Chapter 3: Five Hundred Yuan

Jing Xi slowly walked forward.

She couldn’t estimate the size of this space with her eyes alone, but from what she could see, it was about the size of two basketball courts.

The surrounding black walls stood tall, enclosing the entire area.

Instead of heading straight to the spring, she first approached the black walls, knocking here and inspecting there for a while. However, she couldn’t see anything beyond them.

Only then did she turn toward the spring.

The sound of rushing water was clear in her ears. She crouched down, scooped up some water with her hand, and took a sip—it was sweet and refreshingly cold. As soon as she swallowed, she felt an instant sense of comfort spread throughout her body.

Her originally chilled body was now surrounded by warmth.

She was amazed—was this spring water actually special?

Her heart pounded with excitement, and her hands trembled slightly. She was overjoyed.

In her past life, she had been an online troll, cursing idiots on the internet every day. She used to think that after her death, she would suffer retribution and have her tongue cut out. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that in this life, she would possess supernatural abilities and even own a personal space like this. It was a shocking surprise.

She stood up and walked around the space, exploring for nearly an hour before roughly figuring out how to enter and exit.

There was a barely noticeable black handle on the black walls. She tried pulling it, and upon opening the door, she found herself in a dark passageway. At the end of the passage was none other than her humble mud house.

It was precisely where the black box had been placed.

“Could it be that I have to use the box every time I enter and exit? That would be way too troublesome,” she muttered to herself.

At that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.

[Once the Infinite Space is opened, a plum blossom mark will appear on the arm of the space’s owner, and the black box will disappear.]

[To open the space, simply recite ‘Infinite Space Open’ and press the plum blossom mark.]

Jing Xi was shocked. She suddenly felt an itch on her left hand. Rolling up her sleeve, she saw a vivid white and pale pink plum blossom mark on her wrist.

The mark was about the size of a thumbnail, with white petals and a soft pink core. It was beautiful, like a painless tattoo.

She turned back to take another look at the space and the spring, then opened the handle to leave.

As soon as she stepped out of the dark corridor and turned around, she saw that the entrance had completely vanished.

And just as the message had stated, the black box in the corner was gone without a trace.

This wasn’t a dream.

She silently recited the command and pressed the plum blossom mark, confirming that the space could be opened at will. With her worries eased, she fetched some spring water using an enamel basin, boiled it, and poured it into her thermos. She even added some to her cooked porridge.

To her surprise, even coarse grains could taste so delicious.

After finishing dinner, she felt her mind, which had been tense all day, finally relax.

That night, she had a deep, restful sleep.

When she woke up, it was time to deal with those people.

---

The next two days were relatively peaceful and productive for Jing Xi.

First, she walked around the village, relying on her memories to familiarize herself with the different places. Then, she went to complete the original owner’s scheduled task of cleaning the cattle pen—earning three yuan in the process.

When she arrived at the cattle pen, the owner had assumed she wouldn’t come and was already looking for someone else to do the job. But to his surprise, Jing Xi arrived with a mop, rolled up her sleeves, and got to work immediately.

The incident from that day had left an impact. Every time she appeared in the village, people couldn’t help but stare at her.

But Jing Xi remained unfazed. She greeted everyone she knew with a bright smile, exuding the aura of an independent woman who wouldn’t let anyone get in the way of her making money.

She also noticed that, over the past few days, many people had been delivering things to Zhang Jianjun’s house.

Basket after basket, all covered with cloth.

Observing from a distance, she estimated that in just one afternoon, over a hundred baskets had been sent there.

Could this be the “goods” they had mentioned that the Long family would come to collect?

Jing Xi observed for a while and was about to head home when she unexpectedly ran into Aunt Wang, who was leading her daughter, Pang Ya.

“Aunt Wang!”

She greeted her warmly, and Aunt Wang responded with a smile. “Xiao Jing, were you out working?”

Jing Xi nodded. “Yes, I went to clean the cattle pen. Were you picking up Pang Ya from school?”

“That’s right. Are you heading home now?”

Jing Xi nodded again and suddenly remembered that Aunt Wang’s house was right next to Old Zhang’s place. “Oh, Aunt Wang, I saw a lot of people carrying baskets of things to Old Zhang’s house. What are they delivering?”

Aunt Wang glanced in the direction of the Zhang family’s home. “Oh, that’s Di Huan (地环). I heard that some big shot from Shaanxi Province wants it. They collect it about once a month after the autumn harvest. It started last year. You’ve always been busy working, so you probably never noticed, but they’ve been collecting it since last year. The price is quite good. Many people in the village have started planting Di Huan now. My family is planning to plant an acre next year.”

Jing Xi nodded thoughtfully. “Di Huan is used to make pickled vegetables, right? Are they buying it for that purpose?”

Aunt Wang shook her head. “I’m not sure. Maybe it’s for medicine. Who knows? As long as we can sell it, that’s all that matters! A basket weighs around twenty jin (about 10 kg), and it sells for nearly ten yuan. That’s an incredible price! An acre can produce over a thousand jin. The Zhang family has been making money off this for the past two years. They even bought extra land just to grow Di Huan.”

Jing Xi finally understood.

After saying goodbye to Aunt Wang, she headed straight home.

However, on the way, she unexpectedly spotted Wu Dazhuang and Zhang Jianjun, along with another man whose back was facing her. The man appeared to be in his forties or fifties. The three of them were standing near the woods, whispering to each other with serious expressions.

Jing Xi quickly hid behind a tree. She was only about ten meters away from them, and their conversation was perfectly clear to her ears.

It turned out that they didn’t have enough Di Huan by weight, and the quality was also poor. They were trying to figure out how to deceive the Long family.

“Bro, I say we just coat the Di Huan in a layer of mud. Pack the bottom ones heavily, but leave the top ones with only a light coating. That way, they won’t be able to tell the difference. Di Huan grows in the soil anyway, so they probably won’t notice,” said Wu Dazhuang.

“No way. You can fool anyone, but you can’t fool the Long family. Are you trying to get yourself killed? I say we just tell the truth and return part of their money,” the older man said.

Jing Xi found his voice familiar. He was the same person who had accompanied Xie Aiguo that day.

He was one of the village leaders. His surname was also Wu—Wu Jun. If she remembered correctly, he was related to Wu Dazhuang.

Wu Dazhuang’s face turned red with anxiety. “Bro, once the money is in hand, who returns it? Besides, the Long family never really checks. They just glance at it and take it away. And even if we wanted to refund them, we can’t—I already spent five hundred yuan…”

“…”

“You idiot! We haven’t even distributed the money to the villagers yet, and you already spent it?”

“I… I gambled… and lost…”

Wu Jun couldn’t hold back his anger and let out a low growl before quickly lowering his voice. He glanced around to make sure no one else was around, then continued, “Gambling? Lost? Damn it! You’re still gambling? Do you even realize that missing a thousand jin means losing five hundred yuan? Do you really think the Long family is that easy to fool? If they decide to hold you accountable, do you think you can afford the consequences? Do you think your arms and legs are enough for them to tear off?”

After Wu Jun’s scolding, Wu Dazhuang’s face turned even redder, and he became visibly panicked. Clearly, Wu Jun’s words had scared him.

“What should I do, bro? I really don’t have five hundred yuan! Can you lend me the money first? Jianjun, does your family have money?”

Zhang Jianjun shook his head with a troubled expression. “Dazhuang, you know how strict my parents are with money. Besides, five hundred yuan isn’t a small amount. My family can’t come up with that much either.”

Wu Jun shook off Wu Dazhuang’s grip on his arm. “How can I lend you that kind of money? You make five hundred sound like it’s just five yuan! I should’ve never trusted you with the finances! How did you swear to me and the village chief back then? How am I supposed to explain this now? And what about Jianjun’s parents? If you can’t pay back the Long family, they’ll hold Jianjun’s parents responsible too! Figure it out yourself!”

With that, Wu Jun stormed off angrily, leaving Zhang Jianjun and Wu Dazhuang standing there, both anxious. A moment later, they too left.

Jing Xi retracted her gaze, pressing her lips together slightly.

Wu Dazhuang had always been a good-for-nothing troublemaker. He had gambled away five hundred yuan and had no way to repay it. What kind of solution could he come up with?

Scamming, deceiving, stealing—who knew what he would resort to? But Jing Xi was certain of one thing.

No matter what he planned to do, she could help him along the way.