Chapter 112 - 105: Marvels
A knock came from the bedroom door, followed by Liu San’s voice.
"Sir, Sir, are you there?"
Qin Ziwen, who had just closed his eyes, was woken by the noise. He opened them and asked, "What is it?"
"I have something important to report."
Qin Ziwen sat up in bed and put on his jacket. The Beaked Eagle hopped out of its nest and followed behind him.
When he opened the door, Liu San was standing outside, bowed low.
With trembling hands, Liu San held something up. "Sir, I was just about to draw two buckets of brine to pour on the salt flats before bed when I pulled a treasure out of the well. Please, take a look."
In the center of his palm lay an oval, grayish-blue stone.
Amazingly, the stone’s surface was glowing with a faint cyan light.
As Qin Ziwen took the stone, the little ball of light from his Home automatically appeared.
[Level 1 Marvel] Salt Essence Stone (Can be inlaid into Salt Mine or Salt Workshop type buildings)
Besides this line of text, there was no other information. Even when he used Insight, the result was [Insufficient Authority].
Qin Ziwen asked Liu San, "You said you drew this from the well?"
"Yes, I wouldn’t dare deceive you, Sir."
He followed Liu San to the Salt Well. Aside from Liu San, the other three wanderers were already lying on straw mats in the soup kitchen. Da Zhuang was on his mat, snoring thunderously.
"Draw another bucket."
Liu San used the crank to lower the wooden bucket, and a sound came from the bottom of the well as it hit.
"Sir, there’s no more brine at the bottom."
Liu San explained, "There’s a limit to how much brine the Salt Well can seep out each day."
Qin Ziwen nodded in understanding. The Salt Well’s output was limited by the efficiency of the brine seeping from the bottom, which was similar to a spring.
’But this Salt Essence Stone can be inlaid into a building. How does that work? Do I just dig a hole in the building and stick it in?’
He took out the Salt Essence Stone and suddenly felt it grow hot in his hand. The Salt Well before him then became ethereal. Specks of light flew out from the structure, finally coalescing into a transparent, illusory Card.
The Card automatically flipped over, revealing a slot on its back.
Qin Ziwen tentatively placed the Salt Essence Stone from his palm onto it.
The two merged instantly.
[Level 1 Salt Well (Salt Essence Stone): Level 1 Rapid Evaporation, Level 1 Rapid Purification, Level 2 Brine Quality Enhancement]
’Brine quality enhancement?’
’So this Marvel can actually grant new properties to a Building Card.’
Qin Ziwen peered into the Salt Well. There was a thin layer of brine at the bottom, but otherwise, it was empty.
’Did it really come from down there?’
Lost in thought, Qin Ziwen still praised Liu San and rewarded him with a pound of cured meat.
Liu San was overjoyed, but then he looked troubled. He asked if he could leave the cured meat with Qin Ziwen for now. If he carried it with him, he wasn’t sure he could keep it safe.
Qin Ziwen readily agreed to Liu San’s request.
...
After dealing with everything, Qin Ziwen slept until evening.
When he woke up, he first went to wash up. Everyone else had already started their work.
Liu San, Da Zhuang, and the others were grunting with effort as they worked the Salt Well.
Li Tiezhu was in the Blacksmith Shop, hammering away furiously as he forged a second heavy-duty Beast Trap.
Qin Ziwu had brought back the Zhe Wood tree they had discovered earlier and was transplanting it into the farmland.
Qin Ziwen yawned. "Why didn’t you guys wake me?"
"I came to check on you, but you were sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to wake you," Qin Ziwu said as he filled in the dirt. "Oh, right, Brother. Brother Guang came looking for you this afternoon, but you were asleep."
"He said the river is full of mayfly larvae, so he can’t catch anything. He wanted to go over to the small creek, but I saw you were still sleeping and told him to wait until you were awake."
𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
Qin Ziwen said, "Don’t we still have half a bucket of the creek crabs we caught last time? Go take them to Deng Guang. Tell him we can all head to the creek together tomorrow."
"Oh, okay," Qin Ziwu nodded.
After they had caught the creek crabs, they had kept them in a bucket. Even though they changed the water diligently every day, some had still died.
It would have been better to put them in the Fish and Shrimp Ditch to keep them alive.
Although you could raise fish and crabs together in a Fish Pond, you needed to stock specific mid- to upper-level fish, as the crabs would eat the fry of bottom-dwelling fish.
Having used quite a few Cards by now, he had a much better understanding of their properties. For a breeding-type Building Card like this, the environment inside was definitely suitable for the corresponding creatures.
Qin Ziwu carried the bucket upstairs. When Deng Guang opened the door and learned that Qin Ziwen had sent him, his expression became complicated and he looked a little ashamed. "This isn’t what I meant. I feel bad taking your crabs."
"Just take them. There’s not much meat on these things, they’re not that tasty, they use up a lot of oil to fry, and there’s barely any roe. It’s just to satisfy a craving," Qin Ziwu said with a wave of his hand. "Brother Guang, my brother said we’ll head to the creek tomorrow."
Deng Guang accepted the bucket with a complex expression. "Okay."
After leaving Deng Guang’s place, Qin Ziwu saw Zhao Pu standing right in front of their door.
"Dr. Zhao."
Zhao Pu jumped, startled. He turned his head and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was Qin Ziwu. "You scared me, walking so quietly. I came to bring something for your family."
As he spoke, he shook the bag in his hand.
"What is it?"
"Seeds."
Hearing that, Qin Ziwu immediately understood.
His brother had been muttering in his spare time these past two days about transplanting more crops.
If it weren’t for the limited height inside their home, he suspected his brother might have even tried to figure out a way to move the mulberry tree in.
After opening the door, his brother took the seeds from Dr. Zhao. The two exchanged some pleasantries, but in the end, Dr. Zhao didn’t accept anything in return.
But Qin Ziwu understood: nothing free is ever truly free.
Dr. Zhao’s refusal to take payment meant he wanted something more valuable.
Zhao Pu stared at Qin Ziwen’s face and suddenly said, "Mr. Qin, you don’t look well."
"I don’t?" Qin Ziwen touched his forehead. Thinking back, he did feel a bit drowsy after waking up.
Zhao Pu said, "Yes. I suggest you use a thermometer to see if you have a fever."
"Okay." Qin Ziwen took out a mercury thermometer, held one end, and shook it down hard. He then placed it under his armpit and took it out five minutes later.
"37.9°."
Hearing the number, Zhao Pu looked at Qin Ziwen with concern. "That’s a low-grade fever. You’re probably in the early stages."
Qin Ziwen frowned. He hadn’t even felt that he had a fever.
It was probably because he had used an Enhancement Card and his physique had been boosted once before.
But hearing Dr. Zhao say that, Qin Ziwen wasn’t sure if it was just psychological, but he suddenly felt a tickle in his chest and an urge to cough.
"Dr. Zhao, if I am infected, what’s the treatment?"
"The sooner you treat it, the better. If you have antibiotics at home, you can take cephalosporins. If not, boil Honeysuckle and dandelion to make a tea. This disease is a bacterial lung infection." After a pause, Zhao Pu continued, "Cephalosporins are quite effective. For the next couple of days after taking the medicine, try to stay home. You also need to expel the phlegm. You can boil some water and inhale the steam to keep your respiratory tract moist. Don’t hold back your phlegm, and be sure to clean up what you cough out regularly."
"Also, don’t try to sweat it out. A rising body temperature will put more strain on your body. Use a damp towel to wipe yourself down periodically. Eat more high-carb, high-protein foods, and avoid anything spicy..."
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