The timeline system has gone awry; they insist that steamed buns are a magic pill.

"Great results! That's fantastic!"

Li Fugui clapped his hands excitedly, and Li Fuyuan rushed over as soon as he heard the results were out. "How did you do? What were your scores?"

"Uncle Fuyuan, Third Brother gets full marks, first place."

"Haha, I knew it! Good lad, I'll go get the fertilizer right now. This time, we absolutely can't afford to make any more mistakes."

Li Fuyuan called out to Li Guaizi, and the wooden-wheeled oxcart suddenly seemed quite imposing. "Make way, we need to get fertilizer; our team came in first place."

Goodness, the sound was like a loudspeaker, as if he was afraid no one would hear him.

"Uncle Fuyuan, don't forget to collect my reward, it has to be some meat tickets."

Li Qingqiu thought of the personal reward and didn't forget it. He didn't need fertilizer and didn't care much about it, but the personal reward was something that truly belonged to him.

"I won't forget it. I'll bring it to you in a bit. Hehe, this time I'm going to make you pay more compensation. We've suffered such a big loss, one meal isn't enough to make up for it."

Li Fuyuan's voice was so loud, it was as if he wanted to set up a loudspeaker. Li Qingqiu muttered to himself, "When we were in the brigade, I thought Uncle Fuyuan was quite dignified and composed. How come he changed so much after coming to the commune? Why is he so flamboyant? I'm definitely not as low-key as him. I got two first places in the exam, and he said nothing. Uncle Fuyuan is just a bit narrow-minded."

"Third Brother, why don't you go and collect your reward yourself?"

Li Qingmei was a little puzzled, but Li Qingqiu smiled. "That's the vision, that's the vision. If I went there, it would make it seem like I cared too much about that little prize. Besides, there's Uncle Fuyuan. Look how happy he is. He went there all the time and could try to get more rewards. After all, the brigade leader has more influence than me."

"Pfft."

Li Xianjing was amused by her third uncle's words. Her third uncle was really something. She suddenly realized that her third uncle was quite interesting. Although he was often unreliable, he could make people laugh with his words. When it came to a real competition, his strength was just right. Although he was a bit of a glutton, being a glutton was also a skill. The buns that her third uncle bought were better than those that others bought.

"Third brother, you..."

Li Qingmei initially looked down on Li Qingqiu, even harboring some disdain and resentment, as he was unreliable and always caused her mother worry. However, on this day, her third brother remembered her when he bought meat buns and also gave her the first gift when he bought Waiwai oil at the supply and marketing cooperative.

Li Qingmei was still very touched. Her third brother might have his shortcomings, but he always thought of her in some way.

The three of them thought they would have to wait a long time, but to their surprise, Li Fuyuan returned in no time.

He shouted from afar, his voice booming. "Hey, Sanzi, you have no idea, the prizes this time are terrifying! Look at this, two yuan is nothing, but what's this? Ten feet of cloth coupons, two jin of cotton coupons, two jin of meat coupons, two jin of non-staple food coupons, one jin of sugar coupons, and half a jin of soybean oil coupons."

Well, with that shout and the ticket he was waving, it was hard not to attract attention. Li Qingqiu was a little embarrassed at first, thinking it was no big deal, but he was shouting at the top of his lungs from ten or twenty meters away.

If the neighboring commune knew, they would think our commune didn't have anything good. But after hearing Li Fuyuan announce the prizes, Li Qingqiu was quite surprised. They were too generous. Two yuan was not much, but it was not a small amount either. But then there were cloth coupons, cotton coupons, meat coupons, non-staple food coupons, sugar coupons, and oil coupons. These were all scarce and valuable items. Giving so many of them at once was a big favor.

"What kind of prize is this?"

"Didn't you see that the one speaking is the brigade leader of Lijia'ao? It must be Li Qingqiu. He got full marks in both exams and won the first place. No wonder the commune gave so many rewards. We might have to ask him for help in the future."

"It's him! That's real skill, two perfect scores and first place."

Several families in the commune, waiting to receive their prizes and fertilizer, whispered among themselves, a hint of envy in their voices. These tickets were enough for a good New Year; most families couldn't even get that many tickets for the New Year.

"Sanzi, quickly put it away."

"Thank you, Uncle Fuyuan."

Li Qingqiu accepted it without hesitation. Li Qingmei and Li Xianjing stared wide-eyed. What a treasure! Not to mention the cotton, which was hard to come by, and the sugar coupons, which were quite valuable per pound. The food coupons were also very rare, and the meat coupons were not easy to obtain either. Not to mention the soybean oil.

[The host has gained the attention of Alliance Leader Guo of the Wanxiu Alliance, triggering the side quest "Thirty Years East of the River, Thirty Years West of the River"—Wanxiu Alliance's Fame, gaining +10 points]

[The host has gained the high attention of the patriarch of their cultivation clan, and has been promoted to a core disciple of the clan, gaining +5 points.]

Li Qingqiu was thrilled to have triggered two consecutive points rewards. Looking at the money and coupons in his hand, he was in a great mood. "Come on, little sister, Xianjing, let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative and see if they have any non-staple foods. Let's buy some and exchange our sugar, cotton, and cloth coupons."

Two yuan, plus one yuan won from the bet, three yuan, plus sixty-six cents on the storage shelf, three yuan and sixty-six cents, enough to buy a lot of things. "Uncle Fuyuan, let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative. When you're done packing, remember to turn around."

"Alright, alright, you can go ahead."

Li Fuyuan raised his voice slightly, as if afraid others wouldn't hear him. "We came in first place and got more than ten bags of fertilizer, five of which were Japanese flour sacks. These are good stuff; two bags can make a pair of pants. I'll get you two pairs later."

"My goodness, why are there so many fertilizers and flour sacks? Lijia'ao has really benefited from Li Qingqiu this time."

"Who can argue with that?"

"No wonder the captain is so proud; anyone would be."

Li Fuyuan felt even more pleased and smug as he listened to the whispers of the people around him. It was a pity that Old Zhang and Wang Dapao had run away early, not giving him a chance to show off. He would take the opportunity to make a pair of fertilizer pants and stroll around the Wangjiapo and Zhangjiazhai brigades.

Wang Dapao, Old Zhang, and Han Dabo felt envious and jealous. Li Fuyuan was even happier than if he had eaten rock candy. Li Qingqiu was even happier now, having already bought a pound of sugar. Li Qingmei's attempts to dissuade him were useless. "In this freezing weather, a cup of brown sugar water for each person is enough. Why keep any more?"

"Listen to me."

"And dried sesame seeds, you've all heard about them, right? We're lucky today, it's snowing heavily and nobody's out, otherwise you usually can't buy them. We bought two jin of them all." Li Qingqiu said, taking out his food coupons. "It's a pity the meat stalls closed early."

"Do you have any cotton?"

With ten feet of cloth ration coupons, he bought five feet to make cotton shoes. Li Qingqiu then bought two jin of cotton, one jin of which was a system reward coupon. "That's about enough."

Cloth, cotton, sugar, and dried sesame seeds; with the remaining money, I bought some hard candy to take to the children.

They were heading back to Lijia'ao soon. It was hard to say when they would have another chance to come to the commune. Li Qingqiu didn't hold back; he spent all the money he could. Li Qingmei counted on her fingers and realized that her third brother had probably spent four or five yuan that day, including the steamed buns.

"My goodness, if Mom finds out, she'll be in big trouble!" Li Qingmei didn't even want to think about it. "Little sister, you and Xianjing should each get some shoe uppers made. We bought plenty of fabric and cotton, so get a new pair of cotton shoes to wear."

"Thank you, Uncle San."

"Third Brother, I'll pass, I can still wear my cotton shoes."

"What's there to calculate? Here's the deal: I'll pay you for your work. I'm a grown man who can't make shoes, so you make me a pair, and I'll pay you the rest. Is that alright?" Li Qingmei didn't say anything more after Li Qingqiu said that. "Later, Third Brother, let me measure your feet."

"Okay."

Having bought everything and spent all his money, Li Qingqiu was happy and content. But when the oxcart arrived, he and his companions were dumbfounded. "What do we do? Can this old ox pull it?"

There was too much fertilizer, and with the snow already half a foot deep, the old ox was struggling to pull the wooden cart. The ox was really finding it hard to carry the load of fertilizer, which weighed over a thousand pounds. "Let's follow the oxcart," said the old ox. "Don't delay any longer, or it'll get dark."

"have to."

There's no other way but to do it this way. As for the shoes and pants, what to do when they get wet? There's no way to stay in the commune; we'd freeze to death tonight.

"Let's go."

"Oh, by the way, the fourth brother just brought over some food, saying he's taking it home to eat."

Li Fuyuan pointed to the lunchbox in the net bag, which Li Qingshi had asked him to bring; it must contain meat. "Fourth Brother rarely eats meat. I should have told him; we just had rabbit meat a few days ago."

"Alright, bring him some more rabbits if you catch them later."

The group followed the oxcart, braving the heavy snow, chatting and laughing as they made their way to Lijia'ao. They had to stop every now and then to push the cart. Despite the bumpy journey, they finally arrived at the Lijia'ao intersection before dark.

"We're finally here, but I'm exhausted."

Li Qingqiu rubbed his legs. The journey had been difficult. Half a foot of snow was hard to walk on, not to mention having to push the oxcart that had fallen into a ditch every now and then. It was exhausting.

"Uncle Fuyuan, let's head back now."

"Alright, go back now."

Li Fuyuan looked at the truckload of fertilizer and thought to himself, "Why don't I shout it out and let everyone in the village come out and take a look?"

"You're back! What did you do to make so much stuff?"

Han Caihua was carrying a wooden basin, presumably to wash things at the well. Li Fuyuan usually didn't like her, but he was quite happy this time. This loudspeaker was really active, not staying home in the snow, but out and about. "This is a competition of quotations, and we got first place. We got fifteen bags of fertilizer, but the whole commune only got fifty bags, and our brigade got almost half."

"My god, who has such great abilities? It must be Qinglian, right? I knew you were a promising kid." Han Caihua glanced disdainfully at Li Qingqiu and his family of three. "Unlike some people, who are all talk and no action, good at shirking their responsibilities but when it comes to actually doing something, their brains just shrink back."

Li Qingqiu didn't say anything, but Li Qinglian, who was praised, became embarrassed. "Sixth Aunt, this fertilizer was earned by Qingqiu, who got a perfect score in the competition. I don't have that ability."

"Who, Li Qingqiu, got a perfect score and ranked first?"

Han Caihua was immediately flustered, her eyes wide as she stared at Li Qingqiu. Li Qingmei, standing beside Li Qingqiu, looked at the dumbfounded Han Caihua with a smug expression. "Sixth Aunt, what's wrong? So happy you can't speak?"

"Impossible, Li Qingqiu wouldn't have such great abilities."

"Sixth Aunt, that's because you haven't studied enough. You should ask Uncle Xiucai. I borrowed the whole set of quotations and studied them thoroughly." Li Qingqiu was secretly delighted. Sixth Aunt, even you have your moments of being dumbfounded.

Sixth Aunt wanted to say something more, but seeing Li Fuyuan present, she didn't say much. Then Shi Lanhua's voice came over, "You're really back. Xianle just said you were back, but I didn't believe it."

"mom."

"Milk."

Shi Lanhua glanced around and wondered where the children had gotten all those things—carrying, holding, and hugging them. "Xiaomei, what are those things in your hands?"

Oh no, Li Qingqiu's heart sank. His mother was incredibly stingy; she planned everything for the family, big or small, and he was afraid he'd gotten himself into trouble by spending so recklessly.

"Thump."

"Ouch."

Hearing the sound, Li Qingqiu turned around and saw a girl who had fallen while carrying water. This didn't look like the production brigade. "Hmm, it must be the educated youth settlement," Li Qingqiu thought. "Perfect, I can find an excuse to help her. It would be easy to go back to the educated youth settlement. Besides, I can avoid Shi Lanhua's first wave of attacks and let my little sister take the lead."

"Little girl, come here, let me help you choose. I'm just helping out. When we get home, tell Mom nicely that you shouldn't make her angry."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Qingqiu picked up the water and started to walk away. He tripped and fell. Before the little girl could figure out what was going on, the water bucket was snatched away. Li Qingqiu was quick on his feet and had already run about ten meters in the blink of an eye.

"Third Brother, I..."

Li Qingmei couldn't help but shout, "Third Brother, you're too cunning! You gave me all these things. What am I supposed to say? You're so irresponsible, just running away like that!"

Li Qingqiu didn't care and just kept running. If he didn't run, Shi Lanhua would definitely beat him up. If he didn't run, his little sister would at most get a few scoldings for not advising him, and he wouldn't get beaten up.

Li Qingqiu knew Shi Lanhua's temper well; she could really hit someone when she was angry. It was wise to avoid her sharp edge.

The little girl followed, panting. "Hey, slow down, slow down..."

The little girl still doesn't understand what's going on, why she's being snatched from her water bucket.

After running for a while, Li Qingqiu glanced back and thankfully his mother hadn't caught up, finally letting out a sigh of relief. "You're one of the educated youth from the settlement, right?"

"yes."

The little girl looked up at Li Qingqiu, panting. To be honest, she was quite pretty, with a slightly chubby, round face and rosy cheeks. Li Qingqiu thought she looked like a child. She was quite tall, a little over 1.6 meters, which was considered a good height these days, especially for a girl.

"Why are you coming here to fetch water in this heavy snow?"

"The water tank is empty."

The girl glanced at Li Qingqiu discreetly. He was quite handsome, tall and slender.

"Are you the only one at the educated youth settlement?"

"There's one more, he'll be back in a bit."

The little girl seemed nervous, and helped pour the two half-buckets of water into the water tank. "Sit down for a moment, I'll pour you some water."

"Thanks."

As soon as Li Qingqiu sat down, he smelled the aroma of food. "It smells so good!"

"I cooked some vegetable porridge." The little girl pointed to a small stove in the corner.

No wonder.

Li Qingqiu thought to himself, "A small red clay stove, cooking vegetable porridge on a snowy day, life is not bad." He looked around the educated youth settlement, which consisted of three large thatched huts. The two bedrooms, one for men and one for women, were for the male and female educated youth respectively, and the main room was in the middle.

The vegetable porridge was cooking in the main room, and Li Qingqiu found it increasingly fragrant. "Did you make this?"

"Yes, I cooked it this afternoon, and it's just right now."

The little girl's eyes lit up when food was mentioned, and Li Qingqiu thought to himself, "She's a foodie; it's rare to see one like that these days." "Has everyone else gone home?"

"I'm going back."

At this point, she glanced nervously at Li Qingqiu, who immediately understood. "Don't worry, I, Li Qingqiu, am a good person."

"Your name is Li Qingqiu, the Li Qingqiu who fought tooth and nail for steamed buns?"

No, I, Li Qingqiu, have already achieved such greatness and my reputation is widespread. "Yes, actually, it's a misunderstanding."

"Oh, actually, the meat buns from the commune didn't taste very good."

Okay, the young girl sighed, feeling sorry for Li Qingqiu. Good grief, Li Qingqiu was a little confused. So that's what you mean. "Let's not talk about that. By the way, I still don't know your name?"

"Yoon Yi".

The young girl seemed to have found a kindred spirit, and spoke less reservedly and nervously than before. "Actually, the meat buns in the county aren't that great. To make really good buns, you need fresh and high-quality ingredients, the flour is also important, and most importantly, fermentation is the most crucial step..."

Good heavens, Li Qingqiu was stunned. This was a foodie! "How old are you, young lady? And what's your WeChat ID?" Li Qingqiu subconsciously thought. "You're making my mouth water."

"I was just saying."

Yin Yi sighed with some regret. "I don't have these ingredients now, so I can't make steamed buns."

"You're really good at this!"

"Of course, I know all of these, aren't I amazing?"

Yin Yi took two books, one was "Suiyuan Shidan" and the other was "A Comprehensive Guide to Snacks in the Beijing-Tianjin Area." Goodness, she's a real food connoisseur.

"Impressive." Li Qingqiu was genuinely impressed; such skill at such a young age.

"The congee is ready, would you like some?" Perhaps feeling she had said too much, Yin Yi was a little embarrassed, "I've kept you waiting!" She changed the subject.

"I can't accept this." It smells delicious; I was already a little hungry.

"I don't really have anything to thank you for helping me fetch water. I've been cooking this vegetable porridge all afternoon. Try it and see how it tastes." Yin Yi filled two bowls with vegetable porridge for Li Qingqiu. Li Qingqiu took the bowl, tasted it, and found it delicious.

"What did you add to make it so flavorful?"

"I added a little bit of dried scallops, but unfortunately we've almost finished the ones we brought from home."

Seafood! Li Qingqiu exclaimed in surprise. Yin Yixing added, "There are also some other seasonings. This pot of vegetable porridge is no ordinary dish; even the grains are very finely processed." "Where did you buy these grains? They're quite refined."

"I used a stone bowl to chip it away little by little."

Yin Yi said matter-of-factly, "It took me three or four days just to pound the rice for this vegetable porridge. Wild vegetables are especially hard to find. I managed to dig some up before the snow, and luckily they were still fresh. The other seasonings were all brought from home. Actually, it would have been even better if there were some sesame brittle."

"Brought from home?"

"Yes, my dad is a chef."

Yin Yi sipped her drink slowly, thoroughly enjoying it. Li Qingqiu thought to himself, "Li Qingqiu, Li Qingqiu, look at this! This is what delicious food looks like! You idiot, you're eating too coarsely."

After drinking a small bowl of vegetable porridge, Li Qingqiu had some ideas in mind. This Yin Yi was a good cook, so perhaps they could work together. In the future, if there were any good ingredients, they could ask her to cook them.

The two chatted, getting quite engrossed in their conversation. Li Qingqiu learned more about Yin Yi; she said she was eighteen years old and had been sent to the countryside after graduating from high school, almost half a year ago. "Hey, the female educated youth you mentioned, why hasn't she come back yet?"

Li Qingqiu estimated that it was getting late and just wanted to wait for the female educated youth to return before going back.

"Then, something might have happened to her."

Li Qingqiu was taken aback for a moment, then realized, "Oh, so you're wary of me. Looks like there's no one else like you." "I see. Okay then, it's getting late. Thank you for the congee. If I find any good ingredients later, could you help me prepare them? By the way, do you know how to prepare rat meat?"

"I do eat rat meat, but it's best not to. If you really want to eat it, you need to go through some procedures."

"I understand. I'll head back now. Make sure to lock the doors and windows. And I'm such a good person."

Li Qingqiu stood up with a smile. He had to admit, this girl was quite interesting and knew how to eat well.

Yin Yi saw Li Qingqiu out of the courtyard. It was indeed much darker now. Fortunately, the place wasn't far from the village's main road, and Li Qingqiu returned to the village in no time. "There's no sound from the courtyard. Mom and the others must be asleep."

He tiptoed into the room, and as soon as he lit a match, good heavens, he was startled. Shi Lanhua was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at him intently. "Mom, why aren't you sleeping? What are you doing in my room? You scared me half to death!"

"Serves you right for scaring me to death. I'll teach you to run, I'll teach you to run..."

Shi Lan Hua thought of dried sesame seeds and candy whenever she saw Li Qing Qiu, especially after learning from Li Qing Mei that Li Qing Qiu had spent four or five yuan that day, her heart ached with anger. "You spendthrift! You just got a little money and spent it all! You don't know how to manage a household at all. How old are you? Twenty-five! You're still so extravagant. Don't you think about what you'll do in the future? It's driving me crazy!" As she spoke, she slapped Li Qing Qiu on the back.

"Mom, I was just thinking of buying you some things to show my respect after winning the prize."

"Don't even mention filial piety, I can't accept that."

Shi Lanhua counted on her fingers, "What kind of cloth, cotton, candy, dried tofu, sesame oil, goodness! Li Qingmei, you're such a good sister!" If Li Qingmei knew that Li Qingqiu was talking about her, she would definitely argue back. But she couldn't help it; she dared not tell the old lady the truth.

"Keep the rest of the tickets with me, and take a pound of meat tickets too, so your fourth brother can use them when he comes over."

Li Qingqiu took out his last five feet of cloth, a pound of pork coupons, and half a pound of oil coupons.

"The rice is keeping warm in the pot. Eat it before you go to sleep. I've asked Xiaomei to put the cotton and cloth in her room. She can make you cotton shoes first."

"I know, Mom." Li Qingqiu came to the kitchen, lifted the lid of the pot, took out the ceramic bowl, and covered it up. In the large bowl were two small steamed buns, some pickled vegetables, two pieces of meat that the fourth brother had brought back, and a piece of dried tofu.

Li Qingqiu touched the cornbread, which was still warm. He realized that his mother had kept the fire burning and was waiting for him.

Although the vegetable porridge wasn't enough to fill me up, two more steamed buns would be just right.

Lying in bed after dinner, Li Qingqiu muttered, "What a waste. If I had known, I would have bought two cans of food and eaten them directly."

"And you, traitor, Li Qingmei."

Li Qingqiu snorted, but then he thought that the next ten days would be a paid vacation, so he didn't have to worry about cultivating the Lazy Eater Technique. He just needed to sign in and complete the task of killing the Blood-Eyed Demon Beast. He could also ask Yin Yi what good food was available in winter and try to get some.

This guy has a good chef, so let's not waste him. Li Qingqiu figured that based on the recent sign-in activity, he could usually get something like a skill card on the first sign-in, and then he would get something more substantial.

"Let's experiment again tomorrow. Also, we need to prepare for the extermination of the Blood-Eyed Demon Beast. Yin Yi might be able to lend a hand." Li Qingqiu thought that it would be better to have more people. Tomorrow, they should prepare the tools first, otherwise, they could catch all the rats by hand.

"What's going on so early in the morning?" Li Qingqiu had stayed up late yesterday planning his future, and wanted to sleep in longer today, but it was noisy outside early in the morning.

"Third Brother, open the door."

"What's wrong? What's going on?" Li Qingqiu opened the door and looked at the young woman who squeezed in carrying a bundle of items, her face full of confusion.

"Mom sent me. Third Brother, hurry up and tidy up. Aunt and the others are here. Mom wants you to take these things to the main room later." Li Qingmei pointed to the cloth, cotton, candy, dried incense, and the flower vouchers that Li Qingqiu gave Shilan yesterday on the bed.

"What does Mom mean?" Li Qingqiu was still a little confused after just waking up.

"Just showing off," Li Qingmei thought to herself. "Third brother, Mom has gone to great lengths for you."

"Hurry up, before they leave." Li Qingmei said as she ran back to the main room to continue helping her mother boast about her third brother's performance in yesterday's competition.

"This mother has certainly gone to great lengths for this unreliable son. Sigh, this is putting a lot of pressure on him to cultivate the Lazy Eater Technique later on." Li Qingqiu then waved his hand. "How can we cultivators be swayed by mere mortal emotions? Maintaining world peace still requires our efforts. However, to please the old lady, I'll reluctantly be high-profile this once. Sigh, I'm soft-hearted after all. I'll take out the Waiwai Oil along with it."