Chapter 42: Sign-In Gathering Point for Work
Early the next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Ning Xiyue was already up and ready. Carrying a water flask and wearing a straw hat, she headed toward the drying field near the brigade office — the place where she would be working for the foreseeable future.
Since it was her first day on the job, Ning Xiyue had made a point of getting up early and arriving ahead of time. Not only did she want to leave a good impression on her team members, but she also wanted the chance to look around the area where the grain was stored — especially the brigade’s granary. She was quite excited about that part.
A row of houses had been built specifically for storing the grain collected by the brigade.
When Ning Xiyue arrived at the row of whitewashed buildings, she realized she was indeed too early — the main gate was still locked.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
A large, imposing black dog was stationed at the gate, barking ferociously as soon as it spotted the unfamiliar figure of Ning Xiyue.
“Dahei!”
A tall, middle-aged man stepped out of one of the buildings and called out to the dog. At once, the dog stopped barking, wagged its tail, and bounded happily around the man in circles.
Ning Xiyue instantly understood — this must be the dog’s owner.
When the man turned a wary gaze on her, she immediately took a step forward with a polite smile and introduced herself:
“Hello, comrade. I’m Ning Xiyue, the new member of the drying team. May I come in?”
“So you’re Comrade Ning, the new educated youth. Please, come in,” the man said, his expression softening as he opened the heavy iron gate. “You can just call me Uncle Anguo.”
“Thank you, Uncle Anguo.”
As Ning Xiyue stepped inside, the big black dog no longer barked at her. Instead, it sat nearby and watched her curiously, looking nothing like the fierce creature it had been moments before. It even seemed a little goofy, and she felt an itch in her hand — she really wanted to pet it.
Noticing her gaze, Zhao Anguo smiled and explained:
“Dahei is our brigade’s best grain guard. Every autumn and summer harvest, he’s the one on duty. Don’t worry, if he knows you’re not a bad person, he won’t hurt you.”
“Uncle Anguo, to tell you the truth, I really like dogs. I’m not afraid of him — I actually want to pet him. He looks so well-behaved.” Ning Xiyue smiled shyly.
“That’s easy enough. Come on, I’ll let you pet him. Our Dahei is the best dog in the whole brigade. Look at how shiny and black his fur is — isn’t he handsome?” Zhao Anguo said proudly, like a child showing off his best friend.
Her compliments about Dahei were exactly what Zhao Anguo loved to hear — he was most pleased when others praised his dog.
“He’s beautiful,” Ning Xiyue said sincerely. “Uncle, can I touch his head?”
Zhao Anguo crouched down and stroked the dog to calm him. “Sure, go ahead. You can even scratch under his chin — that’s his favorite.”
Ning Xiyue carefully extended her hand, radiating goodwill. Not only did Dahei not shy away, but he even pushed his head into her palm.
She finally got to pet Dahei’s head — just as she imagined, it felt like the coarse fur of a typical Chinese farm dog. She even touched his upright ears, covered in soft, fuzzy hair that felt pleasant to the touch.
In the end, though, she didn’t dare reach for his chin — that wide, toothy grin was still a bit intimidating, and they weren’t familiar enough yet. She feared her hand might end up between his teeth.
After petting the dog, she felt the relationship with its owner had warmed up — time to get down to business.
“Uncle Anguo,” she said, standing up, “may I take a look around inside to get familiar with the environment?”
“Of course. It’s still early anyway. Come on, I’ll show you around and explain things.”
And just like that, she gained herself a guide — the benefit of having built rapport. It felt just like in a video game: she had successfully won over an NPC in the novice village.
“This row of houses all serves different purposes. There are ten rooms in total. The first three are for storing sweet potatoes. They’re built with cellars to prevent them from freezing. I’ll open one up for you to see.”
Zhao Anguo pulled a key from the ring on his belt and unlocked one of the doors.
As soon as Ning Xiyue poked her head through the doorway, a familiar sound rang in her mind:
Ding! [Sign-in location discovered: Sweet Potato Storage Room. Would the host like to sign in?]
“Sign in,” Ning Xiyue said without hesitation, feeling a hint of anticipation.
Ding! [Sign-in successful. Rewards: 1 jin of sweet potato starch, 100 jin of sweet potato pulp.]
The rewards almost made her want to cry with joy.
Oh my goodness — the little piggies in her space would finally have enough feed! No more worrying about running out. Once they ate through this batch, she could just come back and sign in again. The sweet potato starch could even be saved to make cold jelly noodles later.
After inspecting the sweet potato storage, Zhao Anguo locked the door and continued showing her the rest of the rooms.
“These four rooms next to the sweet potato ones are for storing wheat. We’ve been harvesting recently, so a small batch of the new crop is already stored inside. Once the sun’s out, we’ll take it out to dry.”
Ning Xiyue mentally noted all the details.
Ding! [Sign-in location discovered: Wheat Storage Room. Would the host like to sign in?]
Hearing the notification again, Ning Xiyue hesitated. She only had two sign-in chances left, and there were still more rooms to explore. Better to look around first before deciding.
Sure enough, as Zhao Anguo guided her further, the system chimed every time they entered a new storage area:
Ding! [Sign-in location discovered: Rice Storage Room. Would the host like to sign in?]
Ding! [Sign-in location discovered: Sorghum Storage Room. Would the host like to sign in?]
Ding! [Sign-in location discovered: Corn Storage Room. Would the host like to sign in?]
…
Hearing the system’s prompts made Ning Xiyue both excited and frustrated.
Excited, because there were so many sign-in points in the brigade’s grain storage area, and all of them were tempting. Frustrated, because she didn’t have many sign-in chances left — only two. All she could do was drool over the rest and choose just two.
“Comrade Ning, you go ahead and look around. I’ll go get Dahei something to eat,” Zhao Anguo said.
Ning Xiyue stepped out of the corn storage room and nodded. “Okay, Uncle Anguo, go ahead. I’ll keep familiarizing myself with the place.”
Perfect — that was exactly what she wanted.
After some thought, she chose the wheat storage and the rice storage as her final two sign-in points.
Ding! [Sign-in successful. Rewards: 1 jin of flour, 50 jin of wheat bran.]
Ding! [Sign-in successful. Rewards: 1 jin of rice, 50 jin of rice bran.]
Judging by the similar rewards, Ning Xiyue could roughly guess what the other two sign-in points would yield, so she no longer felt anxious about missing them.
Now she had a full stock of feed for the piggies — enough to last a good while.
After finishing all the sign-ins, she checked the time — it was only a little past 7 a.m. Ning Xiyue obediently sat down next to Dahei, watching him eat while she waited for the rest of the drying team to arrive.
“It’s you, young lady.”
As she was engrossed in watching the dog, a cheerful female voice suddenly called out to her.
