Chapter 3: The Space is a Small World

Xu Manman pouted and looked at her mother with dissatisfaction, "Mom, how can a pig butcher be any good? They're all big, burly, rough men. I don't want one!"

"What's wrong with a pig butcher? Look at the people in the slaughterhouse, aren't they all smooth and well-groomed? If you had a man like that, wouldn't you be able to eat meat whenever you wanted in the future!" Wang Mingxia resented her daughter's foolishness.

It wasn't that she thought Jiang Chengxu was bad; her father was the deputy director of a food factory, her mother was a nurse in a hospital, and she herself was a publicity officer at a machinery factory. The key was that this marriage arrangement had been set by her sister-in-law, Song Wanlin.

Previously, for the sake of the second child, she had already snatched a job as a projectionist, so she couldn't let her daughter snatch this son-in-law as well.

"I don't care, I'm not marrying a pig butcher regardless. You lost me for over ten years, and now that I've finally come back, you're so impatient to marry me off?" Tears came to Xu Manman's eyes again.

Wang Mingxia felt a deep sense of heartache, but she was also helpless. "Then what do you suggest? If you don't marry, you'll have to go to the countryside. Are you willing to go to the countryside?"

Of course Xu Manman was unwilling. "How did Big Brother and Second Brother get their jobs? And what about Third Brother? Do you plan to let Third Brother go to the countryside too? In this family, between the biological and the non-biological, why is it always me who has to be the sacrifice?"

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

The family meeting ended in an unhappy dispersal.

Just as Xu Qinghuan was about to enter her room, Wang Mingxia called out to her, "Huanhuan, come here with Second Aunt. I have something to say to you."

She and Xu Liqun exchanged a glance, and the couple entered the room together, with Xu Qinghuan following behind.

"Huanhuan, looking at the current situation, it's truly a difficult position. In the family, only your eldest and second brothers have jobs; the three of you don't. You're doing better since you're about to get married, and once you're married, you won't have to go to the countryside.

Your third brother is a man; I wouldn't worry about where he goes. Now, only Manman is left..."

As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.

If Xu Qinghuan didn't know that Xu Manman had gone missing at age three and that Wang Mingxia had done it on purpose, she certainly would have believed this display of maternal heart.

But at this moment, she had no choice but to believe it; at the very least, between Xu Manman and herself, Wang Mingxia had chosen Xu Manman.

"What does Second Aunt mean? Is there something I can do?" Xu Qinghuan asked with lowered eyes.

Wang Mingxia let out a troubled sigh. "Manman came back late. She doesn't know how much hardship she endured out there all these years. She didn't get a good education, and she can't find a job. Once people hear she grew up in the countryside, they look down on her. It's hard for her to find a decent man."

Xu Liqun spoke from the side, "Huanhuan, although your father is gone and your mother doesn't want you, you still have your second uncle and aunt. I hope that since you and Manman are sisters, you can look out for and help each other in the future."

Xu Qinghuan asked in confusion, "Does Second Uncle mean he hopes I will accompany Manman to the countryside?"

Although she had made up her mind to go to the countryside, she did not want to be with Xu Manman. She hoped to break free from these people and, in this era, find a few confidants, cling to powerful people, and live a comfortable and leisurely life.

Unlike her previous life, where she was so exhausted and so lost, desperately trying to prove herself only to find that her parents didn't care at all.

Wang Mingxia said with a forced smile, "This child, what nonsense are you talking? How could I bear to see you two sisters go to the countryside? I've raised you for fourteen years; I'd rather Manman go to the countryside than you!"

That was true; Song Wanlin gave them twenty-five yuan a month, which was equivalent to a regular worker's monthly salary.

Xu Qinghuan smiled. "I still don't quite understand what Second Uncle and Second Aunt actually mean. If you want me to do something, just say it directly."

The original owner of this body had once thought that her second uncle, second aunt, and three brothers loved her dearly. With her father sacrificed and her mother having abandoned her, she had a home to settle in, and the original owner had once treated these people as her closest kin.

She had been filial to her elders and attached to her brothers, believing they were also very good to her.

Until Xu Manman returned.

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

Her monthly allowance was fifty cents, while Xu Manman's was five yuan.

The eldest brother never bought her snacks, yet Xu Manman could eat the braised pork the eldest brother brought home every few days.

When Xu Manman snatched her things, the second brother would slap her without asking for the truth, forcing her to give the items to Xu Manman, and even calling her stingy and ungrateful.

When Xu Manman bullied her, the third brother would just watch coldly from the side, his attitude of protecting Xu Manman being far too obvious; as long as Xu Qinghuan dared to resist, he would step forward to help without hesitation.

Xu Qinghuan finally understood that the reason she had been able to live so peacefully before, giving her the illusion that she had a family, was because she didn't interfere with anyone in this house.

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

After all, Song Wanlin had married into a high-status family; she did not want Xu Qinghuan's existence to affect her life, and even less did she want the people in Yanshi to know she once had a daughter.

Wang Mingxia said, "I was thinking, you are still young and there is no need to marry so early. Regarding this marriage with the Jiang family, my opinion is that you should look around more. After all, Jiang Chengxu's mother dislikes you very much.

If you marry in the future and the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law isn't handled well, it will affect the relationship between husband and wife. Your second aunt is thinking of you in every way; you should know how to appreciate it."

Back then, she had already abandoned Xu Manman once. All these years, whenever she woke up in the middle of the night, her heart felt heavy.

Seeing her niece marry into a high-status family while her own daughter was sent to the countryside made her feel even worse.

"This marriage is not something I can decide," Xu Qinghuan said truthfully.

"You are a child of the Xu family. Your father is gone, so as your second uncle, I can make decisions regarding your affairs. You are still young and there is no rush to marry; I will help you push this marriage back for now," Xu Liqun declared decisively.

Even though Xu Manman had not been raised by him for fourteen years and wasn't even his biological child, at this moment, he did not know. He only thought Xu Manman was his daughter and Xu Qinghuan was merely his niece.

After the couple lay in bed, Wang Mingxia nudged Xu Liqun with her elbow. "Old Xu, is this okay? What if Sister-in-law doesn't agree?"

"That sister-in-law of mine has always been shrewd. Her plan is that once Huanhuan is married, she won't want to deal with us anymore, which is why she's rushing the engagement and the wedding."

Previously, the jobs of the eldest and second sons had also been arranged by his sister-in-law; all these years, they had to go to her for every little thing.

Anyone would find it annoying.

But less than three months after his brother was sacrificed, his sister-in-law had been impatient to marry his brother's comrade-in-arms; Xu Liqun both hated and feared this sister-in-law.

"Let's wait and see regarding this marriage with the Jiang family!" Thinking of the third son and Manman, and the money that would be needed for the three sons to marry in the future, Xu Liqun made his decision instantly.

This meant he was not in agreement!

Wang Mingxia was secretly delighted and hurriedly said, "We can't go to their house to cancel the engagement, though."

Ideally, this marriage would be exchanged for her own daughter!

"Go and test the waters with the Jiang family first to see what they think. It's one thing to lower one's head to marry a son and another to raise one's head to marry off a daughter; right now, it's the Jiang family who wants to marry in," Xu Liqun said.

"Then I'll make an appointment with Chengxu's mother tomorrow to discuss it," Wang Mingxia thought. No matter how calculating her sister-in-law was, it would be useless if her daughter and she were not of one mind.

In the darkness, Xu Manman had cried herself to sleep, letting out light snores. There was no moonlight outside the window, nor were there the streetlights found in later generations. From a distance of less than a meter, Xu Qinghuan could only see a blurry, raised figure on the bed.

She touched the red mole on her left wrist; with a slight warmth, she was placed within her familiar space.

Here, mountains were towering, plains were vast, forests were endless, and oceans were boundless.

The soil emitted a fresh scent, and the bamboo forest rustled like the singing of phoenixes under the gentle breeze.

Not far away, several cranes shuttled through the white clouds.

And she was standing before the entrance to the Silver Light Hall plaza. Beneath her feet were terraced fields planted with medicinal herbs, and a spring of spiritual water flowed down from the mountains, traveling through bamboo pipes and, through a mechanism, dispersing into a mist that poured over the medicinal fields.

The palace towers high into the clouds, with mist swirling around her.

The Xirang Space could come along with her, which filled Xu Qinghuan with heartfelt joy.

This was the space hidden within the ancestral red jade stone, given to her by her grandfather before he passed away. The moment she received it, it merged into her wrist, becoming a vivid, blood-red mole.

Inside was a small world; the space was massive and boundless, and she didn't know which great immortal cultivator had left it behind.

It was a pity that in her previous life, she had been too wealthy and spent every day striving; she hadn't expected to transmigrate, so she hadn't acted like those great transmigrating experts who would purchase all sorts of movable and immovable property before crossing over. Consequently, the food and supplies in the Silver Light Hall were pitifully scarce.

Even if she went to the black market to trade, the few hundred pounds of rice and flour in her space wouldn't fetch much money. As for selling medicinal herbs, that was like a long-lived man hanging himself—currently, Traditional Chinese Medicine was a target for being overthrown.

(End of Chapter)