Chapter 3 – Going to the Countryside Tomorrow

She then headed to the kitchen, took away the big iron pot, and stashed it into her spatial storage.

All the pots, bowls, and utensils were packed up, even the remaining pile of coal—gone.

Once she finished with that, she went out into the yard and also stored the bicycle.

As for Hao Fangfang’s room, she didn’t even bother searching. She just cleared out the wardrobe, kang cabinet, malted milk powder, face cream, writing desk, textbooks, and schoolbag.

The original host had dropped out before finishing high school, so these textbooks were pretty valuable.

She also took all the quilts—Hao Fangfang’s quilts were clearly better than the original host’s.

Of course, she didn’t leave behind the kang mat or the stack of newspapers, which seemed to be reserved for wall-pasting. She took all of those too.

What? Load-bearing wall? She flexed her wrist, raised her leg, and kicked the wall—nothing budged. Forget it.

Back in the main room, she remembered there were lots of newspapers pasted on the walls too. Since there was still time, she grabbed a kitchen knife and scraped all of them off.

These thick sheets of newspaper could still be used to paper walls or to read for the news.

Looking at the now-empty house, with nothing left but the earthen bed and bare gray walls, her obsessive-compulsive tendencies felt instantly soothed.

She returned to the courtyard to collect anything else useful.

Wait a second—Zhang Cuifen should still have money on her.

And what about the original host’s own bedding?

Back inside, she packed up the bedding and kang mat, then stripped off Zhang Cuifen’s outer clothes—there wasn’t even a single patch on them.

Sure enough, she found over a hundred yuan in large banknotes inside her clothes.

After all this effort, she suddenly heard the front door creak open and footsteps approach.

She quickly ducked into her spatial storage. While inside, she tidied up the wardrobes, desks, and other furniture.

She hadn’t even searched thoroughly yet to see how much money this family had, but when she found the household register, she noticed the page for the original mother was already missing.

Only Zhang Cuifen, the original host, and Hao Fangfang were listed.

Hmm?

There was also a countryside relocation notice issued by the street office from two days ago. As expected, the family had registered the original host for countryside labor behind her back.

And the departure date? The day after tomorrow.

Registered two days ago, leaving the day after tomorrow—that’s barely any time to prepare.

Just then, she heard two men talking outside.

“This is the house.”

“Big bro, why’s the yard so empty? It’s kind of creepy.”

The first man sounded impatient:

“Why do you care? Just take the person and go.”

The door opened. Even while hiding in the space, Jiang Manman could see what was going on outside.

Two shifty-looking men with sneaky eyes, clearly street thugs—but unfamiliar to the original host.

“Bro, something’s off. And this house is strange.”

The other man lost his patience.

“What do you know? That woman said she covered the girl with a sheet. We just toss her in the sack and carry her off.”

“Pah! I told you stepmothers are never any good—birds of a feather all over the world.”

The man pulled a cloth sack from his waist and stuffed Zhang Cuifen inside.

“Bro, this doesn’t feel right. She’s way too light. Is this really the girl?”

“What?! Damn it!

Search the other rooms. I don’t believe she’s not here.”

The leader turned and walked out but quickly returned.

“What are you doing? Stop touching stuff! There’s no one here. Don’t waste time—just take the woman and go.

Let’s move. I feel like someone’s setting us up. Hurry!”

Jiang Manman watched everything clearly from within her space.

That guy had taken the opportunity to grope Zhang Cuifen—disgusting beyond words.

Once the two men tied up the sack and slung it over their shoulders, they left.

After they were gone, Jiang Manman exited the space and cautiously followed behind. Since she had her storage ability, she wasn’t afraid of being seen.

She watched as the two men carried the woman out of town under cover of night.

She didn’t keep following. Instead, she returned to the space, took a deep breath, and reminded herself: a woman must be ruthless to protect herself.

She forced herself to eat a few more pieces of meat from that bowl. It didn’t matter—she could lose the weight later.

Before dawn, she exited the space and lay herself down in the middle of the street.

Sure enough, not long after, a group of early commuters found her. She opened her eyes and shouted two words:

“Help me!”

“Oh my, why is this girl lying here?”

“She even cried for help. Quick, get her to the health clinic!”

“What happened to her? She’s even missing a shoe!”

That shoe had been deliberately hidden on Zhang Cuifen, along with one of her own loose-fitting garments, which she had also dressed Zhang Cuifen in.

Soon after she was sent to the health clinic, Jiang Mingtang finally showed up.

In his thirties, Jiang Mingtang could only be described as handsome and dashing. Clearly, this original host had inherited those good genes—she’d definitely look good after slimming down.

“What happened?

Why did you pass out in the street so early in the morning?”

Jiang Manman just played dumb.

“I don’t know. I heard you canceled my engagement with Xiao Wenxuan.

Why did you do that?

That marriage was arranged by my mom, and Brother Wenxuan liked me too—sob sob sob.”

Covering her face and crying, she peeked at Jiang Mingtang through her fingers.

He immediately stiffened, frowning deeply at her.

“He never liked you. Don’t you have any self-awareness?

He doesn’t like you. Even if you married him, it would’ve been a miserable life. Better to let him be with your sister.”

Jiang Manman squeezed out two pitiful tears, widened her eyes, and glared at him.

“Then why didn’t you let me be happy?”

Jiang Mingtang waved irritably.

“Enough! Just tell me—why were you lying in the street?”

“How would I know? I had dinner and went to bed. Next thing I know, I woke up dumped in the street.

I don’t know anything—I should be the one asking what happened!”

Jiang Mingtang’s frown deepened—it could crush a Siberian tiger.

“Then how come people said you were calling for help?”

“Who wouldn’t scream for help if they suddenly woke up on the street?

I don’t care. The Xiao family backed out of the engagement—they owe me a 1,000 yuan emotional compensation. If not, I’ll go raise hell at their house.”

The original host really did have guts. Now that she had become a “villainess,” what did she have to fear?

Jiang Mingtang looked utterly disgusted at the sight of his plump daughter on the hospital bed.

“Can’t you stop embarrassing me?”

Jiang Manman nodded:

“So I’ve embarrassed you.”

I even got rid of the wife you married afterward.

Jiang Mingtang snorted.

“At least you know. So just behave and get ready—you’re going to the countryside tomorrow.”

Jiang Manman’s eyes widened.

“You’re sending me to the countryside?

I have a job! When my mom passed away, the government arranged a job slot for me!

I’m not going to the countryside—I’m going to work at a state-run restaurant!”

“No way. You’ve already been registered. You’re going. End of story.

Pack your things today. You leave tomorrow.”

“Then what about my job slot?”

Jiang Mingtang replied impatiently:

“That job slot’s going to Fangfang.

Just so happens, Xiao Wenxuan’s little sister doesn’t have a job yet. She’ll take the slot and bring it to the Xiao family.

That’s already settled—the job goes to their girl.”

Jiang Manman sat on the hospital bed and couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

“Ha… haha… HAHAHA. Great. Really great. So I’m just a leftover, huh?

Am I even your daughter?

What kind of father prioritizes someone else’s daughter over his own?

Damn it, I’ve truly seen it all.”

With that, Jiang Manman got out of bed. Once she steadied herself, she bent forward, kicked her right leg back, and charged straight into Jiang Mingtang.

“AHHHH!”