Qin Junyao rubbed her arms as she entered the house to find her mother. Qin Grandma's sudden appearance had been quite startling.
"Mom, I'm here to help," Qin Junyao said, seeing her mother wiping the door frame and wanting to lend a hand.
"No need, no need, I'll do it myself. If you do it, I'll have to redo it. Your dad and the others are moving boxes into your and Xiao Yu's rooms. Xiao Yu went to look, you go too."
Qin Junyao shook her head. "It's fine with Xiao Yu going, Mom. What do you want to eat tonight?"
Qin mother looked at her with amusement. "We used to not even have enough to eat, now we eat whatever we have."
"Jun Yao, let me tell you, everyone's fortune is limited. If you live too well, there will be bad times. If you're not doing well, things will eventually get better. Use your blessings sparingly, as given by heaven."
She unfolded the rag in her hand, folding the dirty part inward, and continued to wipe the door frame. "I don't wish for you to be rich and noble. It's best to marry an honest person and live a stable life."
"Your dad and I have discussed it. Tomorrow we'll inquire about how this land is cultivated. We'll reclaim more land ourselves and earn more money."
Qin mother paused at this point, looked up at Qin Junyao, who hadn't interrupted or argued, and smiled somewhat reluctantly. She waved her hand. "I've been talking too much. Go play, go ahead."
Qin Junyao looked at her mother's back as she went to wipe the window frame, feeling a surge of emotion. This was a mother's love, valuing her child's lifelong security over temporary glory.
As she heard Qin Junyao's footsteps receding, Qin mother shed tears. A new beginning meant resolving the old knots in her heart.
It was fine if things had changed. They were all good children, good children.
Dinner was very rich that evening. The staple was white rice, milled from the rice stalks Qin Junyao had brought out, processed by the three strong young men at home.
Besides common vegetables like potatoes, cucumbers, and tomatoes, Qin Junyao also brought out several unfamiliar vegetables from her space, using the parts that looked edible.
While cooking, Qin mother and Aunt Qin Er taught Qin Junyao the names of these vegetables.
They explained clearly where they could be eaten, how to eat them, and how to cook them.
Aunt Qin Er, hearing Qin mother talk so much like a chatterbox teaching her daughter, smiled and teased, saying her sister-in-law was truly happy in her new home, talking much more than usual.
After dinner, everyone went to bed early. Qin Grandma was going to visit Yancheng tomorrow to buy some spices, cotton thread, and other small items.
The old bedding and cotton clothes they bought would need to be washed and remade.
Qin Junyao did not work in her space that night. She lay on the kang and drifted off to sleep after meditating on the first and second volumes of the space bamboo slips, sleeping soundly without dreams.
The next morning, after a simple bowl of porridge, the Qin family began their day.
Qin Junyao did not accompany them to Yan County, but instead wandered alone in the open space in front of their house.
Their house and the Hou family's house were at the very front, the deepest part of Yangshu Village.
Logically, few people should come here. However, as Qin Junyao was examining why the dirty water splashed yesterday on the ground had not yet dried, several groups of people had already been loitering near her, pretending to pass by casually while actually probing.
Although Qin Junyao was used to being watched, it was always passive. Getting used to it did not mean she liked it.
She had no choice but to lock the door and walk towards the desert alone.
Dayangshu Village was quite far from the desert, with a large expanse of Gobi Desert in between.
Qin Junyao was not very familiar with vegetables, but she knew a lot about the plants in the Gobi Desert.
Walking on the Gobi, she noticed many tree stumps and pits left after the stumps were removed. There were also wolf poison plants, about to enter winter dormancy, and scattered small grasses that did not belong to the Gobi.
Qin Junyao focused her gaze. A short distance away, there were collapsed houses and walls. This area of the Gobi had been inhabited before.
Looking back at the village, she saw people driving sheep out of the village to graze. Qin Junyao deduced that the large expanse of Gobi in front of their house was a result of unnatural desertification.
In her modern life, she had volunteered for desertification control. She initially thought it was about controlling the desert, but later realized that desertification formed by natural forces was something humans could not control.
Humans could only control human behavior, implementing effective and reasonable policies to reduce human activities that caused grassland degradation.
What remained was prevention.
Methods like building grass checkerboards, planting Saxaul trees, and cultivating drought-resistant plants with fast growth rates were all measures to prevent the expansion of already desertified areas.
Qin Junyao stood still, looking up at the few clouds being driven by the wind, then at the seemingly endless Gobi.
The wind blew grit against her face, but she felt no pain.
Qin Junyao touched the birthmark on her left palm with her right hand. Thinking of the water source in her space, a surge of ambition and fighting spirit suddenly rose within her.
Grandpa, if I could turn this place into an oasis, would you have no regrets?
Although this was not the place you were thinking of in your dying moments, they are very similar.
When I turn this place green, will you come and see me in my dreams? Perhaps you can even take me...
"Miss Qin," Zhao Liangcai's call interrupted Qin Junyao's thoughts.
He held a long, cloth-wrapped case under his left arm and walked quickly towards Qin Junyao ahead. Looking at her back, he felt as if she wanted to throw herself into the sea of sand, which made Zhao Liangcai a bit uneasy.
"General Zhao, what a coincidence?" Qin Junyao hadn't expected to see this man today.
"It's not a coincidence. I came to find you specifically. Here," Zhao Liangcai said, taking a piece of paper from his clothes and handing it to Qin Junyao.
Qin Junyao took it, perplexed, and her eyebrows furrowed as she read the content. This was blackmail, wasn't it?
"General Zhao, if you think the amount I wrote on the IOU is excessive, we can discuss it."
"Five hundred taels is too much, isn't it?" Qin Junyao shook the paper where she owed Zhao Liangcai five hundred taels of silver, making it rustle.
Not even a month of working together, let alone a year, would cost five hundred taels.
Zhao Liangcai rubbed his nose, then calmly unwrapped the cloth covering the case and opened it towards Qin Junyao. "What about this added?"
Inside the case lay the seven-stringed zither named "Missed," which she had seen at the general store in the northwest city.
Qin Junyao stepped forward, surprised, to look at the zither in Zhao Liangcai's hand, confirming if it was the same one.
Zhao Liangcai looked down at the top of Qin Junyao's head, slowly extended his arm forward, and took a small step back, his eyes darting around without looking down.
"General Zhao, how did you buy this zither?" Qin Junyao's emotions had shifted from anger to joy. She was overjoyed to have a lost friend reappear by her side.
Zhao Liangcai looked down at Qin Junyao's smiling face, then with a "snap," closed the case, stepped back to create distance between himself and the young girl, and said stiffly, "I bought it at a high price. Do you want it?"
She wanted it, that was Qin Junyao's honest thought, but five hundred taels was really too expensive.
Zhao Liangcai stole a glance at Qin Junyao's expression, wondering if he had priced it too high.
He felt uncomfortable seeing her IOU to him. Since she owed him, he decided to make it more. On an impulse, he multiplied the price of the zither, which he had bought for fifty taels, by ten.