“Cuckoo—caw! Cuckoo!” The roosters had crowed several times already. In the courtyard, everyone gradually got up in the dim morning light and began doing their own tasks.
“Yao Nü, get up quickly. If you don’t get up now, we won’t catch the ox cart to the county town. Didn’t you say you wanted to go take a look around? Hurry up.” Wang Chunhua said while putting on her clothes, speaking to Xia Yan still lying in bed.
“Mmm… I’m so sleepy. Do we really have to get up this early to go to the county town? I didn’t sleep enough yet.” Xia Yan muttered with her eyes closed, still refusing to get up.
“You were the one who said you wanted to go yesterday. I’m going into the space to harvest the vegetables. If you’re still dragging your feet when I come out, I won’t wait for you—I’ll go to the county town alone.” After speaking, Wang Chunhua ignored her and flashed into the space.
Hearing this, Xia Yan stopped delaying. She grabbed her clothes from the bedside and also entered the space.
“You came in too? And you’re holding your clothes like that without even putting them on properly—what is that supposed to look like?” Wang Chunhua looked up from the vegetable field and said.
“I’m coming in to take a bath. I feel all dirty and uncomfortable.” Xia Yan said as she quickly stripped off and slipped into the spiritual spring pool.
“You didn’t bathe last night, but now that we’re in a hurry in the morning you suddenly want to wash? Be careful not to get your wound wet when you wash your hair.” Wang Chunhua scolded.
“I was too tired yesterday, didn’t want to wash. Besides, time inside here is slow—outside only a few minutes pass. It doesn’t matter.” Xia Yan replied lazily while soaking.
Wang Chunhua ignored her and focused on harvesting the vegetables, as they had fully ripened overnight.
By the time Xia Yan finished bathing and even waited for her hair to dry, Wang Chunhua had already finished harvesting the entire field.
Stretching her back tiredly, Wang Chunhua said, “Go out and put your shoes on. I’ll take a quick bath and come out.”
“No need, I’ll wait for you.” Xia Yan smiled.
While wandering around the fields, Xia Yan suddenly said in surprise, “Wow, Mom, this space land is amazing! It can actually change according to plant growth stages. It becomes dry land for breeding seeds, and turns into paddy fields when planting—this even saves transplanting work!”
Wang Chunhua replied indifferently, “What’s so surprising about that? It even has one-key planting and harvesting.”
Xia Yan frowned. “If it has one-key planting and harvesting, why don’t you use it? Why work so hard manually? Aren’t you being silly?”
Wang Chunhua replied from the spring, “Your mother isn’t stupid. Those functions have a cost—they deduct something called mental power. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it definitely isn’t good.”
“Mental power? This is exactly how shady systems work!” Xia Yan suddenly became serious. “Mom, good thing you didn’t use it. Otherwise you might lose your life—it might even consume your soul!”
“Ah? That serious?” Wang Chunhua panicked.
At that moment, the system suddenly interrupted: “Please do not spread misinformation. Deducting mental power only causes temporary fatigue. It has no effect on the soul or body.”
Xia Yan immediately changed her tone: “Ahem… I was just joking. Don’t take it seriously.”
After the misunderstanding, they quickly prepared to leave.
After washing up and eating, the family set off for the county town.
They took an ox cart, bumping along the road for nearly three hours. Xia Yan was so nauseous she almost threw up several times. Fortunately, her second brother, Xia Er Gou, supported her.
When they finally arrived, the bustling scene of the county shocked Xia Yan.
“This is ancient China… the Qin Dynasty…” she thought in awe.
After resting, the family began their shopping trip—and from this moment, Wang Chunhua and Xia Yan fully demonstrated the “women’s instinct: love of buying things.”
At first, they just planned to buy rice and flour.
But then they bought seasoning ingredients, then pastries, then snacks… and continued buying everywhere they went.
Back and forth, the baskets filled up, then emptied into the space, then filled again.
Soon—
Their money was almost gone.
Only then did they finally stop.
By the time they reached the salt shop and saw salt that looked like transparent stones, both of them were stunned again.
They quietly paid and left, but still bought extra salt for pickling vegetables.
When they finally returned to the city gate, they were carrying heavy baskets again.
Xia Yan laughed helplessly, “Mom… didn’t we say we were just buying essentials?”
Wang Chunhua sighed, “Once you start shopping, it’s hard to stop.”
In the end, after meeting Xia Er Gou at the gate and returning home by ox cart, the family finally ended their exhausting but “shopping-filled” trip back home.