Chapter 154
Giving a child up for adoption isn’t as simple as finding a kind couple willing to take them in — you also have to provide material support. Especially in the primitive world, where people barely have enough to eat themselves, they really have no spare energy to raise a stranger’s child.
Fortunately, the shopping funds given this time were sufficient.
And the child was lucky, too — abandoned deep in the jungle, he even happened to stumble upon a rare herb. Otherwise, no matter how much he wanted to prepare supplies, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice.
“How do you plan to handle it?” Parsons appeared on Guanghua Street at top speed, pretending he just happened to be nearby. Not only did he come in person, he even brought a set of limited-edition children’s comics that Jiang Jitang couldn’t refuse.
A soft, squishy little blue mushroom squatted on his head, looking left and right, wanting someone to play with it — but the two work-brained dads were paying it no attention.
“Mushroom.”
The little mushroom felt wronged.
Mushroom would not speak.
“I think… we need to find a large and prosperous tribe. Then, we need plenty of witnesses, to see me hand over the child and enough supplies for him to grow up to his adoptive parents. The supplies also need to include livestock for breeding and fruit trees for planting.”
“No matter how many precious items you prepare, they’ll eventually run out. And once they run out, will they still take good care of this child? I can’t gamble on human nature.”
Jiang Jitang always prepared for the worst. A moon-child wasn’t like an ordinary child — raising one required more detail, more time, more effort, more resources.
He was already thinking: if the adoptive parents weren’t reliable, or halfway through raising the child they changed their minds, how would he ensure the child survived safely to age sixteen?
The simpler and smaller a group was, the more closed-off and xenophobic it tended to be. So Jiang Jitang’s target was a large multi-racial tribe — a fusion tribe.
Then, use money to pave the way.
“No matter if it’s Blue Star or the primitive world, following the basic principles of civilization, the place with the most concentrated tribes must be near a water source, suitable for life, and abundant in food.” Jiang Jitang pulled up the background introduction from the task details to analyze.
“I can prepare some fruit trees suitable for temperate climates, and easy-to-raise livestock. Also, I need the tribe to value him and check on him often. So I need to send a grand gift — bronze ware.”
At this, he smiled at Parsons: “I tricked you into coming again, didn’t I? This time we’re not going for a vacation — we’re doing physical labor. Digging holes, planting trees, building a coop — we have to do it all.”
Parsons said nothing, only looking at him with those gentle green eyes.
That made Jiang Jitang a little embarrassed. He rubbed his nose and continued with his plan:
“And we have to prepare something to block the light for the child.
“Actually, sunglasses that block UV are ideal, but that tech can’t be brought over. I can only prepare tinted glasses. Even if they can’t block UV, at least they can shade a bit of sunlight.”
He had been extremely disappointed when he discovered that natural materials couldn’t make UV-blocking lenses. With that, dark lenses became somewhat useless — could bring them, or not.
After hesitating for a long time, he decided to bring two pairs anyway.
What if they came in handy?
“I wonder if I can polish two pieces of natural black crystal to use as lenses. But black crystal that big is rare and expensive.” He previously thought of using obsidian since obsidian is natural glass, but the transparency was too poor. After thinking it over, crystal was better.
“You can use smoky quartz,” Parsons suggested — he actually owned a pair of natural smoky-quartz glasses.
“Oh right, smoky quartz is abundant and easy to find in large pieces. There’s even a gift shop in the east side that once sold ‘natural gemstone glasses,’ including smoky quartz. Even if still pricey, it’s cheaper than custom-made.” Jiang Jitang immediately wrote it down in his notebook along with other ideas.
During execution, some ideas would be discarded, some simplified, some optimized.
Parsons noticed that the thick notebook had already been filled halfway — a few millimeters more than the last time he saw it.
His best friend had always been like this — good at recording, summarizing, and reflecting, always improving bit by bit.
He then thought of his Seek-Mystery teammates, who only summarized and extracted lessons when he pushed them, fixing mistakes and enhancing strengths.
…A little annoying.
“Last time you said all task items must be tech from before 1000 BC — can glasses be used?” Even though he believed his best friend wouldn’t forget such a key point, Parsons still had to ask.
“Glasses first appeared around 700 BC in Neo-Assyrian civilization, so theoretically they can’t be used as task items. So my plan is to create a mask and inlay the crystal lenses onto it as decorations. Gem-decorated masks make perfect sense, right? Masks have existed for several thousand years.”
Parsons had no words — his friend indeed knew how to exploit loopholes.
Jiang Jitang was a man of action. Once he more or less settled on what to buy, he pulled Parsons along to shop. The east-side gift shop still had some unsold gemstone glasses, but only smoky quartz and clear quartz lenses were left.
He chose two of the darkest smoky-quartz lenses — nearly as dark as sunglasses — totaling 700 yuan. The shop also sold beautiful masks, so he picked two wooden-bone masks covered with silk and leather, tying above the nose area.
Masks + lenses = 800 yuan.
“When we get back, we still need to modify them — embed the lenses, fix them with natural resin. Hiss… it might look a little ugly.” Jiang Jitang refused to imagine what a mask with two giant fly-eyed lenses would look like. Definitely not attractive.
“Glasses done. Now let’s buy fruit trees! And some chickens.” He drove through a black portal and arrived in the north.
According to system information, the child’s area belonged to a warm-temperate climate, suitable for apples and pears. But Jin City was subtropical, so such trees only existed in special greenhouses and were expensive.
He didn’t want the task-giver to take that loss; better to buy directly from northern orchards.
The place was unfamiliar, but that didn’t matter — roads grew from the mouth.
With his charming face and honey-sweet speech, he bought three dwarf apple saplings, three pear saplings, three persimmon saplings — nine saplings total, over one meter tall, soil-clumped, capable of fruiting that year. Total: 1400 yuan.
Just enough to improve life, but not enough to incite greed.
The orchard also raised chickens — native chickens wandering around half-free-range. He bought ten young chickens, two male eight female, four-pound birds, 100 yuan each — 1000 yuan total.
Because he bought so much, the orchard owner happily gave him a basket of eggs, a dozen apples and pears, and two bags of homemade chicken feed made from corn and mealworms.
“What next?”
“Buy a house.”
“Huh?”
Jiang Jitang didn’t explain, just drove through another portal back to Jin City. As his wish-stars increased, his abilities strengthened — now he could travel twice a day.
Parsons later discovered that “buy a house” meant purchasing a second-hand garden shed — a tool hut.
The recycling-station boss seemed to know him well. They had already chatted on the phone earlier; since Jiang Jitang had many requirements, the boss had complained:
“You want one with no nails and traditional ‘log-cabin stacking’? Where do I get that? Had to bring one in from someone else.”
The so-called “stacked log structure” used wooden beams layered in a criss-cross stack to form walls. Compared to frame structures, stacked logs were simpler, sometimes used in small garden sheds.
Honestly, if it were anyone else, the boss wouldn’t have put in the effort. How much money could one shed earn? Only because it was Jiang Jitang — an old friend — did he bother.
Jiang Jitang knew he’d caused trouble, so he smiled and handed him a bag of apples. “Thanks for the trouble! Here, fresh from the orchard — not waxed.”
“These are sweet.” The boss was instantly appeased.
“Of course — naturally ripened, not picked early to ripen later.”
Jiang Jitang went to inspect the shed. It was built with mixed wood boards, no windows, just a flimsy door, about three square meters.
He tore off the waterproof covering, removed the only metal parts from the door, inserted small wooden pegs to replace them, carved grooves into the threshold and frame, and fitted the door back.
The boss munched apples and commented, “Not bad craftsmanship. But this wood isn’t very durable. Mixed wood.”
“We’ll worry about that later. Have to trust the wisdom of our ancestors.”
“Ancestors?” The boss didn’t get it but didn’t insist. “This shed has changed hands multiple times, paint worn off, but still decent. I’ll give you a cheaper price — 580 yuan. How about it?”
“Deal.” Profit on this wasn’t much; no need to squeeze the boss.
The boss froze mid-chew. “You’re… not bargaining?” In all his years dealing with Jiang Jitang, not once had he skipped haggling. This felt unnatural.
Jiang Jitang sighed and pointed at a pile of bamboo poles in the corner: “Throw those in too. Nobody wants bamboo tubes for charcoal anyway.”
“What do you mean nobody wants them? You can use them to fence a garden!”
Though he complained, his expression relaxed — right, that’s more like the stingy kid I know.
“Fine, take them. But next time no more discounts. And… who’s this?” He pointed at Parsons, whose presence drastically raised the room’s class level.
This handsome foreigner looked less like a bargain hunter and more like someone buying the whole property.
Jiang Jitang blinked — the boss hadn’t met Parsons; last time was a different station.
“Parsons. My best friend.” He stood on tiptoe and looped an arm around Parsons’ neck.
Parsons leaned toward him and nodded politely at the boss.
The boss stiffly returned the smile.
For 580 yuan, Jiang Jitang took away a shed and a bundle of bamboo.
“This is for the chickens. Time is tight, so building one onsite is impossible. Buying a ready-made shed is faster. Honestly, I didn’t expect to find one without nails — lucky day.” He hummed happily.
“You’ve known the boss for a long time?”
“A few years. I’ve skimmed plenty of bargains from him.”
This was already the second recycling boss who treated Jiang Jitang like an old friend.
If not for lack of money, would he still be buying second-hand and doing DIY? Yet even under limited conditions, he lived well — even forming cross-generational friendships with recycling bosses.
I couldn’t do that, Parsons thought, staring blankly at him.
After that, they went to the farmer’s market and bought 200 catties of wheat at 3.8 per kilo — 380 yuan. The warm-temperate region could grow wheat, so it was likely their staple. Bringing something else would cause trouble figuring out how to cook it.
Twenty catties of brown sugar — 90 yuan. At that price, you couldn’t expect top quality. He checked — only tiny bits of cane fiber mixed in; taste wouldn’t be affected.
Ten catties of cured sausage — 119 yuan. Last time he overpaid for smoked pork; this time he picked fatty salty sausages, probably with some starch. But at that price, who’s picky?
Next, 100 catties of salt — 32 yuan.
Let it be said again: he loved industrial society!
Various clay jars and pots — 160 yuan.
Cotton and linen cloth, plus two thick quilts — 590 yuan.
From 6000 yuan shopping money plus 600 yuan gift funds, after expenses, 1449 yuan remained. Jiang Jitang tapped his mental abacus, thinking how to allocate it.
“I want the big tribe’s leaders to look after the child, so I definitely need a valuable gift.
“But we saw at the wedding: primitive tribes have rules. What level of tribe may own what level of treasure. If something exceeds their ability to protect, it brings misfortune.
“So it can’t be too good, and it can’t be too cheap. It has to be something they genuinely like and use often, something that reminds them — every time they see it — that it is a gift for raising that child.”
His fingers tapped the steering wheel — thump, thump.
“I think that little lion’s bronze sword is perfect. And with the remaining money, I’ll buy some private gifts for the adoptive parents.”
Dream Delivery System: My Delivery Jobs Keep Changing History
