“For my grandfather’s sake—he believes in metaphysics. If he says your fortune is good, then it’s good. You’ve seen it yourself; even the fool didn’t agree to let me divorce.”
That much was true—Fang Ruo had witnessed it.
“You’re quite the filial one!”
Chen Zhuo gave off the impression of a cold, heartless man, so the fact that he’d use his marriage to ease his grandfather’s mind was a bit hard to believe.
“And if I still insist on going through with the divorce?”
“I won’t cooperate, so you can’t get it done. The Chen family won’t agree, so you definitely can’t get it done.”
You can’t twist an arm stronger than yours. Chen Zhuo was speaking the truth, and Fang Ruo was momentarily at a loss for words.
Ask for anything? She had to admit, the conditions Chen Zhuo offered were tempting.
Never mind a farm girl like her—even a daughter of wealth and privilege might not resist the offer of being able to ask for any condition she wanted.
The Chen family was the foremost prestigious clan in Flower City, ranking in the top five nationwide. But Fang Ruo had no intention of waiting for him to die to claim the Chen family’s assets—that thought wouldn’t even cross her mind.
“This marriage is just a piece of paper. You won’t interfere in any of my affairs, and of course, I’ll never interfere in yours.”
“Fine, agreed.”
“I can ask for anything?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“Ersha Island and Baiyun Fort—buy a garden villa in each place, under my name.”
“I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”
“Also, I want to know right now how your grandfather got in touch with Fang Xing, and whether anyone else was involved behind the scenes.”
“Alright, let’s go ask him.”
“But I have many demands—what I just mentioned is only a small part. I’ll bring up more as I think of them. Any problem with that?”
This was the big trap Fang Ruo had dug!
“No problem.”
No problem even with that??
A stranger opens her mouth and demands two luxury properties, and Chen Zhuo, if he were a normal person, would have divorced her and kicked her out immediately!
If Old Master Chen Yujing believed in metaphysics, then what about Chen Zhuo? Because she was good-looking? Yeah, right—Fang Ruo herself was disgusted by her own disheveled, grime-covered appearance.
It seemed she wasn’t the only fool—the Chen family had no normal people either. It was a miracle they hadn’t squandered the family fortune with people like that.
Old Master Chen Yujing waited nervously in the living room for his grandson. That kid had been stubborn since childhood, always going against his elders—until he saw Chen Zhuo walking down with Fang Ruo following behind, and only then did he relax.
It looked like they’d reached an agreement—no divorce.
As for how they’d negotiated, he, as the old master, only cared about the outcome.
“Well then, go ask him.”
Chen Zhuo casually sat down on the sofa, gesturing for Fang Ruo to question the old master.
“Fang Ruo, what’s your question?”
The girl wasn’t stupid—her eyes were clear. Chen Yujing was a good judge of character. If she really became his granddaughter-in-law, that would be fine too. With that, his attitude softened a bit.
“I want to know who else was involved in stealing my household register to marry me off.”
“There shouldn’t be anyone else. I never met your cousin either—the register was obtained through an intermediary, that master. Then we came back and registered. You know, for us to get a marriage certificate, your presence wasn’t required.”
“Alright, thank you, Old Master. I’ll be going now.”
“The kitchen’s already cooking. If you leave now, you’ll have to transfer buses, and you won’t make it back to the village before dark. Stay the night—there are plenty of rooms in this house.”
“No, thanks.”
Fang Ruo picked up her canvas tote bag, stuffed the money from selling herself—oh wait, the bride price—along with the household register and marriage certificate into it, packed up, and walked out without so much as a glance at Chen Zhuo.
Fang Ruo remembered that Flower City had a very famous seedling research center. Since the land in her spatial dimension was so incredible, she couldn’t just plant petty little vegetables—that would be like using a cleaver to kill a chicken.
She needed to find good things to plant there, and the seedling research center would have options to choose from.
A top-name fashion designer, wearing clothes she herself was disgusted by—Fang Ruo first went to a ready-made clothing store to buy summer outfits.
At this time in Southern Yue, the planned economy was gradually transitioning to a free economy, meaning many goods could be bought without ration coupons, just at higher prices—like high-priced grain, high-priced appliances, high-priced ready-made clothes…
Fang Ruo had no ration coupons, but fortunately she had money, so she could only buy at premium prices.
A pure cotton, light blue floral dress, a white shirt paired with carpenter overalls, and a pair of black soft leather shoes with a shallow cut.
Plus undergarments, pajamas, hair accessories, and a small handbag—Fang Ruo went for the full set. She also bought a few buns and steamed buns for dinner, then checked into a small guesthouse.
She set aside the pajamas to wear as-is, washed all the other clothes and hung them out to dry, then took a bath.
That bath—from the tips of her hair to her toes—she scrubbed layer after layer, nearly peeling the skin off her body before she considered herself clean.
This was truly the last stubborn stand of a clean freak.
Only after all that was done did she have time to visit her black soil.
She found a few more ripe muskmelons had appeared, several per vine—enough to make her sick of eating them.
This spatial dimension—give it a seed and it grows; give it a bit of sunlight and it’s spring.
To figure out whether the different plots of land in the spatial dimension had distinct functions, Fang Ruo got up early in the morning, took a bus from the guesthouse, and headed to the seedling research center.
The seedling research center was not open to outsiders, but there was a family quarters inside, so quite a few people came and went shopping for groceries or just strolling around. That was how Fang Ruo managed to slip in.
Right next to the seedling research center was the precious medicinal herb cultivation base.
Exotic flowers, rare herbs—that was what Fang Ruo was after. After all, the Spatial Dimension was such miraculous land; it couldn’t possibly be used to grow just a few muskmelons. That would be too perfunctory. If the Spatial Dimension had consciousness, it would definitely be angry with her.
After making a full circuit of the two centers, Fang Ruo gathered a large bundle of golden camellia plants that had been culled by the artificial selection process but that she wanted to grow.
Getting medicinal herb seeds was even easier. A stylishly dressed, pretty young woman calling someone sweetly “Uncle” or “Auntie” and asking if she could have a few seeds to grow in a flowerpot for fun—people would always give, and generously at that.
This trip had yielded a great harvest, but Fang Ruo had to go back. No matter how foolish or troublesome the original owner had been, there were still people who cared about her—Auntie Qi was one of them.
Fang Ruo was also pondering a question. In Ping’an Village, she was an orphan. Now her house was too dilapidated to live in, and she didn’t want to stay in the village working the fields for work points like the other villagers. Besides, work points would only last another year or so before the land was distributed to households. She didn’t know how to farm, and there was no way she would farm.
Not that farming was bad—it was just a waste of her talents.
Why not register at the school first, then take the college entrance exam and go to university?
Fang Ruo was weighed down by these thoughts, so she walked slowly. Fortunately, the large pile of seeds, bulbs, and plant rhizomes had already been placed into the Spatial Dimension.
In Ping’an Village, last night Auntie Qi had brought her children to cool off under the tree at the village entrance, waiting for Fang Ruo until midnight without seeing her.
Today was the same—she came out as soon as it got dark.
“Look at that mother and her three kids—a whole family of bootlickers. They’re just after the money that fool has on her.”
“Keep your voice down, aren’t you afraid of making enemies?”
“What’s there to fear? What’s a widow got to be scared of?”
“Who knows if she had something going with the fool’s father…”
Auntie Qi remained unmoved. As a widow, she had heard all kinds of nasty talk for years. But Fang Hongying and Fang Jianming couldn’t stand anyone badmouthing their mother.
Fang Jianming charged over like a little bull, ramming his head into the speaker. With a thud, both of them—big and small—fell flat on their backs.
“Widow Qi, look at what you’ve raised—a real piece of trash! Knocked my old arms and legs, ouch…”
Auntie Qi hurried over to help her son up. “What your family raised is trash—your whole family is trash! Remember to keep your mouth clean from now on, or else my son will ram you again! And if you die from it, you’d deserve it!”
Fang Hongying also ran over to help her mother pull her brother up.
But unexpectedly, the person who had been cursing Widow Qi turned around and kicked Fang Hongying.
Fang Jianming was still on the ground clutching his head and crying in pain, and now Fang Hongying had been kicked from behind. Auntie Qi grabbed one with each hand but couldn’t keep her grip—all three of them tumbled down the slope.
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