Lin Ning wore the Ruyi bracelet daily, strolling around town, and it didn’t take long for Morita to take the bait.

That day, when Lin Ning returned home, she noticed a faint odor in the air. The scent made her feel dizzy. Clutching her head, she slowly collapsed to the ground.

From the cabinet came a muffled voice, “Mr. Morita, she’s passed out.”

Two people emerged from the cabinet—it was Morita and Xu Guangyin.

It turned out that Morita, realizing he couldn’t defeat Lin Ning directly, decided to incapacitate her with a drug to steal the Ruyi bracelet. He and Xu Guangyin had snuck into Lin Ning’s house, scattered the drug in her room, and then hid in the cabinet to wait for her return.

Seeing Lin Ning unconscious, Morita was smug. “Our great Japanese medicine really works!”

His gaze fell greedily on the Ruyi bracelet on her wrist. He yanked it off and laughed triumphantly when he saw the Ruyi motif in the center. “Haha, this is it!”

Morita then bit his finger, drawing blood, and let the fresh drops fall onto the Ruyi bracelet. “Drip… drip…”

Afterward, he waited expectantly. But nothing happened.

Unwilling to give up, Morita squeezed out a few more drops of blood, but still, nothing happened. Morita murmured in confusion, “What’s going on? Didn’t they say that dripping one’s blood would allow the Ruyi Space to recognize its owner?”

Everything Morita had done was seen clearly by Lin Ning. Now, she finally understood—Morita was aware of the existence of the Ruyi Space and was here to claim it!

There was no time to waste; she needed to capture them immediately!

Lin Ning abruptly sprang up and lunged at Morita. Caught off guard, he was tackled to the ground. Panicked, he exclaimed, “You’re not unconscious?”

“You’re the one who’s unconscious! I’ll knock you out right now!”

Lin Ning grabbed a brick she had prepared specifically for him—it was always in her bag—and smashed it down.

“Bang—!”

The brick struck Morita squarely on the forehead. Blood started to trickle down. “Bang!” Another strike. Blood gushed from his forehead, and Morita fell unconscious. His hand slipped to the ground, revealing a handgun hidden in his pocket.

Lin Ning grabbed the gun and pointed it at Morita’s head.

As for Xu Guangyin, seeing the situation turn dire, he bolted for the door but ran straight into Xu Wang, who blocked his path.

“Don’t move! Hands up!”

A group of over ten police officers surrounded the entrance. Realizing the game was up, Xu Guangyin dejectedly raised his hands in surrender.

The officers entered the house and handcuffed Morita as well. The last two remaining Japanese spies had finally been captured.

When Morita regained consciousness, he shouted, “Officers, you’ve got the wrong person! I’m a Japanese businessman here to invest in China!”

“You’re exactly who we’re here to catch! You can explain yourself at the station!”

As Morita struggled, a small notebook fell from his pocket. Lin Ning picked it up. The cover was blue with four large white characters: “The Ruyi Space”.

Inside, it detailed a legend: In the misty, mystical forests of China, a Ruyi-shaped accessory could form. If one dripped fresh blood onto it, the door to the Ruyi Space would open, granting access to an independent dimension.

Morita screamed, “That’s my book! Give it back!”

Lin Ning sneered and tossed it back at him. “Where did you dig up this novel? Did you actually believe it? We have countless stories like this in our country!”

“Novel?”

“Of course! Head over to Wugong Tower. There’s a storyteller there who could tell you a year’s worth of cultivation tales. Stories of Ruyi Spaces—there’s no shortage of them!”

Morita’s face turned ashen as he was escorted away, leaving the book behind. Lin Ning picked it up, didn’t give it a second glance, and tossed it into the stove to burn.

With that, the matter was finally resolved. Xu Wang informed Lin Ning that Morita was suspected of stealing national secrets and was already being prosecuted. The law would punish him severely.

Lin Ning finally felt at ease.

Next up, Lin Ning decided to build a house!

She counted her earnings. Thanks to the commissions from the textile factory, she had made over 70,000 yuan in the past few months—enough to construct a house.

When it came to lucrative investments, nothing beat real estate. It was now 1982, and houses were still very affordable, with prices in the range of just a few thousand yuan. However, with the ongoing economic reforms, housing prices would soon skyrocket, climbing from a few thousand yuan per unit to tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands—rising as fast as lightning.

Currently, Lin Ning’s house was in the heart of Dong’an County. She planned to buy the adjacent property, turn the combined area into commercial spaces, and rent them out.

But Lin Ning wasn’t the only one with this idea. Another reborn individual, Chen Caohua, had her sights set on the same area.

Chen Caohua wasn’t living comfortably. Ever since Feng Tianqi returned from the military, he had grown cold toward her. He only gave her one yuan a day, no more. Even in bed, he cared only about his pleasure and no longer cherished her like before.

Chen Caohua thought back to her past life when she worked as a streetwalker. Some of her clients treated her just as roughly, with no concern for her well-being.

One day, she had asked a man, “Do you treat your wife like this at home?”

The man had sneered, “Of course not. A wife is ours for life; we have to take care of her. But women like you? You can break as many as you want, and it won’t matter.”

From that moment, Chen Caohua realized that, in a man’s eyes, wives were like property to be carefully maintained, while other women were disposable.

Now, Feng Tianqi’s behavior made her wonder if he no longer considered her a wife, if he planned to discard her when the time came.

And Feng Tianqi did plan exactly that. He was merely waiting for the right moment, keeping her around for now because she was still useful.

Chen Caohua seethed with anger. She had lived two lifetimes, and men had proven unreliable both times. The only solution was to make as much money as possible!

After his military discharge, Feng Tianqi had been searching for ways to get rich. Initially, Chen Caohua suggested selling bath scrubbers after seeing Lin Ning make a fortune from them. But Feng Tianqi dismissed the idea, saying, “What’s the point of selling such cheap stuff? If we sell, we sell something big!”

“What, then?”

“Electronic watches! They’re the hottest thing right now!”

Feng Tianqi decided to enter the electronic watch business. Rather than buying from middlemen, he wanted to source directly from suppliers.

Chen Caohua offered to accompany him to the south, but he refused. Alone, he brought back a thousand yuan’s worth of goods, making 300 yuan in profit from his first batch.

Feng Tianqi was indeed a natural businessman, and his earnings quickly rivaled Lin Ning’s. After a few successful transactions, he had saved up thousands.

On his trips to the south, Feng Tianqi noticed the booming real estate market. Apartments were selling for over 10,000 yuan in the south, while in Dong’an County, they were just two or three thousand!

The potential was obvious. In time, Dong’an’s property prices would also soar.

Feng Tianqi decided to stop selling watches and focus on real estate—buying land and building houses.

Chen Caohua, knowing the future layout of Dong’an County, provided strategic advice. Together, they set their sights on the very area where Lin Ning lived.