What Lin Shengxia was holding was a ten-volume set of the pinyin edition of *One Hundred Thousand Whys*.
She had chosen it for Lin Handong after asking a bookstore clerk for recommendations. With ten whole volumes, there was more than enough to keep the little boy occupied for quite some time!
After receiving the books, Lin Handong was about to hug them to his chest when he noticed that his hands were still covered in dirt from burying the fruit pits earlier.
His face reddened with embarrassment, and he immediately ran over to the basin to wash his hands thoroughly.
Only then did he carefully hug the books as though they were priceless treasures and carry them into the ruined temple. He cautiously removed the wrapping and eagerly began reading from the first volume.
Meanwhile, Lin Qizheng was mixing mud in the courtyard. Since the weather was sunny, he planned to raise the courtyard wall a little higher.
Without saying anything, Lin Shengxia took out the glass bottles she had collected from Li Xiangqin’s shop. She wrapped them in cloth, smashed them into pieces, and tossed the broken glass into the mud Lin Qizheng had prepared.
Then she handed him a pair of thick gloves…
Lin Qizheng immediately understood what his daughter intended to do.
Thinking about how those people had treated his family as though they weren’t even human when they came here, anger still simmered inside him.
Without another word, he thoroughly mixed the shards of glass into the mud, put on the thick gloves, and began reinforcing the wall.
Naturally, Dong Wanqiu noticed the father and daughter’s little actions, but she felt exactly the same way as Lin Qizheng.
Although the Lin family had endured more than half a year of hardship, they were still proud people at heart.
Weren’t those villagers bullying them so recklessly because of their status, believing that the Lin family had no way to fight back?!
Fine, then let them try!
The Lin family refused to believe that if they stayed peacefully inside the ruined temple and those people came harboring malicious intentions only to injure themselves, the village chief would still shamelessly take their side!
And if he really did…
Then worst came to worst, they would all go down together!
After Lin Qizheng finished reinforcing the courtyard wall, Lin Shengxia checked the front and back doors again.
Only after confirming that both the doors and locks were sturdy did she finally relax.
Fortunately, no one came up the mountain to bother them that day.
After dinner, the family washed up, changed into their freshly cleaned pajamas, and went to sleep feeling completely content.
Even back when they lived in the capital, their lives had hardly been more comfortable than this…
And now, because of their daughter’s miraculous encounter, their living conditions were improving day by day.
For the first time in a long while, hope began to grow in the hearts of Lin Qizheng and Dong Wanqiu.
“If the world fifty years from now is really that wonderful, does that mean people like us might have a chance to go back someday?”
If…
If life fifty years in the future was truly as wonderful as their daughter described, didn’t that mean these painful days would eventually come to an end?
After hearing her father’s question, Lin Shengxia lowered her eyes and thought for a moment before answering.
“Father, I’ll ask Auntie Li tomorrow. Everyone there has something called a smartphone. They can use it to look up almost anything. Maybe we can find the answer there.”
Seeing that his daughter understood what he meant, Lin Qizheng let out a long sigh and closed his eyes with a contented expression.
Early the next morning, Lin Shengxia went up the mountain as usual before dawn.
Lin Qizheng had been busy reinforcing the courtyard wall yesterday and hadn’t gone fishing, so Lin Shengxia decided to take the fishing net with her.
Although she didn’t know how to identify good fishing spots like her father did, she had something even better—an advantage from fifty years in the future!
After consulting Zhang Guangming, an experienced fishing enthusiast, she had finally bought a box of bait that supposedly guaranteed you’d never return empty-handed.
She scooped out a spoonful and tossed it into the fishing net. Without giving it another thought, she turned and headed toward the mountain.
However, as she passed a patch of reeds, she spotted a nest of wild duck eggs.
There appeared to be seven or eight of them.
What a lucky find!
Lin Shengxia carefully gathered the wild duck eggs and stored them inside her mysterious space before continuing up the mountain along the familiar path.
After gathering wild vegetables with practiced ease, she stored everything inside her space.
Only then did she suddenly remember the fishing net she had nearly forgotten about.
Looking at the dark, motionless mass inside the net, Lin Shengxia wasn’t particularly disappointed. She simply assumed she hadn’t used enough bait.
But when she reached down and tried to pull the fishing net out of the water, she was nearly dragged straight into the river!
Only then did she realize what was happening.
The dark mass wasn’t there because she had caught nothing.
It was the exact opposite!
She had caught so many fish that the entire net was packed full!
The fish were squeezed together so tightly that they could barely move. No wonder the net had looked completely still from the shore!
Staring at the fishing net, which had to weigh at least sixty or seventy jin altogether, Lin Shengxia couldn’t stop herself from grinning.
Without hesitation, she stored the entire fishing net inside her space and quickly headed down the mountain.
The moment she reached the door and called out, Dong Wanqiu swiftly opened it for her.
Seeing the huge smile on her daughter’s face, she immediately guessed that Lin Shengxia had enjoyed quite a harvest that morning.
For breakfast, Dong Wanqiu had cooked white rice porridge with crushed corn.
Everyone received two eggs in their bowl, while Lin Shengxia’s serving had brown sugar added as usual, filling it with a rich, sweet aroma.
After finishing breakfast, Lin Shengxia automatically collected the eggshells left by the family and placed them inside a garbage bag reserved specifically for waste.
Anything that came from fifty years in the future would be taken back to 2026 and thrown into a trash bin there.
She would make absolutely certain that not even the slightest trace of those things remained in this era.
Once everyone had put down their chopsticks, Lin Shengxia smiled and took the fishing net out of her space.
There were simply too many fish!
Their washbasin couldn’t hold them all, so they even had to bring out the old bucket from inside the temple before they finally managed to empty all the fish from the net.
Lin Qizheng’s eyes widened in astonishment.
He simply couldn’t understand it.
He worked so hard every time he went fishing, yet he could only catch a few fish.
How had his daughter managed to create such a huge commotion on her very first try?!
Smiling, Lin Shengxia handed him the bait she had bought.
The moment Lin Qizheng smelled it, he knew it was good stuff.
He turned the container over and over in his hands, examining it with obvious fascination.
It was the first time Lin Shengxia had ever seen her father look so delighted over something.
After thinking for a moment, she said, “I’ll keep the bait with me for now. Whenever you go fishing in the future, Father, you can take some with you. I need to gather wild vegetables, so I don’t have time to fish.”
More importantly, Lin Shengxia understood her father’s personality.
Over the past few days, he had finally become happier because he was able to contribute to the family’s income.
If she took over the fishing as well, her father would inevitably start feeling useless after a while.
Sure enough, Lin Qizheng’s eyes immediately brightened after hearing her words.
Then he looked at the courtyard full of wild fish and began to worry.
“Are you planning to take all these fish over there at once?”
He was concerned that there were simply too many.
If his daughter couldn’t sell them all and the fish died, they would only go to waste.
Lin Shengxia had already considered that problem.
The last time Cui Shijin came to purchase the Chinese violets, he had mentioned a term she had never heard before—scarcity marketing.
Thinking about it now, Lin Shengxia realized that the things her family possessed could certainly be marketed that way to people living fifty years in the future.
She wasn’t going to take all the fish with her.
In fact, she didn’t intend to bring all the wild vegetables either.
She had repeatedly experimented with her mysterious space and discovered that anything stored inside remained exactly as it had been when it entered.
Whatever condition something was in when she put it inside, it would remain in precisely that condition when she took it back out.
Even if she stored a pot of boiling water inside, it would still be boiling when she took it out…
With such an incredible ability at her disposal, she could make excellent use of it.
She could ensure that her family earned money every day without exhausting herself in the process.
However, the season for wild vegetables was clearly nearing its end.
For now, Lin Shengxia decided to gather as many as she possibly could.
That way, she would still have enough stored away to continue selling them for several more days.