Chapter 160: Ginseng Water
Huai Yu spent the whole night adventuring and battling in the magical forest, struggling in pain, and didn’t sleep well at all. When she woke up in the morning, her head was foggy, and even greeting Keta Rō was weak and listless.
Luckily, Keta Rō was thoughtful. He turned around and brought out a green pellet from the big storage box in his nest. When Huai Yu took it, she smelled a strong mint scent.
He probably found some wild mint somewhere.
But she wasn’t mentally strong enough. She could accept it, but she really couldn’t bring herself to drink it.
So she awkwardly thanked him, then sorted the new pellets in Keta Rō’s bowl by color and stuffed them back into the sealed jar.
He truly was a hardworking little guy. The previous white porcelain bowl couldn’t even hold a day’s worth of his work. When Huai Yu was scavenging, she found a storage box without a lid, cleaned and dried it, and completely replaced the bowl.
Keta Rō really liked it because the storage box had a 40-liter capacity—more than 10 times that of the bowl.
Because of this, he worked even harder and wouldn’t return home until after dark.
Huai Yu had also found seven other boxes of the same type. They were piled up messily and contained some medicines, home appliance manuals, old food storage bags, label paper, and other miscellaneous stuff. She suspected they were used for junk storage in the past.
One had a broken edge and could only be used as a utility basket.
Another had a deep crack. It was fine for holding things daily but couldn’t hold liquids.
The remaining five varied in size. The smallest was palm-sized, and Huai Yu happily decided to use it for her hair ties and bands.
The largest was like a big luggage storage box, with an 80-liter capacity, and she immediately decided to use it as a water tank.
One fill-up would last several days, and she wouldn’t have to make trips back and forth every day to fetch water anymore.
Thinking of this, she glanced at the bī tree by the pond and thought of Zhou Qian’s water well, feeling truly envious.
She also put the two large kettles of ginseng tea she made yesterday into her basket—although she drank a big bowl and didn’t feel any effect, she did dream at night!
Maybe it was the potent medicinal effect that made her so wired in her sleep?
She couldn’t let it go to waste—good stuff should be saved for patients.
Then there were the peaches that were about to wrinkle. She’d been given a large basket of them. Every time she visited Zhou Qian, she brought two over and took the peach pits back to plant around the pond.
But it had only been a few days, so today, seeing there were still so many left, she gritted her teeth and dumped them all into the basket.
After all that, the basket was heavy again, and Huai Yu genuinely feared it might stunt her growth.
Thinking of that, she felt sorry for herself and, before leaving, opened the candy jar and took out a piece of rock sugar.
The sweet taste instantly woke her up—and reminded her of her worry for Zhou Qian.
…
In the hospital, Zhou Qian looked pale and weary, but his spirits seemed good. When Huai Yu pushed open the door, he was slowly walking along the wall rail. Aside from moving a bit slowly, you couldn’t tell he was using a prosthetic at all.
She froze.
Then cheered: “You can walk already?!”
“Mm.” Zhou Qian’s eyes also showed joy: “The new material is fusing really well; it’s very adaptive, like my real leg. If all goes well, I’ll be discharged in three to five days.”
He looked at Huai Yu and slowly walked to the bedside drawer, pulling it open to reveal a transaction bracelet:
“Did you check out the new house? If anything’s missing, help buy it.”
He gestured for Huai Yu to take the bracelet, but she said awkwardly: “I forgot to check last night… and this morning… I forgot again…”
Construction these days was really efficient.
When she got back yesterday afternoon, everything was quiet. Zhou Qian’s new house already had the roof fully finished, and there was no noise this morning either. It must have been fully sorted out inside too.
“It’s okay,” Zhou Qian insisted. “Take it. It’s not easy for you to save a whole number. I got bonuses and disability subsidies for my service this time, plus other income—my savings are way more than yours now.”
Huai Yu thought for a moment, then shook her head firmly: “I’m selling peaches today—more income coming!”
“I’ll check the house tonight, and if anything’s missing, I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
Zhou Qian’s brow twitched.
He ate two peaches a day—he knew exactly what quality they were. But Huai Yu sounded so confident, like she’d even found a reliable sales channel.
After a moment of thought, he put the bracelet away: “Alright, just be careful.”
Huai Yu nodded happily, then put down the basket and pulled out eight big, red, fresh peaches, stuffing them into the drawer:
“These are for you.”
And then—
“Look!”
Huai Yu proudly took out two big kettles from the basket.
One was an electric kettle that every household used before the catastrophe; the other was an ordinary stainless steel thermos—of course, now they were no different, just water kettles.
The electric kettle didn’t even have its base anymore—Huai Yu had dug it out of a junk pile.
She whispered mysteriously: “I got some ginseng roots to make you tea—drink up!”
Ginseng?!
Zhou Qian had been prepared for all kinds of surprises from Huai Yu, but he was still shocked—
“Are these ginseng roots dried from before the catastrophe, or some new mutant variety?”
Huai Yu looked back with innocent, clueless eyes—she only knew it was fresh.
Zhou Qian: …
Forget it, he wouldn’t ask.
While they were talking, Huai Yu had already filled his water cup.
After soaking all night, the water in the kettle had turned slightly yellow, deeper in color than yesterday, and the medicinal scent was stronger too.
Zhou Qian wanted to say he wasn’t thirsty, but Huai Yu was already happily shouldering her basket, “Drink up! I only have these two kettles at home, and I need to bring them back later.”
Zhou Qian: …
He silently looked at the two kettles. The stainless steel one was labeled 2.8L, and the electric one held 1.8L.
While in the hospital, he was constantly on IV drips—5 to 8 bags a day—plus various oral meds. His need for drinking water had been minimal.
He might not even take a sip all day.
But… it was ginseng tea!
He didn’t dare think too much and just took the cup, drinking it down in big gulps.
Thank goodness for the physical enhancements after the catastrophe. At least he probably wouldn’t get water poisoning… right?
Huai Yu smiled brightly, “Keep exercising! I’m heading to the market while it’s still early and not crowded.”
Better that than getting squished on the bus—and if the peaches were exposed, that’d be another headache.
Update: I haven’t had a full break in a long time. After I get the 30-day consecutive update badge in a few days, I’m taking a day off—both books will pause for a day!
