Chapter 100: An Unexpected Gift ④
Nie Qiu smiled happily, took the bank card handed to her by Zhang Qitian, quickly took out a notebook from her schoolbag, and then wrote down the account number on the notebook. Because the account number had many digits, Nie Qiu confirmed it three times carefully before handing the card back to Zhang Qitian, “Brother Zhang, thank you, I’ll go home now.”
Zhang Qitian was weighing vegetables for a customer buying produce. He took the card handed to him by Nie Qiu and said without looking up, “Go back early! It’s almost seven o’clock, you’ll get scolded if you’re late.”
Nie Qiu suddenly realized and was startled, “It’s almost seven o’clock? Then I’m leaving.” With that, Nie Qiu ran out of the market with her schoolbag.
School ended at 5:10 PM. It took her about an hour to find an internet cafe, and she spent nearly twenty to thirty minutes online. Then she came to the market to sell vegetables with Zhang Qitian…
Running out of the market’s shed, Nie Qiu looked up at the dark blue sky. Evening had already passed, and it was now the transition between night and dusk. The sky was a dark color, lacking the vibrant splendor of evening clouds or the brilliant radiance of night stars. The entire sky was vast and boundless, appearing even more expansive than the ocean. Compared to the vastness of the sky, humans were truly too insignificant.
Nie Qiu smiled. What was there to be troubled about? She was just a grain of sand in the universe, so her troubles were certainly not worth mentioning. Nie Aifang should be waiting anxiously at home now; she needed to hurry back.
Indeed, twenty minutes later, Nie Qiu ran home. Nie Aifang was pushing a tricycle and pacing back and forth at the entrance of the residential area, unwilling to leave. That’s right, it was already time for Nie Aifang to set up her stall. Nie Qiu smiled and walked forward, “Mom!”
Seeing Nie Qiu, Nie Aifang quickly walked forward, took Nie Qiu’s hand, and examined her from head to toe. After confirming she was unharmed, she tugged Nie Qiu hard twice, “Where did you go? Why are you back so late? Do you know how worried I was?”
Nie Aifang’s tugging was not painful, but Nie Qiu stumbled slightly. She knew this was a form of punishment distinct from hitting. Seeing Nie Aifang’s conflicted expression, wanting to hit her but being reluctant, Nie Qiu explained, “Mom, I’m sorry, I went to a classmate’s house to do homework. Since it’s Friday, we don’t have evening self-study sessions at school, so I went to Huang Yan’s house to do homework. I’m sorry… I should have told you.”
Nie Aifang breathed a sigh of relief and also sighed, “Go upstairs quickly. I made steamed dumplings and kept them warm in the pot. Eat and then do your homework properly. Also, I left your clothes and the dishes at home. After you finish your homework and take a bath, wash them.”
Nie Qiu nodded, “Then… Mom, when can I go to the stall with you?”
“Your injury hasn’t healed yet. Once your injury is healed, you can come to the stall with me.” Nie Aifang said as she pushed the bicycle and rode away. “Don’t forget what I asked you to do: finish your homework, take a bath, wash your clothes and dishes, and remember to rest early.”
Nie Qiu nodded with some disappointment, watching Nie Aifang ride away on the tricycle. Going to school every day was also quite monotonous. Although helping Nie Aifang at the night market was a bit tiring, besides seeing all sorts of people, she could also see the bustling city lights at night, people selling various things, people buying things, people relaxing, eating snacks, adults and children. It was also a kind of enjoyment, and she could help Nie Aifang.
Actually, since Nie Qiu bathed in the space, her injuries had healed considerably. However, Nie Qiu couldn’t tell Nie Aifang. Nie Aifang had watched her apply medicine to her wounds little by little. Such injuries would normally take several days or even more than ten days to heal. It had only been two or three days, so if they healed so quickly, Nie Aifang wouldn’t suspect anything, but she would still find it strange.
After Nie Qiu returned home, she took dumplings from the pot and ate them. After eating, she washed the dishes and then started doing her homework. Perhaps because her mood was good, her homework went very smoothly, and she wasn’t troubled by any problems. She finished quickly, completing her homework in just over half an hour.
After finishing her homework, she went to the balcony, which had a kitchen and a bathroom. After showering in the bathroom, she washed the clothes Nie Aifang had soaked in the basin. She had never washed clothes herself since she was young. When she was little, she had a nanny, and when she grew up, she had a washing machine. Even when she lived with Yang Zihao, she rarely washed clothes; she would only iron the washed clothes and hang them up.
Washing clothes by hand, to be honest, she didn’t know how to do it the first time. But after leaving the hospital, she took out the dirty clothes from Nie Qiu’s room to wash. Because she didn’t know how to wash by hand, she used a lot of laundry detergent, making the entire balcony full of bubbles. Later, Nie Aifang helped her wash them. For over a month, she had been washing all the clothes at home, so she had become much more skilled.
After finishing everything by herself, Nie Qiu put things back in their places, closed the balcony door, and returned to her bedroom. She lay on the bed and continued reading the original book she had rented.
After reaching the designated section, Nie Qiu placed a bookmark on the page, closed the book, and then took out a notebook from her schoolbag on the bedside table. Looking at the bank account number on it, she silently memorized it a few times, committing the account number to memory.
Longer numbers were indeed troublesome to remember, but she enjoyed memorizing such numbers. It was a form of training for her memory.
Before going to sleep, Nie Qiu entered the space. Strangely, she fell directly into the pool without any warning, startling her greatly.
Dao, who was playing happily with a little rabbit, saw this and laughed, “I think I forgot to tell you, you’ll appear wherever you exited last time. Yesterday, although you got ashore, you were still not far from the pool, so…”
So, she fell into this pool not far from the shore? Nie Qiu wiped the water off with some helplessness. Fortunately, the water spray cushioned her fall, otherwise she would have fallen to the bottom of the pool. “Isn’t there a way to solve this problem?”
“Yes.” Dao ran over and, not minding that Nie Qiu was wet, rubbed against her leg. “Absorb the spiritual energy of this space, and you can control it.”
Nie Qiu looked at Dao in confusion, “Absorb spiritual energy? Am I not breathing now? Am I not inhaling the spiritual energy from this space?”
Dao shook his head. “What you’re inhaling is just the air, which is everywhere in your human world. It’s just purer in this space, without so much polluted dust. The spiritual energy I’m talking about is…” Dao licked his fur and then pointed to a mass of white mist above the waterfall. “It’s that.”
White mist?!
Although she was no longer afraid of this place, seeing the white mist, which was similar to what had chased her when she first came to this space, Nie Qiu felt a tremor of fear. She trembled and, following Dao’s gesture towards the waterfall, asked in a shaky voice, “Dao… you’re not… you’re not talking about… that, are you?”
