Chapter 60 Broccoli's Coix Face
"Ta-da! The luxurious four-story mobile storage room is complete!"
Ning Jia stood up with a sense of accomplishment, pushed the stroller a few times, tested the wheels, and thought, "Hmm, it's fairly smooth."
She then brought out the pre-purchased dividers and divided each layer of the trolley into six spaces in a grid pattern. In this way, the storage room had 24 small spaces, just enough for one person, perfectly resolving the dispute.
Wow, what a tall room! I want the top one!
He Meng, like a monkey, shot up like a rocket and climbed to the top in no time.
Ning Jia corrected, "It's a storage room, a place for you to put your things."
Just kidding, this plastic stroller is so light, if a little person were to live in it, it would fall apart after a few shakes!
After hearing Ning Jia say that each person had their own cubicle, He Meng squatted on the trolley and surveyed the entire area. She quickly chose the middle cubicle, then poked her head out from the trolley and called out to Zhe Lan:
"Mommy, Mommy, which storage room do you want...?"
Zelan waved her hand at her, indicating that she was not in a hurry and that others should choose first.
"Okay, then I'll put my things in first."
He Meng nimbly jumped down from the "fourth floor" and excitedly ran to move her little gadgets.
As she ran, she shouted to her clansmen:
"Everyone, hurry up and go to the storage room to put your things away!! First come, first served!"
At He Meng's call, in no time at all, the little people were all mobilized and launched a vigorous "moving" operation.
For those who prefer a more casual approach, simply carry your things onto the trolley, toss them into the chosen compartment, and you're all set.
Those who are more particular will carefully arrange each item neatly before leaving satisfied.
For those who are more meticulous, they will also place a few leaves or a small flower next to the cubicle as a marker to prevent other tribesmen from accidentally entering.
There are also people who have difficulty moving, such as Tuantuan and Mengmeng.
Because they were small and weak, they chose the bottom edge of the cart, which was the "first floor" where they didn't need to climb.
Even so, it still took quite a bit of effort to move the ring toss game machine, which was taller than them, inside.
First, the two little ones moved the game console under the stroller together. Then, they slowly stood the game console upright against the edge of the stroller. Next, Mengmeng climbed into the compartment, grabbed one end of the game console with her two little hands, and sank down like a weight...
The enormous game console remained completely still.
Seeing this, Tuantuan quickly climbed in as well, grabbed the other corner of the game console, and sank down with all her might, finally causing the game console to flip over like a seesaw and fall into the grid.
Wow! Awesome! Well done!
A voice of encouragement came from the parents not far away.
The two little ones were also extremely excited. They stretched out their little hands and gave their parents a "V" sign. They climbed out of the grid with a look of utter satisfaction, completely unaware that they would have to go through all this trouble again when they wanted to take out the game console to play.
Their parents had clearly thought of this, and they looked at the two little ones with smiles on their faces without saying a word.
My child has gained weight recently; more exercise is really good!
While everyone was busily moving things, Gan Cao stood aside with a furrowed brow, staring blankly at the small cart, showing no intention of moving anything.
Xuecao had already put her things away and, seeing this, urged:
"Licorice, what are you standing there for? Why aren't you moving it yet?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Could it be that you're trying to take over the space under the coffee table for yourself?"
"How is that possible?"
Gancao shook her head. "Didn't the clan chief say that the material below would be used to hold the sachets later?"
As he spoke, he glanced at the cubicles inside the cart, looking troubled.
"I think my box is too big, it might not fit here..."
He was referring to the large cardboard box that Ning Jia had previously placed the materials package in for him. That box was a temporary find, and it was indeed quite large; one compartment simply couldn't hold it all.
Before Xuecao could speak, Bai Su, who was standing to the side, looked up at the sky speechlessly and couldn't help but say:
"You need to put the things in the box, not the box itself. Just take everything out of the box, and it will be easier to put them in."
Licorice: ...How could he not have thought of that?!
Xuecao looked at her silly younger brother, who had just realized something and was running away quickly, and felt helpless.
"Oh no, if Gan Cao doesn't do well in his studies in the future, I don't want to teach him!"
Bai Su smiled and said, "That's all for the future. We'll talk about it later."
...
While the little people were happily moving things around and sorting things out, Ning Jia quietly called Cang Lan aside and asked them about their separation from their clan.
After Bai Su revealed to Ning Jia that her clansmen had been separated, Ning Jia had been very concerned, but in the vast sea of people, she didn't know how to find them.
You can't just ask passersby on the street, "Hello, have you seen any little people?" or post a missing person ad, and you certainly can't post it online...
"So you already knew."
Canglan stroked her chin. "Actually, in order to find our lost clansmen, we've left messages on every tree nearby, but we haven't received any response..."
Ning Jia then said, "Perhaps the scope is still too small. How about I learn your writing system and leave a message on some trees when I go out to deliver goods?"
Cang Lan wouldn't refuse Ning Jia's enthusiastic help in finding her clansmen, but... after hearing Ning Jia's suggestion, she hesitated suspiciously for a moment before saying:
"If we rely on you to deliver the message to the other members of the tribe, it might take a lot of time..."
"Okay, you don't need to say anything more."
Seeing the "hieroglyphs" that Cang Lan had casually written on the card, Ning Jia's eyes widened in shock. She decisively took back what she had just said, determined not to humiliate herself.
However, although she couldn't learn the winding, intricate script of the little people, the little people themselves could learn it.
She picked up a freshly made sachet and told Canglan her plan B.
This time, Canglan didn't hesitate and quickly nodded, stroking her chin as she said:
"I do have a few candidates in mind for the job you mentioned, but we'll have to see what everyone else thinks..."
Ning Jia wasn't in a hurry; improving the packaging of sachets wasn't something that could be done overnight.
"Okay, you guys take your time to discuss it. I'll go cook now."
...
Given that she had fed the little ones a rich and oily old hen yesterday, resulting in excessive oil intake, Ningjia decided to make a few light vegetarian dishes to cut the oil today.
First, a big bowl of cucumber salad, a "fat-burning wonder," then a plate of stir-fried broccoli, which helps break down fat, followed by a plate of refreshing stir-fried bean sprouts, and finally a spinach and egg soup.
When Ning Jia brought the dishes out of the steaming kitchen, drenched in sweat, she couldn't help but think to herself, "I don't know if the little ones can lose weight after this meal, but she really does lose weight when she cooks."
Why is it all vegetables today?
The hungry baby rice sprouts clung to the small dish, their little faces full of disappointment.
"I ate a lot of meat yesterday, so I'll feel uncomfortable if I eat it again today."
Ning Jia said in a very serious tone.
Her explanation was reasonable, but… Daoya sniffed and looked suspiciously at Ning Jiaju's rice bowl held high:
"Then why can you still eat meat?"
Ning Jia ate the fragrant shredded pork with green peppers from his bowl and laughed heartily:
"Because I am a giant, and you are a dwarf!"
Daoya ignored her speechlessly, picked up the small plate, and turned to go to the spinach and egg soup. Even if she couldn't eat meat, eating some eggs would be good.
He Meng, Xue Cao, and the other young and middle-aged people grumbled a few times when they saw the all-vegetarian feast, but with Ning Jia's culinary skills, even the vegetables were made delicious, and they happily enjoyed the meal.
...
After lunch, as everyone was rubbing their bellies to help them digest, Canglan told Ningjia:
After some discussion, the Dwarfs finally selected three candidates: Quartz, Licorice, and Rice Sprout.
All three of them were very interested in this handicraft of "embroidering on sachets".
After all, it's quite boring for young people to sit there all day making straw bags and handling herbs.
Ning Jia thought for a moment, "This job isn't too demanding; one person should be enough."
That meant a choice of three. The three looked at each other, but none of them said they would back out.
Seeing this, Ning Jia suggested, "How about we have a small competition? The person who performs best can get the job."
Are Gan Cao and the others going to have a competition?
As soon as the news came out, the other overeaten little ones sat up and rushed over to watch, quickly forming a circular "arena".
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Ning Jia brought over three small cloth bags, each about the size of a palm, and gave each person a needle and a ball of light green thread, pointing to the character "Ning" on the card:
"Just embroider this character on the bottom right corner of the bag."
The three little figures, holding cloth bags, stared at the unfamiliar Chinese characters they had never seen before, and were momentarily dizzy.
"Never mind, let's get on with the embroidery."
Daoya was impatient. She picked up the needle and thread and quickly became familiar with how to use the needle and thread. She began to thread the needle with agile movements, but the words she embroidered were crooked and turned into cursive script because she was in a hurry.
"Ugh, this is too hard! I give up!"
Inagi, devastated, put down the cloth bag and announced her withdrawal.
The second person to embroider was Shi Ying. He was more composed, and the characters he embroidered were much neater. However, he had such a strong grip that he poked a hole in the bag after only a few pricks with the needle...
"Fine, I'll give up too."
Quartz lowered his head, put down the damaged cloth bag, and announced his withdrawal.
Gan Cao kept looking at the words on the card, and by the time he felt he finally "recognized" the word, he was already the last person to embroider it.
His movements were unhurried, and the embroidered characters looked quite neat, but upon closer inspection, the character "宁" (Ning) had been embroidered with an extra stroke compared to the character "宇" (Yu)... a misspelling.
Ning Jia was silent for a moment, but ultimately chose licorice. After all, she had no other choice.
Immediately, the clansmen applauded enthusiastically, "Gancao, congratulations!"
"Licorice, you need to learn this character 'Ning' properly before you can officially start working," Ning Jia instructed.
"Um!"
Licorice answered loudly.
I never expected that I would have to study for work, but learning just one word doesn't seem too difficult.
Ning Jia solemnly said to him, "Licorice, keep it up!"
At this moment, Gan Cao was unaware of the complex meaning behind the phrase "Keep going!"
That evening, while everyone else was enjoying themselves and resting, Gancao, with tears in her eyes, took her needle and thread and began to embroider on the card, which looked like gibberish in her native language. She felt utterly hopeless.
Heavens above, tree spirits, no one told him that besides embroidering the giants' script, he also had to embroider so many of his own people's scripts.
Snow Grass ran over to cheer him on:
"Licorice, you must study hard! If our mother could see these words, she could be reunited with us!"
"Um."
Gan Cao felt like his head was about to explode, but he would do his best for his mother!
Ning Jia also came over, picked up a finished product and looked at it, and couldn't help but praise, "This sachet looks much more exquisite after the words were embroidered on it."
Seeing that Gan Cao was embroidering too slowly, she offered some advice:
"Licorice, don't treat these as words, treat them as pictures, and then cut them according to your imagination. For example, this character 'Ning,' doesn't it look like an umbrella?"
Licorice: What is an umbrella?
Ning Jia: Never mind, I'll try again. For example, this character "Ning," look, doesn't it look like a mushroom... um, a fungus?
Licorice: ...A little?
Ning Jia: Licorice, you need to use your imagination!
Licorice: Hmm...
Ning Jia: ...Fine, whatever you think it should look like, just be yourself.
Gan Cao stopped and, following Ning Jia's method, looked at the text on the card again.
Hey, this Ning character looks just like He Meng's face! Hahaha, Ning Jia was right! Suddenly it all makes so much sense!
Gan Cao chuckled and continued practicing in front of "He Meng's face".
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