Before Shen Yu’s transmigration, she was an elite special forces soldier.
During a mission, she accidentally came across a small jade pendant.
It was crystal-clear with a vibrant green hue, carved with an iris flower, and had a mysterious circle of runes etched along its side.
As Shen Yu examined the runes carefully, she accidentally smeared the blood from a wound onto the pendant. Before she could clean it off, the jade suddenly flashed white and vanished. She was astonished to find that a pale red iris flower was slowly appearing on her left wrist, identical to the one on the pendant.
Curious, Shen Yu reached out to touch it—and suddenly found herself in a completely unfamiliar place.
There stood a modern five-story building in the middle of a spacious courtyard.
Shen Yu was shocked and unconsciously walked into the building. The first floor seemed like a large shopping mall, brightly lit. Half of it was a huge supermarket, stocked with a dazzling array of items—food, daily necessities, everything imaginable. The other half was lined with jewelry stores, clothing stores, beauty shops—but not a single person could be seen.
At the end of the floor was an intricately carved metal door. Shen Yu cautiously opened it, revealing a private residence with a west-facing bedroom, a study, a walk-in closet, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. The interior was arranged in a luxurious and comfortable manner.
She tried to explore the other floors but could not enter them.
Resigned, she left the building. In the empty courtyard, aside from a few warehouses on the left, there was only a small pavilion in one corner.
It was a well pavilion completely different in style from the building. The ancient well inside seemed to have existed for over a thousand years. The worn stone walls were etched with runes identical to those on the jade pendant. White mist swirled in the well, hiding some unknown secret.
Beyond the courtyard gate was a vast stretch of dark land, shrouded in mist on all sides, its edges impossible to discern.
Shen Yu did not explore further. Thinking “I want to go out,” she immediately returned to her original location. After repeating this several times, she finally realized that this was a personal portable space.
With this space, Shen Yu survived multiple near-death encounters. However, on her last mission, she was caught in a hidden bomb while rescuing hostages and was blown into this world.
Unexpectedly, her personal space had traveled with her, filling her with elation. With it, she felt a complete sense of security.
She immediately summoned a piece of bread and a bottle of electrolyte water with her mind to satisfy her growling stomach and gather energy for what lay ahead.
Meanwhile, Shen Yong’an, working in the fields, returned carrying a hoe. From afar, he saw many villagers gathered at his courtyard gate and sensed trouble. Splitting through the crowd, he rushed in and saw Shen Liushi sitting on the ground, wailing and cursing his daughter, while his wife struggled to restrain the old woman.
Lin Shuyuan, seeing her husband, ran over crying: “Her father, Mother wants to sell our daughter. I can’t stop her—please persuade her. Without Yu’er, I don’t want to live either.”
Shen Yong’an had always been most protective of his daughter, who had suffered under his own inability to help, serving the Shen family as though she were a maid.
His guilt and self-reproach had long been near the breaking point. Hearing that his mother intended to sell his daughter snapped the last restraint inside him.
Red-eyed, he advanced step by step toward the old woman, glaring at her wrinkled, tangerine-peel face: “Why would you sell my daughter? She’s my own flesh and blood! How can you bear to do such a cruel thing? Aren’t you afraid of divine retribution?”
Shen Liushi jumped up, pointing at him: “She’s useless, selling her would at least get some grain. The family has nothing to eat anyway. You ungrateful brat, you’ll be cursed if you insult me, may lightning strike you!”
Shen Yu was beautiful, and a human pawn was willing to pay ten taels of silver for her. Seeing that the eldest was out working in the fields, they hoped the buyer would take her quickly. But when the buyer arrived, seeing her unconscious, he refused to do anything, delaying the matter until the eldest returned.
“Then why don’t you sell the second child’s girl? Is it because my daughter isn’t your own granddaughter? How can your heart be so cruel, doing something even animals wouldn’t do!” Shen Yong’an, usually honest and straightforward, yelled at Shen Liushi.
Shen Liushi, never having seen Shen Yong’an this angry, instinctively recoiled: “I’m doing this for that little brat! She’s pretty; selling her means she’ll have a better life. How is this a loss for her?”
“I said you’re doing it for her? Then die!” Shen Yong’an lost control and raised his hoe to strike Shen Liushi, only to be restrained by Lin Shuyuan, preventing a tragedy.
Shen Liushi, terrified, backed into a corner, still muttering curses: “You wretch, hitting your own mother? Why hasn’t lightning struck you yet? Your whole family is cursed—…”
At this moment, the human pawn sneaked out by the door, trying to run, only to be grabbed by Shen Yong’an: “You were trying to buy my daughter?”
Trembling, the man said: “I didn’t force her. Your old lady said she could decide—my business, not mine!”
Shen Yong’an grabbed him and threw him out of the courtyard: “Get out! Come back and I’ll break your legs!”
Terrified, the man fled without looking back.
Then, little Shen Hao secretly fetched the old village chief, who entered the courtyard with hands behind his back. The chief, Shen Zhongchang, was the cousin of Shen Zhongliang. He had been helped a lot by his cousin in his poor childhood and later became village chief thanks to Shen Zhongliang’s support.
Hearing from little Shen Hao about Shen Liushi’s plan to sell Shen Yu, he was enraged. The village was not so poor as to have to sell children for survival. If word got out, the Shen family would be mocked by neighboring villages.
Seeing Shen Liushi still cursing, the old village chief immediately rebuked her: “You poisonous woman! No family in Shenjia Village has ever sold their children. For a few taels of silver, you want to sell the eldest granddaughter of the Shen family? Aren’t you afraid my old brother would come back from his grave to punish you? Burn incense, kneel, and apologize to my late brother, and promise never to commit such vile acts again—or I’ll divorce you on his behalf.”
Shen Liushi stiffened to retort, but the second son Shen Yongtian and his wife Xie Jinhua, who had been listening inside, rushed out and pulled her aside.