Chapter 49: Six-Zero Farm System (15)

With the "Collection Illustrated Handbook," Xie Yang was incredibly efficient at gathering mushrooms and wild vegetables with medicinal value.

【Chicken Fir Mushroom, collectable】

【Milk Pulp Mushroom, collectable】

【Wild Grey Vegetable, collectable】

【...】

Opening the "Collection Illustrated Handbook," her eyes were like radar; whenever she scanned an edible mushroom or wild vegetable, the words 【So-and-so collectable】 would appear above it, along with three dots next to it, which, when clicked, provided a very detailed introduction.

It was a bit like an app she had used before, where scanning something would immediately bring up an introduction to the plant.

But it was much easier to use and far more comprehensive than an app.

With this little cheat, she was like a fish in water while sweeping through the mountains.

Before she knew it, she had gathered a huge pile of mushrooms and wild vegetables.

She hadn't brought a container when she came out, so she used her hoe to dig up a long vine and wove a vine basket on the spot.

But due to time constraints, it was woven rather hastily; it could only guarantee that nothing would leak out, and its aesthetic appeal was almost zero.

Seeing that it was almost time to finish work for the morning and the vine basket was full, Xie Yang stopped there.

On the way back, she picked up a bundle of dry firewood.

She had taken a bath and washed her hair yesterday, using two pots of hot water; although no one gave her a hard time, perhaps out of consideration for her contribution of rice and smoked pork belly, she heard Yang Qingqing grumbling while scooping hot water to wash up this morning, likely complaining about her water usage.

Xie Yang pondered whether to tell Li Chengguo not to assign her the female Educated Youth tasks anymore and instead put her in the male Educated Youth rotation; she could handle carrying water and gathering firewood, as it was just a matter of exerting some effort. For her, having taken the Physical Fitness Potion, strength was the one thing she didn't lack.

She took a shortcut on her way back from the valley.

Although it was a bit more tiring than the original path, it took less time, effectively being a straight line; once down the mountain, she reached Yuewan Lake, and it was only a ten-minute walk along the lake to the Youth Hostel.

"Xie Yang, did you go into the mountains? How did you pick so many mushrooms?"

"You even brought back firewood? Amazing, amazing!"

"Did you really finish work early? Didn't the Brigade Leader say anything to you?"

As soon as she arrived at the Youth Hostel, the Educated Youths who had been discussing her swarmed over.

Except for Lu Jieqiong and Wang Pandi, the others were only going by hearsay; hearing that Xie Yang had finished a half-day's work in less than two hours, and not only finished but left early, sounded like a tall tale to them.

"Remember when we first arrived? Let alone finishing early, we couldn't even finish if they gave us an extra two or three hours."

Li Chengguo looked at Xie Yang with a mix of envy and bitterness. He thought to himself, it was nothing like her; on her first day of work, not only did she finish early, but she still had the energy to go into the mountains to gather mushrooms and firewood. And the key was that she was a woman! This made them, the grown men, feel ashamed.

"Sigh, isn't that just how we are!" Chen Gang and Lin Boyu said, rubbing their sore arms and legs, and their backs that they couldn't quite straighten.

They had been assigned to carry water as soon as they arrived, and they had given up after only two round trips all morning, with half the work still left to do!

"Xie Yang, is this Great Strength of yours natural?" Lai Zhaodi asked curiously.

Xie Yang piled the unloaded firewood into the woodshed and fetched a bucket of water to wash the wild vegetables and mushrooms, intending to clean and dry them before the afternoon shift; she treated everyone's chatter as if she hadn't heard it, but seeing Lai Zhaodi ask, she smiled:

"I'm not sure either. I didn't do much physical labor at home before. It was only when I was preparing to go to the countryside a few days ago, running around carrying and lifting things, that I discovered I had quite a bit of strength."

"..."

It's not just "quite a bit," it's a lot, okay!

They were dying of envy!

If they had her Great Strength, getting full work points every day would be a breeze!

Lu Jieqiong had been upset by Li Qiaoling and had come back to hide in the dormitory for a good cry; seeing Xie Yang now, she was just about to say something snide, but heard Xie Yang saying to Li Chengguo:

"Brigade Leader, the new duty roster hasn't been finalized yet, right? I've been thinking, it's a waste not to use my strength, so why not assign me to carry water and gather firewood!"

"..."

What the hell, "it's a waste not to use it"!

Before the afternoon shift, Xie Yang hurried to get all the gathered mushrooms washed and laid out in the sun.

The tool for drying was a very tattered reed mat; it was easy for chopped dried salted vegetables to leak through, but it was fine for whole mushrooms.

She divided the wild vegetables into three batches:

Wild Onion and Shepherd's Purse to be eaten fresh;

Nostoc Commune, Wild Grey Vegetable, and Dandelion to be dried and stored, so she could send some to her aunt along with the mushrooms later;

Bracken Root to be dried and saved for now, and when she dug up more later, she would grind them all into powder. Sour and spicy bracken root starch noodles, the taste is absolutely amazing!

After finishing, she added two more buckets of water to the water vat before picking up her hoe to go to work.

Oh, and she didn't forget to take that hastily woven vine basket when she left.

The afternoon was still weeding and loosening the soil, and she still finished two hours earlier than everyone else.

However, before she could leave, the Brigade Leader arrived.

He carefully inspected her assigned field and found that there were indeed no mistakes to be found, and the look in his eyes as he turned to Xie Yang was indescribably complex.

"Xiao Xie..."

As soon as the Brigade Leader spoke, Xie Yang understood, and took the initiative to say: "Brigade Leader, assign me to the water-carrying group tomorrow."

"..." The Brigade Leader twitched the corner of his mouth, "Your Educated Youth team doesn't have a water-carrying task tomorrow."

"Then what are the male Educated Youths doing tomorrow?"

"They are reclaiming wasteland tomorrow."

"Is reclaiming wasteland full work points?"

"Yes."

"Alright! Then I'll go with them."

"..."

"Then can I finish work for today? The Task is completed."

"..."

Can't she continue once she's finished?

The Brigade Leader kept a wooden expression while complaining inwardly.

But he could only complain inwardly; after all, she really had finished.

If everyone were like her, that would be great; then he could increase the overall Task quota. Unfortunately, she was the only one who finished early, while the others were still huffing and puffing away in the fields. And if he only increased the Task quota for her alone, it would seem unfair...

In the end, the Brigade Leader waved his hand powerlessly, signaling for her to leave. Leave quickly! One more look at her and he would want to assign her more Tasks.

Xie Yang picked up her rattan basket and happily climbed over the small hill toward the real mountains. She had even troubled the Brigade Leader to help return her hoe to the Warehouse.

Tool-man Brigade Leader remained expressionless: "..."

If it weren't for the fact that you can earn full work points, do you think I'd help you carry that!

"Brigade Leader!" Seeing the Brigade Leader about to leave while carrying Xie Yang's hoe, Lu Jieqiong couldn't help but call out to him, "Isn't it against the rules for Xie Yang to be like this? Everyone else starts and finishes work on time, yet she always finishes early..."

The Brigade Leader glanced at her assigned field and said with a dark face, "The sun is starting to set, and you've only finished half? At your dawdling pace, you won't be done even when it's dark, and you still have the energy to worry about others?"

"..."

Lu Jieqiong was both ashamed and angry: "I just arrived..."

"Xiao Xie just arrived too."

"..."

She has a lot of strength!

Lu Jieqiong roared in her heart.

But the Brigade Leader had already walked off with his hands behind his back to inspect other areas, the warm early spring breeze carrying the rest of his words: "Hurry up! Stop meddling in other people's business!"

Lu Jieqiong was so angry her eyes turned red.

Did she not want to work hard? But her palms were blistered and it hurt so much she couldn't grip the hoe firmly; it was already good enough that she had finished half, sob sob sob...

Is Xie Yang even human?

She makes the rest of them look so weak!

"Xie Yang is going to clear wasteland tomorrow, so she won't be able to leave early anymore," Wang Pandi muttered quietly from the side.

Lu Jieqiong's eyes lit up. Right!

Clearing wasteland is much more tiring than loosening soil and weeding!

Let's see her show off then! Serves her right!