Chapter 220: Truly a Tormenting Little Goblin
Ning Xiyue turned her head toward the direction where the little girl had hurried off. In just a moment, the girl had already disappeared—she sure ran fast.
Retracting her gaze, Ning Xiyue rubbed the spot where she’d been bumped, then continued walking forward, returning to her own compartment.
Inside their private cabin, only her second brother was still there. The other seats remained empty—no one had boarded at this stop either.
Hearing the sound of movement, Ning Qingyuan put down the book in his hands.
“Xiyue, you’re back.”
“Mm, keep reading. I’ll dry the lunchboxes and put them away.”
Ning Xiyue shook the water off the metal lunchboxes, took out a napkin, and wiped them dry before tucking them into her bag. Then she quickly sat down on the bunk and pulled out paper and pen to continue writing letters home—to let everyone know she was safe.
She needed to write one letter to her parents and another to her eldest brother and sister-in-law—two letters in total.
It wasn’t her first time writing “safe and sound” letters; she’d written many before and could do it almost effortlessly.
In less than half an hour, both letters were finished.
She blew lightly on the ink to dry it, then held them out along with two envelopes and stamps.
“Second Brother, the letters are ready. You can keep writing yours.”
“Alright, I’ll finish mine too. We’ll mail them when we get to town.”
Ning Qingyuan lowered his head and continued writing on the back of each letter.
After eating and writing, their hands and feet were much warmer—but then Ning Xiyue suddenly felt an itching sensation in her toes.
She took off her socks to look.
Good heavens—the little toe on her right foot was swollen, hard, and red. It itched terribly. She’d somehow developed frostbite.
She hadn’t noticed it earlier when her feet were still cold, but once they warmed up, the itching started.
These shoes and socks were really not warm enough—her feet had actually frozen to the point of blisters.
From her space, she pulled out some pig gallbladder bile that the team captain had given her back when they slaughtered a pig, applying a little on the frostbite. Then she took out an herbal ointment made from Hànxǐn grass, which was good for clearing heat and reducing inflammation, and rubbed it on to relieve the itching for now.
However, since it wasn’t a special ointment for frostbite, it wouldn’t work too well or too fast. She’d need to process the pig bile into proper frostbite ointment for it to be effective.
“Brother, keep writing. I’m going to sleep.”
“Alright, get some rest.”
Ning Xiyue pulled up her blanket, lay down, and closed her eyes.
Just earlier, when she applied the pig bile to the frostbite, her system’s illustrated manual had lit up—inside was the formula for making frostbite ointment.
She’d have to make several jars of it—to send some home as well. If she had frostbite already, her family probably wouldn’t be far behind.
In the winter, frostbite ointment was practically a lifesaver. Once your hands or feet froze, they’d itch like crazy once warmed, unbearable to the point of madness. If you scratched them open, they’d crack, fester, and bleed.
And once you got frostbite one year, it was very likely to recur every winter after that.
No—she had to make a few jars of ointment rated at least ninety points or higher today.
Her little toe itched so badly she could hardly resist scratching.
She didn’t want this happening every year.
Ah, what an unavoidable torment of nature.
Damn—it seemed even her heel was starting to hurt.
Ning Xiyue opened her eyes again, pressing her lips together with a pained expression. She dabbed a cotton swab on the itchy toe and applied some ointment to her heel as well.
Then she quickly shut her eyes, letting her consciousness enter the system. She had to study immediately—to learn how to make frostbite ointment.
She needed to free herself from the torture of frostbite.
Seeing her so anxious to learn, the system spoke up kindly: “Host, you can use one check-in opportunity or 100 system points to activate the teacher’s accelerated learning mode, which increases lesson speed and shortens study time.”
“Alright, use 100 points to activate it,” Ning Xiyue said, pausing for only a moment before agreeing.
The system, hearing how readily she agreed, repeated softly to make sure: “Host, just confirming—it’s 100 points, not ten.”
“I heard you. Use the points—quickly.”
She had plenty of points. The check-in chances she preferred to save for feeding the pigs. Pig feed wasn’t much, but the consumption was large. She used all her spare check-ins for the pigs each day and planned to save today’s for them as well.
She was a responsible “poop-shoveling officer.”
“Ding! 100 points spent. Accelerated course mode activated. Host may now adjust preferred speed.”
Ning Xiyue opened the control panel, set the playback to 2× speed, and immediately tapped the link to enter the training classroom.
Her feet itched—she couldn’t afford to waste time.
Frostbite really was a tormenting little goblin!
