Five days later.
The wound on Shen Qingyue’s forehead had mostly healed, and she decided to head out to gather supplies to sell to the system in exchange for food.
She rose before dawn. Just after washing up, she heard Liu Cuihua shouting as she assigned chores to Shen Erya.
“Erya, go up the mountain and dig up some wild vegetables. When you get back, wash the clothes. In the afternoon, embroider a few more sachets so we can save up money to buy meat for your brother.”
Shen Erya twisted the corner of her clothes, hesitating before speaking.
“There was flooding the year before last, locusts last year, and drought this year—three years of famine in a row. Every household has run out of surplus grain. All the wild greens on the mountain were dug up long ago.”
“Mother… can I skip digging vegetables today? After I finish the housework, could I go check on Scholar Wang?”
Liu Cuihua stepped forward, hands on her hips.
“Shen Erya, are your wings stiff now? You don’t listen to me anymore? That Scholar Wang aims high and looks down on everyone—you’re wasting your feelings on him.”
Shen Erya seemed to have had a nerve struck and shot back,
“Scholar Wang said he likes me! He’ll marry me!”
Liu Cuihua let out a mocking chuckle.
“You’re always the one bringing him things. I’ve never seen him send anything to our family. What makes you think he likes you?”
At a loss for words, Shen Erya could only insist,
“He wouldn’t lie to me. I trust him!”
Unwilling to argue further, Liu Cuihua walked to the thatched shed where the firewood was stored, grabbed a bamboo basket, and slammed it in front of Shen Erya.
“Put it on your back and get up the mountain—now—to dig wild vegetables!”
Liu Cuihua clearly played favorites.
The original Shen Qingyue had never done any chores, and all the good food had always gone to her first.
Feeling a little embarrassed, Shen Qingyue stepped forward and lifted the basket.
“I’ll dig for wild vegetables today.”
Liu Cuihua snatched the basket away, worried.
“No—you’re not recovered yet. You can’t work.”
Though Shen Erya didn’t want to go up the mountain, she had never intended for Shen Qingyue to do it. Sighing inwardly, she conceded:
“Brother, you won’t even gather firewood—how could you dig vegetables? I’ll go.”
When gentle persuasion failed, Shen Qingyue had no choice but to adopt the original owner’s bully-like tone, raising her voice:
“Why are you two wasting words? I said I’m going up the mountain—mind your own business!”
With that, she grabbed the basket and slung it over her back, striding out of the courtyard.
Startled, Liu Cuihua quickly ordered Shen Erya,
“What are you standing around for? Hurry and catch up with your brother—keep an eye on her.”
Shen Erya stomped her foot and hurried after Shen Qingyue.
“Brother, there really aren’t any wild vegetables. Just rest at home!”
“If worst comes to worst, I’ll stay up late making more embroidery. I’ll work hard and save money to buy you meat.”
She pleaded nonstop.
Shen Qingyue stayed silent, walking straight toward the mountains.
Seeing she couldn’t stop her, Shen Erya jogged ahead, spread her arms, and blocked her path.
“You’re still injured—let me carry the basket. If you don’t, I won’t let you go!”
Seeing that, Shen Qingyue could only take the basket off and hand it to her.
Only then did Shen Erya follow obediently at her side.
Qingshui Village lay between mountains and water. A river flowed in front of it, though after prolonged drought, it had already dried up.
Behind the village stretched endless mountain ranges. The outer slopes had long been picked clean, while wild beasts roamed deeper inside—places ordinary villagers dared not venture.
For safety’s sake, Shen Qingyue searched only along the outskirts.
During famine years, people often climbed the mountain to dig for wild vegetables.
On the path, they ran into Auntie Zhang.
“Well, if it isn’t Dog-Egg! What brings you up the mountain today?” Auntie Zhang asked, eyeing Shen Qingyue with gossiping curiosity.
Most villagers avoided Shen Qingyue on sight, never greeting her first.
But Auntie Zhang was nosy enough to outweigh her fear.
Hearing the name “Dog-Egg,” Shen Qingyue lost any desire to chat and merely hummed in reply before continuing uphill.
Auntie Zhang smiled sweetly to her face—but as soon as Shen Qingyue walked away, she spat hard in their direction.
“What trash! A hoodlum who only knows how to eat, drink, and laze around—and she thinks she can dig wild vegetables?”
“Bet the Shen family doesn’t have a single grain of rice left!”
“Serves them right! Let’s see if they still dare bully people!”
“I’ve got to tell the other aunties and uncles so they can all have a good laugh.”
Shen Qingyue suddenly sneezed.
“Achoo!”
Shen Erya rushed over, her face full of worry.
“Brother, did you catch a chill? What are we going to do? The family doesn’t have any money left for a doctor—last year the neighbor’s third child died after catching a cold…”
As she spoke, her voice began to tremble.
“If you die, Father and Mother will be heartbroken—they dote on you the most…”
Shen Qingyue cut her off.
“Stop right there! I’m alive and well. Keep talking like that and you’ll send me off early. I sneezed because someone behind my back was cursing me.”
Shen Erya quickly covered her mouth.
“It was my fault for talking nonsense—Brother will definitely live to a hundred and never fall sick!”
She hesitated, then looked at Shen Qingyue with a trace of pity.
“Brother… Father and Mother spoil you so much. If you insist on returning to being a girl, they might agree. Then you could marry the man you like.”
Shen Qingyue had zero interest in marriage.
“Even if I went back to being a woman, who do you think would marry me?”
“It’d only make Father and Mother lose face—and invite even more ridicule.”
“Things are fine the way they are. Why bother getting married?”
Shen Erya felt it made sense—yet something seemed off.
“You didn’t use to say that.”
Shen Qingyue wasn’t the original owner; of course her thinking was different.
She improvised casually,
“People change. When you walk past death’s door once, you see a lot of things clearly.”
Shen Erya nodded, feeling her brother was speaking more and more sensibly.
They wandered around the outskirts for a long time but found no wild vegetables— even elm bark had been stripped away.
Hot and thirsty, Shen Qingyue rested beneath a tree and accidentally spotted a flash of red in the grass.
Red cap, white stem…
That was way too familiar.
Wasn’t that the infamous poisonous mushroom—fly agaric?
She hurriedly asked the system in her mind,
“System, can fly agaric be traded?”
A screen only she could see appeared before her.
The system replied:
【Fly agaric detected. Can be used for pharmaceutical research. Buyback price: 1 star coin per mushroom.】
Shen Qingyue was delighted.
No matter how small a mosquito was, it was still meat—one star coin was still one star coin.
Turning her back to Shen Erya, she wrapped her hand in a broad leaf, carefully uprooted three fly agarics, and silently told the system:
“Sell.”