Chapter 5 - First Meeting

Su Yue was pulled back from the excitement by the system, and tentatively asked: "System, what is there in the mall?"

System: “The host needs to explore it by herself, but that cannot be done for the time being. The host needs to reach a certain number of points to be eligible to enter the mall.”

"Ah, so it’s like that." Su Yue’s enthusiasm burst like a balloon in an instant, "then how many points do I need to enter the mall?"

System: “The host must reach 20 points to enter the mall.”

Su Yue looked at the points panel in her mind, where a big number "4" could be seen, and couldn't help asking: "Then how are my points calculated? Why do I have four points now?"

The system explained: “This is judged based on how tasty is the food the host cooks. Food is divided into eight levels, from level S, to level A until level G. Among them, level S is the top level and can earn you one hundred points per meal. Level G is the worst, and only one point can be earned.

The host’s breakfast this morning won unanimous praise from everyone. According to the system’s food judging criteria, it belongs to G-level and earns one point. The host’s lunch at noon belongs to F-level and earns two points. Dinner was also G-level. One point, so a total of four points were earned today.”

Su Yue suddenly understood how the system operated.

But she still had a very important question: "System, besides earning points by cooking, can I get it through other means?"

The system denied: “No. The only way for this system to earn points is through food, and the host can only earn points by cooking various kinds of food herself.”

How did she feel that this was not a Good Luck System [1], but a Gourmet System?

Although she earned only four points after working hard for the day’s meals and it was still the worst grade, Su Yue didn’t feel so frustrated because she knew it was not a problem with her craftsmanship. It was really the case of a clever woman who could not cook without rice. If there was nothing to work with, she had no way of making top-quality dishes.

It seemed that in the future, she had to work hard to find opportunities to cook and strive to earn those 20 points as soon as possible, so she could enter the mall and see if there were any good things.

With such good expectations, Su Yue fell asleep in a daze.

However, when she slept up to the middle of the night, there was a sudden burst of pain in her stomach. Su Yue woke up from the stomachache and felt it carefully. It was not really in her stomach, but lower.

Lower belly?!

Su Yue remembered something and patted carefully underneath her, and sure enough, there was something warm coming out from below.

It was her eldest aunt who came, and so unexpectedly!

What made her even more distressed was that the original owner's body had dysmenorrhea, and the pain was too severe. She had never hurt like this in her previous life, and didn't expect it to change after crossing.

Su Yue had cold sweat from the cramp, but she gritted her teeth and got out of bed. She found clean underwear to put on, took out the crude version of the "toilet" prepared by the original and replaced them. Only after changing the sheets did she lay down again.

Her lower abdomen was still hurting. Su Yue felt so painful she couldn't sleep. Curling up on the bed, she didn't know how much time passed up until she heard the movements of other people in the yard after the sun came up.

After a while, Li Xiaoqing came to her room and knocked on the door, "Su Yue, why are you not up yet? Come have breakfast."

Su Yue endured the pain and got up from the bed to open the door. Before she even spoke, Li Xiaoqing said in surprise: "Su Yue, why are you so pale? Are you unwell?"

Su Yue clutched her stomach and said: "Sister Xiaoqing, my aunt is here, my stomach hurts so much that I can't walk."

Li Xiaoqing was also a woman, and when it came to this issue she also felt a lot of pain, so she understood her very well. She hurriedly said: "Then you can’t do today’s work. You won’t have any strength like this. You can rest at home and I will help you ask for leave."

Su Yue quickly thanked her.

Li Xiaoqing waved her hand to let her lie down and left.

Su Yue returned to the bed and continued to lie down for a while, but her stomach was so painful that she couldn't sleep. She had no choice but to get up, planning to make a brown sugar egg soup to drink. This would help relieve her pain.

As a result, when she opened the cabinet, there were only two eggs in it.

Su Yue thought for a while, took out the egg to make the brown sugar egg soup, drank it, then went to bed and covered herself. After a while, the throbbing really improved.

Feeling less painful, Su Yue took out a handkerchief from the bag she was carrying and opened it. It contained the only possessions of the original owner, twenty yuan in total.

After taking five yuan and putting it in her pocket, Su Yue took a basket, turned around, and left the house.

She wanted to exchange some eggs with the villagers. Anyway, at the moment eggs were considered nutritious things that could not be easily touched. She could use them to replenish the body and relieve hunger.

In addition, Su Yue had another very important purpose.

Su Yue asked the system in her heart as she walked: "System, do you know where Han Aiguo is?"

The system understood Su Yue's plan and asked: “Are you planning on exchanging eggs with him?”

Su Yue: "Bingo!"

The system immediately pointed Su Yue the way, so she quickly found the Han family according to the system's instructions. The door of the Han family was closed but unlatched, showing that there were people in the house.

Su Yue stepped forward to peek in from the door crack, but nothing could be seen, so she had to knock.

A strong male voice came from inside the door: "Who is it?"

Su Yue was excited from hearing this voice and her heart throbbed, thinking that this should be Han Aiguo.

Forcing herself to stay calm, Su Yue replied: "Hello, I am an educated youth here, can I exchange some eggs with your family?"

In this era, ordinary farmers were reluctant to eat chickens that laid eggs. They usually exchanged eggs for firewood, rice, oil, salt, or something else. If someone wanted to use money, they had to sell it secretly, so Su Yue thought there should be nothing wrong when she said to exchange it.

The person inside heard the words but didn’t speak for a long time. When Su Yue was about to say something, the male voice sounded again, "come in."

Su Yue paused, then stretched out her hand to adjust her clothes and smooth out her hair again. Feeling that it should be okay, she then opened the door and walked in.

As soon as she entered, she saw a man sitting under the eaves of the courtyard. He was weaving a bamboo basket, and had many more already done at his feet.

What caught Su Yue's attention most was that the man had a crutch by his side.

There was no doubt that this man was Han Aiguo.

At this time, Han Aiguo raised his head, and Su Yue saw his appearance clearly.

Wheat-colored skin and a heroic face. His facial features were not anything special, but the combination had a strange tough-guy flavor. That, together with the tall figure and the protruding muscles that couldn’t be disguised by loose clothes, made him seem like an upright man at first glance, giving people a great sense of security. The most special were his eyes. Deep and sharp as if they could see through people's hearts.

This man was not the beautiful and exquisite type, but Su Yue still smiled in her heart. His temperament and appearance were completely in line with the types she liked.

She liked strong guys and especially liked the tough-soldier-big-brother kind.

He was both.

Su Yue couldn't help but think of a sentence in her heart: I like everything about you.

At this moment, Su Yue was also relieved of the last trace of uncertainty about this mission. Since she came to this world for him, since the reason for her being here was him, and since he also met all of her expectations, then why not forget about the mission, and just like a young girl, aim for a good relationship and experience what love is?

While Su Yue was looking at Han Aiguo, Han Aiguo was also looking at Su Yue.

He was surprised that there would be such a beautiful girl in their village. This reminded him of when his sister-in-law and his mother had discussed the topic of the educated youths from the village. They said that there was a female educated youth in the village several times more beautiful than Ru Fang, the youngest girl from the third Han household in the village. Many young boys in the village had taken a fancy to her.

At that time, he just listened casually and didn't care. When he saw someone coming, he suddenly felt that this girl must be the one his sister-in-law and mother talked about. It seemed she was called Yue?

Sure enough, the next second, he heard the other party saying: "Hello, big brother, my name is Su Yue."

Su Yue's voice was sweet, and her smile even sweeter. The soft golden sunlight cast on her body made her skin more translucent. The beauty of the whole person was inconceivable.

Han Aiguo lowered his eyes, looking at the ground in front of Su Yue, and asked, "Are you going to change eggs?"

Su Yue nodded sweetly, "Yes, big brother, we don't have eggs or chickens at home. Can I use money to exchange for a little of yours?"

Fearing he would doubt her, Su Yue added: "Because everyone has gone to work, I went to several houses but I haven’t found anyone. Only your door was unlocked, so I took the liberty to come and disturb you."

Han Aiguo nodded when he heard the words and told her to wait. He then stood up, picked up the walking stick leaning against the wall, put it under his armpit, and limped towards the house.

Su Yue stared at his legs and found that white gauze could still be faintly seen on his right leg. So that was the injured leg. It seemed to be very difficult for him to walk. Thinking about it, from being injured, to treatment, to discharge, and finally retiring in his hometown, at least two or three months had passed. Even after so long, his leg was still like this. He must have hurt it really badly.

Medical technology in this era was still underdeveloped, so it was understandable that such a serious injury would be poorly treated. No wonder his original ending was so tragic.

But it didn’t matter. Now that she was here, he would definitely not become lame again.

After a while, Han Aiguo walked back again with his crutch, carrying a basket of eggs on his other hand, looking very full.

Su Yue was afraid that he could not lift it properly with the crutch and would let it fall down, so she put down her basket and rushed in front of him to help him carry it, "Big brother, give it to me, I will help you carry it."

Han Aiguo shook his head, avoiding her hand, "No need, I'll do it."

However, without meaning to, the hands of two people touched each other accidentally.

Han Aiguo avoided subconsciously, his body freezing, and he dared not even look at Su Yue.

Su Yue also discovered that this person's ears had gotten red without a sound.

Su Yue did not mind it so much. On the contrary, she found it funny to think that he had such a big reaction, like an innocent boy. He looked like he was well into his twenties, almost thirty, right? Could he be so innocent?

But thinking about it, people in this era were not so open when it came to getting along with the opposite sex. Han Aiguo had been a soldier in the army for so many years, a place full of big men, where females were rarely seen. Naturally there would be less contact with women, so it was normal to be more innocent.

Moreover, she didn't think there was anything wrong with innocence, on the contrary — it was great.

[1] I forgot to make a note about this. The system is actually a wangfu (旺夫) system which is... untranslatable. Wangfu, in very simple terms, is a combination of facial structures that people believed when present in females, could bring good luck to their husbands (the actual title of the novel is more like Life of a Wangfu in the '70s), so it’s not just a generic good luck system, but I think we were already clear on that.

About the pictures, I'll leave them in the text when they're self explanatory and at the end when there a bit of extra info~
Updates are (hopefully) on mondays and thursdays!