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Chapter 11
Qi Huan's smile reached her eyebrows as she hurriedly exchanged with the system for storage space.
"Storage space [Train Compartment Section] has been added for the host. This time 1,000 points were deducted, leaving 999 points. Feel free to refill the space once full."
Having obtained storage space, she was impatient to return to her room and put the items she had hidden under her bed previously inside.
Just then, a few people pushed open their room doors after changing their clothes and walked in one by one.
As her gaze swept over them, the first person she saw was still Li Shuchen despite wearing the same clothes.
She couldn't help sighing to herself: Matching outfits aren't scary, whoever looks ugly will be embarrassed, and my buddy won't cheat me either.
"It's so warm after changing into new clothes!"
Yan Qinghe smoothed out the wrinkled parts of his cotton jacket, liking it more and more as he looked at it. "Ah Huan, you really are our lucky star. Since you arrived, we've had good food and clothes to wear. From now on you'll be my sister!"
As he spoke, he even patted Qi Huan on the shoulder.
Then he took out from his bosom a package of candies wrapped in oiled paper, "I don't have anything nice I can repay you with, only this pack of candies."
"I got it from a peddler when I was helping him with work. But I hadn't bear to eat it all this time."
"However, I can't always take advantage of you since I'm a grown man. So now I'm giving this to you... In the future, if I can return to the Capital City, I will buy you nicer things."
Qi Huan found it hard to decline his sincere intentions and accepted it. She opened the package and evenly distributed the candies to everyone. "From now on, we will share in good fortune, and go through adversity together... and share in candy!"
The sweet taste slid down the esophagus, spreading sweetness all the way to the bottom of their hearts.
At this time, Xiu Wen also handed over a copy of The Doctrine of the Mean that had been thumbed through many times. This was a book he had treasured for many years.
Having her painful memories of learning Classical Chinese in her previous life provoked, Qi Huan quickly put her hands behind her back and thought: I can't repay kindness with enmity.
She knew Xiu Wen meant well since ancient books were precious. But she didn't have much interest for this book.
Qi Huan shook her head, "It's not suitable for me."
"...I didn't consider properly, my apologies."
Indeed, it was rare for women in Li Country to read The Doctrine of the Mean.
Xiu Wen quickly took back his treasure and promised instead, "Then I still owe Miss Qi a favor. If you need help in the future, I will not decline."
He had just finished speaking when Yan Wu pulled out a dagger with an unadorned sheath. The sudden flash of cold light was a little glaring.
"Cut iron like mud."
Carrying concealed weapons during exile was a grave offense, but he still could not bear to throw it away.
Qi Huan didn't have the heart to take what one loves. "I don't know martial arts so it's useless even if you give it me. If I really run into vicious evildoers, I might even end up providing them a murder weapon instead. You should keep it. If I encounter danger, remember to come save me!"
"Here!" Yan Wu solemnly promised as he kept back his dagger.
She didn't accept any of their return gifts. After all, the system had already rewarded her sufficiently.
She picked up her feet, preparing to go back to her room and take a look at the new storage space she obtained, but a bony yet well-defined hand blocked her path.
Li Shuchen held out his purse. It contained all the income he had earned copywriting over two years. He shoved it over decisively, "Take it."
"You manage the money from now on."
In the face of his forceful attitude, Qi Huan accepted the purse.
After returning to her room, she took out the silver coins inside, combining them with the one or two coins left over from buying clothes. She now had a total of five and two-tenths silver coins.
"What a delightful day."
Qi Huan lay on her back across the bed, hands crossed behind her head as support while her legs dangled freely off the bedside.
Staring at the ceiling, she suddenly recalled she still had 999 points left. 𝑓𝓻ℯ𝑒𝑤𝘦𝑏𝑛ℴ𝓋ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝓸𝓂
"System, system! Help me exchange all the remaining points!"
Swish swish —
The dropped parcels formed a small mountain.
Qi Huan shot up from the bed like a carp.
"Wow!" Her eyes lit up as she turned and picked up the oil lamp next to the packages for lighting. She then happily started opening the deliveries.
The first delivery was wheat vermicelli noodles.
The second delivery contained various medications like ibuprofen pills, pain and swelling relief liniments, etc.
The third delivery was a box of tissue paper.
She was just about to attain toilet paper freedom!
Qi Huan took out a pack of paper, planning to subsequently place it in the restroom for communal usage while keeping the rest stored away for now.
She eagerly continued unboxing with great excitement.
The fourth delivery was a bag of charcoal grey yarn.
The fifth delivery consisted of seasonings like soy sauce, cooking wine, vinegar, etc.
The sixth delivery was a carton of compressed biscuits.
The seventh delivery was Eucerin hand cream.
The final big delivery was a pile of wooden parts. Based on the diagram, it was a three-door wardrobe that needed assembly.
After storing away this large item, Qi Huan decided to put it together tomorrow afternoon.
She started organizing the other deliveries, taking out the vermicelli noodles separately to bring to the kitchen later. The medications were not currently needed so she put them away in storage with a wave of her hand, along with the yarn.
She didn't store away the seasonings, planning to place them in the kitchen together with the noodles.
Finally, she decided to take out a tube of hand cream to share with Yan Qinghe and the rest whose hands were chapped from logging daily in the snow and wind. It would come in useful.
After taking out the hand cream, a red slip of paper was revealed under the box.
Looking closely, it had a line of small words printed on it — Cashback of two dollars for positive review.
Although the system friend had blotted out all delivery information, she could still recognize the familiar style as being from Pinduoduo, the app used by 300 million people.
"Indeed it's software used by 3 billion people!"
Qi Huan squeezed out a soybean-sized amount of cream and applied it on the back of her hand. Rubbing it in, it was indeed very moisturizing.
"If I had a cellphone, I would definitely give a good review. It really is a conscientious domestic product."
"Does the host confirm a positive review?"
"Confirmed!"
"System has received it and returned two points to the host."
"It can do this too?" She couldn't help but look at the system's operations with admiration.
With storage space now, delivery packaging no longer needed to be burnt in the stove for destruction. She tidy up all the packaging and temporarily hid it away. She also kept the unopened tubes of hand cream.
She thought for a bit before deciding to leave out the compressed biscuits.
Lunch at the logging site only consisted of tough steamed buns that were difficult to chew and hurt the throat when swallowed, served in meager portions that didn't fill the stomach.
She decided to break the compressed biscuits into small pieces to share with the three men. They could wrap it with the candy wrappers from just now and secretly hide it on their persons to supplement their meals at lunch later on.
After tidying up, she pushed open the door. Outside was pitch black.
The few of them had returned to their rooms to sleep.
Just as she was hesitating whether to pass them the treats tomorrow instead, she heard hushed voices coming from the room across.
Qi Huan walked through the main room to the west wing door and had just raised her hand, preparing to knock when she overheard Xiu Wen mention her.
"Your Highness, Miss Qi has helped us greatly. Subordinate should not have doubted her in the first place. However, she is indeed very suspicious. As Your Highness interacts with her more often, may I ask if you have found out anything about her background?"
"No need to overthink."
Li Shuchen's words did not alleviate Xiu Wen's concerns. "Your Highness, one can never be too cautious of others!"
"Just think about it. Where did she get the clothes and food? ...Subordinate suspects someone from the Capital City provided them to her and got her to care about Your Highness, get close to Your Highness, monitor Your Highness. Uncle Qi knows everything so Miss Qi being very different from when subordinate first met her is undeniable."
"When subordinate first saw her, she was introverted and gloomy, undernourished, and even needed our support. But now she's become optimistic and cheerful, and can take out so many things. Doesn't Your Highness find it suspicious?"
"Subordinate believes... she has likely been bought over by them..."
Xiu Wen's analysis was reasonable. However, he was suddenly interrupted.
"You suspect Ah Huan is a spy?" After digesting the information, Yan Qinghe asked.
At the same time, he thought to himself: How heartbroken Ah Huan would be upon hearing this outside the door!
"Don't you feel so too?"
"I don't feel that way. Ahuan is so kind and passionate, she wears her heart on her sleeve for us, and even helped Ashu take care of his leg. I believe her!"
Li Shuchen lightly coughed to stop the two from arguing.