Return of the leisurely days

The next day dawned bright and sunny.

Jiushu woke up later, wandered off with the excuse of taking care of morning business. She brought Xiao Xing along with her. She found a relatively small tree hollow, placed xiao xing in there to send him to space, then followed herself. Once in space, she bathed in warm water, dressed in a change of clothes given to her by MoQiu's mother.

At first, she had no idea what's the purpose of long white cloth, for it seemed very much like the cotton cloth given by emperors to their concubines to inspire them in to suicide. Obviously, that did not make sense at all. Then where is this white cloth going to get used? …

Then it struck her. It's breast binding..

Jiushu blushed despite there being no one around.

She didn't have boobs yet, did she? She looked down and checked.

She is an A cup in her previous life, she had a model's height, but none of the grace that should be associated with models. She is just tall.. Flat chested and plain. Unfortunately, her legs are stick figure kind rather than 'never ending legs' type. Ideally, she should be capable of wearing all those short A-line dresses, but they just were not flattering on her. So, she had to stick to t-shirts and jeans. Her only saving grace is she could pull off maxi dresses at the very least…

However, this particular body is different. What this body has at twelve is equal to what her body has at twenty. For a moment, Jiushu felt very much jealous of this girl, who, despite being malnourished and travelling rough still kept her feminine beauty. She was shocked for a moment just now after seeing her own reflection in a pool of water.

Her skin is a healthy shade of ivory, ruddy cheeks, black eyebrows, supremely rare ink blue eyes and hair that probably could feature in shampoo ads. No wonder MoQiu was stuck on the fact his mother thought of her as daughter in law. If a girl looked as pretty as her, every boy would probably grasp onto any little straw they can to get into her good graces. Wait.. it's not time to admire her self. MoQiu's family were waiting on her for breakfast. She climbed out of the tree hollow first, then retrieved Xiao Xing. the child is still sleeping.

She did not want him to remain on her back, but Xiao Xing can't stay in space if she herself is not present. So, either she stays with him in her space, or she carries him on her back like this. For today, Jiushu chose later. She returned to the clearing as fast as she could. She had this feeling she has been alone for too long and she has forgotten she is among people.

Aunt Fa gave her another look. For a moment there, Jiushu did squirm like she was caught by her mother in law… then she firmly told herself no - that is her crush talking. She is a modern woman and she is not marrying for anything less than love. They had porridge with leftover meat from yesterday night. It is at this time Jiushu saw the glowing letters above her bangle.

Side quest available.

She saw the same glowing letters floating about MoQiu's pendant, only they said something different.

Mission available.

She wondered what's the difference between his and her quests, even as she swiped on the letters to open them.

An evil landlord is about to wring the lifeblood out of farmers in the village of Hongcun. Save them from this horrid fate.

MoQiu's actually did say different words.

A great wolf pack is hunting all the livestock of the nearby villages. Kill enough wolves to bring relief to villagers.

Jiushu and Moqiu looked at each other's missions, just to make sure it's different. MoQiu was the first to respond. He simply swiped with his finger, and a small red arrow shew up in the front. She did not even know such a function existed, and she is a tech geek.

Jiushu vowed to check out all the things her blessing can do for her. At this point, she needs to gather all the advantages she can. She gently caressed the bangle as she started walking behind the group. The console is bound to the jade ornament on their bodies. The options showed up in front of Jiushu.

[ Task ] [ Skills ] [ Farm ]

So she has a console too.

She choose Task. Save Hongcun is the task displayed on it, highlighted by light blue. When Jiushu chose the task, it brought up a simple blue arrow which acted the same as the red arrow that's pointing the path for MoQiu. Jiushu observed uncle and aunt Fa, and figured by now that red arrow she was seeing was not visible to them. This must be the function of being allies.

MoQiu stopped them suddenly.

"Hide." he told Jiushu and aunt Fa. pointing to a tall tree. Aunt Fa climbed the tree with surprising agility for a woman in forties. Uncle Fa helped Jiushu climb, letting her reach the small tree. Jiushu finally saw what only MoQiu and uncle Fa can see. There is a big black bear, slowly stalking towards them. It is clear the bear is hungry, and mad.

Uncle Fa hurried with his limp, and climbed another tree, and held a bow at the ready.

MoQiu looked towards the bear. Jiushu can only barely identify the bear, but it's apparent that MoQiu could see it in greater clarity, for he has disappeared next second, only to appear atop a boulder near to the bear to taunt it, but not so near, the bear could attack in a single step.

Jiushu watched with bated breath as MoQiu hopped around the bear, luring it to a certain valley.

Twang… zing..

Is the only sound she heard before an arrow pierced deep into the bear's skull.

MoQiu stopped on a boulder and observed the bear.

The next moment, MoQiu appeared right besides Jiushu.

"Come on.. Give A'Xing to mother." he told Jiushu. Jiushu had already untied the carrier on her back, ready to store it into space in case of danger.

She gave Xiao Xing to aunt Fa. The next moment, she felt MoQiu's hands wrap around her waist, and literally, the world spun around her, then they were next to the almost dead bear.

"Can you store it?" MoQiu asked.

"I did not want your parents to know I am blessed." Jiushu told him frowning.

"They already know. All royal blood can use space. It is their inherited blessing. Here, store it in this if you can." MoQiu proffered a jade fish hook.

Jiushu took it with surprise. This Fa family is turning out to be a secret treasure trove. By any chance, did they rob imperial treasure before they sent away their only daughter?

Jiushu held the fish hook in her hands.

Fisherman's space detected. Integrate ? [ Yes ] [ No ]

Jiushu chose yes decisively.

You can now Farm aquatic animals.

You can now store fisherman's catch.

She touched the jade to the bear.

Can not store land animals.

The message displayed. Jiushu looked at MoQiu, only to realize he does not seem to be seeing these messages. Why, she wondered? Is it because she doesn't want him to? Could it be as simple as that?

"It can not be stored in this hook. Give me your pendant. Let's see if the bear can be stored in it." Jiushu offered.

MoQiu removed his pendant and gave it to her somewhat hesitantly.

Jiushu touched the jade to the bear, willing for MoQiu to see the message for storing.

The words appeared again.

Store hunted Bear in the space? [ Yes ] [ No ]

Jiushu looked at MoQiu, only to see him staring at the letters.

"You try choosing 'yes' " Jiushu suggested.

MoQiu swiped his hand on Yes, which the ring actually accepted. The next moment, the bear disappeared. MoQiu looked at his pendant with wonder.

"Well, there you have it." Jiushu said lightly.

MoQiu smiled beatifically at her.

He swiped his hand on the pendant, only for the word storage to show up this time.

He retrieved the bear this time all on his own.

Then MoQiu touched the bear with his pendant, only for his joy to go down a notch.

You need to have the blessing of space manipulation or an ally with more than 50% good will value to be able to use space.

It's clear only Jiushu can store the animals in space, while he can only retrieve the stored game. Even so, it is useful. That good will value, he will raise it to fifty no matter what. This ability is far too useful.

Jiushu smiled from the side.

"You know there is a sure shot way of raising good will to fifty?"

MoQiu looked at her in askance.

"What is it?"

"You become my subordinate." Jiushu told him with a Cheshire cat smile.

"No." MoQiu shot it down with even a single second of thought.

"What? I make a very good boss.." Jiushu tried selling herself.

The response is MoQiu wrapped an arm around her, again, they were spilling in a cacophony of colors, only to land beside his mother.

Jiushu swallowed her annoyance looking at her little brother.

One can���t utter any kind of expletives around a little child.

All the same, they started their journey again.

Jiushu started exploring functions again.

This time, she chose skills.

[ search ] [ identify ]

Are the only two skills underneath it.

She hadn't seen this search. Jiushu started using it.

The moment she used it, the names popped up on plants in colorful neon lights.

Jiushu stopped in shock and looked around. It seems it's only her seeing things again.

However, she slowly looked around.

Each and every plant's name is floating above them.

Bush weed, dandelion, maple tree.. Chinese ginseng?

Is she so lucky to stumble on a ginseng on the road side? Ah.. but she can't stop to dig them. They have set a pretty fast pace, if she even stops to read the names, she is going to fall behind them. She could by no means stop to read names.

All the same, they reached the village by night.

It seemed a pretty prosperous village. There are even some courtyard kind of brick houses in the village. Jiushu offered to go and talk to villagers. Usually, she disliked trying to get along with villagers, for her tolerance for gossip is low, and her tolerance for chauvinism even lower yet. However, the best place to get news is through village women, and MoQius' mother just could not project that I lived in a rough environment.

Thus Jiushu went in. It seems the landlord is insisting they all pay tax in rice, despite the village only ever sowing wheat. It's too expensive to buy rice, with the flood affecting the place with the highest rice growing villages in the province. Rice prices are going up by the day, and the villagers are worried.

"Oh.. how much are they selling the rice for? In the county town?" Jiushu asked.

"Five iron coins a catty. Some say it can even go higher." the woman said conversationally, as she washed vegetables on the side.

Jiushu kept up the pestle, to shell the rice grain.

"Oh, that high.. But I heard you had a good harvest this time around. You could always change wheat for rice." Jiushu said naively.

"Aya! This little sister.. She doesn't know how the world goes around. If the harvests were good, wheat is exchanged at two catties for a catty of rice. Now wheat harvest is good, and rice harvest is bad, it's a miracle if they give four catties of wheat a catty of rice." the village woman explained to her.

Hmm… this is a good opportunity. Jiushu felt.

She shelled all her rice, and gathered it in a rag cloth to sort out later.

She leaned secretively towards the sister who has provided her with most of the gossip.

"This big sister, you have been very helpful. So, I will help you some in reverse. It is like this. We are actually from the rice growing villages. We thought to sell our rice in the county, but our donkey broke a leg, so we had to come this way. We will rather sell it to you good people. You bring your wheat to me. I will exchange it for four catties of wheat for a catty of rice, or a catty of rice for three iron coins. We only have enough to change with one or two families. So, keep it to yourself. Come to the cypress besides wolfberry bushes." Jiushu told her.

She is sure this will be advertised all over the village in all of half an hour. If it's only told to one or two households, that's also fine. She needs to set up her shop. She rushed to the tree they were staying at. She let aunt Fa rest inside, and uncle Fa sat besides her. All of them wore a mask. If there were any troubles, uncle Fa can solve them easily.