“Hello. Are you Miss Su?” Lin Hai looked at the young woman standing before him. She was the person he had been hired to protect this time.
Su Cheng gave a slight nod. “Yes. Wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back down.”
She hurried to the elevator.
As soon as she reached her room, she immediately tried to open her spatial dimension again, but it still wouldn’t respond.
“Xiaobai? Xiaobai?”
She reached out with her spiritual consciousness, trying to communicate with him.
There was still no response.
It seemed she would have to find a way to absorb more spiritual energy.
“Grrrrr…”
A rumbling sound came from her stomach.
Su Cheng stared down in surprise.
She had completely forgotten that she was a mortal now. She hadn’t eaten anything for most of the day.
There wasn’t time for a proper meal. She would just have to find something to fill her stomach.
“Hello? Could you send a plate of pastries to Room 205? Something that’s ready to eat. Yes, I need it right away.”
Su Cheng called the front desk.
She took out the yellow talisman paper and cinnabar and spread the paper across the table. She dipped the tip of the brush into the cinnabar and began drawing with smooth, flowing strokes.
She started by drawing two Peace Talismans.
Done.
“Mm. Not bad.”
These were enhanced versions of the Peace Talisman.
She then drew several Misfortune Talismans.
Just as she finished putting the talismans away, she heard a knock at the door.
When she opened it, she found a hotel attendant standing outside.
The attendant smiled. “Miss, these are char siu pastries. They’re one of our chef’s specialties.”
The attendant placed a plate of golden-brown rectangular pastries on the table.
“Thank you.”
Su Cheng gave her a slight nod.
She picked up one of the pastries and took a bite.
The pastry was crisp on the outside, with the perfect balance of savory and sweet.
It was delicious.
Su Cheng narrowed her eyes in contentment.
“Mortal food really is delicious.”
She suddenly felt motivated.
She needed to make lots and lots of money so she could eat even more delicious things.
After eating several char siu pastries, Su Cheng felt much better.
“Venerable One… Venerable One…”
Xiaobai’s voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
“Xiaobai, you’re awake!”
Su Cheng immediately sent him a concerned transmission.
“Did you run into a spatial storm when we traveled through time?”
“I’m the Reincarnation Mirror. I’m a divine artifact. Could you please stop calling me Xiaobai?”
A snow-white little tiger glared at Su Cheng, its blue eyes filled with a hint of offended pride.
“I just had an accident this time. Under normal circumstances, I can avoid spatial storms.”
The little white tiger was unbelievably adorable.
Although cultivation ultimately depended on oneself and external objects could never be relied upon, the Reincarnation Mirror had been with Su Cheng for thousands of years. The little tiger was its incarnation and had always accompanied her.
“I’m going to Shenzhen now,” Su Cheng said. “According to the original owner’s memories, it will eventually develop into an international metropolis. Right now, it’s just entering its period of rapid development.”
She looked at the somewhat listless Reincarnation Mirror.
“When you help a soul fulfill its final wishes, it will also greatly improve your state of mind. Don’t solve everything with a single stroke of your sword. This isn’t the cultivation world. In this small world, doing more good deeds will not only earn you merit, but also temper your state of mind.”
The Reincarnation Mirror narrowed its blue eyes.
Su Cheng nodded in agreement.
That was precisely her problem.
As a sword cultivator, she had always believed that the sword could sweep away everything under heaven.
Was there anything that couldn’t be solved with a single strike?
But she had neglected the cultivation of her state of mind.
There were also certain things she had never truly been able to let go of, which was why she had remained unable to ascend for so long.
“All right. Continue nourishing yourself. This Venerable One has to fulfill the original owner’s wishes and live a magnificent life on her behalf.”
At that moment, Su Cheng’s eyes seemed to sparkle like stars.
The original owner had personally watched as Zhao Ruyue ordered someone to cut open her abdomen and take out her baby before throwing her blood-soaked body into the sea.
It was as though no one in this world even remembered that she had ever existed.
Meanwhile, Zhao Ruyue continued living her life as if nothing had happened.
How unfair could fate be?
The original owner, Su Qianqian, had suffered terribly throughout her life.
She had been born in a small mountain village in the northwest. Her mother died from complications during childbirth.
When Su Qianqian was thirteen, her father went into the mountains to hunt and accidentally fell off a cliff.
By the time someone found him, he was already dead.
Her grandmother blamed Su Qianqian for his death.
“You’re a jinx. You killed my son!”
From that day onward, the old woman tormented her in every way imaginable, beating and cursing her constantly.
A few months later, she even sold Su Qianqian’s older sister to a village called Xibaba.
It was an isolated mountain village, but the people there were willing to pay a higher bride price.
Su Qianqian never saw her sister again.
When Su Qianqian was fourteen, her grandmother sold her to Han Aimin, the second son of the Han family.
Han Aimin was a notorious good-for-nothing in the village. No decent woman would marry him.
Yet Su Qianqian was secretly happy.
At last, she could escape that place.
She wouldn’t have to go to bed later than a dog and wake up earlier than a rooster every day, only to remain hungry and get beaten on top of it.
She brought nothing with her except two old, tattered pieces of clothing.
Even after marrying into the Han family, she had no dowry whatsoever.
Han Aimin’s mother was furious and never treated her kindly.
The Han family had not divided their household, either, and Han Aimin’s eldest brother’s wife was a particularly domineering woman. Su Qianqian suffered plenty at her hands.
Han Aimin didn’t care much for Su Qianqian either.
After all, at the time, she was thin and gaunt from years of malnutrition.
Her life after marriage was therefore miserable.
The following year, Su Qianqian gave birth to a son with great difficulty—Han Zichen.
Han Aimin frequently ran around outside and behaved irresponsibly.
Su Qianqian raised Han Zichen almost entirely by herself until he was five years old.
Then one day, Han Aimin was caught fooling around with a young widow from the village in a small grove.
That was the final straw.
Su Qianqian completely snapped.
She demanded that the village chief issue her a divorce certificate.
The village chief initially tried to persuade her to reconsider, but Han Aimin agreed to the divorce himself, leaving the village chief with nothing more to say.
Later, Su Qianqian heard some of the young married women in the village talking about how easy it was to make money in Shenzhen.
China had just begun opening up and implementing economic reforms, and workers at clothing factories could earn quite a bit each month.
Su Qianqian hardened her heart.
She took the few dozen yuan she had secretly saved and followed some villagers who were returning from Shenzhen to find work at a clothing factory.
By a twist of fate, she eventually met Huo Zhengting and followed him to Hong Kong…
Meanwhile, far away in Kaoshan Village, a shabby woodshed stood in the darkness.
A boy dressed in ragged clothes looked out through a broken window at the stars.
He murmured softly,
“Mommy, when are you coming back for me?
“Did you abandon Xiaocheng?
“I’m so hungry…
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold on until Mommy comes back for me.”
His stomach rumbled.
He picked up a bowl of water and gulped down several mouthfuls.
“Gulp… gulp…”
The water eased his hunger a little.
He curled up on the pile of firewood and closed his eyes.
If he fell asleep, he thought, perhaps he would be able to see his mother in his dreams.
…
At that same moment, Zhao Ruyue was sitting on a sofa, holding a telephone.
Her eyes lingered on her blood-red fingernails as she spoke coldly into the phone.
“You’ve been searching all this time and still haven’t found her? Have you checked the shopping malls and clothing stores? You must find her before tonight.”
She hung up.
A vicious look appeared in Zhao Ruyue’s eyes.
Where the hell had that bitch gone?
She had just called the villa, but Aunt Liu hadn’t answered the phone either.
Where could she have gone?
Several hours later, Su Cheng had arrived in Shenzhen.
Two bodyguards followed behind her, each carrying one of the raw stones.
The unusual sight drew frequent glances from passersby.
“You’ve worked hard. Take this and get yourselves something to drink. It’s not part of your salary.”
Su Cheng took out several hundred yuan and handed it to them.
“Thank you, Boss.”
Lin Hai and the other bodyguard placed the raw stones on the ground.
They were surprisingly heavy.
“Lin Hai, find a taxi and take us to the nearest hotel first,” Su Cheng instructed one of the bodyguards.
The three of them arrived at a hotel and ate a quick meal.
The hotel had excellent security, which made Su Cheng feel much more at ease.
“You two have had a tiring day as well. Get some rest early.”
With that, Su Cheng returned to her room.
Tonight, she planned to use the spiritual energy she had stored up for cultivation.
With the talismans she had made as well, she now had enough means to protect herself.
Su Cheng cultivated throughout the night without sleeping.
By morning, she felt refreshed from head to toe.
Most of the spiritual energy she had stored had been used up.
She went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.
The hotel had an impressive selection of morning dishes.
Su Cheng ordered steamed soup dumplings, crystal shrimp dumplings, rice noodle rolls with lean pork and egg, and preserved-egg-and-lean-pork congee.
She needed to eat more.
After all, she was now three months pregnant.
When the server brought the crystal shrimp dumplings, soup dumplings, and rice noodle rolls to the table, Su Cheng immediately picked up a crystal shrimp dumpling and took a bite.
It was delicious.
She closed her eyes in delight.
How could mortal food possibly be this good?
The meal left Su Cheng feeling completely satisfied.
Now it was time to buy a house.
She wanted to purchase a villa.
Looking at Lin Hai sitting across from her, she smiled faintly.
“Lin Hai, first go and find out what properties are available near No. 1 Middle School and No. 2 Middle School. New developments or secondhand properties are both fine. As long as the price is reasonable, shortlist six properties first. Choose good floors.”
“Also find two villas. Screen the options first, and I’ll go take a look afterward.”
These properties would eventually increase in value by more than tenfold.
Now that they were still cheap, she might as well buy several more.
The more money she accumulated, the easier it would be to raise her son and fulfill the original owner’s wishes.