Gu Wan’er swallowed and said with a smile, “Sister-in-law, ever since my brother left home, we haven’t eaten meat. It’s already been two or three months.”
When her brother was at home, he would go hunting in the mountains whenever he had time.
If he caught anything, he would take some to town to sell and keep some at home to satisfy the family’s cravings.
Li Xingyue smiled too. “Look what else I dug up.”
Gu Wan’er glanced at the round clumps of earth under the rabbit and asked curiously, “Sister-in-law, what is this you dug up? Can it be eaten?”
Li Xingyue replied, “Of course it can. It’s called a potato. Not only is it edible, it’s very tasty.”
“Once we bring it home, we can even try planting some.”
Gu Wan’er nodded.
The two quickly finished the carrots they had and then dug up all the astragalus in the area.
Li Xingyue estimated it was about five or six jin.
After finishing the astragalus, they dug up polygonatum—around ten jin.
By the time they were done, the sky had grown dark, so the two hurried down the mountain.
Before reaching the village entrance, dusk had fully fallen, and in the distance they saw two figures, one big and one small.
Little Teddy saw them and immediately dashed toward the smaller figure.
Madam Zhou saw them too and hurried over, grumbling, “You two children, why didn’t you come down earlier? Coming back so late has everyone at home restless.”
Gu Wan’er quickly interrupted, “Mother, don’t say anything yet—help take Sister-in-law’s basket first.”
Madam Zhou’s hand, which had been reaching for her daughter’s basket, froze midair.
Gu Wan’er quickly added, “Mother, mine isn’t heavy.”
She helped remove the basket from Li Xingyue’s back while speaking.
Li Xingyue was indeed tired and let it down, and Madam Zhou quickly took it from her.
It was quite heavy, and she muttered, “What on earth did you gather? Why is it so heavy?”
“Mother, let’s go home first,” Gu Wan’er said hurriedly.
The four of them and the dog rushed toward the courtyard.
Gu Qishan was already standing at the gate, looking out anxiously. Seeing his wife and daughter return, he hurried over and took the basket from his little daughter’s back.
Once inside, Gu Wan’er quickly shut the gate.
Dinner had already been prepared, just waiting for them to return and eat together.
Gu Wan’er went to her mother’s room, brought out the rarely used oil lamp, and lit it.
Seeing this, Madam Zhou was a bit angry. “Child, why are you lighting the lamp?”
Li Xingyue heard it and felt speechless—it was all because of poverty!
Gu Wan’er didn’t mind and cheerfully said, “Father, Mother, look at what Sister-in-law and I brought back today!”
Gu Qishan and Madam Zhou leaned in under the dim light to look into the two baskets.
One basket was filled with stems and roots they didn’t recognize.
Madam Zhou muttered, “What kind of stuff did you bring back?”
Before Li Xingyue could answer, Gu Wan’er eagerly explained, “This is astragalus, and this is polygonatum. Sister-in-law said these are high-quality medicinal herbs.”
Madam Zhou froze. “Th-these are medicinal herbs?” She turned to her husband.
Gu Qishan, being just a farmer, didn’t recognize herbs either.
She looked back at Li Xingyue. “Yue-niang, are they really medicinal herbs?”
Li Xingyue nodded. “Tomorrow Wan’er and I will take them to the pharmacy in town. We should be able to sell them.”
Hearing this, Madam Zhou finally relaxed and smiled.
Gu Qishan seemed relieved as well.
Gu Wan’er then pointed to the other basket and said, “And over here—take a look…”
She deliberately drew out her tone.
The elderly couple looked over and saw a rabbit—seemingly still alive.
“Sister-in-law was really lucky today. Not only did she find medicinal herbs, but this rabbit ran straight into her and knocked itself out!”
Gu Wan’er couldn’t hide her excitement.
The old couple exchanged glances and then laughed.
“Sister-in-law also dug up this—potatoes, she says they’re quite tasty. Mother, go cook some more potatoes. I really don’t want to eat wild vegetable mush again,” Gu Wan’er said, her voice full of playful pleading.
Madam Zhou had only one son and one daughter, and she doted on them both.
When she was young, she had injured herself giving birth to Gu Mingxiao. Later, she had two more pregnancies but couldn’t carry to term. Only near thirty did she have this daughter—how could she not cherish her?
“Alright, I’ll go cook them,” Madam Zhou agreed.
Then she said to Gu Qishan, “Old man, drink some mush to tide you over first.”
Gu Qishan felt embarrassed to eat before anyone else.
Li Xingyue quickly took out several carrots, cut them in half, giving one half to Gu Wan’er to give to Gu Qishan first, and handed the smaller half to little Yan’er.
She returned to her room, and Gu Wan’er followed.
“Sister-in-law, are we really going to sell the herbs tomorrow morning?”
Li Xingyue smiled and nodded. “Of course. We’ll sell them and buy some meat.”
Gu Wan’er’s eyes curved into crescents with her smile.
Soon the potatoes were cooked, and everyone began eating.
Li Xingyue took one, peeled it carefully, and tasted it. It had a faint salty flavor—Madam Zhou had finally been willing to add some salt.
Simply boiled, the potatoes weren’t extraordinary, but they were better than wild vegetables and black flour.
She thought that after selling the herbs in town tomorrow, she would buy meat, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.
The others seemed to enjoy the meal. Little Yan’er praised the potatoes enthusiastically, and Gu Wan’er kept agreeing.
Li Xingyue stayed silent, just quickly finishing her meal so she could go to sleep.
Lying in bed, Li Xingyue thought of all the delicacies from her previous life—braised pork ribs, steamed sea bass, spicy hotpot with blood curd, chili chicken…
Even junk food was tempting—hamburgers and cola, barbecue and beer, desserts and milk tea…
The more she thought about it, the more she drooled. She had only transmigrated three days ago, yet it felt as if she had never eaten anything good in her life.
And indeed, the original host had never tasted such foods.
If only she had a storage space like other transmigrators—she could stockpile all kinds of delicious foods there.
As she was thinking this, little Teddy approached, making soft “woof-woof” sounds, as if trying to communicate.
The puppy tugged at her hand with its front paws. They had always been close, so Li Xingyue didn’t think much of it.
Then she noticed a flash of white light at the puppy’s neck. In the next instant, she and Teddy were inside a small room.
The room wasn’t big—about the size of her old kitchen, maybe six or seven square meters. White mist, like smoke, filled the air.
Looking closely, she saw many boxes stacked against the walls.
There were full boxes of sugar and salt, dozens of boxes of ham sausages from her previous life, dozens of cartons of milk, dozens of boxes of jerky and mineral water, even candied fruits—almost filling the entire space.
All of it was food, nothing else.
This was little Teddy’s storage space, filled entirely with his supplies.
Li Xingyue recalled the flash of light at his neck—her small bell had become Teddy’s storage room.
She couldn’t help laughing. Who said only dogs could eat these things? Humans could eat them too!
Isn’t there a saying: better to be a dog in prosperous times than a person in chaotic ones?
Such fine sugar and salt, jerky, ham sausages, candied fruits, and mineral water—all of it was far better than what they had been eating.
She hugged little Teddy, kissed its head, and laughed,
“With your storage room and my farm space, little Teddy, we can just lie back and enjoy life in this strange world.”