"It is impossible that you don't have two thousand. You don't want to give it to me?"
Fu Yurou remembered the original owner overhearing a conversation between Huang Meifeng and Fu Aiguo about buying jobs for Fu Yuqing and Fu Jianye. With positions currently scarce, finding connections to purchase a job would cost between eight hundred and a thousand. Therefore, the Fu family definitely had two thousand in cash.
Yet, they had no intention of using that money to buy a job for the original owner. Naturally, the original owner would make a scene.
In the darkness, Fu Aiguo said nothing.
Fu Yurou sneered. "I want the full two thousand. Not a cent less. Have it ready for me first thing tomorrow morning."
With that, she turned and headed back to her room.
As she closed the door, she could hear the people on the bunk beds sleeping. Fu Yuqing, on the top bunk, was snoring lightly, clearly sound asleep. On the bottom bunk, Zhang Pan had her head covered by her quilt, with only the crown of her head visible.
By the moonlight streaming through the window, however, Fu Yurou noticed that Zhang Pan’s shoes by the bedside were covered in mud—just like her own.
*So, she made it back early, instead of searching through the night?*
Fu Yurou sneered and deliberately walked over to pat Zhang Pan. Zhang Pan clutched her quilt and remained motionless, feigning sleep.
Fu Yurou scoffed, walked to her own bed, lifted the covers, and lay down. Then, she sank her consciousness into the System Space.
She hadn't yet looked at the treasures she had brought back. The chest was locked. Just as she was wondering how to open it, the lock on the chest suddenly clicked open and fell away on its own.
Fu Yurou’s eyes lit up. *Could it be that I can control this space with my mind?*
She immediately thought about opening the chest, and sure enough, it swung open by itself.
The wooden chest had likely been buried in the soil for quite some time, as the color of the exterior had changed. However, the inside was lined with three layers of waterproof oilcloth, and the very top was covered in velvet, so not a trace of dampness had seeped in. Half the chest was filled with neat stacks of gold bars.
"I’m rich, I’m rich!"
Fu Yurou could practically feel herself drooling. Back in the modern era, although her family hadn't been short of money—otherwise, they couldn't have afforded her exorbitant medical bills—she had never seen so much ready gold in one place.
After using her consciousness to "touch" the gleaming treasures, she looked at the other half of the chest. It was filled with brocade boxes of various sizes, all packed just as neatly.
She used her mind to open one: it held an imperial green jade bracelet. The chest was a cube, roughly fifty centimeters on each side, and there were over thirty boxes of all sizes inside. Aside from the jade bracelets, there were Hetian jade pendants, agate necklaces, and even a complete set of gold and kingfisher feather hair ornaments. The craftsmanship was exquisite and opulent, and the backs even bore the mark of the Imperial Household Department. These were genuine antiques!
Once she had finished looking, Fu Yurou returned to reality. She clutched her heart, which was pounding wildly, and struggled to calm down for a long time.
"System, thank you for letting me transmigrate."
System: "..."
Seeing its host so happy, the system decided to deflate her mood. "Host, the lock on that chest was a Luban lock. Had it not been for your ability to use your consciousness inside the space, you would have needed a key to open it in reality."
Fu Yurou blinked in surprise.
The system continued, "If you had forced it open, the waterproof oilcloth sealing the chest contained lamp oil. It would have ignited instantly and burned anyone trying to open it to death."
"That vicious?"
Fu Yurou’s eyes widened, and she gasped. She slapped the bed in anger and cursed at the system in her mind.
"And here I was wondering why Fu Aiguo gave me the treasure so easily. It turns out he wanted me to get it only to be unable to open it, forcing me to beg him in the end. It’s a good thing I didn't soften my heart and agree to his demands."
*What kind of father is this? He’s an enemy.*
After fuming for a while, she felt a little more at peace when she imagined Fu Aiguo’s face when he realized he would get nothing. She instructed the system to stay alert and wake her if anyone approached, then finally went to sleep. Without the system, she wouldn't have dared to close her eyes, fearing she might be killed for her wealth.
...
The next morning, Fu Yurou woke up when she heard Fu Yuqing and Zhang Pan getting out of bed. She followed the routine, washed up, and sat at the dining table.
The atmosphere at breakfast was stifling. Fu Aiguo, Huang Meifeng, Zhang Pan, and Fu Jianye all had dark circles under their eyes and looked exhausted. Only Fu Yuqing was full of energy, glaring at her relentlessly while eating her rice porridge.
Fu Yurou used the woman's glare as an appetizer for her meal. Once she finished, Fu Aiguo said, "Come inside with me."
He didn't even bother calling her by name. Fu Yurou set down her bowl and chopsticks and followed him.
Inside Fu Aiguo’s bedroom, he closed the door. He took a bankbook from his nightstand and handed it to her. "There’s two thousand in there. Go withdraw it yourself."
In this day and age, you didn't need to be the account holder to withdraw money; you just needed the bankbook and the seal. Fu Aiguo’s eyes held no warmth, his expression so gloomy and cold that it sent a chill down her spine.
Fu Yurou took it and checked it, satisfied. She would go withdraw it shortly. No place was safer than her System Space.
"Thanks."
Fu Yurou didn't hesitate, turning to leave immediately. Just as she reached the door, Fu Aiguo spoke from behind her: "Even if I haven't been as good to you as I have been to Yuqing and Jianye, I did raise you. Do you really have no affection for this family at all?"
"And yet, when someone had to be sent to the countryside, you chose to abandon me."
Without a backward glance, Fu Yurou opened the door and left. A family had to send someone to the countryside; Fu Yuqing and Fu Jianye couldn't bear to go, but couldn't Zhang Pan go? It was simply that the original owner had no mother to protect her, so she was cast aside. They had even given her her mother’s keepsake without the key. If she had tried to force it open and burned to death, what then?
At the thought, Fu Yurou’s heart—which wasn't prone to softening to begin with—hardened like iron.
Whoever wanted this kind of poison-laced affection could keep it. The real Fu Yurou was dead; to her, these people were nothing more than strangers.
Outside, Fu Yurou found Huang Meifeng, who was clearing the table. "Give me the household register. I’m going to sign up for the countryside."
Huang Meifeng, no longer bothering to play the part of the loving mother, put down what she was holding, went inside, and handed her the register.
The moment Fu Yurou touched the household register, she heard the system’s voice.
*Ding-dong!*
【Host has triggered a mission: Help Zhang Pan, Fu Jianye, and Fu Yuqing sign up for the countryside to help build a better homeland for the motherland.】
Fu Yurou went rigid.
"System, what’s going on? Why do I have to do missions? And this one is quite malicious."
This was not a respectable system. But she liked this mission. Fu Yurou was the type of person who would rather betray the world than let the world betray her.
System: "Please complete the mission as requested. Failure to do so will result in punishment for the host."
Fu Yurou asked curiously, "What kind of punishment?"
"Will you reclaim the System Space?"
Fu Yurou: "..."
This was her lifeline. If she lost the system, what would happen to her treasures?
"If I complete it, is there a reward?"
"Yes. The system will issue Points based on the difficulty of the mission. Points can be used to open the store."
"What store? And how do I use these Points?"
After a string of questions, she finally understood how the Points worked. It was essentially like an online marketplace; the Points were money that could be used to buy things.
"I’m in."