"Heavens, Shaode, look! Isn't this a tungsten steel knife?" Cai Lihua exclaimed, finally recovering from her shock. She grabbed a two-finger wide knife. "This is a boning knife. Wonderful."
"Isn't it just? Oh, by the way, Lihua, here we call it a Xuan Tie Dao," Meng Shaode quickly corrected his wife, eager to avoid any embarrassment.
Seeing his mother's face beaming with joy, Ah Jiu felt that her entire day's exhaustion was worth it.
"There are carving knives here too! My heavens, it's so complete!" Cai Lihua hugged the wooden box, completely smitten. She took out each knife to examine it, then carefully re-packed them as if they were treasures, meticulously wrapping them in a cloth bundle.
"Right, little Yan Yan, take this piece of ancient jade with you. See if you can pawn it tomorrow when we go back to town for some silver."
Ah Jiu handed the jade pendant to Tuoba Yan.
"Leave it to me," Tuoba Yan replied, carefully storing it away.
After putting everything back, Cai Lihua started counting the money from the basket. "A total of three hundred and fifty wen, and two taels of silver. Daughter, quickly let Mama have a kiss."
This time, Ah Jiu didn't dodge. She even proactively offered her cheek.
"Mwah, fragrant, so fragrant." Cai Lihua strung the copper coins together and carefully put them away. "Tonight, we'll have white rice porridge with lichen soup. We'll add plenty of salt and eat to our hearts' content."
As good as her word, Cai Lihua disappeared into the kitchen, humming a song Ah Jiu didn't recognize, her body swaying happily.
"Look how happy your mother is," Meng Shaode said, also infected by her joy. Now that every household could farm, no one would be coveting their land anymore. Tonight, they would definitely sleep soundly.
Ah Jiu had never felt so carefree before. However, she sensibly brought two waterskins of water to her mother. She planned to refill them in her spatial dimension later, so she poured the current water into a ladle, freeing up the two waterskins to be filled more later.
"Mom, I'm a bit tired today, so I'll go sleep for a while."
"Go ahead. I'll call you when it's ready."
Ah Jiu returned to the east room. The air grew quiet. Aunt Li and her children were bustling around the kitchen stove, their young minds full of curiosity about what delicious food was being prepared.
Inside the spatial dimension.
Ah Jiu's eyes immediately fell upon the enlarged spiritual spring. It was now as large as two water缸 mouths. The crystal-clear spiritual spring water exuded a refreshing coolness. Ah Jiu quickly took out her waterskins, adding her family's and the three she had bought, making a total of six. Ah Jiu filled them all in one go.
As she reached the special waterskin, Ah Jiu peeled back the stopper and peered inside. "Little earth dragon, have you gotten addicted to living inside there? Come out and see the world."
The small earth dragon seemed to understand. Its triangular head poked out of the waterskin's opening, its two curious ruby-red eyes scanning its surroundings. Then, its shiny black body flowed out like water, crawling down Ah Jiu's wrist. To her surprise, this creature was as intelligent as any human. As soon as it landed, it dived into the spiritual spring. The spring water was still plentiful, and it swam a few laps, appearing extremely joyful.
"You really know how to find a good spot." Ah Jiu chuckled at its antics.
Right.
"Exchange one hundred merit points for a Level 2 gift package." Ah Jiu thought.
A grid-filled interface appeared before her. One of the squares displayed an image of a waterskin, with a cross below it and the number six. Ah Jiu understood that this indicated the quantity of waterskins. The array bag also rested in a grid. Ah Jiu looked at a parcel-shaped icon in the bottom left corner and clicked it.
A burst of fireworks erupted. Several items hovered in mid-air.
"Ten Level 2 plant seeds, a copy of the Eight Methods of the Spiritual Turtle Acupuncture, a copy of the Primary Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches Jia Yi Scripture, and one Spirit Pill. Do you accept?"
Ah Jiu listened as the system announced the items. She could understand that the Eight Methods of the Spiritual Turtle was an acupuncture technique, but what was the Jia Yi Scripture? Was it a scripture? She had no use for scriptures.
A thought formed in her mind, and the Jia Yi Scripture suddenly opened. Ah Jiu's eyes nearly popped out of her head.