Chapter 12: Exchange

Around three o'clock in the afternoon, the group, having been cautious the entire way, finally came to a stop.

"Men, chop wood; women, weave grass ropes. Be quick about it."

Once the frames were set up as quickly as possible, the able-bodied men followed Pan Dalin to process the game, while the women busied themselves on their respective platform frames.

Fearing the children might fall, they tied grass ropes around the perimeter. Since the ropes were already secured, it didn't seem like much trouble to weave a grass curtain around them, and once the perimeter was done, adding a roof didn't seem difficult either.

By the time each family finished, the three-dimensional triangular tents, suspended eight or nine meters above the ground in the forest, were unexpectedly comfortable.

After sending the children up into the trees, the old men cleared away the dead branches and fallen leaves beneath, making the area as clean as possible. By the time they finished, the men had also finished processing the meat.

"All children stay up there, no coming down!" the village chief barked, and the cheering, jumping children dared not move.

They sat high up in their tents, looking down.

"Wait until it's divided before you come down," Old Man Li said, and Mother Li pulled back her foot.

*Gurgle~* Seeing the meat, her stomach actually began to sing an empty-city stratagem. Qin Wangshu smiled awkwardly at Mother Li, who had turned back.

The Li family had three sons and two daughters. The three sons were all married; the eldest daughter was married to a man with no other family, and the youngest daughter was only twelve.

Originally, the youngest daughter would have stayed with the two elders, but Li Jiang and Qin Wangshu had no children, and the couple had to be discreet while out in the world. Thus, throughout the flight, the eldest son’s couple took the two younger sons, the second son’s family of four stayed together, and the eldest daughter’s family didn't need to be separated. Li Jiang and Old Man Li took the eldest son’s two older boys, while Qin Wangshu stayed with the old lady and her sister-in-law, Li Xiaoxia. So, at this moment, she was flanked by her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law.

Seeing Qin Wangshu’s awkward smile, Mother Li turned around, took out a cloth bag, grabbed a small handful of wheat for Qin Wangshu, and tied the bag shut. Then, she picked up the bag containing pine nuts, walnuts, and chestnuts.

It would still be a while before the meat was ready to eat, and since they had meat, there was no need to skimp on this meal.

Looking down at the wheat in her hand, Qin Wangshu shared the larger portion with the young girl beside her.

"Mother, give me some more pine nuts and chestnuts." She didn't have the skill to crack the walnuts, but pine nuts were fine, and chestnuts were filling. If she could eat a few, she would feel better.

Mother Li did not stop Qin Wangshu’s initiative; when she reached out, Mother Li scooped up a large handful.

The pine nuts were at the bottom, so when she scooped, she got a whole handful of them, then added six chestnuts for her. For her own youngest daughter, she grabbed a handful of chestnuts and four or five walnuts.

After Mother Li had her two daughters-in-law take some to their respective tents, she climbed up to the eldest daughter’s tent, then gave each of the two children a pine nut or walnut to crack. After the two children had eaten their fill, she went to the eldest daughter-in-law’s side, and then to the second daughter-in-law’s.

"Fourth Sister-in-law, do you want a walnut?" Li Xiaoxia asked cautiously after cracking a walnut shell.

Qin Wangshu, who was struggling with a pine nut, looked down and saw the cracked walnut in the young girl’s palm. "I have enough with these; you eat it."

These walnuts weren't the kind she had eaten before that shattered with a pinch; the shells were so thick that just hearing the sound made her jaw ache. She hadn't even considered trying them since even the pine nuts were a struggle, and she didn't want to dislocate her jaw. Yet, the walnuts that she thought were impossible to crack were being eaten quite happily by the young girl.

"It hasn't touched my saliva, it's very clean." With her head bowed, the young girl thought Qin Wangshu was being squeamish.

Spreading her palm to show the girl the pine nuts and chestnuts in her hand, Qin Wangshu smiled. "Mother gave me plenty. I have enough to eat. You’re a young girl and still growing, you need to eat more."

Seeing the dozen or so pine nuts and six chestnuts remaining, the young girl withdrew her hand.

"There will definitely be meat to eat in a while, we have to save some room."

"Mm."

After eating the pine nuts and chewing back and forth on the stone-like dried chestnut, Qin Wangshu wanted to spit it out but felt it was a waste. She wanted to eat it but couldn't chew it. After chewing for a while longer, she spat it into her hand and, along with the remaining five, clicked to exchange them for the Space Spirit Stone.

The chestnuts in her hand vanished, and they appeared on the exchange list on the light screen.

*Ding-dong, exchange successful. The Space Spirit Stone has been transferred to the system warehouse.*

"?! Space~ *cough cough cough cough*—" Qin Wangshu, who had nearly choked on her own saliva, clutched her stomach. "I'm going down for a moment."

Startled by Qin Wangshu’s expression, Li Xiaoxia, who was lying down, asked nervously, "I'll go with you."

"No need, I'll be back soon." If I let you go, I'd have to use a fake excuse to pee.

Not waiting for Li Xiaoxia, Qin Wangshu climbed down the tree and ran toward the edge. After hiding from the crowd, she took out the Space Stone and stared at it, speechless.

When it was on the interface, she only thought it looked like a white kidney bean. Now that she held it in her hand, she began to doubt its authenticity.

'There Once Was a Big Handsome Pot' must be a scammer; this was clearly just a white kidney bean.

If it wasn't, could it really be worth six chestnuts? Is he stupid?!

She felt she had been cheated—cheated by a stone that looked like a white kidney bean.

"Fourth Sister-in-law~ Fourth Sister-in-law!"

Li Xiaoxia’s anxious voice came from behind. Qin Wangshu, subconsciously putting her hand away, only reacted after Li Xiaoxia called several times. "...Ah, I'm here."

Clutching the white kidney bean and rubbing her nose, Qin Wangshu really wasn't used to this form of address.

Back in the tent, Qin Wangshu pinched the white kidney bean, feeling conflicted.

*Space Spirit Stone, low-grade space spirit tool, requires a drop of blood to bind.*

To test it, she just needed to drop a bit of blood on it, but whether it was the firewood knife, the axe, the kitchen knife, the sickle, or the hoe, they were all iron. Even the only pair of scissors in the tent was iron.

She was afraid of getting tetanus.

Most importantly, she felt this thing was unreliable.

*Ding-dong, 'There Once Was a Big Handsome Pot' has listed a new exchange item: Storage Bag.*

"...Well, I'm going down again." Clutching her stomach again, she used the "pee excuse" once more.

When she realized she had nothing in her hand, she climbed back up the tree—the tree where Zhang Shi was. Under the gazes of Zhang Shi and the others, she shyly reached out her hand.

"...Mother, um, could you give me some more pine nuts?" This "Mother" didn't feel awkward to Qin Wangshu at all. Perhaps because she was an orphan and never had the chance to call anyone Mom or Dad, this "Mother" felt just like calling an aunt or an older woman. "Father" was the same, so it didn't cause her any revulsion; she had always called them that quite naturally.

Mother Li, who was peeling walnuts for the children, stared at Qin Wangshu’s hand for a moment, then grabbed a handful of pine nuts for her.

"I'm going to be squatting for a while... I get nervous when someone is nearby." After saying this to Li Xiaoxia, who had turned to climb down the tree, Qin Wangshu climbed down with the pine nuts, leaving Li Xiaoxia unsure whether to follow or not.

"Mother, Fourth Sister-in-law is so strange."

"What's strange about her?"

"It's just..." She's acting all mysterious.

Pursing her lips, Li Xiaoxia felt it was better not to say such things in front of her mother; the eldest sister-in-law was very sensitive about her mother’s attitude toward the fourth sister-in-law.

Silently sitting back down, Li Xiaoxia kept an uneasy eye on the direction Qin Wangshu had gone.

Qin Wangshu hid behind a large tree not far away and initially wanted to put the handful of pine nuts in to test it, but then she thought, if six chestnuts could be exchanged, were this many pine nuts too much?

*Ding-dong, storage bag exchange complete. Item transferred to system warehouse.*

Looking down at the pine nuts remaining in her hand, Qin Wangshu was certain that this 'There Once Was a Big Handsome Pot' really had issues.

Still, I'll shout it out: if you like it, friends, remember to bookmark and vote!

(End of chapter)