Qiao Mei suddenly realized that the post-energy exchange smell on her body was not as bad as before. Previously, when she did the energy exchange too many times, she would stink so badly that people would avoid her from afar. Although there was still some odor on her body now, it was much fainter than before.
Qiao Mei went to the kitchen to boil water and took a short bath before going to sleep. Lying on the brick bed, Qiao Mei kept feeling uneasy, so she slowly touched her belly. Although she was only a few months pregnant and she had not grown big yet, her belly was starting to look obvious.
“Babies, let’s go and find daddy together. Your father will definitely be fine,” Qiao Mei touched her belly and muttered softly.
The next morning, she got up early to look for Auntie Dong to go shopping with her in the county city. She pushed her bicycle to Auntie Dong’s house and saw Auntie Dong washing vegetables at home.
“Aiyo! Mei Mei is here. Why are you pushing the bicycle, where are you going?” Auntie Dong looked up and saw Qiao Mei when she was about to enter the courtyard.
“Auntie, can you bring me to the county city? I want to buy some fabric to make some clothes. My grandfather is worried about me going alone, so I have to come and trouble you,” Qiao Mei said.
“Aiyo! Of course it’s alright, it’s no trouble at all. Wait for me to change my clothes and I’ll bring you there!” Auntie Dong quickly wiped her wet hands on her clothes and went into the house to change into a clean set of clothes before leaving the house.
Auntie Dong rode the bicycle while Qiao Mei sat in the back. It did not take long for them to reach the county city. Qiao Mei first bought a few types of plain fabric and then some ready-made embroidery patterns. She knew how to embroider, but there was not enough time for her to make her own beautiful patterns from scratch.
Auntie Dong also bought some items and they returned home before noon. After saying goodbye to Auntie Dong, Qiao Mei hurriedly ran back home. First, she drew a few patterns on paper and then, she slowly made the clothes one by one. In two to three days, she made a few sets of maternity clothes and comfortable pants. After that, she intended to go to the mountains to do energy exchange for the remaining few days.
Ever since Qiao Mei discovered that she no longer emitted a stench after energy exchange, she did a few experiments and found out that plants like chestnuts and mushrooms, which were not too valuable, did not require much energy exchange to gather a big quantity. For precious plants like lingzhi and wild ginseng, which could only be chanced upon by luck, there was a higher level of energy exchange needed, which was purer and made the pendant look better.
Previously, the pendant was dark green and appeared dim, and there were still some cotton-like impurities in it. However, as Qiao Mei exchanged energy many times during this period of time, the color of the pendant became a brighter green and also looked more transparent. The impurities in the pendant also decreased a lot. This was all due to Qiao Mei’s efforts.
The pendant could also be upgraded and evolved. As long as one persisted in exchanging energy, one would be able to improve one’s ability after a certain number of times. In the past, Qiao Mei could only exchange energy with plants which were right under her nose, but she could currently communicate with plants within a ten-mile radius.
Qiao Mei spent all her time in the mountains every day. At the crack of dawn, she would prepare Qiao Qiang’s meal and then go up the mountain to exchange energy with the plants. She only returned when it was almost dark. Many people found that the trees in the mountains had grown especially dense recently and the leaves were also emerald green. Many people went into the mountains to take a look to see if they could find anything valuable.
Most people found a lot of wild lingzhi and wild ginseng. Of course, these were all relatively young ones that had just grown out. However, people still considered them to be very precious items. To Qiao Mei though, they had about the same value as weeds and wildflowers.
After a while, Qiao Mei felt that it was not a good idea for her to continue in the same manner. Due to her energy exchange, many plants reproduced more and they were all of very good quality. If this continued, everyone would be able to dig up wild ginseng and wild lingzhi. Then if they were to decide to dig them up to sell, the ecology of this mountain would probably be destroyed.
Recently, Qiao Mei did not go up that mountain anymore. She found a small cave in the mountain behind her house and cultivated a small piece of land where she planted all the small ginsengs she had picked from the mountains. She decided to carry out the energy exchange here as she felt that the effect should be much better than doing it outside alongside the other ordinary plants.