Lin Wanqiu stood at the entrance to the black market, tightening the blue cloth scarf wrapped around her head until only her eyes remained visible.
The market had yet to come fully alive in the early morning. Only a handful of vendors were setting up their stalls and arranging their goods.
She found a quiet corner and began taking out the miscellaneous household items she had collected from the Lin family home.
Of course, everything came from her spatial storage, although to anyone watching, it would appear that she was simply unpacking her belongings.
There were jars of pickled vegetables, an old iron pot, worn-out bedding, several pieces of used clothing, and various other odds and ends.
Before long, an elderly woman dressed in patched clothing approached her stall.
The woman picked up a pickling jar, turned it over in her hands, and examined it carefully.
“Young lady, how much for this jar?”
“Fifty cents,” Lin Wanqiu replied, deliberately lowering her voice.
“How about thirty? Look, there’s already a crack around the rim.”
“Forty cents. That’s the lowest I can go.”
The old woman hesitated for a moment before finally fishing forty cents out of her pocket.
Lin Wanqiu accepted the money and handed over the jar.
Just like that, her little business began.
One by one, the household items found new owners.
The worn-out bedding sold for one yuan and twenty cents.
The old clothes brought in another three yuan.
The iron pot fetched sixty cents.
By the time she finished selling everything, she had earned a little over ten yuan.
It wasn’t a particularly large sum, but every little bit helped.
More importantly, getting rid of those belongings felt like severing the final threads connecting her to the Lin family.
She had no intention of carrying anything from that miserable household into her new life.
Once the last item was sold, Lin Wanqiu headed straight for Li Weiguo’s small courtyard.
When she arrived, Li Weiguo was practicing martial arts in the yard.
His movements were steady and controlled, each punch accompanied by a measured breath.
Noticing her at the entrance, he lowered his fists and straightened.
“Comrade Lin? You’re here awfully early.”
“Brother Li, I’ve brought you something good. Would you like to take a look?”
Lin Wanqiu reached into the bamboo basket on her back and pulled out several neatly wrapped packages of medicinal herbs.
In reality, she had retrieved them from her space.
There was notoginseng, plantain herb, motherwort, and honeysuckle.
Each variety had been carefully processed, cleaned, and arranged.
Li Weiguo accepted the packages and examined their contents.
He inspected the leaves and roots, rubbed a little between his fingers, and brought some close to his nose.
“Not bad. The quality is excellent.”
He looked up at her.
“Are these all wild herbs?”
“I gathered them in the mountains.”
“Good. I’ll take everything.”
Li Weiguo made his decision without hesitation.
“Notoginseng is in short supply right now, so I’ll give you a better price for that. As for the rest…”
He paused briefly to calculate.
“How does fifteen yuan for the whole lot sound?”
Fifteen yuan!
Lin Wanqiu was delighted.
That was considerably more than she had expected.
“Thank you, Brother Li.”
Li Weiguo counted out fifteen yuan and handed it to her.
After the transaction, he studied her for a moment before asking, “So, what are your plans now?”
“I’m heading to the provincial capital to take care of some business.”
“I see.”
Li Weiguo nodded.
Then, somewhat unexpectedly, he added, “Be careful on the road. Things haven’t been particularly peaceful lately.”
It was rare for him to express concern so openly.
Lin Wanqiu smiled faintly.
“I will. Thank you.”
After leaving the black market, she went directly to the bus station.
The earliest bus to the provincial capital was scheduled to depart at seven thirty.
She purchased a ticket and settled onto a wooden bench in the waiting room.
Holding the ticket between her fingers, she gazed through the window at the gradually brightening sky.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, her heart was completely at peace.
She was finally leaving.
Leaving the place that had trapped her for two lifetimes.
The place where she had suffered, struggled, and lost everything.
But she would return.
Of that, she was certain.
After all, the show had only just begun.
How could she possibly miss the grand finale?
At that very moment, back at the Lin family home, an entirely different scene was unfolding.
Wang Guihua woke up because she was cold.
The early morning air still carried a noticeable chill.
Half asleep, she instinctively reached for her quilt, intending to pull it more tightly around herself.
But her hand found nothing.
Frowning, she slowly opened her eyes.
Then she froze.
What was that above her?
The sky?
A vast expanse of grayish-blue stretched overhead, with a few wisps of cloud drifting lazily across it.
There was no ceiling.
No roof.
No wooden beams.
Not even a wall.
Wang Guihua blinked.
Surely she was still dreaming.
She squeezed her eyes shut, lay back down, and waited a moment.
Then she opened them again.
The same sky greeted her.
“AAAAAAAH!”
A piercing scream shattered the peaceful morning.
Wang Guihua scrambled out of bed so frantically that she nearly fell flat on her face.
Her bed was standing in the middle of an open patch of ground.
There was nothing around it.
Absolutely nothing.
Barefoot and trembling, she stood on the cold earth and stared at the impossible sight before her.
Where was the house?
Where were the courtyard walls?
The doors?
The windows?
Everything was gone!
The entire courtyard had been stripped bare.
Only three beds remained on the ground.
One belonged to her and Lin Daqiang, another to Lin Baogen, and the third to Lin Zhaodi.
The bedding was still there, but everything else had vanished.
It looked as though the entire household had vanished overnight.
“Old man! Old man! Wake up! Wake up right now!”
Wang Guihua lunged toward Lin Daqiang and began shaking him violently.
“Our house is gone! The whole house is gone!”
Lin Daqiang, who had been sleeping soundly, groaned in irritation.
“What are you making such a racket for…”
He sat up, rubbing his eyes.
Then his mouth fell open.
He stared straight ahead.
Rubbed his eyes again.
And stared some more.
Nothing changed.
The home they had lived in for decades had disappeared.
The mud-brick house, the courtyard walls, the kitchen, the woodshed, everything was gone.
All that remained was the bare foundation and three lonely beds sitting in the open air.
“Wh… what…?”
Lin Daqiang’s mouth hung open, but he couldn’t form a complete sentence.
“AAAAAAAH!”
Wang Guihua let out another bloodcurdling scream.
“Which godforsaken monster did this? Who would commit such a wicked crime?”
She threw her hands into the air.
“They even took the roof beams! They stole the courtyard walls! How am I supposed to live now?”
Her voice rose into a shrill wail.
“You heartless thieves! May heaven strike you down! May you die miserable deaths!”
Her cries echoed across the empty property.
Without the courtyard walls to muffle the noise, every word carried clearly into the neighboring homes.
Lin Baogen and Lin Zhaodi were soon awakened by the commotion.
Lin Zhaodi sat up groggily.
The moment she saw her surroundings, all the color drained from her face.
“M-Mom!”
Her voice trembled.
“Our house… What happened to our house?”
She looked around in terror.
“Mom, don’t tell me our house is haunted!”
Lin Baogen, meanwhile, reacted quite differently.
He jumped out of bed and ran barefoot toward the spot where the family wardrobe had once stood.
There was nothing there.
Only bare ground.
His face turned pale.
“Mom! The money!”
He spun around, his voice shaking with panic.
“Where’s the money? Is it still there?”
He looked frantically from one empty patch of ground to another.
“I haven’t even gotten married yet! Where’s the bride price money?”
Those words struck Wang Guihua like a bolt of lightning.
The money!
Her savings!
The three hundred yuan she had just received!
She turned toward the place where her precious wardrobe had stood.
Empty.
Completely empty.
Her legs gave way beneath her.
“All gone…”
She collapsed onto the ground.
“Everything’s gone!”
Then she threw back her head and began howling.
“AAAAAAAH! MY MONEY! EVERYTHING IS GONE!”
She wept so violently that her entire body shook.
Years of savings.
The money she had carefully hidden away.
The bride price she had worked so hard to obtain.
Gone in a single night!
Her wailing was so loud that it quickly drew the attention of the surrounding neighbors.
One by one, people emerged from their homes, rubbing the sleep from their eyes.
But the moment they caught sight of the Lin family’s property, they stopped dead in their tracks.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Auntie Wang, who lived next door, finally broke the silence.
“Good heavens, Guihua! Where did your courtyard walls go?”
Her eyes widened as she took in the empty lot.
“Wait a minute. Are you tearing down the old place to build a new house?”
Another elderly woman hurried over.
She looked at the bare foundation, then at the three beds standing in the open air.
Clicking her tongue in amazement, she exclaimed, “Well, would you look at that!”
She turned toward Wang Guihua.
“Guihua, are you rebuilding the house for Baogen? Is he getting a new home for his wedding?”
Before Wang Guihua could answer, the woman continued enthusiastically.
“Who did you hire to demolish the place? They did an incredible job! Not even a brick left behind!”
She leaned forward eagerly.
“Introduce them to me sometime, will you? When my family rebuilds our house, I’d love to hire the same workers!”
A younger married woman standing nearby also joined the conversation.
“But Guihua, don’t you think you’ve gone a little too far?”
She gestured toward the empty ground.
“You’ve torn everything down! Why didn’t you leave at least one room standing?”
She shook her head.
“Where are you all supposed to live while the new house is being built?”
The neighbors began talking over one another.
Some praised the thorough demolition.
Others questioned the family’s decision to tear down everything at once.
A few even wondered how much it had cost to hire such efficient workers.
Not one of them believed anything unusual had happened.
As far as they were concerned, the Lin family had simply decided to demolish their old house and build a new one.
Wang Guihua was so furious and distraught that she could barely breathe.
Tears and mucus streamed down her face as she beat her chest and wailed.
“We didn’t tear it down!”
Her voice cracked.
“Our house was stolen!”
She pointed desperately at the empty lot.
“Stolen! Do you hear me? Someone stole our entire house!”
The neighbors fell silent.
They exchanged bewildered glances.
Then, almost at the same moment, several of them burst out laughing.
“Oh, come on, Wang Guihua!”
Auntie Liu laughed so hard that her shoulders shook.
“Who in their right mind would steal your courtyard walls?”
She pointed toward the bare foundation.
“Those old mud-brick walls of yours were practically falling apart! Even someone building a pigsty would think twice about using them!”
“Exactly!” another neighbor agreed.
“And think about what you’re saying. Someone stole your entire house in one night?”
He shook his head in disbelief.
“How many people would it take to carry away the walls, roof, beams, and everything else?”
“And you’re telling us none of you heard a thing?”
Someone else called out jokingly, “Guihua, are you sure you weren’t sleepwalking? Maybe you got up in the middle of the night and demolished the house yourself!”
That sent another wave of laughter through the crowd.
The more they laughed, the angrier Wang Guihua became.
Her face turned bright red.
She jabbed a trembling finger toward the empty courtyard.
“Look! Just look at it!”
Her voice was almost hysterical.
“Does this look like something we demolished ourselves?”
She stamped her foot.
“Everything is gone! Everything!”
“The pots, the bowls, the cooking utensils, the grain, the money!”
She clutched at her chest.
“All of it! Not a single thing left!”
But the neighbors only looked more amused.
Who had ever heard of thieves stealing an entire house?
Even if someone wanted to steal the building materials, how could they possibly dismantle everything without waking a single person?
It was simply absurd.
Just then, Lin Zhaodi, who had been staring blankly at the empty courtyard, suddenly remembered something.
She looked around.
Then she turned toward her mother.
“Mom…”
Her voice was hesitant.
“Where’s my older sister?”
The question cut through Wang Guihua’s panic like a bucket of icy water.
Her crying stopped abruptly.
That’s right.
Lin Wanqiu!
Where was Lin Wanqiu?
She had come home last night.
She had even been given a bowl of porridge before going off to sleep in the woodshed.
But where was she now?
Wang Guihua’s eyes widened.
A terrible suspicion began creeping into her mind.
She scrambled to her feet and rushed toward the spot where the woodshed had once stood.
There was nothing there.
No walls.
No roof.
No door.
Not even a single piece of firewood.
Only an empty patch of earth.
Wang Guihua spun around, searching frantically.
“LIN WANQIU!”
Her shrill voice rang across the open courtyard.
“LIN WANQIU!”
She clenched her fists and screamed at the top of her lungs.
“You damned girl! Get out here right now!”