After being outside for only a short while, the vegetables in her space had changed noticeably. Lin Qiao felt a surge of excitement. If her estimates weren’t wrong, even in the 1960s she wouldn’t have to worry about making a living anymore.
She diverted spring water into the fields and grabbed a handful of rice grains to feed the chicken. Only then did she return to the bridal room with peace of mind.
In her previous life, Lin Qiao had been an orphan. Everyone thought she was just a freeloader with a space ability, coasting along and waiting to die. No one knew she had once been a true grind-king.
When others rested in the safe zone, she trained her powers.
When others schemed for profit, she trained her powers.
When others slacked off while fighting zombies, she still trained her powers.
Lin Qiao was a genius. While others drifted through life, she cultivated her spatial ability to the highest level.
Most people’s spaces could only store supplies. But when hers reached the peak, it mutated.
She gained a small world-like dimension.
With this planting area, even if the harvest wasn’t great, she would never again have to live by others’ mercy.
In the apocalypse, survival meant the strong ruled. As a woman who wasn’t combat-oriented and refused to attach herself to a powerful man, Lin Qiao had always been seen as an oddity.
With no family ties and only herself to feed, she had thought that life was just fine.
Now that she had time, she lay on the bed digesting her meal and sorted through the original owner’s memories.
The original Lin Qiao’s father, Lin Juncai, had fled to Dongshan Village during wartime. It was her mother who pitied him and begged her own father to take him in.
In those days, a half-grown boy like him might have died long ago without her maternal grandfather’s support.
Lin Juncai was calculating and good-looking. Not long after arriving at the Su family, he charmed Su Peilan. Even her parents thought highly of him.
The Su family was known locally for kindness and prosperity. They had land and comfortable means. Su Peilan was their only daughter, treasured like the apple of their eye.
Knowing their daughter’s feelings, the Su elders didn’t look down on Lin Juncai’s background. They were even pleased she could remain living close by after marriage. The Su family didn’t lack food and were happy to support the young couple.
But fate changed.
After Liberation, the Su family’s land and property were redistributed. Because Old Master Su had always been charitable, he wasn’t sent for reform—but life became increasingly difficult.
He decisively cut ties with his daughter’s household and moved with his wife into a drafty mud-brick house in the village.
Lin Juncai came from generations of poor peasants. After marriage, Su Peilan severed ties with her parents. No longer a pampered young lady, she bore the weight of survival—washing, cooking, farming, clearing land. Her fair skin darkened, her soft hands grew rough.
She matured quickly, never complaining.
But Lin Juncai, accustomed to comfort, couldn’t accept the fall in status. Barely surviving the famine years on what Old Master Su had secretly hidden away, he soon began an affair with Yuan Mingzhu from Xiguan Village—the woman who would become Lin Qiao’s stepmother.
They abandoned their respective spouses. Her father took her; Yuan Mingzhu brought her daughter Yuan Qingmiao. The two families merged.
In truth, they moved into Yuan Mingzhu’s natal home.
Put bluntly, her father became a live-in son-in-law.
This time, the Yuan family was nothing like the kind Su family.
All of Yuan Mingzhu’s children—including the daughter born after marrying Lin Juncai, Yuan Qingxia—took the Yuan surname.
The original Lin Qiao wasn’t kept out of paternal love. Yuan Mingzhu had calculated carefully: the girl was pretty. Raise her a few more years and she could be married off for a hefty bride price. In the meantime, she’d provide free labor.
After heartbreak, Su Peilan agreed to let her daughter go. She thought that since Lin Juncai was the child’s biological father, he wouldn’t mistreat her. With her, the girl might suffer even more.
But once at the Yuan household, the original host suffered greatly.
Yuan Mingzhu was vicious and hard-hearted. Though planning to sell the girl for bride price, she refused to let her eat for free. She treated her like unpaid labor.
Washing, cooking, cleaning were nothing. The half-grown girl even had to farm like a man.
She ate the least and worked the most. Beatings and scoldings were routine.
Yuan Mingzhu’s father was the Xiguan Village brigade leader. She had three brothers; two still lived at home. The eldest had gone missing during wartime.
When she was born, a wealthy landlord in the county had recruited guards and selected her father, Yuan Dewang. He later became a trusted attendant, learned to read, and gained experience. After Liberation, he was elected village head.
Old Master Yuan believed his youngest daughter was a lucky star—the family prospered after her birth. She had been spoiled since childhood.
Even when she caused scandal after marriage, it was her father who cleaned up the mess. She simply moved back home and freeloaded, occasionally serving as a work-point recorder during busy seasons.
Though Village Head Yuan disliked this pale pretty-boy son-in-law, his daughter insisted. As the brigade leader’s son-in-law, Lin Juncai received the lightest farm tasks.
Yuan Mingzhu’s eldest daughter Yuan Qingmiao was now seventeen. After marrying Lin Juncai, she gave birth to another daughter, Yuan Qingxia, now seven.
She was currently pregnant again, hoping desperately for a son.
Lin Qiao knew the plot.
It would be another daughter.
Now that her wedding was done and the Liu family wouldn’t return soon, Lin Qiao decided to visit her “maiden” home.
Without her, were they doing well?
She kind of… missed them.
Full and satisfied, she dusted off nonexistent dirt and decided to fulfill her duty as a daughter-in-law first by tidying Wang Shufeng’s room.
The Liu family had left in a hurry and hadn’t even shut the door properly. When Lin Qiao pushed it open, her eyes lit up.
Setting aside Wang Shufeng’s character, she truly loved cleanliness. Old newspapers were pasted tightly along the walls. The earthen floor was spotless. The mirror shone. The camphorwood wardrobe items were neatly arranged.
Others kept clean because they were diligent.
Wang Shufeng kept clean by forcing others to be diligent.
She would watch her daughter-in-law clean all day. If standards weren’t met, she’d curse. Clothes beaten clean in cold water were inspected inch by inch under sunlight. Tables and mirrors couldn’t have a speck of dust. Floors were swept over ten times daily.
Though the courtyard was a wreck now, usually not even half a leaf was allowed.
Keeping a dust-free home in a rural mud house with firewood stoves was impossible—even if someone worked like a spinning top.
Lin Qiao suspected the former daughter-in-law might have been worn to death.
Lin Qiao had one trait:
She couldn’t stand things being too clean.
In no time, the once-pristine room looked as chaotic as the courtyard.
In the wardrobe’s bottom quilt bag, she found over a thousand yuan in cash.
Aside from Liu Xiangyang’s 38-yuan monthly salary at the county fur factory plus 28 jin of grain coupons, and Liu Meili earning work points, how could a household like this stash so much money?
Lin Qiao pocketed it.
Confiscated.
After all, Liu Xiangyang was the only breadwinner. This money must be her husband’s, right?
While rummaging, she found quite a bit of undyed homespun cloth.
Perfect.
She’d been wondering what gift to bring home.
Just when sleepy, someone hands you a pillow.
She cut the white cloth neatly and draped it over herself, tied a strip of white cloth to a thin bamboo pole.
The sun was setting.
After storing everything in her space, ignoring Liu Xiaomei entirely, Lin Qiao swaggered out of the Liu household.
Xiguan Village was about half an hour from Songzi Mountain Village.
She cried dramatically the entire way, harvesting countless sympathetic looks.