ITBBS Chapter 10

The next morning, Shen Yao exercised in the courtyard for an hour before washing up and eating breakfast.

She took out a bottle of milk, a large meat bun, and three egg pancakes and began to eat.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so she couldn’t be careless about it.

She remembered that in her previous life, many people had stomach problems, all caused by poor eating habits.

Just as she was almost done eating, she saw Shen Qiu walking in through the courtyard gate with a basket on her back.

“Yao Yao, good morning!”

“Cousin Xiao Qiu, morning! Here, I saved some egg pancakes for you.” Then Shen Yao pointed at the pancakes she had set aside.

“You eat them. I brought you an egg, you can eat it.” Shen Qiu handed over the egg.

“Alright, I’ll eat the egg, and you eat the egg pancakes. After we’re done, we can go up the mountain.” Shen Yao didn’t give her a chance to refuse and directly stuffed the pancake into the little girl’s mouth.

Shen Qiu felt that this girl was doing it on purpose, though she had no proof.

“Yao Yao, these egg pancakes are so fragrant.”

Shen Qiu thought the pancakes were delicious. She had lost weight from eating communal meals before, and she was glad they didn’t have to eat that way anymore.

She had truly grown afraid of the communal cafeteria. Day after day of wild vegetable paste, with no trace of oil or fat, and it didn’t keep her full for long.

Fortunately, because of the famine, her father had disbanded the communal kitchen a week ago. Cooking their own meals was far better than eating from the communal pot anyway.

“If you like them, I’ll make them for you again.”

Shen Yao was a true foodie. In her previous life, she had spent a long time studying how to cook, so cooking was never a problem for her.

Although she held a master’s degree in financial management, she also studied fashion design, researched cooking, and learned how to make her own skincare products.

So she knew quite a lot of things. The reason her skin was better than anyone else’s was that she always used her own homemade skincare products.

All-natural skincare products that even the expensive ones on the market couldn’t compare to.

“White flour, how could we possibly afford to eat that?”

Shen Qiu felt that this girl was still dreaming. With the famine going on, people couldn’t even eat their fill. Having coarse grains was already good enough.

Since the Shen family’s house was built with its back against the mountain, the two reached the foot of the mountain quickly.

Shen Yao looked at the endless Great Green Mountains, peak after peak stretching as far as the eye could see.

The villagers usually only gathered food around the outer and middle edges of the mountains.

They said that deep in the mountains there were many fierce beasts and large predators. Therefore, no one was willing to go into the depths and lose their lives.

But in Shen Yao’s eyes, these mountain ranges were free treasure troves. There would definitely be no shortage of good things in the depths. It seemed she would have to go alone next time so she could venture deeper to find treasure.

Xiao Ling’s voice sounded in Shen Yao’s mind: “Master, I sense something good in the depths of the mountains, but it’s a bit far away. I can’t tell exactly what it is yet.”

“Mm, I feel there’s a lot of stuff in the depths too. I’ll have to go explore another day.”

Shen Yao communicated with Xiao Ling as she walked. Her mental ability could now scan within 100 meters, and her martial strength had reached the second level. In a few more days, her strength would increase by another big margin, so she wasn’t afraid of going deep into the mountains.

“Yao Yao, come quick! There are a lot of dead trees here we can chop.”

Shen Yao looked at the girl’s happy, innocent smile. The smile was quite infectious. She quickened her pace and walked over.

“Cousin Xiao Qiu, you chop over here. I’ll go to the other side. That way we’ll be faster.”

“Alright, then be careful, Yao Yao.”

“Okay. You be careful too. Call me if anything happens.” With that, she walked to the other side.

Shen Yao saw a lot of dry grass on the ground. She gathered some and put it into her space to dry at home where it could be used for kindling.

Along the way, she chopped quite a few branches and dead trees. She put some in her basket and the rest in her space.

She would take them out and pile them in the yard when she got home. Shen Yao wasn’t sure how long she had been chopping. She only stopped when her hands felt numb.

She leaned against a tree to rest, thinking that if only her good luck had followed her, then maybe some prey would deliver itself right to her doorstep.

In her previous life, she had been lucky since childhood. Whenever she went out, she always stumbled upon good things.

As an adult, whether in business or buying stocks, she had never lost money. So she always felt she was the favored daughter of the heavens.

No sooner had she finished daydreaming, she heard a noise from the bushes beside her.

Shen Yao quickly extended her spiritual power and saw two wild pheasants approaching.

Without giving them a chance to react, she stored them directly into her space.

Shen Yao was overjoyed. She truly was the heavens’ favored daughter. Even her good luck had followed her. This heavenly father certainly treated her well!

First, she filled her basket with dry grass and tied up two bundles of firewood, ready to carry them down the mountain. She stored the rest in her space, tied up the two wild pheasants, and carried them in her hand before going to meet up with Shen Qiu.

“Cousin Xiao Qiu, are you done chopping? Look what I caught!”

“I’m done. I was just about to call you.” Shen Qiu had just lifted her basket onto her back when she heard Shen Yao’s voice. “Wow! Such fat wild pheasants! Yao Yao, how did you catch them?”

Shen Qiu was thrilled when she saw Shen Yao walking over with the pheasants. She thought her cousin was amazing.

Shen Yao smiled. “I happened to run into them while chopping firewood, so I caught them. One for each family, so we can have meat tonight.”

“No way. You caught them. How can you give them to me?” Shen Qiu quickly shook her head.

“Take it.” Shen Yao stuffed the pheasant into the girl’s hands and started walking back. Her uncle’s family had treated her sincerely, and she remembered it all.

…

The two girls chatted as they walked down the mountain. They parted ways at the foot of the mountain and went home.

After returning home, Shen Yao put the pheasant into her space and spread the firewood out in the yard to dry, otherwise fresh wood wouldn’t burn well.

Then she sat in a chair to rest, basking in the sun while munching on a big apple. The warm sunlight on her body was especially comfortable.

At noon, she made a bowl of tomato and egg noodles in the kitchen. Not feeling sleepy at all, she drank a cup of spiritual spring water and sat on her bed to cultivate.

Shen Yao didn’t plan to go up the mountain in the afternoon. She took a sickle and went to the backyard to tend to her private plot.

Seeing that the weeds in the plot were more than the vegetables, she sighed helplessly. Apart from silently working, what else could she say?

She spent quite a while clearing the weeds from the plot.

Noticing that the white radishes and carrots were growing quite well, Shen Yao pulled them all up.

She would wash them later and turn them into pickled vegetables. In the morning, they would be especially appetizing with congee.

The plot also had some Chinese cabbage, lettuce, spring onions, scallions, and cauliflower.

Shen Yao cut a few stalks of lettuce, then watered all the vegetables in the plot with some diluted spiritual spring water.

She went to the front yard to wash the radishes. After several hours of busy work, she finally finished pickling them.