Qin Mingzhi was amazed and tentatively took another sip.
The moment the water slid down her throat, a refreshing coolness spread throughout her body. It felt as though something inside her had suddenly become unblocked, while something else had vanished completely.
When she came back to her senses, Qin Mingzhi realized that her throat no longer felt as dry and painful as before. She moved her body and discovered that the soreness and stiffness in her arms and calves had disappeared as well.
“This water really is that miraculous…”
Qin Mingzhi was fascinated. She scooped up two more ladles of water in succession and drank until she was completely full, feeling refreshed from head to toe.
After getting her fill of the spiritual spring water, she curiously walked toward the area that looked like farmland.
No wonder this patch of land was so eye-catching. Once she got closer, she realized that it was black soil.
The entire plot was moist and glistening. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought someone had sprayed a layer of oil over it. It was so black that it looked as though it had been dyed with ink.
When she rubbed some between her fingers, it almost seemed as though she could squeeze water out of it.
Although Qin Mingzhi had never farmed before, she had read plenty of books growing up.
If she remembered correctly, the ideal black soil described in books—rich, fertile, and full of nutrients—looked exactly like this. It was fine and dark, gleaming under the sunlight, and when gently squeezed, it seemed as though water could seep from it.
With soil this fertile, Qin Mingzhi felt that she could plant practically anything in it and it would quickly take root, sprout, and grow vigorously.
Beside the farmland, the small white-jade plaque also clearly displayed four words:
[Please Develop.]
Qin Mingzhi made a bold guess.
Perhaps the area of this farmland could expand even further in the future?
Whether it could or not, she was already thrilled.
Qin Mingzhi was overjoyed. She suddenly felt much more secure.
No matter how her life turned out in the future, and regardless of whether she had money in her hands, as long as she had this spring water and this plot of land, she would never starve or die of thirst.
And perhaps she could even use the land to grow useful things and make some money.
Could this be her mother’s way of making sure she would always have something to fall back on?
Qin Mingzhi gazed around her with a thousand emotions in her heart.
Although everything besides the farmland and spiritual spring was still shrouded in mist, as though it had yet to be fully developed, she was already more than satisfied.
Standing inside this space, she truly felt as though her mother were right there beside her.
Qin Mingzhi reluctantly made another round of the space before finally wondering how she was supposed to leave.
She didn’t even need to think about it.
The moment she formed the thought, everything around her changed instantly.
In the blink of an eye, Qin Mingzhi found herself sitting in the room of the home where she had lived all her life, still on the windowsill where she had been sitting before entering the space.
Qin Mingzhi let out a long breath.
Now that she had this space, she suddenly felt much more at ease, as though everything had finally fallen into place.
All she had to do now was wait for the results from the police and the hospital’s forensic department.
Qin Mingzhi took several breaths in the room and could clearly feel that the air here wasn’t nearly as pure and refreshing as the air inside the space. It carried the stuffy, stagnant feeling of a room that hadn’t been properly ventilated.
She quickly opened the window to let some fresh air in.
But the moment she pushed the window open a crack, a voice suddenly rushed in.
[Oh no, oh no! I just saw Xiao Liang get kidnapped!]
[What happened? Who kidnapped him?!]
[That old nanny! She’s working with the human traffickers! They planned to kidnap Xiao Liang a long time ago!]
[What a terrible nanny! Xiao Liang is such a good child. Every time he comes here, he brings us things. How could she kidnap such a sweet boy?]
Qin Mingzhi frowned as she listened.
Xiao Liang?
Wasn’t that Grandpa Xiao’s most precious little great-grandson?
She remembered that the child had always been exceptionally well-behaved. For some reason, he also seemed to have a natural affinity for her.
Every time he saw her, he would run over, grab her little finger, and flash her a sweet smile. He was incredibly affectionate toward her.
Was what those voices had just said really true?
And could she trust the source of the information?
Qin Mingzhi followed the voices and looked around.
The conversation continued.
[Huh? What is Zhizhi looking for?]
Qin Mingzhi’s brows twitched again.
Zhizhi?
Whoever was speaking even knew her name?
Listening carefully, she suddenly realized that the voice sounded extremely strange. Neither its rhythm nor its tone sounded anything like a human voice.
That chattering sound was more like—
Qin Mingzhi followed the voice upward and looked up.
She found herself staring into the eyes of a tiny bird flapping its wings in midair.
The bird froze for a moment. It even forgot to flap its wings and nearly plummeted straight down.
The next second, Qin Mingzhi saw a fluffy, round little ball of feathers with a black head, gray back, and a soft white underside.
It frantically flapped its wings in a chaotic mess and flew back to where it had been hovering.
Its tiny bead-like eyes stared at Qin Mingzhi as it cautiously made a sound—
[Zhizhi?]
Qin Mingzhi tentatively nodded.
“Are you… calling me?”
A… long-tailed tit?!
Both sides froze again.
When Qin Mingzhi realized that she was actually communicating with the bird, she was utterly stunned.
The little bird, however, was thrilled. It flapped its wings and spun around in circles before excitedly lifting its head and calling out to the other birds farther away.
[Did you hear that? Did you hear that? Zhizhi can finally understand bird language!]
A chorus of excited voices immediately came from above.
[It took long enough! It’s been years! My mother, my sister, and my sister’s daughter have all had several broods, and Zhizhi finally learned to understand us!]
[That’s right, that’s right! We’ve been standing here talking every day, and Zhizhi can finally understand us!]
Qin Mingzhi looked up and realized that there were many other little birds perched on the branches of the tall ginkgo tree in the courtyard.
The little long-tailed tit landed on Qin Mingzhi’s shoulder.
[Hi, Zhizhi! I’m Tuantuan!]
[I’m Tangtang!]
[My name is Doudou!]
[You were the one who gave us these names before. Don’t you remember?]
Qin Mingzhi stared at them blankly.
These little birds looked somewhat familiar… They seemed to be the same ones that frequently perched in the trees around her family’s courtyard.
She vaguely remembered playing beneath the tree before and casually giving several of the birds names.
But that wasn’t the point.
She understood everything else, but—
Could birds actually talk to people?!
Or perhaps… she could now understand bird language, and her mind was automatically translating it into human speech?
If this had happened before, she definitely wouldn’t have believed it. She might even have thought she was imagining things or that something was wrong with her mind.
But after everything miraculous that had happened to her today, a talking bird… didn’t seem quite so impossible anymore.
Qin Mingzhi suddenly remembered the four words written on the back of the white jade plaque beside the spiritual spring:
[Please Explore.]
Could this be another miraculous effect of the spiritual spring water?
The ability to understand animals?