Chen Xiang, who had been feeling somewhat anxious, felt a surge of courage the moment she heard her daughter wanted to study.
"Alright, I'll listen to Wan Sheng. We're going to the city!"
Although Chen Xiang had four children, she loved every single one of them.
This time, when she mustered the courage to leave the Zhao family, Zhao Zhiwen and his two sons accused her of being irresponsible and abandoning the elderly and children. Her eldest daughter even shouted that she had deserted her husband and kids. These actions truly wounded Chen Xiang's heart.
It was Zhao Zhiwen who had scorned her, abandoned her, and bullied her, yet the children she had raised with love since they were young not only refused to stand up for their own mother but also turned the tables on her, calling her a cold-blooded woman who had cast aside her husband and children. How could that not break one's heart?
Fortunately, her youngest daughter still understood her. From now on, she would pretend she had never given birth to those ungrateful wolves. From now on, she would only dote on Wan Wan.
Seeing that she had finally persuaded her mother, Zhao Wansheng broke into a radiant smile. As long as her mother got into the city—whether she remarried or found work—there would always be a chance to stay there in the future.
Zhao Wansheng pressed her advantage, leaning close to Chen Xiang and whispering:
"Mother, do we have any money?"
After her rebirth, Zhao Wansheng had been so busy helping Chen Xiang pack and leave the Zhao family that she only now remembered that their deadbeat father hadn't given them a single cent—he'd only let them take what little remained of Chen Xiang's dowry, which was nearly all used up.
Zhao Wansheng knew all too well that Zhao Zhiwen had plenty of money!
Hearing this, Chen Xiang immediately understood what her daughter meant. She got up and opened the dowry chest that her eldest brother had picked out for her when she married.
Inside the chest were only a few sets of clothes for the mother and daughter, along with an unremarkable little cloth bundle. Nothing else.
Chen Xiang opened the cloth bundle and took out a small roll of paper bills.
She counted them—twenty thousand yuan in old currency.
Converted to new currency, that was only two yuan.
This was what Chen Xiang had saved over the years from farming.
Two yuan was a small comfort for the mother and daughter, barely enough to get them to the city.
Zhao Wansheng thought that was all they had, but unexpectedly, her mother pulled out two silver dollars from the lining of the cloth bundle, along with a milky-white jade peace pendant.
"These silver dollars were secretly slipped to me by your eldest and second uncles when I got married. I never had the heart to spend them. This money should be enough for us to stay in the city for a few days."
One silver dollar was equivalent to one yuan in new currency.
In these times, four yuan was quite a lot for people like them who scraped a living from the soil.
Zhao Wansheng breathed a sigh of relief, but her gaze couldn't help but linger on that peace pendant.
For some reason, when she saw that jade pendant, her heart began to beat faster, and for a moment, she couldn't tear her eyes away.
Seeing this, Chen Xiang took out the peace pendant and handed it to her daughter.
"I found this on the back mountain when I was little. I kept it because it looked pretty. If you like it, you can have it to play with!"
Zhao Wansheng instinctively took the jade pendant.
The pendant was quite large—as big as her palm—but unfortunately, it was covered in cracks. Otherwise, it would surely have been a fine piece of jade.
"Thank you, Mother." Zhao Wansheng clutched the jade pendant.
After packing their things, the mother and daughter lay down on the bed.
Zhao Wansheng still held the peace pendant in her hand.
As she drifted into a hazy sleep, a sudden sharp pain shot through her palm, followed by her consciousness sinking. She didn't know how long passed, but when she opened her eyes again, she found herself lying on the ground.
Looking up, everything around her was white. Upon closer inspection, that whiteness turned out to be an impenetrable thick fog.
The patch of black soil beneath her feet, about one mu in size, was not swallowed by the mist.
In the middle of the ground, there was actually a well the size of a washbasin. Looking closely, thin wisps of mist rose from it.
Zhao Wansheng recalled that she had clearly been sleeping, yet in the blink of an eye, she had arrived at such a strange place.
A guess began to form in her heart.
I want to get out!
Zhao Wansheng tested it in a soft voice.
Unexpectedly, the moment the words left her lips, she was back lying on the bed.
Zhao Wansheng was stunned for a moment, then immediately confirmed that she possessed the Spirit Spring Space from those novels.
I want to enter the space.
Zhao Wansheng said silently.
In the blink of an eye, she was back inside the space.
Zhao Wansheng hurried to the well and scooped up a handful of Spirit Spring water with her hands.
Since this was her first time consuming the Spirit Spring, she didn't dare drink too much—just a small sip.
The moment the Spirit Spring water entered her mouth, a strange sensation arose in her heart, as if an instruction manual had appeared in her mind:
Detoxifies and beautifies, strengthens the body, and prolongs life.
Zhao Wansheng's eyes immediately lit up.
As the Spirit Spring water entered her stomach, all the fatigue in her body was swept away.
Zhao Wansheng was overjoyed.
This Spirit Spring water was truly amazing!
After calming herself down, Zhao Wansheng exited the space.
She lay on the bed, still excited, and only then noticed that the peace pendant she had been holding while sleeping was gone.
Zhao Wansheng looked at her palm, thinking of that jade pendant. At that moment, the pendant, radiating a soft, milky-white glow, appeared out of thin air in her palm.
And she could still sense the misty space inside it, along with that Spirit Spring well.
There was nothing left for Zhao Wansheng to misunderstand—this jade pendant was the space.
With a thought, the jade pendant receded back into her palm, and she remained brimming with excitement.
Tossing and turning in bed with excitement for half the night, Zhao Wansheng only drifted off to sleep when the roosters outside began to crow and dawn was about to break.
"Wan Wansheng, time to get up."
Zhao Wansheng was shaken awake by Chen Xiang.
She had gone to bed very late last night, but this morning she felt even more energetic than if she had slept early. The moment she opened her eyes, she remembered what they had discussed the night before. "Mother, did you tell Grandmother and the others that we're going into town?"
"I did. I told your grandmother first thing this morning, and she supports it too. Hurry up and get up to eat breakfast."
Chen Xiang had still felt a bit uneasy before going to bed last night, but when she got up this morning, she couldn't help quietly telling her mother everything her daughter had said the night before. To her surprise, her mother actually agreed.
"Don't spread the word about this for now. Stay home and rest for a few days first. You've worn yourself to the bone working for the Zhao family all these years. Rest at home for a couple of days, and once you're looking better, then you can go into town to look around.
I'll have your second brother go into town first to scout out job openings and find a reliable matchmaker. Then you and your daughter can head into town when the time is right."
As the saying goes, experience is the best teacher. With just a few words, Grandmother had laid everything out clearly.
With her own mother in favor of her going to town, and her elder brother tagging along, the last bit of hesitation in Chen Xiang's heart immediately dissolved. She felt much lighter overall, a faint smile even appearing on her face.
It wasn't until after Zhao Wansheng finished breakfast that she heard about Grandmother's arrangement from Chen Xiang. She looked at her mother's weathered and haggard face, which seemed far older than her years, and had to admit that Grandmother's reasoning was sound.
Not to mention how important appearance was for her mother finding a marriage partner, even for finding work, people judged by looks.
Chen Xiang actually had good facial features to begin with. When she was a young woman, she had been the prettiest girl in all the surrounding villages. But after all these years of working from dawn to dusk for the Zhao family, toiling day and night without rest, she had been worn down until she was dull and lusterless, thin as a rake, her face so gaunt it had lost all its shape.
Her mother's current appearance really did need some proper nurturing.
If this had been before, Zhao Wansheng would have worried whether her mother's body and face, aged so prematurely from hard labor, could ever be restored.
But now, after seeing her own complexion in the mirror while combing her hair this morning, she felt confident about helping her mother recover as well.
Last night she had only taken a single sip of the Spirit Spring, and after just one night, the sallow tint on her face had lightened by a shade, and her skin had become noticeably finer. Of course, unless someone looked very carefully, they wouldn't be able to tell.
At a glance, her malnourished face didn't seem to have changed much overall—it just looked a bit more pleasant to the eye.
It seemed that as long as she controlled the amount of Spirit Spring Water she gave her mother and took her time with it, letting everyone gradually and imperceptibly accept her mother's transformation, no one would grow suspicious.