After returning to her small house, Su Cen washed her hands and face with spiritual spring water, finally feeling a bit more refreshed.

She ate the sweet-and-sour pork and scrambled eggs with tomatoes she had packed from the state-run restaurant the day before, along with some steamed buns. She had planned to take a nap, but after glancing at the fully matured sweet potatoes in the black soil, she resigned herself and got up to work.

After working for a while, she began to feel like Xiao Fu had tricked her.

“Little Fu, Little Fu”.

Hello, Host! How may I assist you?

“There are so many sweet potatoes—I won’t be able to harvest all of them in two or three days!!”

Su Cen felt that Xiao Fu clearly paused for a moment.

We can offer you another 100 gold coins through the loan service. With the one-click harvesting function unlocked, you’ll be able to complete the task easily.

Su Cen gritted her teeth. This was definitely a setup!

“Fine! Lend me 200 gold coins. Unlock both the one-click harvesting and one-click planting functions.”

“Understood, Host!”

She sold the 1,000 jin of harvested sweet potatoes through the trading market at 0.1 gold coins per jin, earning 100 gold coins.

Then she used the one-click planting function to plant 100 jin from the 150 jin of seeds she had retained. Expanding one mu of black soil required 100,000 gold coins. Looking at her balance, Su Cen stored the remaining 50 jin in an empty room on the first floor.

“Little Fu, Little Fu”.

I’m here, Host.

“Why isn’t there a one-click storage function?”

We’re sorry, your current space level does not meet the requirements to unlock the one-click storage feature.

“What level unlocks it?”

Level 2 of the Space Trading Market. Keep working hard, Host.

Su Cen checked the upgrade requirements and nearly blacked out—reaching Level 2 required 10,000 gold coins.

In the blink of an eye, it was time to head back to work.

With a headscarf prepared, Su Cen opened the door and saw Lin Jiajia walking toward her.

The two worked silently for a while.

Perhaps finding the time too hard to endure, Lin Jiajia edged closer and lowered her voice. “Yesterday at noon, Tian Xiaolan got beaten by Zhang Guixiang.”

Su Cen felt that someone like Tian Xiaolan getting beaten wasn’t surprising—hadn’t she herself knocked her down just the other day?

Still, she politely asked, “Why?”

“Zhang Guixiang’s family sent her some red sausage. Before she even ate it, a big chunk went missing. She thought Tian Xiaolan stole it and beat her up.”

Recalling the scene of Tian Xiaolan being pinned down and beaten, Lin Jiajia still felt shaken.

“Tian Xiaolan has that much nerve? Didn’t Aunt Xiuying warn on the tractor that next time they’d report it to the authorities? And she dared to do it the very next day?” Su Cen looked puzzled.

“That’s what Tian Xiaolan said too—she kept insisting it wasn’t her. Honestly, the way she looked, I think it might really not have been her.”

Lin Jiajia sighed. “Once I get a letter from home, I think I’ll move out and build my own place.”

Su Cen didn’t comment on Tian Xiaolan’s behavior. After a moment of silence, she said to Lin Jiajia:

“If you want to build, it’s best to do it now together with Chen and the others. Once the autumn harvest starts, it’ll be hard to begin construction.”

Lin Jiajia exclaimed, “Oh! I didn’t think of that. I’ll go talk to the team leader after work!”

The two chatted while pulling weeds until the work-point recorder came by.

“Su Cen, 5 work points.”

“Lin Jiajia, 5 work points.”

After recording, the clerk added, “It’s normal to get 5 points on your first day. Keep it up—aim for 7 or 8 next time.”

After dinner, Su Cen looked at the dwindling supply of cooked food in storage, then at her negative balance, wondering when she’d finally be able to afford meals from the trading market.

She decided to go out for a walk and use the system’s scanning function to look for valuable plants—she could transplant them into the black soil, grow them, save seeds, and then replant them as space-grown products.

But as soon as she reached the foot of the mountain, she turned back. She suddenly remembered her former roommate mentioning that this season was full of snakes in the countryside—and she was terrified of them. Better to come back during the day.

Turning around, she spotted a familiar figure—Gu Linchuan. He came out of a side room near the cowshed, walking quickly, not noticing her.

Having read plenty of novels, Su Cen immediately understood what this implied—Gu Linchuan likely had family living in the cowshed.

Thinking about how it was only 1973, she wondered whether the people there could endure such hardship.

Lost in thought, she slowed her steps.

In books, it had always been just a plot device—but seeing the cowshed with her own eyes made her feel a little heavy-hearted.

Quietly, Su Cen made up her mind to bring some food in a few days. Even if it was just a drop in the bucket, at least it would be something.

As she walked, she suddenly saw several snakes coiled in the middle of the road. She froze instantly, goosebumps covering her entire body.

Too afraid to go around them in case they attacked, she stood there, not daring to move.

Just then, Gu Linchuan returned, perhaps because he had forgotten something.

He picked up a bamboo fork from the roadside and was about to sweep the snakes away when Su Cen quickly shouted, “Wait! Wait! Gu Zhiqing, wait!” as she backed away.

Before she even stopped, she heard him say, “They’ve already slithered away. You can pass now, Su Zhiqing.”

Perhaps her reaction amused him? His voice, no longer cold and distant like before, carried a hint of laughter.

Embarrassed, Su Cen thanked him, “Thank you so much, Gu Zhiqing! You’re out for a walk too?”

He simply responded with an “Mm.”

Su Cen hurried back to her house as if fleeing, afraid she might encounter more snakes cooling themselves along the road.

Back in her space, she took a bath, rubbed her goosebump-covered arms, and shivered uncontrollably. She firmly decided never to go out at night again after work.

The next morning, hearing Lin Jiajia complain that her back hurt so much she couldn’t straighten up, Su Cen couldn’t help but marvel at the effects of the spiritual spring water. It might not be as overpowered as in novels she had read, but it was still remarkably effective.

That day, the team leader again assigned them to pull large weeds. With one day of experience, their speed… was still just as slow.

As she worked, Su Cen used the system to scan plants. Wild vegetables like purslane and shepherd’s purse were only worth a few gold coin fractions per jin, so she ignored them.

Medicinal herbs, however, had decent value:
Plantain herb: 0.2 gold coins
Dandelion: 0.2 gold coins
Motherwort: 0.25 gold coins
Cocklebur: 0.1 gold coins
Mugwort: 0.18 gold coins
Rehmannia: 0.6 gold coins

She secretly moved these herbs into her small wooden house, planning to plant them after harvesting the sweet potatoes.

After work, Su Cen returned home and harvested the sweet potatoes, earning another 100 gold coins. She repaid the first day’s loan of 110 gold coins, leaving her with 90 gold coins. The next day she would need to repay 220 gold coins—it looked like she might default.

She used one-click planting to sow 95 jin of sweet potato seeds, stored the remaining 55 jin in the warehouse, and together with yesterday’s leftovers, she now had 95 jin of seeds in reserve.

Since externally sourced seedlings didn’t support one-click planting, she manually planted the few herbs she had brought in that morning.

Only after finishing everything did she go to the storage room, take out a portion of braised pork and rice, and eat.

After eating, she lay down on a rocking chair for a nap. Suddenly, she thought of something:

“Little Fu, Little Fu”.