ITBBS Chapter 22

Shen Qiu dashed home with the things in her arms. As soon as she entered the house, she shouted inside, “Mom, Mom, come out quickly!”

“What are you doing? Such a big girl, still so rash and reckless,” Xu Dani scolded as she walked over. This brat was almost eighteen years old but still had no composure. How would she ever get by in the future?

Shen Qiu didn’t mind her mother’s tone. Right now, she just wanted her mother to make a decision. That girl had stuffed quite a few things into her arms and refused to let her say no. “Mom, take a look at what Yao Yao gave me. Can we accept it?”

“Yao Yao is back?” Xu Dani had been talking with her husband just yesterday, worrying about what might happen to that girl after being away for several days. It was good that she was back now.

When Xu Dani saw the things her daughter pulled out of the bag, her eyes widened. “My goodness, did Yao Yao give you all of this? How could you accept such expensive things?”

She stared at the package of White Rabbit milk candies on the table, two boxes of pastries, two jars of snow cream, two packs of cigarettes, and eight big red apples.

“What are you all doing in there? Your voices are so loud the whole neighborhood can hear.” Shen Guoqing had just returned from the commune office. Before he even entered the gate, he heard the commotion inside.

“Old man, hurry up and come see these things. Yao Yao had Qiu Girl bring them home.” Xu Dani finally snapped out of her daze. How much money would such expensive things cost? Just looking at them made her heart ache for that girl.

Shen Guoqing walked into the main room and saw the things on the table. He remained silent for a long time. He felt that girl had really changed. Not only did she have her own ideas, but she had also grown closer to their family.

“Keep them. It’s a few days until the eighteenth of the twelfth lunar month. Do we still have fabric at home? Make a cotton-padded jacket for Yao Yao and then cook a nice meal and invite the girl over to eat.”

Xu Dani had no objection to this. She wasn’t the type to be ungrateful. Since Yao Yao treated them well, they couldn’t just accept her things and act like nothing happened.

“Alright, I’ll start on the cotton-padded jacket tomorrow. You should also talk to our eldest and second sons. Tell them to look out for that girl in the future and not let outsiders bully her.” Xu Dani thought about how there were quite a few hooligans in the village. Who knew if someone might get bad intentions? So she needed her family to be more vigilant.

Shen Guoqing thought it over and agreed. Although he was the production team leader and village party secretary, not everyone in the village obeyed the rules. “Okay, I understand.”

Listening to her parents’ conversation, Shen Qiu felt increasingly certain that she had to get into university. Otherwise, if Yao Yao was bullied later, she would regret it forever. “Dad, Mom, I hereby announce that I’m going to take the university entrance exam!”

“What? With your terrible grades, you think you can get into university? If you did, I’d be laughing in my dreams.” Xu Dani was startled by her daughter’s words. Someone who didn’t like studying was suddenly talking about university?

“Daughter, why are you suddenly thinking about going to university?” Shen Guoqing also looked doubtful. Since when was his daughter so eager to study? He had no idea.

Shen Qiu puffed up her cheeks in frustration. Were these really her parents? Their looks of disbelief were so discouraging. “Fine, don’t believe me then. Anyway, I’ve promised Yao Yao. I’m going to go to university with her, and Yao Yao said she would help tutor me.”

Xu Dani suddenly understood. “So that’s it. I was wondering why you suddenly wanted to take the exam. So this is Yao Yao’s doing. Then you’d better work hard and not let her good intentions go to waste.”

Shen Guoqing knew about Yao Yao’s academic abilities. She had always been first in her class since elementary school and had even skipped several grades. If she helped their daughter study, it really might be possible.

“Alright then, study hard with Yao Yao. Get into university and bring honor to our Shen family.”

“Hmph, I will definitely work hard!”

…

Shen Yao knew nothing of the conversation happening in the Shen family’s house. At this moment, she was in her space, being incessantly complained at by the little phoenix.

Xiao Ling hovered in mid-air, looking hurt as she grumbled at Shen Yao. “Master, do you still remember that you have a cute spirit pet? You were in the city for several days. On the first day, your projection came into the space. But on the following days, I didn’t see a single trace of you. What on earth have you been so busy with?”

Shen Yao just watched the little phoenix throw her tantrum. She had been worried about safety, so she had blocked the contract telepathy for the past few days. Who knew that the moment she entered the space tonight, she would be accused like this?

“Ahem, Xiao Ling, I was wrong, really. Next time, I definitely won’t block the telepathy. That way, even if I don’t enter the space, we can still communicate.” She felt that if she didn’t coax her soon, she’d be listening to this phoenix nag all night.

“Hmph, I’ll grudgingly forgive you this time. If you do it again, I won’t talk to you for a whole month.”

Xiao Ling felt that her master was really too much. Not entering the space was bad enough, but she even blocked the telepathy.

Shen Yao picked up Xiao Ling and held her in her arms, smoothing down her feathers. “Alright, I’ll change. Come on, let’s go check out the rare books I brought in a few days ago.”

“Master, I know of a rare book that’s full of ancient recipes for winemaking. I think you could use it.”

Shen Yao’s eyes lit up at this news. If they really were ancient recipes, she would be rich. Her space certainly didn’t lack wine. Before she transmigrated, she had bought a large amount of bulk wine and stored it.

“Master, this is the one. Actually, there are even more books on medicine, but you can’t use them.”

Xiao Ling felt helpless. In previous generations, every female master of the space disliked studying medicine. It was always the male masters who were geniuses at medicine, while the female masters preferred to study talismans and formations.

“Xiao Ling, you can’t blame me for that, right? I’m doing well just to remember the types and uses of medicines. I can’t do anything else.”

Just talking about medicine gave her a headache. Every time she tried to read a medical book, she would fall asleep within ten minutes, so you really couldn’t blame her. Everyone had their strengths and weaknesses. The fact that she had memorized the entire “Compendium of Ten Thousand Medicines” was already her limit.

…

Shen Yao picked up the rare book and flipped through it. It did indeed contain various ancient recipes for winemaking, all of which were now extinct. She remembered that she had traded this book from the old fox. She didn’t know if he was aware of its value. Next time she brought him food, she could ask him.

The more she read, the more delighted she became. The recipes in this rare book were really priceless. There were even recipes for brewing spiritual wine that could increase internal energy. Since she had spiritual spring water, this was perfect. She would try it out later.

Shen Yao also found recipes for making incense, perfumes, and rouge powder, which were imperial formulas from the past. She thought these were great. She could put them aside to study slowly, and they would surely sell well in the future.

After reading the rare book, she decided to brew some wine and let it age. The longer wine was stored, the more fragrant it became. With the dense spiritual energy of her space, the effects would increase many times over.

No sooner said than done, Shen Yao spent the entire night brewing wine. In the end, she made many batches of peach blossom wine, monkey wine, and several types of spiritual wine to increase internal energy.