Chapter 176: Common Grounds
Of course, the Ghost Orchid Fungus is not classified as a plant; it belongs to the fungal category.
This is also the reason why Zhou Qian did not directly answer Huai Yu’s question—what’s on his leg is a mutated plant called “climbing ivy,” which was also artificially induced biological material.
The information he gathered about the Ghost Orchid Fungus indicates it’s a mutated fungus, not a complete plant either.
Due to the scarcity of samples, there’s not even an absolute commonality between the two. If he rashly told Huai Yu, what if she tried something on her own in private…
Zhou Qian had been eating different good things every day, and he could roughly guess that her abilities were special. For now, he’d focus on improving his own life and not worry too much about national or public affairs…
Human hearts are fickle, and it’s something she’s not ready to handle at the moment.
…
While Zhou Qian was preoccupied, Huai Yu was anxiously waiting on the bus.
As the bus paused at the Jin Yuan community entrance and the remaining few passengers slowly got off, she stared outside the window with eyes full of impatience, almost wishing she could fly out.
The driver remained silent, driving calmly. Because Huai Yu frequently traveled into the city, despite her varying times, there were only a few drivers covering this route. Moreover, she was almost the only person getting off at the Rose Corridor…
In any case, the drivers had already recognized her.
Unable to hold back, the driver finally asked, “Young lady, do you go to the trading market to sell things every day?”
“Actually, there’s no need to go so far. The market here in Jin Yuan community is pretty big, and things sell decently well.”
“Especially since the locals here do more farming than in the city, and the mutated varieties are usually more abundant.”
“If you’re just buying some vegetables or something, it’s more affordable here.”
“They even sell fish.”
His words were sincere, and Huai Yu’s anxious mood eased a little. She smiled and replied, “Thank you, Uncle! I didn’t know they sold fish here in Jin Yuan. I’ll go buy some tomorrow! I’m just about to visit a patient at the hospital.”
She spoke so earnestly, it seemed like she really needed this chance.
The driver couldn’t help but feel a little joy from helping her, and with that, he pressed the gas and continued on. He finally stopped smoothly at the station.
Huai Yu got off the bus and quickly went behind the bus stop sign, only to find that the bicycle she had left in the grass yesterday afternoon was still untouched, but the delivery of meat hadn’t arrived yet.
Checking the time, it was already 8:30.
After a brief thought, she decided to push the bike and go home first.
Big Cub and Second Cub had been in the back basket all night, and it was unfair to them. She needed to let them out to stretch.
She also needed to eat something herself, as she was already feeling weak from pedaling the bike.
Finally, she grabbed a few plastic bags and a big sack from home. After all, it would be difficult to carry the slippery ice blocks without them.
As she thought about the tricycle that hadn’t arrived yet, Huai Yu rode quickly. When she saw her small, ordinary house, she couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of belonging, even though she had only been away for a night. It felt like a long trip away.
When she took Big Cub and Second Cub out of the basket, they were stiff from squatting all night. It took them a while to stretch and stand up energetically.
They wandered around the yard for a while, looking at the nearby chicks, and then they proudly strutted off toward the bamboo grove, squawking proudly as if their journey was a great achievement.
Huai Yu sighed in relief.
She went back inside, rummaged through the bags, and drank a big bowl of water. Despite the hospital’s water having low mutation value, she still felt a bit uncomfortable drinking it.
Afterward, she popped two pieces of rock candy into her mouth before rushing back out on the bike toward the bus stop.
Just as she stopped, she saw a worn-out, dark red tricycle struggling towards her!
Little did she know, when the tricycle driver saw her, he also sighed in relief.
“Wow, I haven’t had such a big order in a long time. These four hours have been exhausting.”
He had taken a longer break in the middle, which delayed his arrival.
But thinking about the money he made from this order, he couldn’t help but feel energized! He pressed on the gas and picked up speed again.
When they met, both of them unexpectedly smiled. Huai Yu spoke first, “Thank you for your hard work.”
“No problem!” The driver looked at the sack in her hand. “Let me load it for you, and you can put it on your bike later.”
He placed the bullfrogs on the front of the tricycle and the wild chickens on the back. Slowly pushing it was fine.
After walking for four to five hours, the ice blocks had melted somewhat, and they were no longer perfectly square.
Huai Yu looked at the driver, who was sweating, and raised her wrist. “Let’s settle the balance.”
Who doesn’t like a swift customer?
The tricycle driver smiled and raised his wrist. “The balance is 25. Miss, I often hang around the highway entrance for work, so if you need anything next time, you can find me!”
Huai Yu nodded, “Definitely!”
That’s a place where she can get meat, so she would definitely go again next time!
However—
She looked at the driver and suddenly asked, “Do you still have the strength?”
“Huh?” The driver was stunned. “I guess so, but remember, if it’s to the defense military camp, there’s an extra charge. It’s a high price!”
As he spoke, he tiptoed and looked down the winding road ahead. But aside from the vast wilderness and small hills, there was nothing to see.
This made him even more uneasy.
Because even though there was nothing visible, the Rose Corridor stood out so distinctly in his mind.
“It’s not that.” Huai Yu smiled awkwardly. “You must have passed by Jin Yuan community on your way here, right? There’s a lot of general goods being sold there.”
“If you still have energy, could you help me buy two large water tanks? The biggest ones.”
She had seen them when she was setting up her stall there, and large items like that were hard to carry and probably wouldn’t sell easily.
If she hadn’t happened to have the tricycle today, she would have never even dared to think about it.
Huai Yu didn’t know exactly how many points the water tanks would cost, but she hadn’t even saved up 15,000 points yet. Her mentality was a bit like “nothing to lose now”:
“If they’re the old-fashioned ceramic water tanks, if you can bring a few back, I’ll buy them.”
“Also, you can bring the shopkeeper along. We’ll meet here and negotiate the price.”
“Once that’s settled, I’ll leave the bike here. You can borrow your tricycle and ride to the camp for me—I’ll be back in an hour.”
This distance was short, and the task wasn’t hard. It even gave the tricycle driver another chance to make money while coming back empty-handed.
The hard part was riding toward the Rose Corridor—
Huai Yu quickly made an offer: “A flat price, 45. I’ll round it up for you. How does that sound?”
