Now that she understood what it was, things became much simpler. Qin Suining turned and went straight into the house.
Madam Zhou had almost finished packing. A dozen or so letters were placed aside, with two pieces of broken silver on top—together worth about five taels.
This was the emergency savings she had prepared for Qin Suining over the years, never touched even when life at home was difficult.
There were also a dozen copper coins, a silver bracelet, and a pair of silver earrings.
“These are my dowry ornaments. I originally wanted to save them for your marriage, but now there’s no choice—we’ll have to exchange them for money first……”
Survival came first. Everything else could be dealt with later.
Madam Zhou sighed and then gathered a few decent clothes, wrapping them in a bundle cloth.
A poor household values everything. Throwing anything away felt heartbreaking.
But Qin Suining wasn’t paying attention to any of this. Her gaze was fixed entirely on a wooden hairpin on the table.
Just as Cuizhu had said, there really was such a wooden hairpin in their home.
At her age, this was the first time Qin Suining had ever seen it.
“This… your grandmother left it for me when I married into the Qin family.”
Thinking of that kind old woman, Madam Zhou felt a trace of bitterness.
“I had only been married three days when she passed away. To avoid sadness, I kept this hidden away all these years and never took it out……”
Because it was made of wood and looked cheap, no one cared about it. Madam Zhou had simply kept it as a memory.
Qin Suining nodded and examined the peach blossom hairpin carefully, but still saw nothing special about it.
Could there be a secret inside? Like a hidden treasure map?
Just as she was thinking this, familiar floating text suddenly appeared again.
“Ahahaha… this little girl is actually kind of cute……”
“She’s quite clever too—she actually got the cheat item before the female lead……”
“So what if she got it? She’s not a transmigrator. She doesn’t even know she needs heart’s blood to activate it……”
Qin Suining’s heart lifted. She quickly focused and caught the key information.
Heart’s blood.
But what exactly was heart’s blood?
She froze slightly, one hand tightly gripping the peach blossom hairpin while the other slowly reached toward a pair of scissors on the cabinet.
Heart’s blood… it must be blood taken from the heart, right?
To obtain this so-called cheat item, Qin Suining had truly gone all out.
She clenched her teeth, closed her eyes, and raised the scissors toward her chest.
“Ah! What are you doing?!”
Madam Zhou had just finished packing clothes when she looked up and nearly jumped in shock.
She grabbed Qin Suining’s hand tightly, tears finally bursting out after being held back for so long.
“My child… I’ve failed you……”
Madam Zhou hugged her tightly, crying uncontrollably.
“Your father… let’s just pretend he’s dead. From now on it’s just us mother and daughter. I’ll work harder—we’ll survive……”
She thought Qin Suining was driven to suicide by that heartless man, and tried to comfort her while crying.
Qin Suining tried to explain, but her mouth opened and closed without words.
In the struggle, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her finger.
Before she could react, a flash of white light burst before her eyes.
In an instant, both mother and daughter disappeared from the room.
“What… where are we?”
After a brief dizziness, they found themselves in a strange place.
Mountains, rivers, birds singing, flowers blooming.
Expansive farmland stretched out before them, fruit hung heavily on branches, and several small wooden houses stood in the distance.
It looked like a paradise.
“Holy crap! I looked away for a second and the plot changed!”
“They really got lucky—they accidentally activated the cheat space!”
“No wait, wasn’t this supposed to belong to the female lead? If she got it, doesn’t that mean the female lead lost it?”
Qin Suining stared intently at the floating text in the air, slowly piecing everything together.
In simple terms, her cut finger had bled onto the wooden peach blossom hairpin, and the hairpin had absorbed her blood.
Now, the space they were standing in was inside that hairpin—a true hidden paradise.
According to the text, this place was originally meant to belong to Princess He’an, the female lead.
“Mother, can you see the words floating in the air?”
Qin Suining asked tentatively.
“Words? What words? Written in ink?”
Madam Zhou froze, thinking her daughter had been frightened into confusion.
“I don’t see any words… but I do see all those fertile fields left unused. What a waste……”
Even though she knew it wasn’t theirs, she still felt regret.
So much rich black soil—if used for farming, it could feed them for years.
Confirming that Madam Zhou couldn’t see anything, Qin Suining explained everything from beginning to end.
“So… you weren’t trying to kill yourself—you were trying to draw heart’s blood?”
Madam Zhou widened her eyes before finally accepting it.
“Silly girl, heart’s blood doesn’t mean stabbing your heart. A drop of finger blood works too……”
After all, all ten fingers are connected to the heart—so it still counted.
Being an adult, Madam Zhou quickly accepted reality.
“Maybe our ancestors are protecting us, giving us this hidden place to survive.”
She clasped her hands and bowed around, thinking perhaps they no longer needed to flee.
But Qin Suining shook her head.
“Mother, we still need to go out.”
She had seen the floating text clearly—this space could store many things.
So the mother and daughter decided to test it by moving useful items inside.
They called “go out,” and sure enough, they returned to the small room.
From then on, they began moving everything into the space.
In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the bedding, clothes, shoes, table, and cabinets—all were transferred inside.
Only then did Qin Suining remember Cuizhu, still lying unconscious on the floor outside.
She opened the door to check—
and what she saw startled her completely.