Dare to shirk responsibility? This adorable little one will tear down your military district!

Before dawn, the fog shrouded Mengjia Village completely.

Under the old locust tree at the village entrance, two figures, one old and one young, were moving towards the county town.

Sun Shouzhen was wrapped in a tattered cotton-padded coat, his nose running from the cold. In contrast, the little girl next to him, who was not even as tall as his thigh, carried a basket bigger than herself on her back, moving with the speed of the wind without even breaking a sweat.

"Girl, slow down... my old bones are about to fall apart." Sun Shouzhen held his knees, his lungs feeling like they were being pumped by a bellows.

Meng Yaya stopped, turned around to look at him, and casually took out a half-cooled roasted sweet potato from her pocket and handed it to him: "Eat, there are still three miles to go."

Sun Shouzhen took the sweet potato, his heart filled with mixed emotions. This girl didn't seem like a three-year-old; she seemed more like a seasoned general.

We arrived at an abandoned brick kiln on the outskirts of the county town just as dawn was breaking. This was the legendary Pigeon City.

All was quiet; not even a cough could be heard. People passing by hunched their shoulders, hats pulled low, and some even had their faces covered with black cloths. Buyers and sellers didn't speak, but instead whispered among themselves, their hands hidden in their sleeves as they negotiated prices.

Sun Shouzhen seemed very nervous. He pulled Meng Yaya behind him, looked her around three times, and then led her into a hidden alley.

At the end of the alley squatted a middle-aged man in a black cotton-padded jacket, with a scar across his face, puffing on a pipe.

"Old Chen," Sun Shouzhen called out in a low voice.

The man looked up, his cloudy eyes sweeping over Sun Shouzheng before finally landing on Meng Yaya, his brows furrowing into a deep frown.

"Old Sun, are you crazy? Bringing a baby to a place like this?" Old Chen slammed his pipe on the sole of his shoe, his tone unfriendly. "If Hong Xiugu sees this, we'll both be going to jail."

"I know what I'm doing." Sun Shouzhen pushed Meng Yaya forward. "This girl wants to do business with you. She's got good stuff."

Old Chen chuckled, his scarred face twitching slightly: "What's wrong? You've only been weaned a few days, and you're already trying to smuggle things? Let me see what you've got, maybe these are eggs stolen from home."

Without saying a word, Meng Yaya put down the basket and lifted the tattered cloth covering it.

That old ginseng with five leaves lay there casually on a pile of weeds.

Old Chen's smile froze.

He knew his stuff. These days, ginseng of this quality was a life-saving treasure. He suddenly sat up straight and reached out to grab the ginseng.

"Smack."

A small, fair hand pressed down on the ginseng first.

Meng Yaya looked up at him, her chubby little face stern: "Looking at the goods but not touching them, do you know the rules?"

Old Chen was speechless, completely taken aback by the childish remark. He'd been in the black market for over a decade, and now he was being lectured by a three-year-old?

"Hey, that's interesting." Old Chen withdrew his hand, squatted down to be at eye level with Meng Yaya, and held up five fingers. "Five hundred. In this county, only I can offer that price. Anyone else would only give you three hundred at most."

Sun Shouzheng gasped. Five hundred yuan! That was a huge sum of money in the 1960s, enough for an ordinary worker to do for two years!

Meng Yaya didn't move. Her dark eyes stared straight at Old Chen without saying a word.

Old Chen felt a chill run down his spine.

"Not enough?" Old Chen frowned. "Young lady, know when to stop. This is a hot potato; no one but me dares to take it all at once."

Meng Yaya held up two fingers.

"Seven hundred?" Old Chen asked tentatively.

Meng Yaya shook her head: "1200. I also need 30 jin of national grain coupons, 10 feet of cloth coupons, and 5 jin of meat coupons."

"Cough cough cough!" Sun Shouzhen almost choked on his own saliva. That price was even more ruthless than a bandit's!

Old Chen's face darkened, his gangster-like ruthlessness becoming unmistakable: "Little girl, you're robbing me. When I, Old Chen, was in this business, you were still in your mother's womb. Believe me, if I confiscate your things now, you won't get a single penny!"

As he spoke, he reached out to grab the basket.

The movements were swift and ruthless.

Sun Shouzhen was shocked and was about to step forward to stop him when he heard a crisp "crack" sound.

Old Chen's wrist was gripped by that small hand.

The scene was extremely bizarre. A rough, large hand was being held by a soft, small hand, unable to move.

Old Chen's scarred face instantly turned a deep liver color, and the veins on his forehead bulged. He felt as if his wrist wasn't being held by a child, but rather locked by a hydraulic clamp.

"Even if a deal falls through, we can still be friends." Meng Yaya's voice remained calm, even a little childish. "But if you stretch your hand too far, it's easy to get hurt."

She loosened her grip slightly and pushed forward a little.

Old Chen, a strong man weighing 140 or 150 pounds, was pushed so hard that he landed on his backside, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The alley was deathly silent.

Sun Shouzhen's mouth dropped open, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor. He knew this girl was strong, but this was Old Chen, the black market tycoon!

Old Chen rubbed his throbbing wrist, looking at the little child who wasn't even as tall as the basket on his back with suspicion. He had some martial arts skills, and what he had just done was pure brute force, without any fancy moves.

This isn't a baby; it's clearly a little monster in human skin!

"Twelve hundred." Old Chen gritted his teeth and squeezed out the words. "I'll pay the ticket. But I need to verify this thing carefully; I'll deduct money if even a single hair is missing."

Meng Yaya kicked the basket forward: "Test it as you like."

Ten minutes later.

With a thick stack of unpaid bills and colorful ration coupons in her hand, Meng Yaya walked out of the alley, completely satisfied.

Old Chen stood at the alley entrance, watching the backs of the two figures, one tall and one short, and spat out a mouthful of saliva. He then looked at his bruised wrist, still feeling lingering fear.

"Where did Old Sun find this jinx...?"

By the time we left the black market, the sun had already risen.

Sun Shouzhen walked with a limp gait, carrying the hundred yuan "referral fee" that Meng Yaya had given him, as if he were walking on cotton.

"Girl, we're rich...we're rich now..." he rambled on. "With this money, you and your mother will have enough for your trip to Beiping, and you can also buy a lot of household items."

Meng Yaya ignored his rambling and her attention was drawn to an inconspicuous roadside stall.

It was a stall selling grain seeds. The stall owner was an old farmer dressed in tattered clothes. In front of him were several cloth bags filled with shriveled corn and wheat seeds.

Because of its poor appearance, no one wanted it.

Meng Yaya walked over, squatted down, and placed her palm on one of the bags.

A faint but clear vibration traveled from my fingertips to my mind. It was the rhythm of the plant seed's life force.

Deep within her consciousness, in that long-silent space, a sudden tremor ran through her.

That's the feeling of "hunger".

For ten years after the apocalypse, her spatial dimension, aside from storage, remained in a state of "incomplete activation." This was because the land in the apocalypse was polluted, and there were simply no pure seeds that could be planted.

And now, these withered but pure, natural and pollution-free seeds have actually aroused a desire for space?

"Grandpa, I'll take all of these." Meng Yaya pointed to the bags.

The old farmer was stunned: "Young lady, these are all last year's seeds, the germination rate isn't high. What do you need them for?"

"Feeding the chickens." Meng Yaya made up a story on the spot, tossing over a five-yuan bill. "Is that enough?"

"Enough! More than enough!" The old farmer was overjoyed and quickly tied the bag tightly, afraid that this little money god would change his mind.

Although Sun Shouzhen couldn't understand why this girl wanted to buy a bunch of rotten seeds, after what had just happened, he blindly followed Meng Yaya's decision. She must have her own reasons for doing so.

Carrying several heavy bags of seeds, Meng Yaya made an excuse to send Sun Shouzhen away to buy steamed buns.

She hid in a deserted corner, a thought suddenly forming in her mind.

The seed in my hand vanished instantly.

The next second, Meng Yaya felt a "boom" in her mind.

That once gray and desolate space, like parched land receiving timely rain, frantically devoured the seeds. An unprecedented vitality exploded within the space.

As soon as those shriveled seeds were planted, they sprouted and broke through their shells at a speed visible to the naked eye, without needing any watering.

Meng Yaya closed her eyes, sensing the changes in the space, and couldn't help but smile.

This isn't farming, it's an accelerator with cheat codes!

If we plant medicinal herbs there...

Just then, Sun Shouzhen's anxious shouts suddenly came from the alley entrance: "Girl! Run! The Red Armband is here!"