If not for Old Master Zhao Yingzhang’s status as a xiucai—which exempted the family from forced corvée labor—the conflicts between the different branches of the family would probably have exploded long ago.
Watching helplessly as Zhao Shiyu ran off, Zhao Shiying was instantly dumbfounded.
She whirled around and shoved Zhao Yanfeng hard, glaring at him as if her eyes were spitting fire.
“Are you insane?! Who asked you to meddle?! Look at the mess you’ve caused!”
Caught completely off guard, Zhao Yanfeng staggered backward and nearly fell.
After regaining his balance, he looked at his own sister, his face flushing red with fury.
“Zhao Shiying, you heartless little brat! Who do you think I was doing this for?!
Not only are you ungrateful, but you’re actually yelling at me?
I’m going to tell Mother so she can teach you a proper lesson!”
The moment he finished shouting, he turned and bolted off in a flash.
Zhao Shiying didn’t even have time to stop him.
What an absolutely useless teammate.
Meanwhile, Zhao Shiyu had already rushed back into her room.
Peeking through the crack in the door and seeing the siblings turn on each other, she couldn’t help grinning.
Although the initial confrontation had happened outside the main gate, the gate was still wide open, so she could see everything clearly.
And after Zhao Shiyu ran off, Zhao Yanfeng had chased after her, with Zhao Shiying following close behind.
Unfortunately for them, she’d slammed the door shut before either of them could catch up.
So their falling-out had ultimately played out right there in the courtyard.
When Zhao Shiying saw Zhao Yanfeng run off, she stamped her foot in frustration before hurrying to Zhao Shiyu’s door and knocking again.
“Seventh Sister, don’t be angry with Xiaofeng. He’s still young and doesn’t understand things. As his elder sister, please don’t lower yourself to his level.
It’s getting late. Let’s hurry and go dig wild vegetables.”
“Not going.
What is this, the two of you putting on some kind of double act? One playing the villain and the other playing the saint?
If you want to dig wild vegetables, go by yourself. Don’t drag me into it.”
“But Grandma told us to go. If we don’t, she’ll be angry when she finds out.”
“You can stop pretending to care. Get lost and quit bothering me.”
[What the hell is wrong with this female lead? Zhao Yanfeng is only seven years old. She’s mentally an adult, yet she’s actually stooping to argue with a child? How classless.]
Then her thoughts shifted.
[Forget it. If she won’t go, then fine. It’s not like I don’t have a temper.
I’ll go search again myself.
Now that the female lead has appeared, maybe the Space Stone has appeared too.
And if I find it first… then I’ll be the one benefiting.]
Hearing this through the door, Zhao Shiyu raised an eyebrow.
Then, without hesitation, she activated the innate ability from her previous life.
Her fingers twitched slightly, aimed in Zhao Shiying’s direction.
A small piece of broken silver instantly appeared in her hand—about one qian in weight.
Perfect.
Her innate skill was still here.
And it worked exactly the same as it had in her previous life.
That set her mind at ease.
Even if Zhao Shiying somehow found the Space Stone first, Zhao Shiyu could simply steal it back with her ability.
After checking the door latch and making sure it was securely fastened, she quietly opened the rear window, slipped out, and gently pulled it closed behind her.
Then she took off running toward the hillside where people usually dug wild vegetables.
Zhao Shiying, meanwhile, had to avoid attracting attention.
So she could only carry the basket and walk toward the mountain at an ordinary pace, just like she normally would.
It wasn’t until she had left the village that she finally quickened her steps.
Because of that, she fell behind Zhao Shiyu.
As for Zhao Shiyu, after climbing out the window, she’d sprinted the entire way.
Although she technically counted as a farm girl—and normally would have gone up the mountain to dig wild vegetables, gather firewood, or cut pig fodder—her stamina still wasn’t great.
This was ancient times, after all.
People had very little awareness of physical exercise.
And girls in particular were expected to carry themselves with restraint—even the size of their steps was often regulated.
Though the Zhao family lived in the countryside, Old Master Zhao Yingzhang was still a xiucai, an educated scholar.
Because of that, he imposed certain standards on the younger generation.
Their speech and behavior were not allowed to be as rough or uncouth as ordinary peasants.
That was also one reason Zhao Shiying hadn’t dared walk too quickly while still inside the village.
By the time Zhao Shiyu reached the foot of the mountain, she was already panting heavily.
This wasn’t the exact place she usually dug for wild vegetables, though it wasn’t far.
What she’d noticed was this—
Ever since climbing out that back window, she had felt a strange, indescribable pull.
A vague sense of guidance drawing her toward this very location.
And she had chosen to follow it.
Now that she was here, she could still feel that faint attraction radiating from somewhere nearby.
Stopping where she stood, she bent over with her hands braced against her knees, gasping for breath as she carefully tried to sense whether any particular direction felt stronger.
And sure enough—
As expected of someone blessed with female lead destiny.
The moment she focused, she could distinctly sense one direction calling to her more strongly than the others.
Naturally, Zhao Shiyu didn’t resist.
She simply followed the pull, walking carefully toward it while keeping a close eye on the ground, searching for the so-called Space Stone.
After walking about twenty meters, she finally spotted it.
A black stone.
Its full size wasn’t visible because most of it was buried underground.
Only a tiny pointed corner protruded through the soil, half-hidden among the wild grass and edible weeds.
It was incredibly inconspicuous.
Without that faint sense of attraction guiding her—and if she hadn’t been searching so carefully for it—there was no way she would have noticed it.
Zhao Shiyu quickly picked up a broken branch from the ground and began digging around the stone.
Honestly, she really was worthy of being the female lead.
The grassy earth didn’t look loose at all, yet digging through it was absurdly easy.
It was almost as if the surrounding soil had deliberately softened itself for her.
In just a few quick motions, most of the stone was exposed.
She reached down, grabbed it with both hands, twisted and pulled.
The entire stone came free.
It was about the size of two fists put together.
Pitch black.
Irregularly round in shape, yet every edge was smoothly worn, as though it had been carefully polished.
After wiping away the dirt, its surface gleamed with an oily luster—
like a piece of exquisite black jade.
Before Zhao Shiyu could examine it more closely, movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention.
In the distance, a figure was rapidly approaching this area.
As the person walked, they kept kicking at the dirt and grass underfoot, clearly searching for something.
Though the distance made their features impossible to make out, the color of their clothes was exactly the same as what Zhao Shiying had been wearing earlier.
Even without seeing the face, Zhao Shiyu could guess who it was.
That woman—
No.
That girl.
Her first instinct was to run.
Now that she had the stone, avoiding contact with this book-transmigrator was obviously the safest choice.
But just as she turned to leave, she abruptly changed her mind.
Instead, she sprinted toward a thick tree only five or six meters away.
Stuffing the Space Stone into her clothes, she pressed herself against the trunk—
and then, like a gecko, scampered straight up the tree in a blur.