Chapter 374: After Binding the Child-Bearing System, Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 375: Wasteland Gathering Daily Life (3)

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

The plants that can grow here during the Mild Season all somewhat defy normal logic rules.

Just like the ginger Shen Yao holds in her hand right now — it clearly shouldn't grow this large, yet every single piece in this patch is at least palm-sized.

Shen Yao finds it strange, but ginger is a good thing; no matter when, drinking a bowl of water boiled with ginger when it's cold can expel cold Qi from the body.

Bending down and heaving with effort, she dug up this entire small patch of ginger, ultimately harvesting ten catties of fresh ginger.

On the other side, Song Ling and Shen Yu also gathered different kinds of wild vegetables into their baskets respectively.

There are many kinds of wild vegetables here, and the edible parts aren't limited to stems and leaves — there are also roots buried underneath.

"Mom"

Shen Yao waved to call Song Ling, pointing at a cluster of already withered yellow leaves with her finger, "Is this wild potato?"

Song Ling used to work at the Base's Planting Garden and knows the shape of potato leaves; she pinched it in her hand and rubbed it — this really is it!

"Dig"

Song Ling moved, the two of them pulled away the withered yellow stems and leaves, then followed with hoes digging fiercely downward.

Instantly, a nest of potatoes was dug out — the largest basketball-sized, the smallest also palm-sized.

However, because these were buried too long, some potatoes had already rotted, and there were also obviously sprouted ones that couldn't be eaten; in the end they only harvested two palm-sized potatoes, but the weight still reached seven or eight catties.

Song Ling's eyes shone bright, she continued searching around, and really let her discover a few more plants.

Clearly, these were left behind earlier with no one to collect them, hiding buried in the soil for an entire Cold Season.

Shen Yu was also pulled over by Song Ling; the family of three circled the surroundings, planning to dig up all the potatoes in this patch and take them away.

In between they didn't forget to collect the fish cages and fishing nets in the water; the three worked with great enthusiasm, and by the time Shen Jiancheng hurried over, they had already filled Little One's back basket with potatoes.

This was a true windfall find — simply even harder than winning the lottery.

Having Shen Jiancheng pack the potatoes into hemp sacks for safekeeping, Song Ling was brimming with confidence, planning to continue wandering around to see if there were any other missed staple crops.

Shen Yao held no hope for this — after all, other staple crops growing above ground fundamentally can't survive several months, and most staple crops growing underground have already rotted; discovering these potatoes was truly luck, otherwise after some more time when the weather warms up, these potatoes would just rot in the fields and fertilize the soil.

Shen Jiancheng's arrival gave them added confidence, and the harvest from the fishing nets and fish cages by the river was even greater.

Slowly quite a few people gathered around — all eyeing covetously, wanting a share of the pie.

Of course, they didn't dare move to snatch; they still had the sense to read the room.

"Change location"

Shen Jiancheng pulled the indignant Shen Yu, father and son selecting a new spot and directly casting nets.

There were also some reeds nearby; newly sprouted reed heads are good weaving materials, including for the mattress at home and the bamboo mats used for drying.

Shen Yao and Song Ling put the gathered wild vegetables into the back basket, then carried machetes to cut grass.

Perhaps luck was good today; there were traces of wild ducks living in the reeds. Although they didn't catch any live wild ducks, they picked up a few wild duck eggs.

Green shells no larger than a palm, still warm to the touch. After Mo Pi detection, two were Low Mutation, the remaining eight were all High Mutation.

"Take them back to the Exchange Center — one High Mutation wild duck egg is worth five points, can buy four catties of rice."

Song Ling felt today's outing was blessed by a lucky star; no matter what they did there was a harvest.

If every day were like this, their family would definitely be able to store enough food before the Hot Rainy Season arrives.

"Mom, let me and Dad go take a look — maybe there are more wild duck eggs in the reeds."

Shen Yu's eyes burned with desire, wanting to come join the excitement.

"No, you're responsible for catching fish; we're having pan-fried fish when we get back today." Song Ling felt the Reed Marsh was relatively dangerous and didn't dare let the two go in.

You have to know, when they picked up wild duck eggs, they were only wandering around the outside.

Shen Yu secretly thought it a pity, could only continue focusing on the fishing nets and fish cages by the river with Shen Jiancheng.

The fishing nets and fish cages had a good harvest; even though quite a few people came to the river today, the Shen family was slowly surrounded by a circle of clearly ill-intentioned men and women.

Don't look at Shen Jiancheng's fierce appearance — the man himself likes to make money harmoniously; he pulled back Shen Yu who wanted to go forward and argue, father and son changed spots and continued fishing.

"Dad"

Shen Yu looked aggrieved — those skinny-as-monkeys people he could take five on one, he wasn't afraid of them at all.

"Waste of time; let's catch a few more good fish." Shen Jiancheng had a plan in mind, pointed at the lively jumping river fish and told Shen Yu to speed up detection, "Nothing is more important than meat; don't fuss over so much."

Shen Yu: ……

Not far away, Shen Yao stared motionlessly at the snake before her — wrist-thick, its body looking mottled green and colorful.

She sucked in a cold breath; didn't expect that after the Cold Season truly is when snakes revive — she actually ran into a big treasure.

Catching it — she didn't dare; not only did she not dare, Shen Yao was afraid this snake would bite her — if it was venomous, she had no antidote to take.

Slowly retreating backward, trying not to startle the coiled snake before her, Shen Yao tugged at Song Ling, covering the other's mouth the moment Song Ling opened it.

Song Ling: ……?!!!

Pulled backward by Shen Yao, Song Ling walked until the distance from the snake's position was far enough; only then did Shen Yao release her wrist and tell her about the snake.

"What are you spacing out for — hurry find your dad and your brother, we're going back to the Base."

There's a snake — Song Ling's first reaction was to run; that's not something ordinary people can handle.

Shen Yao hummed twice; mother and daughter carried their half-full back baskets and ran toward the riverbank, chattering all at once to the busy Shen Jiancheng and Shen Yu about the snake situation.

Shen Jiancheng and Song Ling reacted the same — hurriedly packed up the fishing nets and fish cages, then shouldered hemp sacks and carried back baskets, the family hurried back.

On the road encountering riverbank people, Shen Jiancheng would mention to each that there was a snake ahead; as for whether others believed it or left, that had nothing to do with their family.

"Sigh, don't know if we can come again tomorrow?" Song Ling felt heartache for the riverbank Fengshui treasure land — these past few days it had contributed quite a lot of food to them.

"Listen to the child; what if that snake was just showing itself, then hid away? We can still come over."

Shen Jiancheng held no hope; this time of day was originally suited for snakes to be active, and with snake traces discovered at the riverside, it was best not to come over frequently for the time being.

"We got home early today; luckily we still dug up a hemp sack of potatoes, otherwise just the base entry fee would have been a loss."

Song Ling's heartache over the points was useless; she thought that when she had time she still had to go elsewhere to gather wild vegetables — the Small Bamboo Forest in East City was good, the Small Hillside in City West was fine too, and she remembered a patch of lotus root growing in a pond in North City... The more Song Ling thought, the hotter her heart burned; these were all grain.

Because the family of four returned early, there were not many people queuing at the base gate.

Swiped points to enter the city, walked home on foot, and conveniently stayed in the courtyard to process today's harvest.

The potatoes went straight into the Storage Room; it was shaded and ventilated there, no fear of spoilage. The gathered wild vegetables were washed clean, then Song Ling rubbed salt on them to pickle them. As for the river delicacies, besides drying them, they were made into salted fish to keep for later consumption.

"The household salt isn't enough; Lao Shen, you go to the Exchange Center and buy some back.

By the way, exchange those few wild duck eggs too, and the house has no spare jars and canisters — just buy some back, and push the cart over..."

Song Ling spoke, and Shen Jiancheng couldn't get a word in edgewise; by the time he came to his senses, the cart was already at his feet, and the wristwatch on his hand had received a large sum of points.

Shen Jiancheng:...

Shen Jiancheng wiped his face, turned around, and left. The other three at home continued busy with their tasks, striving to finish tidying up before dark.

"Lao Song, Lao Song."

Outside the main gate, a middle-aged woman with short hair waved at Song Ling.

Song Ling hurried over, and the two stood at the doorway muttering for a good while before finishing.

"Mom, what did Aunt Zhou want with you?" That was the Shen Family's next-door neighbor; their household had more people, and they also had two gene-awakened pillars.

However, because there were many people and mouths were mixed, the Zhou Family liked all sorts of noisy quarrels; Shen Yao didn't want to deal with them and generally didn't go over.

Song Ling let out a "hai" sound: "Nothing, just mentioning that outside isn't peaceful; today someone was bitten by a mosquito-snake or something, heard it was quite serious."

Going out scavenging — which day doesn't have a few accidents to be complete? Today they ran into a snake at the riverside, and in her heart she complained that Lao Zhou was making a fuss over nothing; cowardly yet daring to run to dangerous places every day.

Shen Yao heard this and let out an "oh": "We'll wear thicker clothes when we go out tomorrow," trying to make it so that even if bitten, the bite wouldn't penetrate — though this was a bit difficult; mosquito-snakes and the like had already grown several times in size, and a vicious bite could tear off a chunk of flesh.

Song Ling nodded casually, clearly not taking Shen Yao's words to heart.

Shen Yao:...

Fine, already used to it; anyway, her own birth mother has always been like this.

The fish in her hands had already been washed clean and laid out; Shen Yao cleaned the filth off herself, until Shen Jiancheng returned from outside pulling the cart.

He bought quite a few things, including the salt Song Ling wanted and several canisters and jars.

Shen Jiancheng wiped his face and murmured with emotion about their timely return: "Something happened at the riverside!"

Something happened?!

"Is it related to that snake?" Song Ling pressed, not forgetting to open the salt bag and rub rub rub on the washed wild vegetables.

Shen Jiancheng nodded: "Two snakes as thick as thighs ran out and ate several people; the base Patrol Team has already organized manpower to go deal with it; I estimate these two days we temporarily can't go to the riverside."

The harm of Mutated Beasts is far greater than ordinary wild beasts; those snakes grew as tall and large as a person, and one mouthful could swallow an adult whole.

The base isn't certain how many such snakes are hiding at the riverside; to be safe, the riverside definitely has to be sealed.

Song Ling felt it a pity: "Then the fish aren't wasted? What about the fish cages and fishing nets our family wove?" They were all important grain-earning tools for their family.

Shen Jiancheng signaled Song Ling not to rush; unable to go to the South City riverside, they could go to the Small Bamboo Forest in East City to dig bamboo.

Besides, the riverside being sealed is just for a few days; once the ban is lifted, they can go over and catch just the same.

"Aren't you always complaining the household tools aren't enough? Just right — the bamboo in the bamboo forest grows well," chop a few stalks and bring them home to add to the household tools.

Song Ling thought a moment: "Indeed, that's the logic. Mhm, then let's go to the Small Bamboo Forest."

With tomorrow's destination decided, it seemed the riverside being sealed didn't affect them either.

As usual, they organized the food brought back; in the evening the family ate pan-fried fish meat and drank fish soup; Song Ling even cut a piece of meat to slow-stew over a low fire, planning to eat it early tomorrow morning.

Although Song Ling liked to complain about this and nag about that, when it came to the family's food, Song Ling was generous; compared to other families thin as hemp stalks, the Shen Family of four all had meat on their bones.

Returned to the room and slept; opened eyes and it was a new day.

Shen Yao got up, dressed, washed up; after eating breakfast, the family of four changed direction and headed for the Small Bamboo Forest in East City.

On the road they ran into other people, and could still hear them discussing the riverside matter with one another.

Yesterday afternoon, the Patrol Team people went to the riverside and suffered no small shock; turns out those two snakes weren't the masterminds — behind them lurked an even larger, longer snake.

The Patrol Team people had weapons, yet even so people were injured; not only did they fail to catch the snake, they let it escape; heard the riverside would be sealed for several days, until safety was ensured before it could reopen.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you don't know; quite a few people left not even bones."

"South City is this dangerous too; wherever we go gathering isn't safe."

"..."

Shen Yao listened with tilted ear, not forgetting to commit the content to memory and slowly ponder it.

This body's memories weren't very complete; for some relatively common-sense content, she couldn't ask too much, lest she arouse family suspicion.

So most of the time Shen Yao relied on others' words to slowly supplement what she lacked, letting herself better adapt to current life.

Soon, East City arrived; the four queued to exit, and together with a crowd of people rushed toward the not-far Small Bamboo Forest direction.

The Small Bamboo Forest wasn't far from the base; journeying there took only half an hour.

Moreover, this bamboo forest was not small at all; visibly, the bamboo forest stretched beyond sight, inside full of fallen leaves and rock fragments, and old bamboo shoots that had sprouted and aged.

The bamboo forest has always been a place people love to come; here there are not only bamboo to use, but also bamboo shoots, Bamboo Sun, bamboo rats, bamboo worms, and so on.

Shen Yu wanted to catch two bamboo rats to bring back; bamboo rats are a species that eat bamboo, their meat tender and delicious; right now mutated bamboo rats, though each could be half a person tall with increased lethality, if they truly caught one it would be enough for the family to pick their teeth for quite a few days.

Not just Shen Yu; eight or nine out of ten people in the crowd that came over were here for bamboo rats.

Shen Jiancheng planned to chop bamboo; Song Ling and Shen Yao planned to pick bamboo leaves and dig bamboo shoots; since Shen Yu was catching bamboo rats, he should just be careful himself: "Mind safety, don't force it."

Shen Yu waved his hand, grinned, turned his head, and walked toward the depths of the bamboo forest.

Didi

"Bamboo shoots, Highly Mutated Plant, inedible"

"Bamboo Sun, High-level Mutant Organism, Inedible"

"..."

Off to a bad start, Shen Yao rummaged for a long time but didn't touch a single Edible thing.

Song Ling had already picked quite a lot of bamboo leaves; although they can't be eaten, drying them to drink as tea isn't bad either, the Exchange Center receives dried bamboo leaves at eight Points per Catty.

It's just that dried bamboo leaves don't weigh heavy on the scale, Selling them isn't Cost-effective, Unless it's a particularly Difficult family, otherwise the bamboo leaves picked and brought back are all for Home use.

A mound bulged out underfoot, Shen Yao nearly fell out and knocked into it.

She took out the hoe and dug at the mound, Discovering it was newly emerged Bamboo Shoots.

"Bamboo Shoots, Low Mutation Plant, Edible in Large Amount"

Shen Yao Finished Listening and her eyes Brightened, nimbly carrying the hoe to Seriously dig a pit.