Chapter 17 Lala, you have indigestion.

In the small garden, the children were throwing things around enthusiastically, while Ning Jia kept an eye on the garden entrance to see if anyone was coming, all the while marveling at their play.

Originally, she thought she had very few things left, but she never expected that the little people were the chosen minimalists. They could throw things away whenever they wanted, and when they moved, they would throw away the whole house, achieving a quick and painless move.

The little creatures kept throwing things at each other, quickly adding a lot of fertilizer to the garden soil.

Ning Jia watched this massive decluttering event and found it very relaxing. She even felt a little itchy to go back and throw something away herself.

Clan Chief Canglan was also throwing things around, and Ning Jia watched with great interest as she gathered her belongings.

Huh, so the chieftain also hoards straw bags like everyone else? Uh, is this floral dew? Why does it smell so strange? Oh my god, why is there a bunch of orange peels here? So, chieftain, you really love oranges…

Ning Jia was secretly complaining when she suddenly saw Cang Lan bring out a bunch of... scrolls? Each scroll was about the length of a finger and was very well preserved. They were said to record the history of the little people over the past hundred years.

Seeing Canglan pick up a scroll, Ningjia instinctively stopped her, saying, "Clan leader, this can't be lost!"

Canglan looked at her questioningly. "Who said I was going to get lost?"

She slowly unrolled the scrolls. "The weather is nice today, so I'm taking them out to air them, otherwise they'll get infested with bugs."

Ning Jia: Sorry, I was just seeing things for the first time.

A thought suddenly struck her, and she found a way to help, suggesting:

"Chief, this is such an important thing, why don't you keep it at my house for safekeeping? I promise I won't peek at the contents."

Canglan politely declined, but added, "Don't misunderstand, I believe you won't peek."

Ning Jia chuckled. Of course, he had to believe it. After all, the scroll was written in a winding, pictographic script that resembled flowers and plants. It was said that even ordinary little people couldn't understand it, let alone Ning Jia, who was an "illiterate little person".

"Alright, everyone has worked hard. Let's eat something."

After throwing things around for a while, the little ones were indeed tired and looked exhausted. Seeing this, Ning Jia quickly took out the snacks she had brought earlier and invited everyone to come and eat.

Wow, they have butter cookies today too!

Having already devoured a lot of fruit, He Meng rushed over like a little cannonball, her bright eyes quickly locking onto the familiar little round cake in the box.

“It’s a cream and pork floss pastry,” Ning Jia corrected. “At least show some respect for the food you like.”

He Meng's eyes were still fixed on the small round cake, her mouth almost watering. "Okay, I want to eat the cream and pork floss cake."

Ning Jia couldn't help but look at her round little belly. "He Meng, didn't you just eat a lot of bananas and strawberries? How can you still eat?"

"Yes, of course I can! Don't underestimate my abilities!" He Meng patted her chest with her little hands. "Let me tell you, I can still eat ten mini pancakes right now!"

“…It’s a cream and pork floss pastry.” Ning Jia teased her, “If you remember the name wrong again, I won’t let you eat it.”

He Meng panicked when she heard that, "No way, I want to eat squirrel... no, cream and pork floss cake!"

Ning Jia laughed heartily, "Don't worry, I made a lot this time, so you can eat to your heart's content."

"Yo-ho~ Ning Jia, you're so nice~"

He Meng was so happy that she couldn't help but spin around on the spot.

She eagerly awaited the arrival of her favorite snacks, and without wasting a second, she swiftly grabbed a cream and pork floss pastry, sat down, and began to devour it, exclaiming, "So delicious! So delicious! So delicious!"

Bai Su, standing to the side, covered her eyes, unable to bear watching. "Greedy glutton."

He Meng continued to eat her snacks, seemingly oblivious, but muttered something indistinctly, "It's not just me who loves to eat them, everyone loves to eat them."

Bai Su looked at the greedy expressions on the faces of her people and couldn't refute them for a moment.

Recently, having earned a considerable amount of money for food, Ning Jia has been more generous with the ingredients in her pastries, making them taste even better than last time. Not to mention the other villains, even the clan leader Cang Lan is enjoying them immensely.

"Mmm, it's so delicious!"

On the other side, the little people of the tribe sat in a row on the grass, each holding a small piece of snack in their little hands, eating it obediently with their big round eyes slightly squinted, their little mouths curved, and their cheeks chubby, looking very content.

As Ning Jia watched, she couldn't resist picking up a piece of cream cake and taking a small bite.

Wow, it smells so good!

Strange, there aren't any special ingredients in this, so why does it taste so sweet and delicious today?

Just as everyone was enjoying their meal, He Meng, who had been engrossed in eating, suddenly frowned, stopped chewing, and the half-eaten cream and pork floss pastry in her hand rolled onto the grass. Then, a loud "Wow!" followed.

"Chief, I don't want to eat...devil's grass..."

He Meng lay on the grass, barely alive. Even though she had no strength left, she kept trying to open her mouth and emphasize.

Canglan ignored her. "Don't speak. Open your mouth so I can see."

“…Oh, ah—”

A thin blade of grass suddenly slipped into He Meng's mouth and scraped against her tongue, startling her so much that her eyes widened in surprise.

Canglan looked at the sticky substance on the grass stem and said, "Your tongue coating is thick, greasy, and yellow; you have indigestion."

As she spoke, she parted the dry grass on the grass skirt, reached inside and pressed He Meng's bulging little belly, and said speechlessly, "Your belly is so bloated, why don't you stop eating?"

“I warned her! Really!” Ning Jia, who was watching from the sidelines, quickly explained, “But she said she could still eat more…”

Bai Su couldn't help but roll her eyes. "You're such a grown-up, and you still don't know how to control your eating. Are you an idiot?"

He Meng vomited violently just now, which terrified Bai Su. She thought He Meng had food poisoning, but it turned out to be indigestion, which was a bit far-fetched.

"Chief, I don't want to eat the devil's grass..."

He Meng didn't care about being stupid or not at all, and emphasized weakly.

Canglan smiled slightly, "Don't worry, I won't give it to you. The Devil's Herb isn't the right remedy for your problem."

“…That’s great,” He Meng’s eyes lit up. “I think I’ll be fine after a rest.”

“That won’t do,” Cang Lan smiled again, and magically produced a small red thing, stuffing it into He Meng’s mouth before He Meng could react.

"Ugh—it's so sour..."

He Meng's brows furrowed, and tears were about to fall. Ning Jia felt a pang of sadness seeing this and couldn't help but ask, "What did you just give He Meng to eat?"

"This is a digestive pill. He Meng used to eat this a lot when she was little, and it was very effective."

Ning Jia guessed that this digestive pill was similar to hawthorn, and her heart skipped a beat. She was about to ask if this thing could be mass-produced, but then she thought that there were many digestive products on the market, and this digestive pill probably wouldn't be very competitive, so she didn't ask any further questions.

He Meng vomited violently and could no longer eat snacks, so she could only lie aside and watch everyone continue to feast.

Seeing how pitiful she looked, Ning Jia couldn't bear it. "Take a few days to recover, and I'll make you cream and pork floss cakes again next time."

"You said it yourself. If you don't do it, you'll be a 996 working slave for life."

He Meng was in a bad mood because she couldn't get any snacks, and her little mouth seemed to be poisoned.

Ning Jia: ...

The next day, Ning Jia arrived at the small garden early again.

Huh, why is it so quiet today? Ning Jia looked left and right but couldn't see the little figure. After waiting patiently for a long time, He Meng finally appeared slowly.

"He Meng? Why are you out? Don't you need to rest?"

He Meng looked puzzled and sighed, "Sigh, I'm fine, but they're all sick."

"What?!" Ning Jia exclaimed in surprise. "What happened? Why are they all suddenly sick?"

He Meng's complicated expression made Ning Jia even more nervous. "Could it be poisoning? Or...she's gone mad?"

Could it be? Are the little people also completely immune to that virus?

Ning Jia's mind had already automatically conjured up a bunch of medicine names, and she was about to go to the pharmacy to buy them when she suddenly heard He Meng say:

"The clan chief said everyone is fine, they just need to rest."

Her hesitant manner piqued Ning Jia's curiosity to the extreme. "What's wrong?"

"Let me explain."

Cang Lan appeared on the grass in front of Ning Jia at some point, leaning on a wooden stick and limping over.

"Chieftain, are you alright?!"

Seeing that even the usually composed Cang Lan looked listless, Ning Jia was quite startled. "What's wrong with her? Should I go buy some medicine?"

Canglan thanked her and shook her head, saying, "No need."

“Actually, there’s nothing wrong with saying this,” she said, glancing at He Meng. “Thanks to you, the tribe has always had plenty of food. It’s just that… recently, perhaps because they’ve been eating too many new and unusual foods, the tribespeople are feeling a bit unwell…”

As she spoke, she pointed to her own buttocks, "Last night, everyone in the tribe had stomach problems and didn't sleep a wink. They're all exhausted now."

Huh? Diarrhea? Ning Jia was taken aback, then asked, "Is it serious? Is it alright?"

Canglan remained calm. "Don't worry, I've already checked everyone's pulse. There's nothing seriously wrong. As long as they expel what their bodies can't handle and rest a bit, they'll be fine."

"That's good." Ning Jia breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little guilty. "It's all my fault for not thinking things through and making so many desserts for you..."

Although Canglan spoke subtly, she had already guessed that the food the little people couldn't digest must be the pastries she made.

Looking back now, those sweet and oily pastries were indeed hard to digest for the little people who drank dew and ate fruit all their lives.

Seeing that she had already guessed, Canglan did not hide anything and nodded, saying, "Judging from the symptoms of most people, this problem is indeed related to those pastries."

“But you meant well, and those pastries really did taste delicious,” Cang Lan said, comforting Ning Jia. “Besides, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.”

She blushed, a rare sight for her.

“My tribe was really short of food before, so I picked up some edible things from your giants’ trash cans. After feeding them to my tribe, they got stomach aches and I haven’t dared to eat them since.”

"I originally thought it was because the food was not fresh, but now it seems that our people cannot fully digest your food."

Ning Jia suddenly realized, "Don't worry, clan leader, from now on I will only bring fruit and I will resolutely not give you any other food."

Cang Lan was taken aback for a moment, then quickly waved her hand, "There's no need to go to such extremes."

"Although we can't eat desserts for the time being, we can still try some simpler and more natural foods slowly."

“I’m not just being greedy.” Seeing Ning Jia’s confusion, Cang Lan explained, “Now that we are living in the city of giants, we must adapt to local customs and gradually get used to the food here. Only in this way can our people survive more easily.”

"But you have plenty of money in your accounts, enough to eat for a long time. Even if you run out of money, I will..."

Canglan interrupted Ningjia, "I understand your good intentions, but it is dangerous to always rely on others, even if the person you rely on is you."

The meaning behind Canglan's words startled Ning Jia.

Yes, it's not just the dwarves; she's gradually gotten used to spending her free time with them too. But who knows what the future holds...

Ning Jia felt a pang of melancholy. Just as she was about to say something, she saw Cang Lan suddenly reach out her small hand and clutch her stomach in pain.

"Excuse me, I'm not feeling well, please excuse me..."

"Oh, is that what you want...?"

After all, they weren't close enough to talk about bodily matters like diapers and excrement, so Ning Jia felt a little awkward. "Please go ahead."

Seeing Canglan's anxious expression but slow pace, she blurted out:

"Is the restroom far from here? Shall I take you there?"

"No need, no need."

Canglan stumbled, but her weak little legs quickened her pace...