After first searching the house and confirming no one else was around, then checking that the outside remained the same monochrome street after opening the door, Li Yue returned indoors to read the subtitles.
She soon realized it was just a single line of text scrolling repeatedly.
【Super Commercial Street Space has been activated.】
【Each unlocked shop allows free access to all items inside. After the entire street is fully unlocked, it will belong to the Dimension Master, who may freely choose any location in the real world for deployment. There is no need to worry about legality—once successfully deployed, everything will automatically become compliant with regulations.】
Li Yue understood. Was she happy? Undoubtedly.
But…
“Does ‘real world’ refer to my original world or this 1980s era?”
The moment she blurted out the question, Li Yue regretted it. It was just a television screen—it probably couldn’t answer her.
Yet the television began scrolling again: The Dimension Master may deploy it anywhere according to their preference.
Two seconds after displaying this message, the screen went black. When Li Yue tried using the remote to turn the TV back on, there was no signal—only monochrome static with floating patterns.
The scrolling subtitles from earlier seemed like an illusion.
Early the next morning, Li Yue was awakened by knocking.
She opened the door drowsily to find Li Shaohua’s furious face, both hands holding five stacks of cash.
Her five thousand yuan!
Li Yue instantly became fully alert.
She waved at this “lovable” mother-in-law: “Good morning.” For the money’s sake, the little money-grubber Li Yue gave Li Shaohua a beaming smile.
Confronted with that radiant yet punchable face, Li Shaohua felt such rage she nearly slapped her twice.
But she didn’t dare—the kidney she was about to obtain hadn’t been secured yet.
“You lazy good-for-nothing! I’ve brought the money. Now come with me to the hospital to sign the consent form, and this money is yours.”
Though Li Shaohua knew this large sum was merely passing through that wretched girl’s hands temporarily, withdrawing it first thing in the morning still pained her.
Li Yue nodded with exaggerated seriousness: “As it should be.”
She then turned back into her bedroom. When she emerged dressed, the money had disappeared from Li Shaohua’s hands, but her shoulder bag had noticeably gained substantial weight.
“Let’s go.” Li Yue led the way downstairs.
Only upon reaching the yard did she see the entire family—except Lu Jianguo—already waiting there.
Lu Qing glared resentfully at her for the early wake-up.
Feng Jing leaned weakly against Lu Xiao’s bicycle rear seat, appearing genuinely unwell—her face paler than a corpse’s.
The Lu family certainly presented a united front. The three of them watched her as if fearing she might escape, but Li Yue paid no mind, completely ignoring their stares as she waited in the yard for Li Shaohua.
Soon, Li Shaohua emerged.
“Let’s go! Why are you just standing there?”
Everything about Li Yue irritated her now. Country folk were hopeless—petty and unsophisticated, completely lacking class.
Her glare burned holes into Li Yue’s back with barely concealed hostility.
Each Lu family member had their own bicycle. Aside from Lu Jianguo and Lu Xiao’s crossbar models, the others rode women’s bicycles.
This bicycle style had just become popular in Changhe County, reportedly costing over 280 yuan each.
Tsk. The Lu family was truly wealthy. Five thousand suddenly seemed too modest.
Li Yue was being carried by Li Shaohua, while Lu Xiao insisted on transporting his dear sister-in-law himself, claiming he rode more steadily and wouldn’t jostle Feng Jing.
She didn’t mind anyway – this husband of the original host, she’d help her discard him, no longer wanted.
Hospital.
Late August weather, the sun remained scorching, cicadas in the trees chirping until people felt restless and irritable.
Li Yue only wore a thin short-sleeved shirt, and though she didn’t need to walk, she was already drenched in sweat.
Looking at Feng Jing again – wearing a fashionable sun hat that completely covered her pale little face. Tsk tsk, so pretentious.
“Doctor, we’ve found a kidney donor for my daughter-in-law. It’s my younger daughter-in-law who successfully matched last time. When will the specialist arrive? Can we proceed with the surgery?”
Li Shaohua held a brown envelope in her hand, folded to about the size of her palm.
She grasped the bespectacled doctor’s hand, eyes filled with worry as she asked.
The doctor subtly freed his hand, then stuffed both hands in his pockets, sighing: “Family member, I told you last time – your daughter-in-law can’t wait too long, we need to operate soon. However, the specialist who can perform the surgery won’t arrive at our hospital until next month. This period would be perfect to examine your younger daughter-in-law, see where her health needs improvement.”
As he spoke, the doctor’s gaze swept over Li Yue, noticing her emaciated frame, dry and bony, clearly anemic and malnourished.
He frowned and turned back to Li Shaohua: “Family member, not to criticize, but how has your younger daughter-in-law become so much thinner in just one month? This won’t do – she might not even pass the upcoming examination.”
Hearing this, Li Shaohua pulled over the indifferent Li Yue, ingratiatingly saying: “Look, she’s just been picky with food lately, doesn’t like eating. Actually she’s quite strong for her height.”
She felt no guilt lying – after all, this was a kidney she had paid for.
What did being thin matter? As long as the kidney was usable, even if she were reduced to a skeleton, they’d still dig that kidney out.
Doctor Feng looked Li Yue up and down again: “Alright, let’s go to the office to sign the donation agreement first.”
“Ah, good, good, let’s go.”
Li Shaohua tightly held Li Yue’s hand, afraid she might run, while signaling to her son and daughter behind to follow closely and keep watch.
Li Yue found this utterly ridiculous.
The moment she entered, she had observed all the hospital exits and was familiar with the standard organ donation procedures.
The pre-donation tests had been conducted before her arrival, but for organ removal, the donor must be healthy with all indicators meeting surgical standards.
So after signing the agreement today, she planned to use this delay before surgery to steal back the donation document.
After all, she could access her Dimension – if discovered, she could just hide inside.
Don’t blame her for thinking simply – her first thought upon gaining the Dimension was how convenient hiding things would be.
Of course, as a law-abiding citizen, she wouldn’t engage in shady activities.
But for the Lu family who specialized in such deeds, she could only fight fire with fire.
Thus, upon entering the hospital, she began mapping escape routes for tonight’s document theft.
Entering the hospital office, there were only four desks, two facing each other, all piled high with medical records and case files.
Though there were no computers, there were plenty of notebooks.
This was Li Yue’s first thought. She respected every medical worker on duty, except for this doctor who accepted bribes so blatantly—such people would get their comeuppance sooner or later.
There was no one else in the office, only the bespectacled doctor and the members of the Lu family.
The whole clan surrounded her as if she were a criminal, crowding noisily into the office.
The air in the room instantly felt much thinner.
Doctor Feng took out a donation agreement and handed it to Li Shaohua.
“Sign it. You should have signed it last time. If you had, the surgery would be underway by now, and your eldest daughter-in-law might already be cured.”
Having accepted a red envelope from the patient’s family, he felt restless with anticipation. He didn’t know how much money was inside, but the envelope felt quite thick.
So he wanted to hurry and send the Lu family on their way.
Li Yue took the agreement from Li Shaohua’s hands, glanced over it briefly, but didn’t take the pen. Instead, she looked at Li Shaohua’s bag.
Li Shaohua pretended not to notice. “Hurry up, Doctor Feng is waiting.”
“That’s right, second sister-in-law, just sign it quickly,” Lu Qing chimed in.
Lu Xiao’s lips were pressed into a tight line, and a hint of nervousness could be seen in his calm eyes.
What was he afraid of? Was he afraid she wouldn’t sign?
If he cared so much, why did he marry the original host? Wouldn’t it have been better to marry his widowed sister-in-law and strengthen family ties?
“Sign it quickly,” Li Shaohua urged, pushing the pen closer again.
Li Yue once again fixed her gaze on the bag tucked under Li Shaohua’s arm.
“Give me the money,” she demanded bluntly, reaching out her hand.