Chapter 8 Work Points

The things inside the space were just beginning to be explored. It seemed a long way off for Tianye to become wealthy, so for now, occasional improvements to life were the best she could hope for.

As a side benefit, she could mine and chop trees in the space, and Tianye's strength was increasing as a result.

Sometimes Tianye found it a bit strange that she could easily move rocks bigger than herself. She was worried that this ability might be related to her crossing over to this world, or perhaps it was something inherent to Tianye herself. She was determined to keep this secret to herself.

So whenever Captain Tang tried to coax her, Tianye didn't dare to speak up. There were too many concerns. Fortunately, Captain Tang always talked about Tianye's father, which reassured Tianye.

When Tianye first arrived in the space, it was empty and showed no signs of human activity. She thought that perhaps the benefits she found in the space were brought over by herself.

After putting the rice in the storage room, Tianye continued her daily work of mining in the space. As the weather got hotter, she wanted to mine more ore and expand the storage room.

She also planned to gradually replace the wooden fences with stones, but that wasn't urgent and could be done slowly.

After about an hour, Tianye carried a few tender corn cobs and two stools she had made in the workshop out of the space. She threw the wooden boards into the stove and put the corn cobs in the pot for tomorrow's breakfast.

Tianye estimated that it was not yet ten o'clock. Without television, nightlife, or even enough light, she was grateful for the space to pass the time. Otherwise, the long nights would have been very lonely.

The next morning, Tianye took out the corn cobs from the pot and sat on the stool she had brought from the space, enjoying her breakfast. Life was starting to look up.

In a while, when she set up the breeding farm in the space, she might even be able to eat meat.

Tianye mixed a kind of brown grass seed powder she found in the space with the water used to cook the corn cobs. She usually used this to cover her face when she went out.

After carefully applying it to her exposed skin, her tender red face immediately turned pale and unattractive. Even her delicate eyebrows looked flat against her skin, making Tianye not want to look at herself. With this appearance, no one would want to look at her twice.

This substance had the effect of moisturizing and sun protection. If used at night, it could also be a night mask, but for Tianye, it could only be used during the day. Its purpose was to moisturize, protect from the sun, and even ward off unwanted attention.

Looking at herself in the water basin, Tianye deliberately combed her hair a bit. She couldn't let anyone say she looked like she had a bird's nest on her head. That would be too hurtful for a woman.

But overall, she still looked unimpressive.

Tianye sighed, lamenting the good times she had missed out on due to her circumstances and age. She had to hide her good looks and figure.

After finishing her preparations, she reluctantly put on the cotton clothes she had worn the day before, picked up the water bucket, locked the door, and went to work in the fields. It just so happened that the bell for the start of work in the village rang.

In the village, the captain assigned work every morning. Heavy and tiring tasks were rotated among the villagers, so no one could complain about unfair treatment. Captain Tang was well-regarded in the village for this reason.

It was said that Captain Tang was fair and generous in assigning tasks.

Ignoring the women around her who were covering their noses and showing disdain, Tianye squeezed her way to the center of the crowd to listen to Captain Tang's task assignments. Men earned more by watering the fields, while women mostly did lighter tasks, but the pay was not much.

Today, Mrs. Niu was assigned to water the fields with the men.

Tianye secretly enjoyed the show, thinking, "Serves you right for being so arrogant, Mrs. Niu. You thought you could bully me because I don't have anyone to protect me."

Mrs. Niu was not happy and challenged Captain Tang in front of everyone, "Captain, my husband watered the fields yesterday, so why is he doing it again today? Besides, as a woman, I don't have the strength to water the fields."

Captain Tang, with his pipe in his mouth, calmly responded, "Mrs. Niu, what you said is not right. Although watering the fields is tiring, it's a full day's work, and we also provide lunch at noon. Even for a woman, you still get eight points. If you hadn't said a few days ago that your family was struggling to make ends meet and needed to earn more points, I wouldn't have discussed this task with everyone. You can't just refuse to do the work after agreeing to it. What kind of attitude is that?"

Mrs. Niu, who was usually quick-tempered, couldn't remember if she had complained before. She was embarrassed by Captain Tang's words.

After a day of watering the fields, her shoulders were bruised, and she only earned one or two extra points compared to others. Mrs. Niu couldn't be happy about that. She looked around and then confronted Captain Tang, "Our family doesn't need these few points. I can't do this work. Captain, please assign me a different task."

Captain Tang's face darkened. He scolded her in front of everyone, "In our village, we don't tolerate weak people. Women can also handle their share of work. If others can do it, why can't you? Do you think the village belongs to your family? You have the final say? This is unacceptable."

When Captain Tian said this, he wasn't speaking to Mrs. Niu, but was staring at her husband, Mr. Niu.

Before Mrs. Niu could say anything else, her husband stopped her, "Say a few words less. It's only for a couple of days. I've endured hardship, why do you act so precious?"

Mr. Niu felt embarrassed, and the captain practically pointed at him and said that his wife was in charge at home.

Mrs. Niu's face turned pale, although she was unwilling, she didn't say anything more. Everyone in the village was laughing at her, and she still wanted to save face. If provoked, Mr. Niu wouldn't hesitate to use his shoe sole.

The women in the village were secretly enjoying the show, and some even made snide remarks. Not a single person offered Mrs. Niu a way out, showing that she was not well-liked in the village.

Captain Tian didn't want to appear harsh, so he quickly changed his tone, "Brother Niu, if your sister-in-law doesn't want to do this work, we can rearrange it tomorrow. Since the work for today is already set, it can't be changed. In the future, your sister-in-law should be more mindful of her words. Our village is friendly, but we can't tolerate too much trouble. Isn't this embarrassing for me? Fortunately, it's only for a couple of days, and our fields will all be watered. We can rest for a few days."

Mr. Niu usually didn't speak much, but when he did, his words carried weight, "The women in our family are always chattering. Captain, don't argue with them. Our family is short of food, so earning a little extra is good. It can save us a couple of meals. We'll do this work."

Mrs. Niu looked grim and wanted to speak, but Mr. Niu's cold gaze stopped her.

Mrs. Niu wished she could sit down and cry. How could she bear the burden of carrying water? This was men's work. She cursed silently, resenting Captain Tian.

For the first time, she hoped for rain to come soon. Then she wouldn't have to continue carrying water.