She woke up in the morning feeling sore all over. Glancing around the crude, half-ruined room, the only usable things were the ones Ling Xiao had conveniently brought back for her last night.
Thinking about this, this friend was really wonderful!
Her debts were cleared, and she even had surplus points. To repay him, Yinxing decided to take another trip to the forest, find more edible things, earn some points, and furnish the place a bit.
There were still quite a few chestnuts left from last night. Roasting them took a fair bit of time, and chestnuts tasted best when slow-roasted. Her gaze fell upon a two-jin bag of soybeans.
With the foil bowls, she could make a simple batch of roasted soybeans.
As for the stinky smell?
With her around, it didn’t exist.
Her slender fingertips stirred through the bag of soybeans, a faint white light sweeping across each bean, and that stinky odor dissipated along with it.
It wasn’t until a wave of dizziness washed over her brain that she hurriedly pulled her hand back.
Wiping the thin sweat beading on her forehead, Yinxing let out a breath. Fortunately, she had eaten her fill last night, so her body wasn’t too weak and she could muster up a bit of strength.
She poured the soybeans into a foil bowl, keeping the fire underneath small. Holding a small wooden stick, Yinxing continuously stirred the beans in the bowl. The color of the bean skins began to deepen, turning slightly yellow, and eventually becoming somewhat charred and golden—they were done.
The air was filled entirely with the fragrance of cooked beans.
She snapped off two tree branches to use as chopsticks, picked up a soybean, blew on it, and then carefully tested it before popping it into her mouth.
The roasted beans were crispy with a single bite, crunchy and fragrant as she chewed.
It was just a pity—if she had sprinkled a little salt on top, it would have been even more fragrant.
“Looks like I’ll have to make a trip to the street later.”
After finishing a little more than half a bowl of roasted soybeans, Yinxing tucked the old curtain under her arm and headed toward the exit. Her debts were paid off, so she technically didn’t have to do the community work assignment, but 4 points were still points. Plus, since she could activate her cheat code, it would be foolish not to earn those points.
Just as she walked close, she ran into that one-legged man again, wearing the same sneering expression, though with a bit more astonishment.
“You ugly freak, you’re still not dead?”
Hey, how utterly presumptuous!
Yinxing gave him a massive eye-roll.
She strongly suspected this man was waiting here specifically just to mock her a couple of times. How boring.
Finding that she completely ignored him, the one-legged man only grew more fired up.
“You got lucky yesterday, but I don’t believe you’ll survive today. By then, I’ll make sure not even a scrap of your bones is left…”
What on earth is he blabbering about!
I’m not listening, I’m not listening, it’s just a turtle chanting scriptures.
She quickened her pace toward the plot of land she had cleared yesterday. The area she cleared yesterday was spotless, without even a single stray weed left, making a stark contrast with the surroundings.
“I need to clear another large patch today. Sorry for the trouble, please move to another spot!”
The wild grass stems and leaves, about as tall as her calves, shook. Yinxing ran her fingertips across their leaves. “Thank you. I’m going to walk around the forest for a bit and I’ll come back later. Take your time, no rush.”
She gathered the curtain cloth around her and continued walking toward the giant chestnut tree.
The chestnut tree, thick enough for four or five people to embrace, stood like a massive umbrella, casting a huge patch of open ground that was entirely free of weeds. Yinxing stepped forward and gave it a big hug.
“I’m back! Your chestnuts are so delicious, can you give me some more?”
The branches of the chestnut tree trembled, and a rustling sound like falling rain filled the air as emerald-green, thorny chestnuts covered the ground.
Yinxing’s eyes lit up, her large eyes looking like black grapes. She wasn’t looking at chestnuts; she was looking at points all over the ground!
“Chestnut tree, thank you! I knew you were the best!”
The leaves of the chestnut tree fluttered, and Yinxing could feel its happiness. Ling Xiao was right; this chestnut tree had a really good temper.
“Enough, enough! This is enough to eat for a long time.”
Yinxing was like a mouse that had fallen into a rice vat, picking up one thing after another and stuffing them all into the curtain cloth.
She had packed a large sack full, to the point where she could barely pull it. Fortunately, the material of the curtain cloth was thick enough that carrying it on her back wouldn’t prick her.
“I’m leaving then, I’ll come find you again next time~”
Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly thought of something. She put down the bag, ran back to the big tree, and lightly touched it.
“Right, I almost forgot. Since I took so many chestnuts from you, I have to return the favor.”
She channeled a tiny bit of white light energy into it, bidding farewell to the tree with curved eyebrows, completely unaware that after she left, the notoriously good-tempered chestnut tree’s entire canopy expanded wildly outward, shooting up significantly higher.
The surrounding trees wished they had legs to run even further away.
This caused the pollution value in the entire area to skyrocket rapidly, setting off the monitoring alarms like crazy and putting everyone on high alert.
Yinxing knew nothing of this. At that moment, having left the chestnut tree, she came across a patch of shepherd’s purse growing quite well.
Seeing the shepherd’s purse, her mind immediately conjured up many dishes: shepherd’s purse dumplings, cold tossed shepherd’s purse, and pan-fried shepherd’s purse cakes. No matter how they were made, they were delicious—she’d better harvest a bunch first!
She opened Qian Lai’s chat window.
[Yinxing: Boss Qian, I have fresh chestnuts here. Do you buy them?]
The next second, Qian Lai’s call request came through instantly.
“Yes! Yes! I want them, Sister Yinxing. Where are you? Is it the same old place? I’ll be right there, right there! Don’t sell them to anyone else no matter who asks, I’ll definitely give you the most fair price!”
Yinxing curved the corners of her eyes. “Mhm, okay, I’m heading back right now, so I’m asking you first. Don’t worry, I won’t sell them to others.”
Having agreed with Qian Lai, Yinxing carried the curtain-cloth sack to the task location for upload verification, and then walked quickly toward the exit.
Only today, everyone was bustling about much faster than usual. There were many more people entering at the turnstile gate than yesterday, along with several security zone sequence ability squads.
“Over here! Yinxing, I’m over here!”
She had spotted Qian Lai waving and waiting inside early on, his eyeballs practically glued to the sack she was carrying on her back.
The staff member holding the detector opened Yinxing’s cloth bag and was dumbfounded when he saw a bag completely full of chestnuts inside.
“Did you raid a chestnut nest?”
Qian Lai, standing guard on the side, clicked his tongue, a hint of impatience flashing across his round face. “Are you a tester or an interrogator? My sister has the ability to get so many chestnuts, that’s her skill. Just finish testing.”
The staff member’s mouth moved, forcing the rest of his words back down, and he obediently continued his testing work with a dejected air.
‘Beep—Pollution value 12%’
Shocking! The pollution value was only 12%!!!
“Comrade, you this…”
Qian Lai was faster, directly gathering the cloth bag together and interrupting what the man was about to say. “Not bad, sister, this batch of goods is great! Let’s go, let’s go talk over there.”
The staff member regretted it so much his liver hurt. Chestnuts with a pollution value of only 12! He had almost forgotten what chestnuts even tasted like.
This Qian Lai really knew how to snap up a bargain!
“Big sister, you are truly my own dear sister! I’ll give you 35—no, 40 points per jin for these chestnuts. That’s definitely a fair price!”
40 points! She really hadn’t expected that~
Yinxing nodded. “Alright! But I have a favor I’d like to ask of Boss Qian!”