The old woman quickly stuffed rice into a sack and wrapped two bundles with old newspaper.“Take it and keep it hidden. Don’t let anyone see,” she said.
When Yun Ting took the package, her fingers brushed against the calluses on the old woman’s palm—it felt like holding a piece of rough tree bark.
Sigh… Life in this era wasn’t easy for anyone.
“Auntie, do you have any seeds?” Yun Ting asked.
“What kind of seeds do you want?”
“Vegetables, fruits—anything is fine.”
“I do have some, but to be honest, I’m not even sure what all of them are anymore. How about this—fifty cents, and you can take the whole bag.” The old woman rummaged in a nearby sack and pulled out a packet of seeds.
Yun Ting took it and handed her one yuan.
“Girl, fifty cents is enough,” the old woman said, trying to return the extra money.
Yun Ting stopped her.
“Auntie, look at how big this bag of seeds is. I’m already getting a bargain for just one yuan. You don’t need to give it back.”
“Well then… alright. Don’t worry—they’re definitely good seeds.”
After that, Yun Ting bought some apples. They cost seventy cents per jin, and though they didn’t look very good, fruit was still a rare treat in this era of scarcity. She bought five jin for three yuan and fifty cents.
Pork cost one yuan twenty cents per jin. She bought two jin—pork belly. It was more expensive than the supply and marketing cooperative, but the cooperative had already sold out long ago.
After leaving the black market, she looked around to make sure no one was watching.
Using her mind, she stored some of the items in her space, keeping only a few in her hands. Otherwise, going home empty-handed and then suddenly producing things later would be hard to explain.
Originally, she had planned to go to the state-run restaurant to try the food, but seeing that it was almost time to prepare lunch, she decided to leave it for another day.
Although her mother had said she would come home to cook at noon, Yun Ting couldn’t just sit around waiting to be fed when she was perfectly fine.
After returning home and putting the things away, she went back to her room, locked the door, and eagerly entered her space.
She touched the water in the enamel mug—it was still warm.
So the space could preserve freshness. Whatever went in would stay exactly the same when taken out. That made things much easier. She could stockpile more food, and when she went to the countryside later, she wouldn’t have to worry about going hungry.
She took out the rice grains and looked at the black soil.
There were six plots in total.
But she didn’t have a hoe. How was she supposed to plant them? Scatter the seeds directly?
“If only I could control it with my mind like those other spaces…” she muttered.
The moment she finished speaking, the seeds in her hand automatically scattered into the black soil. Tiny rice seedlings even sprouted instantly.
“This… is amazing.”
She planted rice on four plots of land. On the remaining two, she took out the big bag of seeds and planted a little of each kind to see what they were.
“Wait… how could I forget about my wood-element ability?” She slapped her forehead.
She pulled out her hand from the cloth bag, still dusted with rice husks, and gently blew on the rice grains inside the paper package.
The top layer of grains actually moved.
A faint trace of green appeared between the husks, like someone had dotted them with a colored pen.
“So it really came with me—haha!”
She quickly ran over and used her fingertips to stimulate the young seedlings with her wood ability.
The rice seedlings straightened and grew at a visible speed. What had been tiny sprouts soon reached her calves within the time it took to drink half a cup of tea.
“Tsk… too weak. It’s only at the beginner level. Why did it downgrade?” If she still had her former high-level ability, the rice would already be mature and ready for harvest.
She drank some spiritual spring water. The mental energy she had just used was restored.
So the spring water really was beneficial—she should drink more of it in the future.
She continued stimulating the rice in the field. Whenever her mental energy ran out, she drank more spring water. After repeating this several times, the rice finally formed ears and ripened.
Only then did she stop.
Using her mind, she harvested the first crop, feeling extremely satisfied.
The grain was automatically stored in the thatched hut. When she went to check, she discovered it had already been hulled, leaving behind piles of gleaming white rice.
“Wow… this is amazing.”
She then stimulated the other seeds.
Most of them turned out to be vegetables and melons, while there were fewer fruit trees—there were jujube trees, apple trees, and loquat trees, and that was about it.
The final seed grew into a sapling, but she couldn’t tell what kind of tree it was yet. She didn’t have the time or energy to force it to mature today, so she would wait until another day.
“Exit.”
After leaving the space, she checked the time.
Only ten minutes had passed outside, while four hours had gone by inside the space.
She went to the kitchen to look around.
There were some long beans, two eggplants, and a few tomatoes.
After thinking for a moment, she decided to cook stir-fried beans with eggplant, braised pork, and tomato egg soup.
She took some rice out of the space and started steaming it. If her family asked, she would just say she had bought it.
She already knew how to cook. She wasn’t a master chef, but the food was definitely edible.
She worked quickly—first slicing the pork, then preparing the beans and eggplants.
She rummaged in a corner and found some garlic cloves to use as seasoning.
Soon Yun Ting finished cooking the dishes. Only the tomato egg soup remained. She cracked just two eggs into it. After all, there was already meat today—her mother would definitely complain about the expense otherwise.
“Old Yun! Is that the smell of meat coming from your house?” Uncle Li from next door asked as he walked back from work with Yun Ting’s father. They both worked at the steel factory.
“Can’t be. My wife’s at work too—when would she have time to buy meat?”
But when they reached the door, the aroma grew even stronger.
“Could it really be braised pork?” Yun Ting’s father muttered as he pushed the door open.
“Second Sister, when did your cooking become so good?” Yun Xu said after eating a piece of braised pork, smacking his lips with satisfaction.
“Dad, we’re lucky today. Second Sister made braised pork!”
Yun Ting had just brought the dishes out.
“Dad, you’re back.”
She had thought calling someone “Dad” for the first time might feel awkward, but the word came out naturally.
“Daughter, did our family really cook meat today?”
Before Yun Ting could answer, her mother and eldest brother also returned.
“Tingting, where did the meat come from?” her mother asked.
“It smells amazing!” her eldest brother exclaimed.
“I bought it today…”
“You went there, didn’t you? You girl, you’ve got some nerve!” her mother scolded sternly.
“Mom, I was very careful…”
“Alright, alright, let’s eat first. Our daughter knows what she’s doing—don’t be so harsh,” her father quickly intervened, unable to stand seeing his daughter being scolded.
“That’s right, Mom. Don’t blame Second Sister,” Yun Xu chimed in.
“Yeah, Little Sister worked hard cooking all this,” the eldest brother added.
“You lot! All you care about is eating. So I’m the bad guy now? I’m doing this for her own good! Do you know what kind of place that is? Is it somewhere you can just go casually?”
“Mom, I know I was wrong. I won’t go again next time. Please don’t be angry.” Yun Ting clung to her mother’s arm, acting obedient.
“You’d better remember that.”
Looking at her youngest daughter like this, Yun’s mother softened and couldn’t bring herself to scold her anymore.
“Little Sister, your cooking is really good,” the eldest brother said, eating happily.
“Why is this rice so delicious? It tastes different from before,” Yun Xu said after taking a couple of bites.
“I traded for it from an auntie I met,” Yun Ting said softly, glancing carefully at her mother—who responded with a glare.
“Mom, there’s still meat left. Let’s have Sister come home for dinner tonight. I’ll be going to the countryside in a couple of days.”
The smiles around the table faded.
The cheerful mood instantly turned heavy.