"Okay, thank you very much, shopkeeper. I'll bring the basket over for you tomorrow," Jiang Hua said.

On their way back, Jiang Hua hired Uncle Fu's oxcart, and the group rode for an hour before finally arriving home.

"Auntie, this tael of silver is your and Tianming's wages for today," Jiang Hua said, handing a tael of loose silver to Aunt Liu.

"How can this be!" Aunt Liu hurriedly stuffed the one tael of silver that Jiang Hua had given her back into her hand.

"You're still young. You don't know how expensive firewood and rice are until you're in charge of the household. It costs one or two taels of silver a day."

"Auntie, you've all worked hard today too," Jiang Hua said to Aunt Liu, who was very emotional.

“Let’s put it another way. At least your brother Tianming only earns ten copper coins a day doing hard labor at the docks, while you’ve given him a tael of silver,” Aunt Liu continued.

“Jiang Hua, my mother is right. You’re treating us like outsiders.” Liu Tianming chimed in from the side.

"Auntie, it's my fault, I didn't think that much about it," Jiang Hua said apologetically.

He took back the tael of silver and counted out forty more coins, handing them to Aunt Liu:

"Auntie, you can't refuse this time."

Aunt Liu reluctantly accepted the money, then went into the kitchen and took out a large wooden basin to clean the chicken feet.

After cleaning the chicken feet, fearing that Jiang Hua would insist they stay for dinner, Aunt Liu called her son and rushed back home.

"Stepmother, is our food not good?" Jiang Jingyi asked, watching Aunt Liu walk away quickly.

"Hmm?" Jiang Hua looked at Jiang Jingyi.

"Why are Grandma Liu and the others running so fast?" Jiang Jingyi asked seriously.

"Something might have come up at home." Jiang Hua carried the ten chickens she had just washed into the kitchen.

What do you want to eat tonight?

“Stepmother, I want to eat the stir-fried chicken giblets with pickled green beans that you made last night. It’s sour and spicy,” Jiang Jingyi said, putting down the book in his hand.

"No, children shouldn't eat so much chili." Jiang Hua politely declined, "Never mind, I'll make you a steamed egg and some braised pork."

"Okay." Jiang Jingyi didn't dare to have any objections.

As night deepened, Jiang Jingyi fell asleep, and Jiang Hua took the opportunity to enter the space.

"Master, you've finally come in." The little white snake quickly crawled towards her.

"You haven't come to pamper me in so long," the little white snake said, crawling to Jiang Hua's feet and rubbing against her.

"Didn't we just see each other last night?" Jiang Hua walked to the swing under the tree next to the spirit spring, sat down, and asked again:

"My system recently disappeared?"

“How could that be? Ever since you ruined its plan last time, it’s been showing off while you’re asleep,” the little white snake said, climbing up the vines of the swing.

"What did it say?" Jiang Hua asked immediately.

"It's nothing more than that. The main female lead and another male supporting character have gotten together online," the little white snake said casually.

"Do you know who the other male supporting character is?"

"The one surnamed Ye." The little white snake said as it climbed onto Jiang Hua's shoulder.

Then she was right. Lin Shuyan and Ye Shaoling had already made contact, and Ye Shaoling's inexplicable injury was probably due to the system's intervention.

"Get down." Jiang Hua glanced at the little white snake, who was getting too big for its britches and still wanted to snuggle in her arms.

"No!" the little white snake said shamelessly, whining.

"Isn't it said that snakes are cold-blooded animals?" Jiang Hua asked, lifting the little white snake curled up in her arms.

"Master, I am the spirit of space. This is just my transformed form. What a beautiful little white snake!" the little white snake said proudly.

"Where's that ginseng from last time? I need money. Dig it up and give it to me." Jiang Hua asked, placing it on the ground.

"Master, let me dig up two plants for you, so we can exchange them for more silver."

As she spoke, less than a minute later, the little white snake crawled over with two ginseng roots in its mouth and placed them at her feet.

"How did this ginseng grow so much?"

Jiang Hua picked up the two ginseng roots and examined them. They looked much better than the ones she had dug up on the mountain that day.

"Of course I did it, I am the spirit of space." The little white snake tried to kick Jiang Hua in the arms again with a "whoosh".

"Alright, I'll give you two salt-baked chickens tomorrow." Jiang Hua picked it up and left the space.

"Master, you remember!"

Jiang Hua left the space, but the voice of the little white snake still echoed in her mind.

Where did you go again?

Just as the little white snake's voice subsided, the long-absent system voice suddenly sounded.

"Is there some secret about you that I don't know about?" the system asked, its tone somewhat excited.

"Say something! Why do I sometimes not feel your presence?"

Jiang Hua ignored it, closed her eyes and went to sleep, leaving the system alone chattering away, asking and answering itself.

At the market in Qingshi Town, Jiang Hua had just set up her stall when she took out a basket she had prepared beforehand. The basket was filled with dried herbs, and there was also ginseng that she had dug out from her space the night before.

"Auntie, you stay here for now, I'll go get the herbs to sell," Jiang Hua said to Aunt Liu.

"Go ahead," Aunt Liu waved her hand, telling Jiang Hua to go without worry.

Jiang Hua arrived at Mingde Hall, where she was greeted by the same waiter as last time.

"Miss Jiang, you're here to sell herbs again!" the shopkeeper said familiarly.

"Well, besides the herbs, there are also two ginseng roots. I wonder if your Mingde Hall would accept them?"

"Ginseng...?" The young apprentice was incredulous, his words becoming somewhat incoherent.

"Miss Jiang, is what you said true?" the apprentice asked Jiang Hua again cautiously.

“Of course it’s true.” Jiang Hua put the basket on the table and then brushed aside the dried herbs covering the ginseng.

“Miss Jiang, please go to the back room first. Our manager is there. I’ll take you to see him,” the apprentice said immediately.

Jiang Hua nodded and followed the young apprentice into a tea room in the back hall.

"Miss Jiang, please wait here. I'll go and fetch our manager right away."

"Okay," Jiang Hua replied.

Jiang Hua didn't have to wait long before Manager Jiang arrived.

"Miss Jiang, you dug up ginseng, didn't you?" Manager Shen asked impatiently before he had even sat down properly.

Jiang Hua then took out the two ginseng roots from her basket and placed them in front of Manager Shen.

"Miss Jiang, are you going to sell both of these ginseng roots?" Manager Shen could tell at a glance that these two ginseng roots were different from the ones he usually received; they must be at least five hundred years old.

“I’m a bit short of money lately. Manager Shen, name your price, and I’ll sell it if I think it’s reasonable,” Jiang Hua said.

“Alright, Miss Jiang.” Manager Shen examined the ginseng in his hand carefully again before finally speaking:

"Miss Jiang, these two ginseng roots, one is 500 years old and the other is over 200 years old. The 500-year-old one is 3,000 taels of silver, and the 200-year-old one is 1,000 taels of silver. Do you think that's acceptable?" Manager Shen asked tentatively.