This chance encounter was like salt rubbed into the Chen family’s freshly healed wounds. Yet it was also that very salt that awakened a burning ambition within the small family that had once wanted nothing more than a peaceful life farming the land.
Late that night, when all was quiet, only the occasional crackle from the fire pit broke the silence inside the thatched cottage.
The family of five sat gathered around the fire.
No one spoke.
The atmosphere was heavier than the freezing night outside.
The image of the carriage disappearing into the distance and the silhouette that looked so much like Third Sister weighed on everyone’s heart like a boulder.
Chen Zui poked a charred stick from the fire and drew a circle on the packed dirt floor.
“Father. Mother.”
Her childish voice broke the silence.
The firelight painted her little face red, but a calm, cold light flickered in her eyes.
“We need to become stronger.”
Inside the circle, she marked five dots, representing their scattered sisters and family members.
“Money alone isn’t enough. Today in the city, Father didn’t even have the right to chase that carriage. We’re just peasants. One lash of their whip could have killed us.”
Chen Laosan’s fists clenched until they cracked. Lowering his head in shame, he let out a pained sob.
“Crying won’t help.”
Chen Zui struck the ground sharply with the stick, stopping her father’s tears.
“We need a plan.”
She drew a tree in the dirt.
“Starting today, everyone in our family has a role.”
Pointing the stick at Chen Laosan, she said,
“Father, you’re the trunk of this tree. Tomorrow, take half of those eighty taels and buy the wasteland east of the village. Then hire workers. I don’t care what you plant—even if it’s grass. You need to establish the title of ‘Master Chen.’ We need land. We need people. Only then will we have the strength to stand tall.”
Chen Laosan looked up at his daughter with reddened eyes and nodded heavily.
“Father will listen to you. Even if I work myself to death in the fields, I’ll earn a respectable status for all of you!”
Chen Zui turned toward Li Shi.
“Mother, you’re the roots. All the household money and social relationships belong under your management. Once we start hiring workers, it’ll be your job to manage them and keep everyone in line.”
Wiping away her tears, Li Shi gripped her needlework tightly.
“I can do it. I used to be afraid. But for Third Girl and the others, I’m not afraid of anything anymore.”
“Big Sister.”
The stick pointed toward Chen Yinuo.
“You’re the fruit of this tree. Food is the foundation of life. Your cooking is going to become our family’s trademark. We’ll start with a food stall at the docks, then open a restaurant, and eventually an entire inn. I want everyone in Anping County—even all of Yun Prefecture—to crave your cooking. Once that happens, we’ll hear news from every corner of the world.”
Looking down at her rough hands, Chen Yinuo remembered the fragrant oil-crackling pancakes she had made.
The timidity in her eyes faded, replaced by determination.
“Xiao Liu, I understand. I’ll do my best. I’ll build our reputation.”
“Second Sister.”
Chen Zui looked toward Chen Erxiu.
“You’re the flowers on the tree. The wives and daughters of officials love beautiful clothes. Your embroidery will be our ladder into high society. If you can create garments they’ve never seen before, we’ll gain access to those wealthy households and gather information about our sisters.”
Biting her lip, Chen Erxiu felt the weight of a responsibility she had never imagined carrying.
But when she thought of her third sister tracing characters in the air atop that carriage, she nodded firmly.
“I’ll study. Even if it ruins my eyesight, I’ll keep learning.”
“What about you, Xiao Liu?”
Chen Laosan looked at the backbone of the family.
Chen Zui tossed away the stick and dusted the soot from her hands.
A smile far beyond her years curved her lips.
“Me?”
“I’m the one who waters and fertilizes the tree.”
She would coordinate everything.
She would provide knowledge far beyond this era.
She would use the supplies in her mysterious space and her medical skills to protect the growing sapling.
“Five years.”
She raised five fingers, her eyes blazing.
“We’ll spend five years preparing. Father will become a landowner. Big Sister will become a famous chef. Second Sister will become a master embroiderer. Then we’ll go and bring our sisters home with our heads held high.”
“Good! Five years!”
Several hands stacked together.
Rough hands.
Delicate hands.
Tiny hands.
Under the firelight, the family that had once been bullied and trampled by others finally united as one.
The roots of something called ambition had begun to grow.
The night deepened.
Filled with hopes for the future, the family gradually drifted off to sleep.
Only Chen Zui remained awake.
Turning toward the wall, she sank her consciousness into her mysterious space.
The moment she entered, she sensed something was different.
The space, once no larger than a supermarket, had expanded.
The surrounding mist had retreated, revealing roughly an acre of rich black soil.
Beside it, the spiritual spring pool had grown larger as well, its waters glowing with a deeper blue radiance.
And atop a stone beside the spring lay a thread-bound ancient book that hadn’t been there before.
Chen Zui’s heart skipped a beat.
She walked over and picked it up.
There were no words on the cover.
Opening the first page, she found intricate diagrams of the human meridian system.
Alongside them were finely written annotations from Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces and a cultivation technique known as the Five Animal Exercises.
“This is…”
Her pupils contracted.
It was a manual that combined medicine and martial arts.
Not only did it contain lost medical formulas that could be paired with the spiritual spring water to heal illnesses, but it also included an internal breathing technique capable of unlocking physical potential and helping her control her extraordinary strength.
Chen Zui understood immediately.
The space wasn’t static.
It evolved alongside its owner’s state of mind and the fate of her family.
Today, every member of the Chen family had awakened to the determination to change their destiny.
That powerful collective will had caused the space itself to level up.
“Looks like I can’t afford to slack off either.”
Sitting cross-legged beside the spring, Chen Zui followed the breathing method recorded in the book and attempted her first cultivation session.
Warm currents flowed into her lungs with every breath before spreading throughout her limbs and body.
The immense strength she possessed in this young body, once unstable and difficult to control, gradually became solid and refined.
To protect her family in these troubled times, brute force alone would never be enough.
She needed real skill.
That night, while gentle snores rose from the thatched cottage, a tiny figure inside the space tirelessly practiced one repetitive movement after another.
Time flowed silently like sand slipping through fingers.
Outside, the moon climbed high into the sky, spilling silver light across the earth.
When Chen Zui finally emerged from the space, she gazed through a crack in the window at the lonely moon overhead.
It shone upon Qingshui Village.
It shone upon Yun Prefecture.
It shone upon the northern frontier.
And it shone upon the distant imperial capital.
“Third Sister. Fourth Sister. Fifth Sister.”
She repeated their names silently in her heart.
Her eyes were as firm as iron.
“Just wait until I grow a little older.”
“Wait until I sharpen the blade in my hand.”
“I will come and bring you home.”
The wind rustled through the treetops, as though someone were whispering a reply.
On that cold winter night, the tiny sapling that was the Chen family finally drove its first roots deep beneath the frozen earth, preparing itself for the coming spring—and for the years of wild, unstoppable growth that lay ahead.