After eating a cucumber and a tomato, Liu Ye finally came out of her space. With a wave of her hand, a wood-cutting machete appeared in her grasp.
The chicken drumstick Brother Bai had given her yesterday had been incredibly delicious, and she hadn’t gotten enough of it. She wanted to try her luck in the deep mountains too. If she couldn’t catch a wild chicken, a wild rabbit would do. Besides, she had her magical space. If she ran into a wolf, she could simply hide inside it.
Carrying the machete, Liu Ye followed the stream deeper into the mountains. Plenty of wild vegetables grew along both sides of the creek. She took a basket out of her space and gathered vegetables as she walked, soon collecting quite a large amount.
An hour later, she felt she had gone far enough to be considered deep in the mountains. Even the narrow trails had disappeared. Massive trees surrounded her on all sides, their dense canopies blocking out the sky. The air was hot, humid, and stuffy.
Suddenly, something rustled in the grass.
Holding her machete high, Liu Ye rushed over and quickly parted the grass. There, she spotted a huge, fat rabbit.
Without hesitation, she swung her machete at it.
Unfortunately, the rabbit leaped away in an instant and was just about to escape. At the critical moment, Liu Ye hurriedly waved her hand toward it.
The rabbit vanished into thin air.
Wiping the sweat from her face, she sighed in relief.
“Good thing I was smart enough to think of the space!”
“Haha! Now I’ve got rabbit meat to eat!”
Her first successful hunt filled her with excitement. She decided to venture a little farther in hopes of finding a wild chicken. People said rabbit meat had a strong earthy smell, while chicken tasted much better.
A moment later, she spotted a large chestnut tree ahead.
“A chestnut tree!”
She ran over excitedly.
There weren’t many chestnuts on it, but that didn’t matter. Once she planted it inside her space, there would be plenty in the future.
Without the slightest hesitation, she waved her hand and stored the entire tree inside her space.
Clapping the dust off her hands, she was about to continue when she suddenly froze.
Something was behind her.
She had the distinct feeling that a wild beast was staring at her.
A foul, animal-like stench burst from the grass behind her as something lunged toward her back.
Liu Ye spun around instantly and waved her hand.
Only then did she see what had attacked her.
A wild boar.
The boar disappeared immediately, sucked into her space.
Her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the ground.
“Oh my god! That scared the hell out of me! What a terrifyingly huge wild boar!”
Fortunately, her reaction had been fast enough. Otherwise, she might have become the boar’s meal.
She quickly scrambled to her feet and started heading back down the mountain along the route she had come.
This was enough.
If she couldn’t find a wild chicken, so be it.
She had already caught a rabbit and a wild boar. Her harvest was more than plentiful.
No wonder people said wealth came from taking risks.
She had practically risked her life just to get some pork.
Just then—
Flap! Flap!
A wild pheasant burst out of the grass nearby.
Liu Ye’s eyes lit up.
With another wave of her hand, the pheasant disappeared into her space.
“Perfect! Now I’ve got a wild chicken too!”
“My luck is amazing!”
“As expected, people who transmigrate are blessed heroines!”
Laughing happily, she sang nonsense lyrics to herself as she walked downhill.
Soon she reached the stream again.
By now, it was well past noon—probably around two or three in the afternoon.
She sat on a rock, emptied the wild vegetables from her basket, cleaned and sorted them, washed them in the stream, and then entered her space.
Using the spirit spring water to wash vegetables would be too wasteful, and she couldn’t bear to do that.
The moment she entered the space, she saw the wild boar lying on the ground.
It was enormous and fat, clearly a fully grown male boar. Two sharp tusks protruded from its mouth, making it look especially frightening.
Liu Ye shrank her neck instinctively, still feeling a little scared when she thought about it.
Luckily, she’d reacted quickly.
Beside the boar lay the rabbit, also a large, fat one.
Not far away was the pheasant, which looked quite plump as well.
The chestnut tree had already been planted in the black soil.
She set down her basket and picked up the fire starter she had left nearby.
It consisted of two pieces of flint. When struck together, they created sparks that could ignite dry wood.
Looking up, she saw that the sky inside the space was blue just like the outside world.
However, there was no sun, no moon, and certainly no stars.
Would fire be safe inside the space?
Maybe she should test it.
If it didn’t work, she could always cook outside.
She gathered some dry branches and leaves and used the flint to start a fire.
One minute passed.
Then two.
The fire burned stronger and stronger.
Nothing seemed wrong.
She added more branches, making the flames even larger.
Yet the space showed no signs of changing.
That made her extremely happy.
“Wonderful! I can make fire in here!”
That meant she could cook inside the space.
“Hahaha! This is great!”
Moving quickly, she washed her pots, bowls, and utensils with spirit spring water, then set a pot over the fire to boil water.
Once the water boiled, she used it to pluck the pheasant’s feathers.
After cleaning the bird, she cut it up and put it into the pot to stew.
Then she suddenly slapped her forehead.
“Oh no!”
She had forgotten to steal some salt.
No matter how good the ingredients were, food without salt never tasted quite right.
Well…
It was still edible.
When the pheasant was finally cooked, she tore off a drumstick and took a small bite.
The flavor instantly conquered her taste buds.
“Wow!”
“So delicious!”
Even without salt, it tasted amazing.
The pheasant had become fragrant, tender, and incredibly flavorful after stewing.
It was absolutely perfect.
After finishing one drumstick, she reached for the other.
Then she suddenly thought of Bai Zilin.
Brother Bai had treated her well.
Maybe she should save him a drumstick.
Relationships lasted only when both sides gave and received. Always accepting things from others without ever giving back would be far too selfish.
She grabbed a bowl, placed the remaining drumstick inside, then thought for a moment and added a chicken wing.
After another moment of consideration, she ladled half a bowl of chicken soup into it as well.
“There. One drumstick, one wing, and some soup.”
“That’s enough for Brother Bai.”
“The rest is mine.”
After all, she was currently skinny as a stick and desperately needed nutrition.
Brother Bai was already a grown man and strong as an ox.
Giving him a little would be enough.
With the bowl set aside, she continued eating.
She didn’t stop until every last piece of chicken and the final drop of soup in the pot were gone.
Rubbing her full stomach, she stood up in complete satisfaction and stepped out of the space.
The moment she emerged, she froze.
It was pitch black outside.
“Holy crap!”
“It’s already night!”
She hurriedly ran down the mountain and rushed back to the village.
After returning to the dilapidated house, she quickly climbed onto the pile of firewood and stretched her neck to look into the neighboring Bai family’s courtyard.
She watched for quite a while.
No one came out.
The lights inside the Bai house were on, however.
“Huh? Why hasn’t Brother Bai come out?”
“Is he not home?”
Just then, the Bai family’s door burst open.
Uncle Bai stormed out, cursing as he headed toward Bai Zilin’s room.
“You ungrateful bastard!”
“I raised you all these years for nothing!”
“You walking disaster!”
“Why didn’t you just die in the mountains?”
“What did you crawl back for?”
“You beast!”
“I spent half my life saving that money, and you’ve drained it all dry!”
“Damn it all!”
At that moment, Madam Bai hurried out and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him back inside.
“Stop yelling, husband.”
“Come back in.”
“Zilin didn’t want to get bitten by a wolf.”
“When his wounds heal and he’s recovered, he’ll be able to hunt in the mountains again.”
“Then we’ll make him earn back every coin we spent today—double it.”
“Husband, please come inside.”
“You’re the only scholar in our village.”
“If people hear you cursing like this, the villagers will laugh at you.”