“First, plant these in your immortal’s space. When we go back to our hometown tomorrow, I’ll get you more seeds,” Father Yan said, handing his daughter the cloth bag filled with seeds wrapped in newspaper. He added, “I’ve labeled each one. If you need anything else, just tell me.”
Yan Sisi took the bag and smiled without hesitation. “Dad, I want a cabinet full of drawers to store the seeds. And I’ll need some of the usual tools and baskets too.”
Even though she could control everything in the space with her mind, using her powers too much would give her a headache. Some tasks were easier to handle manually with proper tools.
“Okay,” he replied.
Yan Sisi carried the seeds and young fruit trees into the space and planted each fruit tree carefully around the edges. Once they were all planted, she watered them with some spirit spring water.
She combined the new seeds with the leftover ones from before. Looking at the tangled vines growing wildly in the space, she realized that since no one could help her, she would have to stand at the edge of the vines and harvest the fruits herself.
Each vine had about five melons. Yan Sisi carefully picked them all, and as she did, the vines on the ground transformed into green mist that drifted toward the ancient tree.
She glanced at the ancient tree and the cleared patch of earth on the ground. Could these be the plants the ancient tree needed?
In an immortal’s space, anything was possible. After a brief pause, she continued harvesting the fruits, and with each one picked, green mist rose toward the ancient tree.
By the time Yan Sisi stood up, half of the vines on the ground had disappeared, freeing up much of the space and saving her the trouble of clearing them manually.
She looked at the watermelons, sweet melons, and muskmelons she had harvested, then went out again to fetch a cloth bag. Carefully, she placed all the fruits inside and stored them in the space.
After bringing some strawberries and a watermelon out of the space, she immediately noticed that her mother had already prepared the meal. The dishes on the table were all made from the vegetables she had harvested the day before. The food smelled amazing, crispy, juicy, tender, and delicious beyond measure.
After finishing the meal and resting a bit, Yan Sisi started walking toward her room. Halfway there, her father called out to her. “Sisi, regarding your engagement to Xu Weiming, your mother and I went to see his grandfather today. Starting now, your engagement is officially broken.”
Yan Sisi was momentarily stunned but quickly nodded in response. “Oh, I understand.”
She then returned to her room and closed the door.
Sitting on a stool, memories of her time with Xu Weiming flashed through her mind. They had known each other since they were ten. At first, she had actually disliked him, because he always acted like her fiancé, trying to control everything, telling her what she could and couldn’t do, which made her very annoyed.
Their relationship improved after one incident: a group of boys tried to pull her braids, and Xu Weiming suddenly appeared to protect her. He was hit during the scuffle, his nose bleeding and his face bruised all over, but he had stood up for her.
From then on, their relationship grew much closer. They went to school and came home together, and he often took her out to play. But as they grew older, they drifted apart. She remembered one time when they were out, Xu Weiming introduced her to his friends as his little sister. When she asked him about it later, he explained that it was to protect her reputation.
She had believed him back then, thinking he genuinely cared about her reputation. Now she realized the truth: he simply didn’t want to marry her, which was why he called her his sister.
“Bang! Bang!” The door was pounded violently from outside, accompanied by Xu Weiming’s mother’s loud shouting: “Yan Sisi! Come out here!”
Yan Sisi’s heart leapt in fright. Why was Xu Weiming’s mother here? Someone wouldn’t come all this way without a reason, she was clearly here to pick a fight. As Yan Sisi stepped out of her room, she saw her mother rushing over with a worried look, grabbing her hand to pull her back inside.
Father Yan, tall and imposing, stood at the doorway, his face fierce. He opened the door to Xu Weiming’s mother and said in a harsh voice, “What are you banging for? Our families have nothing to do with each other anymore. Why are you looking for my daughter?”
Wu Fang, seeing the frowning, stern Yan Aiguo at the door, hesitated for a moment. But remembering that her husband had just been scolded as soon as he returned home, and that her son had been beaten again afterward, her anger flared. She stepped forward and demanded, “We need to ask your precious daughter what she told our grandfather that made him beat Weiming and force him to kneel until now. You have her come out and explain everything in front of him!”
She then tried to enter the house to drag Yan Sisi out.
Yan Aiguo’s large frame blocked the doorway completely. He snorted coldly, “I went to break off the engagement myself. After what your family did, do you really think I would let my daughter marry him?”
Wu Fang, only thinking about her son suffering, didn’t care why the old man had beaten him. She tried to push past Yan Aiguo, but not even a crack opened. Furious, she shouted at the door, “Yan Sisi! Get out here! How has my son ever wronged you that you treat him like this? You sweet-talked before, saying it would be amicable, and now you suddenly go to break off the engagement? Are you trying to ruin him?”
Every time she thought of her son’s back, raw and bloody from the grandfather’s blows, her heart ached. How could the grandfather hit his own grandson so severely and not spare him, while a stranger girl apparently mattered more?
Yan Sisi faced Xu Weiming’s mother and, not wanting her parents to bear her anger, steadied herself and walked next to her father. Looking directly into Wu Fang’s furious eyes, she said, “I had agreed with you that we would go together to break off the engagement on Sunday. Going early without informing you was our mistake. I apologize for not notifying you beforehand.”
She admitted clearly and decisively, “The matter has already happened and cannot be undone. Our families have ended the engagement. From now on, Xu Weiming, whether good or bad, has nothing to do with me. Please do not come to our house again. His grandfather’s punishment of him is your family matter. I am an outsider; it’s not my concern. If there’s nothing else, please leave.”
Hearing these cold words, Wu Fang sneered, her anger flaring even more: “Hah! So this is the girl my son protected all along? Already breaking off the engagement and she doesn’t care about his well-being! He cared for you so much, and now this is the thanks he gets. Remember this: if my son suffers, your family won’t live easy either.”
She had never expected that the once delicate, weak girl could be so ruthless. Just a few words to the grandfather could have spared her son, yet she wouldn’t even go.
Neighbors on both sides, already stirred by Wu Fang’s shouting, came out of their homes. Those downstairs looked up, and those upstairs looked down, all gossiping about what had happened at the Yan family.
Some neighbors who had heard the commotion from the start tried to mediate: “Mrs. Xu, the two children’s engagement didn’t work out. Let it end peacefully, there’s no need to become enemies.”
“Exactly. Both families have already broken off the engagement. What are you doing coming here? You’d be better off asking your family to go easy on him, rather than shouting at a young girl here.”
Wu Fang spun around and glared angrily at the woman who had spoken up, her voice sharp: “Mind your own business!”
Since the incident hadn’t happened to them, they didn’t know the pain. If the grandfather could have been persuaded, she wouldn’t have needed to come looking for this little brat. Before leaving, her son had been kneeling at home, carrying all those injuries. If she had taken him back sooner, the grandfather might have relented earlier and let him get medical treatment.
Hidden in the crowd, Wang Li saw an opportunity in the chaos. She whispered, “Isn’t this Yan Sisi the one who got saved from the water by a man? How dare she even suggest breaking off the engagement?”
Hearing this, Wu Fang seized it like a handle to grasp. She turned furiously toward Yan Sisi, yelling, “Well, you shameless little wretch! It’s obviously you fooling around with a man, and yet you have the audacity to propose breaking off the engagement first? You caused my son to get beaten for nothing!”
Without another word, she lunged, grabbing Yan Sisi’s arm and pulling hard. “Come on, you’re going with me to explain everything to the grandfather!”
Father Yan’s large hand immediately pried Wu Fang’s fingers off his daughter and glared at the women in the crowd. He shouted, “My daughter fell in the water by accident! Your son went behind our backs to go on a blind date! I told the grandfather about this. If you have a problem, take it up with me!”
The neighbors murmured among themselves.
“Xiao Xu looks like a quiet, honest kid, but he actually did something like this.”
“If you ask me, there’s too much drama in that big family. Sisi breaking off the engagement might be a good thing.”
“Exactly. She hadn’t even married him yet, and he was going behind her back to date someone else. If they had married, he’d probably have been keeping a mistress on the side.”
Hearing the neighbors criticize her son, Wu Fang glared at each of them in turn. “How dare you lowly people judge my son? Shut your mouths!”
A group of lowly workers, if it weren’t for her son, she would never have set foot in such a place. She blamed the grandfather for arranging this foolish childhood engagement for Xu Weiming; how could it possibly help him? Her son was so fine, how could he possibly be matched with such a lowly family?
One hot-tempered neighbor spat and said, “Are you royalty? The Qing dynasty has been gone for years! Without people like us, would you have such an easy life?”
“Exactly. Acting all high and mighty like capitalists. They should just report her and have her taken away.”
Wu Fang realized she’d misspoken. If anyone called her a capitalist, it would be over for her. She calmed herself and retorted, “Our entire family is working class! Just because you say we’re bourgeois doesn’t make it so. Remember, you can’t speak recklessly; you need evidence, unlike medicine, which can be taken carelessly.”
Her purpose in coming hadn’t even been achieved yet, and she was already being smothered with insults. Wu Fang turned to look at Yan Sisi, protected safely inside the house, and her anger boiled again. If she had known that Yan Sisi had been violated in the water, would she have ever advised her son to go on a blind date?
Still unwilling to let it go, Wu Fang continued her attack: “A washed-up wretch who fell in the water, and she even has the nerve to propose breaking off the engagement first? If anyone should make that proposal, it should be my family. I want to see who in their right mind would dare marry such a wretch. Maybe some widower from the countryside might not mind, since your daughter’s face is still presentable.”