Chapter 48: Coming To Realize
Seeming incredulous, she stared at the mirror for a long time until she personally saw the scabs on the wound on her back peeling off bit by bit, leaving only new flesh-colored scars.
She had long known that the Peach Blossom Spring Space was very magical, but each deeper understanding still left her amazed.
With somewhat complex feelings, she put her clothes back on, then threw the gauze stained with blood and ointment mixture that had been tossed on the ground into the dustpan in the courtyard outside.
No longer needing to constantly watch out for pulling the wound on her back, it felt so good!
She vigorously moved her arms a few times, and Su Ning let out a hearty laugh, “Haha, turning misfortune into blessing—must celebrate properly!”
Getting excited, she decided not to use spiritual power, and fetched a fishing net and water bucket from the room inside the house that had been changed from storage to a tool room, heading straight for the deep pool formed by the small stream in the mountain valley.
Ever since she learned last time about such a deep pool deep at the junction of the two mountains, she had used her thoughts to drive quite a few small fish fry here to settle.
She wanted to know if the fish grown in the pool were really more delicious.
A curtain of silver-white waterfall hung in the mountain stream, with splashing water flowers rippling green circles in the pool.
Perhaps because there were no dangers in the mountain forest, the fish at the bottom lived too leisurely and defenseless. Su Ning caught several palm-sized fish on her first net cast.
She kept the largest few, and released the rest that were less than a finger long back into the pool.
She scraped off the scales, gutted them, cleaned them thoroughly, then built a circle with stones on the bank, gathered some dry branches and leaves as firewood, set up a wooden rack, and started roasting fish.
The first one was not controlled well in terms of heat and was roasted pitch black, really no place she could bring herself to eat.
Amused yet helpless, she tried a second time. With the experience of the previous failure, this time there was obvious improvement.
The whole fish was roasted golden and crispy by her, plus the exclusive seasoning packet researched by her maternal grandfather and improved by her, the enticing aroma it emitted could make one’s mouth water profusely.
“Mmm, delicious!”
Holding the wooden stick skewering the fish to her mouth, she blew on it lightly and impatiently took a big bite, not willing to spit it out even if it burned her mouth.
After finishing the whole fish, she was still a bit unsatisfied, and unmindful of her image, she sucked on the fingers that had held the fish tail.
Contentedly hugging her belly and lying flat on a smooth large rock, Su Ning couldn’t help but sigh, her thoughts wandering.
After this incident, she suddenly felt that perhaps from now on she didn’t need to worry too much about the special ability triggered by touching others.
She wouldn’t arouse suspicion by deliberately keeping distance out of concern.
Also, even if she saw the future, whether to intervene and change it—the choice was always in her own hands.
Besides, since gaining this ability after waking from near death, she had unknowingly become the biggest variable.
Just like this time, the future scene she clearly saw only had Fu Jiaming and Yan Bei, and the driver of the cart was not Su Jianmin, the eldest grandson of Old Master Su’s family.
Because of her, everything had changed.
In the triggered future scene, she was not present, but even after changing the driver and adding herself, she still encountered that little black dog, and the same rolling stones falling…
It was as if… this was the destined fate of Yan Bei and Fu Jiaming, and as the variable, she couldn’t avoid the incident but could change the outcome.
Su Ning didn’t know what this exactly meant, but through this accident…
She vaguely had a fuzzy idea: since changing her death outcome on her birthday, her future had become unforeseeable.
“Phew~”
She shook her head and took a deep breath, shaking off these messy thoughts, then got up and returned to the small courtyard.
Taking advantage of the free time, she needed to prepare a few packages of gifts to mail back to Beijing City.
Grandpa Fu loved wild game, and there were still quite a few collected last time from Victory Commune Second Brigade.
Dragging several large snakeskin bags, she trotted all the way to the underground storage room.
Wild rabbits and wild chickens could be smoked and roasted to make cured meat that the local ethnic minorities loved most, as well as the essential cured meat and cured sausage for festivals.
The taste was excellent, and stored in a dry, ventilated place, they could keep for a long time.
Ying Ying and Little Round Circle both liked sweets; fruits from the orchard could be made into canned fruit or dried fruit—mail more to let them eat their fill.
Auntie Hehua had left behind anemia as a chronic illness after massive bleeding giving birth to their dragon-phoenix twin siblings, so she needed to eat more blood-tonifying things.
Raisins, black sesame…
If there was an opportunity, she still needed to collect some beehives and get some honey.
Having the idea, she got right to it!
……
Busy in the space, she smoked the cured meats, made fresh fruit canned food and dried fruit, carefully sealed, bagged, and packed everything.
Looking at the two full packages, Su Ning wiped the sweat from her face, unable to stop the corners of her mouth from rising into a brilliant smile.
“Hope Grandpa Fu and the others like the things when they receive them.”
This time, rushing, she didn’t make authentic cured meats, just simply smoked and air-dried them; next time before the New Year, she’d mail them real cured goods.
Smelling the strong meat aroma on her body, she took a thorough bath and changed clothes, then flashed out of the space after getting ready.
There was no sense of time in Peach Blossom Spring; only after coming out did she realize that outside the window, the morning light from the east had turned into sunset glow.
Glancing at her watch, 5:36 pm—the post office wasn’t far, if she hurried, she should make it?
Luckily her wounds had healed, otherwise dragging these two heavy snakeskin bags, she’d have to go back to the hospital.
“Huff huff~ Comrade, hello, trouble mailing these things please.”
Less than a hundred meters away, yet she was panting from exhaustion, her fingers all purple and numb from the straps.
The post office worker was a kind-hearted elder sister who, seeing Su Ning rushing near closing time, wasn’t upset and carefully inspected the items as usual before packing them properly.
After everything was done, Su Ning thanked her, bought a stack of new envelopes, letter paper, and stamps, confirmed tomorrow’s pickup location with the driver she had reserved from the factory’s transport brigade, and then walked out of the post office relieved.
The town in the evening was lively, with workers off duty hurrying home, and villagers coming to town to buy daily necessities rushing to the brigade’s ox cart.
In households that ate early, the children were holding big bowls, showing off the rare stir-fried eggs to the neighbor next door.
Several kids slurping big green snot, greedy for food, chased after the 28-bar bicycle selling popsicles, eyes fixed on the foam box on the back seat.
Drawing bursts of laughter and scolding from the women sitting on the doorstep together picking vegetables and chatting idly.
“Su Ning?!”
Fu Jiaming waved a hand in front of her eyes, flashing a mouthful of big white teeth, “What are you looking at so seriously? I called you but no response? Why are you still in the county and not back to Gu City?”
She was enjoying the bustling everyday atmosphere when someone suddenly reached out to block her path, startling Su Ning. Seeing this face that should be in the hospital but appeared here, she irritably shot back, “Blocking a female comrade on the main road—what do you want? Being a hooligan?”
“Hey! Su Ning, we’re good friends—don’t set me up like that. Am I that kind of person?”
Fu Jiaming clutched his chest with one hand, his face full of disbelief, looking like “So this is how you are, Su Ning.”
Amused by his exaggerated expression, she then noticed his other hand half-circling a little black dog.
She recognized at a glance that it was the ‘road-blocking dog’ from last night—it was too distinctive with its all-black fur and one little white paw. Su Ning slightly raised her chin and asked puzzled, “This is?”
“It? Just now I was thinking of going to the state-run restaurant to get some good food for Yan Qi, and somehow ran into this guy.”
Looking at its body covered in yellow mud, who knew how long those four short legs had run to follow to town.
Just now, on impulse, Fu Jiaming had picked it up without much thought, and only now was he troubled: Could it be that before finding a partner, he’d have to take care of this dog thing first?
Glancing at the person in front of him, his eyes turned, and Fu Jiaming chuckled “hehehe,” “Hey Su Ning, look how cute this little dog is. It was also part of our shared hardship last night—you… want to keep it?”
“Cough, mainly as a big man, I’m really afraid I can’t take good care of such a little thing!”
The little black dog seemed very intelligent; hearing his words, it lifted its head and looked at Su Ning with wet eyes, making whimpering sounds like calling grandmother.
Having a little dog for company seemed… not bad?
Whether in the small courtyard in Gu City or the vast Peach Blossom Spring.
“Alright, give it to me!”
“Really?”
Though his mouth asked in surprise, his hands didn’t hesitate—Fu Jiaming quickly grabbed it by the scruff of the neck with one hand and shoved it straight into her arms.
“Since you’ve decided to keep it, then Su Ning, you give it a name!”
“Then Little Round Circle it is.”
