Chapter 2: Space Appears

Creak~

Su Li pushed open the door of the wooden hut.

A familiar scent wafted toward her nose.

Su Li looked at the rows of cabinets on the wall. She couldn't help but step forward to open one, but no matter how hard she strained, the cabinet wouldn't budge an inch.

"How strange!" She used every ounce of strength she had, but the cabinet wouldn't give her any face at all.

She circled the room once more and found a yellowed piece of paper in a corner. She reached out and picked it up.

"So that's how it is." After reading the paper, Su Li had a clear understanding in her heart.

She was currently inside a Space. This small wooden hut was a shop, and the shop's levels ranged from level zero to level one hundred. The items available for purchase differed at each level, and until she leveled up, she wouldn't know what items were in the next level; it was entirely a blind box mode.

Currently, the shop was at level zero. Nothing could be purchased at level zero, which was why she couldn't pull open the cabinets just now.

To upgrade from level zero to level one, she needed to harvest six pieces of benzoin.

Benzoin can treat internal ailments. This type of plant generally grows on hillsides, in mountain valleys, sparse woods, or forest edges.

It wasn't too difficult to find; Su Li decided to check the mountains when she had time.

"Gurgle~"

At that moment, Su Li's stomach gave an unfaithful growl.

Su Li looked down at her unfaithful stomach. Man is made of iron and food is made of steel; if you skip a meal, you'll starve. She had better solve the problem in front of her first!

With a flash, she exited the Space and patted Lightning Bear.

"From now on, we'll rely on each other for survival."

A flash of light flickered through Lightning Bear, as if it were responding to Su Li.

Su Li gave a light chuckle and put Lightning Bear away.

Her head was still a bit heavy and dizzy. Su Li reached out to touch her forehead; it was still very hot, with a temperature exceeding 39°C.

In this dynasty, one either had to spend money to see a doctor or just endure it with sheer willpower. The silver in this family had long since been squandered by the original owner, so there was no extra money to take her to a doctor.

She would have to go pick some herbs herself later to decoct them, otherwise, her little life would be in danger!

Hungry and dizzy, Su Li gritted her teeth and walked out of the house. She remembered that the things she needed were just outside the courtyard.

He Erhu was playing with mud in the courtyard. When he saw Su Li come out, he was so startled that he threw the mud figurine in his hand away. As luck would have it, it landed right on the top of Su Li's shoe.

Seeing this, He Erhu's face turned deathly pale, and he instinctively covered his head.

Su Li looked down at the mud figurine on her shoe.

"So ugly!"

She picked up the mud figurine, kneaded it slightly, stuffed it into He Erhu's hands, and walked away.

He Erhu stared at the mud figurine in his hands for a long time, unable to snap out of it. She hadn't gotten angry or hit him just now; she had even kneaded a mud figurine for him?

He Erhu pinched himself hard: "Ouch!"

This wasn't a dream!!

Just as she left the courtyard, Su Li saw the things she wanted. She dug up some Anemopsis calamus and prepared licorice root; decocting these two herbs into a soup had the effect of reducing a fever.

Now that the fever medicine was found, Su Li went to the kitchen to prepare the decoction.

When she saw the so-called kitchen, the corners of Su Li's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

Calling it a kitchen was a stretch; it was merely an area enclosed by a few bamboo poles. At most, it would keep her from getting soaked in the rain. In her past life, even her family's chicken coop was more luxurious than this.

She hadn't committed any great sins in her past life!

Why was she being treated like this?

No matter how much resentment Su Li felt, she was helpless. The die was cast; she could only choose to accept reality.

She decocted the Anemopsis calamus and licorice root she had picked into a juice, and the bitter taste immediately emerged.

Two small heads poked in from the outside, looking curious.

"Where are the bowls?" Su Li asked.

She searched for a long time but couldn't see a single bowl.

He Erhu thought for a moment and brought out the family's bowls.

In the past, Su Li would break pots and smash bowls at the slightest provocation. To preserve the only four remaining bowls, the two brothers had truly exhausted themselves with worry.

Su Li looked at the four bowls before her with deep resentment. None of these bowls were good; the better ones had a chip missing, and some had several chips.

"Are there no other bowls?" Su Li looked at He Erhu.

He Erhu's head shook like a rattle: "They're all here."

He was afraid that if Su Li lost her temper, he would grab He Dahu and run for his life.

Su Li roughly understood her current situation and didn't dwell on it further. She chose a relatively good bowl to hold the medicinal juice.

It was said that if you used a pretty bowl to serve medicine, the medicine wouldn't taste as bitter!

Once the medicine cooled, Su Li pinched her nose and drank it down.

"So bitter!" Su Li stuck out her tongue.

Gurgle~

Her stomach began to protest again. Su Li washed the pot clean and prepared to start cooking.

Aside from two pots, there was nothing in the kitchen. Su Li thought carefully; because nothing could be kept in the kitchen, He Yufeng had locked everything in the room, and the key was hidden inside a tattered old shoe.

Thus, Su Li skillfully used the key to open the chest. Inside, there were some corn grits and some flour, but as for rice, she didn't see a single grain.

Su Li took out all the flour and corn grits. She planned to make some corn porridge and then fry some vegetable pancakes.

However, she circled the house and couldn't even find a single vegetable leaf. The original owner was someone who only knew how to eat and not how to cook; the weeds in the vegetable garden were almost as tall as a person.

Many wild vegetables were growing outside the courtyard, so she walked out of the kitchen intending to pick some wild vegetables to make pancakes.

When He Dahu and He Erhu saw Su Li come out, they shrank back in fear, quickly covering their eyes with their hands while muttering to themselves.

"She can't see me, she can't see me!"

Su Li: "..."

This performance of "covering one's ears to steal a bell" was quite impressive; the movements were smooth and flowing, looking as if it wasn't their first time doing this.

Su Li walked past them without looking down or glancing around, as if she truly couldn't see them.

He Erhu opened his fingers slightly, leaving a tiny gap, and looked back at Su Li, who was picking wild vegetables.

"Brother, what is she doing picking those weeds?"

He Dahu also looked at Su Li, his small head filled with great confusion. He was also very curious as to why Su Li was picking weeds; their family didn't raise chickens or ducks, so picking those weeds to bring home wouldn't feed any poultry!

Su Li ignored them. After washing the wild vegetables, she chopped them finely and mixed them with the flour.

She heated the pot, brushed some oil into it, and finally placed the vegetable pancakes on it to fry.

He Erhu said excitedly, "Brother, look, she's mixing the weeds and the flour together. Has she gone mad?"

He Dahu frowned as he watched Su Li's movements, feeling somewhat dissatisfied with her actions, but he didn't dare speak up to stop her.

"Don't mind her. When Father comes back, we'll have meat to eat."

"Mm-hmm, but is she really going to eat weeds?"

"Maybe!"

"Is it really okay for us to let her eat weeds?"

Facing He Erhu's words, He Dahu furrowed his small brows, clearly not knowing how to handle this matter either.

If they ran out to advise Su Li, she would surely give them a beating, but seeing her eat weeds made him feel so sorry for her—what should he do!!

(End of Chapter)