Chapter 33: Sleepless for Lack of Money

Ordinary roast chicken was quickly prepared, and when it was done, Yun Qing received another five points of crafting experience.
“Roast chicken, restores 50 fullness.” This time, not even a taste rating appeared. The roast chicken was still golden and fragrant, but Yun Qing instinctively knew it was not delicious.
Taste wasn’t important; what mattered was that Yun Qing had found another way to gain crafting experience. If she could become a cook at the relief station, that would be quite good.
Only five experience points for roasting a chicken seemed a bit meager, but the other cooks weren’t roasting chickens one by one—they were roasting them by the row.
As long as she was quick enough, Yun Qing believed she could roast a whole row at once. The system’s experience notification was clearly designed for just this kind of situation.
Holding the freshly roasted chicken, Yun Qing approached Aunt Liu and volunteered, “Aunt Liu, how about letting me stay here as a cook?”
Aunt Liu inspected her handiwork, set it down, and with a smile pointed to a pile of blackened, smoking ingredients. “Wonderful, Miss Yun, the relief station needs your help—please purify these.”
Purifying would cost her silver, and the experience gain wasn’t much. Yun Qing tried to argue, “Aunt Liu, I’d like to cook.”
Aunt Liu waved her hand, not giving her a chance to protest. “Miss Yun, we have enough people to cook ordinary food, and your skills aren’t quite there for higher-grade ingredients. Purifying ingredients is the most suitable job for you.”
Yun Qing stared helplessly at the heap of contaminated food and the retreating figure of Aunt Liu. With a resigned sigh, she accepted her fate and used her purification skill.
After using purification a few times, she discovered that the skill didn’t just cost her silver, but also a bit of her energy. She felt a little fatigued.
After a few more rounds of purification, Yun Qing noticed that the saplings in her cave farm had matured, and the three floorboards produced by the basic crafting machine were finished at some point.
Her room was right at the relief station, not far from the food storeroom. Yun Qing told Aunt Liu she’d return shortly, then headed back to her own room.
After closing the door behind her, Yun Qing willed herself into her cave abode.
There were 968 energy points remaining. Calculating quickly, Yun Qing realized that the basic crafting machine also required energy to make floorboards—about six points per board.
Standing before the basic crafting machine, she saw the floorboards were complete. Yun Qing silently commanded, “Harvest floorboards.”
Crafting experience +45;
Obtained floorboards x3;
Three floorboards appeared in her inventory.

Floorboards: Basic building material, can be placed directly on the foundation.
Not bad—it even awarded crafting experience.
With a thought, Yun Qing placed the floorboards onto the foundation, one after another. Previously, there were only two machines on the foundation; now, there were three new floorboards, each about a square meter in size. Three boards weren’t enough to finish the foundation.
The wooden floorboards were crudely made, pieced together from segments of timber. The surface had been roughly leveled, but much of the dark bark remained. The boards varied in size, and finger-wide gaps yawned between them.
They didn’t look very reliable. Worried, Yun Qing murmured, “Liuliu, can you really build a wooden house on floorboards like these? It feels like it could collapse at any moment.”
“Building materials can be reinforced. For now, you just need to solve the problem of having something rather than nothing.”
Still uneasy, Yun Qing tried moving one. It was possible, but only just. As Liuliu had said, each board seemed to weigh about four hundred catties, so perhaps they were solid after all.
After harvesting the floorboards, she turned to the trees. This time, she spent eight taels of silver to expand the farmland by eight plots—eighteen in total, enough for two trees. Why not expand by ten? Because she didn’t need that many yet and had to economize.
After planting the trees and instructing the machine to keep making floorboards, Yun Qing left her cave abode and returned to her post at the relief station to continue purifying food.
Each purification gave her some crafting experience but cost her one tael of silver, making her wince inside.
Several times, she wanted to tell Aunt Liu she couldn’t keep purifying, but when she saw Aunt Liu’s busy, exhausted figure and the many villagers who had lost loved ones or were wounded, Yun Qing forced herself to persist.
By the time she had used the purification skill thirty times at the relief station, she was down to twelve taels of silver. Of the fifty taels she’d earned at the slaughterhouse, only two taels remained—she was determined not to purify another item.
Her crafting experience and character level had both risen by one, but she was nearly out of money and utterly spent.
As Yun Qing’s level increased, her skills—like Dexterity, Strength, and Unyielding Will—slowed her energy consumption, but she’d spent over five hours at the slaughterhouse, then used the purification skill non-stop without rest. Now, at one or two in the morning, exhaustion finally caught up with her.
Rest was imperative; she also needed to save some silver for emergencies.
When Yun Qing, weary beyond words, finally found Aunt Liu, the woman was still busily working, with no intention of resting that night.
Yun Qing truly wished she could purify all the contaminated food for the station, but she simply didn’t have the funds.
She could never reveal her secret, but if she had enough silver and energy-restoring food, she’d gladly purify everything for free.
In the midst of her busyness, Aunt Liu glanced up at Yun Qing and said, “Miss Yun, thank you for your contribution. You look exhausted—go get some rest, and come help again when you’re recovered.”

Contribution! Though she’d expected it, Yun Qing still felt a bit frustrated. Clearly, there would be no reward. She was broke and didn’t want to work for free!
Dragging her tired body, Yun Qing collapsed onto her bed. After about two hours of sleep, the village’s clamor woke her. She felt somewhat refreshed.
Glancing out the window, she saw dawn breaking.
Her spirit had recovered a bit from sleep, but her silver had not.
She checked her cave abode: all the floorboards were done, the saplings had grown into half-mature trees, and soon they could be harvested.
She wanted to sleep more, but anxiety over money kept her awake. She had to think of a solution.
She couldn’t keep purifying food at the relief station. She needed to earn silver first, then return to help. Perhaps there was still work at the slaughterhouse.
Leaving her room, Yun Qing saw recruitment notices for a cleanup crew posted all over the village—offering triple wages.
Triple wages, paid according to work done.
“Liuliu, this job comes just in time for someone as short on silver as me.”
“You don’t have to work at the relief station. Join the cleanup crew instead. Even if you just purify a few things, you’ll get paid.”
When Yun Qing first arrived, she was nearly starving—only the relief station gave her food. Knowing she was injured and had to work the next day, Aunt Liu even gave her extra food to help her recover. Yun Qing could never repay that kindness.
“For now, this is the only way.”
After signing up for the cleanup crew, Yun Qing ran into her old hunting squad: Ye Mao, Ye Wenjing, Ye Xiaolang, Ye Hai, and Ye Tao—all were there, save for Ye Mingyu.
When Yun Qing arrived, Ye Xiaolang quirked his lips into a slight smile and said casually, “You’re here.”