Among the crowd, Lan Meili nearly ground her teeth to dust. Not only had she failed to make Lan Sisi lose face, she had miscalculated completely. When she looked up, she met Lan Sisi’s cold gaze. The fear of being dominated surged back again. Her cheek and the pain in her backside from being kicked to the ground still throbbed faintly. Frightened, she turned and ran.
As the farce came to an end, the crowd gradually dispersed. The village chief still had matters to attend to. After offering a few words of comfort, he also left.
The village doctor arrived quickly, cleaned Lan Sinian’s wound, and applied medicine.
Although it had looked frightening, it was only a small cut on his forehead. Lan Sinian no longer felt any pain. Once the blood on his face was cleaned away, he was once again a fair and delicate little boy.
“I’m sorry, Sis. I didn’t help at all,” Lan Sinian said, feeling deeply ashamed for holding her back.
“It’s alright.” Lan Sisi patted his soft hair. “Different people require different methods. You’re still young, just focus on studying. I’m counting on you to support me in the future.”
Lan Sinian nodded vigorously. His academic performance was excellent. The current pace of lessons could no longer keep up with him, and Principal Zhong was already considering letting him skip a grade.
“That’s right, Sinian, don’t worry. You still have me. I won’t let their family bully you,” Aunt Sun said. Beside her, twelve-year-old Ergouzi nodded repeatedly.
After seeing Aunt Sun and her son off, the bone soup was also nearly ready. They reheated the food they had packed at noon, and the aroma quickly filled the small house. The siblings lowered their heads and ate heartily, too busy to speak.
Meanwhile, at the Lan family’s old house, Liu Guihua lay on the bed with a towel on her forehead, muttering curses non-stop, every word harsher than the last.
After finishing scolding Lan Sisi and her brother, she began blaming Yu Shi. “…You just say anything that comes to your mouth. Do you even have a brain? My thirty-five yuan, those damned little brats!”
Yu Shi lowered her head, feeling aggrieved. “I was just anxious. Who would have thought that girl would trick me…”
“I don’t care. You two families will compensate me for that money!” Liu Guihua said.
Fang Shi’s expression darkened slightly, but she did not dare argue in front of Liu Guihua. She could only glare secretly at Yu Shi, thinking she was nothing but trouble.
“Mother, where would I get money from? I already spent it on snacks for Guangming,” Yu Shi exclaimed. Once money entered her hands, how could she possibly take it out again?
“Mother, Junsheng needs to buy books. The money has already been given to him,” Fang Shi added.
Hearing that her beloved grandson had spent money, Liu Guihua clicked her tongue and did not pursue the matter further. She lay on the bed again, groaning and cursing Lan Sisi and Lan Sinian repeatedly.
On the weekend, Lan Junsheng and Lan Sisi’s second cousin Lan Hehua returned home. Lan Junsheng studied in town, while Lan Hehua worked as a temporary employee in a food factory. This position had originally been secured by Lan Aimin for Lan Sisi before his death, but after Liu Guihua found out, she forcibly took it and gave it to Lan Hehua instead. She had wanted to give it to her precious grandson, but Lan Junsheng needed to study, and Lan Guangming was still too young.
Thus, before Lan Sisi even knew about it, the job had already changed hands. Although it was only a temporary position, it paid more than ten yuan a month. Lan Hehua also often brought back defective goods from the factory, so her status at home was quite good.
As soon as the two returned, they first went to Liu Guihua’s room, leaving all the good items there. Then they were pulled into Fang Shi’s room, where she complained at length, scolding Yu Shi and also Lan Sisi and her brother.
“Mother, didn’t I tell you not to get involved in these matters?” Lan Junsheng said with a frown. He had delicate features and wore glasses, giving him a scholarly air, but his tone was full of arrogance. “I will achieve great things in the future. People like them are nothing but ants. You don’t need to waste your energy on them. Besides, Third Aunt and Grandmother will handle it. Just remember what I told you.”
Fang Shi trusted him completely and nodded repeatedly.
“That’s right, Mother. Why bother with them? They have no parents. Let me tell you, several young men at the factory want to court me. They’re all permanent workers, and one of them is even a supervisor,” Lan Hehua said proudly.
“Good, a supervisor is excellent, the salary must be high. Hehua, when you succeed in the future, don’t forget your mother and your brother,” Fang Shi said, her eyes narrowing with delight as her earlier gloom disappeared.
Another half month passed in the blink of an eye. As the year’s end approached, the weather grew increasingly cold. Winter in the south had no snow, only biting winds that made one’s face sting.
The large production team stopped work, and the school also went on holiday. Before the break, Principal Zhong spoke with Lan Sisi about letting Lan Sinian skip grades. He would jump directly to third grade. After asking Lan Sinian’s opinion, Lan Sisi readily agreed.
By now, her farm had reached level nine. Several new vegetables had been unlocked, cabbage, radishes, green beans, and cucumbers.
Had anyone ever seen a cabbage with dozens of leaves? A single bean vine that could wrap around a hundred-square-meter house? Radishes and cucumbers as tall as a person?
In Magical Farm, all of this was possible.
On this day, after harvesting another batch of vegetables and planting new seeds, the system notified her that she had leveled up. She had reached level ten.
Lan Sisi knew that leveling up was easy in the beginning, but the higher the level, the more experience was required, making it increasingly difficult.
Reaching level ten brought significant changes. A pond was unlocked, large enough to raise ducks. Without hesitation, she bought ten.
When she placed her hand above the pond, several words appeared in the air: “Salvage (10).” After clicking it, a large net suddenly appeared and cast itself over the water. The net spread out, then slowly drew back, catching a grass carp weighing seven or eight jin, which was automatically stored in her inventory.
The number beside “Salvage” changed to nine. It seemed she could only salvage ten times a day.
Clicking again, she obtained a lively silver carp. Lan Sisi found it incredibly interesting and played with it enthusiastically. What delighted her most was that one of the attempts yielded fifty jin of crayfish.
Countless cooking methods instantly came to her mind, garlic, spicy, thirteen-spice. Just thinking about it made her mouth water.
All the fish and crayfish she caught were placed back into the pond for storage.
The small wooden house also upgraded from one bedroom and one living room to two bedrooms and one living room. The decoration remained warm, simple, and elegant. Lan Sisi liked it very much. It felt like her second home.
As she was examining the changes in the farm and had yet to leave, a light screen suddenly appeared before her, displaying: “Reached level ten, obtained one lottery chance. Do you want to draw?”
Only then did she remember that every ten levels came with a draw. She rubbed her hands together and, feeling a bit excited, selected yes.
Multicolored lights flashed before her. Lan Sisi silently complained about the farm’s peculiar sense of aesthetics.
After the lights faded, a gift box appeared. When she opened it, inside was a ceramic basin about the size of a washbasin, filled with clear water.
“Congratulations, you have obtained Spirit Spring Water. It can strengthen the body and eliminate illnesses.”
Lan Sisi held the basin and looked at the colorless, odorless water. This was the legendary Spirit Spring Water? She lifted the basin and took a sip. There was no particular taste, and she did not experience anything like the impurities being expelled from her body as described in novels.
But where should she store it?
The thought had just crossed her mind when the basin disappeared from her hands. In its place, a faint droplet-shaped mark appeared on her wrist. Looking closely, she could even see ripples within it.
So she could directly control the Spirit Spring now?
Lan Sisi closed her eyes and indeed sensed a faint connection with it. Now, she could draw the water directly from her palm. This was far too convenient.
“Sis! Sis!” Lan Sinian’s voice approached from afar.
Lan Sisi immediately exited the farm. When she opened the bedroom door, she saw Lan Sinian walking in, half dragging and half carrying someone much taller than himself on his back.
Lan Sisi was startled and quickly stepped forward to take the person from him. The man’s face was covered in blood, his clothes were dirty and torn, and he was completely unconscious. His breathing was already extremely weak.
“Who is this? Never mind, get him inside first. Go find the doctor and boil some water,” Lan Sisi said with a frown. A life was at stake, so she could only swallow her questions for now.
After Lan Sinian left, the man continued to bleed, and his breathing grew weaker. It was clear he might not last until the doctor arrived. Left with no choice, Lan Sisi secretly fed him a bit of Spirit Spring Water. She had just obtained this treasure, and now she had to use it so soon.
After feeding him, she noticed that the tip of the droplet mark on her wrist had dimmed slightly. Lan Sisi felt a pang of distress. Did this Spirit Spring diminish with use?
On a healthy person like her, the effects might not be obvious, but on the man before her, the change was astonishing. His wounds visibly began to heal, and his breathing gradually stabilized.
Lan Sisi had not expected such powerful effects. Just as she was wondering how to explain this later, she saw Lan Sinian standing at the doorway.
“Sis, the doctor isn’t home. Auntie gave me some frostbite ointment and medicine to stop bleeding and reduce inflammation.” He paused. It seemed unnecessary now.
“Sinian, this is…”
“No need to explain, Sis. I understand. I won’t tell anyone,” Lan Sinian said seriously. After putting down the medicine, he went to the kitchen to boil water.
Lan Sisi fell silent.
Well, that saved her the trouble of explaining.
After a simple cleaning, the man’s face was revealed. Though pale and worn, it could not conceal his handsome and refined features. He looked to be around twenty years old.
Lan Sisi pulled Lan Sinian into the kitchen and carefully asked what had happened. It turned out that Lan Sinian had gone to the back mountain to gather wild vegetables. When he reached a ravine, he suddenly saw someone lying there. He had been startled at first, but after checking the man’s breathing and finding it faint but present, he had hurriedly taken a shortcut, dragging and carrying the man back.
After hearing this, Lan Sisi’s face darkened. “The weather is so cold now. Why were you even going to the back mountain to gather vegetables? What if you slipped? What if you fell into the ravine too? Have you forgotten how our father died?”
Lan Sinian immediately became flustered, his hands fidgeting unconsciously. “Sis used to like the vegetable dumplings made from the wild greens on the back mountain. I wanted to pick some for you. I’m sorry.”