“The second matter is… from tomorrow on, I, Shen Jiaqi, will work alongside everyone too.”
“What?” Qiao Huilan thought she’d misheard. “You can’t carry a load on your shoulder or lift a thing with your hands, and you can barely manage to light a fire. What can you do? Don’t add to the trouble.”
Shen Jiaqi said unconvinced, “Mom, if I don’t know how I can learn. I’m eighteen already, I can’t go on idling and being a rice worm at home forever!”
They had no objections, but did her sisters-in-law have none?
“Besides, I want to put in my share for the family.”
Qiao Huilan was silent for a moment. It would be no bad thing to let her daughter do some work, so that when they were gone one day there’d be no one to look after her.
She hesitated a moment. “All right then…”
At that, the brothers absolutely couldn’t sit still.
“Mom… you, you, you, how could you agree?” The eldest brother was so agitated his tongue knotted.
“That’s right, we brothers have strength to spare. Are we afraid we can’t support little sister?” The second brother said in dissatisfaction.
“Little sister has been pampered since she was small. When has she ever done any work… don’t wear her out!” No matter the occasion, the third brother was always the one most concerned about Shen Jiaqi.
The fourth brother’s face darkened. “Has little sister been listening to people wagging their tongues? Don’t take it to heart. Your brothers are glad to support you, and those people gossiping about you are all just jealous of you, understand?”
The four brothers all scrambled to support her, and wouldn’t let her work no matter what.
“In short, none of us agrees. If little sister works, then divide the work up onto our heads.” The third brother spoke for the brothers.
Shen Jiaqi couldn’t win against them, and sighed softly. “Not working is fine too. Then I’ll supply the household with goods and improve everyone’s life a bit.”
Peng Zhaodi looked as if she’d heard a colossal joke. “Little sister, if you’d just stop taking the family’s things out of the house we’d burn tall incense in thanks. We really dare not hope you’ll bring anything into the house.”
The moment she said it, the eldest brother’s eyes went round and he glared at her, telling her to shut up.
“What, am I wrong…”
Everyone fell silent…
Going by the original owner’s character and temperament, it really was as the eldest sister-in-law said, she’d never bring so much as a thread into the house.
Shen Jiaqi knew that her trust rating in her family’s eyes was now nearly zero. No, very likely a negative number.
There was no use saying more, empty words prove nothing. Wait until she actually did it and then talk!
“Little sister, we understand your intention. Is there a third?” The third brother broke the quiet to ask.
“Third brother, you’ve learned to jump in with the answer!”
Having teased him, Shen Jiaqi’s expression turned serious, and she stared at the egg in front of her.
“From today on, save my egg for Xiaobao and second sister-in-law, who need it more. I’ll eat what everyone else eats, no special treatment.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Qiao Huilan was the first to leap up and object.
“How can that do? Your body has been weak since you were small, you’re as thin as a monkey. I’m already afraid we can’t keep you alive…”
She was the daughter they had late in life, delicate and frail since childhood, the apple of the whole family’s eye.
Qiao Huilan wouldn’t agree to her giving up her eggs, no matter what.
Shen Jiaqi twirled her finger and thought about it. “How about this: take the eggs that are mine and beat them into egg-drop soup. That way the whole family can eat egg and everyone can build up their bodies.”
“That’s a good method!” At the thought of that golden-orange egg-drop soup, Peng Zhaodi’s eyes lit up.
Now not only could Xiaobao eat egg every day, she’d get a taste of something rich too.
“Look at that useless expression of yours!”
Qiao Huilan glanced at Peng Zhaodi. Since her daughter’s mind was made up, she couldn’t very well refuse again.
But some things had to be said out in the open.
“Eldest, second, third, fourth, eldest son’s wife, and Xiaobao, you’d all better remember that every mouthful of egg you eat is what my daughter saved up and shared out to you.”
“Qiqi could have not shared it and built up her own body instead, but she is kind and generous and cares about her family, so she gave up her eggs. You must remember her kindness!”
The eldest brother’s eyes brimmed with hot tears. “Mom, I, I, I definitely won’t, won’t forget little sister’s… kindness.”
The second brother nodded gratefully. “Little sister, don’t worry, from now on second brother will earn more work points and trade them for more eggs for you, more than you can eat in a lifetime!”
The third brother laughed. “What are eggs? From now on third brother will buy you real golden eggs.”
“If your third brother is buying golden eggs, then I certainly can’t be left behind. I’ll buy you golden eggs too.”
At the thought of soft, tender egg soup to drink, Xiaobao’s eyes narrowed with happiness.
“Thank you, Auntie. When Xiaobao grows up he’ll protect Auntie and be properly filial to you…”
“Xiaobao is such a good boy!” Shen Jiaqi rubbed the little fellow’s round little head. “Then Xiaobao must eat more and move about more and grow up fast…”
Xiaobao was completely stunned. Wow! Auntie’s hand was so soft, so gentle!
It seemed she didn’t hate Xiaobao that much after all…
Growing bolder, he nuzzled into Shen Jiaqi’s palm, as meek and well-behaved as could be. “Mm, Xiaobao will grow up tomorrow!”
Shen Jiaqi was made to laugh by the child’s sincere, artless manner.
She never would have imagined that two eggs could make everyone this happy. It seemed today’s family meeting counted as a success.
“All right, all right, the meeting is over, everyone eat!”
Shen Jiaqi picked up the egg, peeled it and divided it into three pieces, one each for Dad and Mom, taking the smallest piece herself and eating it in small bites.
Qiao Huilan looked at the white and yolk in her bowl, and her nose suddenly stung. Aiya, her daughter had learned to care about people…
It was a plain, simple meal, tasteless in the mouth and thin in the belly.
Shen Jiaqi rubbed her flat stomach, more determined than ever to go up the mountain and catch that fish.
She’d thought of asking her brothers to come along, but afraid it would be drawing water in a bamboo basket and her brothers would toil for nothing, she decided to scout the way first.
After nightfall, once the whole family had gone to bed, Shen Jiaqi secretly took a back basket and tools and, forcing down the pain in her foot, limped up into the mountains.
Mountain folk sleep early, the whole way was silent, with only the mountain wind howling.
She held a flashlight, frightened out of her wits, but thinking of that big fish she couldn’t help ducking into the woods after all.
The way was very slow and very hard. She walked and stopped, walked and stopped, not noticing in the least the sturdy figure standing behind her.
Seeing her, the man couldn’t help frowning.
Her?
So late at night, going up the mountain all alone, wasn’t she afraid of danger?
This stretch of mountain forest looked peaceful, but wild beasts came out now and then, and there were all kinds of snakes and insects and vermin. It was full of hidden dangers.
How did she dare…
The man had been about to go down the mountain, but now he turned around and, keeping a distance of about ten meters, neither near nor far, followed silently behind her…
Shen Jiaqi noticed nothing, her mind entirely on her supplies.
“I remember the book said Ye Zhaozhao dug up the wild ginger by a stream, and then found the fat fish.”
In a give-it-a-try frame of mind, Shen Jiaqi followed the sound of water, and sure enough came upon a small stream.
Then, at a glance, she saw that landmark crooked-necked tree.
Right there!
She walked over excitedly, took out her little spade and started digging.
A few spadefuls down and she really did strike something hard.
To keep from damaging the surface of the ginger, she dropped the spade and dug with her bare hands, and pulled out a great big piece of wild ginger.
Got it!!!
She cradled the wild ginger as if she’d dug up gold, and dug up many more pieces in a row, there was simply no end to them.
The soil here was fertile and there was a water source, so besides wild ginger there were plenty of wild greens too. Before she knew it she’d dug a whole back basket’s worth, with plenty more that simply couldn’t be stuffed in.
After working a long while she crouched by the stream to wash her hands, sighing inwardly: with this much stuff, it would be nice to have a space.
Just as she was thinking it, the water rippled before her eyes and she arrived in an unfamiliar room.
The room was perfectly square and boundlessly large.
On the shelves against the walls all around were countless goods, tools and books, though all of them were gray phantom images, marked with different numbers.
“Welcome to your carry-along space. I am your system…”
An ice-cold mechanical female voice sounded, telling her that this was her space, and that whatever she needed for food, clothing and daily use could all be found inside.
She’d said as much, every other female lead who transmigrates or crosses into a book has a system, a space and a golden finger [1]golden finger (jin shou zhi, 金手指) Slang, webnovel-genre term for a protagonist’s special cheat ability or advantage jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3285826_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3285826_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, so how could she have nothing? Sure enough, the space and the golden finger came late, but they came!
Shen Jiaqi was thrilled and reached out to tap the loaf of toast bread beside her, but there was no reaction at all.
“System, what’s going on?”
“Hello, host. All items in the space must be exchanged for using other people’s favorability points toward you!”
Shen Jiaqi understood in a flash, so the numbers on the goods weren’t prices but favorability.
“Then how much favorability do I have now?”
“The system detects that your current favorability value is minus one thousand.”
“What? It can even be negative!!!”
Just how detestable was that damned character of the original owner’s?
References[+]