Su Xiaotian wanted to check on Tan Zishi's condition. Su Manxiu, worried about her going alone, followed her.
The result was Su Manxiu carrying the child Chen Xiuyuan, with Su Xiaotian, the three of them heading into the alley.
When Su Xiaotian arrived, she heard someone speaking inside, a man and a woman.
Seeing Su Xiaotian's arrival, Tan Zishi was pleasantly surprised.
"Little girl, you're here," Tan Zishi said with surprise in his voice, intending to get up with his injured leg to greet Su Xiaotian, but Su Xiaotian stopped him.
"Elder, you must lie down quickly. You can't put any weight on this leg."
Tan Zishi was embarrassed and said to Su Xiaotian, "Little girl, thank you, thank you for saving my old wife!"
Only then did Su Xiaotian turn her gaze to the old woman lying on the bed beside them.
The old woman's face was pale and ashen as she lay on the bed, covered by the same tattered quilt from yesterday.
As she watched Su Xiaotian look at her, the corners of her mouth twitched slightly, and it was barely visible that she managed a smile.
With just this smile, Su Xiaotian saw that the old woman's lips were cracked and dry.
"Grandma, you need to drink more water. I'll pour you some. Have you taken your medicine today?"
As Su Xiaotian spoke, she actually picked up a broken bowl and poured water.
"Thank you, little girl," the old woman thanked Su Xiaotian in a hoarse voice.
She had thought she was going to die this time, but who knew she would encounter a kind person and be saved.
Just now, Tan Zishi had said that it was because she had accumulated good deeds for most of her life that she was rescued by someone.
She had thought that no matter how young the savior was, they shouldn't be this young, looking like only about ten years old.
Perhaps seeing the old woman's gaze fixed on her, Su Xiaotian smiled and said, "Grandma, you don't need to be so polite with me. I just happened to run into it! I even thought... Fortunately, after taking the medicine, you're much better!"
She was much better. She had once thought that just taking medicine wouldn't be enough to help an old woman who was critically ill.
But the result was much better than she had expected.
Or perhaps, the old woman's vitality was too tenacious.
"I have no way to repay your life-saving kindness. When the time comes, I will surely repay you, little girl!" Although speaking was difficult, the old woman still struggled to say it.
Su Xiaotian didn't think about the old woman's repayment. She carefully fed the old woman some water and felt her pulse, finding that she was recovering well, and was relieved.
Then she felt Tan Zishi's pulse. It turned out that Tan Zishi's recovery was not very good.
After all, his bone was injured, and at his age, it was normal not to see improvement in a short time.
"Your bodies are not good, and you are very depleted. You need to eat properly, preferably with some eggs and meat..." After saying this, Su Xiaotian suddenly remembered that eggs and meat were not things that could be eaten casually.
Never mind, it was better not to say this, lest it hurt their feelings.
Tan Zishi looked at Su Xiaotian, then at Su Manxiu, and finally made up his mind and spoke, "Little girl, can you do this old man a favor?"
Su Xiaotian looked at Tan Zishi's extremely solemn expression and didn't immediately realize what he wanted them to do.
"Elder, please tell me."
"Can you help me buy some eggs? Don't worry, I'll give you money." After a pause, Tan Zishi tentatively said, "However, I don't have any coupons. And the money is also..."
He hesitated, seeming unsure whether to say it or not.
The old woman lying on the bed clearly hadn't expected Tan Zishi to suddenly say these words.
"I can't produce money, but I can offer some gold and silver, and I'll have to trouble you, little girl, to help exchange it for money." Tan Zishi's voice grew softer as he spoke, and he dared not look at Su Manxiu's expression.
This was because Su Manxiu's face had completely darkened.
Exchanging gold and silver for eggs, who was this trying to frame?
At this time, who would dare to casually keep gold and silver?
"Xiaotian, let's go!" Su Manxiu, afraid that Su Xiaotian might be too kind-hearted and agree, said very firmly.
But Su Xiaotian didn't think it was a big deal. She had egg coupons on hand.
As long as the gold and silver given by the old man were properly hidden, it would be fine. Anyway, the family had accumulated quite a bit of gold and silver over the years, so a little more or less wouldn't make much difference.
"Auntie, look at them like this. If they can't eat anything good, it will be difficult for them to recover!" Su Xiaotian said with pity.
"Xiaotian, but they..." Remembering Chen Zi'an's words, Su Manxiu was still quite worried.
Tan Zishi was being watched by many people. If these people found out that Tan Zishi had given gold and silver to Xiaotian, it might bring trouble upon them.
In the end, Su Xiaotian still insisted on getting two catties of eggs for Tan Zishi.
"I originally wanted to get you some meat, but in your environment, if you eat meat, you might be targeted, which would be bad."
This was the truth. Tan Zishi also knew that if even a hint of meat smell came from their house, they would be targeted.
"Little girl, thank you. You brought us rice yesterday, and today you helped us buy eggs. This is a small token of my appreciation. I know that silver is not worth much these days, but the stone on it is good quality."
Tan Zishi took out a silver ring from somewhere, inlaid with a very clear blue sapphire.
Even if Su Xiaotian didn't recognize gemstones, in that instant, she was attracted by the brilliant light emitted by the blue sapphire!
"It's just a few catties of rice and two catties of eggs, not worth this much!" Su Xiaotian declined.
If it were just a little gold and silver, Su Xiaotian would have accepted it, but the gemstone on the ring given by Tan Zishi was very precious.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was priceless.
But thinking about it, Su Xiaotian felt relieved. How could something that Tan Zishi had risked saving for so many years be ordinary!
"You don't need to think it's precious. If such a thing can exchange for our lives, it's worth it!"
The old woman's statement to Tan Zishi was clearly unexpected.
For all these years, no matter how difficult it was, the old man had never taken out the things he had hidden away.
Even though they were tortured, beaten, and humiliated every now and then, he had never been willing to part with them, all for the sake of leaving them for his son and grandson.
Why was he willing to take them out now?
"Little girl, take it," Tan Zishi said firmly.
For two lives, this ring was not enough to repay.
He had originally wanted to give more, but after much consideration, he gave up.
Giving too much to the little girl at once, if she couldn't hide it properly, it would easily lead to trouble.
Just a ring was not conspicuous.
He didn't know that no matter how many good things Su Xiaotian was given, she could hide them well.
The reason was simple: not long ago, during the Dragon Boat Festival, Su Xiaotian had signed in for three consecutive years without missing a day and received a system grand prize.
This system grand prize was indeed a treasure for Su Xiaotian. She received a storage box.
She didn't know what this storage box was. She had already put many things into it, but the storage box didn't seem to be full yet.
According to the system's Anna, this storage box had a concealment function, meaning that no one could see it except its owner, Su Xiaotian.
Su Xiaotian had also asked Anna, but Anna couldn't explain clearly how much this storage box could hold.
She only said that the storage box needed to consume a certain amount of energy, and this energy was obtained from Su Xiaotian's studies.
The more things she stored, the more energy would be consumed. Based on the energy Su Xiaotian gained from studying daily, the storage box could still hold quite a few items.
As for how many items this "quite a few" was, Anna couldn't say precisely, only that it would remind her when it was close to its limit.
It was precisely because of this that Su Xiaotian's motivation to study had become even stronger recently. She studied for ten hours every day, rain or shine.
Since obtaining the storage box, Su Xiaotian had gone up mountains and entered cities, collecting treasures she could find one by one.
She had even ventured into the black market when she came to the county town last time, where she had exchanged grain coupons for some good items and hidden them.
She had also gone to the county's scrap metal recycling station through Chen Zi'an's connections to search.
However, she didn't know if it was because the scrap metal recycling station was too small, but Su Xiaotian didn't get many good things, only a few rare books.
These rare books would be treasures decades later, but they were worthless in this era.
But all the things she had managed to find seemed less valuable than this blue sapphire ring.
She couldn't even quite understand why such a high-quality blue sapphire would be set in silver, instead of gold.
"Then I'll accept it. I'll come to see you again tomorrow, and I'll bring some ointment. Applying it to your leg will be beneficial for the injury." Su Xiaotian accepted the ring and said a few more words, then pulled Su Manxiu away.
Su Manxiu wanted to say something but hesitated all the way back home before she said to Su Xiaotian, "Xiaotian, you're too reckless. What if someone targets you..."
She was truly scared. This child Xiaotian was truly fearless.
It was also because the atmosphere in Hongxin Brigade was too good that this child Xiaotian didn't know how tense the current situation was, and how many people with ulterior motives were waiting to catch others' mistakes.
Su Xiaotian smiled and comforted Su Manxiu a few times, saying that she had a sense of proportion, but how could Su Manxiu believe that a child like Su Xiaotian had a sense of proportion.
"Auntie, I will hide things well, and no one will find them."
Su Manxiu wanted to say more, but in the end, she gave up.
When Su Lao San returned, he indeed brought the medicinal herbs Su Xiaotian wanted. Su Xiaotian processed them and made them into an ointment to send to Tan Zishi.
Three days later, seeing that the condition of the Tan couple had improved, and after secretly sending them some rice and grain, she returned to Hongxin Brigade.
As Su Grandma had thought, Su Xiaotian felt that with the county school about to start, she should spend more time with her grandparents in the brigade.
After Su Xiaotian returned to the brigade, the siblings were busy and happy every day, going up mountains and down rivers.
They caught no shortage of birds in the mountains and fish in the rivers, and even caught a wild goat.
Su Grandma was already immune to this. Anyway, this little granddaughter's luck had always been exceptionally good. Even if she caught a wild boar, she could accept it calmly.
Little Jiu, however, was still regretful, wondering why it was a wild goat and not a wild boar.
The wild goat was too small, and their family was large, so it wasn't enough to eat and was gone quickly!
If they could catch a wild boar, their whole family could eat for a long time.
Su Xiaotian, however, was a natural optimist, with a mindset of being content with what she had. She was happy as long as she gained something.
One day, as she was picking a cluster of mushrooms under a large tree, she suddenly heard the system's Anna's voice, reminding her that a task had been completed.
Startled by Anna's voice, Su Xiaotian was taken aback.
What task? Had the system issued any tasks to her recently?
It didn't seem so. Then which task was completed?
Su Xiaotian looked at her brothers who were busy searching for treasures, and found a more hidden spot to secretly open the system panel.
It turned out to be the task issued by the system a long time ago, urging her brothers to achieve excellent results.
This task had been issued for nearly three years, so long that Su Xiaotian had almost forgotten about it.
Wait, the sudden completion of this task meant what?
After a moment of thought, a smile immediately spread across Su Xiaotian's lips.
This should mean that the results of the exam they had taken were out, and her brothers' results should be very good.
This task was a major part of the main storyline, and Su Xiaotian, as expected, had once again gained an opportunity for a lucky draw.
She had originally planned to draw after returning home, but she couldn't suppress her excitement.
After confirming again that none of her brothers were paying attention to her, she quietly clicked the draw button.
When the cursor stopped, Su Xiaotian surprisingly found that this time it was not coupons, but skills.
Su Xiaotian already knew how rare the system's skills were. Besides the "Review and Renew" skill she obtained more than two years ago, she obtained "Half the Effort, Double the Result" last year.
The skill obtained this time was Su Xiaotian's third skill, called "Inferring from One Example."
Not to mention, the names of the skills rewarded by the system were very practical.
The first skill, "Review and Renew," allowed her to understand the books she had read more thoroughly when reviewing them.
The second skill, "Half the Effort, Double the Result," significantly increased her reading speed and also greatly improved her comprehension.
And now, the third skill, "Inferring from One Example," understood literally, was also a very powerful skill.
Three skills in three years, Su Xiaotian felt that she was perfectly equipped to be a top student.
When Su Xiaojiu looked back, he happened to see Su Xiaotian's sly smile.
"Tiantian, what are you so happy about?" Little Jiu couldn't help but ask.
"Ninth Brother, look at this big pile of mushrooms."
Yes, that was right. The large cluster of mushrooms Su Xiaotian was picking weighed about three to four catties.
Even though Su Xiaojiu had followed Su Xiaotian up the mountain and was accustomed to good things appearing at Su Xiaotian's feet, he had never seen such a large cluster of mushrooms before.
After looking, Little Jiu muttered and went about his business.
Why would he ask that question?
Forget it, no envy, no envy, no jealousy, no jealousy!
Xiaotian's luck was good, and his was not bad either!
However, no matter how much he reassured himself, Little Jiu still knew that there was a gap, a real gap!