After returning to her room, Su Cen shut the door and entered her space together with all her belongings.

She drank a cup of spiritual spring water, and the fatigue in her body instantly disappeared. Even so, she lay flat on the floor of the small wooden house, not wanting to move at all.

After resting for a while, she finally felt refreshed and got up to organize everything she had bought that day.

First, she unpacked the items from the supply and marketing cooperative. She placed everyday essentials like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar on the stove outside, just in case someone dropped by—so it wouldn’t look like she had nothing.

Next, she stored the pastries in the storage room of the wooden house, which was specifically used for food.

Then she neatly arranged the set of math, physics, and chemistry books, along with the other books she bought from the scrap station, beside her desk.

Glancing at the grain she had borrowed from the production team the day before, she remembered she still hadn’t returned the sacks. She took out a few bags from her old luggage from the courtyard and transferred the grain into them.

With the empty sacks in hand, she locked the door with the medium-sized iron lock she had just bought and headed out. Since she had borrowed the grain together with Yan Mingyuan and the others, she went to the educated youth courtyard.

As soon as she entered, she ran into Chen Xiangdong, who was about to head out.

“Su Zhiqing, I’m going to return the sacks. Do you want me to take yours along as well?”

Chen Xiangdong turned back into the courtyard. “That would be great, thank you. I’ll go get them.”

After a short wait, he came back with several sacks. “Su Zhiqing, mine, Yan Zhiqing’s, and Tang Zhiqing’s are all in here. Thanks for helping us return them.”

Su Cen nodded. “No problem.”

When she arrived at the grain depot, the manager was arguing with a middle-aged woman.

She vaguely caught a few lines:

“He’s my younger brother—what’s wrong with me taking some grain to his family?”

“Is that your grain? That belongs to the production team!”

This must be the incident the aunties on the tractor had been gossiping about—the one about someone taking grain back to her maiden family.

Su Cen stood awkwardly to the side, unsure whether she should step forward.

Wang Laosan turned and saw her, his face still full of anger. His tone wasn’t pleasant. “Here to return the sacks? Give them to me.”

“Sorry to trouble you. The sacks from the three educated youths who came with me yesterday are also inside.”

After returning the sacks, Su Cen quickly left.

On the way back, she saw Little Shitou playing with mud.

“Shitou.”

“Educated youth sister, what’s up?” His hands—and even his clothes—were covered in mud.

“Do you know any families who can exchange mountain goods? I’d like to trade for some.” Su Cen thought that if she got them now, she could send them to Aunt Wang when she went to pick up her parcel, saving her another trip.

“My family has some! I’ll take you to my grandma!”

Su Cen followed him to the team leader’s house.

“Grandma!” Shitou ran toward Aunt Xiuying.

The next moment, Aunt Xiuying raised a broom as if to hit him. “Look at you—dirty like a little beggar every day! Why do you always play in the mud?”

“Grandma! I have something important! This educated youth sister wants to trade for mountain goods!” Shitou shouted while dodging.

Only then did Aunt Xiuying notice Su Cen standing at the door. She quickly smoothed her clothes and greeted her warmly. “Little Su, come in! Sorry you had to see that.”

She shot Shitou a glare. “Go wash up, or your grandpa will deal with you later!”

“I’ll wash after I finish building my castle!” Shitou shouted as he ran off.

“That child!” Aunt Xiuying laughed.

Then she turned back to Su Cen with enthusiasm. “Xiao Su, we have hazel mushrooms, black fungus, wild walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, dried daylily buds, dried wild fruits, and dried wild vegetables. All proper mountain goods—clean and genuine. What would you like to trade for?”

As she spoke, she led Su Cen to sit down and went inside to pour her a cup of sugar water.

“Here, have some water.”

“Thank you, Auntie!” Su Cen took out five yuan, along with two sugar coupons and one cloth coupon, and handed them over.

“Auntie, these are for a gift for an elder. Please help me choose a good assortment.”

Seeing what she brought out, Aunt Xiuying’s smile widened. “Alright! Since you trust me, I’ll make sure you get a generous selection. Sit and rest—I’ll go get them.”

Soon, Aunt Xiuying came out carrying four or five bundles wrapped in old newspaper. Each was tightly tied with thick paper string, looking full and solid.

She placed them on the table and said with a smile, “Little Su, there’s a big bundle of hazel mushrooms—great for stewing with chicken or meat! Half a jin of black fungus, a handful of dried daylily buds, a pack of hazelnuts, plus some pine mushrooms and dried wild fruits.

I’ve packed everything nicely—perfect for giving as a gift.”

Looking at the generous bundles, Su Cen felt a little embarrassed. “Auntie, this is too much…”

“Not at all! These all grow in the mountains—don’t cost much,” Aunt Xiuying waved it off. “If you need anything else in the future, just come to me!”

Su Cen thanked her repeatedly. “Thank you, Auntie! I won’t be polite then. I’ll come to you if I need anything else.”

She picked up the bundles and prepared to leave.

“Alright, take care on your way back! Come visit anytime!”

By the time she got back to her room, it was almost 5 p.m. Su Cen glanced at the cooked food in her space and sighed—it wouldn’t last many more days. She would have to cook for herself after all.

She picked up the cookbook she bought from the scrap station. The other meats seemed too complicated—pork looked simpler. She decided to try making braised pork.

She picked a piece of pork belly with a good balance of fat and lean, went into the kitchen in the wooden house, washed some rice, and followed the steps in the book. She didn’t have scallions, ginger, or garlic, but decided to just go ahead anyway.

An hour later…

Su Cen looked at the glossy braised pork from the state-run restaurant on her chopsticks, then at the black, charred lumps on her plate. She sighed as she ate.

Still the same! It had been like this even before she transmigrated! She clearly followed the recipe step by step.

Sigh… tomorrow she would try making dumplings. Surely she couldn’t fail at dumplings, right?

The next day.

Su Cen slept until noon before finally getting up leisurely.

Unbeknownst to her, another round of drama had played out at the educated youth courtyard.

After washing up, she casually ate a steamed bun.

Then she rolled up her sleeves and got to work—kneading dough, rolling wrappers, mixing filling—busy all at once.

To her surprise, it actually looked decent. Although the dumplings weren’t pretty, at least they were sealed and not leaking.

This time, it should work.

She put more than a dozen into the pot. She remembered reading before—when boiling dumplings, you add water three times; once the water boils three times, they’re done.

But after the first boil, something already seemed wrong. Several dumplings split open, their fillings floating out. Before she could even reach the third boil, the pot had turned into a mess—wrappers on one side, filling on the other, completely separated.

Su Cen silently stared at the pot of dough soup.

Forget it. No point struggling. She was simply not cut out for cooking.

At that moment, she sincerely wished she had a few boxes of instant noodles in her space.

The moment the thought appeared—

“Ding—”

A soft, clear notification sound suddenly rang out in her space.

Would you like to activate the Space Trading Market?

Su Cen froze, thinking she had imagined it.

When she didn’t respond, the prompt sounded again:

Activate the trading market now and receive a surprise gift pack—one box of spicy beef instant noodles.

The next second, a faint glowing projection appeared before her eyes—it was an image of a box of spicy beef instant noodles…

How could she resist that? Of course she had to activate it!