[1957]
In the blink of an eye, another year had passed.
During the entire year, Xu Chunhua never once worked in the fields. Ever since Meng Zhu had started teething, Xu Chunhua would squeeze her breast milk into a bowl and let Chen Rou feed the baby herself.
Xu Chunhua sat on the edge of the bed sewing tiny clothes. Her fair face carried a healthy rosy glow. Rather than becoming worn down from raising children, she looked increasingly radiant and youthful, like an eighteen-year-old girl.
Lifting her eyelids slightly, she glanced at Meng Yu, who was stumbling along while holding onto the bedside for support. A faint smile flickered in her peach blossom eyes.
While Meng Zhu could only crawl on the floor, Meng Yu and Meng Che were already able to wobble along while holding onto furniture.
It was all thanks to the spiritual medicine.
The candlelight on the table flickered softly. Meng Wei and Meng Qing had exhausted themselves playing during the day and were now sleeping soundly.
Xu Chunhua rubbed her eyes and set the unfinished little clothes aside. She would continue tomorrow—she couldn’t afford to ruin her eyesight.
“Tomorrow’s Little Yu’er and Little Che’er’s first birthday, but judging from your mother’s attitude, she’s planning to play dead again,” Xu Chunhua muttered unhappily. “Chen Rou said your mom’s planning to hold a birthday banquet for Meng Zhu. Anyone who didn’t know better would think Meng Zhu was the Meng family’s real biological granddaughter.”
Meng Qiushi wrapped an arm around Xu Chunhua. “Let them do whatever they want. As long as we live our own little life well, that’s enough. Tomorrow we’ll go gather at the state-owned restaurant.”
“Fine by me.” Xu Chunhua wasn’t angry. She simply felt that Meng Dazhuang and Wang Cuilian had something wrong with their brains. They ignored their own flesh and blood while doting on someone else’s child. Anyone hearing about them would probably give them a thumbs-up and call them geniuses sarcastically.
Xu Chunhua rolled over into Meng Qiushi’s arms and pinched his chin before kissing him. “Tomorrow let’s go to the county town and take a family portrait.”
“Alright. I’ll take out some money. We’re running a little low on cash in hand.” Meng Qiushi climbed onto the table and reached up to retrieve a box hidden on the roof beam.
Over the years, the couple had saved quite a bit. Excluding the gold and silver jewelry they had given the children, they still had a total of 1,053 yuan and 8 mao. In this era, that was an enormous sum of money.
Considering holiday expenses and social obligations, it was already impressive that they had managed to save so much.
The biggest part of that money came from the second year after their marriage, when they found a thousand-year-old ginseng in the mountains.
That single ginseng root had sold for two thousand yuan. Ever since then, the third branch of the family had been secretly eating and living well thanks to the money from selling it.
The moment Meng Yu saw the wooden box holding the money, her eyes lit up.
She immediately crawled toward it, and the instant her hand touched the box, it vanished.
She intended to let her parents know about the existence of the space. As just a baby, she couldn’t maximize its benefits by herself. In another two years, the famine years would arrive. Although the wheat inside the space had already gone through many harvests, the amount had been too small, and most of it had ended up eaten by the chickens and ducks inside.
The room instantly became deathly silent.
Xu Chunhua and Meng Qiushi slowly raised their heads and looked at each other before rubbing their eyes.
Staring at the now-empty space in front of him, Meng Qiushi said uncertainly, “Didn’t I just take out the box of money?”
Xu Chunhua’s voice trembled. “Yeah… where’s the money?!”
Meng Yu then pulled the wooden box back out from the space.
After she repeated the process several times, Meng Qiushi and Xu Chunhua finally saw clearly what was happening.
Meng Qiushi gently held Meng Yu’s tiny hand and whispered, “Little Yu’er, tell Daddy, where did you hide the box just now?”
Meng Yu blinked, then grabbed both Xu Chunhua’s and Meng Qiushi’s hands.
The next second, the family of three vanished from the room.
Some time ago, she had already experimented using Meng Che. She could bring other people into the space.
Suddenly appearing in an unfamiliar place frightened Meng Qiushi and Xu Chunhua. They quickly picked Meng Yu up from the ground and looked around nervously.
“Mama… mine… no scared…” Meng Yu explained in her babyish, slurred speech.
As she spoke, she grabbed their hands again and brought them back out of the space. Before they could react, she pulled them back in once more.
She was trying to tell them that she controlled the space and that they didn’t need to be afraid.
Holding Meng Yu in their arms, the couple looked solemnly at their ever-changing surroundings.
“Little Yu’er, you’re saying this place belongs to you?” Meng Qiushi asked seriously.
Meng Yu grinned, revealing two tiny rice-like baby teeth. She nodded vigorously.
“Yu’er’s…”
The couple instantly relaxed.
Now they finally dared to carefully look around.
Xu Chunhua suddenly stared at the flock of chickens and ducks nearby. “Meng Qiushi… don’t these chickens and ducks look familiar?”
“They look like the dozen or so chickens and ducks that disappeared last year,” Meng Qiushi replied. He bent down and grabbed a hen, pointing at its feet. “I remember this hen with three toes very clearly.”
The couple exchanged a glance before breaking into delighted smiles.
Over the past year, the chickens had laid eggs, the eggs had hatched more chickens, and now there were over a hundred chickens and ducks inside the space. In one corner, piles of chicken eggs and duck eggs were stacked together.
Xu Chunhua picked Meng Yu up and repeatedly kissed her little face.
“Mommy’s precious baby! What kind of virtue did I accumulate in my past life to be blessed with such a wonderful daughter?”
From now on, if they craved chicken, they could eat chicken whenever they wanted. If they wanted duck, they could eat duck whenever they wanted.
Meng Yu giggled from all the kisses and rubbed affectionately against Xu Chunhua’s neck.
“Yu’er… raise Mama…”
Meng Qiushi immediately pretended to cry dramatically. “Has Little Yu’er forgotten Daddy? Daddy’s heartbroken!”
Finding him childish, Meng Yu still couldn’t help smiling.
“Yu’er… raise Daddy too…”
Meng Qiushi lifted Meng Yu high above his head. “Daddy’s good daughter! How can you be this sensible?”
The couple took a full tour around the space.
“All the wheat here got pecked clean by the chickens and ducks, but there are seventy chickens and sixty-two ducks,” Meng Qiushi said in amazement as he bounced Meng Yu in his arms. “Little Yu’er, where did this magical secret realm come from?”
Meng Yu replied haltingly, “Immortal grandpa… gave space…”
That was the same excuse Meng Zhu had used in the original story.
After all, Meng Yu herself had reincarnated with memories and even possessed a magical space. Maybe immortals truly did exist.
Xu Chunhua and Meng Qiushi, who had never believed in gods or spirits before, immediately pressed their palms together respectfully.
“Bless us, Immortal.”
After leaving the space, Meng Qiushi gathered all the family’s money, ration coupons, gold, and silver into a large chest.
“Little Yu’er, can you help Daddy and Mommy store these safely in your space?”
Meng Yu nodded.
In the blink of an eye, the large chest—big enough to fit a person—vanished from the room.
The wooden box had been too small, and there were too many chickens and ducks inside the space already, so Meng Qiushi didn’t feel safe leaving everything in that tiny container.
Now that their family fortune had been stored inside Meng Yu’s space, Xu Chunhua and Meng Qiushi both felt immense relief.
Keeping such a huge amount of money hidden in the house had always made them nervous whenever the whole family left home. Now they could finally rest easy.
Then Meng Qiushi’s eyes darted around mischievously as he jerked his chin toward the backyard.
Xu Chunhua instantly understood.
Holding Meng Yu, she walked to the backyard chicken and duck coop and whispered into her ear, “Little Yu’er, can you hide all these chickens and ducks in your space?”
Meanwhile, Meng Qiushi stood guard nearby, nervously scanning the surroundings.
Meng Yu nodded.
In the next second, every chicken and duck inside the coop vanished.
If not for the fresh chicken and duck droppings still left on the ground, nobody would’ve believed the coop had just been packed full of poultry moments ago.
Xu Chunhua and Meng Qiushi walked away satisfied.
She muttered under her breath, “That old witch was planning to slaughter these chickens and ducks to make Meng Zhu’s birthday banquet look impressive. Let’s see how she manages now.”
One year later, another strange incident struck the Meng family.
All the chickens and ducks in the backyard had disappeared once again, leaving behind only a few cold eggs scattered around.
At that moment, Wang Cuilian’s heart felt even colder than those eggs.