But the pain she was waiting for never came. Lin Jiaojiao slowly opened her eyes and realized that the yellowish-brown snake was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s the snake?”
There was no snake here, nor anyone else.
It couldn’t be that the snake had a sudden change of heart and let her go, could it?
The probability of that was extremely low.
After all, just moments ago, the snake had been in a hunting posture.
Thinking of the ginseng that had disappeared earlier, Lin Jiaojiao subconsciously placed her consciousness into the Space.
She found that there was no snake to be seen in the Space.
Otherwise, she really would have been disgusted to death.
But what Lin Jiaojiao didn’t notice was that the original 500-meter radius of plantable area had now expanded outward by another 100 meters.
Although the distance wasn’t large, this was plantable space.
Its precious value, no matter which era it was placed in, was an incomparably rare existence.
Even in the modern age of steel and concrete, people living in cities yearned for a place where they could plant things.
Let alone the 1970s, when clothing and food were scarce.
“Forget it, I won’t think about it anymore.”
“I’ll just assume it kindly let me go.”
Thinking this, Lin Jiaojiao packed up her things and planned to go find her second brother.
But just as she was about to leave this place, she felt the ground soften under her feet.
She moved her foot and saw that a complete and enormous snake skin had appeared on the ground.
She hadn’t seen it before because this piece of skin blended in with the color of the earth, which was why she had missed it.
Facing a snake skin was not as frightening as facing a snake.
Lin Jiaojiao knew that snake skin was a good thing—it could be used as medicine, and could even be used to make clothes.
After all, this was a rare material.
She carefully rolled up the snake skin, and feeling the temperature on it, she somehow felt that this snake skin had been shed just recently.
But there was no time to worry about that now. She picked up her basket and headed back.
After walking for a short while, she saw her second brother, bent over with his rear end sticking up, digging at something.
She walked over slowly, while making some noise with her footsteps to avoid startling her second brother.
Lin Guozhi heard the sound and turned his head to look.
Seeing that it was his little sister, he felt reassured and turned back around.
“Second Brother, what are you digging?”
The pit had already been dug quite large, and beside her second brother’s feet were several broken wooden sticks.
This showed that he had expended a great deal of effort earlier.
“I found a few wild yam plants. I’m planning to dig up some yams to take back and make soup with.”
“Little Sister, wait for me a moment. I’m almost done digging.”
Lin Guozhi didn’t even lift his head, only wanting to finish digging quickly and go home early.
Lin Jiaojiao put down her basket and walked over to crouch down and check the situation in the pit.
She saw that at the bottom of the pit, several yams were indeed exposed.
These yams were different from any she had seen before—they weren’t cylindrical, but rather a large flat piece.
But she could tell they were yams.
“Second Brother, let me help you.”
Lin Jiaojiao picked up a tree branch, intending to dig alongside her second brother.
“Little Sister, don’t move.”
Lin Guozhi was worried that the yam’s sap would get on his little sister’s hands.
He hurriedly stopped her from helping.
“There’s only a little bit left. You don’t need to lend a hand.”
“Go sit over there and rest. I’ll be done in a moment.”
It’s so good to have brothers—this thought surfaced in Lin Jiaojiao’s mind once again.
She had finally experienced the feeling of being cared for and protected by family.
Since her second brother wouldn’t let her help, she didn’t insist.
She gathered the mushrooms from her basket into her second brother’s back basket.
He placed the snake skin on top again.
His gaze swept over the nearby forest and landed on a low bush bearing red berries.
Although he didn’t know what these red berries were called, Lin Jiaojiao knew they were edible.
After all, the south also had this kind of wild fruit.
He had even gone to pick them before.
He found a large leaf, folded it, and picked the wild berries into the leaf.
Eating while picking.
And storing them in the large leaf as he went.
That sentimental joy was healed by these sweet-and-sour berries, and his mind became active once again.
“I wonder if this kind of red berry can be moved into the Space to plant.”
Lin Jiaojiao glanced back at his second brother, while his hand was already gripping the branch of this wild berry bush.
Although it was covered in sharp thorns, because he was careful enough, he wasn’t scratched.
His mind was frantically thinking about collecting it, and his hand was also exerting force.
Although it didn’t succeed the first time, Lin Jiaojiao didn’t give up.
With the ginseng earlier, he hadn’t even thought about collecting it, and it had burrowed in on its own.
There was no reason this one couldn’t be collected.
Through his repeated attempts, the Space deity seemed to sense his intense desire, and the red berry tree in his hand instantly vanished from where it stood.
Only a large pit remained on the ground.
Lin Jiaojiao hurriedly looked at his second brother and found that he was still earnestly digging wild yams, not even glancing his way.
He secretly let out a breath of relief and sank his consciousness into the Space.
Not far from his courtyard gate, the red berry tree that had been collected was now taking root there.
“Hey~”
Before he even had to do anything, the tree had automatically planted itself into the ground.
And the spot it was planted in was especially reasonable—there was no need to dig it out and replant it at all.
Lin Jiaojiao was overjoyed.
He felt that his rapport with the Space was growing stronger and stronger.
Since the red berry tree was gone, the red berries would be hard to take out.
Anyway, he hadn’t picked many, so he might as well just eat them all.
That’s what he thought in his heart, but his actions didn’t follow suit.
Lin Jiaojiao carefully wrapped the red berries and then placed them in his basket.
He had to bring some back for Zhang Aihua to taste.
Besides, his second brother didn’t know where he had picked them. As long as he left this place, taking them out later would be fine.
Feeling guilty, Lin Jiaojiao moved away from the large pit.
His steps shifted to another large tree, and he looked up at the treetop.
After confirming there was no snake, he finally leaned against the large tree with peace of mind and sat down on its roots.
The stick in his hand was still constantly scraping at the ground.
Scraping and scraping, he felt that the hardness beneath his hand was off.
He looked down and found that at some point, he had scraped out a shallow pit in the ground.
And at the bottom of the pit, a black box was revealed.
That pitch-black color was absolutely not something natural.
Lin Jiaojiao exerted some effort and quickly scraped the entire iron box out.
Looking at the iron box before him, he guessed that someone must have hidden it here.
As for who that person was, he had no way of knowing.
He didn’t dare open the box directly, planning to wait until his second brother came over and ask him first.
Lin Jiaojiao was worried that there might be something bad inside.
Treasure or not didn’t matter; he was just afraid it might be something unsettling.
After all, he wasn’t familiar with the customs here, and he didn’t want to violate someone’s taboos.
Thinking this, Lin Jiaojiao tossed the stick in his hand aside.
Waiting for his second brother to finish and come over.
“Little sister, where did you dig this box out from?”
At some point, Lin Zhiguo had come to stand before him.
Looking at the iron box on the ground, still nudging it with the tip of their toe.
“It was dug up right here, I had no idea there was anything inside.”
Lin Jiaojiao didn’t touch the iron box, waiting for her second brother to come over and take a look.