Chapter 10: Space

Because the two villages were close, she had visited the Ge family a few times before, following her elder female cousin from the main branch; after slipping into the courtyard, she went straight into Ge Pozi's room and began a thorough round of 'collect, collect, collect'.

After entering the kitchen and taking whatever caught her eye, she headed straight for the back courtyard, collected the two hens the Ge family kept, and only then stopped.

Without waking Ge Baocheng, who was still dreaming inside the house, she ran at full speed into the mountains.

Finding a secluded thicket of shrubs, she couldn't wait to try what she'd read in novels, silently chanting her wish to 'enter'.

Instantly, she lost her balance and found herself in a different place: she hadn't expected it to actually work.

With a face full of joy, she looked at the space before her: backed by a mountain on one side and surrounded by water on three, with roughly ten-plus mu of arable land beneath her feet, and a small courtyard nestled against the mountain in the distance.

Apart from a few sparse, unnamed trees growing on the mountain, the entire space was empty, with no sign of any other living presence.

Even so, she was overjoyed, running back and forth across the fields within the space several times before finally calming down.

She stepped toward the small courtyard not far away; on one side of the yard, a particularly tiny mountain spring trickled down from a crack in the cliff face, falling into a naturally formed stone basin below to create a miniature pool of water.

The courtyard was small, and the door stood open.

She cautiously poked her head inside and saw that the floor was paved with smooth bluestone; the central room must be the living hall, furnished with only a set of huanghuali tables and chairs and a daybed, quite simple indeed.

The partitioned room on the left was the kitchen, where three tiers of shelves built from bluestone slabs stood nearby, holding various kitchen utensils that looked like antiques; a door on the back wall led, she discovered upon passing through, to the entrance of an underground storage room.

The partitioned room on the right served as both bedroom and study, also furnished with huanghuali pieces—bed, wardrobe, desk, and chairs—though both the bed and the wardrobe were completely empty.

Approaching the desk, she unexpectedly found a jade plaque resting upon it; unlike a jade pendant, it was extraordinarily thin.

Gently taking it in her hand, she examined it from every angle for a long time without gaining a shred of useful information, yet she understood in her heart: obtaining this space must be related to this jade plaque; no matter how she searched the original owner's memories, however, she could find no information about the plaque.

Since she couldn't figure it out, she decided not to think about it any further, treating it as heaven's compensation for her transmigration.

Her stomach rumbled again at that moment: of all things in the vast world, eating is the most important.

When she collected items from the Ge family's kitchen, she had indeed taken some food along with her.

Thinking of this, she was momentarily stunned: where had the things she'd collected earlier gone?

As she thought of the few steamed buns made of two-grain flour in that basket, the items suddenly appeared in her hand.

Startled in that instant, she forgot she was still holding the jade plaque in her other hand; after exclaiming 'Oh heavens', she raised her hand and slapped her own forehead.

That single slap was no small matter; a flood of information suddenly filled her mind.

It clearly showed that the owner of the jade plaque bore the surname Xiao, and that this opportunity had been left by a great ancestor for the clan's descendants, yet why had she received this opportunity?

Could it be that she was a descendant of the Xiao family?

But how could that be possible?

After wrestling with the question for a while, she decided to let herself off the hook: since the space now belonged to her, why should she insist on dwelling on this?

Reflecting on the vast amount of information in her mind, she realized that her great strength and keen hearing were all due to the jade plaque; even more joyous was that her unintentional slap just now had granted her a trace of spiritual power left upon the plaque by that great ancestor.

Overcome with excitement, she placed the jade plaque on the table and knelt before it: 'This junior does not know why she has received this opportunity, but she is immensely grateful for it and will surely perform many good deeds in the future to repay this will of heaven.'