Host, Spend Money

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

Episode 11: Host, Spend Money. She was truly exhausted. Before she even had time to check on the system, she had already drifted into dreamland.

Li Xiangwan had wanted to ask whether she was full and if she wanted a Walnut Cookie to tide her over, but hearing the deep breathing beside her, she let it go.

They were all Educated Youth who had come to the countryside together. They ought to stick together for warmth.

Unless someone was absolutely impossible to associate with, she naturally wanted to build closer relationships and have companions. On the one hand, it was for safety; on the other, it was a way to build connections.

Her father had once been an Educated Youth sent to the countryside too. Their family had grown increasingly prosperous partly because of the help of the uncles her father had befriended while sharing hardships back then.

Her father had told her that connections were important.

Days of rest were always short. Before the newly arrived Educated Youth could even get their bearings, their second day in the countryside had arrived.

Although she had slept for nearly the whole afternoon, Lin Yuzhu still fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow that night. Then, before she felt she had slept for very long, Zhao Xianglan woke her up.

Zhao Xianglan said gently that they started work early in the morning, and if they went late, the villagers would inevitably say that they Educated Youth were delicate.

Lin Yuzhu yawned as she got dressed. In her opinion, none of them had ever farmed before, so no matter how early they rose, they would never please the villagers.

It was not that she meant anything else. They had come here to work in the fields, after all. Once they started working, no amount of putting on appearances would help. The moment they entered the fields, everything would be exposed.

Anyway, people could say whatever they wanted.

Lin Yuzhu had made up her mind to be thick-skinned. She was still underage and slight of build. If she honestly worked the fields day after day, she would probably be worn out by the time she returned to the city. She would rather earn less than damage her health. Health was the foundation of revolution.

Actually, girls in the countryside her age might even do less work than she did. Only families that favored sons over daughters would be willing to send their daughters out to earn work points.

Educated Youth these days were generally quite young. Some were honest and earnest, while others believed they had come to build the countryside and took pride in enduring hardship. Once they arrived in the countryside, they buried themselves in labor, and some truly worked themselves sick, having no choice but to obtain certificates to return to the city for treatment.

Even after returning to the city, there would be a heap of trouble. Their employment problems could not be resolved, and they still had to spend money on treatment. Those who recovered were fortunate; those who could not recover basically had to be supported with money for the rest of their lives.

Lin Yuzhu felt it was better to know one's limits. Do as much as one could, and do not make life unnecessarily hard for oneself.

After sleeping all night, Wang Xiaomei took the initiative to ignore yesterday's unpleasantness. As she dressed, she said, "You all had better work harder. Otherwise, if the villagers catch you slacking off—"

"If they complain to the Production Team Leader, it will not only mean deductions from your work points. The villagers will start criticizing us Educated Youth again." She finished with an impatient expression.

Lin Yuzhu thought that the Production Team Leader would probably be disappointed. Only after folding her bedding and tidying everything up did she head outside with her washing supplies. There was no hand pump yet.

Having a well at home was already considered pretty good. Families without wells could only fetch water from the stream at the foot of the mountain. Fortunately, the Educated Youth Dormitory was in an old village house, and there was a well behind it.

Li Xiangwan came out early. Seeing that the kitchen water vat was empty, she was about to fetch water to wash up when Li Xiangbei beat her to it and shared the water he had drawn with her. How could such thoughtfulness not move her?

Lin Yuzhu happened to mooch some water as well, though it made her seem a little shameless. The Lin Family had only one tube of toothpaste for the entire household.

Lin Mother wrapped some salt in paper for her, saying it would do for a while in the countryside. When she had the chance, she could buy a tube herself at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

With a numb expression, Lin Yuzhu sprinkled salt onto her toothbrush. This toothbrush was uncomfortable to use; the bristles were a little too hard, and brushing too forcefully made her gums hurt.

Every time Lin Yuzhu brushed her teeth, her face twisted into a fierce grimace.

After washing her face, Li Xiangwan turned around and saw Lin Yuzhu pitifully preparing to brush her teeth with salt. After thinking it over, she said, "Use my toothpaste first."

Wang Xiaomei happened to come out carrying a basin. Hearing that, she hurried over in two or three steps. "Hey, hey, hey, squeeze some out for me too. I just ran out!"

Li Xiangwan's face darkened with anger, but she squeezed out a little for her anyway, her heart full of ridicule.

Lin Yuzhu also held out her toothbrush and had Li Xiangwan squeeze a little onto it. She had a toothpaste coupon, and Lin Mother had given it to her. Once they went to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative in town, she would definitely buy some. If Li Xiangwan ran out and did not have time to buy more later, Lin Yuzhu could lend her some.

It was a favor she could repay later.

So there was nothing to be embarrassed about now. She thanked her and began brushing her teeth.

Seeing that Lin Yuzhu had not greeted her at all since getting up, Wang Xiaomei felt uneasy about having taken advantage of her and quickly moved far away from her.

Lin Yuzhu glanced at her. So timid, yet she still dared to bully people.

As she brushed her teeth, she watched the light screen before her that no one else could see. The screen could be displayed to her even outside the space.

Another batch of radishes had matured in just two days. It was clear that the Energy Wafer was truly high-tech.

She had sold off all the previous batch of White Radishes. There was no helping it; there were no White Radishes in the Northeast at this time. Selling them herself would only invite trouble, so she sold them all. The harvest from one plot of land was quite considerable.

As for Carrots, getting two cents for a bucketful at the Black Market would already be decent. They were not rare, and they did not provide many Experience Points, so she had no plans to grow Carrots.

With this harvest, she finally had enough spare money to buy chicks, so she bought two without hesitation.

When her consciousness entered the space, her body would appear dazed or asleep. Naturally, she could not enter the space at a time like this.

Though she was curious about the Space Ranch, when she considered the time difference within the ranch space, she gave up the idea.

No woman was unafraid of growing old. Even if watching from afar would not cause her body to age—

Still, after thinking about it, she felt it was better to stay farther away. So she did not enter the space to join the excitement.

Raising chickens naturally required Forage Grass. Luckily, the system came with one portion of Forage Grass, but she needed to hire a robot to chop it up and feed it to the chickens.

Lin Yuzhu was loaded and did not care about the small rental fee. Thinking that she would have eggs to eat before long, she could not help drooling. Look at what life had driven her to—she was even craving eggs.

Zhao Xianglan had seen Wang Xiaomei ask for toothpaste earlier. When she came out to wash up now, she stood beside Lin Yuzhu, curled her lip, and muttered, "I've never seen her buy toothpaste. She goes days without brushing, and when she does brush, she only knows how to freeload." Her voice was low.

But Lin Yuzhu heard every word clearly. That really is impressive. As long as you're shameless enough, you don't have to spend money.

As Lin Yuzhu washed her face, she thought that she definitely needed to look into the Black Market. She did not have many industrial coupons, so she could not buy things like thermoses and flashlights at all. Without hot water, washing her face with well water was truly freezing. Summer was manageable, but winter would be unbearable, and she could not go without hot water to drink then either.

Thinking of all the things she needed to buy, she wanted to go to the Black Market to earn money and coupons. To earn them, she needed goods; to get goods, she needed to level up faster. She silently encouraged herself. Come on!

Just as the world seemed beautiful again, a scream that pierced the sky rang out.

The few people who heard it from the backyard hurriedly ran over to see what had happened.

They saw Zhang Yanqiu run out of the toilet and immediately begin vomiting.

How clean could a farmhouse toilet possibly be?

Village households collected manure until there was enough, then carried it out to fertilize the fields in exchange for work points.

All these Educated Youth found it disgusting and were unwilling to earn those work points. They only used the toilet; no one cleaned it out.

When the weather was hot, maggots would breed there. It looked... indescribable.

Neither Li Xiangwan nor Zhang Yanqiu had ever seen a rural latrine before. City toilets were very clean at this time.

Li Xiangbei was unsettled after seeing the toilet too. When everyone ate breakfast, he did not eat a thing and gave his porridge to Wang Yang.

Only then did Lin Yuzhu remember that the male lead was somewhat of a germaphobe.

Come to think of it, using the toilet was also a major matter in life. Lin Yuzhu muttered to herself that adapting to this would truly be difficult.

Suddenly, a light screen appeared before her eyes, rows upon rows of dazzling icons scrolling past.

Host, as long as you have Contribution Points, there is nothing you cannot buy in the space.

Look at the Housing System in Kailu Mall. From Thatched Cottages to luxurious villas, we have all kinds of packages for you to choose from. Host, you can also buy furniture to decorate your little home. I can even show you other users' decorating plans for reference.

As the light screen automatically displayed luxurious villas in many other hosts' spaces, every style was available, and the interiors were extravagantly decorated.

Lin Yuzhu wiped away her drool. Just as she had thought, this system was finding every possible way to make all its hosts work for it as a group. Luxurious villas were out of the question, but she could take a look at a Thatched Cottage.

The system shamelessly began introducing the Thatched Cottage. With a 360-degree display that rotated freely up, down, left, and right, Lin Yuzhu roughly understood that it was the simplest kind of house: one bedroom, one kitchen, and one bathroom, simply furnished and without any furniture. If she wanted furniture, she could buy, buy, buy!

There was even a promotional policy: one basic Small Robot was included. The more luxurious the house, the more robots came with it.

All right, hosts, come build beautiful homes!

Come to think of it, the Small Robots in the system could be said to be omnipotent. They could build houses, handle soft furnishings, hard renovations, drainage systems—nothing was beyond them. Amazing, amazing!

Lin Yuzhu almost wanted to applaud them. At present, having a bathroom alone was enough to tempt her. Then she considered that although she did not lack food, she could not bring that food out in the open. She could not just casually take out refined flour and rice whenever she wanted, could she? Even cadres' families could not necessarily eat rice, refined flour, and steamed buns at every meal in this era.

And then there was stewed meat. That smell could probably drift across half the village.

If she did not want to invite trouble, she had to keep a low profile. If she wanted to eat her fill and eat well, she absolutely had to cook privately. If she could cook in the space, that would be ideal.

It seemed buying a little Thatched Cottage was imperative.

She checked the price. Mm-hmm. She could not afford it. Then why had you not introduced the fact that houses could be bought in the space before?