“Oh, so many coal briquettes—did the Cheng family’s little girl buy these?” A plump middle-aged woman walked in.
Uncle Wang glanced at her, then ignored her and continued unloading the coal briquettes.
The plump woman was displeased. “Hey, I’m asking you a question!”
Uncle Wang still ignored her.
Hearing the commotion, Cheng Junyi came out and looked at the plump woman, asking, “Can I help you?”
The moment the plump woman saw Cheng Junyi, her eyes lit up, and she eagerly stepped forward. “Oh my, you must be that Cheng girl! You really are quite pretty.”
Cheng Junyi felt repulsed. The woman gave her the same feeling as a brothel madam in a TV drama.
She took a step back, putting distance between herself and the plump woman, and said coldly, “Who are you, and what business do you have at my house?”
Uncle Wang glanced at Cheng Junyi out of the corner of his eye. So she could be this cold and aloof too!
The plump woman was very dissatisfied with her retreating, and pursed her lips in displeasure. Her tone was no longer as warm as before.
“I heard you’re going to the countryside! Life in the countryside will be really tough. Someone like you probably won’t even last a month. So, I’ve come today to help you.”
Cheng Junyi said nothing, just looked at the woman calmly.
When Uncle Wang heard she was going to the countryside, his movements slowed, and his expression turned grave.
The plump woman cursed inwardly. Shouldn’t a normal person ask how she planned to help?
With no other choice, she had to continue. “There’s a young man who’s taken a liking to you. He asked me to play matchmaker. If you marry him, you won’t have to go to the countryside. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?”
Anger flickered in Cheng Junyi’s eyes—not just because of the marriage proposal, but also because of the woman’s tone, as if she were cheap, as if she should be grateful that someone was willing to marry her. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t find a husband on her own.
“Going to the countryside is my own choice. Please leave.” She emphasized the last four words heavily.
The plump woman was taken aback. She had expected Cheng Junyi to happily ask who the man was, but instead, she not only didn’t ask, she was being shown the door.
And claiming she was going to the countryside voluntarily—who would believe that? With her circumstances, she didn’t need to go at all. She had no job or source of income, but even just renting out this house would be enough to live on.
Her situation was definitely one where someone had set her up to go to the countryside. After all, she had once been a capitalist, which made her a target of resentment. And this house made many people envious.
Especially now that she was all alone—if not her, who else would they target?
Now that she had a chance to avoid going to the countryside and find herself some backing, she was still putting on airs?
The plump woman analyzed the situation in her mind and was certain that Cheng Junyi was just being difficult.
“You’d better think this through. Once you go to the countryside, it’ll be hard to come back. And this house of yours—whether it’ll still be yours after you leave is anyone’s guess.”
Hearing this, Cheng Junyi smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. Her voice was soft, but the words that came out sent chills down one’s spine: “My things—unless I don’t want them or I give them away—whoever dares to reach out a hand, I dare to chop it off.”
Her gentle, soft tone made the plump woman shudder all over. She silently took a step back, trying to put more distance between herself and Cheng Junyi.
Cheng Junyi looked at the plump woman with a beaming smile. “Auntie, can you leave my house now?”
The plump woman shook her head. Why had she been scared by her just now? A little woman spouting big talk—what was there to fear?
After snapping back to reality, she glared at Cheng Junyi and said, “Let me tell you, you better think this through carefully. Don’t regret it once you’re in the countryside—it’ll be too late then. Plenty of people who go to the countryside never come back, and some even end up marrying dirt-poor farmers.”
Cheng Junyi gave no response, only staring at her steadily.
Seeing that she was impervious to persuasion, the plump woman snorted and stormed off, muttering as she went, “You’ll have your regrets soon enough.”
Cheng Junyi watched her leave, then turned around to find Uncle Wang staring at her.
She smiled and asked, “Uncle Wang, is something the matter? Oh, right—could you calculate how much the coal briquettes cost in total? I’ll give you the money.”
“You’re going to the countryside?”
The sudden question caught Cheng Junyi off guard. She took a closer look at Uncle Wang, noting his serious expression and the deep confusion in his eyes.
A flicker of doubt arose in Cheng Junyi’s mind as well—something about Uncle Wang seemed off.
She replied with a faint smile, “Yes! Going to the countryside to contribute to construction.”
Having received his answer, Uncle Wang said nothing more and turned back to continue unloading the coal briquettes.
Cheng Junyi: “…” What does he mean by that?
Whatever. She didn’t sense any malice from him, so she decided not to dwell on why he asked.
There was still more than half a cartload of coal briquettes to unload. Cheng Junyi thought about how he’d said she was in the way and didn’t need to help, but just standing there watching made her feel a bit awkward.
She thought about going into the Spatial Dimension to sort out some fruit for him to take home later.
Just as she was about to head inside, it suddenly occurred to her that she hadn’t paid for the coal yet.
“Uncle Wang, how much do I owe you for the coal?”
“150.” He didn’t pause in his work, not even glancing at Cheng Junyi.
Cheng Junyi pursed her lips and turned to go inside, planning to give him the fruit along with the payment when he left.
She grabbed some tangerines and apples—both fairly common items on the market.
An hour later, Cheng Junyi peeked outside and saw that there were only a few coal briquettes left in the cart, so she carried the fruit out.
She only had to stand and wait a few minutes before everything was unloaded. Cheng Junyi looked at the wall of coal in the courtyard with satisfaction—Uncle Wang really did good work, stacking the briquettes neatly in rows.
This would save her a lot of trouble when she stored them in the Spatial Dimension later, since she wouldn’t need to arrange them herself.
Uncle Wang pulled off his gloves and shook them out, then extended his hand toward Cheng Junyi.
Cheng Junyi was momentarily taken aback, then handed him the cloth bag she was carrying. He took it, glanced inside, and handed it back to her. “150.”
Realizing her mistake, she didn’t take the bag back and quickly pulled the money she’d prepared earlier from her pocket, handing it to him.
“Uncle Wang, sorry for the trouble today. These fruits are for you to take home and enjoy.”
Uncle Wang didn’t stand on ceremony. He pocketed the money, tossed the cloth bag onto the seat, and started cranking the tractor.
Once it started, he climbed aboard and carefully reversed out. Cheng Junyi watched until the vehicle had driven off into the distance before closing the iron gate.
She looked at the wall of coal, estimating it was around 2.5 tons—enough to last a long time.
She stored the coal briquettes into the Spatial Dimension and then entered it herself. Spirit Stones covered the ground, and she sat cross-legged to cultivate. By tomorrow, she should reach the Second Level of Qi Refining, and then she’d go collect the treasure.
After Uncle Wang drove the tractor back to its parking spot, he returned home and slumped into a chair. He lit a cigarette, stared at the ceiling, and smoked one puff after another, lost in thought.
After a while, he got up, drew water from the well in the courtyard, and carried it into the house.
When he came out again, he looked completely different. His skin was no longer dark and swarthy, but a bronze color. With sharp, imposing eyebrows, deep-set eyes, and a high-bridged nose, there was no doubt—he was a handsome man, and one full of masculine charm.
He wore short, tousled hair, black dress pants, and a dark gray shirt with the top three buttons undone and sleeves rolled up to his elbows. On his feet were a pair of gray leather shoes.
Compared to his previous slovenly appearance, he now looked much cleaner and younger, appearing to be only twenty-four or twenty-five years old.
He locked the door and headed out, arriving at the Office of Educated Youth Affairs.
The registration clerk saw Uncle Wang and asked, “Comrade, are you here to register for the rural program?”
He sat down leisurely in a spot, saying, “I’m here to see your leader.”
The clerk glanced at Uncle Wang, then stood up and said, “Please wait a moment. I’ll go ask inside.”
Before long, the clerk came back out and invited Uncle Wang in.
Wu Zhou, who was organizing documents, heard the knock on the door. Without even lifting his head, he simply called out, “Come in.”
After entering, the visitor didn’t disturb him but found a place to sit down.
Wu Zhou sensed something off and looked up. The sight startled him, and he quickly rose to his feet. “Wei… Xun?”
Wei Xun nodded.
Wu Zhou was astonished. This man was the eldest young master of the Wei family in the capital. What business could he have with him?
“May I ask, what brings you here?”
“Help me look up the rural assignment location for Cheng Junyi of the Jiuli Villa District.”
Wu Zhou nodded in agreement and immediately made a phone call to have the records from Jiuli brought over.
Not long after, someone delivered the files, and the information was quickly found.
“Found it. Her assignment location is Ji Province, Baoshan Commune.”
Having obtained the answer, Wei Xun stood up to leave. Before departing, he instructed, “Don’t spread word of my visit here today. Also, her rural assignment has already been decided—don’t go changing it.”
Wu Zhou agreed. But just a few minutes after Wei Xun left, he received a call from Wen Honglei, demanding that he cancel Cheng Junyi’s rural assignment.
He refused with a wry smile. If the call had come earlier, canceling it would have been no problem, but now he didn’t dare.
After all, that young master wasn’t just a young master—he held an official position. What kind of position, Wu Zhou didn’t know, but it was likely something beyond his reach.
On the other side, Wen Honglei hung up the phone and sat in his office chair, deep in thought. Wu Zhou’s firm refusal could only mean someone else had given him orders. But who?
It certainly wasn’t any of the few people who knew about the treasure, because none of them wanted the only member of the Cheng family in Haishi to leave their sight.
Since he couldn’t stop her from going to the countryside, he would just have to rally more people to pressure Wu Zhou.
With that, he picked up the phone and dialed.
“Old Yao! Did you know that girl from the Cheng family is going to the countryside?”
“Director Wang, there’s something I need to tell you. The one from the Cheng family is going to the countryside.”
“Minister Lin, I have news for you. Old Master Cheng’s granddaughter is going to the countryside.”