Chapter 383: Binding the Child-Bearing System to Become a Winner in Life Chapter 384: Wasteland Gathering Daily Life (12)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

"Chang Le Town has arrived, almost time to get off."

The driver who drove them daily habitually opened his mouth to urge people off, having become a sight at the base, routine operation.

Shen Yao and Song Ling got off one after the other, looked up at their surroundings, and finally chose a path farther from people.

When they came before, they had picked quite a few fruits; loquats and green dates were past their season, and few ripe fruits remained on the trees, so there was no need to go to great trouble to pick them.

They chose to take the path today intending to look at other fruits.

"Cheng Qi gave an internal map of Chang Le Town; there is a cherry garden over there, an early maturing variety, located relatively hidden."

If they could find it, picking some would exchange for quite a few points.

Cherries were already not small before the mutation, and after mutation they became as large as green apricots.

Moreover, mutated cherries, whether ripe or not, could all be eaten.

"Xiao Cheng said these, is there no problem with the Patrol Team side?" This counted as internal secrets, probably a place the Patrol Team used themselves to earn extra money.

Now Cheng Qi told Shen Yao, letting Shen Yao and Song Ling go pick there; no matter how she thought about it, she felt it wasn't quite right.

Shen Yao told Song Ling not to think too much, "The Patrol Team themselves agreed."

"Mom, did you forget about the Sweet Potato Garden? The Patrol Team earned benefits and can't not bleed."

How big is this cherry garden? At most just over ten cherry trees; the yield of mutated cherries isn't high, and after excluding a large half that can't be eaten, compared with the sweet potatoes of the Sweet Potato Garden, their side is still the one losing out.

Song Ling:...

Song Ling told Shen Yao to speak more quietly; things couldn't be said like that; the Sweet Potato Garden wasn't theirs, but this cherry garden belonged to the Patrol Team itself.

Shen Yao pulled Song Ling to speed up and didn't continue arguing with her. Having grown up within the base since childhood, some of Song Ling's viewpoints were hard to change.

They bypassed a sparsely populated path and arrived at a forest overgrown with thorns.

Shen Yao told Song Ling to wait, glanced left and right to confirm no one was there, then carefully pushed aside the thorns blocking the way, digging out a hole as tall as a person among them, only enough for the two of them to enter sideways.

"Mom"

Shen Yao called out, went in first herself, and after Song Ling came in, blocked the entrance again.

This was Cheng Qi's special instruction; the secret base discovered by the Patrol Team was known only to their own people, and traps were arranged around the cherry garden; if the two of them walked around casually, they might very well trap themselves.

Song Ling patted her chest, "So dangerous?"

"Cherries are valuable;" the Patrol Team weren't immortals and didn't need to eat or drink; they also needed points to support their families at home.

"Walk a few hundred meters further, and there will be cherry trees. We pick the ripe ones; as long as the cherries are edible," high mutation made them continue growing on the branches.

Song Ling made an affirmative sound, carrying her back basket and following carefully, her gaze cautiously observing every movement around them.

Fortunately, this path was absolutely safe, with no dangerous creatures.

When they reached under the cherry trees, they saw red cherries faintly visible among the green leaves.

Some were red to the point of purple, some light red, and some yellowish-white, obviously not ripe.

The two each chose different cherry trees, put down their back baskets, and carefully detected.

Drip drip

In an instant, mechanical sounds full of high mutation filled the environment where they were.

Shen Yao switched it to silent mode and detected the cherries one by one.

"Cherry, medium-level mutant organism, can be used in moderation"

She pulled it down and put it into the back basket; Shen Yao put down the branch in her hand, then pulled down a new branch to continue the relevant process.

The cherry trees were not sturdy, and because the sunlight here wasn't sufficient, the cherries produced on the trees were few; compared with several other well-known places, they seemed miniature and petite.

Shen Yao picked the cherries on the ground clean, then with one hand lifted her back basket and climbed onto the branches.

In the space of one morning, Shen Yao and Song Ling each finished detecting two cherry trees.

Calculating the remaining quantity, with some effort in the afternoon they could also go over them once.

"The cherries are not bad, but carrying them back like this will cause some small trouble."

The cherries in the back basket were big and red, every one beautiful; Song Ling looked again and again, but still decided not to pick all the cherries from the cherry garden; instead, she would change places and pick some wild vegetables to spread on top as camouflage.

"The remaining cherries, wait until tomorrow when your dad and Xiao Yu come over to do it together."

Shen Yu and Shen Jiancheng wouldn't be going far recently; with men at home, Song Ling didn't worry about anything happening.

Shen Yao made an affirmative sound, "Alright, after we rest we'll go out directly."

The location of the cherry garden needed to be concealed, to prevent someone from coming to steal their home while they were unprepared.

Under the tree was a patch of shade; the food they brought today was nutrient agents.

Half a tube each went into their bellies; although the taste was unpleasant, it could at least satisfy the human body's minimum needs, so they wouldn't have to work on an empty stomach.

Taking advantage of the afternoon light not being so strong, the two changed to another path to go out, and by the way camouflaged the places they had stepped, so as not to be discovered by others.

The facts proved they were right to be so careful, because after walking forward several hundred to less than one thousand meters, they collided head-on with a pair of men and women gathering wild fruit.

Judging by their attire alone, this man and woman looked worse off than them; they carried back baskets behind them and held a silver, coldly gleaming sickle in their hands, gazing at them warily.

Shen Yao:...

The mother and daughter exchanged a glance; to avoid conflict, they simply changed direction.

After walking some distance, Song Ling exhaled, "Just now was really scary."

She thought both sides would erupt in conflict; that man and woman looked hard to provoke at a glance.

Shen Yao soothed Song Ling for being too nervous; although the two of them were women, they weren't weak either; besides, resources were relatively abundant here, as long as they didn't snatch from each other, no one would strike to kill; the reality world wasn't as cruel and cold-blooded as in novels.

"There are some wild vegetables and mushrooms up ahead; we'll pack some to take back in a bit."

A thin layer of grass covered the top of the back basket; unless someone peeled it back, the cherries would be hard to discover.

Shen Yao and Song Ling both went up the mountain, walking along the small path trampled out by people, picking as they walked.

Fruit trees abounded around Chang Le Town; basically every three to five steps you could run into one.

Pity most of the fruit trees on the mountain hadn't reached the time to flower and bear fruit.

Lush and verdant they grew, but the result was high-mutation leaves everywhere.

Beep beep

High mutation again; Shen Yao put down the back basket and sat leaning against the tree trunk.

Song Ling was busy plucking tree leaves, planning to go back and make pickled vegetables with them to cut the grease.

"Mom, come over here quick!"

Shen Yao suddenly called out to Song Ling, startling her so she cried "Aiyo" and nearly fell.

"What is it?" Song Ling looked in the direction Shen Yao's finger pointed, eyes widening.

"Mom, those are wood ears, right?" A black mass, dense and thick, growing on the overturned dead tree.

"Hiss, this many?"

Just by visual estimate there had to be several hundred catties, all growing clinging to the ground; because surrounding trees blocked the view they hadn't noticed, and if Shen Yao hadn't gotten tired and sat down to rest, they might well have missed them because of that.

They absolutely couldn't miss them; wood ears can not only be sold but also eaten, and if the quantity is large, taking them to sell for points is also a considerable income.

Shen Yao climbed up from the ground, patted the grass fragments and leaves on her clothes, and herself circled past the blocking leaves to come before the wood ears.

Song Ling could no longer contain her emotion and began taking out the detection needle to test.

"Wood ear, medium-level mutant organism, moderate edible"

"Wood ear, lowly mutated creature, edible"

"..."

Song Ling tested five pieces in a row, each the size of a palm; only one was high mutation and inedible, the rest could all be pocketed.

Song Ling:... eyes wide, dumbfounded

"Mom, let's quickly test all the wood ears," wood ears aren't as heavy as cherries, so even if they fill the back baskets it won't be a problem.

Besides, this location is remote with few people; what they can't finish picking they can mark with the wristwatch and come back to collect tomorrow.

"Just this one patch has shipment volume; the whole area" their family wouldn't just strike it rich from this.

Song Ling's speaking voice was very light; if you didn't listen carefully there was a high probability it would be ignored.

Shen Yao knew her birth mom's excitement; her own hands didn't stop collecting, "Tomorrow let Dad and them scout the surroundings; maybe there'll be even bigger discoveries."

Like rarer wild fruits or even more eye-catching food.

Don't think there's nothing in the mountain forest; it's precisely because the mountain forest grows so dense that it lets people discover treasures again and again.

Take their neighbors around the base for example — whose family was it? They dug up several pumpkins half a person tall, average sale points over a thousand each.

There were also things like winter melons, watermelons, gourds and other large edible crops, all stumbled upon by others.

Pity these people guard the windfall locations to the death; ordinary people can't find them out, can only sigh at the melons.

Wristwatch beeps kept sounding around the wood ears; piece by piece the wood ears were picked off and put into the back baskets, quickly filling the space above.

They didn't bring hemp sacks today, only one back basket each to come test the waters.

Song Ling looked regretfully at the remaining majority of wood ears on the dead tree, couldn't help but grab two handfuls of tree leaves to cover them.

Shen Yao:... a bit like burying one's head in the sand, not much real use.

Pulling Song Ling's hand to walk out, Shen Yao deliberately tidied up the trampled traces and the spatial gaps visible from where she had sat.

Anyway the woods lack everything, only things related to trees are not lacking.

The back basket was already full; bottom was the picked cherries, middle a circle of wild grass used for concealment, top the freshly picked wood ears.

Easily shouldering it, Shen Yao and Song Ling left one after another, heading for the bus gathering point.

They returned relatively early; there was basically no one around.

Waited patiently for a while; didn't wait for companions, but instead welcomed the bus.

Then let's get on and sit first.

Swiped wristwatch to pay points; inside the bus besides the driver there were two patrol team staff.

Shen Yao and Song Ling picked the innermost seat and sat down, placing the back baskets on their shoulders beside them.

Wristwatch activity; it was Shen Yu staying at home, concerned how they were doing.

Shen Yao secretly took a photo of the back basket, telling him to go wait at the base gate in advance.

Shen Yu:...

"Chang Le Town has this many good things!!!" Exclamation marks represent surprise; Shen Yu thought they'd just break even at most, didn't expect to directly multiply several times over.

"Tomorrow come out together, bring more hemp sacks," Shen Yao still wanted to drive herself, but their family has no connections and can't always borrow Cheng Qi's light.

Forget it, forget it; taking the bus is pretty good, cheap price and don't owe favors, just a bit crowded, completely can overcome.

Silently comforting herself in her heart, Shen Yao closed her eyes and rested a bit, until more and more people returned with bundles large and small, the stationary bus started up and rushed out like an arrow leaving the bow.

Not many people on the bus, but each person had at least one full back basket beside them, some even carrying several bulging hemp sacks.

Shen Yao and Song Ling boarded early, sat in positions further back not afraid of crowding; compared to those people at the front, they could still catch a breath.

Even so, when the bus stopped at the base gate they were still nauseous enough to want to vomit.

Shen Jiancheng and Shen Yu were already waiting for them on the empty space outside. The full back baskets were received; Shen Yao and Song Ling rinsed their mouths with clear water.

"Go home first, talk when we get back," Shen Jiancheng reached out to support Song Ling, Shen Yu propped up Shen Yao, the four people queued up moving bit by bit toward home.

Until they entered the house door, Song Ling pushed Shen Jiancheng away, told someone to hurry and bring the wooden basin, "Bottom is cherries, don't know if they got crushed."

When getting off the bus front back left right all squeezing; Song Ling with two fists hard to fight four hands, could only look after herself; the things in the back basket could only be left to drift with the flow.

"The top layer of wood ear is missing two pieces; someone definitely swiped them."

People like this exist on every returning bus; they just live off this kind of petty thievery, too lazy to put in effort themselves, so they resort to things that can't see the light of day.

Song Ling felt indignant, thinking the wood ear falling into their hands was a waste of nature's bounty, even more wasteful than feeding it to pigs.

Shen Jiancheng touched Song Ling's hand, trying to calm her down a bit.

Song Ling rolled her eyes. "Rest assured, I'm just talking. There's still plenty of wood ear; tomorrow we'll all go over, guaranteed to harvest several bags' worth back."

Wood ear yields high and keeps well; Song Ling planned that besides the family eating it, she'd send some to the future in-laws, and had no intention of selling it to the Exchange Center.

Shen Jiancheng brought over a wooden basin filled with clear water; after pushing aside the top layer of wood ear and grass from the back basket, he picked out the cherries one by one and tossed them in.

The wooden basin was both large and deep, completely enough to hold the cherries they had harvested back.

The cherries, pretty as rubies, were washed clean and went straight into the four of their bellies before they could even be dried.

"Alright, tidy up; Yao Yao, you go deliver some to Cheng Qi yourself." The rest could either be frozen or refrigerated, and could also be simmered into some cherry sauce.

Song Ling nudged Shen Yao, who was lazing by the water basin unwilling to move, and stood up herself, knocking her knees.

One can't defy old age; after busying about all day, she felt her legs didn't even belong to her.

Song Ling didn't even want to cook dinner, leaving it to Shen Jiancheng and Shen Yu, who had stayed home the whole day.

The father and son showed no talent in cooking, but what they made wasn't impossible to swallow; Shen Yao and Song Ling could only make do and fill their stomachs.

"My cooking's not bad; if it doesn't work out, secretly come eat at my place."

Cheng Qi had been staying in the new room and hadn't returned to B District; when Shen Yao ran over to Song Cherry, Cheng Qi had just finished eating the food he'd cooked himself.

Mm, although it couldn't compare to Shen Yao's talent, it was much better than Shen Jiancheng and Shen Yu's.

"We've picked the Cherry Garden in Chang Le Town clean; the Patrol Team people really won't have any ideas?"

Don't offend colleagues over this little thing; Shen Yao stuffed a basket of cherries into Cheng Qi's arms, but in the end couldn't help asking anyway.