“Big uncle, what is this called?” When Liu Qingyan heard that there was none of it here, she immediately thought it must be a rare item, so she asked further.
The man replied, “This is called a tomato. As for what it is exactly, I don’t really know either.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Qingyan felt a burst of joy and excitement. Tomatoes—those were what people called western tomatoes (fresh tomatoes).
In her past life, her favorite dish had been scrambled eggs with tomatoes. If you added a little sugar and poured it over rice, especially letting the rich juice soak into the rice—it was unbelievably delicious. Just thinking about it made her crave it, and now she had actually come across it. What good fortune!
“Uncle, I want to take these seeds back and try planting them. How much are they?”
“Well then, if you want all of them, just give me ten copper coins.”
“But I have to tell you first,” the man added, “I can’t guarantee these seeds will sprout. If you take them back and they don’t germinate or there are other issues, don’t come back to blame me. I can guarantee the quality of other seeds, but I’ve never seen this tomato before, so I can’t promise anything.”
“Alright, uncle. Don’t worry. Whatever the result is with these tomato seeds, I won’t blame you,” Liu Qingyan said seriously.
After that, she bought 5 jin of mung bean seeds for 60 copper coins;
10 copper coins for the tomato seeds;
and wheat seeds for one mu of land—12 jin total, 10 copper coins per jin, making 120 copper coins.
Altogether, just the seeds cost her 190 copper coins. Adding the money for farming tools, she was now left with only 700 copper coins. The money really was flowing out like water.
After finishing her purchases, as she passed through a quiet, deserted alley, Liu Qingyan quickly placed the tomato seeds and wheat seeds into her spatial storage.
These were meant to be planted inside the space. Carrying them around was too heavy, and it would be hard to explain them to her younger siblings at home. With that, her basket instantly felt much lighter.
As she walked on, she passed a steamed bun stall. The rich aroma of buns rushed straight into her nose, making her feel as if her legs were nailed to the ground—she almost couldn’t control her saliva.
She gritted her teeth and spent 9 copper coins to buy three plump meat buns, planning to share them with her younger siblings. The two children would surely be overjoyed.
Carefully wrapping the buns, she placed them in her basket, picked it up along with her farm tools, and happily headed toward the ox cart.
Along the way, sitting on the ox cart with nothing to do, everyone began chatting. Liu Qingyan listened happily on the side—the everyday household gossip was actually quite interesting.
When she got home, Qingyi and Qingyou had also just returned and quickly ran over to help her carry things.
Everyone went inside. Smiling, Liu Qingyan took out the buns from her basket and said excitedly, “Look, I bought you something delicious!”
As she spoke, she gently opened the cloth bundle, revealing the soft white meat buns inside.
Qingyou and Qingyi instantly showed the pure joy of children and exclaimed “Wow!”
Qingyou’s eyes sparkled. “Sister, are these buns? They smell so good!”
Qingyi nodded in agreement. “I’ve seen San Zhu eat them before. These are buns.”
Seeing their reaction, Liu Qingyan felt a pang of bitterness in her heart. She hugged them tightly and, holding back tears, said, “Qingyi, go light the fire. We’ll warm the buns and make some wild vegetable soup.”
Sniffing the aroma, Qingyou said dreamily, “Sister, there’s meat inside. It smells amazing. This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my life.”
Qingyi nodded again. “Sister, these meat buns are so delicious. If we could eat them every day, that would be amazing!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll work hard to earn money. One day we’ll live in a blue-brick house and eat all kinds of delicacies. By then, you probably won’t even like buns anymore,” she said with a laugh.
“How could we not like buns? Sister, can we really live in a blue-brick house?”
“Of course. Don’t you trust your sister?”
“We trust you! We trust you the most!”
The three siblings happily ate the earliest dinner they had ever had. Normally, they only ate before it got dark.
After eating the meat buns, all three of them felt full of energy. Qingyi went to gather firewood, while Liu Qingyan and Qingyou went to the river to wash clothes.
Their clothes were so worn that they didn’t even dare scrub too hard for fear of tearing them.
Each of them only had two sets of patched clothing, layers upon layers of repairs.
The children were still growing, and their sleeves were already much too short.
Looking at them, Liu Qingyan thought that once she had money, she would definitely buy them new clothes and even quilts.
But she stopped herself—thinking too much only made her more anxious. Qingyou, however, was in a very good mood, happily singing a children’s rhyme taught by their mother while washing clothes.
“Qingyou, why are you so happy today?”
“Because we ate meat buns! And sister said we’ll live in a blue-brick house and eat delicious food, so I’m happy!”
It turned out the little girl believed her sister completely. Liu Qingyan gently patted her bun-shaped hair and smiled softly.
She understood just how important she was in the hearts of the two children, and how deeply they trusted her—the responsibility she carried was truly heavy.
That night, after her younger siblings fell asleep, she quietly entered the space again and picked up a sharp sickle to start cutting grass.
After a while, she was exhausted and sat on the ground to rest.
“Xiao Xin, is the time inside the space the same as outside?”
A clear electronic voice responded: “No. One day in the space equals one shichen outside.”
Liu Qingyan was overjoyed and quickly asked, “Then crops will mature very quickly?”
“Yes, Master.”
“That’s great. The wheat will mature soon, and then we’ll have food.”
Her spirits lifted, and she gained new energy. Rolling up her sleeves, she worked harder, even singing military songs while cutting grass.
After a long time, she was completely exhausted and fell asleep on the soft bed.
She slept deeply and comfortably. When she woke up, she felt refreshed.
She suddenly remembered she had stayed too long in the space and didn’t know if her siblings were awake, so she asked, “Xiao Xin, can I see outside from inside the space?”
“Master, you cannot see outside yet. Your level is too low. Only when the space reaches level one can you see outside.”
“How do I level up?”
“The more crops you plant, the faster the space levels up.”
She understood—it was all about hard work.
Sigh, might as well just work herself to death. How much could she possibly do alone with her small body that hadn’t even fully grown yet?
Forget it, better to go out first.
In an instant, she reappeared on the old bed and fell back into a drowsy sleep before dawn broke.
Breakfast was still coarse grain porridge, with fresh wild vegetables and eggs mixed in.