Chapter 68: The Soil-Eating Space

“I think it’s doable. By the time everyone reacts, it’ll probably be too late.”

Song Yi’s agreement gave the other two more confidence as well.

“Alright, if you say go, then let’s go. I’m with you to the end.”

“Me too!”

Neither of them wanted to back down, as if they were about to pull off some grand and earth-shaking operation.

“But Yuan-jie, why did you also mark this construction material market and this flower market?”

Uh… she needed to upgrade her space, but how could she say that?

“I was just thinking, it’s getting too cold, so maybe we could pick up some furniture for burning or use it for warmth.

As for the flower market, I figured there must be a lot of nutrient soil there. If we can get some, we might even be able to grow some vegetables.”

Ye Mianmian perked up at the mention. “Growing vegetables? Yuan-jie, do you have seeds?”

“Yeah, my parents had bought some before, just thinking that we could grow whatever we could.

But with this cold weather, I’m worried they won’t sprout.”

“It’s still worth a try. I have some nutrient soil at home, bought it for planting flowers. Yuan-jie, I’ll give it to you later.”

“Ah, are you sure? That’s too nice.”

In truth, Jiang Yuan’s smile almost reached the back of her ears.

“It’s no big deal. Just wait, I’ll go get it for you now…”

As Ye Mianmian spoke, she headed to the balcony and came back with three whole bags of nutrient soil—each weighing 20 jin (about 22 lbs).

“You bought this much?”

“My grandma’s usually home alone with nothing to do, so I had her grow flowers to kill time. When I’m not home, she gets bored easily.”

“Alright then, I’ll gladly take it.”

Jiang Yuan was overjoyed—what her space lacked most right now was soil.

Although it couldn’t be upgraded anymore, she still wanted to keep experimenting.

Better safe than sorry—stocking up on more would never be a mistake.

“If I manage to grow anything later, I’ll give you guys some.”

“Deal!”

Everyone knew that with the current weather, growing vegetables was harder than winning the lottery.

After that topic was done, Song Yi left with her.

Zhang Kaiyang still wanted to help carry the soil, but Song Yi grabbed all three bags in one go.

“Let me help.”

“No need.”

With that, he headed upstairs.

“We’ll get going too then. Stay in touch if anything comes up.”

Jiang Yuan said that and quickly followed him—he was carrying her stuff, after all, and she needed to open the door.

Song Yi dropped the bags at the door of apartment 2101 and left.

When she opened the door, her parents were lying on the bed with Xiao Nuan, watching cartoons under the blankets.

“You’re back, sweetie?”

“Yeah, I’m back. It’s freezing out there, don’t get up.”

As she spoke, Jiang Yuan discreetly stored the soil into her space—luckily her parents didn’t notice.

“There’s food on the table. See if it’s still warm.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it.”

Jiang Yuan opened the meal they’d left for her—braised pork ribs, sour spicy cabbage, and a bowl of rice.

All in a thermal container, the temperature was just right.

Her parents had worked hard all day and were clearly exhausted now.

She quietly finished eating, washed the dishes, then checked on the three of them.

Xiao Nuan said she wanted to watch a little longer, so Jiang Yuan went to her room.

She slipped into her space—there was still time today—so she planted some cucumbers, green peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and string beans.

She had to admit, her leafy greens were growing well. She harvested some bok choy and spinach.

But she was troubled about how to give them to her mom—how to explain it?

There was quite a bit of soil now too, so she tried entering the upgrade password again.

The “Gold” symbol suddenly lit up—brightly, more than ever before.

She was puzzled. This had never happened before.

Looking again at her remaining gold items—there was definitely a lot missing. She had been keeping track.

But the interface didn’t show any other upgradeable options. What was going on?

The “Gold” symbol was still lit. She thought for a moment and tried entering the password again. Since she’d used up a lot of wood, maybe something would happen.

Sure enough, “Wood” started flashing too.

Then came “Water, Fire, Earth…”

Once all five elements lit up, she was completely stunned.

After about two minutes, they went dark one by one. Then, beside the gold symbol, the character “贰” (two) appeared.

What does that mean?

How strange… Why is her space different from others?

Had it changed again? What the heck was going on?

Unwilling to give up, she entered the upgrade password again—and something new popped up!

It was a corridor-like structure, followed by the usual furniture, but all upgraded—not the simple stuff from before.

There was even more land now—this was great!

Jiang Yuan quickly chose a plot of land.

This one was clearly bigger than before—about two square meters. Amazing!

Could this mean that once the space stalls, it requires ten times the amount of items from the five elements to trigger the next upgrade?

After upgrading, everything could still be further enhanced, including the land—and it was even better than before.

Apparently, stocking up on materials had been the right move.

By sheer coincidence, she’d gotten the space from Ye Mianmian. And now, thanks to her nutrient soil, she had unlocked even deeper secrets.

She felt a bit guilty—she owed that girl a lot.

But never mind that—first, she needed to reorganize her space.

Land was still the top priority.

If it worked out, she planned to add storage rooms too—she hadn’t selected those before.

So right now, a lot was piled up in the courtyard.

She managed to add over 50 square meters, until she ran out of soil again.

Looks like that flower market trip really needed to be planned soon!

Even if no one else wanted to go, she’d make the trip herself.

“Yuan Yuan, Xiao Nuan’s sleepy—I’ll put her to bed.”

“Okay, Mom. I’m just going to the bathroom, be right out…”

As she spoke, Jiang Yuan checked the mirror to make sure nothing looked off.

When she came out, Qin Yue had already tucked Xiao Nuan in.

“Mom, you rest. I’ll help her fall asleep.”

“Alright, it’s cold tonight—I’ll get you a couple of hot water bottles.”

“Thanks!”

Jiang Xing was already boiling water outside, using a fast-heating kettle.

She wasn’t in a hurry. She chatted with her mom about tomorrow’s plans.

She also quietly placed some cooked food into her space—but not too much. If possible, she’d still prefer to prepare food herself tomorrow.

“I already took out some pig’s feet to defrost. I’ll braise them tomorrow—still have plenty left.”

Yeah, she had stocked up on those for sure.

“Oh right, Mom, let’s have some pig’s feet tomorrow. We’ve also got pork hocks—Xiao Nuan likes those too.”

“Sure!”

Just then, Jiang Xing came in to deliver the hot water.

Jiang Yuan only filled two bottles—no need for more. The rest she let her mom take instead.