After leaving the house, they walked toward the back of the property and arrived at a small hill covered in bamboo. There were several paths leading into the mountain, but since the Xie family lived at the edge of the village, this was the quickest route to the back mountain.
The bamboo grove was lush and green.
Morning dew dripped from the emerald bamboo leaves onto the bluestone beneath, creating crisp, melodious sounds.
There was a poem about this…
“The lotus breeze carries fragrant scents; bamboo dew falls with clear, ringing notes.”
The three of them made their way through the bamboo forest, digging up spring bamboo shoots as they headed deeper into the mountain.
“Big Sister-in-law, let me carry it.”
“It’s fine. These shoots aren’t heavy.”
Jinxiu lifted the basket on her back.
Most of what they had dug were small shoots, altogether weighing only around ten or so pounds.
Times were hard these days.
Every family wanted to gather as much food as possible.
It was still early.
Before long, the villagers would also come searching for bamboo shoots.
If they waited until they came back down the mountain, there probably wouldn’t even be any bamboo husks left.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have wanted to carry the basket uphill.
“Then tell me if you get tired. I’m a man—I have plenty of strength.”
Jinxiu smiled and nodded.
“All right.”
The farther they walked into the mountain, the taller the trees became.
Sunlight filtered through the clouds and shone into the forest as the morning mist gradually dissipated, leaving dappled shadows dancing across the ground.
“Big Sister-in-law, we shouldn’t go any farther. There are wild boars deeper in the mountains. It’s not safe.”
“Okay. Go do your thing. Xiaoyu and I will just look around nearby.”
After reminding Xie Xiaoyu to stay close to her sister-in-law and not wander off, Xie Eryong carried his sickle and continued ahead alone.
Jinxiu looked around, hoping to find some wild mushrooms.
From the original owner’s memories, she knew that mushrooms sprouted in the mountains after rainfall.
Morels.
Pine mushrooms.
Termite mushrooms.
Agaricus.
Boletes…
“Sister-in-law, look!”
Jinxiu straightened up and followed the direction Xiaoyu was pointing.
There stood a tall lacquer tree.
Lacquer trees were common in these mountains.
People harvested the sap to coat furniture.
But what caught Jinxiu’s attention wasn’t the tree itself.
Climbing up its trunk was a massive Monstera deliciosa.
True to its name, its thick stem resembled bamboo, while its enormous emerald leaves bore the distinctive split pattern of a turtle’s shell.
In her previous life, people mostly grew Monsteras indoors to decorate living rooms.
The plant could grow astonishingly large—
Up to six or seven meters tall.
The one before them was already three or four meters high and was even bearing fruit.
Jinxiu rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
She remembered…
The fruit of a Monstera was edible.
【Ding! System maintenance complete. Crash bug fixed. Host successfully bound.】
【Ding! Monstera fruit detected. Exchange rate: 2 points per jin.】
Mechanical voices rang out one after another inside her mind.
Looking at the translucent virtual panel floating before her eyes, Jinxiu’s entire body trembled.
Th-this…
It’s a system, isn’t it?
It really is a system!
She fell into deep thought.
She remembered that when she’d first awakened in the Li family home, a mechanical voice had suddenly appeared in her head.
【Ding! Vitex fruit detected. Exchange rate: 1 point per jin.】
Later, she had indeed found vitex growing around the house.
The second time had been on the road to the Xie family.
【Ding! Storage space unlocked.】
She had tested it by picking a wild taro plant.
Sure enough, it disappeared into thin air.
But whenever she focused her mind and tried calling the system afterward…
Nothing happened.
According to all the transmigration novels she’d read, a virtual interface should have appeared at that point.
Instead…
Nothing.
That had made her wonder whether hitting her head had given her hallucinations.
But now—
The virtual panel floating before her eyes was absolutely real.
Not an illusion.
“Heh… hehehe…”
Her shoulders shook uncontrollably like she was having a seizure.
Then she suddenly threw her head back and burst into loud laughter.
“S-Sister-in-law…”
Xie Xiaoyu shrank back in fright.
“It’s okay, it’s okay! I’m just too happy!”
Jinxiu pinched the little girl’s chubby cheek.
“This is called a Monstera. Its fruit is edible. Let’s pick some and try it.”
“It’s poisonous! You can’t eat it!”
Xiaoyu glanced nervously at the fruit overhead and shook her head like a rattling drum.
People in the village had picked it before.
They ended up poisoned and drooled uncontrollably.
It was terrifying.
“They got poisoned because they didn’t know the proper way to eat it. This fruit has to be completely ripe before it’s safe. And you can’t eat the hard core inside.”
“It contains tiny needle-like crystals that can pierce the lining of your mouth. Then irritating substances enter through those tiny wounds, making your throat hurt. In severe cases, it can even make breathing difficult.”
Xiaoyu didn’t understand a single word.
But that didn’t stop her from thinking her sister-in-law was amazing.
“Sister-in-law, you know so much!”
Jinxiu smiled.
She was only repeating what the encyclopedia said.
A new illustration of a Monstera had appeared on the system panel.
On the left side, a smaller window had opened, much like an encyclopedia entry.
One section even explained exactly how to prepare and eat the fruit.
She had to admit…
This system was incredibly thoughtful.
A single Monstera usually produced only two to four fruits.
It didn’t bear fruit until the second year after flowering, so the yield was very low.
Fortunately, these fruits hung from the middle section of the tree.
Otherwise, at only about five-foot-one, Jinxiu would never have been able to reach them.
She bounced on her toes and snapped off one fruit.
Each weighed over a jin.
“Wooow… it’s huge!”
Xiaoyu’s eyes widened.
It looked a bit like an ear of corn—
Except it was even bigger, and a different color.
She hugged the largest one, which was almost as long as her arm.
A rich, sweet fragrance instantly filled her nose.
She couldn’t help swallowing.
Even if it was poisonous…
She still wanted a taste.
But Sister-in-law had said it wasn’t ripe yet.
They had to leave it for a few more days.
Jinxiu jumped up again and picked the last fruit.
【Ding! Four jin of Monstera fruit detected. Can be exchanged for 8 points. Exchange now?】
She glanced at Xiaoyu.
The little girl had already run off to play nearby.
After thinking for a moment, Jinxiu answered silently.
Exchange one jin.
Something miraculous happened.
One of the fruits in her hand vanished.
The interface immediately changed into the system’s main page.
It displayed the system ID along with her current point balance.
Exiting the home screen, she found page after page of merchandise.
So…
It was a point-based exchange store.
Daily necessities.
Vegetables.
Meat.
Eggs.
Flour.
Cooking oil.
Rice.
Household goods.
Snacks.
Medicine…
Almost everything imaginable.
Her point balance now read:
2 Points.
Jinxiu browsed briefly.
One point could be exchanged for one jin of white rice…
Or fifteen eggs.
She was overjoyed.
In this era of scarcity, both white rice and eggs were precious luxuries.
One fruit could be traded for so much.
This system was practically heaven-defying.
She rearranged the bamboo shoots inside her basket and carefully placed the remaining three fruits inside.
“Sister-in-law! Mushrooms!”
Not far away, Xie Xiaoyu was poking at piles of fallen leaves with a long stick.
Whenever she spotted a suspicious mound, she’d flip it over.
As Jinxiu looked over, Xiaoyu brushed aside a pile of leaves beneath a lacquer tree.
Hidden underneath were clusters of dark brown mushrooms with honeycomb-shaped caps.
【Ding! Wild premium morels detected. Exchange rate: 50 points per jin.】
Holy crap!
Jinxiu slung her basket onto her back and hurried over.
She crouched down carefully and picked a single morel.
Then she turned around, scooped Xiaoyu into her arms, and showered her little face with kisses.
“Xiaoyu, you’re Sister-in-law’s lucky little treasure!”
“Heehee!”
Xiaoyu blushed from all the kisses, her heart blooming with happiness.
Sister-in-law called me her lucky little treasure.
I like Sister-in-law so much too!