Chapter 4 Space

Li Aimei said with a regretful expression, trying to persuade her. 

Although Lin Yiwan looked delicate, she wasn’t at all pampered.  Not only was she efficient at work, but she also smiled at everyone.

Having such a beautiful woman in the office made the place feel brighter. She genuinely didn’t want her to leave. 

Others, upon hearing this, also persuaded her to reconsider, warning her not to be fooled.

Lin Yiwan felt a surge of emotion.  In her previous life, they had also persuaded her, even getting others from different offices to join in.

They urged her not to be impulsive, not to give up her job and go to the countryside. But she had been blinded by Song Huaiqing’s words, believing that as a university graduate, she could easily return to the city with her abilities. 

As a result, she spent nearly ten years in the countryside before returning to the city.

Her eyes were red and slightly sore. Lin Yiwan forced a wry smile.  “I don’t want to give up my job either.

It wasn’t easy for me to get into university, but my aunt says my sister is frail and can’t go to the countryside, so she asked me to give her my job. My father also…”

Partially covering her face, her voice carried a hint of grievance and confusion, making others feel sympathetic. 

Although she didn’t finish her sentence, people are prone to filling in the blanks, quickly imagining a family drama involving a stepmother and stepfather.

Lin Yiwan was the pitiful girl forced by her father and stepmother to give up her job to her stepsister.

“Yiwan, tell Sister Li, did your father and stepmother force you?” Li Aimei, a righteous woman, couldn’t bear to see someone bully such a vulnerable young girl who had lost her mother.

Hearing this, Lin Yiwan’s eyes became even redder. Her lips moved, as if she wanted to say something, but ultimately didn’t.  “Sister Li, you… you shouldn’t ask.”

Seeing her expression, everyone knew how much grievance she had suffered at home.

“Unbelievable!  Ignoring their own beautiful and well-behaved daughter to send her to the countryside, yet pampering that unknown wild daughter there are such cruel fathers in this world?”

“Exactly! Yiwan, don’t be afraid. If you don’t want to give up your job, we sisters will support you. No one can force you!”

Those who could work in the Beijing Street Office were mostly capable or had connections. They didn’t care about Lin Weimin, a workshop director at a textile factory.

Lin Yiwan wiped her tears and looked at them gratefully. “Thank you, sisters, but it’s not necessary. I’m getting married soon, and my partner is a soldier. I… I want to apply to transfer my job to Northwest China.”

Hearing that she was going to Northwest China with her husband, everyone felt even more sympathy.  Northwest China’s conditions were so harsh!  If she wasn’t forced, a delicate girl from Beijing wouldn’t want to go to such a place.

“You… sigh…” Li Aimei patted her hand sympathetically, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say, finally managing a dry, “Going to Northwest China is also good.”  It’s better than going to an unfamiliar place to work in the countryside. But she didn’t say this aloud, afraid of causing trouble for herself.

“Yiwan, if you need any help, just say so.  Conditions are harsh in Northwest China; bring extra things.” Wang Lanlan held her other hand.

Lin Yiwan was deeply moved and didn’t refuse.  “There’s something I need a few sisters to help me with.”

“What is it? Just say it.” Li Aimei patted her chest.

“It’s about my marriage and job transfer. I hope you can keep it a secret. I’m afraid that if they find out, it won’t work out.”

She didn’t say who “they” were, but it was clear that she meant her stepmother and father.

“Don’t worry, we’ll definitely keep it a secret, we won’t leak a word.”  Everyone assured her.  Since she was already so pitiful and forced to go to Northwest China, wouldn’t they be inhuman if they didn’t help her?

Lin Yiwan expressed her gratitude again before leaving the Grain Bureau.

She took a few days off, originally to handle the paperwork for going to the countryside and transferring her job to Lin Yirou.  Now that the job matter was settled, she didn’t stay any longer.  She went straight back to the courtyard house.

Her mother’s courtyard house was a two-courtyard residence, only a ten-minute walk from the Grain Bureau, and its location was excellent, in the heart of Beijing.  In her previous life, after giving the house to Lin Yirou, she never returned.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the vermilion gate.  A carved screen wall came into view.  Seeing the familiar scene, Lin Yiwan felt a moment of trance, her eyes welling up.  She felt guilty towards her mother; in her previous life, everything her mother left her was tricked away by Song Huaiqing.

Pausing, she closed the gate, went around the screen wall. The front yard was spacious and bright, with several crabapple trees swaying gently in the wind.  Passing through the flower gate, the back yard opened up, with an old locust tree casting mottled shadows. A swing hanging from the tree trunk swayed slightly in the breeze.  On the stone table under the tree were some snacks she had made.

Lin Yiwan returned to her bedroom.  In the past, because the courtyard was too large and empty, she didn’t really like living here.  But after experiencing such a miserable life, returning here again, Lin Yiwan felt like she was back in her mother’s arms, feeling incredibly at peace.

Not much time had passed from her asthma attack to her rebirth. Lying in bed, Lin Yiwan felt tired.  She drifted off to sleep.

She didn’t know how long it had been when she vaguely arrived in a strange place.  It was a vast expanse of white, without sun or moon, boundless, with only a patch of dark land.  Her fair, delicate little feet stepped on the soft earth, and she curiously looked around.

Suddenly, a murmuring stream appeared before her.  The water was misty, looking like the Queen Mother’s Yaochi Pool in the Heavenly Palace.  At the source of the spring was a wooden house.

Although she was dreaming, Lin Yiwan didn’t rashly enter.  She only curiously looked at it from the outside. 

She found the material of the wooden house strange; from afar it looked like wood, but up close it looked like jade. 

As she approached, a faint glow seemed to appear in the wood grain. 

Yiwan curiously reached out and touched it, finding the texture surprisingly real.  Smooth, delicate, with a hint of coolness.  It didn’t feel like a dream, but rather like reality.

But how could there be such a strange place? And how did she get here?  Lin Yiwan pondered, and somehow, she woke up.

The sky outside was gray, and she didn’t know what time it was.  Blinking, as if sensing something, she looked down.

Her originally white and tender little feet were dirty, and even the quilt had some mud on it.  It was as if… she had just walked barefoot on the mud.

Lin Yiwan’s heart skipped a beat, and an incredible thought flashed through her mind. 

That place really existed!