Two Realms: A cartload of rice arrived at the end of the Ming Dynasty

0009 Fairy Quilt

Modern time and space.

Zhu Shiting had just returned from teleporting back when he hurriedly went downstairs with his phone and car keys, intending to leave.

Li Yuan, who was washing dishes in the kitchen, heard the door open and shouted, "Shi Ting, where are you going in the middle of the night?"

"Mom! Zhou Peng and the others are calling me out for a late-night snack. I'll be back later."

Zhu Shiting pulled a few of his mother's close friends to take the blame, and in a flash, he drove away from his own courtyard and headed towards the night market in Qianyang Town.

Due to the numerous factories in the surrounding towns, there are approximately tens of thousands of migrant workers residing in the town.

At night, the streets along the river are lined with food stalls and night markets, people drink and play drinking games, and crowds of people stroll along the river, creating a lively and bustling atmosphere.

Zhu Shiting drove his rented old Nissan Sylphy through the bustling night market and parked the car in front of a Century Hualian Supermarket, which was also made of corrugated iron.

After entering the supermarket, Zhu Shiting grabbed a shopping cart and headed straight to the back of the store where bedding was sold.

"The cheapest spring and autumn quilt is 58 yuan?"

"This shouldn't be cotton."

Zhu Shiting picked out the cheapest quilt and glanced at the production label. Sure enough, the raw material column said 99% polyester fiber, which is what people online jokingly call textiles made from plastic bottles.

"This thing isn't breathable, but it's really warm to cover yourself with."

Zhu Shiting opened the packaging bag and reached out to touch the quilt fabric inside. It was smooth and soft, but upon closer inspection, it smelled of cheap industrial detergent.

Seeing this, he suddenly remembered that when he was in school, he lived in the school dormitory and seemed to have bought the cheapest kind of quilt. He had been using it for several years and there had never been any problems.

So they cleared out the shelves and moved more than a dozen quilts onto a handcart.

When I went to pay at the counter, the middle-aged supermarket owner specifically asked, "Brother, are you buying blankets for the workers? I have some cheaper ones, would you like them?"

As he spoke, the other person pointed to a pile of quilts filled with black garbage bags in the corner of the supermarket, saying that they had been recycled, washed and dried, and that each quilt would only cost 25 yuan.

"Recycling blankets?"

Zhu Shiting went over and took a look, and found that there were quite a few proper cotton quilts inside.

The town is filled with migrant workers coming and going, and every year a considerable number of daily necessities are recycled, cleaned, and resold in the market; the cheaper they are, the more people buy them.

Zhu Shiting felt that given the conditions in Jiyun Village, where people slept on straw mats, having a decent quilt was already a blessing.

As for the possibility that modern pathogens could cause a large-scale plague by the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was no need to worry under the ironclad rule of "all living things must die" transmitted by the jade pendant.

After some haggling with the supermarket owner, Zhu Shiting bought the entire pile of recycled quilts for 20 yuan each. Including the dozen or so plastic quilts he had before, he had a total of more than 80 quilts, spending less than 2,000 yuan.

When transporting the goods, Zhu Shiting didn't call Lalamove; he just used his old Nissan Sylphy to cramm them in. After unpacking and compressing them, he could transport about 30 beds per trip. He made three trips to and from the newly rented warehouse in Xie'ao Village, and it was all done in a little over half an hour.

However, just to be on the safe side, Zhu Shiting still checked the warehouse inside and out.

Once he was sure there weren't any surveillance cameras that could capture the inside of the warehouse, he circled the quilts and then teleported to the late Ming Dynasty era.

……

At this moment, Jiyun Village became exceptionally lively due to the sudden visit of the immortal.

Sun Lu arranged for the villagers to light a bonfire in the village, waiting for the immortal to descend to earth again.

To conserve energy and firewood, the more than one hundred people in the village usually go to bed early after dark.

As for entertainment and celebrations, apart from setting off firecrackers on New Year's Eve, the only other event is a bonfire when there is a big harvest such as a wild boar hunted in the mountains.

This time, in order to welcome that divine grandfather, the Sun family members showed the most devout attitude.

They even set up an offering table next to the campfire, on which were placed a few wild fruits, a piece of moldy cured meat, and a bowl of white rice in a broken bowl as offerings.

There was no incense to offer; the village was too poor to buy any. Instead, they lit a few pieces of unknown firewood and stuck them into the white rice.

"May the divine spirits bless our Sun family so that our injustice may be redressed soon!"

"May the village be free from disasters and illnesses, and may everyone have thin porridge to drink every day!"

"The divine being has appeared!"

Watching the clansmen pray and kowtow before the offering table, making all sorts of wishes, Sun Lu managed a relieved smile.

Just then, a noise came from the thatched hut.

"Miss Sun! Call a few people over to distribute the blankets."

As soon as Zhu Shiting's voice rang out, the men, women, and children in the village all stirred.

Upon hearing this, Sun Lu hurriedly got up and ran into the house, where she saw a pile of colorful quilts stacked at the feet of Zhu Shiting, who had returned again.

"Immortal...Immortal, were these immortal robes all bestowed upon us?" Sun Lu asked somewhat guiltily.

During the day, in exchange for those twelve bags of immortal rice, she had already offered the most valuable jade hairpin in the village to the other party.

These celestial quilts, woven from some unknown material and with such beautiful colors, are clearly celestial creations woven by the Weaver Girl of Heaven, and are certainly much more precious than those twelve bags of celestial rice.

Without valuable offerings, Sun Lu didn't know how to show her respect to this deity.

She worried that by constantly making demands, she might anger the deity and cause him to stop coming next time.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Shiting generously said, "It's a free gift for you to build. Go and distribute it. I have something to ask you later."

"Okay...okay! Immortal."

Sun Lu agreed hesitantly, and then Zhu Shiting suddenly stuffed a pink plastic blanket into her arms.

The moment Sun Lu got her hands on the plastic quilt, the soft, light touch, like a cloud, and the smooth, silky surface made her feel momentarily dazed.

"Is this the blanket the immortal used?"

"It's so light and soft, just like a cloud."

"And this cherry blossom pink color, what kind of pigment and dyeing process was used? It's truly a celestial quilt that only the Weaver Girl in heaven could weave."

Holding the plastic blanket, Sun Lu felt a warmth that dispelled the damp chill of the mountains. She suddenly remembered the state of the Sun family before their family fell into ruin.

The best quilt in her home was a silk quilt that her parents had prepared as part of her dowry. The quilt cover was made of Suzhou brocade, and the quilt filling was made of the finest cotton.

But whether you touch it or cover yourself with it, that silk quilt is far less comfortable than this fairy quilt.

If you smell it carefully, you can also smell a pleasant fragrance on this fairy quilt!

These magical items were bestowed upon them, these mountain people who had become outlaws, by the immortals without any compensation. This truly shattered her stereotype of those high and mighty immortals who only knew how to covet incense offerings and were oblivious to the suffering of the human world.

"Am I sure I'm not dreaming?"

"Is it truly a sign of Heaven's mercy upon the Sun family?"

"Don't let it be a dream, where everything vanishes when you wake up."

Sun Lu staggered out of the thatched hut, clutching her blanket. Looking at the clansmen guarding the door, she suddenly felt a mix of anxiety and uncertainty.