Chapter 20: People Came to the Village
That night passed in such fear and trepidation.
Only when dawn broke in the distance and a faint light of day could be seen did Guo Baiwen finally feel relieved.
Guo Xiaohua slept the best in the family last night, but when she was woken up, her eyes were red and swollen. "Grandma, I want to go home and sleep."
It's said that once you've slept in a good place, you won't feel comfortable sleeping in a bad one.
She didn't think much of it at first, since she used to be able to sleep well even when sleeping directly on the ground. But yesterday, when she went back to sleeping on dry straw, she found herself with a sore back and aching muscles.
Even though Grandma Guo always says that she's so young, she doesn't have a waist.
"Little Flower, let's not go home." Grandma Guo stroked her head and said earnestly, "If you feel uncomfortable sleeping, Grandma will go home and bring over the old quilt we used before. We'll stay here for a few more days before going back."
Once an aunt has made a decision, it's very difficult for her to change it.
Guo Xiaohua was just a little grumpy in the morning because she hadn't slept well.
After drinking some hot water and squatting by the fire pit to eat some dark brown bread, she started fussing about wanting to go home.
Seeing that Grandma Guo was about to get up and go back to get her things, Guo Baiwen quickly stopped her, saying, "Grandma, tell me what you need to take, or I'll go home and get it."
Grandma Guo glanced at the sky; it was already quite bright.
So he nodded, "Okay, then Wenzai, go home and get your things."
Besides the old cotton quilt she would use as bedding for Xiaohua, Grandma also wanted to bring over a small jar of pickled vegetables from her kitchen.
I was in a rush yesterday and forgot to bring any pickles or preserved vegetables with me when I left.
Although a little salt was added when kneading the dough for the black flour pancakes, they still tasted bland and tasteless.
Adding some pickled vegetables will make even a plain, unfilled flatbread taste much better.
There's also a half-finished hemp rope at home, and old clothes and shoes that I'm going to mend.
If the next few days are as peaceful as last night, she won't keep Xiaohua confined and let her sit idly in the ancestral hall.
If you keep doing something, you won't always be thinking about going outside.
As she was talking, she suddenly sat up again, "And remember our two laying hens and the rabbit too, bring them over with the nest."
As we talked, the number of things we needed to bring home kept increasing.
Grandma Guo also put on her shoes, ready to go home with Guo Baiwen.
He pressed her down, saying, "Grandma, it's alright. If there's a lot of stuff, I'll just make a few more trips. Our house isn't far from the ancestral hall or even outside the village, so you should stay here and help look after Xiaohua."
That's true. If she weren't watching, Xiaohua might have wanted to go play with Atao again.
These are not peaceful times.
I didn't bring any poultry yesterday because I thought this was, after all, the village's ancestral hall.
But besides her family, many other people brought their own poultry over yesterday.
Putting everything else aside, what woke them up this morning was the big rooster that Aunt Xiuxiu brought over.
With its tail held high, its crowing sounded particularly loud.
Although we don't know if the big spotted bird will come again, we only have a few poultry at home that can lay eggs and produce meat, and we're counting on them to have a good New Year.
We can't let that big spot get away with it.
So Guo Baiwen wrote everything down, then took the basket, left the ancestral hall, and headed towards his own courtyard.
Halfway there, they saw the village entrance, where five or six people, under Uncle Stone's direction, were setting up traps, wielding hoes and shovels, working busily.
Not wanting to disturb him, Guo Baiwen stood aside and watched for a while. After greeting Uncle Shi, he turned and went into his own house.
The house is still arranged exactly as it was before I left yesterday.
He first went into the chicken coop, pointed at the rabbits that were still eating their feed without a care in the world, closed the doors of the rabbit cage and the chicken coop, and then grabbed a small handful of feed and stuffed it into the bamboo tube.
Then, carrying one in each hand, he delivered the poultry that Grandma had been longing for.
On his second trip, he went to the kitchen to get the pickled vegetables, and then went to the room to get the old cotton quilt and the hemp rope sewing basket.
Taking advantage of the fact that he was alone in the room, Guo Baiwen quickly pressed the sign-in button again.
The familiar interface lit up, but before he could even see what he had drawn this time, he was still in shock.
I was startled by the screen full of electronic fireworks.
What's wrong?
I've never had such special effects when checking in before.
Could it be that he pulled a miracle with a single pull today?!
Guo Baiwen glanced around the screen with a mixture of joy and anxiety, only to realize that he had been happy for nothing.
Miracles don't happen from single pulls.
It turns out that today marks the 30th consecutive day of successful check-ins, so as a bonus, the check-in system has launched a new feature.
He carefully read through the newly popped-up information interface.
Are you still struggling with garbage sorting?
Are you still struggling with how to dispose of your trash?
Dry waste? Wet waste? Or hazardous waste?
No matter what kind of trash it is, it can all be turned into recyclable waste here.
Our check-in system helps you solve everyday problems online!
It seemed really strange when I watched it once.
I watched it twice, and it still felt really strange.
Signing in for thirty consecutive days, not only did I not get a free draw, but I also got electronic fireworks and a screen full of colorful lights, all because of a seemingly useful but actually useless garbage collection feature.
If this were in any other game, it would have been criticized a thousand times over long ago.
But Guo Baiwen had no choice.
After all, this check-in system is completely unregulated; it doesn't even have a customer service or complaint page.
But that's his only advantage now.
On the bright side, since these are all free feature updates, even if they're a bit mediocre, at least they don't cost any money, right?
After calming myself down, click "Skip".
Then he looked at the three items he had drawn today.
[One bottle of Panax notoginseng powder x1]
[Essential Study Ruler (50cm) x1]
[Folding Stool x1]
After clicking confirm, I saw that three more slots in the warehouse had been taken up.
Is this Panax notoginseng powder going to be sold in the county town pharmacies?
The outer packaging uses a bamboo tube bottle, which is quite common nowadays. However, after pouring out a little bit of powder and taking a look, he realized that it was really just powder, without even slightly larger particles, and he couldn't tell what the original quality of the Panax notoginseng was.
I wonder if pharmacies will still accept this kind of medicine.
Helpless, he could only stuff the medicine into his pocket, planning to ask Uncle Shi later if he needed it. After all, they had been patrolling the village day and night these past few days, and they might need it at any time.
The silver and contracts slots are definitely off-limits; Guo Baiwen just organized everything he has on hand a couple of days ago.
He drew toilet paper and rice the most, but in his previous life he was a person who was quite wasteful of paper.
Whether it's washing his hands or going to the toilet, one person always uses the amount of toilet paper that two people would use. As a result, he spends a considerable amount of money on toilet paper every month, and of the eight packs he took out, he only has three packs left.
Aside from cold medicine and hot pot base, he got rid of everything he could.
Most of them were kept in those two wooden boxes in the county town.
Now I want to try out the new features of the system, and there's not much junk.
He had just finished packing his things and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something while looking at the full contents of his room.
He mixed the contents of the shower gel and shampoo he had previously extracted with water and wood ash, then rubbed them together into the shape of common bath beans, and put them in his home for use.
The empty bottles were still in his wicker basket.
Perfect timing, I can also use it to try out this new feature of the system.
There were quite a few things on top, and it took him a long time to find the cap that held the shower gel and shampoo.
Due to prolonged compression, the hat's original shape has been so badly damaged that it is no longer recognizable.
We've taken everything out; why don't we move this wicker basket, along with everything inside, to the cellar at home?
Even without heavy items like rice, the wicker basket was still quite heavy because it was stuffed with writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.
After struggling to pack his things, he finally took off the woolen hat and, on a tentative note, put the two empty plastic bottles into the system's recycling bin.
Without much hope, I clicked "confirm recycling".
But the next moment—
The entire interface suddenly burst into a bright green light, so loud that if Guo Baiwen hadn't known that only he could see this interface, he would have worried that someone outside would be attracted by the light.
But seeing such a grand display, he couldn't help but feel a renewed sense of hope.
Who knows?
Maybe this is just another cheat code the system is giving itself?
Thinking about it, it doesn't really matter.
So, with his face glowing green, he stepped forward expectantly to take a look—
The system has detected two empty plastic bottles and confirmed their recycling.
[Beep—Recovery amount confirmed, Daqi currency, 1 wen]
Please confirm receipt.
Two plastic bottles sold for one cent?
One penny?!
So, this really is just a regular garbage collection?!
Fortunately, he wasn't blinded by greed and decided to use that precious soy sauce bottle to test the waters!
Smash it!!!
He was so angry that his heart pounded several times. After finally calming himself down, he took the one coin.
Even a penny is a penny; even mosquito meat is meat.
Made of cotton, after being brutally beaten by life, I continue to walk away flat.
He picked up the basket he had packed and went out the door, remembering to close the door carefully.
Once outside the courtyard, they found that the people who had been busy digging traps had stopped and were now talking to several unfamiliar faces at the village entrance.
Guo Baiwen glanced at the crowd from afar and, besides the several burly men who looked like they had broad shoulders and thick waists, he also saw a girl in the crowd carrying a bow and arrows and holding a whip in her hand.
But they were a bit far apart, and apart from her long, black braided hair, her facial features were not very clear.
He didn't pay much attention, thinking that Grandma Guo and Xiao Hua were still waiting for him in the ancestral hall, so he turned around and went back with the basket in his arms.
A note from the author:
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