Throughout the morning, Jinjin dug up wild vegetables while chatting with Liuliu and talking to Little White.
“Liuliu, last night I dreamed that I was playing with the kids from my kindergarten, but then my tummy started hurting, and they all disappeared!”
[That’s because the host felt lonely and missed the children you used to play with. Don’t worry, host, you will make plenty of good friends in this world in the future too,] Liuliu chimed in to comfort her.
“Hmph, mean Liuliu! My tummy hurt so bad last night, so why didn’t you say anything when I called you?” Jinjin pulled a stern face and puffed out her cheeks, letting out a hmph to pretend she was angry.
With a slight trace of guilt, Liuliu said: [Host, you were dreaming back then. Even though Liuliu lives in your mind, I can’t enter your dreams!]
Realizing that made sense, Jinjin let out a subdued “Mm.”
“Oh right, Liuliu, can I still wish for yummy food today? Eating too much meat last night made my tummy uncomfortable, so I don’t want meat anymore. I want to drink milk, and I want to eat macarons and waffles!”
[Apologies, host. Your Merit Points currently stand at zero. If you wish to continue exchanging for food, you will need to help certain specific characters change their fates in order to gain Merit Points.]
[Furthermore, given the host’s performance yesterday, the system has added a new rule for you: in the future, even when you have Merit Points, you can only exchange for at most one type of food per day.]
“Ah? How could this happen?”
Jinjin didn’t understand what specific characters were, nor did she understand what changing fate meant.
However, she understood the most crucial part: she couldn’t get any delicious food today.
What were they going to do today then? There was no rice left at home, so what would they eat for lunch?
Would their family starve to death in the little wooden cabin?
Instantly, Jinjin grew deeply worried about her family’s livelihood. It seemed she had to work hard digging up medicinal herbs to support her parents!
And so, sticking her bottom in the air, she dug and dug and dug with all her might. Before she knew it, her small basket was piled high with medicinal herbs.
Jinjin tried lifting it, but it was so heavy.
“Liuliu, it’s too heavy. Jinjin can’t carry it on her back. What should I do?” Jinjin sat beside the small basket and asked Liuliu despondently.
[Host can go back and ask your mother to come help you carry it back, or you can carry half back first and come back for the other half in a bit,] Liuliu suggested to Jinjin.
Thinking that made sense, Jinjin took out half of the herbs from the basket and piled them on the grass.
Then she put the small basket back on her shoulders—this time, it was a breeze.
“Liuliu, you’re so smart!” Jinjin praised Liuliu in her mind.
[Hehe!]
Liuliu let out a couple of chuckles. Looking at the message appearing on the system panel and the red warning prompt next to it, he felt extremely conflicted.
What to do? Jinjin’s bad eldest aunt was watching her in secret, intending to steal her broken bowl.
However, according to the plot, this bowl had to be stolen by the other party. Moreover, the warning prohibited him from alerting Jinjin; otherwise, he would be punished with a one-day confinement and be unable to contact Jinjin again.
Still, thinking about how he couldn’t help Jinjin last night due to system prompts and was just disdained by Jinjin a moment ago, if another problem arose and he failed to inform Jinjin in advance, the little girl would definitely be very disappointed in him!
Gritting his teeth, Liuliu made his choice. *So what if it’s one day? Confine me if you want! This time, I must warn Jinjin to watch out for that bad woman.*
[Jinjin, be careful of your eldest aunt, she—*Beep beep—*] Halfway through Liuliu’s sentence, he was cut off by static.
“Liuliu, what happened to you?” Hearing Liuliu stop mid-sentence with two beeps, Jinjin felt utterly bewildered.
However, Liuliu gave no further response.
He had vanished just like last night. No matter how Jinjin called out to him, Liuliu ignored her.
Jinjin walked back and forth beside the pile of medicinal herbs in confusion. Liuliu had disconnected right after saying ‘be careful of your eldest aunt’—could it be that the signal here wasn’t good?
Besides, Eldest Aunt was at her own home, so why be careful of Eldest Aunt?
Jinjin couldn’t figure it out.
She scanned her surroundings and didn’t see anyone, but when she caught sight of a few trees standing atop the mountain peak above the slope, her eyes lit up instantly.
Got it! Maybe if she climbed up a tree, the signal would be better, and Liuliu would be able to contact her then.
Jinjin set down her small basket, leaving the broken bowl right beside it, and scrambled up toward the mountain peak with all her might.
Seeing her head upward, Little White followed along.
Reaching the summit, Jinjin walked around those few trees twice. Looking up at them, she puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
“Little White, these trees seem a bit tall. I can’t climb up.”
Little White took a few glances at the trees, came to the foot of the shortest one, and with a *swish*, it scrambled up, then with another *swish*, it scrambled back down.
Although Little White didn’t understand why she wanted to climb trees, it supported whatever Jinjin wanted to do.
[Jinjin, you can climb with bare feet. This tree is smaller, so it’s easy to climb up.] Little White had seen other two-legged creatures climb trees with bare feet before, and they were really fast.
Half-doubting, Jinjin wondered: *Can I really climb up just with bare feet?*
Having no other choice and still unable to reach Liuliu, she took off her shoes and socks, bare-footed, to climb the tree Little White had chosen for her.
And truth be told, after a few attempts, Jinjin actually managed to climb up.
It was just that her palms and soles turned red, burning with a stinging pain.
“Little White, you’re amazing! I really climbed up!” After climbing up, Jinjin didn’t forget to praise Little White.
Then, wrinkling her nose, she said pitifully, “But my hands and feet hurt!”
“Huh? There are fruits on the tree! Little White, come look! There are so many tiny red fruits!” Catching sight of the little red fruits, Jinjin instantly forgot the purpose of her tree-climbing, as well as the pain in her hands and feet, calling out to Little White in delight.
Little White quickly climbed up. [Fruits are tasty. Jinjin, eat.]
Hearing Little White say they were edible, Jinjin picked one, wiped it on her clothes, and impatiently took a bite.
“Wow, so sour!” After taking a bite, her entire face instantly scrunched up like the folds on a steamed bun.
However, after chewing a few more times and swallowing the sour juice from the small red fruit, the fruit flesh actually had a hint of astringent sweetness.
“Little White, it’s edible! Let’s pick more to take back for Father and Mother to eat!”
“Okay, okay!” Little White agreed, slithering onto branches laden with fruit and using its tail to coil around them and throw them to the ground.
Jinjin copied it, picking fruits with her hands and throwing them into the hollow by the tree trunk, planning to come down later with her bowl to gather them up.
Thinking of her bowl, Jinjin remembered she had left it down by her small basket.
She peered down through the gaps in the branches toward her small basket and broken bowl on the slope below.
At this glance, Jinjin froze on the spot.
She saw a woman crouching beside her small basket with her back turned toward this direction, reaching out to take her bowl.
“Oh no! Little White, someone seems to be stealing my bowl!” Jinjin shouted anxiously. Giving up on picking fruits, she quickly slid down the tree trunk and ran toward the mountain slope.
“Stop right there, bad woman! You’re not allowed to steal my bowl!” Jinjin cried out in desperation.
However, because Jinjin was in such a hurry, her eyes remained fixed on her small basket and broken bowl. Failing to pay attention to her footing, she missed a step, tripped, and went rolling straight down the mountain slope.
“Jinjin!”
Seeing Jinjin trip and roll downward, Little White hastily leaped down from the tree, attempting to intercept Jinjin.
Regrettably, its body was far too small to stop Jinjin at all, so Little White went rolling down the mountain slope right along with Jinjin.