When Li Lezhi heard the figure of over ten thousand yuan, she was instantly stunned.
In the 1970s, ten thousand yuan was undoubtedly an enormous fortune.
Seeing how deeply Li’s Father cared for his children moved her greatly. Unfortunately, given the circumstances of the times, she was powerless to change the situation. From the very beginning, she had already planned to register as a sent-down youth and go to the same place where Li’s Father and the others would be exiled so she could take care of them.
“Alright, I’ll keep everything safe,” she promised solemnly. “Once I arrive at the educated youth settlement, I’ll immediately write to my brother to let him know I’m safe and tell him about my situation. We can all take care of ourselves. Besides, I’m almost an adult now.”
“These items will be entrusted to you. We’ll go to the old house later and retrieve the rest,” Li’s Father instructed. “Go rest for a while first. I’ll come get you when it’s time to leave.”
With that, he turned and left the room.
Li Lezhi gently closed the door and slowly opened the box, curiously examining the treasures inside.
Several lifelike porcelain pieces sat on top, along with bracelets, hairpins, and other ornaments. Most eye-catching of all were more than a dozen gold bars, each much larger than the ones she had found at the recycling station. If these items were placed in the modern era, their value would be almost impossible to estimate.
Carefully, she stored everything inside her space.
Then, with a thought, she entered the space as well.
She still had not explored the interior of the grass hut.
Using her thoughts to move herself in front of it, she gently pushed open the door.
A simple yet ancient hall came into view.
At the center of the hall hung a scroll painting depicting a woman surrounded by immortal mist. It felt as though her presence could transcend the paper itself, allowing one to sense her transcendent and ethereal aura.
As Li Lezhi stared at the portrait, an inexplicable sense of familiarity arose within her.
Could the previous owner of this space have been an immortal?
With a thought, she neatly arranged all the valuables inside the hall.
Afterward, she pushed open the door on the left.
Inside stood a large bed covered with soft bedding. The patterns embroidered on the quilt were so lifelike that even the finest blankets on Earth could hardly compare.
This was obviously a place for resting.
The room on the right contained over a dozen bottles of medicinal pills.
When she opened one of them, only a faint medicinal fragrance remained. Time had long since weathered the contents away, yet the lingering scent was still wonderfully pleasant.
From this, she became even more convinced that the owner of the space had likely come from a cultivation world and had almost certainly been an immortal fairy.
Unfortunately, aside from the bed and the portrait, almost nothing useful had been left behind. Only traces of weathered paper remained.
At that moment, a knock sounded at the door.
Li Lezhi immediately left the space and appeared before her room door.
“Lele, are you ready? It’s already past nine o’clock. We can leave now,” Li’s Father called from outside.
“Okay,” she replied before heading downstairs with him.
After reaching the entrance, Li’s Father switched on a flashlight, and together they stepped into the ink-dark night, illuminated only by faint moonlight and starlight.
Although Haishi’s wealthy households already had electricity, most people were asleep by this hour. It was nothing like the brightly lit cities of the future, where streets remained lively even late into the night.
After walking for about half an hour, they arrived at a small, low courtyard.
The place was not unfamiliar to Li Lezhi.
She and her brother had spent their childhood there until she was seven years old.
Li’s Father led her deep into the courtyard and pressed down on a raised section of the ground.
The floor slowly lifted, revealing a dark passageway.
“So there’s actually a basement hidden here,” Li Lezhi marveled inwardly. “No matter the era, there are always clever people.”
“Watch your step,” Li’s Father said as he entered first, shining the flashlight behind him for her.
Ahead of them stood eight large chests.
In a deep voice, Li’s Father said, “These are all the inheritances your grandfather and maternal grandfather left behind. This place is still relatively safe. If you don’t have anywhere else to store them, you can leave them here for now.”
Li Lezhi had no idea whether these items had been discovered during the original storyline. The novel had only briefly mentioned that her family, as capitalists, had been sent away, while the details before that were largely skipped over.
Still, she believed there was nowhere safer than her own space.
Turning to Li’s Father, she said, “Dad, could you wait outside for a while? I’ll move these things somewhere else first.”
At this point, she no longer had the luxury of worrying whether her father might notice anything unusual.
“You can move all these chests yourself?” Li’s Father asked with concern.
“I can. Please wait outside. I’m quite strong right now. It’ll only take a moment.”
She casually made up an excuse, claiming the hiding place was nearby.
Believing his daughter had discovered some secret location in the area, Li’s Father did not ask any further questions and simply left.
Once he was gone, Li Lezhi opened the chests.
Three of them contained antiques, paintings, and calligraphy.
The remaining five were filled entirely with gold bars and gold ingots.
She moved everything into the grass hut inside her space.
Afterward, she remained inside the hut for an hour before finally coming out to find Li’s Father and return home together.
The following morning, after breakfast was finished in silence, Li’s Father left with her.
He headed to the newspaper office to publish a notice severing family ties, while Li Lezhi went directly to the neighborhood committee office.
When she arrived, she saw a woman working at one of the desks.
Putting on what she considered a sweet and obedient smile, Li Lezhi greeted her.
“Big Sister, can I register to go to the countryside now?”
The woman looked up and saw a beautiful young girl calling her Big Sister. Her tone immediately softened.
“You’re the one registering to go to the countryside?”
“Yes, I just graduated this year. I want to answer the nation’s call and contribute to our country.”
The woman listened and thought to herself that this was yet another passionate young person who did not understand the hardships of rural life.
Still, she said nothing and simply began the registration process.
Li Lezhi continued, “Can I be assigned to the north? My classmates told me the scenery there is beautiful and the land is fertile and vast.”
The woman was rendered speechless once again.
Still, she had no intention of discouraging someone who was volunteering. In fact, she wished there were more people like this.
As a result, Li Lezhi selected Qingshan Village in the north as her destination.
She remembered that Li’s Father and the others had once been sent there.
That was precisely why she chose it.
Now that she possessed the space, she felt no fear whatsoever about becoming a sent-down youth.
Next, she planned to visit the famous supply and marketing cooperative and the black market to purchase supplies.
After all, so much land inside her space was lying unused.
It would be a waste not to make use of it.
After completing her registration, the woman kindly reminded her,
“The weather in the north is quite cold. Be sure to prepare plenty of cotton, padded clothing, and other warm items.”
Then she handed Li Lezhi a fifty-yuan subsidy and informed her of the departure arrangements.
Three days later, she only needed to go directly to the train station to collect her ticket.
Right next door was the postal savings bank.
Using the bankbook, she withdrew the entire ten thousand yuan and immediately stored it in her space.
Now that she had a space, she felt it was far safer than any bank.
After seeing so many valuable treasures, she naturally no longer cared about the bank’s small amount of interest.
Once everything was taken care of, she headed straight toward the state-run restaurant.
She had long wanted to taste the food of this era.
With three full days remaining before departure, there was no need to rush her preparations.