Chapter 148 Encountering Harassment from the Dark and Chubby Man Again

With a hundred-odd bills tucked into her pocket, Du Yun felt a renewed sense of confidence. She strolled around the town market, purchased a large cut of pork and a generous rack of ribs, stored them away in her spatial grid, and leisurely headed home.

"I haven't had ribs in ages. Should I make sweet and sour ribs, crispy fried ribs, braised ribs with soy sauce, or ribs stewed with string beans?" Du Yun pondered happily to herself, her mind cycling through the dish names she had once seen on restaurant menus, making her mouth water instantly.

"Lianhua River is so picturesque with bountiful food everywhere. It is simply wonderful!" Du Yun marveled as she walked. The ingredients were entirely natural and pollution-free; even the vegetables were exceptionally crisp and sweet, not to mention the meats, which only needed a simple boiling or stewing to release an irresistible aroma.

"Douzhi, Douzhi, can you search for a recipe for sweet and sour ribs?" After much consideration, Du Yun decided she shouldn't shortchange herself. She had a craving for something sweet and sour, so she might as well make sweet and sour ribs.

Back in the year 3016, Du Yun had lacked cooking experience. Although she had learned how to cook after arriving here, it was merely rough farmhouse fare, and she had never prepared ribs before. Figuring that neither her grandmother nor her mother would know how to cook such an intricate and delicious dish, she decided to ask Douzhi first.

"Let me search for it," Douzhi muttered. Seeing Du Yun buy so many ingredients, its usually unshakeable and unfazed little digital soul felt as though it had instantly taken ten thousand points of damage.

Douzhi, which had always prided itself on being an intelligent life form entirely indistinguishable from humans—and in some aspects far superior—was tasting defeat on certain matters for the very first time. For instance, it had no physical body, could not eat, and was completely incapable of tasting flavors.

"Well? How is it?" Du Yun waited expectantly. Before she could hear Douzhi's reply, she heard a flurry of shouts coming from behind her.

"Sister Du Yun! Sister Du Yun!" The voice sounded somewhat familiar. Du Yun halted her brisk pace, turned around, and saw that it was indeed an acquaintance.

The person approaching was none other than Dong Yuejin, the dark and chubby fellow.

"Sister Du Yun, you really walk fast!" Dong Yuejin panted heavily as he ran up to Du Yun's side. The weather was extremely hot, and sweat dripped continuously from his head. His naturally dark and heavy-set frame looked like a freshly steamed black bun, seemingly radiating heat all over.

"Is there something you need?" Du Yun looked at Dong Yuejin with a surge of annoyance in her heart. However, one does not hit a smiling person, so she suppressed her impatience and asked.

"Sister Du Yun, I... I have a gift for you!" Covered in sweat from running, Dong Yuejin swallowed hard as he looked at Du Yun's clean, pretty face. He fumbled to take off his most prized recent possession from his wrist, gritted his teeth, and handed it out to Du Yun.

"What are you doing?" Du Yun felt a slight wave of surprise upon seeing the electronic watch in Dong Yuejin's hand. She was intimately familiar with this item, having previously given three to the Zhang brothers and several others more recently. Was the electronic watch in Dong Yuejin's possession something native to Greenwild Star, or had it originated from her own hands?

"Have you never seen this thing before? It's an electronic watch!" Seeing the look of surprise on Du Yun's face and mistakenly assuming she didn't recognize the watch in his hand, the dark and chubby Dong Yuejin showed off with smug complacency.

"Look, this watch has numbers on it, so you can tell the time at a glance. Plus, you don't even need to wind it; it runs just from sunlight, which makes it super convenient. I had to spend sixty whole yuan to finally buy it from a peddler!" Dong Yuejin boasted proudly, holding his thick arm high to expose the black electronic watch directly to the sunlight so Du Yun could see it clearly.

"Oh? A peddler?" Du Yun wasn't the least bit curious about the electronic watch, but she was rather interested in how the two Zhang brothers had managed to sell them.

"Yeah, yeah! Didn't you know? There are plenty of good things in this world that aren't sold in our impoverished, remote countryside. There are people who specialize in peddling goods—they buy things in the city, mark up the prices, and sell them. That's what peddlers do." Seeing that Du Yun was interested, Dong Yuejin instantly grew excited.

To Dong Yuejin, the young girl Du Yun was pretty and educated, though she usually looked at people without ever meeting their eyes—far too aloof and difficult to trick. Unlike the little widows in the village, whom you could sleep with for the price of a yard or two of cloth. *Tsk tsk tsk...* Thinking of that bone-melting sensation, Dong Yuejin couldn't help breaking into a lewd grin.

Yet, the harder Du Yun was to get, the more interested Dong Yuejin became in her. He was even willing to offer a high bride price of three hundred yuan just to marry her and bring her home.

"A peddler!" Oblivious to the thief's gleam flickering in Dong Yuejin's eyes, Du Yun simply chewed over the term "peddler."

As far as Du Yun was concerned, she was essentially a peddler herself. She hauled zero-cost items over from the apocalyptic world, sold them here at high prices, and then gathered cheap, fresh vegetables and other goods from this side to take back to the endlessly starving folks in the apocalypse.

At this thought, another wave of warm emotion welled up inside Du Yun. Although she had already left the apocalyptic Blue Water Star, the upcoming Emperor Star would undoubtedly have far more wonderful treasures than Blue Water Star. When the time came, if she brought back a larger quantity of advanced yet affordable goods from Emperor Star, she might just embark on a broad and smooth path toward acquiring wealth and prosperity.

"Sister Du Yun, look! Don't you adore this electronic watch? If you marry me, I'll give you this electronic watch as part of your bride price. How about it?" Seeing Du Yun's delicate, fair little face flushed pink under the sunlight, Dong Yuejin found her more and more captivating. He was even willing to part with his newly acquired, cherished electronic watch for her.

"I am not marrying you! I'm leaving, stop bothering me!" Du Yun was in the middle of contemplating the grand matter of making a fortune when Dong Yuejin blocked her path, which irritated her. She waved her hand dismissively and turned to leave.

"Hey, hey, don't go!" Seeing Du Yun displeased, Dong Yuejin failed to realize the problem lay with himself. Glancing at Du Yun's slender waist and rosy lips, he felt as though a fire were burning in his chest. He swallowed hard and once again thrust the electronic watch right in front of Du Yun.

"If not as a bride price, that's fine too! If you like it that much, just accompany me to the cornfield for a little while, and this watch is yours!"

"What? Go to the cornfield for a little while?" Hearing this, Du Yun's pretty apricot-kernel eyes narrowed slightly before she cast a cold glance at Dong Yuejin.

"Yes, yes, yes! Just for a little while. Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know!" Thinking that things were finally moving forward, Dong Yuejin eagerly offered his guarantee.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go right now!" Du Yun gave Dong Yuejin a faint smile, her red lips parting slightly as she spoke.