Chapter 35

“How did you become so happy?”

Their voices were loud again, and the dormitory door was still open. At this moment, a few people poked their heads in and walked inside.

Wang Qifang and Xiaoxiao were already relaxed, but when they saw four or five people entering at once, including a few tall and handsome male educated youth, her face turned red. She stammered, unable to speak. Wu Xiaoxiao smiled and said, “Zhenghong, Xiaoyan, Tian Zhuang, did you come over for something? Just now, Qifang said I poured some mosquito repellent on her to prevent mosquito bites tonight.”

“Mosquito repellent? The mosquitoes here are really fierce. I just got bitten and have a huge bump,” Zhao Xiaoyan pouted, extending her arm, revealing a big red bump on her white arm where the mosquito had bitten her. She looked pitiful.

“I’ve already applied some cooling ointment, but it still itches. There are so many mosquitoes here.”

Wu Xiaoxiao took a look, then took a little liquid from the bottle and gently applied it to her arm. “You can try this, it’s made from herbs. It might work better for mosquito bites. Cooling ointment only relieves itching; for bites, its effect is average.”

Zhao Xiaoyan really felt the cool sensation as soon as the greenish substance was applied, and it seemed to relieve the itch: “It’s really not so itchy now. Hey, it’s quite refreshing. This works well. Thank you. By the way, do you have more of this? If you don’t mind, could you sell me some?”

She felt awkward taking someone else’s things for free. Although Xiaoxiao had said it was made by them, and although it didn’t look too pretty in the small porcelain bottle, it was really effective. Moreover, since it was homemade and she wasn’t very familiar with Xiaoxiao, she didn’t want to just ask for it.

“No worries, it’s not worth much. If you want some, I can pour you some. We also need to use it, so we can’t really sell it to you,” Wu Xiaoxiao said with a smile.

“No need. I’ll go get a bottle, and you can pour it for me, and I’ll pay you.” Zhao Xiaoyan wasn’t the type to take things without paying. She quickly went back to grab a glass bottle, and then Wu Xiaoxiao poured about half the liquid into it. Zhao Xiaoyan handed her five yuan.

Wu Xiaoyan was unexpectedly five yuan richer.

Five yuan was a lot, Wang Qifang thought, feeling surprised. She hadn’t expected that using Wu Xiaoxiao’s stuff would actually cost money.

Zhao Xiaoyan smiled, “I don’t have smaller change, but five yuan isn’t too much. Your stuff works well, and if it keeps working, I’ll buy more next time. I can even give it to others, though your bottle is a bit ugly.”

Wu Xiaoyan chuckled. This young lady might have a bad mouth, but she was quite generous. With her supernatural ability-infused plant liquid, this was probably the cheapest time she had sold it. Although it was made from ordinary, non-mutated plants, if it had been in the past, it could have sold for dozens of crystal cores.

However, at this moment, everyone likely thought they were getting a great deal, but Wu Xiaoyan didn’t feel any burden about the money.

“Well, thank you!” Wu Xiaoxiao said with a smile. “Thanks to you being so generous, I’ve made some extra money to help out at home!”

Her attitude was very casual, without feeling inferior about being poor or shy about accepting money. Gu Zhenghong, listening to her, thought of her home situation, where it was just her and her mother struggling to survive. Looking at it this way, selling the things she made didn’t seem like something to criticize. After all, her labor should be compensated.

He added, “Is this stuff really that useful? If it is, make some for me too, and I’ll pay.”

They were among the leaders of the educated youth, so when they spoke, the others naturally followed suit.

Wu Xiaoxiao smiled and waved her hand, “I can’t make that much. This little bottle took a long time for me, Wu Hua, and Changxi Changle to make. We mainly wanted to see if it worked. It was based on a method we found in a book, but we weren’t sure how effective it would be.”

The others didn’t really want to buy it; they were just echoing Gu Zhenghong and Zhao Xiaoyan. The topic was soon dropped.

Zhao Xiaoyan then said, “Do you want to go to the county town for a stroll? There’s nothing to do tonight, right? I asked, and the dormitory door closes at 9:30 PM. We can still go to the county and be back in time.”

Wang Qifang quickly shook her head. Once they got to the county, seeing those beautiful buildings, the things inside would definitely be expensive. If they went out, they’d likely spend money, and she didn’t have any.

Wu Xiaoxiao, on the other hand, wanted to go out but knew that if she went with these educated youth, they’d probably want to look at things she wasn’t interested in. It wouldn’t be very free. She’d rather find a chance to go out by herself later.

Wu Xiaoxiao said, “You guys are really energetic. After sitting in the car all day, I’m a bit tired and just want to rest early. Didn’t Li said we need to start work at 8:00 AM tomorrow?”

“That’s still fine!” Zhao Xiaoyan saw that both of them were insisting on shaking their heads. After trying a few more times and getting no response, she and the others left.

After they left, Wang Qifang whispered, “Xiaoxiao, if you want to go out, go ahead. I’m just really tired today.”

She could tell that Xiaoxiao had only said she was tired to make an excuse to stay with her, probably because she was worried Wang Qifang would be bored or scared alone. Wang Qifang felt both happy and a little embarrassed.

Wu Xiaoxiao shook her head and said, “No, I don’t really want to go out. They’re probably going to watch a movie or shop. I don’t want to buy anything, and what I want to see is different from what they want to see. We should just rest well today. By the way, we should walk around the factory area later to familiarize ourselves with the route so we’re not lost tomorrow morning.”

“That sounds good,” Wang Qifang nodded in agreement. They tidied up a bit and, while it wasn’t too late yet, walked around the factory area. The agricultural machinery factory was really big, but their dormitory was close to the gate for convenience, and near it were the office, dining hall, and bathhouse. A bit further inside were rooms still lit, where they kept blueprints and had technical workers drawing. Beyond that were the production and assembly workshops, but they couldn’t enter the warehouses and other restricted areas.

But those places were off-limits for now.