Chapter 26: The Second Greatest Delicacy in the Mortal World

For the past few days, Gu Xiaomai had been wandering around the vicinity. She didn't dare venture too far, and she had already explored most of the nearby areas.

The river north of Camp E4 flowed from east to west. In some places, the riverbed was quite wide, but the area by the silver metal bridge was the narrowest point. The river's flow mirrored the path of the mountain range where Mountain No. 1 was located, almost as if it had been formed specifically to protect the mountains. To the south lay a vast plain; at least, Gu Xiaomai hadn't seen any mountains there, though there were large trees. If that area could be cleared and cultivated, it would certainly yield a significant harvest.

When she strolled back to the tent area, she found that the usually quiet spots had become lively—Jiang Chen'an, Yumi, and the others who had returned to the base were back.

Gu Xiaomai entered Tent No. 5 and found Wan Chuncui in a very depressed state. She silently asked the others in the tent, "What happened?"

Wei Xiaoqin whispered, "I went to the home of Cui's ex-husband, but I didn't see her daughter. However, the neighbors said the man got married a while ago, and his new wife brought a three-year-old child who looks exactly like him."

Wow.

Gu Xiaomai's eyes asked if Wan Chuncui had known about the child before. Wei Xiaoqin shook her head.

Gu Xiaomai, who wasn't very good at comforting people, didn't know if she should offer words of solace or how to go about it. Just then, Yumi called her from outside, and Gu Xiaomai took the opportunity to step out.

"Brother Chen and I are going to eat the purified plants we dried earlier!" Yumi said, flashing his two small canine teeth with a bright, happy smile.

Gu Xiaomai had reason to suspect Yumi was showing off. *Young man, you're behind! I already ate purified fruit yesterday, humph.*

"Did you manage to buy everything? How many points did it cost? What were the prices of those seasonings? Were they hard to get?" Gu Xiaomai's questions tumbled out one after another.

At the mention of the prices for the seasonings at the exchange point, Yumi clicked his tongue. "The white sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, soybean oil... they have them all, but they are incredibly expensive. Synthetic white sugar is 339 points for 100 grams, purified white sugar is 620 points for 100 grams, synthetic balsamic vinegar is 478 points for 100 milliliters, and purified balsamic vinegar is 1,122 points for 100 milliliters..."

Gu Xiaomai couldn't help but gasp. No wonder everyone here lived on nutritional paste and didn't know how to cook; with prices like these, who could afford to use them? She began to worry about her life after her labor reform ended—she was extremely worried.

Just then, it wasn't just Jiang Chen'an and Yumi setting up stoves to boil soup; several others who had no family in the base were also following the method Xia Yang had used last time, starting to cook for themselves.

Once the pot was set up and the fire lit, Gu Xiaomai said, "Put in the astragalus and codonopsis first, bring it to a boil, then turn it down to a simmer for a while." She offered small suggestions every now and then while listening to their experiences back at the base. She was quite curious about life inside the base, but it would be several months before she could visit.

As the three chatted, Yumi suddenly sniffed the air. "I smell something delicious."

"Yes, that's the medicinal aroma of the astragalus and codonopsis," Gu Xiaomai said, gauging the cooking time. "You can add the angelica root now."

Jiang Chen'an lifted the lids of the two small pots, and Yumi dropped the angelica into each. After simmering for another ten minutes, Gu Xiaomai reminded them they could add the other purified plants.

"Wow! It smells so good after adding the purified sesame oil!" Yumi took a deep breath, looking completely intoxicated. "No wonder it's so expensive!"

Seeing Jiang Chen'an follow Gu Xiaomai's advice and add a few drops to his own pot, and then add some to his own, Yumi couldn't help but laugh and shout, "Thanks, Brother Chen!" His brother Chen was truly the best.

Jiang Chen'an rolled his eyes at him, put the lid back on, and carefully stored the purified sesame oil. The two small earthen stoves were extinguished.

"Hiss—" Yumi couldn't wait for the soup to cool down and tried to drink it, immediately burning a blister on his lip. He had been so impatient that Gu Xiaomai hadn't even had time to warn him. Jiang Chen'an, not expecting this, quickly handed him some drinking water to cool his mouth.

Finally, when the soup reached a drinkable temperature, Yumi and Jiang Chen'an began to drink their purified plant soup.

"How does it feel?" Gu Xiaomai asked, looking at them expectantly. She hadn't been familiar enough with Xia Yang to ask him how he felt after drinking the soup.

"Delicious!" they both said.

"Anything else? Like, any physical changes?" Gu Xiaomai prompted. Both shook their heads.

Excellent, Gu Xiaomai felt relieved, as she hadn't noticed any changes in her own body after eating the *sanyuepao* berries Chi Feng had given her yesterday.

Yumi was very satisfied with the soup; it was the first thing he had eaten other than nutritional paste. So this was what Grandmother Gu and the others called "food." To Yumi at this moment, it was the second most delicious thing in the world. The first was the taste of corn, which his mother had wanted him to try.

Although he didn't know what corn actually tasted like, in his heart, it was the greatest delicacy on earth.

Jiang Chen'an was smiling, clearly satisfied with the soup as well. He didn't care about the taste; what he cared about were the purified plants inside, and the possibility that eating them might increase his chances of awakening an ability.

After that day, the land reclamation team returned to their routine: climbing Mountain No. 1 to search for purified plants and weeding the cornfields every few days.

Every morning, Gu Xiaomai would wake up early to practice Tai Chi six times in the spot where she had planted mint and morning glories, then drip the special liquid she had gathered onto the mint plant that still lacked a "voice."

Gu Xiaomai poked the mint plant repeatedly. "Why are you so disappointing? Look at your sister, the morning glory; she was able to communicate with me after absorbing just one drop! And you? You've already absorbed four!"

On the morning Jiang Chen'an and Yumi returned, Gu Xiaomai had decided after much thought to drip a drop of the special liquid onto the morning glory that always leaned toward her whenever she gathered the substance. At that moment, she had heard the morning glory's inner voice. This realization made her understand that the reason she hadn't heard the mint's voice was likely due to the plant itself.

Seeing the mint remained unresponsive, Gu Xiaomai offered a soft threat: "If you don't communicate with me soon, I won't give you any more, okay?"

Beside her, the morning glory cried out excitedly: *Give it to me, give it to me.*

The morning glory had felt quite wronged lately; other plants were being grown in its territory, and it wasn't even getting the good water. It wanted to cry!

Gu Xiaomai reached out and stroked the morning glory's leaves. "Be good. Tomorrow... no, I'll give you some the day after tomorrow."

Tomorrow was her second exchange with Chi Feng. She wondered what kind of purified fruit that guy would bring.

*Water, thirsty.*

Gu Xiaomai turned in surprise. The mint finally had a voice! She poured a little drinking water for it, stopping only when it told her to.

*Light.*

Gu Xiaomai: ?

Light what? What kind of light?