After organizing her thoughts, Li Wanting lifted the quilt and tried to get off the kang, but as soon as she moved, her head spun and throbbed with pain. She quickly braced herself on the bed.
Zhou Zimo hurriedly shoved the last bite of his bun into his mouth and came over to support his mother. “Mom, does your head still hurt?” he asked with concern.
“It’s okay, Zimo. I’ll be fine after drinking some water,” Li Wanting reassured him. She took a cup of water from her space, drank it in one gulp, then tossed the cup back into the space. She immediately felt much better.
Seeing that his mother wanted water, Zhou Zimo moved to pour her a drink, but paused in shock as he witnessed her actions.
Where did this water come from? And that cup—it was crystal clear and unlike anything he had ever seen.
“Huh? Mom, where did the cup go?” After finishing her bun, little Zhou Zimeng watched her mother perform what seemed like magic and, turning her hands over, couldn’t hide her curiosity.
Hearing her daughter’s words and feeling her son’s stiff posture, Li Wanting paused. She realized that while she was used to using the space to fetch items, her children had never seen it and must be curious.
Moreover, since they were her own children, there was no need to hide it. They would inevitably find out someday; it was better to explain now than have to justify things later.
So she took each child’s hand in hers and said solemnly, “After I fainted, I had a dream. In the dream, I saw an old man with a white beard. He said that in my previous life, I had saved his life. Seeing that I was in trouble, he wanted to repay me, so he gave me a space. In this space, we can store lots of things, and even grow food. We’ll never go hungry again. But you must remember, you cannot tell anyone about this space. If others find out, they might think I’m a monster and take me away, and then we’d go hungry again.”
Hearing that telling anyone could get their mother taken away and leave them hungry, the siblings panicked.
“I won’t say! I won’t say! I won’t tell anyone! Don’t take Mom away! Don’t let us go hungry!” Zimeng said, covering her mouth tightly.
“Don’t worry, Mom. I won’t say anything either,” Zimo affirmed firmly. He knew having this space was a blessing, and no one else could be told.
“Good children,” Li Wanting praised generously, pinching their little cheeks.
“You must be thirsty. Here, drink some water.” Remembering that the children hadn’t drunk yet, she took two more cups of water from the space.
The siblings took the cups and drank eagerly. After finishing, they stared at the cups in amazement. Even though they now knew about the space, it still felt magical.
Li Wanting stopped worrying about them; people needed time to adjust. She touched her head—no longer so painful. Indeed, the spring water was truly miraculous!
The courtyard had a well whose water was cool, sweet, and far better than purchased bottled water. At first, she didn’t realize it was magical spring water.
Once, she had cut her hand while cooking and drank the well water. By the next day, her wound had healed without leaving a scar. Gradually, she discovered that the water not only accelerated healing, reduced pain from illness, but also strengthened the body and improved skin. Later, after reading novels, she learned it was indeed magical spring water, and she continued drinking from it.
Li Wanting surveyed the room. Though the house was small, it had the basics. She got off the kang and went to the corner stove to take stock: half a jar of water, a small handful of broken rice in the container, some wilted wild vegetables on the floor, and empty oil and salt jars on the stove.
She wondered how the original owner and the two children had survived here.
Li Wanting retrieved oil, salt, and other condiments from her space, as well as tomatoes, eggs, and baby bok choy. Rolling up her sleeves, she prepared to cook.
Having grown up helping her grandparents with farming and cooking, and having worked in the space’s farm for years, she was skilled.
The siblings saw their mother cooking and rushed to help: washing vegetables, tending the fire. Li Wanting chopped and stir-fried.
She didn’t pamper the children. They were used to helping the original owner, and self-reliance would help them survive anywhere.
After some busy moments, a meal was ready: two vegetable dishes, one soup, and steaming white buns. Tomato and egg stir-fry, lightly sautéed bok choy, millet porridge, and large steaming buns.
Seeing the meal, the siblings were thrilled but waited for their mother to start eating before taking their first bites.
Zimo first served his mother a portion of eggs, urging her to eat more, then began eating himself.
Zimeng imitated her brother, offering some bok choy to their mother.
“You’re such good children. Eat, Mom can serve herself,” Li Wanting said, touched. The children were truly sensible; it seemed the original owner had taught them well.
After the meal, Zimo told his mother and sister to rest while he cleared the dishes—a little gentleman indeed.
Li Wanting pondered the situation. Now that Zhou Dashan and his wife were both dead, it was fortunate he had died; otherwise, if he returned, she wouldn’t even be the original owner and wouldn’t know how to deal with him.
The old house was full of robbers. The original owner and her children had been expelled and were still harassed occasionally. Li Wanting was not the original owner and had no ties to the old house. To ensure a peaceful life for herself and the children, she decided to sever all family ties.
Li Wanting called her two children close and whispered instructions, then led them outside.
“Waa… Husband, how could you be so cruel to leave us? Waa…”
“Waa… Husband, you left, and Mom took all the silver. How are we, a mother and her children, supposed to live? Waa…”
“Waa… Father…”
“Waa… Father…”
The three of them—Li Wanting and her two children—supported each other, crying as they walked toward the village center to the home of the village chief, Zhou Yunda, attracting the attention of the villagers.
“That old Zhou woman is terrible. Dashan wasn’t even her child, yet she treats the family so cruelly.”
“Exactly. Dashan died, and the old Zhou woman took the compensation money. Isn’t she trying to starve his wife and kids to death?”
“Shameless. How can she be so heartless?”
Li Wanting led the two children to the village chief’s house, sitting at the doorstep, crying and pounding the ground, utterly inconsolable.
“Waa… Uncle, you have to help us! We can’t live like this… waa…”
Hearing the commotion, Zhou Yunda and his family came out. Seeing Dashan’s widow and her two children, they hurriedly had Wang and the eldest daughter-in-law, Liu Guihua, help Li Wanting up.
“What happened? What’s going on?” Zhou Yunda asked anxiously.
“Waa… Dashan, why did you leave? How are we supposed to live?” Li Wanting sobbed, letting no one lift her.
“Zimo, tell me, what’s going on?” Zhou Yunda asked, as Li Wanting’s crying made it impossible to speak clearly.