The poor girl from the 1970s was forced to kiss by the damp educated youth.

Dinner consisted of pheasant stew with mushrooms, a cold lettuce salad, and a mustard green soup with lard.

Chen Zhi ate to her heart's content, and her mood improved.

As she was about to leave, Xi Lang called out to her, "Take a few eggs with you."

"Why should I?" Chen Zhi was unhappy. From last night until now, she had saved her family four meals, and she felt that she had done right by them.

"Take the eggs back, and you won't get beaten up." Xi Lang took out a small hand-held basket and put twenty wild eggs into it.

"Too many." Chen Zhi took out six more, leaving fourteen.

Xi Lang's lips twitched slightly as he asked her, "What about the eagle? What are you planning to do with it?"

Chen Zhi blurted out, "Eat it."

Xi Lang shook his head. "We don't lack meat now, let's sell it. I went to town the day before yesterday and heard that someone was buying eagles."

"Who is it?" Chen Zhi leaned closer to Xi Lang and lowered her voice. "Personal trading is speculation."

Xi Lang: "Don't worry, nothing will happen."

Chen Zhi trusted him, "Then you handle it."

Xi Lang: "What do you want after you get the money?"

Chen Zhi thought about it seriously for a moment, then shook her head in frustration, "Forget it, if I bring anything back, I'll definitely be interrogated."

Xi Lang gave her a deep look. "Then I'll see what I can do."

Chen Zhi nodded. "I'm leaving."

When Chen Zhi got home, it was just getting dark, and the door was still open. She went inside with her basket slung over her shoulder.

"So you finally know how to come back!" Mother Chen arrived with a whip in her hand.

"I'm going to the mountains to find wild eggs." Chen Zhi placed the basket in front of her. "If you hit me, I'll smash the eggs."

When Chen's mother saw the eggs in the basket, she glared angrily.

When the others heard there were eggs, they all gathered around.

"Take these eggs to Xiaoli," Grandma said, looking at her eldest son. "Go quickly and come back while it's still dark."

The uncle was moved when he saw that his mother still cared about her daughter even though she had something good, and he agreed, "Sigh, I'll go right away."

"Grandpa, I don't want to eat eggs either." Chen Dongqing tugged at her uncle's trouser leg.

The uncle looked at his eldest grandson with a troubled expression. The aunt next to him picked up Chen Dongqing and coaxed him softly, "Sweetie, we're not in a rush, we'll eat it in a couple of days. Your aunt is sick and needs eggs to help her recover."

"No, I want to eat it tonight," Chen Dongqing said, throwing a tantrum.

"Mommy, I want to eat eggs too," my little niece Chen Meihua said in her sister-in-law's arms. The little girl was biting her finger, her big eyes full of longing.

The eldest sister-in-law touched her youngest daughter's face without saying a word.

Grandma frowned. "We've had plenty of meat at home these past few days, so don't even think about these few wild eggs. Eldest son, hurry back, Mom will save some food for you."

"Okay, I'll go right away."

The uncle took the basket from Chen Zhi's hand and strode out the door.

"Waaaaah, my egg—"

Chen Dongqing burst into tears.

When Chen Meihua saw her brother crying, she started crying too.

Chen Zhi: "......."

That basket is quite nice, please remember to bring it back to her.

Chen Zhi's tattered clothes were still hanging there forlornly. She went to bring them back to her room and then went to find a needle and thread.

There was no light in the room, so Chen Zhi sewed in the dark. The clothes had a long tear, and Chen Zhi sewed it up carefully, stitch by stitch. She used to find walking in a straight line difficult, but this time it felt as easy as drinking water.

"Where did you get those shoes?" Chen Ye asked as soon as he entered the room.

Everyone in the family was focused on the eggs, but she was different; she immediately noticed Chen Zhi's shoes. They were navy blue, not particularly pretty, but they had no patches, which was quite rare.

"What's it to you!" Chen Zhi said irritably.

"I'll tell Mom." A hint of jealousy flashed in Chen Ye's eyes; she herself didn't have a pair of unpatched shoes.

Chen Zhi didn't care, "Whatever."

Chen Ye not only told Chen's mother, but also Chen Mu.

Several people surrounded Chen Zhi, and before they could ask, Chen Zhi said, "Xi Lang saw that I was barefoot and gave me his outgrown shoes. If you have any objections, give me your shoes first, and then come and give me your opinions."

Chen Zhi never wore new shoes; she always wore Chen Ye and Chen Mu's hand-me-downs. But hand-me-downs were limited. Chen Ye and Chen Mu had grown up, their feet were fully formed, and their shoes were worn out; they hadn't given any to Chen Zhi.

"You're wearing a man's shoes. Have you thought about what people will say about you if word gets out? Don't you care about your reputation?" Chen's mother glared angrily at Chen Zhi.

Chen Zhi blinked. "Do I still have a reputation? Besides, if you didn't tell anyone, who would know? If someone does find out, it must be because you deliberately spread it."

"......"

After the clothes were sewn up, Chen Zhi tried them on and found that they were too tight, especially around the chest area. She was worried that the clothes would burst open.

"Mom, I've grown taller, and my clothes and pants are too small now," Chen Zhi said.

"How come she's grown taller again?" Mrs. Chen frowned. Only then did she notice that her youngest daughter had really grown taller. She used to be about the same height as her, but now she was half a head taller than her and even taller than her older sister.

Why grow so tall for no reason?

Making clothes uses a lot of fabric.

Mrs. Chen was not happy. "We'll just have to make do with what we have. We don't have any ration coupons or money. This year, we'll grow hemp on our private plot, and then we'll weave our own cloth."

"I won't get any new clothes," Chen Zhi knew her place.

Mrs. Chen couldn't hear the grievance in her words, "When the time comes, we'll just use an old piece of cloth to patch up your clothes and you can wear them again."

Chen Zhi pursed her lips, not at all surprised by what she said.

A new moon hangs high in the sky, stars twinkle, and the sounds of insects and frogs fill the air.

Xi Lang carried a basket on his back and hurried through the mountains. He was heading to the same mountain range that Chen Zhi had visited earlier that day. It was nighttime and no one was around; otherwise, seeing Xi Lang cross a mountain in less than two minutes would have certainly frightened them.

When Xi Lang arrived at Chen Zhiti's cave, he saw signs of trampling on the grass and trees, human footprints on the ground, as well as black bear paw prints and some bloodstains.

It's black bear blood!

That black bear must have been seriously injured.

Xi Lang's feelings were somewhat complicated. Chen Zhi had no idea that if she continued to fight Black Bear, she was 90% confident that she could defeat him.

Xi Lang continued into the mountains and found a black bear under a large tree. To be precise, he found a black bear with half of its body exposed to the air, while the other half of the bear's body had been swallowed by a giant python.

No, that's not right, it's not a giant python.

That's clearly a black dragon!

I can't believe this thing still exists these days!

Xi Lang was extremely surprised and even more glad that he had made the trip; otherwise, if someone else had encountered him, the outcome would likely have been dire.

"Spit out the black bear, it's not yours." Xi Lang conjured a heavy black iron sword out of thin air.

The black dragon ignored him and devoured the food even faster.

Xi Lang wasn't angry. "This is her prey. If you take her prey, then don't blame me for being impolite."

Dark clouds obscured the moon, the stars vanished, and the world changed color.

The mountains and forests shook violently, rocks tumbled down, vegetation was snapped in half, and dust billowed everywhere. At the center of the chaos, a human and a dragon fought fiercely, each determined to kill the other.

After a fierce battle of eight hundred rounds, the black dragon was no match for the enemy and turned to flee.

Xi Lang refused, and several talismans flew from his hands, transforming into cages to imprison the black dragon. Immediately afterwards, he threw out a lightning-summoning talisman, which attracted heavenly lightning to strike the black dragon.

Thunder roared, illuminating the darkness.

Chen Zhi turned over in bed and went back to sleep.

The black dragon had nowhere to escape under the heavenly lightning and was eventually charred black.

After the thunder subsided, Xi Lang approached the black dragon, cut open its belly, and took out its gall bladder and an unformed snake elixir. He placed the gall bladder in a jade bottle and the unformed snake elixir in a jade box.

Next, he took the jade bottle and collected the black dragon's essence blood, filling the bottle to the brim. He drank half of it on the spot. After swallowing half a bottle of essence blood, his pale face turned an eerie red.

With such a significant boost to his essence and blood, and given his mortal body's need to digest and absorb it, he'll likely experience another period of weakness.

With a wave of his hand, Xi Lang caused the black dragon's corpse to vanish from the spot.

The black dragon's skin and scales are valuable, its meat is highly nutritious, and its tendons and bones are excellent materials for creating magical artifacts. However, he doesn't have time right now and can only put them away for the time being.

Besides the black dragon, there was also the carcass of a black bear lying in the distance.

Xi Lang took the black bear's carcass before leaving the mountain.

Sandong Village belongs to Bayuan Town, also known as Bayuan Commune.

The night market under the Bayuan Bridge outside Bayuan Town was bustling with activity. Various goods were lined up in two rows, including industrial products and agricultural products, with a more complete selection than the town's supply and marketing cooperative.

No one was hawking their wares; everyone was speaking in hushed tones.

The black market organizer is named Shi Xin, and he has more than a dozen men under his command who are responsible for maintaining order in the black market.

Before Xi Lang even got close to the Bayuan Bridge, he was stopped by two burly men. "What are you doing here?"

Xi Lang: "I'm looking for your boss, Shi Xin."

The two burly men exchanged a glance. Could it be that they knew each other and could accurately call out their boss's name?

"What Shixin Stone Mortar? We don't have anyone like that here," one of the burly men said.

"I don't necessarily have to go to your boss. I have an eagle and a black bear, would you take them?" Apart from Shi Xin, no one in the black market could accept what he brought.

As far as he knew, Shi Xin's influence extended beyond Bayuan Town; he also held sway over the county.

Only then did the two burly men notice the large, dark object on Xi Lang's back. They turned on their flashlights, shone them for a second, then turned them off, their expressions filled with shock.

It really was a bear.

"Sixth Brother, you stay here and guard this place. I'll take him to find the Boss."

Shi Xin had more than a dozen tall subordinates, but he himself was only 1.7 meters tall, lean and wiry, with sharp, hawk-like eyes that gave people a strong sense of pressure. Most people did not dare to look Shi Xin in the eye, but this did not include Xi Lang.

Xi Lang put the black bear down and took out the eagle that Chen Zhi had hit.

Shi Xin glanced at the eagle. "I'll take the eagle. Same price as before, thirty yuan each."

Xi Lang nodded, indicating he had no objection.

"I'll take the black bear too. Should I pay by weight or a fixed price?"

No one has hunted black bears in this area for several years. This black bear on the ground weighs three or four hundred pounds, and its price is not low.

"How much are you offering?" Xi Lang was unsure of the black bear's price. If Shi Xin's offer was right, he would sell it. If not, he would keep it.

"If you want a ticket, it's 1.2 yuan per jin; if you don't want a ticket, it's 2 yuan per jin. If you want to sell the whole animal, I'll give you 500 yuan."

"The price is too low. The bear skin is intact, and the bear gallbladder is still there. The whole bear is only 600 yuan."