Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 1178 Spring Troubles
Kournikova skipped school early this morning and started cooking.

After breakfast, he lingered in the yard, making Da Ben think that Kournikova was going to take him up the mountain.

After hesitating for a long time, Kournikova finally made up her mind, found her grandmother, and pulled her back into the house, where they sat on either side of the kang table.

"Grandma, I'm all grown up now, and I don't want to owe so many favors; they're all debts. Actually, um, um, I have something to give to the other five continents."

With a flick of her hand, three items appeared before her: a medicinal herb, a longsword, and a golden ribbon.

Grandma was shocked because she recognized them all.

The medicinal material is a ginseng root, which must be over a thousand years old, and this root was just unearthed, not a dried ginseng.

The longsword has a scabbard, a golden scabbard, with the character "Xu" on it.

This is the sword of the founding ancestor of the Xu family in Zhongzhou, which has been lost for a century.

The golden ribbon was a royal gift to the Nangong family of Nanzhou, originally belonging to the family head, Nangong Feixue.

"Where did you come from?" Grandma asked.

"It's all shrouded in mist. There's no one in the mist, but there's a lot of miscellaneous stuff. Grandma, here's what I'm thinking: I'll prepare once a year, and these six can help me sell the goods, then exchange them for the medicine and money we need. What do you say, is that alright?" Kova said a little nervously.

Grandma didn't answer him. She glanced at Kournikova, feeling a pang of heartache and reluctance.

"Let me think about it some more." Grandma picked up Ugly Girl and left, taking all her things with her.

That afternoon, Grandma went out alone.

It was already evening when they returned, and Kournikova had already prepared the meal, of course, with the ingredients provided by the school.

Grandma brought back milk, both human milk and goat milk.

I warmed the milk first and fed it to Ugly Girl. The little one smiled the whole time she drank the milk.

Grandma didn't say anything, she ate her meal with Kova in silence, and after they finished eating, the two of them sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Grandma said seriously, "I shouldn't have agreed, I didn't want you to take risks, but you have to grow up eventually, you have to stand tall, so this is your starting point."

Grandma paused, giving Kournikova a deep look. "Don't trust anyone, including them, understand?"

“I laid down three rules with them: First, the transaction will be conducted once a year, with three items at a time; second, the transaction will be conducted on the day of the Beginning of Winter, as Baishan Town is located in the northwest and it is not easy to move around in winter, giving them time to recover from any eventuality; third, they must swear not to reveal their existence, and the transaction can only take place in this courtyard.”

Kournikova felt relieved. His grandmother had thought of everything; he understood the principle of living a quiet life in the city.

"What percentage will they get?" Kournikova suddenly asked.

Grandma rolled her eyes at him and said, "For them, money is secondary. What they get is more—it could be favors, promises, or other things."

Kournikova knew that this was the only way to handle the matter. He did this for one reason: he couldn't keep owing favors for no reason; in this world, what's hardest to repay is a favor.

In the following years, the transactions went smoothly for both parties, who were both satisfied and got what they needed.

This continued until this year, when Kournikova woke up late at night, lost in her memories.

He was very concerned about the bottleneck in martial arts, and he now had a little understanding of that world.

There is life over there, all sorts of ferocious beasts, but no humans. The city is called Border City. He's never been inside, but he's collected a large number of pills. Pills are found in villages, schools, and ancestral halls. These things don't exist on the Qian Yuan Continent, and there are no records of them. Some of those pills are effective, like the Rejuvenation Pill, which he fed to the ferocious beasts.

But Kournikova had never eaten it. He wasn't stupid; who knew if it was poisonous or not, or what the reaction would be after eating it? But he didn't throw it away; he just kept it all.

Today, he has money and medicinal herbs, he lacks nothing, it seems that what he lacks is self-improvement.

With a flick of his wrist, he produced a bronze mirror, which he had found in a village. It was meant for Ugly Girl, but he had forgotten about it today due to being too busy.

I went inside, placed the bronze mirror next to Niu Niu's pillow, and tucked the blanket around Grandma.

Seeing that the temperature inside the room was warm enough that no more fuel was needed, he blew out the oil lamp and went back inside.

It was late at night, and soon the snoring started.

The next day, a clear scream broke the morning.

"You brat, are you going crazy?" Grandma was jolted awake.

"Let's start the day with some good food!" Kournikova called out, getting dressed and getting out of bed. Just as she stepped out of the small house, she saw her grandmother with her long white hair, who glared at her and said, "Are you going crazy?!"

“Grandma, with your hair down, you have an aura of dominance,” Kournikova said without turning her head.

Ugly Girl got dressed quickly, then rushed out to wash up, and then sat on a small stool in front of the door to look in the mirror.

She was taking pictures when Grandma came out to wash up; she was taking pictures when Grandma went back to take the quilt out to air it; when Grandma went inside to get a rattan cane, preparing to beat the quilt, she stopped taking pictures and ran to the kitchen to find Kova.

"Why aren't you taking pictures anymore?" Kournikova asked with a smile.

The ugly girl leaned against the doorway, rolled her eyes at him, and replied, "Do you think I'm stupid?"

“Yes, you’re not stupid, you’re ugly,” Kournikova said.

"I'm not ugly, I'm stupid." The ugly girl realized something was wrong as soon as she finished speaking.

She turned around and ran off to her grandmother crying and complaining.

Crab meat xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), steamed pork with rice flour, bamboo fungus and asparagus soup, and egg and dragon beard noodles.

Kournikova thought it was perfect, placed it on a tray, took it to the main room, and arranged everything, including the bowls and chopsticks.

"Dinner's ready!" Kournikova called out.

"Just three people in such a tiny place, is it worth your shout?"

The ugly girl's laughter, "Giggle giggle," carried a sense of vengeful pleasure.

The three of them enjoyed a cozy breakfast, which would have been perfect if Ugly Girl hadn't said "less is more" at the end.

"Moo!" The Mercedes was urging Kournikova on.

"Be good at home, I'll bring you something delicious when I come back," Kournikova told Ugly Girl before leaving.

The ugly girl was taking a mirror out, but gave him a big smile.

Kournikova led the ox out of the courtyard gate, turned around and closed the gate, and the two of them walked out of the alley.

At the entrance of the alley, Li Daniu's house was closed. Kuwa didn't stop, turned right, passed through three alleys, and walked out of Baishan Town.

Kournikova climbed onto the back of the Mercedes and lay down, then he didn't care about anything else; it was Mercedes' time to shine.

She pulled out a book titled "The Way of Nature." That book seemed to be everywhere in that world, Kournikova thought; it was somewhat like an introductory text to enlightenment.

I recognize all the characters, but put them together, I still don't understand. I looked at the annotations, but even comparing them, I still didn't understand. I looked at the final comments... but I guess I'll just give up and go to sleep.

After a while, the cow stopped moving, and a young female warrior in a blue outfit squatted in front of it. Kournikova was still asleep!
The little heroine nudged Kournikova, and Kournikova woke up groggily.

"What's wrong?" Kournikova asked, surprised.

The little heroine said with a serious expression, "Why won't it eat the grass I feed it?"

"Maybe it only eats fresh food from the ground."

The little heroine continued, "I picked fresh grass, but it wouldn't eat it."

Kournikova replied helplessly, "Maybe it only eats what it can see, and it finds it fresh."

The young heroine plucked grass from the spot where the cow had just been eating and fed it to Daben, who immediately turned his head away.

"Look, it still won't eat."

Kournikova casually remarked, "It's afraid you'll poison it."

The little heroine paused for a moment, then burst into tears and ran away quite quickly.

Kournikova glanced at the car, slapped the Mercedes, and shouted, "Look what you've done! Will it kill you to eat a bite? Get out of here!"

The man and the ox ran incredibly fast.

(End of this chapter)