Before she could pull her hand back, she watched in shock as the jade pendant greedily absorbed her blood.
The cut on her finger vanished without a trace, and the pendant flared with a soft, iridescent white light.
Is this a spatial dimension too?
The moment the thought crossed her mind, her surroundings shifted. She found herself standing in a breathtaking landscape of sweeping mountains and pristine waters.
It was vast—far larger than her original space. Tucked within the grounds stood a traditional four-sided courtyard house. Stepping up to the entrance, she saw the front gates standing wide open, leading toward the main hall whose doors hung ajar.
The hall was empty, save for a portrait hanging front and center. It depicted a breathtaking woman clad in elegant, ancient traditional attire.
Approaching the portrait, Wen Ya bowed respectfully three times.
The moment she straightened up, the image in the painting transformed into a beam of light that shot directly into her forehead. Immediately, a wave of information surged into her mind.
As it turned out, this spatial dimension was a ancestral legacy left by her mother’s side of the family. Over the generations, no descendant had ever successfully bound it, making her claim an entirely serendipitous accident.
The warehouse inside stored heirloom treasures meant for the family’s offspring, but only direct bloodline descendants who unlocked the space could view the portrait and access the vault. If an outsider opened it by chance, it would function merely as a simple agricultural pocket with a basic spring—one whose waters possessed nothing more than minor cosmetic properties.
For a true bloodline heir, however, unlocking the dimension revealed the courtyard and a genuine spirit spring that could cure illnesses and bolster physical vitality.
While it didn’t possess supernatural abilities like bringing back the dead or regenerating lost limbs, Wen Ya was more than thrilled with what it offered.
Deciding to head back outside to plan her next move, she returned to her room and examined the pendant in her hand. Leaving something this valuable lying around was far too risky; storing it inside her spatial dimension was the safest option.
She willed the pendant into her spatial pocket. The instant it entered, a sharp wave of dizziness hit her.
What’s going on? she wondered, rubbing her throbbing temples. Is the injury on my head getting worse?
Touching the knot on her scalp, she winced. It was painfully tender—likely a bad contusion. Her scum of a father hadn’t bothered to take her to a hospital or even bandage it up, leaving her to tough it out on her own.
She had considered drinking some spirit spring water to heal herself, but quickly discarded the idea. If she healed up overnight, how would anyone ever see her family’s true colors?
She needed to publicize their cruelty and let the whole neighborhood see what kind of trash her father really was.
Just as she was about to pull a mirror from her original space to style a truly pitiable look, her mind went blank—she couldn’t access the dimension at all.
Holy crap, what’s happening?! Panicking, she tried again. That space was her absolute lifeline!
Setting aside her scum father and all her revenge schemes, she focused entirely on her locked dimension. For nearly an hour, she tried over and over. Finally, on her eight hundred and first attempt, her conscious self slipped inside.
She stood frozen in daze.
Sitting right next to her bamboo lodge was the ancient four-sided courtyard house from the second space. The surrounding terrain had expanded dramatically—the two dimensions had merged into one.
Did putting the pendant into my spatial warehouse trigger a fusion?
She beamed with joy. Looking over at her fields, she saw that the crops and vegetables were fully ripe. With a simple thought, she harvested everything and planted a fresh batch.
The arable land had multiplied several times over, stretching out across roughly five acres. The river had widened, the sea had grown, and the modest mountain had expanded into a rolling range. With a haven like this, surviving her new life was going to be a breeze.
Then, she remembered something crucial: her mother had brought a substantial dowry into the marriage, which her father had quietly confiscated after her death.
Stepping out of her bedroom, she found the master bedroom locked tight. Her father was clearly guarding against her.
Unbothered, she pulled a set of skeleton keys from her pocket.
When she had been stockpiling supplies, she had read post-apocalyptic web novels where characters had to smash down doors to scavenge supplies. Reasoning that a set of universal lockpicks would save her time, she had bought a whole assortment. Who knew they’d come in handy so soon?
Picking the lock in seconds, she stepped inside. The room contained a double bed, a large wardrobe, and two small nightstands, all securely locked.
Without hesitation, she swept all the furniture straight into her space. These belonged to her mother’s dowry—there was no way she was leaving them for her scumbag father.
Next, she systematically cleared out every corner of the room.
In total, she uncovered 1,351 yuan, 6 jiao, and 2 fen in cash across two hidden stashes, along with stacks of ration coupons. Tucked behind two loose bricks in the wall, she found a heavy wooden chest containing her mother’s real heirlooms: two pairs of jade bangles, a jade pendant, two solid gold bangles, a gold ring, a gold necklace, and a savings passbook with a balance of 10,000 yuan.
Examining the wooden chest more closely, she noticed the bottom panel looked unnaturally thick.
Pulling a small knife from her space, she pried the false bottom loose. Underneath lay over a dozen keys, several real estate deeds, and a letter.
The letter revealed that these assets were a safety net left by her grandfather for his daughter. He had never imagined that his entire family would perish, leaving only his granddaughter behind.
Reading it, Wen Ya felt a wave of sympathy for the family’s tragic fate. When I get the chance, I’ll secretly burn plenty of joss paper for them so they’ll have plenty of money to spend in the afterlife, she resolved.
She swept every last item into her dimension, leaving the room completely bare.
After stashing the loot, she slaughtered a chicken inside her space, using its blood to paint giant, crimson accusations across the walls, floor, and ceiling of the master bedroom.
She wiped away her footprints, slipped out, and locked the door behind her, scuffing up the dirt near the entryway to obscure any traces of her presence.
Now came the performance. She needed to look as pathetic as possible to earn public sympathy—it would make her next moves much easier.
She tousled her hair into a messy mop, making sure the nasty, bloody wound on her forehead was fully visible.
Staggering out of the apartment, she swayed weakly down the path toward the main courtyard.
A few neighbors were gathered outside chatting, and they gasped when they caught sight of her. A middle-aged woman rushed over to steady her, her eyes widening at the dried blood on her head.
“Oh my goodness, Xiuya! What on earth happened to you? Why is your head bleeding like that? Did you take a fall?”
“Auntie…” Wen Ya whimpered, her voice trembling. “Could you… could you please help me get to the hospital?”
“Of course, of course! I’ll take you right now,” the woman agreed hastily, helping her along. “Child, how could you be so careless? A fall like that must hurt terribly!”
“It wasn’t a fall, Auntie…” Tears welled up in Wen Ya’s eyes and spilled over her cheeks as she adopted an expression of utter heartbreak. “My dad hit me… He did it to force me to go down to the countryside in Chen Jinbao’s place.”
Hearing this, the surrounding neighbors let out collective gasps of outrage.
The poor girl! They always said a stepfather came along with a stepmother, and this proved it. Her poor mother hadn’t been dead for long, and her father had already turned into a monster.
Several women helped usher Wen Ya to the hospital, where a doctor cleaned and bandaged her head injury, recommending a twenty-four-hour stay to monitor for a concussion.
One neighbor stayed behind to keep her company, while the others headed back to finish their household chores—and spread the word.
By the time her scum father strolled home from his shift at the steel mill, he noticed the neighbors gathered in the courtyard, pointing at him and whispering furiously under their breath.