"That's truly miserable for you, but I had no idea you were still alive. After I repaired the damage to your body, I saw how much stuff was crammed into your room, like a warehouse, with barely any space to move. So, I quickly got rid of some things I couldn't use or didn't need and sold them.
But now that you're alive,
I'll keep all your savings for you. From now on, I'll try my best to earn my own money. If you want anything to eat or use, just tell me, and I'll buy it. I'll put it in the fridge or on the dining table, and you can take it whenever you want.
Is that okay?"
Originally, Ding Yun had wanted to lend the 'Era Novel Sign-in System' directly to the other party, as it would have been perfect. However, Zhu Yunying had arrived a bit too late. Each random golden finger she received only had one chance to be bound and unbound.
If she used it and then forced the other party to bind it, it would be very troublesome. Unbinding would be even more so. Most importantly, this girl wasn't in the same world as her. If, years later, she couldn't come over to another world, or if she died in an accident there, her golden finger would be lost.
In that case, she would have to pay full compensation.
It was precisely because of these concerns that Ding Yun had no choice but to abandon the idea of temporarily lending the golden finger as a one-time solution and instead opted for a more troublesome method of compensation.
"But I'm just a soul right now. I can't touch anything. I can't even touch you.
If I just pass through, how can I take anything?"
Although Zhu Yunying was very interested in Ding Yun's proposal, she quickly realized that in her current soul state, she couldn't take anything back to eat or use.
If that were the case, what good was the so-called compensation?
It was just an empty promise.
Therefore, her words carried a hint of resentment.
"Don't worry. Since you can travel through time and space in your soul form, you must be able to take some things back, otherwise, what would be the point of you coming here!
See if your corpse has decomposed.
Listen to me, calm down, then concentrate on thinking about touching something and try again. You might not be able to take large things for now, but a little bit of food should be fine. Try some fruit!"
When Ding Yun first saw Zhu Yunying, she noticed a very faint temporal energy surrounding her. This temporal energy was connected to the house, making the house act like a portable space for her when she appeared. Therefore, even though she was just a soul, as long as she concentrated and provided enough mental energy, she could easily take some things from inside.
However, when Zhu Yunying saw her, her emotions had fluctuated too much, and her mental energy had been vaguely scattered. She also found it difficult to concentrate, which was why she couldn't touch Ding Yun or the things in the room. As long as she calmed down and focused on taking something, she would be able to interact with the items in the room and take them away normally.
Of course, this was due to her weak soul and poor mental energy. If her mental energy were strong, she wouldn't have these concerns or limitations and could easily take everything in the room by enveloping it with her mental energy.
After hearing Ding Yun's explanation, Zhu Yunying quickly began to take deep breaths, calming her emotions, and then concentrated, thinking about taking the fruit on the dining table, wanting the fruit on the dining table.
After a few seconds, she touched the fruit on the table and disappeared with it.
"Her current young girl's body must be very weak. For ordinary souls, a weak body also affects the soul. Carrying that plate of fruit just now consumed a lot of her mental energy. She probably won't be back tonight. Oh well, I'll wait until she returns."
Ding Yun quickly estimated Zhu Yunying's current soul strength and felt that she wouldn't be able to return a second time tonight. However, she wasn't in a hurry to sleep. She quickly opened the second-hand trading app on her phone and took down all the items that the other party might need.
As for the items that had already been sold, even if they hadn't been shipped yet, Ding Yun felt it wouldn't be appropriate to go back on her word, so she had to let it be. At most, she would compensate her in other ways later.
For example, giving her some nourishing elixirs or teaching her some martial arts. In any case, she wouldn't be shortchanged.
After finishing these tasks, Ding Yun went back to sleep.
...
Parallel universe, 1960s, Xiao Zhu Village.
At the water缸 (water vat) outside Zhu Dazhu's house, Zhu Yunying woke up groggily. Besides feeling a sloshing sensation in her stomach, she also saw a fruit platter in her hand, piled high with fruit.
This gave her a slight sense of reality.
She believed that what had just happened wasn't a dream.
Although she was somewhat depressed that her body had been taken over and her money had become someone else's, and she probably couldn't go back, at least the person who took her body felt some guilt and was relatively friendly. This was much better than no one occupying her body, her body decaying and smelling, being discovered, and her entire room being cleaned out and auctioned off, with the money going to her parents.
Thinking about it this way, Zhu Yunying felt much better.
Then, she didn't linger by the water vat. She quickly hugged the fruit platter and hurried out of her yard, finding a secluded, uninhabited spot far from any houses to eat the fruit to fill her stomach.
Although Zhu Yunying hadn't been there long and hadn't experienced this era, she had experienced poverty, lived a hard life, and had heard stories from the village elders. She knew very well that people in this era had very sensitive hearing and smell. If she ate fruit by the water vat at her doorstep, the sound of eating or the fragrance of the fruit would definitely wake up her family. How would she explain it then? She might even get beaten.
They would then snatch it away without asking where it came from, thinking that she, a little girl, didn't deserve to eat such good fruit.
It should be given to the man, or sold for some money.
To be safe, she had to run far away, to a place where no one would see her, and secretly eat these fruits. After eating, she had to bury the peels and dispose of them.
She looked at the fruit platter, unwilling to bury it.
She could only find a place to hide it for now, and then she hurried back, returning to her family's bedroom to sleep on a small bed separated by a curtain. It was called a small bed, but it was actually just a bed board placed on two stools, barely enough to sleep on.
Every year, when they steamed buns, it would be requisitioned to place the buns.
Originally, with something in her stomach, she should have been able to sleep soundly and not wake up hungry in the middle of the night. However, after drinking a bellyful of cold water and then eating so much fruit, within two hours, her stomach started to ache terribly. She howled as she rushed to the toilet, which was a rural pit latrine, and almost ended up dehydrated from diarrhea.
As for her family, no one cared about her. Her grandmother even said that she hadn't eaten all day yesterday and still had something to excrete, so it seemed she had food in her stomach, and there was no need to eat today.
For Zhu Yunying,
It was a double blow, both physically and psychologically.
At the same time, she felt utterly disheartened by her new home and the relatives of this body. She even felt that her original parents seemed a bit more lovable.
Although they might give the meat to their younger brother, they at least didn't starve her. She still had plain food and coarse tea.
When she was sick or uncomfortable, they would take her to a clinic. As long as the medicine wasn't expensive, they were willing to buy some.
Unlike these relatives and parents here.
They truly didn't care if she lived or died.
(End of Chapter)