Chapter 163: You Seem Useless
Huai Yu parked her bicycle and basket under the shed and hurried to the treehouse.
The big, fat water radish, weighing at least 10 jin (about 5 kg), was swaying its head happily under the shade of the tree. Even though its red, plump fruit was gone and one of its tendrils had broken off, none of that seemed to affect its mood at all—
It was still wearing that dyed shoelace! Even after being buried in the soil, it hadn’t thought of taking it off.
When it saw Huai Yu coming over, it beamed, “I-I-I want—want to—go over—there and—play! C-can I?”
Huai Yu nodded, “Of course, play wherever you like, but don’t go too far—and don’t go near the Rose Corridor! If it attacks you, I won’t stop it.”
“N-n-no way!”
The little radish shook its head so hard its leaves toppled over, and its nervousness even seemed to cure its stutter, “I-I absolutely won’t!”
That was the Rose Corridor, after all!
You could feel its terrifying aura from a distance. If it got close and one of its vines lashed out, it would be drained dry!
As for now…
Its leaves crept a little in that direction, and it vaguely felt the other side couldn’t be bothered with it, so it should be fine.
But Huai Yu examined its tendrils and said, “You seem a bit useless.”
That bowl of ginseng water she drank hadn’t done a thing. Giving it to Zhou Qian was just to avoid wasting it.
“This is an important tendril of yours. How could it be ineffective?”
“N-n-no way!”
The fat ginseng got anxious.
Last night in the bamboo forest, it had heard Kuang Biao say a lot—every plant in the world has its use. It couldn’t be useless!
Thinking for a moment, it stammered and asked, “H-h-how much water did you—use?”
How much?
Did Huai Yu look like the wasteful type? She gestured, “Just one pot.”
Fertilizing flowers requires a 1000:1 dilution; she’d boiled a mutated ginseng tendril, diluted it a bit more—no problem, right?
But the pot she gestured was huge! Big enough to hold three or five fat ginsengs!
The leaves started shaking wildly, “T-too much! Way—way too much!”
“I-I-I’m useful—super super useful! Mutated—mutated plants use me—I’m—super potent—super active…”
Poor thing, saying such a long sentence made its plump body turn red—of course, maybe that was just the shoelace bleeding color…
Huai Yu glanced at it and casually untied the bow on the shoelace.
“Really?” She still didn’t seem convinced.
The fat ginseng got even more anxious, waving its tendrils frantically, “L-let me—give you—another one. Y-you use it—boil water… a—a little!”
With a whimper, it broke off another tendril, clearly hurting a bit.
Huai Yu hesitated as she took the tendril.
She looked doubtful but reluctantly agreed, asking lazily, “How little is ‘a little’ water?”
The fat ginseng thought hard and very seriously used its long tendril to gesture: “T-this much!”
Huai Yu: “…”
That tiny amount? Barely a cup of water?
Now she was really skeptical.
She was starting to wonder if she’d really overused her power and turned the ginseng into a water radish.
Even its medicinal effect was diluted.
But the fat ginseng had already seriously burrowed back into the soil, working hard to grow.
It watched Huai Yu’s back, swearing to itself it would become super useful!
Fist pump! Grow—hmm—push hard—!
…
Early the next morning, Huai Yu tidied up the junk she’d collected and unexpectedly found two long steel pipes. Delighted, she decided to replace the old tree branch clothes rack—That rack always needed a plastic bag underneath when drying clothes, or it would leave marks. Plus, if it rained, the clothes couldn’t get wet, or it’d take days to dry.
It was a hassle.
The wooden clothes rack she replaced wasn’t wasted either; she dismantled the wood and added another tree branch, making a simple summer shower stall under the crabgrass tree.
That way, it’d be much easier to shower when it got hot!
The only downside was no hot water, so it was best to wash up before sunset.
After solving that big issue, Huai Yu wandered through the vegetable garden and successfully ripened a peanut plant.
When she pulled it out, it was covered in fresh soil, a heavy, big handful—too much to hold with two hands.
Nice! A gift from the little field—she’d share two peanuts with it later!
Then she ripened a sweet potato—of course, first picking the tender sweet potato vines, planning to stir-fry them with chili and pork fat later.
The old vines would go to the chicks and Big Cub and Second Cub.
Then came chili peppers, long beans—well, she’d eaten those for days, time for something new: cucumber! Smashed cucumber salad!
Eggplant too! Slice it into thin strips, coat in flour, stir-fry with chili—soft, savory, and delicious!
After stuffing herself full, taking care of Keta, Kuang Biao, and the chicks, Huai Yu packed her full basket and set out for town in the afternoon.
First stop: the hospital to have dinner with Zhou Qian, then nap in the ward until midnight—just in time to meet Uncle Zaozi!
Perfect!
Except…
Huai Yu carefully secured the basket lid and squeezed onto the rickety bus.
…
In the hospital, Zhou Qian stared at her basket:
“So—what did you bring? You’re acting all secretive.”
“Shh!” Huai Yu looked very serious.
She opened the ward door and peeked out, then cautiously lifted the basket lid:
“Big Cub, Second Cub, come out now!”
To Zhou Qian’s shock, a weird, mutated creature—body round like a giant sea urchin, legs as skinny as chopsticks, with a flat beak—hopped out.
It glanced around the ward with its beady eyes, pacing back and forth like it was inspecting its new surroundings.
“W-what the heck is that?”
Even though Zhou Qian had mentally prepared himself, he was still startled.
Huai Yu whispered, “I arranged to meet Uncle Zaozi at the highway station at midnight to see if we can scavenge anything.”
“He said mutated creatures get more restless at night and told me to stay alert. I thought about it, and the strongest ones we have are Big Cub and Second Cub, so I brought it to protect me…”
She sounded very reasonable, but Zhou Qian stared at the weird creature and couldn’t help asking:
“What is it?”
“A g-goose… I guess?”
Huai Yu wasn’t really sure either.
She’d raised it for so long and still didn’t know what it was—just that it was vegetarian.
“Then why do you call it Big Cub and Second Cub? Can it clone itself?”
Huai Yu got even more embarrassed: “Because there were two geese that looked alike. I only brought one today, but I can’t tell which one it is, so I just call it that…”
