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Chapter 10: Earning Star Coins
Naturally, Song Ziyi listened to everything his sister said. The siblings spent the entire morning browsing the department store. In addition to buying winter clothes for themselves, they also bought a full set of winter clothing for their parents.
They purchased a lot of cotton fabric for making inner garments. Back in university, Song Yun had learned some tailoring skills from her roommate—she was decent at sewing and planned to make the clothes herself later.
Song Yun’s eyes lit up when she saw ready-made cotton batting. Though it was more expensive than buying loose cotton and hiring someone to sew it, it saved a lot of hassle. Once wrapped in fabric and sewn shut, it became a thick, warm quilt—just like she’d seen her old professors make during university. It was quite simple.
But the number of items was piling up. Ziyi was still a child and couldn’t carry much, so she gave up the idea of buying four quilts and settled on just two. She also didn’t buy the coarse cloth yet; even small-town supply cooperatives would carry that, so she could purchase it after relocating.
They exited the department store carrying multiple large packages, and the whole time, Song Yun’s mind was working on how to earn more star coins. She needed to exchange for a system storage compartment before leaving Beijing and stockpile as many supplies as possible to avoid hardship in the remote northern province of Heisheng.
After returning to the guesthouse, she prepared lunch for Ziyi and instructed him firmly:
“Stay in the room this afternoon, watch over our things, and don’t go outside. I’ve got something to take care of.”
Ziyi nodded obediently. “Sis, I’ll guard everything. You finish your business and come back soon.”
Seeing the tension in his eyes, Song Yun smiled and ruffled his hair. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon. I will never leave you. Never.”
The nervousness vanished from Ziyi’s heart instantly. He nodded with all his might. “Mm! I know!”
She pinched his chubby cheek affectionately, told him to bolt the door securely, and secretly added some low-grade nutrient solution to his water mug before finally leaving the guesthouse and heading for the Beijing suburbs.
Song Yun took a window seat on the bus, gazing out the entire way. The scenery flying past looked like old, faded photographs: blue skies, buildings in gray and green, people dressed in black, blue, or gray. Occasionally, she’d spot a young woman wearing a pale-colored dress, which stood out like a flower in a monochrome painting—an instant head-turner.
When the bus stopped, she looked carefully at her surroundings. Based on her guess, this area would become the outer second ring of Beijing in a few decades.
Who could’ve imagined that this expanse of open fields and farmland would one day be filled with towering skyscrapers?
After a brief moment of reflection, she got to work.
She found an unpopulated wild area and crouched down to start foraging for wild herbs and vegetables. To avoid drawing attention, she brought a cloth sack purchased from the supply store and stuffed it with greens—a perfect cover in case she ran into anyone.
Even though the field was full of vegetation, most of the plants were common types she had already exchanged the day before. After working for half a day, she earned only 45 star coins. Adding that to the 80 leftover from yesterday, her total came to 125 coins—still a long way from the 500 coins needed to exchange for a 1-cubic-meter storage space.
“This isn’t going to cut it. I need a new strategy,” she muttered.
Looking around, she spotted a small forest to the northwest. Her eyes brightened, and she immediately walked toward it, sack in hand.
The system traded in ecological chain value, and wild grasses and weeds were at the bottom—meaning low value and high effort. Even breaking her back, she’d never reach 500 coins this way.
But trees, especially mature trees, had greater vitality and thus higher ecological value. They might be worth a good chunk of coins.
With so many trees in this little forest, who’d miss one or two?
As she got closer, the pine scent in the air grew stronger, mingled with the light fragrance of Chinese arborvitae (thuja)—it looked like a mixed pine-thuja forest.
She glanced left and right. No one nearby. She quickened her pace and slipped inside.
Once sure the forest was empty, she raised her left wrist and scanned a seven- to eight-meter tall pine tree.
System message: “Target qualified. Exchangeable for 100 star coins.”
She smiled and immediately confirmed the trade. The massive pine tree vanished in an instant, leaving only a large pit in the earth.
Encouraged by the change in her balance, she moved to a similar-height thuja tree and scanned again. This time, the system offered 300 star coins.
“That’s a big jump…” she thought.
After some speculation, she figured it was probably because this thuja tree had seed cones, which likely increased its value.
To test this theory, she found a clump of wild grass she hadn’t traded before. Based on past experience, the system would offer 5 coins at most. But when she scanned a plant that had produced seeds, the amount shot up to 30 coins.
“So that’s it,” she realized.
From now on, she’d prioritize plants with seeds to maximize their trade value.
If that applied to plants, what about animals?
Would female animals, especially pregnant ones or egg-laying types, be worth more too?
Chickens that lay eggs… or fertilized eggs that could hatch into chicks… would the system count those as higher-value biological assets?
As her mind wandered, she caught something moving in the tree pit out of the corner of her eye.
She squatted down to look—it was two fat earthworms, exposed to the air, wriggling desperately to get back underground.
Quickly, she raised her wrist and scanned them.
15 star coins.
Not as valuable as trees, but definitely more than wild grass—not bad at all.
If earthworms were exchangeable, then probably all kinds of insects and bugs in the forest were too.
With renewed excitement, Song Yun began hopping and crawling around the woods, lifting leaves, digging through grass, searching high and low.
After over an hour of hard work, she earned 180 star coins.
Combined with the pine and thuja trees she traded earlier, her total haul came to 670 coins.
Adding the 80 leftover from yesterday, she now had 750 star coins in her account.
She didn’t hesitate for a second. With shining eyes, she exchanged 500 coins for a 1-cubic-meter storage compartment.
It might not sound like much, but it could hold far more than it appeared. She could easily pack in over a dozen cotton coats and quilts, enough to last the entire winter in Heisheng.
Now she could go stock up with peace of mind.
As she turned to leave and made her way toward the edge of the woods, Song Yun was already mentally drafting a shopping list.
But just then, she suddenly heard a woman’s high-pitched scream coming from the southwest—followed by the cruel laughter and cursing of a man.
“Zhao Xiaomei, you little slut! Scream all you want, nobody’s gonna hear you! Obey, and you might suffer less. But piss me off, and don’t blame me for being rough!”
“Fang Daniu, I’m begging you—let me go! I’ll give you money! I have money—I’ll get it for you when I get back!”
SMACK! The sound of a hard slap rang out, followed by a rough male voice full of rage.
“Bitch! Where do you think your money came from, huh? I worked like a dog for you, gave you all my cash, and then you run off with some educated pretty boy? You think I’m a joke?”
“Fang Daniu, don’t be stupid! I’m a sent-down youth! If you lay a hand on me, I’ll report you to the police! You’ll be shot for this!”
Fang Daniu sneered, “Go ahead, report me! Then the whole town’ll know you’re my woman. After I do my time, you’ll still be my wife.”
Right after he said that, there was a loud ripping sound—clothes being torn.