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The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Yezhi carried a wooden bucket to the backyard. The backyard had truly become a vegetable garden, filled with vibrant purple eggplants, lush green beans, yellow-green cucumbers, and bluish-green oats, along with newly planted pale Daylily roots. The garden was full of life, radiating an invigorating freshness. After watering the more than 100 square meters of the vegetable patch, the orange-red sun had already climbed over the mountain and peeked out.
Returning to the front yard, Yezhi took two warm red-shelled eggs from the chicken coop hanging from the tree. In the kitchen, Aunt Zhou was already cooking millet porridge. Yezhi placed the eggs in a basket; ever since she arrived, there had never been more than five eggs in that basket.
"Master, the Cosmic Express has arrived!"
Upon hearing Xiao Fang's report, Yezhi hurried to the backyard and took out saplings of Curly Willow and Tingli Pine from the Express Box. With a whoosh, the Express Box disappeared. Xiao Fang had mentioned that when the Cosmic Delivery Box entered Earth's atmosphere, it actually slowed down by 100,000 times. Yezhi couldn't imagine how fast it must have been flying through space. Xiao Fang said this was the power of technology; if Earth continued on its current trajectory for another 100,000 years, it could achieve similar feats. In 100,000 years, she would have turned to fossil!
"Girl, it's time to eat!" Aunt Zhou's call interrupted Yezhi's daydreaming. She brought back a large and a small bag of saplings and hid them in a big wooden box.
Yezhi sat across from Aunt Zhou at the kang table, eating a breakfast made entirely of corn. The more she ate, the less flavorful it became. She really wanted to drink some millet porridge and eat soup dumplings or noodles. After forcing down half a bowl of millet porridge and taking a couple of bites of corn cake, she gave the rest to Black Treasure, who was happily eating while Aunt Zhou wasn't paying attention. She patted Black Treasure's round head and informed Aunt Zhou that she wouldn't be home for lunch today because she was taking her only textbook to teach Kids.
After successfully finishing her morning class with One Egg and Er Zhu along with seven other kids all over ten years old, they pulled out their extra assignments that Yezhi had given them for review.
Flipping open their clean and tidy notebooks, besides math problems, there were daily sentences each child was required to write. Among these seven kids, Er Zhu had a foundation; his sentences were the most complete. One Egg had learned earlier and wrote two-thirds in characters and one-third in pinyin; any words he couldn't spell were crossed out. The other kids were even worse off. However, through these daily sentences over the past ten days, they recognized more characters and learned faster. Remembering how they all wrote on the first day—except for One Egg—everyone else wrote uniformly: "I am Zhou Chacha; my parents are Zhou Chacha; Zhou Chacha; my teacher is Chachacha." She couldn't help but smile; learning should start with self-awareness. Therefore, she added lessons for Kids so that each of them could clearly understand themselves. After correcting the mistakes and unrecognized characters for all seven kids, she stepped out of the classroom just as noon arrived under the blazing sun.
With her self-sewn large cloth bag on her back and riding her folding bike, Yezhi made her way to the county town with some trepidation. Why trepidation? Because there were far more cars and people at noon than in the morning. Yezhi awkwardly rubbed her backside while complaining to Xiao Fang about it; Xiao Fang also felt that after trying out the folding bike, its safety was too poor and suggested switching to a more expensive one. Yezhi rolled her eyes; she wanted to as well but didn't have any money!
Walking along the spacious street amidst crowds dressed in dull shades of gray, black, and blue made Yezhi feel hot just looking at them. When would she be able to wear something cooler? When would summer finally feel like summer?
"Ice pops! Refreshing ice pops!" An elderly lady shouted while walking down the street. Yezhi pulled out a dime and approached her. The lady opened a wooden box wrapped in layers of cotton-padded jackets and took out an ice pop before giving Yezhi eight cents change. Unwrapping it and taking a bite revealed a sweet and refreshing taste—pure water with sugar flavor—perfect for cooling off!
"Excuse me, where's the nearest pharmacy?" Asking this ice pop-selling lady who was wandering through the streets was sure to yield good results; she enthusiastically pointed out directions.
After turning two corners, "First Pharmacy" came into view with its golden signboard. Upon entering the pharmacy, a strong scent of traditional Chinese medicine filled her nostrils. An elderly man with long silver hair and old-fashioned round glasses was diagnosing patients while a thin but shrewd old man accompanied by a clever young boy prepared medicine for others.
"Excuse me, sir, do you have any Fo-Ti for sale?"
After handing the medicine to the patient, the old man reached out his hand for the prescription from Yezhi. Yezhi was taken aback and shook her head. The old man tapped on the brown paper bag containing the medicine and asked, "How much do you need?"
"I need a whole piece, an aged one!" Yezhi said hopelessly.
The old man laughed, "Young lady, we at this small shop would like to buy aged ones too, but even if we had some, I wouldn't sell it."
"I'll pay a high price; just tell me how much!" Yezhi began throwing money at him, but the old man shook his head and refused with a smile.
Feeling dejected, Yezhi walked out of the pharmacy, feeling both amused and frustrated. On Earth, she couldn't buy things even with money; in the universe, she couldn't buy things without money. Why was it so difficult to make a purchase?
"Young lady, I have a thirty-year-old Fo-Ti that I was just about to sell at the pharmacy. It sounds like you really need it," said a tall, skinny farmer with a hunchback.
Yezhi squinted her eyes and looked him up and down. The mud on his straw sandals indicated he was from the countryside. People from the 80s were quite simple; he shouldn't be... a scammer, right?
"Where is the Fo-Ti?"
The farmer rubbed his hands together and pointed to a cart not far ahead. On the cart lay several dried herbs. He pulled out a short, thick root covered in black mud from a sack. Yezhi quietly activated her glasses' identification function, and the data floated in green light made her laugh out loud. The farmer chuckled along with her, saying, "I dug it up in the mountains!"
Yezhi weighed the Fo-Ti in her hand and asked, "It's quite heavy; how much do you want for it?"
The farmer rubbed his hands again and finally managed to say after a long pause, "How about... 30 yuan?" Thirty yuan was quite a bold price; at that time, most people's wages were only around ten or twenty yuan. She pulled out a stack of small bills from her cloth bag and handed them to the farmer. "Count it!"
The farmer obediently bent down to count the money. Suddenly, Yezhi's eyes glinted with malice as she took a few steps back and then charged at him, kicking him hard between his legs—the most vulnerable spot for any man. The farmer immediately clamped his legs together and fell to his knees. While punching and kicking him on the ground, Yezhi shouted, "Catch the scammer! Catch the scammer! You dare to deceive even your aunt! Catch the scammer! You must be bold as a bear or leopard to act so innocent! Hmph! Catch the scammer...!"
The farmer groaned, "Oh no! Oh~ no!" This scrawny girl was so fierce; he had to run. If he got caught, he couldn't stay in the village, and what would happen to his mother then? With that thought, tears and snot streamed down the farmer's face.
The crowd watching grew larger and larger. For the sake of her image, Yezhi gave up on hitting him. What she didn't know was that in the eyes of the onlookers, she had already been labeled as tough and fierce.
The farmer staggered to his feet, trying to escape! The crowd was different from those in the 21st century; everyone was brave enough to stand up against evil forces. Everyone puffed out their chests and surrounded the farmer. A strong man directly lifted him up, saying he would take him to the police station.
"Comrade police, the scammer is here!" Someone called out, attracting two young men in white police uniforms. Yezhi stepped forward and rapidly explained the situation to an older officer with a square face. Three members of the crowd had seen Yezhi pay the farmer, and the younger round-faced policeman took a piece of Fo-Ti to ask a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner at First Pharmacy about its authenticity. After some questioning, both Yezhi and the scammer were taken into the police station.
Inside the shabby police station, it was eerily quiet, giving off a chilling feeling. Yezhi was hunched over, sweating profusely! Her stomach hurt! Damn that scammer and damn those police officers; why did it take three big men so long to record statements? She felt like she was going to die from pain when suddenly a pair of straight long legs appeared before her. Yezhi looked up to see a young man in white police uniform: Wheat-Colored Face, with sharp features; his deep black eyes were distant; thick eyebrows over a straight nose and thin lips pressed tightly together. He was handsome but clearly not someone easy to get along with.
This brat, has he stared enough? Trying to compete with me in eye size? Yezhi widened her almond-shaped eyes to meet Handsome Police Officer's gaze, but he turned away to pour hot water instead. "Hey, comrade police, when can I leave?"
The aloof Handsome Police Officer said nothing as he placed a metal thermos filled with hot water on the table in front of Yezhi and left the office. This... this is what they call public servants? Didn't they see her pale face drenched in cold sweat? Why did everyone she encountered not resemble those diligent public servants portrayed on television who genuinely cared for the people? The more agitated Yezhi became, the more her stomach twisted in pain.
"Yezhi, if you sign here, you can leave!" The round-faced policeman's appearance finally rescued her from nearly fainting due to pain.
Stepping out of the police station, the sun was almost setting. Holding her stomach, Yezhi walked for about ten minutes before spotting a roadside food stall with wooden tables. After drinking a bowl of warm millet porridge and nibbling on a steamed bun, her frequently cramping stomach felt somewhat better.
After much effort arriving at the Department Store, she found its wooden doors tightly shut. It seemed today was a wasted trip. Yezhi hid in an alley and summoned Xiao Fang to activate Light and Shadow Concealment Technique before pulling out her folding bike from a large cloth bag.
Riding her folding bike against the backdrop of fiery red sunset clouds, Yezhi set off on her way home.
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