Chapter 380: Bound to the Birth System, Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 381: Wasteland Gathering Daily Life (9)

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Shen Yao

Cheng Qi and Shen Yu went to the small hillside to catch wild chickens.

Shen Jiancheng held a fishing net to gather river fresh from the pond, while protecting Song Ling and her daughter on one side.

Shen Yao and Song Ling seriously detected the lotus leaves growing in the pond.

Each one was taller than a person; not only were the stems thick and sturdy, but the fresh fragrance they emitted was captivating.

The pond was some distance from the base; if not for coming specially or having a means of transport, ordinary people would not choose this place for gathering.

Shen Yao's family being able to come was largely thanks to Cheng Qi's help, getting a free ride in a car; otherwise they would have had to give up this place and go elsewhere.

Didi

"Green lotus leaf, high-level mutant organism, inedible"

"Green lotus leaf stem, medium-level mutant organism, edible in moderation"

Hearing it was medium-level mutation, Shen Yao immediately took out a sickle and hacked at the stems, felling them root and all, throwing the inedible ones aside and putting the edible ones directly into her back basket.

Stems as thick as a wrist felt hard to the touch, and cool juice kept spurting from the broken places.

Shen Yao tasted it simply; the taste was unexpectedly good. No wonder the lotus roots and lotus seeds at the Exchange Center sold so expensively—you get what you pay for.

Song Ling's side also kept producing goods, whether lotus leaves or stems, all edible.

Splash—

Only heard an "ow," Song Ling had not positioned herself well and was suddenly tripped and fell down.

Shen Yao and Shen Jiancheng ran over to help her up; Song Ling pointed at her foot and said something bit her.

Huh?

Shen Yao took out a sickle and hacked at the water pond, finally prying out a huge black shell.

Shen Jiancheng, quick-eyed and quick-handed, threw the shell onto the riverbank, and the three quickly went ashore to inspect it.

"It's a river mussel from the pond"

A creature often appearing by the riverside; the mussel meat inside is edible.

Only this river mussel before them looked rather large, about the size of a washbasin.

Because just now the river mussel opened its shell and bit Song Ling, causing her ankle to swell; though the skin was not broken, it was not good to go into the water again.

Angry, Song Ling couldn't help but smash the river mussel hard twice. "How do you test this thing? It tastes bad to eat, and selling it to the Exchange Center won't get many points."

Simply a huge loss; thought it was some other edible river fresh, but it turned out to be a river mussel? A useless thing.

Song Ling whispered to Shen Jiancheng; the couple had no interest in the river mussel, but Shen Yao asked, "Will there be pearls inside?"

If I remember correctly, pearls are raised by mussels; only, compared to freshwater pearls, seawater pearls are more numerous.

When she went to the riverside before, she had the idea of opening mussels to find pearls, but unexpectedly there were not many mussels by the riverside, and each was palm-sized, with no pearls.

Now such a big mussel should be able to yield something.

After hearing this, Shen Jiancheng and Song Ling exchanged a glance. "Shall we try?"

Anyway, opening the mussel shell is not difficult, and the mussel meat's aggressiveness is not strong.

"Try, but be careful; just now Mom was bitten by the mussel." Leaving a wound would require going to the hospital to buy medicine for treatment—not worth it.

Shen Jiancheng had Shen Yao help Shen Ling move farther away, and he himself raised the sickle in his hand and hacked wildly at the tightly closed mussel shell.

One force breaks ten thousand laws; as long as the strength is great, there's no worry about not being able to open the mussel shell.

Shen Jiancheng struck who knows how many times, finally smashing the mussel shell open to reveal the mussel meat inside.

White as a sheet, emitting a fishy stench; a blow of the wind carried it far away.

Covering her mouth and nose with one hand, Shen Yao came over and grabbed Shen Jiancheng's wrist, having him use the sickle to rummage through the mussel meat.

The mussel meat's mucus had some corrosiveness, and the thick mussel meat could not be eaten.

Only hoped there would be pearls inside the mussel meat; even if the pearls were not large, reselling them to the base upper echelon could exchange for not a few food resources.

"Found it!"

Shen Jiancheng found nothing at first, but later discovered the problem.

The mussel meat was too thick; shaving off the outermost layer, there was something hard inside.

The sickle head, using force, flicked upward, and a jade-white pearl rolled out, about the size of an adult's fingernail.

Song Ling's eyes lit up; she hurriedly ran over, wrapped the pearl in tree leaves and washed it, then spread it on her hand to look at it.

Round and smooth, shining with light, truly beautiful.

"Lao Shen, one pearl can sell for quite a few points, right?" Song Ling wished she could send it to the Exchange Center right now.

You must know pearls are always something special; regardless of the degree of mutation, there are buyers.

Low and medium degrees can be ground into pearl powder to apply on the face or paired with other raw materials for beauty and skin care; high degrees can also be used to make jewelry for wearing.

"Put it away first; I'll look again," Shen Jiancheng continued to dig into the mussel meat with the sickle.

One knife after another, Shen Jiancheng struck hard; such a large mussel did not last long before it died.

Correspondingly, the mussel no longer attacked, and Shen Jiancheng's speed of searching for pearls directly increased.

Splash splash—

Finally, Shen Jiancheng dug out nearly several dozen round or oval pearls, large and small.

Among them, the most precious was not the jade-white white pearl, but the pink pearl glowing with pink light.

Song Ling was immediately charmed beyond reason, and stated that the pink pearl was not for sale; she would keep it as Shen Yao's dowry.

Shen Yao:...

"Mom, sell it for points, and our house can be exchanged for a larger one," the Exchange Center sells houses, not just C District, but B District and A District too.

Only houses in A District and B District require connections besides money, which is why the Shen Family could only live in C District.

Now that Shen Jiancheng dug up a pearl, using the pearl's special qualities, their family can definitely move to live in the safer A District and B District.

"Don't sell it, a pearl is a good thing, we'll talk about it when we get home."

Song Ling and Shen Jiancheng processed a messy pile of mussel meat, discarding what should be discarded and burying what should be buried, striving to leave no suspicious traces.

As for Shen Yu and Cheng Qi, who were not at the scene, all three agreed to keep it hidden; the fewer people who knew about the pearl, the better.

When Shen Yu and Cheng Qi returned, each carried a wild chicken in hand.

The wild chicken with bright red feathers tilted its neck, clearly having died an unnatural death.

"Mom, there are plenty of wild chickens on the hillside, and plenty of wild eggs too; we'll go there in a bit."

Compared to wild eggs, he and Cheng Qi valued the edible wild chickens that weighed several dozen jin each; after struggling to catch them for half a day, they finally brought back two edible wild chickens.

Shen Yao and Song Ling continued testing the lotus leaves, while Shen Jiancheng caught river fish from the pond.

Seeing Shen Yu say this, the three nodded, "We'll go in the afternoon and rest around here at noon."

When the sun is strong, mutations intensify, which is not friendly to us Gene Awakeners.

Hearing this, Shen Yu suggested eating roast chicken at noon; the wild chickens were caught to be eaten, and he and Cheng Qi caught two, so they couldn't just ignore them.

Song Ling:...

Song Ling rolled her eyes at Shen Yu in annoyance, "All you have is a stomach for eating."

Every day besides eating, you use your brain for nothing else; it's no wonder you're still single—you lack that nerve, and no matter how hard others try, it's all in vain.

Shen Yu:... Huh??

Shen Yu looked wronged, but still put on a face and went over to help Song Ling clean the feathers and entrails off the wild chicken.

The water in the pond is living water, with its source on a hillside not far away.

Don't let the small flow fool you; the water quality is very good, and the river fish inside taste much better than those by the river.

If it weren't for the pond's location being neither too close nor too far from the base, and if it weren't not yet lotus root season here, there definitely wouldn't be few people coming.

Shen Yao took out the seasonings she brought, just salt and some condiments.

Cheng Qi and Shen Jiancheng built a simple stove, using dry fallen leaves underneath to ignite.

A whole chicken coated with seasonings was hung on a wooden stick and carefully roasted; after a while, fragrant meat wafted out.

Shen Yu licked his mouth corner from hunger; people love meat no matter the time.

One wild chicken, after removing the skin, feathers, and entrails, left several dozen jin.

The five of them directly ate the whole chicken, and even the three big men weren't full, finishing the coarse flour mantou they brought as dessert.

Shen Yao:... No wonder Song Ling always worries about the family's food reserves; with these big eaters' rations, who wouldn't worry?

After eating and drinking their fill and resting enough, the five of them simply didn't busy themselves by the pond in the afternoon, but shifted positions to the hillside to catch wild chickens.

Shen Jiancheng and the three men mainly caught chickens, while Shen Yao and Song Ling, mother and daughter, busied themselves finding eggs.

The five split into two groups, each doing their own thing, occasionally helping one another, such as Cheng Qi pointing out discovered wild chicken nests, and Shen Yao reminding that there were wild chickens over here.

The sky grew dim, and the wristwatch on their wrists began making dripping sounds.

It turned out it was time for them to leave, already nearly four-thirty.

"Let's go, come again tomorrow if you have time," when leaving, each person held two chickens in hand, plus a whole basket of wild eggs; the five had an abundant harvest.

If it weren't for Cheng Qi driving, they really wouldn't have been able to haul everything back.

Don't think the wilderness is some utopia; natural disasters and human calamities are just as numerous.

Shen Yao sat in the passenger seat, and on the way back personally witnessed several robbery attempts, either failed or successful; order and morality had no survival soil here.

The car drove all the way to the home doorway; Cheng Qi saw the four people enter before going to return the car.

Gas money was made up with points; Cheng Qi carried the wild chickens he got, returning to his home located in B District.

Cheng Ma looked delighted, "Caught outside?" They looked quite fresh.

Cheng Qi made an affirmative sound and nodded, "Keep these few days to nourish the body; Dad and Brother go on field operations more often than I do."

They could settle down in B District, largely thanks to Cheng Fu and Cheng Dage's high official positions.

Of course, it's also high risk, high reward; otherwise Zhao Xue couldn't work at the Exchange Center; the people there are all family members who got in through connections, with lots of money, little work, and it's relaxed.

"You're off tomorrow; should we formally discuss the marriage with the Shen Family?"

Cheng Ma worried about the eldest son and ached for the youngest son, trying to keep things fair.

Cheng Qi shook his head, "Let's talk about it next time I'm off, when Dad and Brother are all home."

Tomorrow is too rushed; hurrying can easily leave a bad impression.

"Mom, I'm going out again tomorrow; this chicken meat, don't keep it too long."

Taking advantage of the father-in-law and brother-in-law both being here, Cheng Qi planned to make a good showing, hoping to gain more favor; just the mother-in-law alone was too thin.

Cheng Ma told Cheng Qi to rest assured, she'd handle the chicken meat right now, "Eat at dinner, half stewed and half braised," even if they couldn't finish it, they could keep eating tomorrow.

Cheng Qi returned to his room, head bowed, sitting on the bedside looking at messages on his wristwatch.

Shen Yao had contacted him five minutes ago, mentioning where they would go tomorrow.

If possible, go to the pond for another day; there are many wild chickens on the hillside, today's catch wasn't satisfying, and they can get another batch tomorrow.

Of course, all this is based on Cheng Qi being able to drive; if the car can't get out, they can only take the base's mission vehicle.

By then they could only go farther, trying to hunt as much meat as possible to bring back.

The Hot Rainy Season hung over everyone's heads; no one wanted to go hungry in the rain.

Cheng Qi put down his wristwatch and lay back on the bed to rest with his eyes closed.

The aroma of chicken made the Cheng family's dinner exceptionally rich, and Cheng Ma ate while lamenting that Cheng Ba and Cheng Dage weren't there to enjoy the meat.

The two children ate with happy faces, and Zhao Xue went out of her way to praise Shen Yao.

Don't look at how Little Uncle managed to bring back two wild chickens; without the Shen family's reminder, they probably wouldn't have gotten to eat any, after all, a prospective son-in-law needs to curry favor with his future in-laws, just like before Zhao Xue married in, Cheng Dage had constantly helped the Zhao family with unpaid labor.

Of course, Zhao Xue brought a substantial dowry when she married in, so the Cheng family didn't suffer for nothing.

With give and take, the Zhao and Cheng families got along well, and being in the same B District they could look out for one another.

"How is the house decoration? Are your points enough to buy furniture?"

Cheng Ma cared about her youngest son's bridal chamber issue; Cheng Qi marrying and moving out had been decided since Zhao Xue entered the household.

Over these years Cheng Qi's house selection went back and forth, finally landing in C District.

To be honest, Cheng Ma was somewhat dissatisfied; B District wasn't without houses, buying one wouldn't only be close to home but also safe, and it was certainly better than C District.

But Cheng Qi had already bought the house, and even all the decoration wasn't paid for by the Cheng family; after Cheng Ma got over her anger, she had nothing more to say.

But the compensation that should be given was given properly, and it also carried the meaning of avoiding brothers developing grudges.

Zhao Xue listened in the whole time without a word of complaint; after all, she and Cheng Dage had compensation back then, and now that it was Cheng Qi who was about to marry, by reason and emotion she couldn't find fault.

"Enough, the remaining points can still buy some base rice, flour, and oil; by then we'll have to trouble Eldest Sister-in-law," their two connections weren't broad enough, buying ordinary things was fine, but buying the base's scarce staple foods required relying on Zhao Xue's help.

Zhao Xue made a hmph sound, patting her chest and guaranteeing she would keep an eye out for them.

"As long as there's any movement at the Exchange Center, I'll immediately send word to you and Yao Yao." By then going directly to queue, we'd definitely be able to buy the first batch of grain.

The base grows its own staple grain, only the quantity isn't very large.

Releasing supply definitely wouldn't work; basically it's sold irregularly, the price is high but can't stop everyone from scrambling for it, and it's the favorite of middle-class families.

Cheng Qi thanked Zhao Xue with a smile for her help, then followed him up and returned to his room to rest.

Cheng Ma and Zhao Xue cleared away the leftover food, including the unprocessed chicken meat, putting the meat into the refrigerator to freeze, to eat at the next meal.

Early the next morning, Cheng Qi continued driving the Shen family to the pond.

Still maintaining the operation of picking lotus leaves in the morning and catching wild chickens in the afternoon.

After two days, both the Cheng and Shen families had gained over a hundred catties of fresh tender chicken meat, causing the pond to be watched by other ill-intentioned people, and since Cheng Qi rested two days before returning to the Patrol Team for work, the four Shen family members had no transport and could only give up the pond, changing places to gather.