She rolled up her sleeves, looking like she was ready to throw a tantrum.
"I refuse to believe this! I can't possibly keep missing out on something useful. Start... stop!"
[Ding! Congratulations on acquiring a Dragon-Phoenix Pill!]
She completely snapped, screaming, "Come out! If you've got the guts, show yourself, you coward..."
All four children rushed in at once.
"Mom, who is it? What happened?"
Tang Youyou slapped her forehead hard, a sharp pain shooting through her head. She had been so agitated she completely forgot about the kids.
She coughed awkwardly twice. "It's nothing, I just had a bad dream!"
Bai Ruoyi looked worried. "Mom, why don't Huahua sleep with you tonight, and have the three younger brothers rest in our room?"
She waved her hand. "Your wife got hurt today too, go get some rest quickly. I'm fine, everyone out."
The children closed the bedroom door, but didn't walk away. They pressed their ears hard against the wood, yet heard nothing at all.
Bai Ruoyi made a hand gesture, and they all left.
Tang Youyou lay on the bed and yelled inwardly, "Come out! Aren't you a System? Get out here!"
A virtual avatar appeared in her mind: [I am Customer Service Representative Number 008 of this Mall. How may I help you?]
"So there is someone there! I want to file a complaint against the Mall!"
The mechanical voice sounded again: [I am sorry, this Mall dispenses items based on civic virtue. If you are dissatisfied, the Mall will automatically shut down for you!]
She wanted to curse. How overbearing was this? Did that mean complaints weren't accepted?
It seemed she'd better use this Mall sparingly from now on; she couldn't afford to be manipulated by it.
She yelled internally, "I didn't mean that!"
[The Mall operates under its own rules. Please read them yourself. Unless necessary, Customer Service will not appear again.]
Lines of text popped up before her. Tang Youyou scanned them three lines at a time, and a moment later, she was dumbfounded.
The Mall, provided for people with civic virtue, would not interfere with a traveler's life, nor would it force out quests. Whether to use the Mall was entirely up to the traveler.
Additionally, there was a quest-posting board where travelers could post tasks and offer items as commissions.
Likewise, there was a quest-acceptance board; upon successful completion, a reward could be collected.
"Does that mean I can accept these quests myself?"
[That is correct. Once a quest is accepted, it cannot be undone. A single quest may be accepted by many people, and it will remain active until someone completes it.]
She nodded. "First come, first served? Understood, that's reasonably humane."
[Please initiate the third draw!]
She closed her eyes and adopted a fatalistic attitude. "Start... stop!"
[Ding! Congratulations on acquiring an Ox-Strength Pill!]
She looked at the two small pills in her left hand, then at the egg-sized pill in her right hand.
She swallowed hard. Can I trust this? Is this really an Ox-Strength Pill?
Well, it certainly looks big.
She tried to negotiate: "Good Mall, can you store these two small pills for me? I don't have any silver."
The pills vanished, and a wave of relief washed over her. As expected, acting spoiled still worked.
[Ding! The storage fee for the two pills is ten taels of silver. You currently owe the Mall 9982 wen. Please repay it promptly. You have a time limit of one month; otherwise, the Mall will deem your credit compromised and will forcefully shut down!]
Tang Youyou's heart plummeted to rock bottom. They could actually do that? She knew this wretched Mall wouldn't be so kind.
She had somehow transformed overnight from an ordinary peasant into a debt-ridden wretch!
This dealt a devastating blow to an already impoverished household.
She looked at the Ox-Strength Pill in her hand and took a fierce bite out of it.
Huh? It tastes like oranges? She happened to be hungry anyway, so she might as well treat it like eating an orange. Before long, she had finished the entire pill.
"Hiccup!" She even let out a satisfying burp.
The night passed without dreams...
The next morning, as soon as she got up, she saw her two younger sons with dark bruises around their eyes, looking just like pandas.
She stretched lazily. "What happened to you two?"
Bai Ruoshan muttered softly, "Mom, do you really not remember? Last night, you farted all night long, and Big Brother and I were almost choked to death."
Tang Youyou was extremely embarrassed, entirely the fault of that wretched pill. She laughed it off awkwardly, "My stomach was a bit upset. I've wronged you two brothers!"
Lin Huahua's voice drifted over: "Mom, should we go ask Old Man Han to take a look?"
"Huahua, are you alright? Does your head still hurt?"
Lin Huahua's face flushed slightly. Her mother-in-law was actually caring for her? She shook her head.
Bai Ruoyi walked over carrying a basin of porridge. "Mom, after we finish eating, I'll accompany you over to get checked!"
She waved her hand dismissively. "No need. But Eldest, can we stop eating this buckwheat mush from now on?"
"Not eat this? Does Mom mean we should eat chaff?"
Bai Ruoyi lowered his head, his hands gripping his shirt hem tightly in nervousness. Mom must be blaming him for swapping the grain around.
Yet there was no chaff to be found at the Village Chief's house, nor any dark flour; the chaff in yesterday's porridge was what he had hidden away beforehand.
"The hundred and fifty copper coins you hid were only enough to trade for twenty catties of buckwheat and five catties of soybeans."
Tang Youyou sighed. "You silly child, we're going to eat white flour and white rice."
Hearing this, Bai Ruoyi jerked his head up, his eyes filled with sheer disbelief.
"Mom, our family has no silver. How could we ever afford such precious grain?"
She looked at her children, whose eyes were burning with intensity. "I said if we can afford it, we can afford it. But we must eat quietly. From now on, you will all listen to me."
The children thought: We've always listened to you anyway.
Lin Huahua felt that her mother-in-law had changed drastically, seeming truly different from before. That posture and bearing felt like those of someone from a wealthy, influential family.
"You silly child, aren't you hungry? Come eat quickly. Later, our whole family is heading out to gather purslane!"
"Is that the weed we ate last night?"
"Yes! We can dry it and steep it in water to drink, or dry it into preserved vegetables! In short, the whole plant is a treasure."
The six of them wolfed down the thin porridge in their bowls. In less than a quarter of an hour, the pot was scraped clean.
The children picked up their chipped sickles and made to leave.
She stopped them. "Everyone put on your shoes!"
With no other choice, the children obediently put on their straw sandals.
A quarter of an hour later, the group arrived at the small stream. Tang Youyou frowned deeply as she looked at the half-dried riverbed, an ominous premonition washing over her.
Bai Ruoyi sighed. "It even rained a little yesterday, so why hasn't the river water risen at all?"
Several women were washing clothes by the river. Seeing them approach, they began to whisper among themselves.
"Good heavens, how does she even have the nerve to show her face? If I were her, I would've drowned myself out of shame long ago!"
"Exactly! Back then, Bai Dalang was such a fine man—how on earth did he end up marrying her?"
"What do you know? She was the one who shamelessly clung to him and refused to let go!"
"Such a disgrace, and she still struts around everywhere, terrified people might forget she philandered behind her husband's back. Oh, don't say I didn't warn you—keep a close eye on your own men."
The woman speaking was another widow in the village, commonly known as "Black Widow."
The others exchanged glances, their eyes filled with utter contempt.
Tang Youyou did not hear their discussion, as she was busy leading the children to cut purslane.
"Mom, look, the ones by the water seem plumper."
Lin Huahua was quite pleased. This large patch could feed them for two or three days. With the ongoing drought, finding wild vegetables required trekking deep into the mountains far away; right now, this patch was nothing short of a timely rain for their family.
The grass nearby could also be cut, woven into straw sandals, and sold—each pair could fetch two wen.