After the meal, Shen Moxi cleared away the dishes, moved the little table off the kang, and poured Song Qi a cup of water. She took the dishes outside and saw that Huang Yushan and Song Yongjun had finished eating and were sorting firewood in the courtyard.
Shen Moxi did not go out to disturb them. She washed the dishes, put them away, and went to Song Qi's room, where she found him holding his cup and gazing absently out the window.
"What are you looking at? You seem so lost in thought."
"All of a sudden, it feels so unreal. A peaceful place like this, without turmoil or war-it feels like a dream," Song Qi said softly, taking a sip of water.
Shen Moxi walked over with a smile, lifted his arm to her mouth, and bit it.
"Hiss!" Song Qi turned to look at her in pain. "What are you doing?"
"Helping you feel whether you're dreaming," Shen Moxi said, raising an eyebrow.
"Heh, you little girl." Song Qi shook his head in amusement. He had only been reflecting for a moment.
"Don't call me a little girl. I'm not little anymore," Shen Moxi said with a frown.
"I've lived for hundreds of years. How old are you?" Song Qi teased her.
"Oh, in that case, I should call you an old monster." Shen Moxi burst out laughing.
"In the cultivation world, someone my age is in the prime of youth," Song Qi said with a snort.
"This body of yours is only twenty. Stop acting so old. You finally got a chance to be young again." Shen Moxi took the cup from his hand and set it down. "Rest a little longer. I'm going out to see if your parents need any help."
Song Qi nodded, and Shen Moxi tucked the quilt over him.
After Shen Moxi left, Song Qi closed his eyes. His soul entered the space, and he went to the herb-growing area to select several kinds of herbs. Since there was no spiritual energy here, he could not use the pill furnace. Nor could he take these spiritual herbs outside and boil them into a medicinal decoction. If anyone discovered them, he would never be able to explain it.
Sigh, I can only use the most ordinary method-eat them directly. Eating over a dozen medicinal herbs together... that taste, tsk, tsk. It really is something else.
When Shen Moxi went outside, the couple had almost finished tidying up.
"Aunt Shan, is there anything I can do?"
Huang Yushan wiped the sweat from her forehead. Seeing Shen Moxi come out, she immediately stood up. "What are you doing out here? Hurry back inside and lie down for a rest. There's nothing here we need your help with."
"Aunt Shan, I'm fine now. Doing a little work will help me recover faster," Shen Moxi said with a smile.
"There's no more work here. Your uncle and I will be going to the fields in a bit. Go back inside. We left you two some food in the kitchen. Help yourselves if you get hungry." Huang Yushan piled the firewood together and brushed the dirt off her clothes.
Seeing how straightforward the couple were, Shen Moxi decided there was no need to keep insisting back and forth. In any case, once Song Qi recovered tomorrow, they could go out and earn money. Half a day would make no difference.
"All right, then. I'll go look after Brother Song. Let me make dinner tonight, so you won't have to rush back to cook for us."
"No. If you want to cook, wait until you're completely well. One meal won't make a difference. Just behave and rest. Don't go messing around." Huang Yushan turned to look at her.
"It's fine. Cooking isn't anything major. Aunt Shan, you're treating me like an outsider. Don't you think of me as family?" Shen Moxi deliberately gave her a pitiful look.
"No, I..." Before Huang Yushan could finish, Song Yongjun interrupted her. "All right, dear. If the child wants to cook, let her. Let her do it if she likes."
Then he turned to Shen Moxi. "Girl, don't make too much. One or two dishes will do. Don't tire yourself out."
"Okay, I understand, Uncle." Shen Moxi returned to her room with a cheerful smile.
She lay down on the kang and called Xiao Tao out.
"Xiao Tao, how did things go with my luminous pearl? How much did it fetch at auction?"
Xiao Tao's mechanical voice burst out, with a hint of excitement audible beneath it. "Master, this luminous pearl is extraordinary! Where did you get it? Something like this isn't easy to obtain. You wouldn't find anything so precious in the environment you're living in now."
"Never mind where I got it. Just tell me whether it's been auctioned." Shen Moxi silently rolled her eyes. She would never tell it about that huge bug, not even if it was the system. After all, he did not belong entirely to her, and there was some big boss on the other end. What if something unexpected happened?
"Sigh, all right. If you won't tell me, never mind. The auction results are in." Xiao Tao gave a melancholy, affected sigh.
"Really? How much? Hurry up and tell me!" Shen Moxi sat up excitedly and rubbed her hands together.
"This luminous pearl was top-grade in both quality and size. It sold for three hundred million yuan, which converts to roughly twelve million yuan in this era's currency. However, the auction charges a twenty-percent handling fee, so your current account balance is nine million six hundred thousand." Xiao Tao rattled off a whole string of information.
Shen Moxi did not listen closely to the details, but she did hear that another twenty percent would be deducted as a handling fee. Damn, could this be any more of a rip-off? You never mentioned a handling fee when you introduced it earlier!
"Comrade Xiao Tao," Shen Moxi called through gritted teeth.
"Here, Master."
"You never told me earlier that the auction would charge a handling fee!" Shen Moxi roared inwardly.
"Well... um... I forgot, didn't I?" Xiao Tao's voice grew quieter as it spoke. "Besides, it makes no difference whether I told you or not. If I'd told you then, would you have decided not to auction it?"
"How is that the same? I just can't accept it. You have to give me something to make up for it." A crafty gleam flashed in Shen Moxi's eyes.
Xiao Tao fell silent, and Shen Moxi was in no hurry either. Hmph, you little thing. How could I let you off without squeezing something out of you?
Only after quite a while did Xiao Tao finally speak, dragging its words out. "Master, how about I give you twenty percent off for a week? Everything you buy within that week will be twenty percent off. There's never been a discount before."
"All right, all right. I'm a generous woman." Shen Moxi nodded haughtily.
"Master, your current balance is nine million six hundred thousand, and you have ninety-six thousand points. You can upgrade now!" Xiao Tao said excitedly.
"Oh, right! I can upgrade now. That's wonderful!" Shen Moxi rolled around on the kang in excitement.
"Master, please press the confirm button to upgrade now." As Xiao Tao finished speaking, a display appeared before Shen Moxi.
Shen Moxi quickly tapped the confirm button.
"The system is upgrading. Please wait." The screen instantly went black.
After a wait of about fifteen minutes, the screen changed, and the words "Upgrade successful" appeared.
"System upgrade successful. Five-second countdown until use... five, four, three, two, one... activate." The display instantly lit up.
Shen Moxi saw three buttons appear at the very bottom of the screen. From left to right, they were: farm, ranch, workshop.
"Master, from now on, you can grow crops on the farm and raise animals on the ranch. The crops you grow can only be sold through the system, and the money from those sales can be used to buy things in the shop. The workshop can produce things for you, such as clothes, shoes, quilts, handicrafts, and other things that require handcrafting. You only need to draw their design and style, color them in, mark the dimensions and lengths, place the drawing in the workshop, and then select the production parameters. Please note in particular: all required materials must be purchased from the shop. Materials from the real world cannot be used."
After listening, Shen Moxi nodded. "The workshop is quite convenient. Buying from the shop saves even more trouble. It's much better than going out to buy materials myself, and I won't have to worry about exposing anything."