After eating her fill, Liu Lijuan didn't rest at home. She told Liu Qingsong, then hurried away, carrying the Wild Diaozi Fish in one hand and the Sweet Potatoes in the other.
There was no other way—she was the only one in the family earning work points to support the household, so she couldn't afford to be late.
Liu Qingsong understood her sense of responsibility and devotion to the family, but he said nothing. He watched his second elder sister leave, then cleared away the bowls and chopsticks.
After washing up, he went to deal with the wild Diaozi fish floating belly-up in the large water vat.
It was autumn. Although the temperature was much cooler than in summer, it was still over twenty degrees.
So after Liu Qingsong gutted and cleaned all the wild Diaozi fish, he cured them with salt right away.
Once they had absorbed the salt, he planned to pan-fry them all in fish oil, then air-dry them into Spicy Diaozi Fish.
Spicy Diaozi Fish could be stored for a long time—under normal circumstances, it would remain edible until the following spring.
In other words, this Spicy Diaozi Fish would from now on be a staple dish in his household.
As for the remaining Grass Carp, River Crucian Carp, and River Carp, he planned to give some to Eldest Sister and keep the rest in the large water vat to eat fresh.
Just as the several dozen Wild Diaozi Fish finished curing, little sister appeared at the kitchen doorway with the short, pudgy Pangdun and several other friends. "See that? My Older Brother is curing fish! A lot of those are ones I caught!"
"I... I caught a lot too." Little Mochi chimed in with her milky little voice.
"For real?" Pangdun rubbed his eyes with a chubby little hand. When he realized he wasn't dreaming and that what he saw was true, he stood there dumbfounded.
The other little friends were also so surprised their mouths hung wide open.
After all, in the past, no one had ever managed to catch this many wild Diaozi fish.
"Of course it's true!" little sister raised her head proudly. "Why do you never believe what I say?"
"Then... then where did you and your Third Brother catch them?" Pangdun pressed.
The other little friends looked at little sister with expectation.
"Right on the riverbank across from your second uncle's house!" little sister said, pointing with her little finger. "That Old Man Naji went fishing there too, and he almost snatched the fish I caught."
"Mm-hm, mm-hm, he's such a bad old man." Little Mochi confirmed.
"Really?" Pangdun exchanged glances with the few friends beside him, then dashed away.
"Pangdun, where are you going?" little sister called out at the sight.
Little Mochi tilted her little head, also a bit puzzled.
"Going to make a fishing rod to go fishing." Pangdun shouted back, then ran off without a trace with the other kids.
Little sister and Little Mochi wanted to go along and play.
But Liu Qingsong held them back. "The wind's picked up by the river this afternoon, what are you two going to do following them there? Do you want to get dragged down by a drowned ghost to keep it company? Besides, Hongxia, have you finished your task of gathering firewood today?"
He wasn't being overly strict. little sister and Little Mochi were too young to go to the riverside without an adult; it was dangerous.
More importantly, Pangdun and the other children didn't have the Bait from the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump, so they couldn't catch any fish.
If they couldn't catch fish, what was the point of going? They were better off staying home.
Unaware of Liu Qingsong's reasoning, little sister scratched her head sheepishly and said, "Then, Third Brother, I'll take Little Mochi to Back Mountain to gather firewood. Remember to pan-fry Diaozi Fish for me tonight, okay!"
"Alright! But don't wander too far! Just gather firewood nearby—if you go too far, it won't be safe." Liu Qingsong reminded them.
"Mm-hm, mm-hm!" Little sister took Little Mochi's hand and skipped off to the rear courtyard to fetch some rope.
Liu Qingsong watched them disappear. After glancing at the sky, he resumed curing the remaining Wild Diaozi Fish.
Once he finished curing the fish, Liu Qingsong found that he had nothing else pressing to do.
Liu Qingsong washed his hands clean.
He grabbed a Fertilizer Sack and walked briskly to the rear courtyard.
Little Mochi and little sister were away from the rear courtyard. When Liu Qingsong pushed open its gate, the boundless Myriad Realms Garbage Dump appeared before him.
This time.
Liu Qingsong felt no fear or nervousness.
Instead, once he got his bearings, he walked toward the nearest garbage dump.
This particular dump was entirely made up of various kinds of modern everyday trash, and due to the sheer quantity, it was piled up at least three or four stories high.
To avoid falling trash, Liu Qingsong stayed off the pile and searched carefully around its perimeter.
Before long, he dug up a disposable lighter.
The lighter looked much like one from Earth. A gentle press produced a faint red flame.
In other words, this lighter still worked.
But he had no intention of taking it out to use.
At least not in front of second elder sister.
He wasn't being overly cautious. Disposable lighters like this had not yet been manufactured in 1978.
If he took it out and used it, nothing would happen as long as no one became suspicious. But if anyone suspected him, he would be in serious trouble.
Six or seven more intact disposable lighters lay scattered on the nearby ground, so Liu Qingsong bent down and picked them up.
After putting them away, he prepared to inspect the smaller garbage heap diagonally across the way.
A protruding object ahead caught his attention.
The object lay buried beneath a great deal of trash. The exposed windshield and wipers suggested to Liu Qingsong that it was a scrapped Automobile.
To confirm the suspicion in his mind.
Liu Qingsong hurried over.
He cleared away the surrounding trash and found a small Automobile buried beneath it. Its shape differed greatly from the automobiles he had seen before rebirth, and rust had obscured its brand and model.
He was about to give up and inspect the other garbage heaps.
A worn-out bundle at his feet made his eyes light up.
The bundle bore Chinese characters. The words "Chinese Character Notebook" were written on it.
If he brought it back, his two younger siblings could use it.
To be safe, Liu Qingsong opened the bundle at once. The several dozen Chinese Character Notebooks inside were ordinary, no different from the ones he remembered before rebirth, so he smiled and put them in the Fertilizer Sack.
This find made him realize something.
Besides trash from other Plane Worlds, the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump also contained trash from his own Plane World, but from several decades in the future.
It was just that the quantity was rather scarce, and hard to come across in this vast, boundless garbage dump.
A garbage bag ahead contained a dozen or so pencils in various colors. Liu Qingsong picked them up one by one and put them in the Fertilizer Sack.
He would give them to his two younger siblings, reducing the household's expenses and easing second elder sister's burden.
However, he planned to bring them out little by little rather than all at once.
After all, his family was very poor right now, and if he brought out too much of certain things, there'd be no way to explain it.
"Huh?" Liu Qingsong froze as he shouldered the Fertilizer Sack. A large amount of timber filled the garbage heap ahead.
The pieces varied in length. The longest were two or three meters, while the shortest were only twenty or thirty centimeters. Most were finished Sifang lumber.
The Sifang lumber had many tiny nail holes in it, as if it had been scrap timber discarded from some renovation site.
But after a closer look, it didn't seem to be scrap timber from a construction site.
Construction sites mostly discarded Songmu, fir, or mixed wood. This scrap timber, however, was red throughout and hard as stone, and he couldn't identify it at all.
Out of curiosity, Liu Qingsong picked up a piece of scrap timber about twenty centimeters long.
Even this small piece felt heavy in his hand, weighing a good ten or twenty catties.
Liu Qingsong realized at once that this timber was no ordinary material. It certainly wasn't the scrap timber he had assumed it was.
Still, he had no intention of taking it out yet.
Instead, he carried each piece he could manage to the exit of the Myriad Realms Garbage Dump, where he could retrieve it when needed.
As for the bait he'd used for fishing earlier, he'd actually hidden a few bottles of it at the exit too, precisely to guard against anyone else discovering it.
He wasn't being overly cautious. Living a second life after rebirth had taught him how treacherous people's hearts could be.
If he failed to guard against that, he would be the one to suffer in the end.
The scrap timber was impossible to finish carrying. Drenched in sweat, Liu Qingsong was about to rest and call it a day when ripples appeared above a garbage heap a thousand meters ahead. A moment later, a vast amount of trash came crashing down.
This trash landed on the garbage heap, and since some of it was round, much of it went rolling off in all directions—one piece, in fact, came hurtling straight toward Liu Qingsong's spot.
"Not good!" Liu Qingsong scrambled up a nearby garbage heap to dodge it, then looked at the round piece of trash that had grazed past him.
……