After walking for a while, Cheng Junyi noticed the tail behind her—that shifty-eyed man.
A smile curled at the corner of her mouth. She had just been regretting not having gouged out his eyes earlier.
Well, wasn’t this the perfect opportunity!
It was just past six now, with two hours still to go before the department store and the supply and marketing cooperative opened. That was plenty of time.
Drawing on the original owner’s memories, she headed toward a park that contained a five-mu grove of trees. The foliage was dense, and with the morning sun still low, the interior was quite dim.
She walked in, hid behind a tree, and waited quietly for her pursuer.
The shifty-eyed man saw her enter the grove and rubbed his hands together excitedly. This place was secluded and hidden—he could make his move without any worry.
His mind filled with images of Cheng Junyi’s face, he swallowed hard and hurried in after her.
He wasn’t afraid of the consequences at all, because in his mind, women cared about their reputations and would never dare to speak up.
As soon as he entered, he spotted a strip of skirt fabric peeking out from behind a tree. That was it—that was the fabric she was wearing.
He glanced around to confirm no one else was there, then dashed toward the tree.
Cheng Junyi heard the footsteps and lifted her eyelids slightly. Between her right index and middle fingers, she held a needle coated with a unique knockout drug her mother had formulated.
When the footsteps drew closer, she didn’t move her head at all—she simply flicked the needle out of her hand.
Thud—
The shifty-eyed man collapsed to the ground.
Cheng Junyi walked over, crouched beside him, and first pulled the needle out.
Then she produced a dagger and drove it into one of his eyes. A squelching sound followed, and then she moved to the other eye.
Both eyeballs were punctured, but she didn’t stop there. This time she aimed at his neck and made a light slash—blood gushed out.
She leisurely wiped the blood off the dagger on his clothes, then calmly walked out of the grove.
At another secluded spot in the park, she entered the Spatial Dimension, took a bath, changed her clothes, and stepped back out.
When she arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, she found it packed with people. They were all there to buy groceries, and the line stretched on forever. She debated whether to join the queue.
She looked up at the sun—too hot. Forget it. She’d head to the department store instead.
It took her half an hour to walk to the department store. It was spacious and mostly empty.
She first went to the non-staple food section, took out all her sugar coupons that were about to expire, and weighed out ten jin of White Rabbit candy, two jin of orange-flavored candy, and five jin of brown sugar, using up all the soon-to-expire coupons.
The sales clerk’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head. What young lady from a wealthy family was this? Buying so much candy—was she preparing for a wedding banquet?
Next, she bought malted milk powder, canned goods, and more.
Cheng Junyi then went to the fabric section and carefully selected six bolts of cotton cloth.
After that, she visited the stationery section and the daily necessities section, buying notebooks, ink and brushes, thermos flasks, coal stoves, iron woks, and so on.
Finally, she went to the bicycle area. She could have skipped buying one, since there was already one at home, but with so many things to carry back, it was better to just buy one. Besides, she had the coupons.
When she pushed the bicycle laden with goods out of the store, everyone stared at her.
Six bolts of cloth were strapped to the back, a coal stove and iron wok hung from both sides of the rear rack, and bags dangled from the handlebars.
To be honest, Cheng Junyi felt she probably couldn’t ride it, because she didn’t know how. For another, the bicycle was heavy, and as she pushed it, it kept leaning toward her.
Worry! Worry! Worry!
There were many people here, and she couldn’t put the things into her Spatial Dimension, so she could only push the cart with difficulty.
A petite and delicate young woman pushing a cart full of goods drew many curious glances along the way.
“Miss! Why aren’t you riding it?” an auntie carrying a cloth bag asked curiously.
Cheng Junyi smiled gently. “I don’t know how to ride.”
Auntie: “…” Those who could ride couldn’t even dream of having a bicycle, yet this one who couldn’t ride actually had such a good one.
Sour, she didn’t want to talk to this girl anymore.
The auntie shook her head and left.
After pushing for twenty minutes, Cheng Junyi was tired. She leaned the bicycle against the wall, then spread out her palms—they had blisters. She also looked at her skirt hem—it was dirty.
She sighed helplessly. Without having cultivated her Divine Sense, she couldn’t observe her surroundings, and she didn’t dare put things into her Spatial Dimension at all.
She needed to step up her cultivation, or else she’d suffer too much.
“Sister, need help?”
Cheng Junyi turned her head slightly and saw a boy around ten years old smiling at her ingratiatingly.
She thought for about ten-odd seconds. “I do need help, but you seem a bit too small. You probably can’t push this bicycle either.”
“Sister, don’t worry. I’ll call my big brother.” With that, he ran into a nearby alley.
Then he pulled out a young man, around fifteen years old, quite tall—more than a head taller than Cheng Junyi.
“Sister, sister, look, my big brother is this big. He can push this cart no problem, and my big brother can also ride a bicycle.”
The boy pulled the young man over. The young man’s face was shy, and he didn’t dare lift his head to look at Cheng Junyi.
Cheng Junyi looked at the young man and smiled gently. “Can you help me?”
The young man blurted out, “Yes, I can, I can.”
He had actually seen her from the department store, watching her struggle to push the cart. He’d wanted to help all along, but had been too embarrassed to speak up.
“If you help me push it home, I’ll give you two meat ration tickets as payment. Is that alright?” Cheng Junyi asked.
Hearing this, the boy’s eyes lit up, while the young man’s face flushed red. He just wanted to help; he hadn’t thought about payment.
“No need for payment. Pushing a cart is nothing—just a small effort.”
Cheng Junyi shook her head. “If you won’t take it, then I won’t need your help.”
Hearing that she wouldn’t need his help, the young man became flustered. The boy spoke up from the side, “Sister, we’ll take the payment. I haven’t had meat in a long time.”
The young man raised his hand and knocked the boy on the head. What a glutton.
But thanks to his words, he could help her now.
“Alright then, let’s go now!”
Cheng Junyi led the way in front, the young man pushed the bicycle, and the boy followed behind.
Half an hour later, they arrived at her doorstep—except there were more than a dozen gatekeepers standing in front of her house.
Cheng Junyi stepped forward and asked, “Do you have business at my doorstep?”
The group all looked at Cheng Junyi in a daze. Goodness, what a truly beautiful girl.
A woman who had been squatting stood up and patted her legs. “Oh my, you’re finally back. We’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
“What’s the matter?” Cheng Junyi asked again.
A man wearing glasses stepped forward. “Hello, we’re here to look at the house.”
Cheng Junyi’s face turned cold. She hadn’t even left yet, and the house hadn’t even been put up for rent—why were they so eager to come see it? Besides, how come she, the landlord, knew nothing about this at all?
“Who told you to come see the house?”
The group exchanged glances. No one had told them to come—they had come on their own after getting wind of the news.
Seeing Cheng Junyi’s displeased expression, one person spoke up honestly: “No one told us to come. We heard someone say you were going to the countryside, and figured you’d definitely be renting out this house, so we came to ask.”
Cheng Junyi’s expression softened slightly. At least no one had taken it upon themselves to make arrangements without her knowledge.
“The house is indeed going to be rented out, but only after I leave. Also, all matters regarding the rental have been entrusted to someone else.”
“So, you should come back after I’m gone.”
With that, she took out her key to open the large iron gate and gestured for the young man and the boy to come over.
Seeing her open the door, a woman spoke up: “Young lady! We’ve already made it to your doorstep—why not let us take a look inside first?”
Cheng Junyi paused mid-motion as she opened the door, slowly turning her head to look at the speaker. Coldly, she said, “Did you not understand what I just said?”