“I’m finally back!” Su Yi sighed as she sat down on a chair in the living room, instantly chugging a huge gulp of spiritual spring water.
As the cup of spiritual spring water settled into her stomach, Su Yi felt all the exhaustion drain from her body, instantly reviving her to full health. She then grabbed some prepared dishes from the mall and devoured her meal at a frantic pace.
After dinner, Su Yi changed into a silk nightgown and curled up on her large earthen bed to rest.
“So boring! Why don’t I bring out some books to read?” With a thought, she pulled the books straight from her dimension and laid them out across the bed.
Holding a fictional storybook, Su Yi flipped through it page by page. The stories inside were all typical romantic clichés about scholars and young ladies; after reading for a bit, Su Yi lost interest. However, the moment she closed the book, something absolutely incredible happened—every single piece of content from the book vividly surfaced in her mind.
“Do I have a photographic memory now? This is fantastic!”
Startled and filled with doubt, Su Yi picked up another book and skimmed through it at top speed. Sure enough, she truly possessed the gift of photographic memory.
“In that case, let’s flip through some medical books and see if I can become a self-taught genius!” Su Yi said excitedly.
Su Yi had always been fond of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and frequently browsed videos related to it back on the internet. Now that she had this ability, she naturally wanted to give it a shot!
Opening the book, Su Yi saw that it covered some basic introductory knowledge of TCM, which was perfectly suited for a complete novice like her. It primarily detailed the efficacy and properties of various medicinal herbs, and Su Yi finished flipping through it in just a few moments. She then grabbed another one to read, which recorded several case histories and the treatment of basic ailments.
Perhaps driven by her longing to study medicine, or perhaps due to her sheer excitement over her new photographic memory, Su Yi read for an entire afternoon without feeling a hint of fatigue or boredom. This completely broke her old curse of immediately getting drowsy whenever she opened a book.
It wasn’t until nightfall that Su Yi finally put down the books. There were only two volumes, but Su Yi had flipped through them repeatedly several times, seriously contemplating the medical principles within. She didn’t have a mentor to guide her, so she could only rely on herself; diligence could make up for a lack of natural talent.
“Mimi, this is genuinely wonderful. With this skill, I’ll have another specialized talent to my name in the future!” Su Yi hugged Mimi, her face flushed with excitement.
“It’s all thanks to you~ Congratulations~ This might be because the vegetable patch, orchard, and small medicine garden in the dimension have yielded a bumper harvest, which triggered your photographic memory~” Mimi explained the changes within the dimension and the origin of her photographic memory to Su Yi in a sweet, childish voice.
“It seems the dimension has upgraded again! I need to dedicate myself to cultivation inside the dimension from now on, and strive to trigger another upgrade as soon as possible!”
“Time to cook the braised goods!” Su Yi said, flashing directly into her dimension to prep the ingredients.
To her utter surprise, the moment she entered the dimension, Su Yi was completely stunned.
The open clearing had expanded, and the vegetables in the patch were fully ripe. The small medicine garden seemed to have multiplied automatically, doubling in size; more importantly, the ginseng and lingzhi had also doubled in quantity along with the garden’s expansion. Every single fruit tree in the orchard was heavily laden with ripe produce—apples, plums, pears…
Su Yi carefully inspected every single change inside the dimension and found that while the open land had changed, the shopping mall remained exactly the same. Even so, Su Yi was already deeply satisfied.
“It’s getting late, I have to hurry up and make the braised goods!” Remembering her unfinished task, Su Yi spoke in a mad rush.
Su Yi immediately swung into action, using her thoughts to prep the ingredients before restlessly throwing the meat into the pot to braise. Having made braised goods for three consecutive days, she was now exceptionally skilled at the process.
With the braised meat simmering in the pot, Su Yi began to ponder what she should eat for dinner. Today was another wonderful day for her, so she had to celebrate properly!
“Mimi, got any suggestions?”
“Let’s set up hotpot and barbecue in the courtyard~” Mimi suggested with a clever grin. There was no other reason; it simply loved to eat.
“Great idea!” Hearing this, Su Yi flashed Mimi a big thumbs-up.
“Since the new house was finished, I haven’t eaten out in the yard even once. Just wait here!”
Su Yi immediately fetched a split hotpot-grill combo, a baking pan, and various meats and vegetables from her dimension, arranging them across the table in the courtyard. Since the table was too small, she also brought out a tiered rack from the dining area, filling it to the brim with all sorts of dishes. She wasn’t worried about being unable to finish it all; after all, she still had Mimi and Da Huang, and those two possessed no small amount of eating power.
With everything fully prepared, Su Yi plugged the appliance into a portable power bank and sat back to wait. Before long, the split pot began to bubble, and the pork belly sizzled merrily, rendering its savory oils.
“Let’s dig in! You two get up on the chairs as well, and sit tight for your mother’s feeding!” As Su Yi spoke, she dropped a chopstick-full of sliced mutton rolls into the boiling hotpot.
“So delicious!” Su Yi took a bite of a lettuce wrap filled with grilled pork belly, squinting her eyes in pure contentment.
Between bites, Su Yi tossed a piece of steak to Da Huang and fed Mimi a piece of chicken breast. It took the three of them over an hour to finish the meal, and every single one of them ate until they were deeply satisfied and happy.
After dinner, the human and her two beasts sat in the courtyard to admire the moon for a while before going about their own business. Su Yi quickly cleared away the messy aftermath while the two little critters played on the ground. Even though Da Huang was already twice the size of Mimi, it stood absolutely no chance against Mimi in a play-fight.
Su Yi went into her dimension to take a thoroughly comfortable bath in the spiritual spring, washing away the lingering scent of hotpot before leisurely slathering skincare products onto her body.
“Ninety-eight pounds! My figure is being maintained perfectly right now, awesome!” Su Yi said excitedly as she looked at the numbers on the scale.
“Off to bed! I’ll keep selling braised goods tomorrow morning!”
For the next several days, Su Yi sold braised goods in the mornings and immersed herself in medical studies in the afternoons. During this time, she managed to scrounge up a few more medical books to study closely. Su Yi felt she had thoroughly mastered these books; all she lacked now was clinical practice.
At nine o’clock in the evening, Su Yi lay back on a lounge chair, gazing up at the star-studded night sky as she planned out her schedule for the following day.
“I think I’ll head into the mountains! Just for one day, to see if I can find any good stuff. I’ll pause the braised goods business for now; running back and forth every day isn’t a long-term solution anyway!”
“The ten-day deadline arrives the day after tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to my new clothes!”
The next morning, Su Yi got up bright and early. After a quick and tidy cleanup, she rode her electric scooter straight into the mountains. Once she reached the deeper sections, Su Yi took her small hoe and dug along the way, unearthing quite a few good things. She also dropped by the pit traps she had dug last time to check them out. There was indeed a harvest, though not a massive one—only three pheasants, five wild rabbits, and one wild boar. The other animals trapped inside were no longer fresh, so there was no way to salvage them.
By the end of the day, Su Yi’s haul was quite substantial. She was even lucky enough to find a small grapevine bearing a tiny cluster of grapes; Su Yi tasted them and found them rather sweet, so she transplanted the vine directly into her dimension.
Seeing that the sun was about to dip below the mountains, Su Yi quickly rode her electric scooter and rushed back home.
“I have to make sure I get home early today, since I need to head into the city tomorrow!”
Having gained experience from her previous journey into the mountains, Su Yi was now highly familiar with the forest trails, and she cruised all the way back home on her electric scooter. By ten o’clock in the evening, Su Yi finally arrived home.
“This day was pretty exhausting. I need to quickly eat something, wash up, and head to bed!” As Su Yi spoke, she stepped straight into her dimension.
Finally, Su Yi’s dinner-slash-midnight-snack—instant noodles brewed with spiritual spring water—appeared on the table. However, Su Yi was eating the deluxe version, complete with chicken feet and a braised egg.
“Ah—so satisfying!” Su Yi gulped down the very last drop of broth and remarked while patting her stomach.
After eating, Su Yi took another wonderful bath in the spiritual spring. The spring water washed away her entire day’s exhaustion, instantly leaving her whole body relaxed and her spirits fully re-energized.
“Why don’t I just drive the car directly to the county town tomorrow?