Chapter 3 - 3

Chapter 3 Black MarketThe old woman quickly filled the sack with rice, wrapping it into two bundles with old newspapers. "Take good care of it, don't let anyone see it." As she handed over the paper bundles, her fingertips touched the calluses on the old woman's palms, like holding a piece of rough tree bark.Sigh! These days, life is tough for everyone."Auntie, do you have any seeds?"What kind of seeds do you want?"Vegetables and fruits are fine.""I happen to have some here, but I can't quite tell what kind of seeds they are. Here you go! Five cents, you can take them all." The old lady took out a packet of seeds from a bag next to her.Yun Ting took it and handed the old lady five cents."Thank you, ma'am. Are all these seeds good?""Don't worry, they are definitely good seeds."Afterwards, Yun Ting bought some apples. They were 70 cents a pound. They didn't look very good, but in this era of scarcity, they were a rare commodity. She bought five pounds and spent three dollars and fifty cents.Pork was 1.2 yuan per jin (500g), and she bought two jin, which was pork belly. Although it was more expensive than the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, the Supply and Marketing Cooperative had run out of meat long ago.After leaving the black market, she looked around and, finding no one, used her mind to store some of the items into her spatial storage, keeping only a few with her. Otherwise, it wouldn't be right to go back empty-handed and then take them out again.I was thinking of going to State-run Restaurantto try the food, but looking at the time, it's almost lunchtime, so I'll postpone it to another day!Although her mother said she would come back to cook lunch, she was perfectly fine at home. How could she just sit there and wait to be eaten?Back home, after tidying up her things, she went back to her room, locked the door, and eagerly entered the space. She touched the water in the enamel mug; it was still warm. It seemed that this space could preserve food. Things would be exactly the same as what she put in and take out. This made things much easier; she could stock up on more food so she wouldn't go hungry when she went to the countryside.She took out the rice stalks, looked at the black soil—six plots in total—but she didn't have a hoe. How could she plant them? Should she just scatter the seeds?"If only it could be controlled with my mind like other spaces..." As soon as she finished speaking, the seeds in her hand were automatically sown into the black soil, and a small seedling sprouted right away.This is... amazing!She planted rice on four plots of black soil. On the remaining two plots, she took out a large bag of seeds and tried planting some of each type to see what kind of seeds they were."Oh right, how could I forget? What about myWood Element Ability?" She slapped her forehead.She took out her hand, still covered in rice husks, from her cloth bag and quietly breathed on the rice in the paper package—the top layer of grains actually moved, and a very pale green peeked through the gaps in the rice husks, as if someone had made a small dot with a colored pen."They really followed me, haha..."She quickly ran over and urged the newly sprouted seedlings with her fingertips. The seedlings straightened up at a speed visible to the naked eye. What was originally a short, small seedling grew to the calf in the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea under the stimulation of her Wood Element Ability."Tsk...too weak, still at the beginner level, how did she get downgraded?" If it were with her previous advanced Supernatural Ability, the rice would have been ripe and ready for harvest by now.She drank some spiritual spring water, and her mental energy, which had been depleted, was restored. It seems that drinking this spiritual spring water is indeed beneficial; she should drink more of it in the future.She continued to urge the rice in the field to grow. When her spiritual energy was exhausted, she continued to drink spiritual spring water. She repeated this several times until the rice ears formed and the rice matured. Only then did she stop.She harvested the first crop of grain using only her mind, and she was completely satisfied.The grains were automatically collected into the thatched hut. When she went to check, she found that they had automatically husked and were all white and tempting rice.Wow! That's amazing!She then started stimulating the seeds, most of which were vegetables and melons, with fewer fruits. There were jujube trees, apple trees, and loquat trees, but that was it. The last type of seed stimulated the sapling, but she couldn't tell what kind of tree it was yet. She didn't have the time or energy to push it to grow bigger and bear fruit right now, so she could only wait until another day."go out."After leaving the space, I checked the time. Only ten minutes had passed, but four hours had already passed inside.She went to the kitchen and saw a bunch of green beans, two eggplants, and a few tomatoes.After thinking for a moment, she decided to make green beans and eggplant, braised pork, and tomato and egg soup.She took out some rice from her spatial storage and started steaming it. If her family asked, she would say that she had bought it.She already knew how to cook, and although she wasn't a professional chef, her food wasn't bad either.She deftly cut the meat first, then prepared the green beans and eggplant.I'll dig out some garlic cloves from the corner; I'll add some seasoning later.Yun Ting quickly cooked all the dishes, leaving only the tomato and egg soup. She only cracked two eggs, since there was already meat today. She knew her mother Yun would definitely nag her about it later." Old Yun! Is that the smell of meat wafting from your house?" Uncle Li from next door, who also works at Steel Plant with Father Yun, came home together after work."Really? My husband works too! How could he have time to buy meat?"When I got to my own doorstep, the aroma became even stronger."Could it really be roasted pork?" Father Yunmuttered as he pushed open the door."Second sister, when did your cooking become so good?" Yun Xu ate a piece of braised pork, smacking her lips as if she wanted more."Dad, we're in for a treat today! My second sister made braised pork."Yun Ting had just brought the dishes out when she said, "Dad, you're back." She had thought that she would feel a little awkward calling him "Dad" since she had never done it before, but to her surprise, she called him that naturally."Honey, did we make braised pork?"Before Yun Ting could answer, Mother Yun andEldest Brother Yun returned." Ting Ting, where did you get the meat?""It smells so good!" Eldest Brother Yunexclaimed."I went out to buy it today...""Did you go to that place? You little brat, you're incredibly bold..." Mother Yun looked at her sternly."Mom, I'm being very careful...""Hey! Hurry up and eat. Our daughter knows what she's doing, don't be so harsh." Father Yuncouldn't bear to see his daughter being scolded and spoke up to stop her."That's right, Mom, please don't blame my second sister.""Yes, it's so hard for my little sister to cook,"Eldest Brother Yun chimed in."Eat, eat, all you guys care about is eating! Am I the bad guy? I'm doing this for her own good. What kind of place is that? Is it a place you can just go anywhere?""Mom, I know I was wrong. I won't go next time. Please don't be angry." Yun Ting hugged her mother Yun's arm and apologized."You! You remember now."Seeing her little girl's expression, Mother Yunsoftened and couldn't bear to say anything more to her."Little sister, your cooking is really good." Eldest Brother Yun ate with his mouth full of oil."Why does this rice taste so good? It seems different from before?" Yun Xu asked, taking a couple of bites of rice."I met an old lady and traded some rice with her," Yun Ting said softly, glancing cautiously at her mother, who rolled her eyes at her."Mom, there's still meat. Let my sister come home for dinner tonight! I'm going to the countryside in a couple of days."The smiles of the people who were happily eating together vanished, and the atmosphere became somewhat somber.