Qi Huan was speechless. Who could have imagined that System was an elementary school dropout?
"Fine, please help me order another quilt," she said.
As soon as the words left her mouth, a large package came crashing down in front of her, sinking into the snow.
She picked it up and dusted the snow off the packaging, pondering for a moment before spending another 88 points to order an insulated cup.
Finally, she summoned System, "Check my balance."
"Host, your current balance is 251 points."
"Almost down to 250," she murmured.
Putting the delivery behind the hall, she turned and went to the kitchen for a knife, then skillfully opened up the package.
As she unpacked, she said to Li Shuchen, "I have a quilt now, you can keep using yours."
Li Shuchen raised his eyebrows, "Where did you get it?"
The packaging looked strange.
"Guess," Qi Huan, who had not yet come up with an excuse, evaded.
"Boring."
Seeing that he didn't pursue it further, Qi Huan was quite satisfied. After laying out the quilt, she told him, "I'll go make dinner."
Originally, because of insufficient food, people in Mo County only ate two meals a day. When she first arrived, busy catching up on sleep, she had continued the habit.
But now things were different.
Making dinner not only filled her stomach, but also helped fill Li Shuchen's.
Helping him earned her points.
With points came deliveries.
So Qi Huan was now full of motivation.
She rolled up her sleeves, took out the second pack of snail noodles she had brought back this morning, and the half head of cabbage left over from lunch.
After easily cooking the noodles, Yan Qinghe and the other two also came back from work.
"I thought you went home," Yan Qinghe slipped into the kitchen and held his hands out to the stove to warm them.
"My house was collapsed by snow, I'm afraid I'll have to stay here for a while."
"Good, you and Young Master Li can keep each other company."
After warming his hands, seeing that she had finished plating the food, Yan Qinghe helped bring it out to the table.
The candle flames danced cheerfully, wisps of steam rising from the rice bowls, a few people sitting around the wooden table, each with different expressions.
Xiu Wen and Yan Wu looked at each other.
Where did the daughter of the Qi family get so much food?
Recalling what Yan Qinghe had said earlier about the cellar and seeing Li Shuchen's indifferent expression, they pressed down their doubts for the time being.
Food came first, other matters could wait.
After the meal, Xiu Wen volunteered to take over cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks. "Thanks to Miss Qi, we can still eat a bowl of hot noodles when we come home from work. Leave these chores to me."
Too slow to stop him, Qi Huan smiled brightly, "Okay, from now on I'll be in charge of your dinners."
After taking over cooking duties and returning to the room, she fell into thought.
Yan Qinghe was silly and easy to talk to. Li Shuchen's thoughts were unclear. Although Xiu Wen and Yan Wu were doubtful, their eyes were honest, seeming like reasonable people.
They would do!
The original owner was unwilling to endure the hardships of studying medicine. She had no golden fingers to inherit.
She didn't know any martial arts either. Surviving alone was risky. It would be better to rely on them, find ways to trick them, improve their lives while also earning their points for her protection.
A win-win. Perfect!
Coming out of her thoughts, she summoned System again.
Helping the four men fill their stomachs earned a total of 112 points. Added to her previous 251 points, she now had 363 points.
She ordered more snail noodles, cabbage, and towels, then exchanged all her remaining points.
Swish swish -
Four packages fell in front of her.
Qi Huan put her palms together and sincerely prayed, "Let me get some more food. No matter how good snail noodles are, you still get tired of them if you eat them every day."
Then she opened the first package - it really was food!
A box of eggs and another box labeled "30 Days of Postpartum Rice Porridge."
It was probably purchased by an expectant mother.
"Wow! I can have porridge tomorrow!"
After cheering, she opened the second package.
It was a plain black hair tie, with no decoration.
It happened to be suitable for her since she was still in mourning.
Qi Huan undid the thin cloth strip in her hair, gathered up her hair with her hands, and tied it in a neat bun.
She unpacked sanitary pads, and several buckets of spicy pickled cabbage.
Qi Huan temporarily stuffed the pads under the bed. What a treasure!
As for the spicy cabbage, the quantity was really too much. She planned to keep some to go with the porridge, and sell the rest.
After all, the deliveries were random, and it wouldn't hurt to sell the cheap cabbage to get some money for things she urgently needed.
The next day, she woke up at first light.
She first went to the kitchen to cook some porridge and eggs, and cut up some spicy cabbage on a small plate.
By the time she finished cooking, the men had also washed up and were ready.
"So extravagant?" Yan Qinghe was a little surprised.
After being exiled, this was his first time eating eggs!
Not wanting to explain where the food came from, Qi Huan quickly changed the subject, "From now on, you don't need to bring hardtack back. Eat whatever you get for lunch yourselves, don't worry about us."
Yan Qinghe and the others still had to go do forced labor. Although they were still puzzled, they didn't have time to ask more. After hurriedly eating breakfast, they went out the door.
And by feeding them, Qi Huan earned another 112 points.
In order to save up a thousand points to exchange for space, this time she did not rush to use up the points.
The weather was still early. She found an empty jar, scrubbed the inside and outside with hot water, took out some spicy cabbage, and used rinsed hemp rope to tie them up one by one and put them in the jar.
Qi Huan had thought it over carefully. Cabbage was also a relatively common vegetable in Mo County, and many people would store cabbage or pickled cabbage in their cellars.
Selling cabbage products would not arouse suspicion.
There was no chili powder for making spicy pickled cabbage in Mo County, so hers was unique, and she didn't have to worry about anyone imitating it.
It took few points to order spicy cabbage, so selling it cheaply wouldn't hurt.
After packing it up, she cut up some more spicy cabbage and put it in a small bowl covered with a plate, leaving some for people to taste.
After a simple greeting to Li Shuchen, she went out the door, following the original owner's memory towards the liveliest market in Mo County.
After walking for about two hours, pedestrian traffic gradually grew denser.
There were all kinds of small shops under rows of green bricks and gray tiles. Passing through them, just a little further were scattered small vendors selling meat, vegetables and the like.
There were also peddlers along the road carrying poles with goods, and an old man holding sugar figures tempting the children on the streets.
The scene before her eyes refreshed Qi Huan's perceptions. She finally realized, "It's not that Mo County is poor, I was the poor one!"
Mo County was not exactly prosperous, but there were still people who lived decent lives.
Now she was even more confident.
Qi Huan was in no hurry to sell. She first asked around for the prices of goods nearby to get a sense of the consumer level here before preparing to start selling.
She went to an empty spot next to the meat seller, put down the jar, took the plate off the bowl, held the bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other, and started calling out in a clear voice.
"Spicy cabbage, spicy cabbage! Delicious spicy cabbage! Don't miss it if you're passing by, only two coins per piece."
She didn't weigh or measure them, so she simply sold by the piece.
Soon a crowd gathered around her.
"What spicy cabbage, never heard of it before."
"It looks so strange, is it edible?"
"Oh, isn't this Doctor Qi's daughter? Instead of properly learning medicine from Doctor Qi, how did she end up selling cabbage?"
"Haven't you heard? Doctor Qi was bitten to death by a tiger, died a terrible death. Poor girl probably had no choice but to come out and earn some money to get by..."
Everyone gossiped amongst each other.
Seeing she had attracted attention, Qi Huan hurriedly held out the bowl, using her chopsticks to pick up pieces of cabbage for everyone to try.
"Uncles and aunties, brothers and sisters, this is my family's secret spicy cabbage recipe. Try it and see how it tastes. If you don't like it, you don't have to buy it. If you do, take some home for your family to taste too."
Hearing they could eat for free, everyone immediately perked up and squeezed forward to try some.
"Not bad."
"It's sour, spicy, and crispy. It should taste good with rice," she mused.
"The texture is decent. My husband would probably like this...Server girl, give me another piece!"
Before long, the contents of her entire jar of pickled cabbage were gone.
After putting the copper coins received into her purse, she decided to take a stroll and buy some daily necessities.
As she walked past the entrance of a restaurant, she suddenly heard the sound of agonized wailing.
