Su Nianqiu slept soundly on her family’s brick kang for a solid day and night.
During that time, Li Xiulan checked on her seven or eight times. Every single time, she crept in on tiptoes to check her forehead and tuck in the edges of the quilt, never forgetting to top off the hot water in the enamel mug by the edge of the kang before she left.
Meanwhile, Su Jianguo pulled up a small wooden stool and sat right by the front door of the main house, puffing on his tobacco pouch and smoking one pipe after another. Anyone who came by to gossip was met with a single, freezing glare that sent them packing.
The entire Su family courtyard was wrapped in a quiet stillness.
In truth, Su Nianqiu wasn’t asleep the whole time.
She spent a large portion of those hours inside her space.
The temperature of the spirit spring water was just right—soaking in it felt as comfortable as lounging in a hot spring. Slipping off her shoes, she dangled her feet into the shallow pool right beside the springhead, soaking her feet while she studied the space’s layout and functions.
The space wasn’t huge—judging by eye, it was around two or three mu in size—but it made up for its size with complete functionality.
The bamboo building contained a rustic stone table and stools, and behind it lay a patch of rich, black soil. The dirt was so loose and fertile you could practically squeeze oil right out of it. Even better, the grass growing wherever the spirit spring water trickled was a shade greener than everything else around it, and the air carried a faint, sweet fragrance.
She tried drinking several cupfuls of the spring water.
Every single time she drank, her body felt a little clearer inside. The deep exhaustion caused by long-term malnutrition and the massive shock of the incident was fading at a visible rate.
By the following morning, when Su Nianqiu emerged from the space and opened her eyes, the very first thing she did was get startled by her own hands.
White.
Like a peeled egg, smooth, tender, and practically glowing.
She bolted upright from the kang and reached for the palm-sized mirror resting on the windowsill.
The face staring back at her made her freeze for a full three seconds.
The original owner already had a solid foundation, with delicate, refined features that stood out in the village. But previously, between the terror, the vomiting, and jumping into the river, she had looked washed-out and dusty—pretty enough, but pitiful.
Things were different now.
After soaking in the spring water all night, that dull, sickly pallor had completely vanished, revealing her true complexion underneath. Her skin was so fine she couldn’t see a single pore, her eyes carried a natural, cool allure, and her lips were a soft, natural pink. Without a speck of makeup, she could easily outshine every single girl across ten miles and eight villages.
Placed in the fashion circles of her past life, this face was entirely ready to debut.
Putting the mirror down, Su Nianqiu felt remarkably cheerful.
She gently touched her lower belly and whispered under her breath, “Little one, let’s work hard together.”
The door creaked open, and Li Xiulan walked in carrying a steaming bowl of millet porridge, muttering as she came, “Qiuer, have a sip of porridge to line your stomach first…”
She cut herself off mid-sentence.
The bowl in Li Xiulan’s hands almost slipped from her grip.
Staring with wide, unblinking eyes at her daughter on the kang, her mouth dropped open and stayed that way for a long beat.
“Qiuer… Qiuer?”
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Su Nianqiu blinked innocently.
“Your face… what happened to your skin?” Dropping the bowl down, Li Xiulan hurried over and reached out to cup her daughter’s cheek. “Yesterday your complexion was still as pale as a ghost, so how did you suddenly… how did you look like a completely different person overnight?”
Su Nianqiu already had an excuse prepared. “I guess sleeping a whole day brought my vitality back. Didn’t you stew a chicken for me, Mom? It must have nourished me.”
Though half-convinced at best, Li Xiulan was simply too happy to see her daughter looking so healthy.
“Alright, alright! As long as your color is good, that’s all that matters! Eat your porridge quickly! You’re eating for two now, you can’t afford to go hungry.”
Su Nianqiu took the bowl and took a sip—clear water with barely a countable number of grains of rice.
Life in this era was undeniably harsh.
She calculated in her mind that once she figured out how to make the most of her space, she needed to upgrade their meals immediately. She was pregnant now, and her health came first.
After breakfast, Su Nianqiu took the initiative to step outside into the courtyard to catch some sun.
Fussing over her like she was made of porcelain, Li Xiulan hurried over to steady her, dragged out a small stool, and layered a thick cotton cushion on top of it.
When Su Jianguo saw his daughter come out, he didn’t even have time to put down his tobacco pouch before standing up to inspect her carefully from head to toe.
Once he finished looking, the rough, burly man actually felt his eyes prick with hot tears.
“Better… as long as she’s better,” he muttered, turning his back with a raspy voice.
A wave of warmth swept through Su Nianqiu’s chest, and her nose stung slightly.
In her past life, she had no parents; in this life, the heavens had made up for it.
Sitting quietly in the courtyard under the sun, the warm light spilled across her fair face, making her look as though she were glowing.
At that hour of the day, the village women were heading out to work in the fields. Though the Su family’s gates were closed, the courtyard walls weren’t high, and anyone walking past only had to tilt their head up to catch a glimpse of what was happening inside.
The first person to pass by was Auntie Zhang from next door. She had been walking with her head down, but when the corner of her eye caught a flash of pure white in the courtyard, she turned her head instinctively—
And stopped dead in her tracks.
“Su… Su Nianqiu?” Auntie Zhang rubbed her eyes, wondering if her old age was finally making her see things.
Just the day before, Su Nianqiu had been hauled out of the river looking like a muddy, half-dead ghost. Today, she was sitting in her yard looking as white and flawless as a fairy stepping right out of a traditional painting?
Had that face of hers been pickled and bleached by the river water, or had she shed an entire layer of skin?
Auntie Zhang craned her neck over the courtyard wall to stare for a long while, until a sharp “What are you looking at?!” from Li Xiulan finally chased her off.
Even so, the news spread like wildfire.
By midday, the rumor that “Su Nianqiu got prettier after drowning herself” had sprouted wings and flown across the entire Red Flag Production Brigade.
More and more people started “accidentally” strolling past the outside of the Su family’s wall, all of them stretching their necks to peek inside.
A few girls who used to be on decent terms with the original owner even called out over the wall, “Nianqiu-jie, what did you put on your face? How did you get so white?”
Su Nianqiu just smiled and kept quiet.
What did I use? I soaked in spirit spring water—want a bottle?
By the afternoon, even people from the neighboring villages had heard the news. Some busybody made a special trip just to take a look, and upon returning home, told everyone they met: “That eldest daughter of the Su family who jumped in the river—I’ve lived forty years and I’ve never seen anyone look that good. She looks just like a New Year’s poster doll.”
The most bitter and resentful of all were the gossipy village women who had cursed her the loudest earlier.
Watching Su Nianqiu looking like this now, jealousy twisted their features entirely out of shape.
They had thrown their weight around calling her a loose woman, but seeing that not only was she completely fine, but she had actually grown even more stunning than before, the taste in their mouths was comparable to swallowing a live fly.
The one hit hardest was Wang Chunhua.
After catching a distant glimpse of Su Nianqiu, she went home and stared at her own sallow, waxen face in the bronze mirror for half an hour before smashing the mirror onto the floor in a fury.
“She’s just a loose woman! What’s there to look at?! No matter how pretty she is, she’s still nothing more than a pregnant widow-in-the-making!”
Cowering in the corner, her husband didn’t dare make a peep.
Of all this, Su Nianqiu remained entirely oblivious—and completely unbothered.
Right now, her mind was focused on just one thing: how to use her space to make money, how to properly nourish the baby in her belly, and how to make a massive splash when the college entrance exams returned next year.
That night, after Su Jianguo and Li Xiulan had turned in for the night, Su Nianqiu lay on the kang and let her consciousness sink back into the space.
The spirit spring continued to bubble quietly, and the bamboo building remained peaceful and still.
Squatting by the spring, she cupped her hands together and drank the water a mouthful at a time.
With every swallow, a wave of warmth surged through her body, feeling much like a gentle cleanse scrubbing the impurities out of her internal organs. She could clearly feel her physical strength returning, her vitality sharpening, and even the minor discomforts of early pregnancy fading away.
Wiping her mouth, Su Nianqiu stood up, her gaze shifting toward the patch of black soil behind the bamboo building.
Tomorrow, it was time to take a serious inventory of what kind of assets this space actually held.
Filled with anticipation, she withdrew from the space and drifted off into a deep, restful sleep.
Outside the window, the moonlight hung like water.
Far away in a northwestern military camp, a man wrapped in layer upon layer of gauze muttered deliriously in his sleep once more.
His lips were cracked and covered in dark scabs, but the combat medic on duty caught those few mumbled words with absolute clarity:
“—Don’t be afraid.”