Her Celestial Farm on the Scrapyard Planet novel Chapter 13

Chapter 13 A Fair Exchange

At Timothy’s feet sat a familiar, bulging sack made of ragged cloth.

He had clearly been terrified by Elizabeth’s murderous posture just moments earlier.

Elizabeth frowned, her expression still guarded. Although she lowered the hoe slightly, her vigilance fade. “Why are you here? Did you follow me?”

Timothy shook his head frantically, stammering as he explained, “No, I didn’t follow you. I have a go nose. I smelled my way here.”

Smelled his way here?

Several black lines practically slid down Elizabeth’s temple.

What was this supposed to mean?

Had she become some kind of walking beacon?

Was this kid part puppy?

She swallowed her urge to comment and kept her face stern. “What do you want from me?”

Privately, she wondered whether he thought helping them yesterday meant he could cling to her now.

Timothy raised his head timidly. Fear filled his eyes, but there was a flicker of hope as well.

He pointed to the sack at his feet, his voice barely louder than a whisper. “Miss, you said yesterday we could trade dirt lumps for liquid supplements. I looked all night and found a lot. I wanted to ask if you s want them.”

Hope shone in his eyes, mixed with fear of rejection.

“I do. Of course I do,” Elizabeth replied without hesitation, her tone firm. ‘Let me see them first.”

At her answer, delight burst across Timothy’s face.

He bent down awkwardly and carefully opened the mouth of the worn sack, revealing a jumble of dirt lumps in all shapes and sizes.

Elizabeth leaned over to look and felt her spirits soar.

The sack was filled with tubers. Aside from several potatoes in even worse condition than yesterday’s, there was actually a sweet potato among them.

Most were marred by rot and mold, looking more pitiful than anything she had seen before.

But to Elizabeth, they were seeds more precious than stellar coins.

She quickly counted them, did the math in her head, then looked up at Timothy, who was watching her anxiously. “I’ll take all of these. These 12, plus the two I credited you yesterday, make three liquid

Fi

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Chapter 13 A Fair Exchange

supplements. This different one is a new variety, so I’ll count it separately for another supplement. Ti four liquid supplements in total. How does that sound?”

Timothy looked so happy he nearly bounced on his toes.

Then he seemed to remember something and hurriedly waved his hands. “No, Miss. That’s only four. five. These should only trade for two supplements. The rest we can wait until we find five.”

He still remembered her rule from yesterday. Five for one. He didn’t want to take advantage.

That sense of honesty and restraint, preserved even at the edge of survival, pleased Elizabeth greatly.

She liked dealing with people who respected rules and understood limits.

But when she reached for the liquid supplements, she realized she only had one left.

Elizabeth hesitated, then said, “I only have one liquid supplement on me right now. I’ll give you that fi I’ll go to the recycling station later today and buy more, and then I’ll make up the other two. Is that oka

She expected hesitation or disappointment. Instead, Timothy nodded hard without the slightest pause

To children fighting just to stay alive, being able to trade unwanted, poisonous dirt lumps for precious food was already a miracle.

They never worried that someone willing to exchange liquid supplements for garbage would cheat ther

And even if Elizabeth never came back, they wouldn’t have lost anything. Those dirt lumps had never belonged to anyone in the first place.

Watching the boy accept the liquid supplement as though it were a priceless treasure, Elizabeth smiled and stored the sack of dirt lumps in her storage button.

For her, this was just as profitable a deal.

Perhaps because she was in a good mood, or perhaps to reward his honesty, she also gave him the last tw boiled potatoes. “Something tasty. Think of it as an interest.”

The moment the potatoes emerged from the storage button, their distinctive, tempting aroma spread through the air.

Timothy, crouched nearby, inhaled sharply. His eyes lit up as he instinctively leaned closer, drawn by the scent. “Miss, it smells so good. What is that?”

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