Chapter 46: A New Companion

The sister on the other side swiped out and bought two buckets of water.

Transaction complete.

The call disconnected.

The screen returned to Yan Yu’s official shop.

Yan Yu and Li Xuemei exchanged a look and sighed together.

Yan Lao’er cautiously asked, “What’s wrong? Is her illness serious?”

He figured it must be that woman from the rain-soaked place who’d fallen ill.

“Sigh!” Li Xuemei said sympathetically, “Poor thing, all alone, sick and trying to tough it out with just some medicine, not even a sip of hot water.”

“Mom! I’m really a bit scared… scared that next time, or the time after that… we’ll never see her again.” Yan Yu lowered her head, listless.

“We’ll all be fine, we’ll all stay well.” Li Xuemei didn’t know if she was comforting her daughter or herself.

The mother and daughter were both shaken.

Yan Lao’er tried to lighten the mood, “Let’s worry about our own situation first. We traded for so much water, and my charcoal pile… now there’s just scraps left. How are we gonna explain that? Should we say aliens came down and took the charcoal but left us water? You think anyone would buy that?”

“Better to say we met a white-bearded old man, or a fairy or something. The villagers would believe that more,” Yan Yu muttered.

Li Xuemei took a deep breath and clapped her hands, “Daughter, pull yourself together! Keep selling! With the Platform backing us, how can we not survive? We’ll live better than anyone!”

“Right!” Yan Yu nodded hard, agreeing, “Platform Daddy loves me! I can’t let it down! I’m going to beat the drought and turn this around!”

Yan Lao’er said solemnly, “We’ll protect Old Yan, and live the good life together!” He had just realized something deeply important.

People can’t live in isolation.

Especially in hard times, they must stick together for warmth.

“Hey… what did you just call the Platform?” Yan Lao’er’s eyes widened.

Yan Yu stuck out her tongue and hummed a nursery rhyme.

Yan Lao’er laughed helplessly.

“Mom, let’s sell the straw mat too,” Yan Yu regained some energy.

“Sell it!”

Li Xuemei had fully accepted the idea. What couldn’t they sell?

“You two, hurry and finish the noodles. Don’t hog the bowls.”

Sell everything.

Yan Yu shoveled the rest of the noodles into her mouth and gulped them down.

After finishing, she sold the bowl to the Platform. Hehe!

Mouth still full, she kept reporting, “Bowl, 0.5; straw mat, 8.”

She grabbed a handful of grass from the ground and tried putting it on the Platform. No response.

“Ugh! Discrimination! Even the Platform looks down on grass!”

Yan Lao’er swallowed the last mouthful of noodles. Those were originally saved for the disaster-stricken woman, but they couldn’t waste food, so he finished them.

As soon as he stood up, Li Xuemei grabbed the little stool he’d just been sitting on.

Along with the bowl in Yan Lao’er’s hand, they both handed them over to their daughter.

Yan Yu continued her auction call, “Bowl, 0.5; stool, 8.4.”

“Whoa! Selling the stool too?” Yan Yu asked, “Then what will we sit on when we eat later?”

Thinking of the 8.4 price, Li Xuemei casually answered, “We’ll make another one. I saw Qi Wu made them quickly last time.”

It wasn’t great wood anyway, just leftover scraps from making the little table.

As soon as she said it, Li Xuemei suddenly felt like something was off.

“Wait… weren’t the beds, cabinets, and tables in our house sold for a pretty good price?” she asked uncertainly.

That stumped Yan Yu. They’d been so hyped selling stuff back then, she hadn’t paid much attention.

The more Li Xuemei thought about it, the more convinced she became, “Look at the stuff we’ve sold today—clothes were cheap, the quilt didn’t fetch much, and those three door curtains were basically nothing. So most of the money from that first sale… must have come from the furniture.”

“Back in the day,” Yan Lao’er agreed, “even with no craftsmanship, as long as it was solid wood, it fetched a good price.”

“Let’s try selling furniture next time,” Yan Yu said, glancing at her pitiful balance. Not much increase.

“Dad, Mom, what should we buy this time? Should we still get rice and flour?”

They hadn’t eaten much of it anyway. Mostly the villagers ate coarse grains, and making refined rice or flour meals felt awkward.

Li Xuemei went over to the spot where Yan Lao’er had been recording before.

“Let’s buy vegetables first.”

Yan Yu grumbled, “Wild greens are so expensive, way more than regular veggies.”

But her hands moved fast.

“Linen, coarse cloth, cotton cloth, get them all.”

Yan Yu did as told.

“New stock of brown rice, coarse flour, red beans, green beans, black beans.”

Yan Yu tapped away.

“Meat, eggs.”

Yan Yu bought and bought.

“Not enough left for Bamboo Slips, huh?” Li Xuemei said regretfully.

Checking the balance, Yan Yu replied, “Not enough.”

Yan Lao’er straightened up from his packing work.

The two of them were happily buying, but his old back was paying the price.

“Ah, looking at all this stuff, I feel energized again!” Yan Lao’er threw a couple of left and right hooks like a boxer.

Yan Yu ruthlessly teased, “Dad, you look like you’re dog paddling! Hahaha!”

“What’s wrong with my dog paddle? Looks good and gets the job done.” Yan Lao’er proudly puffed up his chest.

Unlike you two mother and daughter—both like landlocked ducks. Heh heh!

Li Xuemei frowned and asked, “Xiao Yu, hasn’t the third person shown up yet?”

“Hmm?” Yan Yu checked the time, then the Free Market icon.

“Time’s up, why isn’t it flashing?”

The third person… should be that cool guy.

What happened?

Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long. The Free Market finally started flashing.

Yan Yu quickly clicked in.

But on the other side of the video call… was a woman also dressed in ancient clothing.

Highlight: a very, very beautiful woman.

Eyes like autumn water, full of feeling, delicate nose, small lips, slender as a willow.

Her dark hair was loosely pinned up, with a single wooden hairpin slanted through it.

Yan Yu froze, not just because the woman was beautiful, but because she seemed to glow all over.

“Little sister, do you have any food?”

Her voice was soft and gentle too!

“Yes, yes! Big sister, what would you like to eat?”

The beauty smiled, like flowers swaying in the breeze, graceful and captivating.

“Can I order? You’re such a fun little sister.”

She smiled faintly and said softly, “Just ordinary food will do. But I only have one thing to trade with you… I wonder if you’re willing.”

“Big sister, tell me.”

“I’m in Snake Valley…” she said apologetically, “There’s only… snakes here… all kinds, big and small…

Little sister, are you afraid? Dare to eat them?”

Yan Yu: …

I’m scared. I don’t dare eat!

But… someone in our village probably would.

“Big sister, where are you exactly? Why is there a Snake Valley?” Just hearing the name was terrifying.

Yan Yu suddenly remembered she hadn’t introduced herself and decided to set an example, “Oops, forgot. I’m from the transmigration-into-a-novel category, set in an alternate ancient era, currently fleeing from famine.”

The woman smiled slightly and said, “I’m from the transmigration category, cultivation world, currently at Qi Condensation Initial Stage. I accidentally wandered into Snake Valley, missed my chance to leave, the small world closed, and I’ve been stuck here ever since. If the Platform hadn’t opened, I’d either be swallowed by snakes or starve to death.”

(End of Chapter)