“Activate.”

The box of spicy beef instant noodles materialized on the ground, making Su Cen’s eyes twitch.

Congratulations on successfully activating the Space Trading Market

“A system?”

“Hello, Host. I’m not called ‘system.’ Please call me Xiao Fu.” The voice sounded soft and cute, yet oddly formal.

“Uh… alright, Xiao Fu. Why didn’t you respond when I called you before?”

She had tried dozens of names over the past few days—though none of them had been Xiao Fu.

“At that time, the Space Trading Market was undergoing an upgrade, and backend services were temporarily suspended. The upgrade was only completed today. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Su Cen found the phrasing strangely familiar…

“Xiao Fu, how does this Space Trading Market work?”

“I’ll explain it for you right away.”

A translucent interface appeared before her eyes:

Space Trading System Rules

1. 1. Visible only to the host; can be operated with thought alone.

1. 1. The system includes a scanning function—anything within your awareness can be analyzed.

1. 1. Only products grown in the space’s black soil can be listed for trading in exchange for gold coins.
      Every 100 gold coins unlocks one-click sowing, harvesting, and seed-retaining functions.

1. 1. Gold coins can be used in the system store to exchange for various items: grain coupons, cloth coupons, fine grains, medicine, books, skills, supplements, etc.

System functions are still being improved. For questions, consult Xiao Fu.

Looking at the acre-plus stretch of black soil, Su Cen felt overwhelmed. Where was she supposed to get so many seeds?

Host, seeds are available in the Space Trading Market.

“But I don’t have any gold coins! Xiao Fu, is there anything you can do?”

Xiao Fu can open a loan service for you. First-time users can borrow 100 gold coins. After two days, you must repay 110 gold coins. Each day overdue incurs an additional 5 gold coins.

“Isn’t that a bit much?” Su Cen grumbled inwardly. “That’s pretty ruthless…”

Please rest assured, Host—we are a trustworthy exchange! Xiao Fu recommends planting sweet potatoes. We’ll also grant you one day of the one-click seed-retaining function.

With 100 gold coins, you can purchase enough sweet potato seeds for one mu of land. Each jin of sweet potatoes yields 0.1 gold coins. The black soil can produce 1,000 jin per harvest, meaning you can break even on the first day.

After that, you can continue planting using retained seeds and steadily earn gold coins.

Successfully persuaded, Su Cen embarked on her debt-repayment journey.

She bought 100 jin of sweet potato seeds from the trading market. Fortunately, they came with instructions—otherwise, she wouldn’t have known how to plant them.

After working for most of the day, she finally planted the last seed. Her back felt like it was about to break.

Even drinking spiritual spring water didn’t fully relieve her exhaustion. Thinking about harvesting the next day made her feel… helpless.

She could only hope to unlock the one-click sowing and harvesting functions as soon as possible.

She soaked two packs of spicy beef instant noodles. Never before had instant noodles tasted this delicious. The familiar flavor brought her a deep sense of comfort, soothing both her body and mind.

The next day, just as dawn broke, loud knocking sounded at her door.

Su Cen was awakened. After the system upgrade, she had discovered that she could now hear sounds from outside even while inside the space.

She assumed it was Lin Jiajia and called out through the courtyard gate, “Go ahead first—I’ll wash up and catch up!”

To her surprise, it was Chen Xiangdong’s voice: “Alright, Su Zhiqing, we’ll head out first.”

Su Cen hurried through her morning routine, grabbed a sponge cake, a flask of spiritual spring water, and a pair of gloves, and rushed out. As she walked, she ate the cake—and promptly choked on it.

She gulped down water to swallow it, then looked up just in time to see Gu Linchuan passing by.

He walked a few steps, then stopped, turned around, and nodded slightly. “Su Zhiqing.”

Then he silently continued on his way.

Su Cen looked puzzled. What was that about…?

She shrugged it off and continued toward the production team office.

By the time she arrived, the square was already full of people. Team leader Wang Jianguo stood on the steps, holding a loudspeaker, his voice booming:

“Quiet down! Let me say a few words. First, welcome the new educated youths to Hongqi Production Team. From now on, this is your second hometown. Learn from the experienced members and work hard.

And to the old members—listen up! These young people have come a long way from home. They’re not used to farm work yet. If you see them struggling, lend a hand. Treat them like your own children.

Alright, no more delay—go earn your work points. Dismissed!”

After speaking, Wang Jianguo pointed at Su Cen and the others, assigning them to different teams:

Team 1: Su Cen, Lin Jiajia, Chen Xiangdong
Team 2: Yan Mingyuan, Tang Qiuyue, Li Zhaodi
Team 3: Zhang Yingying, Li Weiguo, Liu Fengxia

The leader of Team 1 brought Su Cen and the others to the fields and said to a woman, “Sister Cuihua, take these two female educated youths to pull weeds here. You’ll get full work points today.”

Sister Cuihua agreed readily. “Got it, Changgen. I’ll make sure they learn.”

Lin Jiajia winked at Su Cen. “Changgen? That name sounds familiar.”

Su Cen nodded. It was the tractor driver from before…

Wang Changgen then led Chen Xiangdong in another direction.

Sister-in-law Cuihua walked up to Su Cen and Lin Jiajia and demonstrated briskly, “Watch closely! Pull out the big weeds like this, roots and all. Don’t worry about the small ones. It’s fine to go slow at first, but don’t damage the crops.”

The two tried to follow her example, but the weeds wouldn’t budge—and the leaves scratched their hands.

“Use technique, not brute force,” Sister-in-law Cuihua demonstrated again. “Like this—grip the base and pull upward close to the ground.”

After a few attempts, she saw that although they were slow, they were starting to get the hang of it.

“You two keep working here. I’ll be over in that field. Call me if you need anything.”

Su Cen and Lin Jiajia quickly straightened up and thanked her.

After she left, Su Cen took out the gloves she had brought and handed one to Lin Jiajia. “Jiajia, wear this. Pulling weeds with bare hands will give us blisters in no time.”

Lin Jiajia accepted them happily. “Thank you! You’re so thoughtful to bring gloves in advance.”

They continued working with their heads down as the sun grew stronger.

Su Cen wiped the sweat from her forehead. The cornfield trapped the heat, leaving her drenched, sticky, and itchy.

She stood up, took a sip of water, and felt a bit better. But when she checked her watch and saw it was only 9:30, she felt drained again.

Pulling weeds was even more exhausting than planting sweet potatoes yesterday!

Beside her, Lin Jiajia’s face was flushed red from the sun, her voice weak. “It’s way too hot…”

Seeing her like that, Su Cen sighed. “At noon we should wear hats or cover our faces with cloth, or we’ll get sunburned in no time.”

At one point, Sister-in-law Cuihua came by to check on them. Seeing they were doing alright, she left again.

The sun grew hotter and hotter, making them dizzy.

Finally!

The sound of the work-ending whistle rang in their ears.