Chapter 3: The Space Is a Small World of Its Own

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Xu Manman pouted, displeased as she glanced at her mother. “Mom, how can a butcher be a good man? They’re all burly, rough men—I don’t want any of them!”

“What’s wrong with a butcher? Look at those slaughterhouse workers; none of them look slick and oily like the others. If you had a man like that, you could eat meat whenever you wanted!” Wang Mingxia scolded her daughter for being foolish.

She wasn’t saying Jiang Chengxu was a bad match—in fact, his father was the deputy director of a food factory, his mother a nurse at a hospital, and Jiang himself a publicity officer at a machinery factory. The key was that this match had been arranged by her sister-in-law Song Wanlin.

Previously, for the sake of her second son, Wang Mingxia had already secured a projectionist job; she didn’t want her daughter to compete for the same son-in-law.

“I don’t care! I refuse to marry a butcher. You lost me for more than ten years, and now that I’ve finally returned, you’re so eager to marry me off?” Tears welled up in Xu Manman’s eyes again.

Wang Mingxia felt deeply sorry but was helpless. “Then what do you want to do? If you don’t marry, you’ll have to go to the countryside. Do you want that?”

Xu Manman, of course, did not want to. “How did my eldest and second brothers get their jobs? What about my third brother? Are you planning to send him to the countryside too? Why is it always me, the one who’s not even your real daughter, who has to sacrifice?”

After saying this, Xu Manman abruptly stood up and went into her room to cry.

The family parted unhappily.

Just as Xu Qinghuan was about to enter her room, Wang Mingxia called out, “Qinghuan, come here with Second Aunt. She has something to tell you.”

Wang Mingxia and Xu Liqun exchanged glances and entered the room together, with Xu Qinghuan following behind.

“Qinghuan, this situation is truly difficult. Only your eldest and second brothers have jobs; the three of you don’t. You’re a little better off since you’re about to marry. Once married, you won’t have to go to the countryside. Your third brother is a boy—I’m not worried about him going anywhere. Now, it’s just Manman left at home…”

Tears welled up in Wang Mingxia’s eyes as she spoke.

If Xu Qinghuan didn’t know that Xu Manman had disappeared three years ago by Wang Mingxia’s own doing, she might have believed this show of maternal kindness.

But at this moment, she had no choice but to accept that, at least between Manman and herself, Wang Mingxia had chosen Manman.

“What does Second Aunt mean? Is there something I can do?” Xu Qinghuan lowered her gaze and asked.

Wang Mingxia sighed in difficulty, “Manman came back late and has endured so much hardship all these years. She didn’t study well and can’t find a job. People look down on her when they hear she grew up in the countryside. It’s hard for her to find a good man.”

Xu Liqun added from the side, “Qinghuan, although your father is no longer here and your mother doesn’t want you, you still have your second uncle and second aunt. I hope that, since you and Manman are sisters, you can watch out for each other in the future.”

Xu Qinghuan asked in confusion, “Does Second Uncle mean he wants me to go to the countryside with Manman?”

Although she had decided to go to the countryside, she did not want to be with Xu Manman. She hoped to break free from these people, find one or two confidants in this era, cling to a powerful patron’s influence, and live a comfortable, leisurely life.

Unlike her previous life, which was exhausting and frustrating, where she had to desperately prove herself only to find her parents didn’t care at all.

Wang Mingxia forced a smile, “What nonsense is this child talking? How could I bear to send both of you sisters to the countryside? I raised you for fourteen years. I’d rather Manman go to the countryside than you!”

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Indeed, Song Wanlin paid them twenty-five yuan a month, equivalent to an ordinary worker’s monthly wage.

Xu Qinghuan smiled. “I still don’t understand what Second Uncle and Second Aunt really want. If you want me to do something, just say it directly.”

The original self once thought Second Uncle, Second Aunt, and her three older brothers loved her very much. Her father had sacrificed himself, and her mother abandoned her, yet she still had a home to belong to, and she had considered these people her closest family.

She was filial to her elders, attached to her brothers, believing they cared for her deeply.

Until Xu Manman returned.

Only then did she realize that the love and affection she thought she had were insignificant.

She got fifty cents pocket money a month; Xu Manman got five yuan.

Her eldest brother never bought her snacks, but Manman often ate braised pork that he brought home.

When Manman took her things, her second brother would slap her without asking questions, forcing her to give her belongings to Manman while scolding her for being stingy and ungrateful.

When Manman bullied her, her third brother stood by coldly, clearly siding with Manman. Whenever Xu Qinghuan resisted, he would immediately step in to help without hesitation.

Xu Qinghuan finally understood that her previously peaceful life, which gave her the illusion of having a family, was only because she never interfered with anyone in the household.

On the contrary, the Xu family used her to manipulate Song Wanlin.

After all, Song Wanlin had married well and did not want Xu Qinghuan’s existence to disrupt her life, nor did she want people in Yan City to know she once had a daughter.

Wang Mingxia said, “I think you’re still young and don’t need to marry so early. About the Jiang family marriage—my suggestion is to look around more carefully. After all, Jiang Chengxu’s mother doesn’t like you. If you marry in, a bad relationship with your mother-in-law could affect your marriage. Second Aunt is always thinking of you; you should be grateful.”

She had already abandoned Xu Manman once before. Over the years, she felt guilty whenever she woke up at midnight.

Seeing her niece marry well while her own daughter was sent to the countryside made her even more upset.

“This marriage isn’t something I can decide,” Xu Qinghuan said honestly.

“You’re from the Xu family. Your father is gone, but I, as your second uncle, can make decisions about you. You’re still young, no rush to marry. I’ll help postpone this marriage,” Xu Liqun declared firmly.

Although Xu Manman hadn’t lived with them for fourteen years and wasn’t even his biological daughter, at this moment, he didn’t know that. He only thought Manman was his daughter and Qinghuan merely a niece.

After the couple lay in bed, Wang Mingxia nudged Xu Liqun with her elbow. “Old Xu, is this okay? What if your eldest brother’s wife disagrees?”

“My eldest brother’s wife is always shrewd. Her plan is that once Qinghuan marries, she won’t want to care for us anymore. That’s why she’s pushing for the engagement and marriage.”

Previously, the jobs for the eldest and second brothers had also been arranged by his eldest brother’s wife. Over the years, if things didn’t go well, they had to consult her.

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Anyone would be annoyed.

But her brother had died less than three months ago, and she was already eager to marry the brother’s comrade. Xu Liqun both hated and feared this sister-in-law.

“Let’s reconsider the Jiang family marriage!” Xu Liqun thought of the third brother and Manman, and the future bride prices for all three sons, making his decision in an instant.

This meant he disagreed!

Wang Mingxia was secretly delighted and hurriedly said, “We can’t just go and cancel the engagement.”

Ideally, she hoped this match could be replaced by her own daughter!

“First, you should get a feel for the Jiang family’s attitude. Whether they’re humble in marrying a daughter or proud in giving a daughter away, now the Jiang family wants to marry in,” Xu Liqun said.

“I’ll arrange to talk with Chengxu’s mother tomorrow,” Wang Mingxia thought. No matter how scheming her sister-in-law was, if her daughter and she weren’t of one mind, it was pointless.

In the darkness, Xu Manman cried herself to sleep, softly snoring. Outside the window, there was no moonlight, nor streetlights like in the later world. Less than a meter away, Xu Qinghuan could only see a vague silhouette rising on the bed.

She touched the red mole on her left wrist, feeling a slight warmth, and suddenly found herself in a familiar space.

Here, towering mountains rose, vast plains stretched out, endless forests, and boundless seas.

The earth exuded a fresh scent, and the bamboo grove whispered softly in the breeze.

Not far away, several cranes flitted among the white clouds.

She stood before the Silver Light Hall plaza; beneath her feet were terraced fields planted with medicinal herbs. A clear spring flowed down from the mountains, channeled through bamboo pipes, mechanically dispersed as mist, watering the herb fields.

The pavilion soared into the clouds, shrouded in mist.

The Breath Soil space had followed her here, filling Ji Qinghuan with genuine joy.

This was the space hidden within the ancestral red jade stone, given to her by her grandfather on his deathbed. The moment she received it, it fused into her wrist, becoming a vivid red mole.

Inside was a small world, vast and boundless, left behind by some powerful immortal cultivator.

Unfortunately, in her previous life, she was too wealthy, always striving hard, never expecting to transmigrate. She hadn’t sold off assets beforehand like those seasoned travelers who procured supplies, so the Silver Light Hall contained pitifully little food and clothing.

Even at the black market, her few hundred pounds of rice and flour couldn’t fetch much money. As for selling medicinal herbs—it was like the old sage hanging himself; traditional Chinese medicine was now a target of suppression.