Wen Xi nodded readily, "Of course, that's what all my friends call me."
"Xiao Xi, I have things to attend to right now and can't take you back myself. I'll have someone send you..."
Wen Xi hurriedly interrupted Yan Zheng, "Brother Yan, there's no need. I know the way; I can go back by myself. You should focus on your work! The sooner you catch these bad guys, the sooner people will stop getting hurt."
Although it was already too late to catch the ox cart back to the village at this hour, walking back was fine. It was winter, and after walking a few steps, her body would warm up; it wasn't cold at all.
Coming out of the office, Yan Lili was already asleep in her grandmother's arms. Wen Xi walked over and said to Lili's grandparents, "Uncle, Auntie, Lili was just frightened. You should take her to the hospital for a check-up, just to see if the sedative had any lingering effects on her."
Grandma Yan nodded hurriedly, "Girl, it's almost time for dinner. Why don't you come home with me to eat?"
"No thank you, Auntie. I've been out long enough. If I don't go back now, my friends will worry. I'll definitely come to visit another time."
Grandma Yan quickly added, "Girl, from now on, Auntie's house is your house. If you ever need anything, just come by. You must come, you hear?"
"Auntie, don't worry. If I have time, I will definitely come." Wen Xi nodded with a smile.
Of course, she wouldn't ask them for money, nor would she ask them to arrange a job for her; she just wanted to make her life over the next three years a little easier.
After bidding farewell to Uncle and Auntie Yan, Wen Xi left the Public Security Bureau carrying her things. Having been delayed for so long, the mealtime had passed, and she couldn't be bothered to go to the state-run restaurant to eat.
Once she left the town and stepped onto the road leading to the countryside, Wen Xi was just about to take two coarse-grain steamed buns out of her system warehouse when she noticed that the stamps she had stored there were gone.
Twenty yuan worth of stamps, all gone. Not a single one left.
Although they weren't worth much now, she had spent twenty yuan to buy them. Twenty yuan was more than half a month's wages, and in the future, these stamps would be worth a fortune.
Yet now, they had just vanished.
"System, System, where are the stamps I put in the warehouse?" Wen Xi asked the system urgently. If the system warehouse was this insecure, she couldn't store anything valuable there in the future.
"Host, I apologize. Your stamps were signed away by someone else." The system had encountered a bug, and it felt incredibly guilty.
"What do you mean? Why can someone else sign away my things? If someone else signs away my stuff, what am I supposed to do?" Wen Xi found it unbelievable. "If things I put in the system warehouse can be signed away by others, could other things be taken too? Does this mean I can't put anything good in the system warehouse from now on?"
"Host, I guarantee this anomaly will not happen a second time," the system said. "As compensation, the system will change your daily check-in from once a day to three times a day."
Hearing this, Wen Xi didn't continue to bicker with the system. While the stamps would be very valuable in the future, they would only be worth something if someone bought them; if she couldn't sell them, they were just waste paper.
Besides, by the time they were valuable, she would be quite old and might not be able to enjoy the money anyway. Now, with three check-in opportunities a day, she might be able to sign in for things she actually wanted, which could lead to a better life. It was also possible she could sign in for things even more valuable than stamps, so all things considered, she wasn't losing out.
"Fine, then I'll forgive the system for this mistake. I hope such an anomaly never happens again," Wen Xi said understandingly.
As she walked, Wen Xi ate the coarse-grain bun she had signed in for on the first day. She didn't know where these buns came from, but they were incredibly fluffy and soft, with a faint sweetness, unlike the dry, hard coarse-grain buns of this era that scratched the throat.
After finishing the bun, Wen Xi began to admire the scenery on both sides. The road was flanked by irrigation ditches for the crops, and beyond the ditches were the farmlands. The ground on the right was higher, while the rice paddies on the left were lower. Now, only withered rice stalks and a thin layer of snow remained in the fields.
The open spaces and trees were all gray and white; green was rarely seen. Only in some dry fields could she see the lush green wheat beneath the snow—this wasn't the Northeast, so they didn't grow spring wheat, but winter wheat.
Wen Xi walked to the side of the road and glanced at the irrigation ditch. It was over a meter deep and two meters wide, with very little water inside—probably only enough to reach an adult's knees.
At this time, water resources weren't polluted by chemical fertilizers or pesticides, so aquatic life was abundant. There were plenty of fish; one could truly scoop them up with a ladle. However, Wen Xi had just arrived in the countryside and hadn't settled in yet, so she didn't have the time to catch fish.
Thinking that she hadn't used her three check-in opportunities for the day, Wen Xi hurriedly used her consciousness to check in, and a gift package dropped out.
Wen Xi quickly checked the dropped package in the system warehouse. It clearly displayed: one landing net, one flashlight, five batteries, one imported umbrella-style fish and shrimp net, one cast net, one fish trap, one wooden bucket, one pair of pliers, one pair of deep-well boots, one pair of work gloves, one fishing rod, one board of fishing line, ten boxes of earthworms, and one small stool.
Wen Xi was astonished. She hadn't expected the gift package to contain so many things; it must have been the system's compensation.
But why was it all fishing gear?
Did it want her to catch fish to eat?
Still, with these things, catching fish would be much easier. When she had time, she would go to the river and try it out. With these tools, she wouldn't even have to get into the water to catch fish.
Jin Changfeng saw Wen Xi just as she reached the entrance of the village. The moment she appeared, he couldn't take his eyes off her; it was as if she possessed a powerful magnetic pull.
Ever since he met her, his mind had been filled with thoughts of her. Last night, lying in bed, he had tossed and turned all night without closing his eyes once.
He worried about her. He worried that she wouldn't adapt to rural life, that the farm work would be too grueling, and that she would be bullied in the village.
He wanted to pursue her, but he was afraid of scaring her off. Moreover, he had no experience in interacting with women. He didn't know how to get along with her, didn't know if she would be afraid of his cold face, and didn't know if she would find his taciturn nature boring.
Some things come inexplicably, but this had arrived without any warning, catching him completely off guard.
(End of chapter)