Jiang Wanyue suddenly felt a chill run down her back, an instinctive sense of fear washing over her.
It was the feeling of being watched by something truly dangerous.
She rubbed the goosebumps on her arms.
Tsk.
Why did it feel so creepy?
That gaze…
It seemed to be coming from the Xiao family’s direction.
She turned to look, but saw nothing unusual.
The Xiao family?
Wouldn’t that be Xiao Hengchuan?
But ever since they had left the city, she hadn’t seen Xiao Hengchuan move once on the wooden stretcher he was lying on.
Who knew whether he was even alive?
The Lin and Xiao families had once arranged a marriage alliance, but at this point…
Jiang Wanyue’s thoughts became a tangled mess, and she simply gave up thinking about it.
The story had already changed completely. Who knew what would happen next?
She might as well take things one step at a time.
Meanwhile, after Jiang Wanyue shifted her gaze away from the Xiao family…
Xiao Hengchuan slowly opened his sharp, piercing eyes.
The woman’s swift and decisive movements in the darkness had genuinely surprised him.
That was not the skill of some ignorant country girl who had only ever slaughtered pigs in a rural village.
He had a feeling…
This woman was hiding secrets.
He had seen everything clearly.
She had knocked Lin Shutong unconscious with a chop to the neck, carried her away from the Lin family’s second branch with one hand, dumped her on the hillside, and then hidden nearby to enjoy the spectacle.
But bitterness filled his heart.
The executioners had clearly intended to cripple him during the punishment.
Now he had completely lost all sensation below his waist.
His spine was probably broken.
He clenched his fists tightly.
Now he was nothing more than a cripple.
Worse still, he had become a burden to his family.
After Jiang Wanyue walked farther away, that unsettling feeling of being watched finally disappeared.
Only then did she let out a sigh of relief.
When she returned to her family’s resting place, everyone wore worried expressions.
Especially Shen Qingru.
She immediately pulled Jiang Wanyue into a tight embrace, her voice choked with emotion.
“Yueyue, you scared your mother to death. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Mother.”
“From now on, if you have to go out after dark, make sure someone goes with you. Understand?”
Being cared for like this warmed Jiang Wanyue’s heart.
It was an unfamiliar feeling.
And strangely…
It felt sweeter than any dessert she had ever eaten.
In her previous life, after being abandoned by her family, whenever everyone sided with her older brother and forced her to suffer in silence, she would go buy herself desserts.
Yet no matter how sweet they were…
They always tasted bitter.
Her parents would always tell her,
“Jiang Wanyue, your brother is the one who’ll carry on the family line in the future. As for you, you’ll get married someday.
“Once you’re married, if your husband’s family doesn’t support you, your life will be miserable.
“So what’s wrong with giving in to your brother a little?”
Even though she was five years younger than him…
They still expected her to give way.
Just thinking about it made her heart ache.
But today…
She had been protected over and over again.
She hadn’t eaten a single dessert.
Yet everything already felt incredibly sweet.
She smiled brightly.
“I know. Thank you, Mother.”
Lin Jingyuan also stepped forward.
“Yueyue… I’m sorry…”
His heart was full of guilt.
His mother had tried to harm Jiang Wanyue.
Yet he had still stepped in to protect Old Madam Lin.
But no matter what…
Old Madam Lin was still his biological mother.
Shen Qingru shot him a glare.
“I tolerated it before because of Lin Yurou. But now she’s bullying my daughter, and I won’t stand for it.
“My daughter suffered so much outside. From now on, no one is allowed to bully her again.
“We can only make it up to her by treating her a thousand—ten thousand times better than before. We must never let her suffer another grievance.”
Lin Jingyuan was left speechless.
“Qingru… This is my fault.”
“Hmph!”
“Our eldest branch is the real family here. If you dare show favoritism again, neither my daughter nor I will acknowledge you.
“Everything belonging to the eldest branch was prepared by my father. I won’t give any of it to anyone else.”
“I understand.”
Shen Qingru led Jiang Wanyue back to sit on the wooden stretcher.
“Yueyue, get some sleep. Let’s ignore your father until he figures things out himself.”
Actually, Jiang Wanyue understood how Lin Jingyuan felt.
Given how devoted he had always been to Old Madam Lin, the fact that he had come this far today was already a huge change.
Expecting him to completely cut ties with her overnight was impossible.
After all, she was his own mother.
They had lived together for decades.
There was no way today’s events alone could completely sever that bond.
The rest of the Lin family also looked at Jiang Wanyue with concern.
“Yueyue, are you really okay?”
“If anything happens in the future, call your second brother.”
Jiang Wanyue thanked each of them sincerely.
“Thank you all for caring about me.”
“We’re family. Why are you thanking us?”
“We’ve all had an exhausting day. Everyone should get some rest. We’ll probably have to continue our journey tomorrow.”
“That’s right. Let’s all get some sleep.”
The Lin family was utterly exhausted.
Leaning against the donkey cart nearby, they quickly drifted off to sleep.
Jiang Wanyue lay on the wooden stretcher, intending to sleep as well.
But it had only been her first day after transmigrating into this world…
And so much had already happened.
She tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
Unable to sleep, her thoughts drifted once more to the golden… inside her storage space.
…golden hoe.
Although the first time she used the golden hoe it dug up something unbelievably bizarre, it was still a valuable treasure.
Besides, even if the golden hoe never dug up anything useful again…
She could always melt it down and sell it as gold. It would still fetch a fortune.
The more she thought about it, the more excited she became.
She glanced around to make sure no one was watching.
Only then did she take out the golden hoe.
Carefully examining it, she saw that it still gleamed brilliantly with its dazzling golden light.
Thinking about the item it had dug up before…
She swung the golden hoe into the ground.
Sure enough, something appeared.
Her heart leaped with joy.
The last time it had dug up such a miraculous potion.
This time, it had to be something equally incredible.
But…
She was disappointed.
Looking at what had emerged, she froze.
It looked like a child’s puzzle piece.
“What… is this?”
A puzzle piece shaped like a patch of land?
Sigh.
Forget it.
Forget it.
The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.
Since she’d dug it up anyway, she casually tossed the puzzle piece into her storage space.
Then she remembered the pouch Shen Wanjin had given her earlier that afternoon.
Still lying on the wooden stretcher, she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.
In reality, her consciousness had already entered her storage space.
She took out the pouch and poured out its contents.
The moment everything spilled out…
Her eyes widened.
“Oh my…”
“Good grief!”
Did everyone know she loved shiny golden things?
She hadn’t looked inside the pouch before and had assumed it contained pearls.
Who would have thought…
They were actually golden pearls.
She picked one up, her eyes sparkling with delight.
They were so beautiful.
Golden things were simply the prettiest.
A whole pouch full of golden pearls had to be worth a considerable amount of money.
However…
Just as she was admiring one of the pearls between her fingers, the scene before her suddenly made her jump.
The golden pearl slipped from her grasp.
Clack!
It hit the ground.
She couldn’t help blurting out,
“Holy crap!”
Remembering Xiao Jin wrapped around her wrist, she immediately willed him into the storage space.
The next second, a deafening scream echoed throughout the space.
“Xiao Jin! Look! Look! Hurry! Do you see what I found?”
Startled awake, even Xiao Jin’s usually expressionless snake face seemed to show shock.
“Holy crap! What happened here? Where did this huge piece of land come from? Didn’t you tell me your space was only one square meter before?”
“I have no idea. I think it has something to do with what I dug up with the golden hoe.”
“That golden lump dug this up?”
“That’s right! I dug up a puzzle piece with a picture of a piece of land on it. I honestly thought it was just a puzzle piece. I never imagined that after I threw it into the space, it would actually transform into a real plot of land.”
Seeing the enormous stretch of land, Xiao Jin happily darted around in excitement.
He slithered so fast that his entire golden body soon became covered in dirt.
His ridiculous appearance made Jiang Wanyue burst into laughter.
“Haha! I love this place! It feels so much more comfortable than outside. From now on, I’m staying here!”