Only after the couple left the space and returned to their own home did they truly believe everything was real.
They took out the items Nan Mo had prepared for them and began sorting through them. As they worked, they could not help but worry. Their daughter had obtained such a miraculous opportunity, yet they did not know whether it would ultimately bring blessing or misfortune.
Nan Mo went to the kitchen, filled the rice jar and flour jar to the brim, then brought out three large barrels of spiritual spring water she had prepared earlier.
When Mother Nan saw her still taking things out, she hurriedly stopped her and pulled her toward the room. “You mustn’t add anything more to the house. Times are unstable right now. We’re not short on money or ration coupons. If we need anything, we can buy it ourselves.”
She glanced toward the doorway, then leaned close to whisper in Nan Mo’s ear. “Xiao Mo, later Mom will take you somewhere. Put the things there into your space. It’s my dowry. In the future it will all be yours.”
Seeing how cautious her mother was even inside their own home made Nan Mo’s heart ache. Thinking about her parents’ fate in the original story strengthened her resolve to treat them well.
“Alright.”
Remembering her brother far away in the military district, she said, “Mom, let’s send something to Brother. I miss him.”
Mother Nan missed her son just as much, but she worried that sending things might bring trouble to Nan Mo.
“It’s fine, Mom. We’ll just send some food and clothes. Anything unsuitable can wait until he comes back on leave.”
“That works. We should also tell him about you going to the countryside.” At that thought, she could not help recalling how much her son doted on his sister. “We can’t write too much in the letter. Once he finds out, he might be furious with you. He’ll probably blame your father and me too.”
Nan Mo hugged her mother and acted spoiled for a moment, then took out clothes suitable for both parents from her space before returning to her room.
When night had fully fallen, the couple brought Nan Mo to the entrance of a courtyard. This property was one of the pieces of Luo Ci’s dowry from the Luo family. No one knew it belonged to them, and Luo Ci had never appeared here in public.
They opened the courtyard gate and, using the moonlight, found an unremarkable tree in the corner of the yard.
Nan Mo took a shovel from her space and handed it to her father. After digging for about fifteen minutes, he struck a wooden hatch.
He lifted the hatch and gestured that the items were below.
Nan Mo switched on a flashlight and walked down five or six steps. What she saw was an underground cellar nearly a hundred square meters in size, packed wall to wall with wooden chests.
There was no time to open them one by one. With a wave of her hand, everything inside vanished into her space.
When she came back up so quickly, Mother Nan asked in confusion, “You put it all away?”
“Yes. Let’s go home and look at it there.”
After returning home and locking the door, the three of them immediately entered the space. The living room was filled with chests of all sizes. Mother Nan opened them one by one to check.
Jewelry, gold bars, gold ingots, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, rough jade stones, everything imaginable was there.
Mother Nan pointed to three chests and said, “Xiao Mo, except for these three, put the rest into your storage room.”
With a thought, the other chests disappeared.
She opened one of the remaining boxes. Inside was a full emerald jewelry set, a pair of bracelets, a bead necklace, and two jade pendants, clearly carved from the same piece of raw stone. Beside them were rolls of large denomination banknotes, more than ten thousand yuan in total.
“This was left by your grandparents for your brother before they passed away. I’ll give it to him when he gets married.”
She opened another chest. Inside lay a complete set of pink diamond jewelry, a crown, necklace, earrings, bracelet, rings.
Even Nan Mo, who considered herself well traveled, stared in astonishment.
Beside the jewelry were rolls of banknotes just like in her brother’s box, seemingly the same amount.
“This was left for you by your grandparents.”
Finally she opened the last chest. It was filled completely with cash. How much could that be?
Before Nan Mo could ask, her mother answered, “There’s two hundred thousand here.
“I’m showing you these to tell you that the things in your space are fine for our own use, but you must not speculate or engage in illegal trading. Our family is not short of money. We don’t want you taking risks.”
Nan Mo looked at her parents, momentarily speechless. Was it really that obvious?
Still, she could not promise them. She was not cut out for business ventures. The only way she knew to make money grow was buying property, and two hundred thousand was nowhere near enough for her to buy hundreds of houses.
Somehow she had to turn the billions her parents would give her into tens of billions. So she only promised that she would never do anything dangerous.
With Luo Ci’s dowry finally dealt with, the whole family felt relieved. As long as those things remained hidden there, they would worry every day, afraid of losing them or of trouble falling upon them because of it.
Early the next morning, Father Nan brought Nan Mo to the Educated Youth Office.
When they heard that the steel factory director had brought his daughter to volunteer for countryside work, everyone found it astonishing. Who did not know how hard rural life was? And everyone had heard how famously the Nan family doted on their daughter.
The news spread everywhere before the two of them had even left the office.
Some people said that as expected of a leader, the director’s political awareness was high.
Others said he was heartless, willing to push his own daughter out for the sake of his career.
Wu Mingkang did not learn that Nan Mo was going to the countryside until three days later. During those three days he had not been idle. He had met several women for matchmaking.
Only one agreed to start a relationship with him. He had hesitated at first. With Nan Mo as the standard, everyone else seemed lacking somehow.
But once he heard she was leaving for the countryside, he stopped hesitating and immediately settled things with that girl. He was not about to go to the countryside for the sake of an uncertain woman.
Naturally, the countryside quota then fell onto Wu Mingyue.
While Nan Mo and her mother sorted through items in the space, choosing what she could openly bring with her, the Wu household was already in chaos.
The place Father Nan had chosen for her was Xiangyang Brigade in Hongqi Town, Yang City, Liaoning Province in the Northeast.
In the Northeast there was only spring planting and autumn harvesting, unlike the south where crops were planted three times a year.
In winter, heavy snow blocked the roads, and farmers did not work at all. They simply stayed home for the season.
Xiangyang Brigade was locally famous as an advanced model unit. It was prosperous, the brigade leader was upright, and the members were hardworking. It had even been featured in newspapers.
With only three days left before departure, they would have to mail her parcels the next day. She would carry just one suitcase on the journey.
By the time she arrived, the parcels would arrive too, making it convenient to bring them back to the village and retrieve items from them as needed.