58: Chapter 58 Barnacles, Jade Pendant, Lotus Leaf Chicken

"Brother, this is a rock, you can't eat it."

Yingzi sniffled, looking at Su Fan with absolute certainty.

"This is called a barnacle, and it's delicious!"

Su Fan picked up a hard stone, knocked some barnacles off the large boulder, pried out a lump of barnacle meat, and handed it to Yingzi: "Try it!"

Yingzi held her stick in one hand, took the lump of barnacle meat with her other dirty hand, and tossed it straight into her mouth…

"How does it taste? Is it good?"

Yingzi's large, clear eyes suddenly lit up, her face full of spirit as she nodded vigorously: "Salty, sweet, it's delicious!"

"See? I told you. This is called a barnacle, not a rock."

Su Fan continued knocking off barnacles, wrapping the harvested ones in perilla leaves as he went.

"Brother! I want more! I want more!"

Yingzi threw her dog-beating stick aside and reached out with both hands, shouting excitedly.

Su Fan, however, didn't give her any more, telling her instead: "You can't eat these raw. They are full of parasites and bacteria; you have to cook them first…"

Huh? Parasites, bacteria…

What a strange memory.

Yingzi was obedient and didn't eat any more raw. Instead, she picked up a hard stone and joined Su Fan in knocking off barnacles…

Looking at the dense clusters of barnacles on the large boulder, Yingzi said with excitement: "Brother, this time we can finally eat our fill!"

"Shh! Don't make a sound. We'll knock this whole patch off, and whatever we can't eat, we'll take to sell for money," Su Fan whispered to Yingzi.

Yingzi wiped her nose with her dirt-stained sleeve and chuckled: "Everyone thinks these are rocks; no one has ever thought they could be eaten. If you don't believe me, try giving some to them—they definitely won't want them… Can you really sell this stuff for money? Brother, you aren't just teasing me, are you?"

"I'm not teasing you. Let's hurry and knock off as many as we can; we'll carry them to the small town to sell tomorrow!"

"Even if we can't sell them, that's fine. At least we'll be able to eat our fill from now on."

Yingzi suppressed the hunger in her belly, swung her hard stone, and worked hard at knocking off the barnacles…

The siblings worked until nightfall. Su Fan found a willow basket, and together they knocked off a full thirty or forty catties of barnacles, packed them all into the basket, and returned to their thatched hut.

On the way, they encountered the kind fisherman who had given them small fish before. Su Fan wrapped a portion of barnacles in perilla leaves to give to the uncle, but the uncle thought they were just rocks and wouldn't take them at all.

That night, Su Fan boiled a pot of barnacles, and the siblings had a hearty meal.

After the meal, Su Fan sat in front of the thatched hut, gazing at the scene of the bright moon rising over the sea. Some memories of Earth seemed to surface in his mind.

"The bright moon rises over the sea, the ends of the earth share this moment…"

"Who is missing me, and whom am I missing?"

He muttered to himself. Yingzi, meanwhile, waved her dirty little hands, smearing his face, then climbed onto his back, wrapped her arms around his neck, and asked with a giggle: "Brother, are you thinking about taking a wife?"

"Who's thinking about taking a wife? How old am I? I'm only nine, what wife would I take?"

"Then why were you saying things like 'missing' and 'longing'? I think you're just thinking about taking a wife!"

"Alright, enough out of you."

Su Fan took her little hands off his neck. "Look how dirty your hands are. I'll go boil some water for you to wash up."

With that, Su Fan went to boil a pot of water, poured it into a wooden basin, and pulled Yingzi over…

Then, he washed Yingzi's hair and hands. After that, he boiled another pot of water, preparing to let her take a bath.

"Wash yourself," Su Fan said to Yingzi, placing a clean piece of rag into the wooden basin.

But Yingzi refused to wash herself, insisting that Su Fan help her.

In the end, he couldn't say no to her. Su Fan helped her wash her whole body until she was clean, then found two small strings to tie up her hair.

Yingzi's small body wiggled restlessly in Su Fan's arms, giggling about something, appearing incredibly happy.

"Brother, look! The 'White Star' is so bright!"

"Brother, I'm so happy after my bath!"

"Brother, don't take a wife, okay?"

"Why?"

"Just let me be your wife!"

"Yingzi… you are my own sister. How can you be my wife? Never say such things again."

"Oh."

Yingzi burrowed into Su Fan's arms, sniffled again, and smiled happily.

She felt as if she had returned to a few years ago, back when their parents were still around. On certain nights when they would watch the 'Silver Moon' together with their parents, it felt just like this—so happy and at ease…

After writing "Simulation Day 1" on the wall with charcoal, Su Fan took Yingzi to sleep.

…

It felt like the blink of an eye before dawn broke.

Su Fan felt that time passed very quickly. After falling asleep, he didn't even dream, and the night was over.

Taking advantage of the morning light, Su Fan carried the basket of barnacles toward the town, with Yingzi holding her stick and leading the way, repeatedly saying she wanted to help him carry some.

Although Su Fan felt the thirty or forty catties were quite heavy, he didn't let her help.

When they reached the town, they found a spot to set up a stall. Although it was a bit out of the way, there were still quite a few people passing by, so Su Fan laid out the barnacles.

Since they didn't have a scale, he used perilla leaves to wrap the barnacles into bundles of about one catty each, selling them for four coins per bundle…

At first, because no one recognized the goods, he couldn't sell a single bundle.

Su Fan came up with a plan: whenever anyone came to ask, he would let them taste it for free, specifically picking out the largest ones for them to try…

After tasting the flavor of the barnacles, people started buying them one after another.

Yingzi looked at the copper coins being dropped into her pocket, her large, clear eyes wide with disbelief…

How did Brother suddenly become so smart!

He earned dozens of times more today than they did from begging!

The crowd of people coming to buy barnacles at the stall was endless. Just as Su Fan had sold more than half, the tax collector for the street began walking toward them…

"Brother, run!"

Yingzi grabbed her stick, pulled Su Fan, and they scrambled away desperately…

Su Fan also knew that setting up a stall here without a permit meant all the money earned would be confiscated by the tax collector, so he didn't bother with the remaining barnacles or the willow basket and just ran for his life…

After the tax collector arrived, he kicked the stall over and cursed for a while.

…

In a certain alley corner, Su Fan and Yingzi emerged, looking around nervously, afraid of being caught by the tax collector…

The siblings weighed the over one hundred coins in their pockets, and hearing the sound of the clinking coins, they both laughed happily!

With this money, they could eat their fill for a whole month!

However, Su Fan didn't save all the money to buy food. Instead, he went and bought a comb, a small jade pendant, and a lotus leaf chicken that Yingzi had never tasted before…

Back at the thatched hut, while gnawing on a big chicken leg, Yingzi subconsciously wiped her nose again and lectured Su Fan like a little adult: "Brother, you can't spend money like this. We worked so hard to earn ninety-two coins. The comb was eight coins, the small jade pendant was thirty-eight coins, and this chicken cost twenty-six coins—you've almost spent it all…"

Su Fan, gnawing on a steamed bun, reached out to wipe the grease from the corner of Yingzi's mouth and asked her: "Is the jade pendant pretty?"

Yingzi took a look at the small jade pendant and nodded vigorously: "It's pretty, Brother!"

After saying that, she continued to gnaw on the lotus leaf chicken in big bites…

"Eat slowly, eat slowly, no one is going to snatch it from you…"

"Hee hee, Brother, this big chicken leg is for you, you eat too!"

Yingzi handed over the other big chicken leg.

Su Fan shook his head. "You eat it. I don't like chicken; I like eating steamed buns…"

In the end, Yingzi finished the whole chicken by herself, then patted her round belly and let out a burp, mimicking an adult as she used a bamboo toothpick to pick at her little white teeth…

…

[Sunset]

[You added a horizontal stroke above the "one" ( one) in "Simulation Day 1"]

[The writing on the wall has changed to —]

[Simulation Day 2]