definitive answer.

However, one thing was confirmed: the flow of time is different in every world. She had been here for over six months, but perhaps in her original world, only a day or two had passed. If that were the case, her body might still be there.

She closed the notebook, made a detailed plan for the next round of vegetables for the farm, and then returned to the small courtyard.

She didn’t go back to the fields in the afternoon. Instead, she took Chen Cuihua to the seed market to buy seeds.

That night, Lin Muhan didn’t come back. There were no WeChat messages or phone calls, and even the messages Tan Xiao sent went unanswered.

Is she giving up?

She gave a bitter smile. Giving up would be fine; that way, she wouldn’t have to struggle with whether she could return.

But why did her heart feel so heavy?

Over the next two days, Wang Yanpeng did as he said and brought his wife, Liu Lin, along.

Like Wang Yanpeng, Liu Lin was very interested in planting and was willing to work in the fields with Tan Xiao. As a thank you for their help, Tan Xiao would dig up some vegetables for them whenever they left.

As for Lin Muhan, she still hadn’t returned to the courtyard, and the WeChat messages remained unanswered.

On this day, Wang Yanpeng had gone to the fields with Chen Cuihua and the others to sow seeds. Tan Xiao and Liu Lin were on the balcony watering the flowers, while Tan Xiao let Liu Lin try her hand at caring for the Ghost Orchid.

After some hesitation, Tan Xiao looked at Liu Lin, who was carefully watering the orchid, and asked, “Auntie Liu, have you ever heard of ‘transmigrating into a book’?”

Liu Lin paused and asked back, “You mean like being transported into the world of a book?”

Tan Xiao nodded.

Liu Lin thought for a moment, put down the watering can, and began slowly, “A student once proposed that topic as a research project. At the time, everyone thought it was impossible.” She paused and shook her head. “She wanted to prove it, but it seems she failed.”

The hope that had just sprouted in Tan Xiao’s heart was instantly crushed by that last sentence.

Liu Lin turned to look at her. “If you’re interested, I can give you her contact information.”

Tan Xiao flashed a smile. “That would be wonderful. Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it; that’s too formal. Old Wang and I haven’t exactly been polite with you.” Liu Lin’s face was full of kindness. She admired every smart and down-to-earth student, and Tan Xiao checked both of those boxes.

For that reason alone, she was willing to do her best to meet Tan Xiao’s requests.

Meanwhile, at the Lin residence.

Lin Muhan walked toward the entrance and saw her father, Lin Kun, sitting on the sofa from a distance.

Perhaps sensing her gaze, Lin Kun looked over and frowned.

“Come here.”

Lin Muhan hung her bag on the coat rack and sat on the sofa opposite him.

“You’ve gone and taken on a case that no one else would touch,” Lin Kun said, his voice full of mockery.

Today at noon, he had received a call from a colleague saying his green daughter had taken on the Huatai workplace gender discrimination case that had been causing a stir lately.

If the client had been Huatai, he wouldn’t have said anything. But his reckless daughter had ended up as the lawyer for the female victim.

“I have already gathered some evidence proving that Huatai does discriminate against women,” Lin Muhan replied. She hadn’t returned to the courtyard for several days, mainly because she wanted to find more evidence, and secondarily because she wanted to use a temporary separation to make Tan Xiao worry about her.

She had hesitated before taking this case. After all, crossing Huatai—a leading company in the city—offered her no benefits. Afterward, she might even be blacklisted by Huatai, effectively ending her legal career.

But as she dug deeper into Huatai’s workplace discrimination, she felt disgusted by their actions. Besides, high risks bring high rewards. If she could win this lawsuit, she would become famous overnight. Even if Huatai wanted to target her then, they wouldn’t be able to do anything substantial.

Lin Kun snorted. “Witnesses who flip and testimonies that change on a whim happen all the time in court. Can you guarantee 100% that your witnesses and evidence won’t change?”

Lin Muhan bit her lip. “I can’t guarantee it. All I know is that as a lawyer, my priority is to protect my client’s interests.”

“Stubborn. Your current client is just unhappy with the compensation. Once her demands are met, she can sell you out as her lawyer at any time,” Lin Kun said sternly. He simply couldn’t understand why his daughter would do something so foolish.

It was like shooting herself in the foot.

Lin Muhan stood up and said firmly, “If that truly happens, I’ll accept it.” With that, she headed to her room.

How could she not have thought of that? To avoid such a situation, she had even had an open and honest talk with her client.

From her client’s words and expressions, she could feel that she wouldn’t be easily swayed by Huatai.

That was why she had taken the case.

But the old lawyer Lin’s words were full of accusations of her stupidity and emotional impulsiveness.

She would use her actions to show him that her judgment was not wrong.

If she really were sold out by her client, she would consider herself blind, quit the legal world for good, and just stay with Tan Xiao to run Anxin Farm.