“Old man, why hasn’t our daughter returned yet?
Do you think she ran into trouble in that place?” Yun Old Lady asked, having just coaxed her granddaughter to sleep.
She was entirely sleepless, panic seizing her heart.
Old Dad Yun sat on the ground, stoking the feeble flames.
His brows were tightly knitted.
“I don’t know.
If I had known, I wouldn’t have let her go.”
Their daughter had been gone for an entire day.
The last time she disappeared for two hours, he and his wife had frantically searched the whole village, only for her to return on her own.
But this time, she had been gone for a full day.
All they knew was that she had gone to that strange Immortal Realm; they knew absolutely nothing else.
The elderly couple could only wait in anxious anticipation.
Even after the sky had turned pitch-black, their daughter still hadn’t returned.
Yun Old Lady remained awake, and Old Dad Yun continued to sit on the floor.
Meanwhile, Yun Zhen locked the doors and windows.
Muttering her wish to go home, a flash of white light illuminated the space, and she closed her eyes.
CRASH!
CLATTER!
A massive pile of items, both large and small, tumbled onto the ground, causing a tremendous racket in the quiet thatched cottage.
Yun Zhen materialized out of thin air in the room.
Yun Old Lady sprang up from the bed in a flash, and Old Dad Yun also leapt to his feet.
“Daughter, you’re back!”
“Zhen Niang!”
Seeing her return, the old couple wept tears of joy, the worry on their faces vanishing completely.
They had been terrified that their daughter would face danger all alone in that unfamiliar place.
Having suddenly transitioned from a warmly heated room to a thatched cottage that felt like an ice cave, Yun Zhen shivered from the cold.
“Dad, Mom, you aren’t asleep yet?”
A brief moment of thought told her why they were still awake: they were waiting for her to come home.
Her heart warmed at the realization.
“How could your mother and I sleep when you haven’t returned?
You didn’t run into any trouble, did you?” Old Dad Yun asked.
To reassure him, Yun Zhen quickly answered, “Don’t worry, Dad, I’m fine.”
Old Dad Yun smiled and nodded, his heart, which had been in his throat, finally settling back into his chest.
Yun Old Lady patted her chest, exhaling a long breath of relief.
“As long as you’re back.
I was just afraid you’d encounter danger over there, and your father and I wouldn’t be able to help.”
“Don’t worry, Mom.
Not only did I not run into any danger, but I was also taken in by a kindhearted person.
I successfully settled down in that world, and she even helped me find a reliable job.” Yun Zhen carefully recounted the events of her day to her parents.
“You met a kindhearted person.” Hearing this, Yun Old Lady thought that her daughter had truly excellent luck.
She quickly corrected herself, “No, it must be an immortal.
You went to the Immortal Realm and met a kindhearted immortal.”
Even now, Yun Zhen still didn’t know whether that world was the Immortal Realm or something else, but one thing was certain: they would never go hungry or freeze again.
“Dad, Mom, I brought a lot of good things back,” she said, pointing at the items on the floor like she was presenting a treasure.
A chaotic heap lay strewn across the ground.
The old couple’s eyes darted everywhere, unable to take it all in at once.
“Zhen Niang, what are all these?”
The firelight in the room was incredibly dim, only illuminating the rough outlines of the objects.
“Everything in this bag is stuff I picked up that other people didn’t want.” Yun Zhen dragged the large bag over, pulled it open, and began taking items out one by one.
“These are broken wooden chairs I scavenged.
Dad can break them down for firewood later.
Here is a wooden comb for Mom.
And this is an iron pot!
The village head’s family treats theirs as a family heirloom, and now our family has one too.
Over here are porcelain bowls and plates, and finally, a box of books.”
The old couple was stunned for quite a while.
“An iron pot?” Yun Old Lady was thrilled.
“The village head’s iron pot was passed down from his ancestors.
Zhen Niang, you actually managed to scavenge an iron pot!”
Didn’t this mean their family now had an heirloom of their own?
This was an iron pot!
A standard iron pot at the town’s blacksmith would cost several taels of silver.
She grabbed the two handles of the pot.
“This pot looks much nicer than the village head’s!
His pot is pitch-black and has quite a few chips in it.” She then picked up the porcelain bowls and plates to examine them.
“These dishes are too beautiful, and they don’t have a single scratch on them either.”
“These are books?” Old Dad Yun asked, finding it somewhat unbelievable when his daughter mentioned she had found books.
He used to have many books as well, but he had sold them all for cheap to a bookstore to pay for the treatment of his injured leg.
He hadn’t expected to be able to touch a book again after so many years.
A wave of profound emotion washed over him.
Yun Zhen told him, “Dad, these books are all storybooks.
The stories inside are very captivating.”
“Storybooks?
That’s fine too.
Reading them will help pass the time.”
Yun Old Lady caressed the comb.
“This wooden comb is beautiful as well.”
“Zhen Niang, if you took all these things out to sell, our family could become the wealthiest in the village overnight!” Yun Old Lady said.
Looking at the treasures her daughter had brought back, she was as overjoyed as if she had picked up gold.
Even her pale face seemed to have regained some color.
“Dad, there are more good things here.” Yun Zhen held up a box containing six transparent, tall, cylindrical cups.
To her, they looked very much like legendary crystal.
“What is it?” Old Dad Yun and Yun Old Lady leaned closer upon hearing this.
Yun Zhen opened the box, revealing the items inside.
“Crystal?” Old Dad Yun carefully picked up a cup.
Under the illumination of the firelight, the body of the cup sparkled brilliantly.
“What a beautiful cup,” Yun Old Lady marveled.
Old Dad Yun’s expression turned solemn.
“This is a legendary crystal cup.
How could it not be beautiful?”
“Is it really a crystal cup?” Yun Zhen asked.
“I can’t be mistaken.
Furthermore, it is much clearer and purer than any crystal I have ever seen.
Such a treasure is priceless.” Old Dad Yun had seen young masters from wealthy families in the county town wearing belts inlaid with crystal flowers; when the sunlight caught them, they would shine with a dazzling brilliance.
He carefully placed it back into the box.
“Zhen Niang, did you really scavenge these?”
Yun Zhen replied, “I did.
That world has no shortage of this material.
I even saw people using crystal to cover their walls, and fishmongers using massive crystal vats to hold their fish.”
Yun Old Lady sighed in awe, “It seems that place truly is the Immortal Realm.”
Old Dad Yun chimed in, “Extravagant.
It’s too extravagant!”
“Sister Huang, the noble benefactor who found me a place to stay, also gave me two sets of bedding.” Yun Zhen hauled out two quilts.
“She gave me these as well.”
She revealed a large bag of cotton-padded clothes, a square bed table, a large bundle of brightly colored, fluffy yarn, a kitchen knife, and a chopping board.
Old Dad Yun marveled, “This noble benefactor is truly generous!”
“Dad, during the day, you can use a needle and thread to alter these padded clothes into styles we can wear, so everyone in our family can have a new outfit.” Yun Zhen took out the clothes Sister Huang had given her.
While she could wear them as they were, her parents and Little Bao couldn’t.
Her mother was too weak to hold a needle, but her father was quite skilled at sewing.
The task of altering the clothes could only be left to him.
“Don’t worry, I definitely won’t waste this precious cotton,” Old Dad Yun said, overjoyed as he held the garments.
To think that these clothes were actually padded with cotton!
Thanks to his daughter, he would get to wear cotton clothes in his lifetime.
“I can still move a little.
I’ll use the scissors and act as your father’s assistant.” Yun Old Lady also wanted to help out.
With the matter of the clothes left to her parents, Yun Zhen thought about the twenty catties of refined rice she had bought.
“Aside from these good things, I have another surprise for you.”
“There’s another surprise?” Old Dad Yun and Yun Old Lady looked up.
“What is it?”
To them, the iron pot, storybooks, crystal cups, thick cotton quilts, kitchen knife, chopping board, and cotton-padded clothes their daughter had brought back were all incredibly good things.
What could possibly be more surprising than all of this?