Chapter 60 - 59: Setting the Fish Traps

Chapter 60: Chapter 59: Setting the Fish Traps

"These seeds are one point per seed!"

Huai Yu was instantly torn.

The vendor glanced at her and curled his lip. "You’re all skin and bones. Don’t bother with this useless stuff; get something that can actually fill your stomach."

He pulled out a small basket from the side.

"Seeds are hard to grow, and it’s still too early in the season. They’re very difficult to keep alive. If I didn’t used to have a terrace garden, I wouldn’t be able to grow them well either.

"Little girl, if you don’t have experience, you might as well buy this.

"Large potatoes, 15 points each. They might seem expensive, but you can take one home, cut it up, dip it in some plant ash, and grow quite a few plants! These are much more filling than peppers."

The potatoes in the basket probably had a high Mutant Value. Just hearing the price made it clear they held more pollution than the peppers, and they were unusually large. Huai Yu measured them with her hands; a single potato was about the size of three fists.

If she took it back to sprout, wouldn’t one potato be able to be divided into at least six or seven root pieces? Once the potato sprouts grew and she divided them again, wouldn’t that mean...

She looked conflicted as she checked her points. How tragic—her remaining points weren’t even enough to buy two potatoes! After a moment of hesitation, she picked the largest one.

The vendor reminded her, "This one is the biggest, so its Mutant Value is definitely high... Don’t blame me if it tastes bad later." After some thought, he tried to persuade her again, "Why don’t you buy a smaller one? It takes at least three months for these potatoes to grow. In three months, things might be better than they are now, and you won’t have to eat something so awful."

Huai Yu shook her head. "I’d better focus on staying full first."

Her words carried a profound sense of melancholy, which also made the vendor sigh in sympathy. He turned and grabbed a handful of dry grass to wrap the potato. "Putting a single potato in such a large basket—you’d better pad it so it doesn’t get bruised later."

Carrying her hoe, Huai Yu looked at her few remaining points and couldn’t help but sigh again as she got on the bus. While setting up a stall was fun, if she truly wanted to get rich, it seemed she still had to rely on Boss Tang.

She didn’t mind spending two points on the bus ride to the Red Victory Trading Market, but spending it to return from the Golden Yuan District—which was so close—still made Huai Yu wince at the cost.

Along the way, she carefully estimated the distance and figured that it would only take about twenty minutes by bicycle. Thinking back to all the various tools people had brought out while setting up stalls today—flatbed carts, bicycles, strollers, delivery trolleys, and many uniform-colored former shared bikes... if she brought out her own bicycle now, it probably wouldn’t stand out too much, right?

Figuring this out meant she could quietly save some money. Furthermore, as everyone’s lives got back on track, she would become safer as well. Her mood lightened up.

After bustling about for so long this morning, harvesting cogon grass shoots, and visiting the Golden Yuan District, it was still only 11:00 AM when she returned. Huai Yu couldn’t help but marvel at the importance of transportation and distance. She then took out the large potato and first gave it a round of purification. Following that, she carefully poked her head out and glanced at the Rose Corridor, which was resting quietly under the sunlight.

Seeing that there was only a gentle breeze around, she cautiously applied a tiny bit of her Inducing Ability. Before the potato could fully react, she hurriedly shoved it into a plastic bag. She tied the bag shut and placed it directly on the grass outside the door, which had been baked warm by the sun. Then, she grabbed a straw mat and covered it up. This would quickly raise the temperature to speed up the sprouting process without letting the potato get damaged by the direct sunlight.

Back inside, she lifted the wet towel to check her crops. The new batch of soybeans had already sprouted tender shoots about two centimeters long. They would be ready to sell by the day after tomorrow at the latest.

Huai Yu took her hoe and tilled the initial twenty-square-meter vegetable patch once more, then built up neat rows of ridges. Following that, she lightly dug out a row of small holes along the ridges. Using the hoe this way was actually much smoother and more convenient than the multi-purpose shovel.

However, once the holes were dug, she stared at the soil—dry on the surface but moist underneath—and began to ponder. Should she induce the seeds before planting them and rely on the legumes to absorb the pollution, or should she plant them first and purify them little by little?

Looking at the soybeans and then at the plot of land, Huai Yu decisively chose the former.

She grabbed a handful of soybeans and gently washed over them with her energy, inducing them. Once she felt the embryos begin to stir, she carefully dropped them into the soil pits. Digging the twenty-square-meter area was exhausting, but planting was exceptionally fast. Before long, she had covered everything back up with a layer of soil.

She hadn’t used much effort during this round of inducing, but if her estimate was correct, tender shoots would probably break through the soil in the next day or two.

Glancing at the meager amount of soybeans she had left, Huai Yu sighed. She checked the sky and decided to make another trip to Sanqing Mountain.

Points sure were spent quickly!

Selling wild vegetables was still something that attracted unwanted attention these days.

Upon entering the mountain, Huai Yu spotted a dandelion that had already bloomed with yellow flowers. She pinched off a leaf and tasted it, finding it far more unpalatable than the dandelions growing on the land at the Rose Mansion. Just one bite was enough to contort her face in agony.

She guessed that the Mutant Value on the mountain was much higher than at the foot of the mountain. Such highly polluted wild vegetables probably wouldn’t fetch a good price, but purifying them would draw too much attention. After mulling it over, she realized her only option was to harvest them, take them back, and dry them out in the current sunny weather to store for her own consumption.

Alas, humans truly were insatiable.

When drinking nutrient solutions, getting a single bite of a green leaf felt like a rare worldly treasure. Now that she was eating rice and flour, she was starting to crave meat. No matter how these wild vegetables were prepared, without enough seasoning, they just tasted like grass. She felt that if she ate them for too long, even her face would turn green.

Huai Yu sighed, but her hands didn’t hesitate in the slightest. As long as the wild vegetables were growing in large, dense patches, she harvested some of them. She pressed the contents of her basket down again and again until it was packed to the brim.

By this time, she happened to arrive at the pool of water she had seen on her last trip. The water around the edges of the pool was clear and shallow, with tiny fish swimming about, looking quite tender. However, recalling the stinging pain when one had slapped the back of her hand with its tail last time, she didn’t dare let her guard down.

But the water was truly crystal clear.

Huai Yu reached her hand in and immediately felt a wave of icy cold. It looked only a palm’s length deep, yet the water level actually reached all the way up to her elbow. Looking toward the deeper inner section of the pool, she lost the courage to even step into the water.

However...

Aha! Huai Yu took out the minnow trap she had brought up the mountain. The trap was somewhat worn out and only had four holes, but it was more than sufficient for this pool. It wouldn’t matter if she didn’t catch anything, but if she did manage to trap something, she could take the small fish back to the pond by her door. That way, she wouldn’t have to climb the mountain every time she craved a little meat.

Alas, when a person was craving food, even salt-baked dried small fish would dance around in their dreams.

Setting her basket aside, she first used her hoe to dig at the ground. The mountain terrain was a bit tough to dig, with very hard soil. Huai Yu dug for quite a while before finally unearthing two thin red earthworms. They were truly thin and tiny. She sighed, refusing to give up, and dug in another spot. This time, she dug up three insect pupae!

That should be enough!

Huai Yu reached out, carefully purified them, and then tossed them into the minnow trap.

PLOP.

Accompanied by a muffled splash, the green minnow trap gradually sank into the pool.