The petite figure climbed off Aunt Zhang and stomped hard on the hand that the woman was struggling to lift. Her little face turned cold.
Yet her crisp voice carried a trace of panic.
“Oh my, Aunt Zhang! How could you be so careless? Your eyesight must be getting bad. How did you trip over the doorframe without even seeing it? You scared me! Come, come, let me help you up.”
As she spoke, she lifted the woman right off the ground.
Aunt Zhang, whose feet had suddenly left the floor: “???”
Mu Qinqin, who had accidentally used too much strength in her moment of anger: “…”
Without changing her expression, she lowered the woman a little.
“See? You hit your head, didn’t you? Auntie, are you feeling dizzy? Seeing strange things? Don’t tell me you damaged your brain. You might have to go to the clinic and get your skull opened up.”
As expected, the moment those words came out—
Aunt Zhang’s lips trembled.
“What? Open up my skull?”
“Yep.” Mu Qinqin made it up on the spot. “I heard it on the radio. They use a knife to cut your head open and then sew it back together with needle and thread.”
Aunt Zhang’s body went limp, and she nearly collapsed again.
She had to grab the doorframe to steady herself.
“And I also heard that brain injuries can make your limbs uncoordinated. Your legs get weak, and you can’t walk properly.”
Mu Qinqin smiled.
Scare the life out of her!
Aunt Zhang became even more frightened.
“No, I need to go home.”
She immediately headed for the door.
Seeing a few villagers passing by after work, Mu Qinqin suddenly raised her voice.
“Aunt Zhang, you can’t leave already! You just got here. You haven’t even done anything today. How can you walk out the moment you step in? Aunt Si paid you to take care of Comrade Si. You can’t just take the money and not do the work!”
At the moment, Aunt Zhang was entirely focused on whether she had suffered brain damage and wanted nothing more than to rush home and check herself.
When Mu Qinqin grabbed her, she became furious and shot her a vicious glare.
“What can I do with the few coins she gave me? At least it keeps me from starving!”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Aunt Si said she pays you thirty yuan a month.”
Mu Qinqin sounded offended. She deliberately raised her voice even higher and emphasized the words thirty yuan.
“Lies! She’s not afraid her mouth will rot off! She only gave me a few yuan!”
Aunt Zhang didn’t know what was wrong with her. Ever since Mu Qinqin had pinned her down, her head felt strange, and her arms and legs felt weak.
After cursing a few times, she shook off Mu Qinqin and hurried away.
Watching her retreating figure, then glancing at the two village women passing by on the road, Mu Qinqin’s eyes curved with satisfaction.
If she remembered correctly—
Those two women were the biggest gossips in the village.
With Aunt Zhang gone, Mu Qinqin bent down and picked up the hammer from the ground, pretending to continue fixing the table leg.
After all, she needed a reasonable excuse to linger.
“Just now…”
Si Chengchen was about to speak to the figure crouched beside the table.
But the figure suddenly turned around and flashed him a dazzling smile before running over to him.
She grabbed his hand and gave it a shake.
“A small favor doesn’t need thanks. Holding hands will do~”
Whatever Si Chengchen had wanted to say was instantly blocked.
His mind became a mess.
All he could focus on was the soft little hand holding his.
He stared blankly downward.
After holding his hand for a while, Mu Qinqin seemed to think of something. Her smile grew even brighter.
“You helped me get revenge too. As for a thank-you gift… hmm, let me think…”
Hearing her words, Si Chengchen unconsciously tightened his grip.
Her small hand became completely enclosed within his palm.
Mu Qinqin acted as if she hadn’t noticed.
But inwardly…
The corners of her lips kept rising.
So it wasn’t that he disliked holding hands after all.
“I didn’t do anything.”
After what seemed like an internal struggle, Si Chengchen finally released her hand.
His voice sank lower, and his eyes darkened.
“What about that kick?”
“My eyesight is poor.”
“Really?”
“Rea—”
Before he could finish the word, a sweet fragrance suddenly rushed closer.
A blurry, pretty face enlarged before his eyes.
He could clearly feel that the girl had leaned in extremely close and was staring at him without blinking.
“Really? You weren’t deliberately helping me get revenge by stepping on her?”
“…”
“If you admit it was intentional, I’ll be very happy.”
“…Mm.”
That single syllable seemed to drain all of his strength.
He abruptly turned away.
“It’s getting late…”
Once again, he used the same excuse.
It was merely an attempt to hide his discomfort.
Yet unexpectedly—
“Looks like it is.”
Mu Qinqin actually nodded in agreement.
She clapped her hands, tucked the little hammer back into her waist, and took one more look around the room.
“Then I’ll be leaving.”
Si Chengchen pressed his lips together.
Hadn’t she said she would stay longer and let him carry her home?
So why—
“Your injury…” he began.
“Oh, it’s nothing serious.”
Mu Qinqin blinked innocently, smiling as though she hadn’t noticed the fleeting reluctance and annoyance in his eyes.
She wanted to stay too.
But she still had something to do.
“Oh, right. I’m taking the herbs with me.”
Before leaving, she picked up one dried medicinal herb from the table.
“Take all of them.”
Si Chengchen gathered up every herb on the table and tried to hand them all to her.
But Mu Qinqin only said:
“Can’t I just come here and ask for more whenever I need them?”
And so, the herbs he had just gathered together were quietly put back down.
Mu Qinqin nearly burst out laughing.
Before leaving, she openly picked up her little hammer and greeted the village women passing by.
“Yes, yes, Auntie. I fixed Comrade Si’s roof earlier and forgot my hammer here. I came back to get it.”
On the way back to the educated youth dormitory, she carefully recalled everything she knew about Si Chengchen from the novel.
The more she thought about it, the more miserable his situation seemed.
Judging by Aunt Zhang’s behavior today, he probably hadn’t eaten a single meal.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to stay until evening and make him carry her home.
But if he hadn’t eaten all day…
Feeding him came first!
She had taken the day off and hadn’t gone to the fields.
The others were still working.
As a result, she was the only person at the dormitory.
When she reached her bed, she finally calmed down.
Brushing a hand across her waist, a flash of light appeared.
A piece of fruit materialized in her palm.
The moment she realized there was only fruit—
Her face immediately darkened.
The reason was simple—
After spending so many years in the cultivation world, she had accumulated countless miraculous pills and medicines through various schemes.
Yet only a few kinds could actually be taken out and used.
The truly heaven-defying ones were inaccessible.
It was as though an extra seal had been placed over her storage space.
With a dark expression, she placed her left hand over her right wrist.
She had seen too many cases of storage spaces being stolen.
So the clever Mu Qinqin had…
Collected countless storage spaces.
One gets stolen?
No problem.
They were soul-bound anyway, so nobody else could use them.
As for her?
She had plenty more.
Storage belts, storage bracelets, storage bangles, storage necklaces, storage hairpins, storage ribbons…
If it existed, she probably had one.
The most important thing right now was—
Feeding Si Chengchen!
She rummaged through her storage space.
Soon she found a chunk of meat.
There was plenty of rice and flour too.
Even though cultivators no longer needed to eat after reaching a certain level, she had once lived in the modern world.
She simply couldn’t resist good food.
Back on the immortal mountain, she had spent plenty of time roasting chickens and stir-frying dishes.