Not wanting them to start another long conversation, Chen Yuan quickly said, “Uncle, I’d like to go to the County Seat. Could you please tell me how to get there?”
“At a time like this? What are you going to the County Seat for?” Zhang Mancang frowned. “You should hurry up and pack your things so you can head south with everyone else to escape the war.”
“I want to see a doctor. I can’t keep dragging out this illness forever. And… I’d also like to ask around about my parents and see if I can find them.”
It was a complete fabrication.
Auntie Mancang looked at her in surprise.
“Do you even have any money? How are you going to pay a doctor?”
“I’ll figure something out once I get there,” Chen Yuan replied.
That left Auntie Mancang speechless.
“I’ll explain the route. Listen carefully and remember it,” Zhang Mancang said.
As he spoke, he found a wooden board and a piece of charcoal, sketching the route while explaining it.
Chen Yuan listened and watched attentively for quite some time before finally committing everything to memory.
“Uncle, could you give me this wooden board?”
“Go ahead and take it.” Zhang Mancang handed it over before asking one last time, “You’re really not coming south with us? If you change your mind, meet us at the entrance to the village tomorrow morning. The whole village is leaving at daybreak.”
“Thank you, Uncle. Thank you, Auntie. I’ll be going now.”
After expressing her gratitude, Chen Yuan left.
She planned to leave that very night.
If she waited too long, everyone in the County Seat might already have fled, and she might not even be able to buy a change of clothes.
She needed to purchase several outfits for herself and Niuniu. The clothes she was wearing were in such terrible condition that she had almost been too embarrassed to leave the house earlier. She also needed to buy a map.
The original owner hadn’t possessed a single coin.
While Chen Yuan was debating whether to exchange a piece of gold from her Storage Space or pawn an ordinary glass cup, her Psychic Ability accidentally swept over a hidden treasure.
What a coincidence.
The treasure was buried four or five meters beneath the backyard of Zhang Laosan’s house.
There were six large chests in total.
Four were filled with silver.
One was filled with gold.
The last contained jewelry and precious ornaments.
She had no idea who had buried them there.
Judging from the Zhang Family’s behavior, they clearly had no idea the treasure existed. Otherwise, with their greed, they would have long since been living in luxury like wealthy landlords.
Perfect.
Now it all belonged to her.
She considered it compensation for everything the original owner had suffered.
Late that night, the village was silent.
Chen Yuan first went to Zhang Laosan’s house and collected every chest of gold, silver, and jewelry into her Storage Space.
Then she drove away from the village in her electric compact car.
She didn’t even bother turning on the headlights.
With her Psychic Ability scouting the road ahead, there was no way she was going to drive into a tree.
After driving for more than two hours, she finally reached the County Seat.
The road was unbelievably long.
What she didn’t know was that if Zhang Mancang drove his ox cart to the County Seat, the trip took five hours each way. He usually spent an entire day on the road.
When she reached the city gates, Chen Yuan stored the car in her Storage Space and used Spatial Blink to teleport into the County Seat.
She appeared inside the courtyard of a large, locked residence before entering her Storage Space.
After eating a little, taking a bath, feeding Niuniu, changing her diaper, and getting the baby settled, Chen Yuan went to sleep.
Early the next morning, she swept her Psychic Ability through the entire three-courtyard residence.
There wasn’t a single piece of forgotten gold or silver left behind.
With a single thought, she collected every piece of furniture in the estate into her Storage Space—including the pots, bowls, plates, and kitchen utensils.
She wasn’t leaving so much as a single chair or spoon behind for the nomadic invaders.
Her next stop was a clothing shop.
The owner was preparing to close the business and flee south, worried that he wouldn’t be able to take all of his inventory with him.
Then Chen Yuan appeared.
She purchased clothes suitable for both herself and Niuniu in every size they would need as they grew, covering all four seasons.
She also bought several sets of men’s clothing for herself.
Traveling in men’s clothes would be much more convenient.
At the shoe shop next door, she bought every pair available in her own size.
She also purchased every pair of children’s shoes for ages one to five.
After that, she visited every bookstore in the County Seat.
Not a single one sold maps.
What she wanted was an ancient road map—a yutu, or geographical map.
She still hadn’t forgotten the way every shopkeeper had looked at her as though she were an idiot.
Now she genuinely had no idea what to do.
She could only take things one step at a time.
If all else failed, she’d simply travel while asking for directions along the way.
There had to be a solution.
For the moment, the map would have to wait.
She needed to hurry to the county yamen.
Her Household Registration was still under the name Xiao Yanyan.
She wanted to change it back to Chen Yuan.
She also needed to register Niuniu’s Household Registration.
To avoid attracting unnecessary attention, Chen Yuan directly used her Psychic Ability to control the county magistrate.
She had him restore her Household Registration under the name Chen Yuan and register Niuniu as well.
Next, she had him issue her a travel permit.
Finally, she had both her divorce letter and her certificate severing ties with the Zhang Family officially stamped and recorded by the government office.
Only then did she finally feel completely at ease.
Just as she was about to leave, something caught her eye.
A sheet of paper was sticking out from beneath a stack of books at the corner of the magistrate’s desk.
She picked it up.
Her eyes lit up.
Wonderful!
It was exactly as the saying went:
“I’d searched for it a thousand times in the crowd. Then, with a single glance back, I found it hidden beneath the books on the corner of the desk.”
It was a yutu—a map!
Just then, a voice called from outside.
“My lord, have you finished packing? It’s time to leave.”
Chen Yuan immediately released her Psychic Control over the county magistrate, tucked the map into her Storage Space, and used Spatial Blink to leave the county yamen.
The magistrate snapped back to his senses.
“Coming, coming.”
He hurriedly searched across his desk.
“Strange… I know I left it right here. Where did it go?”