Chapter 108: Dandelion Ball
With the big black fish here, Huai Yu peeked at the fish trap and then at the clear pond, guessing that there probably weren’t many other fish left.
After all, the big black fish was really aggressive.
But also really big. Looked like there’d be a lot of meat!
Huai Yu adjusted the angle of the fish trap, finally managing to purify the big black fish with some effort. Only after seeing its wildly thrashing tail smash a rock with a “crack” and then settle down did she finally relax.
Next—She slung the basket on her back, packed up the Keron balls, and put the big black fish into a sack and placed it on some locust flowers—it was incredibly resilient, after all. It could live without water for quite a while.
Lastly, it was Keta Rō’s turn.
“Keta Rō, do you want me to carry you, or are you going to climb on your own?”
Keta Rō fluttered its wings open, then stood still as if waiting to be picked up.
Huai Yu sighed, “Fine, but there’s no room on my back anymore—come on, get in the bag, I’ll hang it around my neck.”
That’s just so like her!
With a grunt, Huai Yu carefully made her way along the mountain path, more convinced than ever of her old persona—how else could she be so skilled at hauling heavy loads unless she had some kind of muscle-memory for it?
Just how beefy was she in the past… Was she 1.9 meters tall? Were her fists the size of clay pots?
One hand carrying the bag, the other patting Keta Rō hanging from her chest, Huai Yu let out another quiet sigh of relief.
Thank goodness Keta Rō wasn’t heavy.
…
When she finally staggered back into the house, Huai Yu first took off the bag with Keta Rō from around her neck, feeling like she was about to develop cervical spondylosis at her young age.
Then she took off her backpack basket. As her shoulders moved, they tingled with both numbness and sharp pain—a sour, stinging kind of soreness!
She massaged her shoulders for quite a while before the discomfort eased.
Grimacing, she tugged down her collar to look—there were two distinct bruised marks from the straps, vivid and menacing.
If left untreated, they’d soon turn purplish and swollen, then fully bruised.
But there was still work to do. No time to rest. Huai Yu symbolically blew on her shoulder, then turned to rummage through her basket.
The obedient big black fish was taken out—it really was massive. It didn’t even fit in the house’s buckets.
After thinking for a moment, she reluctantly grabbed her shovel and went under the barnyard grass tree, threw on her raincoat, and dug a water pit in a few quick strokes.
Whether it was coincidence or not, two or three water balls splashed onto her back and shoulders during the process.
They didn’t hurt, but still made Huai Yu almost yell for Big Bro and Second Bro.
She tossed the black fish in and watched it wag its tail in the shallow puddle. Only then did she relax, glaring up at the barnyard tree with defiance, “Trying to hit me, huh? Just wait till I’ve rested—I’ll give your buddies even more energy!”
Let’s see if you two don’t fight it out by the pond then!
Next were Keta Rō’s balls.
Today’s collection had a strange medicinal smell. The white and golden ones were quite pleasant, but the rainbow-colored ones were rather pungent and even a bit heady.
But Huai Yu hadn’t planned on eating them anyway, so she just dumped them all into the jar.
She looked at Keta Rō—still standing there obediently, holding a locust flower in its front paws and chewing gently, its little mouth moving, antennae twitching—just so well-behaved.
Huai Yu couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry.
“Take a break, Keta Rō. Aren’t you tired?”
She carried it over to its little nest and, after some thought, served it a bowl of locust flowers. Then she gently tapped its antennae.
“Eat if you want, rest if you don’t. Do dung beetles even have cheek muscles? If you keep chewing nonstop, I’m afraid you’ll strain yours… Sigh.”
She sighed again—there was really no resisting such an obedient Keta Rō.
Back inside, she looked at the glass jar, now almost 80% full, and started to worry—Keta Rō might be too diligent!
Less than two days and it had already rolled so many balls. Was she going to have to build a whole storage shed for them?
Besides fertilizer, was there any other use for these things?
At that thought, Uncle Date’s overly eager face popped into her head. Huai Yu squeezed her eyes shut, reminding herself she had a conscience. She would not make money off Keta Rō!
She stretched her arms. They felt heavier than ever.
But she was all alone now!
There were so many good things in this mountain—if they were wasted, Boss Tang would be furious.
Clenching her jaw, she spread out a clean plastic sheet on the floor and dumped out the heavily compressed locust flowers from the basket.
They were packed tight. The basket had to be shaken hard before anything came loose.
She scooped with her hands, and only then did the flowers spill out.
But halfway through, it was all tightly compacted again. She had to reach in and loosen it by hand.
Her arms ached terribly. When the entire basketful was finally emptied onto the plastic sheet—half the house floor was covered in a white mountain of locust flowers.
Huai Yu stared in disbelief.
She looked at the basket again—Same size. How did it fit so much?
No time to think. She quickly picked out broken branches and leaves by hand, wrapped everything into a large plastic bag, and hauled it to the barnyard grass tree for cleaning under the water ball.
Wet locust flowers were so heavy.
But spring sunlight alone couldn’t preserve them well.
Huai Yu took a deep breath to rally herself, then grabbed some dry bamboo leaves and started a fire to boil water.
While the water heated, she looked around the house—despite having a chimney, she decided to avoid indoor cooking in the future.
Ash was clearly rising with the heat, a fresh layer settling on the table.
But she was exhausted. Housekeeping could wait until tomorrow.
…
With the water bubbling, Huai Yu snapped out of her daze, grabbed a large bunch of washed locust flowers and tossed them in for blanching, then fished them out.
On another stove, a separate pot was already dry and hot. The drained locust flowers sizzled as soon as they hit the surface.
And so, she kept blanching and stir-drying the flowers, then laying them out to dry.
Her arms didn’t feel like hers anymore.
If only she had a vegetable in the garden, she wouldn’t be working this hard!
There were just so many locust flowers!
Though she got home around noon, it wasn’t until nightfall that she finally bagged the dried flowers into airtight plastic sacks.
Looking at the five full bags, Huai Yu mentally calculated, “One for Boss Tang, half a bag for Zhou Qian, a handful for Uncle Date…”
No matter how she split it, she’d have plenty left! She collapsed onto the bed, feeling the day’s hard work was worth it.
But!
Just as she closed her eyes, she painfully got back up—she hadn’t fed her chicks!
They were big enough now. It was time to let them roam. Tomorrow, she’d assign them to Big Bro and Second Bro. Let them peck around the bamboo grove for food.
She had no strength to chop up weeds for them today. With shaking hands, she scooped a bowl of rice and, like a frail old woman, tottered to the chicken coop.
Just as she scattered the rice, Keta Rō peeked out from behind the curtain, watching curiously.
Huai Yu weakly waved, “Keta Rō… if you’re still rolling balls, just put them in your own bowl, I can’t… I’m done…”
Her arms were swollen and aching, her legs felt like lead. She hadn’t felt this worn out since those days of digging vegetable patches and building the house.
Keta Rō fluttered once and followed her inside, stopping in front of the nearly full glass jar—motionless.
Huai Yu: …
She weakly opened the lid. “What do you want?”
The jar opening wasn’t wide, but Keta Rō clung to the rim, its other legs slipping on the smooth surface—clearly trying to dig something out.
Huai Yu was puzzled.
She brought over a basin and poured the balls out, “What are you looking for?”
Sure enough, Keta Rō pawed through them and picked out a yellow-green mottled ball, then obediently handed it to her.
Huai Yu: …
She carefully held it, vaguely remembering it was the one Keta Rō rolled from dandelions yesterday.
Stem, flower, leaf—all compacted perfectly.
But…
“For me to eat?” She pointed at herself, then refused three times in a row: “No no no, that’s not my diet—won’t even brew tea with it.”
Keta Rō didn’t get it. It still stood there, offering the ball, antennae bent in a pleading gesture.
Huai Yu faltered.
Then regained her resolve. “No, really, I’m good.”
Her refusal was so obvious, Keta Rō looked anxious, flapped its wings twice, stepped forward, and suddenly dropped the ball into a nearby water bucket.
Huai Yu: …
She felt bad for the wasted clean water—and worse for possibly hurting Keta Rō’s feelings.
But Keta Rō flapped again and looked at her intently.
Huai Yu hesitated, then had a thought—
“Wait… is this supposed to be medicinal?”
“It’s not for drinking, right?”
Of course, Keta Rō couldn’t answer. But Huai Yu had always been daring—she tentatively dipped her hand in.
That bucket of water wasn’t going to be used anyway, and she had no plans to eat the ball.
The moment her fingers touched the water, a cool sensation surged from fingertips to elbow and slightly upward.
It passed quickly, but her sore, swollen, feverish arm felt instant relief.
Shocked, Huai Yu glanced at Keta Rō—then without hesitation rolled up her sleeve and plunged her entire arm in.
“Sss…”
She couldn’t help but hiss.
At this time of year, a cold water soak should be unpleasant. But she clearly felt a cooling energy spread through her overworked arm.
And then—warmth. A soothing, therapeutic warmth, like the swelling inside was breaking up and moving freely…
By the time the feeling faded, who knew how much time had passed?
Huai Yu pulled out her arm. All signs of fatigue were gone.
Meanwhile, Keta Rō had already left the room.
Huai Yu stripped off her jacket, soaked a towel in the medicine water, and dabbed it on her bruised shoulder.
That shoulder had taken too much weight today. Bone, tendon, muscle—all hurt. The pressure marks were swollen and deep purple.
She knew from experience most of it would fade after one night’s rest. But that didn’t make it hurt less right now.
The towel cooled her skin, then brought warmth, like the bruises were being flushed from inside.
She suddenly understood—Keta Rō’s true ability was to extract and purify medicinal properties!
Oh my god.
Thank goodness no one else knew. Otherwise, she could imagine—Gao Ming wouldn’t be able to protect it.
But the night air was still too cold. Huai Yu quietly got dressed and started boiling more water.
If nothing else, Zhou Qian had really outfitted this house well—she even had a small resin bath bucket!
Huai Yu sorted the Keron balls, picked two more yellow-green dandelion ones, and stuffed the rest back into the jar.
After today, she deserved a full-on medicinal bath!
Hot water gradually filled the tub. The two dandelion balls quickly dissolved. She even added the cold bucket water to it. Soon, warm ripples filled the tub.
She tested the temperature, then carefully stepped in.
Cool medicinal power and warm water washed over her.
Huai Yu sighed—her exhaustion vanished.
…
Meanwhile, in Flower City Hospital, another person was soaking in a special solution.
The monitor beeped coldly. A doctor and a soldier in a defensive uniform sighed, “There’s nothing we can do. The toxin has spread throughout the body… the amputation was too late. When he was brought in, even his heart was swollen—”
“Wasn’t this a special antidote? Isn’t it enough to just keep him alive? Our prosthetics are great, it doesn’t matter!”
“It’s not about the amputation—his left leg was already removed!”
“But… the venom’s too strong.”
The doctor shook his head grimly. “Even before the apocalypse, we needed matching antivenoms for snake bites. And this was a mutating spider that injected digestive fluid…”
So tired… I really want to take a break… Last time I wrote nothing all day was 4.4—two months ago. How am I this hardworking?! Unreal!
