Chapter 11: Isn’t This What They Call “Joy Turning Into Sorrow”?

An elderly granny who had remained silent until now paused her work, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and grew irritated at the sight of Wang Dazhu’s lazy posture.

“Wang Dazhu, how many work points have you earned today? You’re here to work, not to nap! Believe it or not, I’ll report you in a moment.”

“How can you curse a little child like that? Adults make mistakes and get re-educated, that’s fine. But what does any of that have to do with an eight-month-old baby?”

“She hasn’t even been born that long before being sent here. You’re a father yourself, can’t you show a bit of decency?”

Granny Zhang Guihua scolded Wang Dazhu thoroughly. With her loud voice and blunt temperament, she held nothing back. Her words immediately made the other grannies nearby feel she was justified.

After all, an eight-month-old baby didn’t even have teeth yet. Even if she was labeled a “money-loser girl,” she wasn’t losing their family’s money.

They all had children at home as well. If it were their own grandson in trouble today, they would be begging for help everywhere.

For a moment, the expressions of the grannies sitting around grew uneasy. Realizing people were looking their way, they quickly lowered their heads and worked more diligently.

Meanwhile, Wang Dazhu didn’t care in the slightest and continued lying on the ground lazily.

He didn’t think he’d said anything wrong. By his logic, if a few careless words could “curse” a child, then the so-called money-losers in his own house would’ve died countless times by now.

He shifted to a more comfortable position, treating Zhang Guihua’s words as nothing more than empty chatter. An old woman with half a foot in the grave still thinks she can lecture me?

If she weren’t the brigade leader’s mother, he would’ve smashed a brick over her head long ago. She acted capable every day, his mouth was his own, so what right did she have to interfere?

Wang Dazhu remained motionless. Seeing this, Zhang Guihua called out directly to the scorekeeper not far away, He Jun.

“He Jun—”

The moment the word left her mouth, Wang Dazhu jumped to his feet, grabbed his sickle, shot her a vicious glare, muttered a curse, and reluctantly went off to cut rice.

“What happened?” He Jun heard her and looked over.

“Nothing. I misjudged.”

Zhang Guihua waved her hand dismissively and withdrew her gaze from Wang Dazhu. That good-for-nothing actually thinks I can’t deal with him?

The gossip quickly reached Tong Lingxian and also He Daixing on the other side of the field.

Tong Lingxian wished she could storm over and tear Wang Dazhu’s mouth apart. It was one thing to insult the adults, but why curse Xixi?

She was still so small, why should she be subjected to such nastiness? Money-loser girl? A child of the Fang family could never be cursed with such a fate.

He Daixing’s expression darkened the moment he heard. He looked toward He Jun and signaled for him to erase all of Wang Dazhu’s work points for the day.

He Jun hesitated briefly but followed the order without question, though he couldn’t help wondering why the brigade leader was suddenly taking Wang Dazhu so seriously.

Wang Dazhu had been slacking off far more than just a day or two. If he wasn’t cutting corners, he was wandering in the mountains looking for things. Although the brigade leader always scolded him and threatened to deduct work points, when it came time to distribute food, he would still give Wang Dazhu a little extra for his daughter’s sake.

But today, what was going on? Was it because he had cursed the brigade leader’s mother?

Tang Yao returned home and immediately changed Fang Mingxi out of her dirty clothes.

Fortunately, it was the height of summer, and Fang Mingxi wore very little, just two lightweight garments that were easy to wash.

After crawling all over the mountainside, Fang Mingxi’s legs and body were covered in dirt. Yet Tang Yao didn’t show even a hint of blame. Instead, she washed the clothes clean before preparing lunch.

Tang Yao’s gentle patience made Fang Mingxi feel guilty. From feeding her milk, to changing diapers, to now cooking and doing laundry, Tang Yao was practically more attentive than a real older sister.

Fang Mingxi didn’t want to trouble her, but with such a tiny body, she wouldn’t be able to walk until at least ten months old. And even that wasn’t certain.

She resolved that next time she would crawl only on grassy patches, so she wouldn’t dirty her clothes and add to Tang Yao’s workload.

While Tang Yao was occupied, she quickly opened her panel and tapped on the bamboo basket icon.

She had collected five large porcini mushrooms from Tang Yao’s wooden bucket, each easily weighing more than two jin.

After placing the mushrooms and peanuts into her backpack, the progress bar on her small cart jumped from one to ten. A bouquet of virtual fireworks burst across the screen, followed by a circular spinning wheel.

[Congratulations to the host for reaching 10% collection progress. Special reward: two lottery draws. Please use them within 30 minutes.]

A lottery! It was like receiving a pillow just when you felt sleepy. Fang Mingxi’s eyes lit up as she eagerly stared at the glowing reward icons.

There were over a dozen items, from miraculous pills to various tools, almost everything imaginable.

She quickly tapped “Draw.”

The wheel spun wildly at first, slowed on the second rotation, and gradually came to a stop on the third.

She had been tense the entire time, her tiny fists clenched as she prayed for something useful, anything that could help her current situation.

The wheel stopped, and her heart leapt.

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Automatic Engineer Shovel. Usable once per exploration. Automatically collects food.]

“Wow!”

Fang Mingxi let out an excited cry. Her luck was incredible, exactly what she needed!

She had spent the whole morning worrying about how to collect food without being discovered. Now, a timely miracle had arrived. Truly wonderful.

She resisted the urge to use the second draw immediately. Instead, she crawled to the bedside, found the basin of cooled boiled water used earlier to warm her bottle, and washed her small hands thoroughly before tapping “Draw” again.

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Environmental Adjustment System. Can modify parameters within the deployed forest based on the host’s wishes, including weather, mountain resources…]

“Hiss—!”

Fang Mingxi sucked in a sharp breath. What a pity she hadn’t bought a lottery ticket today.

The mountain-harvest trading system truly lived up to its reputation, any difficulty she faced could now be resolved with ease.

She no longer had to worry about Tang Yao lingering too long and witnessing her golden finger disappear when the exploration time ended. Nor did she have to worry about rainy weather outside and dryness inside, the system could adjust everything.

She clicked “Collect.”

The engineer shovel moved into her backpack.

The Environmental Adjustment System appeared as a circular gear icon in the upper right corner.

Opening it, she found not only weather controls but also mountain path settings, intrusion detection, sound simulation, and several other functions.

Curious, she tapped open the intrusion system. It resembled the positioning system, showing anyone approaching the mountain forest and allowing her to block entry into the deployed forest space or hide its abnormalities from outsiders.

Only the owner could see the full layout and could even issue expulsion commands.

The sound system felt especially useful for her current situation. Exploration time was nearly over. If Tang Yao still didn’t intend to leave, she could simulate footsteps or voices to make it seem as though someone was approaching.

And even better, the resource generation system. It could mimic real objects, creating convincing illusions.

Leaves covering the ground with seemingly abundant food beneath, yet once dug up, the space would be completely empty.

All incredibly powerful tools. Overjoyed, Fang Mingxi accidentally pressed against the edge of the bed, causing her tiny body to tip over.

“Thud!”

Fang Mingxi fell to the ground, hitting her head so hard that a lump formed. The impact knocked her out briefly, and she lay there for a while before her consciousness slowly returned.

Was this what they called “joy turning into sorrow”? Ouch, this bump really did hurt.