Naturally, she didn’t forget to purchase joss paper to burn for the original girl’s family—buying extra while she was at it.
The salesclerk watched her stack pile after pile of paper onto the counter, casting a look of pure pity in her direction. This poor kid… buying this much funeral paper means she must have lost half her family. Sigh, how heartbreaking.
Stepping out of the store, Wen Ya ducked into an empty alley, stashed her newly bought supplies into her dimension, and slipped inside herself.
She planned to put on makeup before heading out to shop again. Her goal for the day was to burn through every local ration coupon in her possession—both the stashes she had raided from her father and stepmother, and the ones her father had handed over that morning.
Some coupons came with strict expiration dates, while others were bound by regional restrictions. She prioritized spending any coupon that couldn’t be used outside the city or spent on items hard to find in rural villages.
Next up: finding the black market. Since she would be leaving town soon anyway, why not score a tidy profit before heading out? Once she was gone, who could ever track her down?
Disguising herself as a young man and using a voice modulator, Wen Ya set off to scope out the location.
At the mouth of the alley leading to the black market, two elderly men sat playing chess under a tree. They glanced at her as she passed, but neither uttered a word.
She approached a secluded courtyard door and knocked twice. A young man in his twenties opened the door, sizing her up with a cautious glare.
“Can I help you?”
Lowering her voice into a deep rasp, Wen Ya replied, “Out of meat.”
“Five cents,” the man said flatly.
Wen Ya pulled a five-cent coin from her pocket and handed it over. Tucking the coin away, the man stepped aside to let her pass.
Had she not overheard her father and Liu Min gossiping about this location earlier, it would have taken her quite some time to track down the spot.
Turning a corner down the narrow entryway, she found a bustling crowd trading goods. People kept their voices down to muted whispers or negotiated entirely through hand gestures.
She drifted through the stalls, inquiring about prices and evaluating the quality of various goods.
Before leaving, she picked up several pounds of wild badger meat. To her delight, badger meat was one of the few meats missing from her spatial dimension’s massive vault.
After finishing her round, she was about to head home when she remembered another classic novel trope: she hadn’t checked off the local scrap yard yet! Turning on her heel, she made a detour straight for the salvage yard.
In truth, scrap yards in this era rarely held hidden treasures; anything truly valuable had already passed through multiple hands and been picked clean.
Still, curiosity won out. Approaching the yard entrance, she spotted a middle-aged woman resting in the shade of a large tree.
Wen Ya stepped forward, leaning down to speak while smoothly slipping a few fruit candies into the woman’s hand.
The auntie’s hands were lighting-fast, pocketing the sweets without missing a beat.
“Auntie, do you have any secondhand furniture inside?” Wen Ya asked politely. “My family just moved, and we’re short on furniture. I was hoping to pick out a few pieces.”
“Head on in and look around,” the woman replied casually. “Just bring whatever you pick out over here so I can tally it up.”
“Great, thanks!”
Stepping into the yard, she began browsing. Soon, she stumbled across a massive heap of old books and discarded newspapers.
Sifting through the piles, she retrieved several middle school and high school textbooks. As for the rare thread-bound ancient books so common in web novels, she didn’t spot a single page—whether someone had already confiscated them or burned them to ash was anyone’s guess.
Moving further along, she passed piles of scrap iron. Finding nothing of value, she pushed deeper into the yard.
Finally, she reached the furniture section. Most of the pieces here bore clear signs of intentional destruction—the recent political movements had truly ruined countless fine relics. After searching through the rubble for a while, she picked out two beautifully carved wooden boxes. Though empty, she simply couldn’t resist handsome craftsmanship.
She also selected two solid wood blocks that looked exceptionally sturdy, followed by a vintage baby cradle made of fine yellow rosewood.
Her decision to take the cradle wasn’t just because of the precious wood—the weight felt entirely wrong for its size.
Carrying her haul to the front gate, she paid a total of two yuan.
After handing over the cash, she used a thick rope to tie the items together, hauling and hoisting the heavy load away on her shoulders.
Watching her march off, the auntie nodded approvingly. That young man sure is a hard worker.
Once she reached a deserted alley, Wen Ya ducked straight into her spatial dimension to inspect the cradle for secret compartments.
Though she was terrible at woodworking, her skill at tearing things apart was second to none.
In a matter of minutes, she had dismantled the crib’s false frame—and gasped. Hidden inside were rows of solid gold bars.
Holy crap, I just struck it rich!
She retrieved all the gold bars and set the dismantled wooden pieces aside, planning to hire a craftsman to reassemble the crib if she ever needed it in the future.
By now, it was past noon. Wen Ya cooked herself a quick, satisfying meal inside her space to recharge.
Her thoughts then drifted to the property deeds left by her grandfather.
Deciding to inspect the property in person, she set out to check on her family’s legacy. It belonged to her grandfather, after all—she had to assess the situation.
More importantly, her grandfather had hidden assets there. If she didn’t retrieve them, someone else might stumble upon them and loot the stash. Since she was now carrying the bloodline, taking those heirlooms meant she could eventually pass them down to her future children, keeping the family legacy alive. Besides, her spatial vault was already bursting at the seams; she wasn’t acting out of greed.
Arriving at the address, she found the courtyard gate locked tight. Judging by the fresh signs of wear, other residents had clearly been moved in. The lock on the gate was modern, definitely not matching the vintage key her grandfather had left her.
Waiting until the street was entirely clear, she pulled out her universal skeleton key, picked the lock in seconds, and slipped inside.
She moved silently through the compound, heading straight for the location detailed in her grandfather’s letter: the woodshed.
Inside the shed stood a heavy pile of coal and firewood. Finding the exact spot, she swept all the coal into her spatial dimension and used a small shovel to dig through a foot of packed soil, exposing a heavy iron trapdoor with a thick handle.
Wiping away the remaining dirt, she revealed a sturdy padlock.
She fetched the key from her grandfather’s stash and unlocked it—making sure to strap on a industrial gas mask beforehand.
Equipped with a headlamp, she opened the trapdoor and descended down a flight of concrete stairs. Four meters down, she reached a subterranean chamber sealed behind another heavy lock.
Using the corresponding key, she unlocked the door and pushed it open, revealing a room packed with wooden crates—some stacked high, others resting individually on the floor.
With no time to inspect the contents one by one, she swept every single crate straight into her spatial dimension.
Moving deeper into the chamber, she reached a solid stone wall. Feeling along the surface, her fingers finally found a small, hidden depression.
She produced another key from the bunch and tried it. When it failed to turn, she tried a second, then a third—until the lock finally clicked open.
A low rumble echoed through the chamber as the stone door slid open, revealing an inner vault lined with shelves and display chests.
Without wasting a single second, she swept every shelf and chest into her dimension, clearing the vault completely.
Satisfied, she backtracked out of the secret room, lowered the iron trapdoor, and locked it securely.
She refilled the excavated soil, repacked the surface, and restored the pile of coal over the top. Inspecting her work, she confirmed that no ordinary person would ever notice the ground had been disturbed.
With everything restored, she slipped out through the courtyard gate, clicked the outer lock shut, and vanished into the bustling streets.