Chapter 5: Unlocking the Water Spacetime

Of course, she certainly couldn't move such a heavy object, so she could only hug it, silently chanting "Space-Time Gate" in her heart to teleport the item to the transit station. Then, by purchasing a medium tool, she placed the large stone onto the automatic trading cabinet.

Selling stones was actually just like gambling on stones; if you were lucky, a single stone could be worth several virtual coins or even more, but if you were unlucky, you couldn't sell it for any good price at all.

Perhaps the heavens were looking out for her today, as this large stone sold for ten coins. Her virtual coin balance became over forty, just a little bit shy of fifty, which suddenly gave her hope.

Su Tai excitedly left the Space-Time Gate transit station and continued to search in the creek. She sold a few more large stones with decent quality one after another, finally pushing her virtual coin balance past the fifty-coin mark. Five Space-Time Gates lit up simultaneously, and a few words appeared on the screen: "Spend 50 virtual coins to unlock the Space-Time Gate?"

Su Tai chose "Yes" and immediately walked quickly toward the Space-Time Gate—Water.

When she opened that door, a blinding light struck her. By the time Su Tai adjusted to the brightness and opened her eyes, she found herself standing beside a small spring. The spring was thin, bubbling with water; there wasn't much water in the pit, but it was very clear.

She was pleasantly surprised, crouching down to scoop up a handful of water and happily splashing it around, taking the opportunity to wash her mud-caked hands clean. Afterward, she returned to the Space-Time Gate transit station and found that a button for the Space-Time Gate—Water had been added to the screen, while her virtual coin balance had dropped to 2.

According to the screen's explanation, she had only unlocked the most basic Water Space-Time for now, which only allowed her to see a small spring. Accumulating 500 virtual coins would allow her to upgrade it.

She could also buy one ton of water for 1 virtual coin, or spend 50 virtual coins to purchase the usage rights for the small spring. The spring could be placed in a specific location in her current space-time using a medium tool, but once the location was set, it could not be changed.

If she wanted to move it to another location, she would have to spend another 50 virtual coins to purchase the spring's placement rights.

The medium tool wasn't expensive; what was expensive was the spring itself. The usage rights for such a tiny spring cost fifty virtual coins—by the time she saved up enough money, the opportunity would have long since passed.

Not long after she emerged from the Space-Time Gate transit station, Su Chunlin and his wife, along with her two younger brothers, returned.

Su Chunlin entered the house with a grave expression and said to Han-shi, "The village chief has decided to dig a well. Every household has to pay; it's calculated by head count, ten wen per person, totaling fifty wen."

Han-shi was in a difficult position. "Our family really can't even scrape together a single wen right now. If it were before, I could have thickened my skin and gone to my maiden home to borrow some, but Zhongmen Village also needs to dig a well. My father and the others might not even be able to come up with that much money; there's no borrowing to be had."

Su Chunlin gritted his teeth, remained silent for a long while, then slapped the table and stood up. "If there's no other way, I'll go to the county seat and ask my older brother to borrow some."

Su Chunlin’s parents had passed away early, leaving the three siblings to rely on each other. His older sister had married far away to ensure her two younger brothers could survive, while Su Chunlin’s older brother, Su Chunsen, had gritted his teeth and sold himself as a slave to the Bai family in the county to escape their impoverished situation. The money he earned helped Su Chunlin set up their current household. Later, Su Chunsen married a maid from the Bai family, and now the whole family were servants of the Bai household.

Su Chunlin had always felt guilty toward this brother and, unless absolutely necessary, really didn't want to trouble Su Chunsen.

Han-shi hung her head in frustration, sighing repeatedly.

Su Tai was somewhat surprised; she hadn't even known they had relatives in the county seat!

Before she could ask, Su Chunlin got up and returned to his room.

The next day, there were significantly more villagers leaving Dongmen Village than usual; it looked like everyone was heading out to borrow money.

Su Tai shook her head and continued to carry her wicker basket to the creek. The stones near their home had been mostly sold off by her. It was only because the drought was so severe that no one was paying attention to these things; otherwise, they would surely have noticed something amiss.

To avoid drawing attention, she decided to head into the mountains.

Regardless, Su Chunlin was away these days, Han-shi had to go help with the well-digging, and Su Zhan and Su Ming would go over to join the excitement. With no one at home watching her, it wouldn't matter if she went a bit further.

Before entering the mountains, Su Tai only knew that everything edible in the mountains had been picked clean, but she didn't know the specific situation.

Now, witnessing the desolation in the mountains with her own eyes, she suddenly felt a palpitation. If the drought continued, everyone would die.

Thinking this, she hurried her pace. She wandered the mountains for the better part of the day but found nothing good. Instead, she ran into a man who looked somewhat familiar, though she couldn't recall where she had seen him.

Shen Yi had come over today to help find a spot to dig the well. He hadn't expected to run into the girl he had protected yesterday in this place.

The two looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

Just as Shen Yi was about to speak, a shout came from not far away: "How is it? Is there a suitable place?"

Su Changxi came over, panting. He was clearly puzzled when he saw Su Tai. "Xiao Tai, why did you run into the mountains by yourself? Go back quickly!"

As he spoke, he hurriedly looked at Shen Yi and introduced him: "This is your Uncle Chunlin's daughter."

Shen Yi realized, blurting out, "The one whose engagement was broken off by the Xiong family?"

Su Tai's face turned black instantly.

Su Changxi was also a bit embarrassed. "It's all in the past, all in the past... no need to mention it."

Seeing that Su Tai was unhappy, Shen Yi apologized sincerely, "I didn't mean to mock Miss Su. Besides, I was also just recently dumped. Miss Su, please don't overthink it."

Now it was Su Tai and Su Changxi's turn to be shocked.

Especially Su Changxi; he was so excited he jumped three feet high. "When were you dumped? Didn't the Mo family get engaged to your family back then to repay a debt of gratitude?"

A trace of mockery curled the corners of Shen Yi's mouth. "Perhaps it's because I have no father or mother, and the Mo family looks down on me."

"The bastards! Is repaying a debt of gratitude the same as other things? If your father hadn't sacrificed his life to save Chunlin and the other three back then, they wouldn't be here. Everyone agreed that whoever had a daughter first would get engaged to your family. That Mo Laotian had a daughter first, and he was the one who took the initiative to propose the marriage to your family. How could he go back on his word in the end? He's really not a human being!"

Su Changxi cursed and swore. Glancing at Su Tai, he added, "I don't think there's a single good person in their Ximen Village! You two must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck to get engaged to people from Ximen Village. Bad luck!"

Su Tai and Shen Yi, not expecting Su Changxi to be this angry, looked at each other silently.

Su Tai rubbed her nose and stepped forward to persuade him, "Uncle Village Chief, I don't even care anymore, so don't be angry. Besides, I even beat up the people from the Xiong family, so you could say I got my revenge."

Shen Yi nodded, acting as a witness on the side.

Su Changxi's expression turned stern, and he lowered his voice to ask, "Was Xiong Dao beaten down by you yesterday?"

Su Tai shook her head like a rattle. "No, no, no, how could I have such great ability! He was beaten by me and went to fetch reinforcements, but ended up getting hit by a club from someone else. What does that have to do with me?"

Su Changxi felt inexplicably relieved. "It's good that it wasn't you. I heard Xiong Dao was beaten badly enough to suffer internal injuries. The Xiong family is clamoring to find the culprit to pay for damages. It was so chaotic yesterday, who knows who did it! Even if they really find out, the person won't admit it. Don't go around shouting about it and bringing trouble upon yourself."