Chapter 17

Gu Zhixing rubbed his sore waist while flashing a broad smile at the girl in front of him. “That didn’t scare you, did it?”

Li Yuechan also smiled and said, “I’m fine. Thank you for today!”

The man scratched his head. “Let me walk you home?”

Li Yuechan waved her hand. “No need. My house is just nearby—I can get back on my own.”

“Oh, right, that guy—make sure you interrogate him properly when you get back. You might uncover some big secrets.” She playfully winked before turning and walking away.

Gu Zhixing touched his nose. Just like that, she was gone?

He thought about his unfinished task and stood there, watching the girl’s retreating figure in a daze.

“Captain, she’s already out of sight. What are you still looking at?” Zhou Tao teased.

Gu Zhixing shot him a glare, then narrowed his eyes at the man groaning on the ground. “What are you waiting for? Get him to the station.”

Zhou Tao chuckled. “Yes, Captain.”

After escorting Feng Chuan back to the station, Gu Zhixing and his team rushed to Han Chunguang’s house.

Han Chunguang’s mother clung to them, wailing and refusing to let them take her son. But in the end, she couldn’t resist the authorities, and her son was taken away.

Han Jinzhu watched as his son was led away, his expression complex. Ignoring his sobbing wife, he turned and left the house.

Meanwhile, Li Yuechan had quietly slipped back home and entered her space.

One glance inside, and she was completely stunned—every stalk of rice was heavy with golden grains!

Oh wow, it’s ripe! This is amazing!

Based on the timeline, it had taken about seven days from planting to harvest. She needed to plan carefully!

Suddenly, she realized a major problem—she had nothing to store the rice in. How was she supposed to take it to sell? Forget it, she’d buy some sacks from Zhang Jinbu tomorrow.

---

Early the next morning, Han Jinzhu dragged his exhausted body home.

As soon as Han Chunguang’s mother saw him return, she rushed up to him. “Jinzhu, how did it go? What did they say?”

The man, who had always been gentle with her, suddenly darkened his expression. Without a word, he raised his hand and slapped her hard.

She fell to the ground, clutching her face in disbelief. “Han Jinzhu, have you forgotten who you are? You… You dare hit me?!”

Han Jinzhu sneered. “You spoiled your son rotten, giving him all that money, and what did he do with it? He used it to buy a girl’s life!”

“He should know his own limits, yet you still indulged him!”

His wife panicked. “I… I didn’t know! Then… what do we do now? I’ll go to my brother—he’ll definitely have a solution!”

“Don’t rush. The best move right now is to get Feng Chuan to change his statement. I’ve already gone to see Qian Guoguang. If he can find a way to get inside, maybe we can at least save one.”

“What if we go to that girl and ask her to write a letter of forgiveness?”

Han Jinzhu shook his head. “This time, things have gotten too big. Feng Chuan was caught in the act by none other than the captain of the police criminal investigation unit.”

“And Feng Chuan’s a weak-willed coward—he spilled everything about Chunguang the moment he got to the station.”

His wife grew even more anxious. “Then what should we do now?”

“Enough. Prepare some expensive gifts. I’ll go visit that girl later and see if we can convince her to write a forgiveness letter. After that, I’ll try pulling some strings at the police station to see if we can turn things around.”

Muttering curses under her breath, his wife left to prepare.

When Han Jinzhu arrived at Li Yuechan’s house, the doors were locked. No one was home.

At that moment, Li Yuechan was squatting in an alley near Zhang Jinbu’s place.

She didn’t enter his courtyard—better to avoid unnecessary gossip.

Instead, she slipped a small note into his house and then started idly drawing circles in the dirt, waiting.

The two of them whispered for a while.

“Big Sis, why do you need so many sacks?” Zhang Jinbu asked curiously.

“Don’t ask what you shouldn’t.”

He looked aggrieved. “Meat tickets are hard to exchange these days. No one has any extra rations.”

Li Yuechan took out two yuan and handed it to him. “Figure it out. Also, hurry up with those baby chicks we talked about. And if you can get any ration tickets—meat, grain, whatever—I’ll take them all.”

Zhang Jinbu grinned as he took the money. Two yuan! He’d never held this much at once before. He quickly assured her, “No problem!”

“Oh, do you have any bicycle tickets?” she asked.

“What? That kind of valuable thing? Where am I supposed to find one?”

“Just check around. If you find one, the price is negotiable.”

“Got it.”

“By the way, do you have a bicycle? Let me take it for a ride.”

“Sis, I can barely afford food—how could I have a bike?”

“Fine. Once you get me the sacks, I’ll have a business deal for you.”

“What kind of deal?”

“You’ll find out later. Now go get it done.”

“Alright!”

Li Yuechan’s eyes practically gleamed green with hunger. She’d been out of meat for too long—she was getting desperate.

Suddenly, she remembered the mountains near her grandmother’s house. Her eyes lit up. She’d take a trip there today.

After thinking it over, she realized it would take over two hours to walk there. Better to take the bus.

She bought a ticket, boarded the swaying, smelly vehicle, and endured the nausea-inducing ride.

No wonder her mother never took the bus. It was pure suffering.

As soon as she got off, she took a deep breath of fresh air.

Striding forward, she walked for nearly an hour until the mountain finally came into view.

Taking a deep breath, she suddenly broke into a run, laughing as she went. “Wild chickens, wild rabbits, silly deer—I’m coming for you!”

By the time she reached the foot of the mountain, she was exhausted. Her waist ached—this body seriously needed more exercise.

She pulled out her water bottle filled with spiritual spring water and took a few gulps. Instantly, she felt refreshed and full of energy again.

With a burst of speed, she dashed up the mountain. But after running for a while, she saw nothing—no fruits, just patches of grass.

She had no idea which ones were edible.

It seemed this area had already been picked clean by the villagers. If she wanted good finds, she’d have to go deeper into the forest.

Just as she was about to continue, she heard a wolf howl.

Excited, she thought, I’ve never tried wolf meat before. I wonder how it tastes?

She walked for a long time but found nothing. Had the wolf run away?

Wasn’t the deep forest supposed to be full of wild animals and ginseng? Was that all a lie?

After some thought, she decided to stop walking—it was wearing out her shoes.

Making sure no one was around, she pulled a small shovel from her space and started digging.

Good thing she had prepared for this.

After digging a pit about two and a half meters deep and one and a half meters wide, she climbed out, panting.

She then gathered some branches to cover the hole and sprinkled a little water from the river on top.

As for her precious spiritual spring water, she only used a single drop—that stuff was too valuable to waste!

With everything set up, she entered her space, looking down at her dirt-covered self.

Sigh. Might as well take a bath and get some sleep. By the time I wake up, there should be something delicious waiting for me.