Yan Sisi was led, still completely bewildered, to the cupboard. Her eyes widened as she watched her parents move it aside, then stared in amazement as her mother slid a thin metal strip into the cement floor and pried up a cement brick.
Throughout the whole process, Yan Sisi kept her mouth wide open, leaning closer to see that something wrapped in cloth was hidden beneath the brick. She had never imagined that her own home could have a secret mechanism.
She fixed her eyes on her mother as she carefully unfolded the cloth to reveal a metal box. When the lid was opened, Yan Sisi saw a dozen large yellow croakers neatly arranged inside the wooden box. Underneath it was a hollowed redwood box. Her mother gently lifted it out and opened it to find some sheets of paper.
Yan Sisi, staring at such a beautiful box that held only a few sheets of rice paper, couldn’t help asking, “Mom, such a nice box and it only holds these papers? Why didn’t you put the yellow croakers inside instead?”
Her mother smiled softly but didn’t answer, simply handing her a few sheets and saying, “Take a look at what’s written on them.”
Curious, Yan Sisi took the papers and immediately saw the words “Property Deed” written on the first one. She flipped through the next two sheets and saw they were all property deeds as well. She looked up at her parents in surprise. “Why does our family have so many property deeds? And they’re all in Jing City?”
Her mother waited until Yan Sisi had finished looking before taking the papers back. “At that time, society was in chaos. Your grandfather transferred some properties and savings certificates as a precaution. We never expected that within just a couple of years, your grandfather would really get into trouble.”
“You know what happened next, your grandfather was sent down to our area,” her mother said, looking at the slightly aged papers in the box, her thoughts drifting back to those days.
It was winter. When she learned the news and rushed back to Jing City, she only saw debris scattered throughout the family courtyard. Her father’s favorite antique ornaments had all been smashed to pieces, and many precious jewels and jade had disappeared without a trace.
Those days were unbearable. People who had once been close turned her away. She visited everyone she knew, but not a single person agreed to see her. Eventually, she never learned who had arranged behind the scenes to have her father sent down to her in-laws’ village, the Yanjia village.
Had she not already been married to a husband from a family of several generations of poor peasant workers, she herself might have been implicated, sent down, or worse. Policies had improved greatly over the years, otherwise she would never have dared to show these things to her daughter.
Seeing her mother’s sorrowful expression, Yan Sisi couldn’t help but hug her. “Mom, don’t worry. Grandpa and the others will definitely come back.”
Many places had already begun to reverse past injustices, so her grandfather would surely live to see that day.
Father Yan stood there at a loss, knowing that nothing in his life scared him more than seeing his wife cry. He could only comfort her with a successful example. “That’s right. Didn’t the principal of Sisi’s school recently have his case overturned and come back?”
Her mother wiped away her tears, her voice hoarse, “Yes… he will come back.”
Father Yan then took a passbook from the box and handed it to his daughter. “Sisi, our family has money. You’re still young, don’t worry about not having enough.”
A daughter should be raised with wealth; a son, with frugality.
Yan Sisi stared at the passbook, at the large numbers in the thousands, reading it over several times. She then looked up at her parents, when did their family ever have so much money?
Her heart pounded as she handed the passbook back to them, still unable to fully accept the fact that her family had become wealthy. Although she had never lacked food or drink growing up, she had never seen that much money. She had assumed the family’s savings amounted to only a few hundred yuan at most. She never imagined there was that much money, and houses too.
From what she had read, property prices in Jing City were extremely high. Her cousin had bought a traditional courtyard house early on, and its value later had risen to hundreds of millions. If her family had several houses in Jing City, could she just live comfortably without needing to work hard?
After explaining to their daughter that the family was not lacking money, Father Yan and Mother Yan restored everything to its original place and quietly returned to their previous conversation. In a lowered voice, they asked, “This ‘Immortal’s Space’ of yours, does anyone else know about it?”
“I only told you,” Yan Sisi replied softly. They all lowered their voices and continued discussing. “What else is in there?”
“I’ve also been growing some vegetables, like the greens and spinach I bought a few days ago,” she said.
Her mother immediately asked, thinking of the smell of fresh greens, “What other vegetables are there?”
Yan Sisi didn’t answer directly. She ran into the space and harvested a little of each type she had planted, then laid them out one by one on the cement floor of the room. “See? That’s all I’ve grown,” she said to them.
Father Yan and Mother Yan looked at the vegetables on the floor. Just from their appearance, it was obvious they were of excellent quality; not a single leaf showed signs of insect damage.
Watching them examine the vegetables, Yan Sisi’s stomach growled from hunger. She went back into the space, broke off six ears of corn, and began simply boiling them in the kitchen.
Once the corn was cooked, her parents came out of the room. They breathed in the fresh, sweet scent of the corn and couldn’t help but compliment her. “It smells amazing! What are you doing, daughter?”
Carrying the plate of corn, Yan Sisi walked toward the living room, saying as she went, “Do you want some corn?”
Without hesitation, she picked up an ear, blew on it slightly, and took a bite. The kernels popped against her teeth, and the sweet taste spread through her mind. Truly, corn grown in the space was exceptional.
The three of them sat at the table, each holding an ear of corn, eating with gusto. The only sound in the room was the crunch of corn being eaten.
Yan Sisi finished first but was only half full. She ran back into the space to harvest some strawberries, cucumbers, and melons, then picked a medium-sized watermelon, preparing to taste it.
Her father saw her disappear and reappear with a basket full of fruit. He quickly set down his corn, took the basket, and said, “I’ll go wash these.”
That evening, they didn’t plan on cooking at all, just eating the fruit their daughter had brought out was enough to fill them up.
Yan Sisi went over to turn on the black-and-white TV, ready to continue watching the drama she had started yesterday. Before long, her father came out carrying two large plates of fruit.
Yan Sisi and her mother stared at him in surprise. Yan Sisi opened her mouth, “Dad, are we really going to finish all this?”
“Hehe, it’s not the first time I’ve seen so much fruit. I just wanted to try a little of everything, so I accidentally cut too much,” Father Yan said with a simple, good-natured smile. These were fruits grown in the Immortal’s Space, who knew if eating more might make him immortal too?
Yan Sisi had no idea about her father’s little thoughts. She took one of the plates, shared it with her mother, and enjoyed each piece of fruit, sitting comfortably in her chair while watching TV. It was pure bliss.
As she watched TV, she mentioned to her parents, “By the way, Mom, Dad, I need to go to Grandpa Xu’s house on Sunday.”
“Oh,” her mother replied, then suddenly realized and asked, “Weiming hasn’t come for a long time. Are you going to see him?”
“I’m going to see Grandpa Xu to end the engagement,” Yan Sisi said, eyes on the screen showing soldiers fighting to defend their country, as she revealed what had happened with Xu Weiming’s matchmaking.
Her father’s anger was immediate. He stopped eating fruit, slammed his uninjured hand on the table, and yelled, “I knew that brat was no good! He actually went behind our backs to meet other girls. Does he think I’m dead?”
If only she had refused the childhood engagement her father arranged back then, this whole family wouldn’t have been so thoroughly humiliated now.
“No, I have to go teach that boy a lesson myself!”
Mother Yan stopped her furious husband. Although she was angry too, she tried to reason with him, “It’s already dark outside. Who would you even find now? Tomorrow morning we’ll go together. That Xu family has really gone too far.”
Yan Sisi took a bite of juicy watermelon, glanced at the TV, and calmly said, “Mom, Dad, since Xu Weiming has done something like this, I don’t have to marry him. Ending the engagement is fine.”
Seeing their daughter’s unusual calmness, Father Yan looked at his wife, silently signaling her to check on their daughter.
Carefully, Mother Yan walked over, looked at Yan Sisi’s expression, and tentatively asked, “Are you really willing to end the engagement? After all, you two have been together for so long.”
“I am,” Yan Sisi said clearly. “If Xu Weiming can hide a matchmaking meeting from me now, he could easily keep a mistress in the future. Besides, if his mother knew I was saved from falling into the water, she would have used that to end the engagement anyway.”
Whether the engagement ended early or late, it was going to end. It was better for her to bring it up first.
Seeing their daughter’s firm stance, Father Yan said approvingly, “Fine, if you want to end it, we’ll end it. I’ll find you someone better.”
Mother Yan didn’t say much, only planning to accompany her husband to the Xu family tomorrow to speak firmly.
Seeing her parents’ tense expressions, Yan Sisi quickly pulled them back to the table, continuing to eat fruit while watching the drama. “Hurry up and eat, this is all from the fruit I worked so hard to grow.”
Seeing them still worried, she added, “Mom, Dad, this is a good thing. Imagine if I married Xu Weiming and only then found out his true nature, I’d be devastated. Now I can see the truth, and we avoid having to deal with divorce later.”
By framing it this way, their expressions softened considerably, though what they were thinking privately remained unknown.
After filling her stomach and resting a bit, Yan Sisi grabbed a bath coupon and clean clothes from the drawer and asked her mother, “Mom, I’m going to the bathhouse. Are you coming?”