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墨書 Inktalez
As the sky darkened, Yezhi dipped a bit of oil from the empty oil can. There was only a shallow layer left in the can, and she had been very frugal, but it still ran out today. Just as she finished steaming her hard, dry rations over Vegetable Soup, she heard Xiao Fang calling her. Was it really necessary to be so eager just because she could go online?
"Master, your friend Miss Dulisa is looking for you!"
A stunning beauty with long red hair, alluring eyes, and skin as smooth as jade appeared in the vast sea of stars, wrapped in a towel. Every time Yezhi saw Dulisa, it felt like a devastating blow to her, both physically and mentally.
Dulisa seemed to take pleasure in tormenting Yezhi. Yezhi truly did not want to see her, even though she was the first alien Yezhi encountered on the Cosmic Social Network who spoke the same language!
With her sweet and lazy voice, Dulisa said to Yezhi, "Oh, dear Yezhi, where have you been these past few days? Look at you! So shriveled... flat-chested." After saying this, she casually pushed up her own ample bosom.
If you had to eat nothing but bland vegetables for a month and worry about self-detonation every day, you'd be dried up too. Imagining Dulisa looking dried up made Yezhi chuckle. "Just get to the point; if you have something to say, spit it out."
"Why are you so vulgar, dear Yezhi? I signed you up for the Social Network's Ugliest Star competition."
"Ugliest Star?" Yezhi exclaimed in surprise!
"Weren't you looking to buy a cosmic language pack? If you make it into the top ten of the competition, there's a prize of 10,000 Bodeton—enough for you to buy a basic one! I wanted you to join me in a beauty contest, but..." Dulisa glanced at Yezhi with disdain in her silver eyes and added with a hint of resentment, "You don't meet any standards! You're short, your looks are lacking, your figure could be described as plump but now you're as thin as a stick...! It's one thing if you're completely ugly; that saves me from having to use my beauty to get you into Ugliest Star. You better prepare well! Don't embarrass me!"
"Prepare for what? Embarrass myself?" Was she really that cruel? Just because she's a beauty—well, an extraordinary beauty—she could casually eliminate others. Furious and stomping her feet, Yezhi shouted at Dulisa. Dulisa loved seeing Yezhi angry; it was so lively and entertaining that she couldn't get enough of it!
"The preliminary round is in one month. I don't expect you to be the ugliest; I just hope you'll be uglier. Dear Yezhi, you have potential—work hard! Sister will cheer for you!" She blew a kiss and vanished into the starry sea.
"Xiao Fang... Am I really ugly?" Yezhi asked hesitantly.
Xiao Fang appeared before her holding a light screen. "Master, Miss Dulisa was just joking. You're just a bit short, your eyes are small, your nose is flat, your hair is frizzy..." Seeing Yezhi's face turn dark and her eyebrows twitching, Xiao Fang quickly flattered her: "Master, your skin is quite fair, your lips are moderate... um... you've lost some weight recently. But really, you're not the ugliest on Cabrera Planet; at worst, you're second!"
Yezhi's face changed colors rapidly—purple, blue, green, red—and then black. Xiao Fang couldn't understand why her master's face resembled a neon light. Raising her hand to swear an oath with utmost seriousness, she said: "Master, those burned and disfigured rank first; someone like you would at most rank second. Xiao Fang does not lie!"
Yezhi was on the verge of collapse as she saw her pale face reflected on Xiao Fang's light screen—a bright red mouth and sharp chin with bulging eyes dressed in a floral cloth outfit.
Clearly petite and lovely with big eyes—where was the ugliness? Sure, she had lost some weight, but wasn't that just the pursuit of slender beauty after 27 years of failure? However, in this era—even among aliens—it seemed they preferred fuller figures. No wonder Aunt Zhou had been looking at her with concern lately.
In fact, how had Yezhi lost weight so drastically and quickly? First was the pressure from internet fees; second was that Aunt Zhou's food supply was limited. Although villagers had sent some food over, there were still months until summer crops came in; third was that she had always been picky about food and couldn't live without meat. Here in this place, no matter how sweet or delicious the vegetables were—eating them daily with little oil or salt was unbearable. Being from the south made it hard for her to get used to coarse dry rations. She often justified not eating or eating less as dieting to maintain her slenderness when it was really just a forced choice.
"Sigh!" The amount of sighing Yezhi had done in the past month surpassed all that she had done in 27 years combined.
"Girl, what's wrong?" Aunt Zhou asked with concern as she entered the kitchen and heard a sigh.
"Aunt, you're back! I'm fine!" Yezhi smiled at Aunt Zhou. In fact, Aunt Zhou was only thirty-eight years old, not old at all, but her hair was graying, her face was lined with wrinkles, and her cheekbones were so gaunt that she looked at least fifty.
Yezhi clenched her fists tightly, thinking that this couldn't go on any longer. She pulled out a stack of colorful bills and placed them on the stove, saying to Aunt Zhou, "Aunt, this is what I got in exchange for ginseng and from Barefoot Aunt. It's a total of 83 yuan, plus two Tiger Bones." Before she could finish, Aunt Zhou interrupted, "Then you better put it away quickly!"
"Aunt, do you think we could use this money to buy some chicks and ducklings to raise?" Yezhi thought about how she didn't know how to farm or had the strength for it. Developing a breeding business might improve their impoverished situation. Eggs and meat could not only be sold but also eaten by themselves. It seemed like a win-win. Just as Yezhi was happily daydreaming, she saw Aunt Zhou's serious expression as she said, "Girl, quickly dismiss these capitalist thoughts. We have a limited number of chickens producing for our team. Not a word more about this."
Right, the call for reform and opening up had just begun in the 1980s; the household contract responsibility system was still a distant matter. Yezhi smiled wryly; she had been too radical.
"Aunt, I promise I won't mention it again, but I want to go into town with you." Wasn't it said that the 1980s were full of business opportunities? Going into town might lead to discoveries. Moreover, Yezhi's set of lace underwear had long been worn out; the coarse cloth shorts often chafed her skin.
"Into town? That's over a hundred miles away." Looking at Yezhi's hopeful eyes, Aunt Zhou couldn't bring herself to refuse and finally agreed, "Go ask your Cart Master when he is going into town; we'll go with him."
Yezhi exclaimed, "Yay!" and happily ran off to the Cart Master's house.
The next morning, just as the sun was rising over the mountains, Yezhi and Aunt Zhou were already sitting on the Stagecoach. Also on board were Zhou Village Head and the village's old hunter Zhou Yiqiang. Yezhi was fortunate to be able to leave the next day because Zhou Village Head was going to the Commune for business.
The narrow mountain path was dimly lit; white mist hung like a veil, and various crisp bird calls echoed through the woods. Yezhi sat on the wooden cart seat, her body swaying rhythmically with the motion of the carriage. She tightly held onto a basket that appeared to contain only dried wild vegetables; inside were two thirty-year-old ginseng roots that she had hurriedly sold another Tiger Bone for at Cosmic Exchange last night for 70 Bodeton at Bodria Universe Mall.
"Spring Flower, what made you think of going into town?" Zhou Yiqiang asked in a booming voice typical of a Northeast man. For residents of Zhou Family Village in Qingwu County—one of the poorest and most remote areas—opportunities to go into town were rare; some women had never even been to the county seat in their entire lives.
Aunt Zhou chuckled and replied, "It's all that girl Yezhi's idea; she insisted on going into town to take a look and sell some Mountain Goods."
"Mountain Goods? You might as well sell sticks!" Zhou Village Head interjected while stroking his beard. He was Aunt Li's husband, in his fifties, about 1.6 meters tall—similar in height to Yezhi—with reddish-black skin and a long face covered in wrinkles. His gaze was sharp and determined. Perhaps because he was going into town today for business, Zhou Village Head was dressed neatly in a golden straw hat with a red star printed on it, wearing a gray cloth jacket on top and blue trousers with two patches at the knees. He wore no socks and sported yellow rubber shoes while holding a long pipe that he occasionally took puffs from!
Yezhi's discovery of wild Mountain Ginseng on the mountain had long been no secret in Zhoujiatun; everyone meant no harm and merely gossiped about her good fortune during tea breaks.
The conversation on the cart continued until evening when they gradually drove out of the mountains. The road became wider; occasionally green Small Jeeps whizzed by along with tractors making loud "bang! bang! bang!" noises that could be heard from afar! What made Yezhi envious were the girls or wives riding donkeys or sitting in donkey carts—it looked quite romantic.
As more pedestrians appeared along the way, their clothing was noticeably more fashionable and tidy than those from the mountains; however, most wore shades of gray or blue-green without any skirts in sight.
Even in the county seat, most people were still struggling to meet their basic needs. However, what stood out was the look of hope for a better life shining on their faces—a spirit that Yezhi felt was lacking in her past life.
The streets of the county town were spacious and square, lined with single-story houses. The only tall building was just two stories high, with a sign hanging that read "Department Store."
Yezhi looked at the sign of the Department Store and recalled her unpleasant shopping experience at the State-Owned Store during her childhood, where the indifferent and arrogant staff made her feel frustrated. It was truly a memory best left unspoken; only those who had been there would understand!
After turning a few corners, the Cart Master called out, and the cart came to a sudden stop. Yezhi jumped off first, then helped Aunt Zhou down before walking into a single-story house.
It turned out that behind this house was a large courtyard specifically for parking carts. The house itself had only two large rooms, one for men and one for women. After registering in the women's section, Yezhi met up with Zhou Village Head, Zhou Yiqiang, and the Cart Master to go eat.
The group had nibbled on some dry rations along the way and were already quite hungry. Inside the restaurant, all ten or so tables were filled to capacity, with the aroma of food wafting through the air as people chatted animatedly. After some effort, they squeezed into a table and gathered around.
Soon, a large plate of Steamed Buns was brought to them. Yezhi's eyes became slightly misty; this was the first time she had seen something resembling White Noodles since arriving here.
The buns were each about the size of a bowl, fragrant with wheat aroma. Taking a bite revealed their chewy texture and sweet taste, even better than bread.
Next came a bowl of egg soup, rich in ingredients and fragrant with green onions. Yezhi drank two large bowls in quick succession. After patting her full belly, she took out a Five Yuan note from her pocket to pay, but Zhou Village Head wouldn't allow it. He pulled out a Cloth Bag from his clothes containing about ten bills of various denominations, including several steel coins.
The waiter quickly calculated: six cents per bun, fourteen buns totaling eighty-four cents, and eighteen cents for the egg soup, making it a total of one yuan and two cents.
One yuan and two cents! That was enough to treat someone to a meal; money was incredibly valuable! With this new understanding of the current prices, Yezhi felt somewhat wealthy with her eighty-three yuan and insisted on treating Zhou Village Head.
After paying for the meal, they walked down the empty street. There were no lights at this time; once night fell, it became pitch dark. They hurried back to the women's quarters, which were bustling with activity. A row of beds was filled with women chatting excitedly, some resting to regain their energy, while others enthusiastically offered local specialties for tasting. Before Yezhi even reached her bed, she was handed three or five dates.
After taking off her outer coat and lying down on her bed, she quickly fell into a deep sleep, likely due to having been busy trading online last night and bouncing around in the cart all day.
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