Chapter 14

She took a small night lamp out of her space and switched it on.

Now that she knew the exact location, searching became much easier. Very quickly, Xue Miaoyun spotted a hidden latch. With a gentle tug, she opened it.

It was a design similar to a cellar, though much smaller in size. Inside was a box, about a meter in both length and width. Looking at it, Xue Miaoyun found it oddly familiar.

She glanced at the locked box but made no move to open it on the spot. Instead, she directly stored it into her space, deciding to check it out later at home.

After confirming there was nothing else hidden there, she restored the ground to its original state and left.

The sea was still a place she needed to visit; she had already made arrangements for tomorrow’s fish trade. The fish in the space were not enough to meet the demand.

As dawn broke, Xue Miaoyun completed her business with the middleman and returned home with sixty yuan.

Lying in bed to rest, Xue Miaoyun reflected on how easy it was to make money. Of course, she knew this was thanks to her “golden finger”—her unique ability. Ordinary fishermen without modern fishing boats barely made any catches each day, or sometimes, none at all. Moreover, the current ban on buying and selling made life even harder.

But good days were ahead. Just a little longer to endure.

Xue Miaoyun took the money out from the space and counted it, feeling very satisfied. She returned the money to the space and noticed the box she had just acquired. She took it out.

The wood of the box looked solid. Xue Miaoyun wasn’t a wood expert, but she could tell it was good quality.

The lock on the box wasn’t big, and without using any tools, she simply tugged on it.

Click.

The lock fell open.

When she opened the box, Xue Miaoyun was astonished. The box was filled with shimmering treasures.

“Hiss!” Xue Miaoyun gasped in surprise.

Inside the box, half was filled with small yellow croakers and large yellow croakers. The other half contained various boxes. Xue Miaoyun opened one and found a pair of jade bracelets.

Wait, these bracelets seemed oddly familiar.

The box was familiar, and so were the bracelets. Even Xue Miaoyun, usually slow to notice things, realized something was off.

She dug deeper into the memories of the original owner. After thoroughly checking the contents of the box, she arrived at a shocking conclusion: these items belonged to the original owner’s family, and many of them were part of her mother’s dowry.

Yuan Lihua came from an impressive background. She was the daughter of an influential family in the capital, a true socialite. She met Xue Jianguo after she ran away from home to join the revolution.

Later, when the capital was liberated, the Yuan family discovered that their daughter was already married to a man with a promising future. Though initially reluctant, they accepted the marriage and gave her a generous dowry.

For a while, the Yuan family continued to prosper, but when the political movements began, the head of the family sensed danger ahead. Decisively, they donated most of their assets to the state and then left the country altogether.

As a married woman who already had a child, and with a husband serving in the military, Yuan Lihua naturally couldn’t leave with her family. But who would have thought that Xue Jianguo would sacrifice his life not long after, leaving behind a widow and a child to struggle for survival?

As for how her dowry ended up in the hands of the Song family—it was clear she hadn’t given it away willingly. Most likely, while hiding her valuables, the Song family discovered them. The original owner had no idea any of it even existed. From what Miaoyun could gather from her memories, her mother had realized the Song family knew about the treasures, but for her daughter’s safety, she couldn’t fight for them. She probably hoped that by leaving the dowry behind, the Song family would at least treat her daughter well.

That hope was clearly misplaced.

Miaoyun recalled how Li Dacui had once tested the original owner to see if she knew about the items. Once it was clear she didn’t, Li Dacui looked down on her and likely kept the treasures for herself. It seemed that now that the Song family had gotten what they wanted, they no longer cared about the orphaned girl.

Xue Miaoyun didn’t even know what to say. If the original owner’s family had been characters in a novel, they would have been the cannon fodder—existing only to give money and opportunities to the so-called main characters.

Tsk, she wondered if the two sons of the Song family knew about such a windfall.

Thinking of the two sons of the Song family, Xue Miaoyun couldn’t help but recall the original owner’s former fiancé.

“I almost forgot,” Xue Miaoyun smacked her forehead. She had been wondering what she’d left out—and now she remembered. The engagement token from the Song family still hadn’t been returned.

She didn’t care much about the broken engagement. After the breakup, she had been so busy exploring her golden finger and thinking about making money that she had almost forgotten about the family next door.

Xue Miaoyun went into the inner room and pulled out a photo from the drawer. It was from the original owner’s one-month celebration. Hanging around her neck was the so-called “token.”

[Ding, Dear user, the background system has completed calculation of your space key. Please check it now.]

Xue Miaoyun quickly checked the update and then looked at the photo again in disbelief.

That token—was actually the key to her golden finger. The key.

No way.

Xue Miaoyun hurriedly inquired with customer service.

[Ding, We are currently verifying the item for you, please wait a moment…]

[Ding, congratulations, dear user, that is indeed the key.]

Congratulations, my foot!

Xue Miaoyun didn’t want anything to do with the Song family, especially not with Song Zhuanguo. She almost wanted to strangle the customer service representative on the other end.

What should she do? She needed to get this thing back, but if they hid it, threw it away, or claimed it was lost, what would she do?

Maybe she needed to catch them off guard.

Xue Miaoyun couldn’t believe that customer service was this unreliable. Even her golden finger had flaws.

After some thought, Xue Miaoyun decided to visit the village secretary’s house.

“…Grandpa, that’s the engagement token. If it stays with the Song family, there will be no way to explain it if it ever comes to light. And that was the only memento my mother left me. I must get it back. It’s been so long, and the Song family hasn’t reacted at all. Do they want to keep my things? Was the engagement annulled or not?” Xue Miaoyun wiped her tears, feeling wronged and upset.

Xue Zhongshan was also angry. What was the Song family thinking? After all this time, they still hadn’t returned the engagement token. Were they planning to use it to threaten Miaoyun in the future?

“I’ll speak with the Song family and make sure they return it to you as soon as possible,” Xue Zhongshan promised.

“Thank you, Grandpa.” For now, that was the only thing she could do. It wasn’t convenient to travel far at the moment, and she needed some proof. It wasn’t as simple as just leaving when she felt like it.

Xue Miaoyun told Xue Zhongshan that if she could get it back, that would be great, but if not, she would go to the military to reclaim it, and Xue Zhongshan would probably support her.

She also asked customer service how the key would recognize its owner.

[…Blood can be used to recognize the owner.]

That simple? If it recognizes the owner, can it be undone?

[No, dear.]

I knew it would be like this.

Xue Miaoyun felt anxious. She didn’t want to expose her space, and even more so, she didn’t want the person to be the original owner’s former fiancé. It was enough to drive her crazy.

After waiting anxiously for more than a month, the Song family still showed no response. Xue Miaoyun was furious. She finally went to the Song family to make a scene and learned that the token was still with Song Zhuanguo. She couldn’t hold back anymore.

“…You’re going to find Song Zhuanguo?” Xue Zhongshan furrowed his brow. “It’s so far, and you’re going just to get that thing back?”

“Grandpa, if I don’t act decisively now, things will get worse. I should go in person. The engagement was between the two of us, and we should settle the annulment face to face.” As if! If she had a choice, she wouldn’t bother with anyone from the Song family.

Xue Zhongshan took a careful look at Xue Miaoyun, making sure she wasn’t still harboring feelings for Song Zhuanguo.

“Fine, if you insist on going, then go. I’ll give you a letter of proof.”

“Thank you, Grandpa.”