Chapter 11

“It’s already late, wash your feet and go to sleep.” Lin Nanzhi quickly changed the subject, aware of the situation.

She prepared warm water for her mother, who comfortably soaked her feet before going to bed with Lin Nanzhi.

After sitting on a train for dozens of hours, exhaustion took over. As soon as she lay down, she fell asleep.

Lin Nanzhi, however, couldn’t sleep. She glanced at her mother before raising her hand to examine the jade thumb ring. She was surprised to see it glowing, though the light wasn’t very bright.

Curious, she leaned in closer, and the glow intensified. Instinctively, she closed her eyes. When the light faded, she opened them again and was momentarily stunned before becoming overwhelmed with excitement.

Before her was a small space of about 100 square meters. On the left, there was a well; on the right, a tree bearing about ten red fruits. In the center stood a small wooden house.

The other areas were covered with mirrors, preventing her from seeing the outside world.

She walked to the well and looked inside, realizing that while it appeared to be a well, it was actually just a well-shaped structure. The water inside was crystal clear, allowing her to see the bottom. It was only about a meter deep, with two white fish swimming gracefully.

She had no idea what kind of fruit the tree bore, as she had never seen anything like it before.

Stepping inside the small wooden house, she found it empty except for a manual on the table.

—–

The manual explained that this was a Blood Jade Space, but because she was holding a jade thumb ring, the space was significantly smaller than it could be. To expand it, she needed to level up the space.

Leveling up required gaining experience points from farming.

The well contained spiritual spring water, which could cure minor illnesses, enhance beauty, and accelerate plant growth.

Although the water level seemed low, as long as the two fish inside remained alive, the spiritual spring would never dry up—it would replenish itself no matter how much was taken.

The tree was called a Linglong Eight Treasures Tree, and its fruits went through eight stages of color: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, and white. The initial red fruit could treat illnesses, extend lifespan, and rejuvenate the body.

With each space upgrade, the tree would produce the next color of fruit, each possessing unique abilities.

Lin Nanzhi wasn’t particularly concerned about expanding the space. After all, she hadn’t time-traveled to an ancient or post-apocalyptic era where resources were scarce. The size of the space wouldn’t impact her life.

However, the fruits fascinated her. Just for those, she was determined to level up!

Farming…

Would it be like in rebirth or survival novels, where she could plant anything anywhere?

She decided to figure it out later and went to sleep.

Following the method described in novels, she mentally commanded herself to leave. A flash of white light later, she found herself back in bed. Looking up at the tiled roof, she couldn’t suppress a smile as she drifted off to sleep.

—-

The next morning, both Lin Nanzhi’s parents were home. Instead of writing her novel, she turned on her computer and started watching online math tutorials.

She planned to start from fourth-grade level, which would allow her to study alongside Lin Nanxun.

When she was younger, her Chinese teacher was also her homeroom teacher, but her math teachers kept changing—one per semester at best, sometimes three in a single term. Each teacher had their own way of teaching, and by fourth grade, her once-perfect math scores had plummeted. Thirty or forty points was considered high for her.

Since math concepts built upon one another, missing foundational knowledge made later topics impossible to understand. She decided to relearn from fourth grade onward. Other subjects weren’t as difficult for her.

Her school had hundreds of students per grade. Lin Nanzhi ranked around 200th overall and 30-something in her class—neither outstanding nor terrible but mainly dragged down by math.

Her Chinese scores never dropped below 110, and English ranged between 90 and 100. She also did well in history, politics, geography, and biology.

But math? Scoring below 20 was normal, and above 40 was a miracle. Adding physics in eighth grade only made things worse.

If she could pass math and physics, she could rank within the top 100.

With exams coming up tomorrow, she planned to cram for now and focus on real studying during winter break.

Thinking of the spiritual spring water and red fruits in her space, she secretly gave each family member a fruit and mixed some spring water into their drinking water.

By noon, however, everyone had gone to the bathroom multiple times. The toilet smelled unbearable, and they kept complaining about food poisoning—making Lin Nanzhi too embarrassed to face them.

Still, the spring water and red fruit clearly worked. Even after so many trips to the toilet, none of them felt weak. Instead, their faces looked healthier, with a rosy glow. She even thought they looked fairer, especially her father, whose weathered face now seemed at least ten years younger.

More importantly, her own memory had improved significantly, almost like photographic memory.

—-

On Monday, Qingya Middle School held its final exams. To save time and space, all three grades took the exams together, with mixed seating.

Early in the morning, Lin Nanzhi and her mother took a bus to town—her mother to the police station, and Lin Nanzhi to her exam.

She already knew her assigned exam room, so she went straight there with her admission ticket.

Last year, eighth graders took the exam with ninth graders; this year, they were seated with seventh graders.

To her surprise, she found herself sitting next to a boy rumored to be her “scandalous boyfriend”!

Glancing at him, she recalled that as a child, she had thought he was incredibly handsome, resembling a celebrity.

But now… his features were still attractive, but acne covered his face, leaving scars that made him look nothing like that celebrity.

As she was secretly observing him, he caught her staring!

Embarrassed, Lin Nanzhi curled her toes in discomfort, forced an awkward smile, and quickly took out her stationery, staring straight ahead.

She failed to notice the boy’s blushing face!

The first day was Chinese in the morning, math in the afternoon. Students stayed overnight at the school.

The second day was English in the morning, geography and biology in the afternoon.

The third day was physics in the morning, politics and history in the afternoon.

With that, the semester was over.

Since school was on break, students had to pack up and take all their belongings home. Lin Nanzhi’s father picked her up on his motorcycle.

By the time the exams ended, it was the end of the month.

Her family spent New Year’s Day together, but the next day, her younger brother went for his own exams, and her parents started fighting again—this time about divorce.

Lin Nanzhi felt exhausted.

“Calm down. If you still want a divorce after thinking it through, I’ll support your decision—just don’t regret it later.”

Her father remained silent, but her mother slapped the divorce papers on the table and declared, “I’ve made up my mind!”

“Fine. Let’s divorce, then,” her father responded.

“Zhi Zhi, who do you want to stay with?”