Host, Spend Money!

This program was produced by Tomato Listening.

Episode 11: The host needed to spend money. She was truly exhausted, and before she even had time to tend to the system, she had already drifted off to sleep.

Li Xiangwan had wanted to ask whether he was full and whether he wanted a Walnut Cookie to tide him over, but hearing his sleeping breaths beside her, she let it go.

They were all educated youths who had gone to the countryside together. They ought to stick together for warmth.

As long as someone was not completely impossible to get along with, he naturally wanted to build a closer relationship and have a companion. On one hand, it was for safety; on the other, it was a way to build connections.

After all, his father had once been an educated youth sent to the countryside. Their family had grown increasingly prosperous partly because of the help from those uncles his father had befriended while enduring hardship together.

His father had once told him that connections were important.

Days of rest were always brief. Before the newly arrived educated youths had fully come to their senses, their second day in the countryside had already arrived.

Although she had slept for most of the afternoon, when night came, Lin Yuzhu still fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow. Then, just when she felt she had barely slept at all, Zhao Xianglan woke her up.

Zhao Xianglan said gently, "Work starts early in the morning. If we go late, the villagers will inevitably say that us educated youths are delicate."

Lin Yuzhu yawned as she got dressed. In her opinion, people like them who had never farmed before would not impress the villagers no matter how early they got up.

It was not that she meant anything else. They had come here to work in the fields in the first place. Once they actually started working, no amount of putting on appearances would matter. The moment they got into the fields, everything would be exposed.

Anyway, people could say whatever they wanted.

Lin Yuzhu had already decided to be thick-skinned. She had such a slight build and was still underage. If she honestly threw herself into farming, she would probably be useless by the time she returned to the city. She would rather earn less than ruin her health. Health was the foundation of revolution.

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

Most educated youths these days were 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, they buried their heads in work, and some truly did work themselves sick, forced to obtain proof to return to the city for treatment.

Returning to the city brought a whole host of troubles as well. Their employment issues might remain unresolved, and they still had to spend money on medical treatment. That was for those who could be cured; those who could not 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 difficult for oneself.

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

"If someone reports you to the Production Team Leader, not only will your work points be deducted, but the people in the village will start badmouthing us educated youths again." She looked impatient after saying that.

Lin Yuzhu thought the Production Team Leader would probably be disappointed. Only after folding her bedding and tidying up did she go outside with her washing supplies. There were no hand pumps yet.

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

Li Xiangwan came out early. Seeing that there was no water in the kitchen vat, she was about to fetch some 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 did make her seem rather thick-skinned. The Lin Family had only one tube of toothpaste for everyone to use.

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

Lin Yuzhu sprinkled salt onto her toothbrush with a numb expression. The toothbrush was uncomfortable to use; its bristles were a little too stiff, and if she brushed too hard, her gums hurt.

Every time she brushed her teeth, Lin Yuzhu wore a ferocious expression.

After Li Xiangwan finished washing her face, she turned around and saw Lin Yuzhu pitifully preparing to brush her teeth with salt. After thinking for a moment, 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. She squeezed out a little for Wang Xiaomei, though inwardly she was full of mockery.

Lin Yuzhu held out her toothbrush too, letting Li Xiangwan squeeze out a little. She had a toothpaste coupon, and Mother Lin had given it to her. Once she went to the town's Supply and Marketing Cooperative, she would definitely buy some. If Li Xiangwan ran out in the future and had no time to buy more, she could lend some to her.

It was a favor she could repay later.

So she did not feel embarrassed now. She thanked her and began brushing her teeth.

Seeing that Lin Yuzhu had not greeted her since getting up, Wang Xiaomei felt a little guilty about taking advantage and quickly moved far away from her.

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

As she brushed her teeth, she looked at the light screen in front of her that no one else could see. The screen could be displayed to her even outside the space.

A batch of radishes had ripened in just two days. The Energy Wafer truly was cutting-edge technology.

She had sold off all the previous batch of White Radishes. There was no helping it; White Radishes had not yet appeared in the Northeast, so taking them out to sell would only cause trouble for herself. Thus, she had sold them all, and the harvest from one plot of land was considerable.

Carrots could fetch at most twenty cents per bucket at the Black Market. They were not rare, and they did not provide much 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.

Although she was quite curious about the Space Ranch, once she considered the time difference there, she gave up on the idea.

No woman was unafraid of growing old. Even if observing it from a distance would not age her body—

Once she thought about it, though, she still felt it was better to stay farther away, so she did not go into the space to join the excitement.

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

Lin Yuzhu had money to spare and did not care about the small rental fee. Thinking that she would soon have eggs to eat, 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. Now that she came out to wash up, she approached Lin Yuzhu and curled her lip as she muttered, "I've never seen her buy toothpaste. She goes days without brushing, and when she does brush, she only knows how to mooch." Her voice was quiet.

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

As she washed her face, Lin Yuzhu thought she definitely needed to look into the Black Market. She did not have many industrial coupons, so she simply could not buy things like thermoses and flashlights. Without hot water, washing her face with well water was truly cold. It was fine in summer, but she would not be able to stand it in winter, and she could not go without hot water to drink then either.

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

Just as she was thinking the world was still quite beautiful, a scream that pierced the sky rang out.

Several people rushed toward the backyard, wanting to see what had happened.

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

How clean could a farmhouse toilet possibly be?

Village families saved up manure until they had enough, then carried it out to fertilize the fields and earn work points.

These educated youths all found it disgusting and were unwilling to earn those work points. They only used the toilet and no one emptied it.

In hot weather, maggots grew there. It looked... indescribable.

Neither Li Xiangwan nor Zhang Yanqiu had ever seen a rural latrine. City toilets were very clean these days.

Li Xiangbei was somewhat unsettled after seeing the toilet as well. When everyone ate breakfast, he did not eat at all and gave his porridge to Wang Yang.

Only then did Lin Yuzhu remember that the male lead had a bit of a cleanliness obsession.

Come to think of it, using the toilet was also a major matter in life. Lin Yuzhu could not help muttering inwardly; adapting to this was truly difficult.

Suddenly, a light screen appeared before her eyes, 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 offer all kinds of packages. Host, you can also buy furniture to decorate your little home. I can even show you the decorating plans of other users for reference.

As the light screen automatically played, it displayed luxurious villas in many other hosts' spaces, in all kinds of styles and with interiors decorated to the utmost extravagance.

Lin Yuzhu wiped away her drool. Just as expected, 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 the Thatched Cottage.

The system shamelessly began introducing the Thatched Cottage. The screen rotated in every direction, up, down, left, and right, in a full 360-degree display. Lin Yuzhu roughly understood that this Thatched Cottage was the most basic kind of house: one room, one kitchen, and one bathroom, simply furnished and with no furniture. If she wanted furniture, she could buy, buy, buy!

There was even a discount 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, and drainage systems without any trouble. Amazing, truly amazing!

Lin Yuzhu almost wanted to applaud them. Just having a bathroom alone was enough to tempt her. Then she thought of how, although she did not lack food, she could not bring it out openly. She could not just casually take out flour and rice, could she? Even cadre families at this time could not necessarily eat rice, flour, and steamed buns every day.

And then there was stewed meat. The smell might drift through 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 would have to secretly cook extra meals. 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-hm, she could not afford it. Then why hadn't you told me before that houses could also be bought in the space?