Her front courtyard was not a residential-style yard. It was an open commercial storefront—though not an ordinary shop. Her business mainly focused on custom-made orders.
There was a reception hall where her designed clothing and accessories were displayed.
The side rooms were workshops. She had her own private working studio, as well as separate workspaces for employees. The business only accepted single-piece custom orders.
Mass-produced items were handled in a separate factory located in the suburbs.
The front courtyard also included offices for staff. Normally, there were quite a few people working here, and she even had a separate kitchen and dining area to provide meals for employees.
When she went into the kitchen, she saw that it was fully stocked—refrigerators, freezers, and even a fish tank.
She wasn’t a harsh employer, so the staff meals were especially good and varied.
Seeing this, Lin Qianyi felt happy. Thankfully, she had been a generous boss—now she herself was benefiting from it.
Her main job was design. Management was handled by hired professionals.
In truth, she wasn’t very ambitious in business; this had always been more of a hobby. She started the studio back when she was still in school.
Over the years, the factory had expanded several times, and she had made some money.
But that “some money” was still modest. She entrusted most of it to trusted professionals for investment. Luckily, she had good fortune on that side and earned quite a lot.
Reinvesting again and again, her wealth snowballed. Even this courtyard house had been bought with her own money.
Sigh—no matter how much money she made, it was useless now. With a single transmigration, everything was gone. Thankfully, she had brought this courtyard house with her.
At least the food stored inside was the most important thing.
In this era, resources were scarce. People might only eat meat a few times a year.
Even though the original host worked at a machinery factory with relatively good benefits, the living conditions still felt extremely harsh to Lin Qianyi.
However, the food in the space wouldn’t last long. She would have to be frugal.
Lin Qianyi returned to the back courtyard. There was a small pond, with stacked stone troughs forming a water feature. Water dripped down continuously into the pool below.
Looking at it, she smiled and thought, “If there’s a space, shouldn’t there also be a spiritual spring or something?”
Suddenly, she felt something damp on her fingertip. With a thought, a cup appeared in her hand, and she really managed to draw out a cup of water.
Thinking of novels where spiritual spring water causes obvious changes, she didn’t drink it all at once.
She took the cup inside and decided to dilute it first and observe the effects.
After drinking just a tiny drop’s worth of the spring water, she felt nothing obvious—only a faint sense of comfort.
Increasing the amount slightly made the effect more noticeable. She decided to gradually increase the dosage over the next few days to observe her body’s changes.
She used the remaining spiritual water to wash her face—and her skin visibly improved: smoother, more delicate, and radiant.
She began practicing entering and exiting the space, learning to control item retrieval. She discovered she could either act manually or use her thoughts.
She wasn’t in a rush and planned to slowly familiarize herself with the space and inventory over the next few days.
At this point, entering and exiting the space no longer required the jade pendant. She temporarily stored the pendant inside the space.
She felt that in this era, wearing a jade pendant around her neck might not be safe—it could attract unwanted attention.
With the space, her sense of security increased.
But she didn’t intend to rely on it completely. The machinery factory was full of people and eyes everywhere; it would be easy to expose herself if she wasn’t careful.
Fortunately, she wasn’t incapable. First of all, she loved food, and people who love eating often enjoy cooking.
She could sew clothes and make accessories, so her hands-on skills were quite strong. Cooking wasn’t a problem either, especially since she also had the original host’s memories.
Housework wasn’t her strength, but now that she had the space, appliances like washing machines and dishwashers solved that problem.
Feeling reassured, she began thinking about the original owner’s situation. She couldn’t just sit and wait for things to happen.
The Revolutionary Committee was a notoriously infamous presence in later generations. As a lonely orphan girl, she truly had no way to deal with them.
Even if others sympathized with her, no one dared to help. Those who once claimed they wanted to marry her were now running faster than anyone else.
Understandable—everyone was afraid of trouble.
Sister Zhang had advised her to quickly find someone to marry, preferably someone who could stand up to Ma Zhenqiang. A soldier would be even better.
But where could she possibly find someone like that? Now, hardly anyone even dared to marry her.
Was she really supposed to consider a rural man, as Sister Zhang suggested?
Lin Qianyi decided to go out and take a walk, to clear her mind and think things through. Staying at home wouldn’t solve anything.
She simply took the day off and headed out.
She changed her clothes, loosely braided her hair over her shoulder, and took some cash and tickets from the drawer just in case.
After tidying up, she left the house.
In the residential compound, many people were around—some resting from shifts. Everyone already knew about her situation, so as she stepped out, she drew many looks.
Some were sympathetic, others were gleeful. A few greeted her.
Lin Qianyi ignored the stares. She politely returned greetings and walked forward calmly.
The machinery factory was large; it took her quite a while to reach the gate.
“Qianyi, going out?” a woman on a bicycle asked, stopping in front of her.
She searched her memory—this was Sister Lanxiang, a neighbor.
“I’m just going for a walk,” she replied.
“Perfect timing, here’s your bike. You can ride it out,” Sister Lanxiang said, pushing the bicycle toward her.
Only then did Lin Qianyi remember that this neighbor had borrowed her bicycle the day before to visit her parents.
“Oh, it’s fine. You can keep using it,” she said.
“No, I’m done. It’ll be more convenient for you,” the woman insisted, stuffing the bicycle into her hands.
“Alright then,” Lin Qianyi accepted it.
The bicycle was a decent women’s model, not the heavy old men’s frame. It had been specially bought by the original owner’s father for them.
She knew how to ride, having done cycling for exercise in her past life.
After saying goodbye, she rode out of the factory gate and slowly followed the road.
The machinery factory was located in a relatively remote area, some distance from the county center, but it was not desolate.
Several factories nearby meant the area was lively, bustling with people due to good benefits and steady traffic.