"Sister Wanqiu, stop pretending!" Lin Moli finally couldn't hold back anymore, her tone becoming urgent. "I saw it all. The cured meat rice you cooked for Nian'an last time smelled amazing, and that blue cloth jacket you were wearing looked better than the ones sold at the supply and marketing cooperative. It must have been taken from your spatial storage! If you don't hand it over, I'll go tell Grandma Chen and have her report you to the commune for harboring 'demonic creatures.' Then not only will your spatial storage be ruined, but you and Nian'an will both be kicked out!"
The threat in those words couldn't be clearer, but Lin Wanqiu seemed to panic completely, and tears streamed down her face: "Jasmine, please don't tell Mother, okay? I... I'll get you something, okay?" As she spoke, she got up and walked into the inner room, her steps unsteady, as if she was so frightened that she didn't know what to do.
Lin Moli sat on the bench, a smug smile playing on her lips, mentally calculating how much she wanted to take—ideally a piece of cloth, two jin of flour, and if she could also get a piece of cured meat, that would be even better. Just as she was enjoying her thoughts, she suddenly heard Old Lady Shen's voice from outside the courtyard gate: "Moli! Have you settled things with Wanqiu yet? If she doesn't pay the pension soon, I'm going to the commune right now!"
Lin Moli shuddered in fright. Just as she was about to speak, Lin Wanqiu came out from the inner room, carrying a small cloth bag. The panic on her face had vanished, and she looked at Lin Moli coldly: "Moli, I recorded everything you said just now, including your desire for the things in my space. If Old Madam Shen finds out that you not only tried to deceive her but also tried to steal my things, what do you think she will do to you?"
"It...it was recorded?" Lin Moli's face turned deathly pale instantly, and she staggered back a step. "You...you're talking nonsense, I didn't say those things!"
"Didn't you say?" Lin Wanqiu sneered, pulling out a palm-sized transparent crystal from her clothes. The conversation between the two could be faintly heard inside the crystal. "This is the evidence. If you don't believe me, let's go find Old Madam Shen right now and let her hear how you schemed against her and how you schemed against me."
Just then, Old Mrs. Shen walked into the main room and happened to hear the last sentence. She frowned and looked at Lin Moli: "Moli, what have you been up to? Didn't you say you would help me get the compensation?"
When Lin Moli saw Old Madam Shen arrive, she completely panicked and stammered, "Old Madam Shen, don't listen to her nonsense! She... she deliberately framed me! She has a spatial ability and embezzled the pension money. I just wanted to help you get it back!"
"I have a space?" Lin Wanqiu raised an eyebrow, deliberately feigning surprise. "Jasmine, you can't just say things like that. What space do I have? But you, you keep talking about space, and you even asked me to give you things. Are you trying to steal my things?" As she spoke, she handed the crystal in her hand to Old Madam Shen. "Mother, listen to what Jasmine just said to me. She not only wants to trick me out of my things, but she also wants me to apologize to you. She said that as long as I give her the things, she will speak well of me to you."
Grandma Shen took the crystal, put it to her ear, and heard clearly Lin Moli's words demanding spatial resources and threatening Lin Wanqiu. She was so angry that her hands trembled: "You, Lin Moli! I thought you were helping me out of kindness, but I didn't expect you to want to take advantage of the situation and steal things! You ingrate, my family has treated you well, and you actually schemed against me like this!"
Lin Moli was so frightened that she knelt down with a thud, crying and begging for mercy: "Grandma Chen, I was wrong, I will never dare to do it again, please forgive me!"
"Spare you?" Old Mrs. Shen was so angry that her face turned red and her neck bulged. She raised her hand to hit her. "I'm going to teach you a lesson today!"
Lin Wanqiu quickly pulled Old Madam Shen back, her tone "persuasive": "Mother, don't be angry. Jasmine was just confused for a moment. Besides, if a fight breaks out, it won't be good for the Shen family's reputation." As she spoke, her eyes were cold as she looked at Lin Jasmine kneeling on the ground. "Jasmine, if you really know you were wrong, go home right away. Don't come to my house to cause trouble again, and don't have any more ideas about things you shouldn't have."
Lin Moli, as if grasping at a lifeline, scrambled to her feet and ran crying out of the courtyard gate, forgetting even to take the cloth bag she had dropped. Watching her disheveled figure, Old Mrs. Shen was still angrily cursing, "What a heartless thing! Never let her set foot in the Shen family again!"
Lin Wanqiu secretly rejoiced—this move not only caused Lin Moli to completely lose trust in Old Madam Shen, but also extinguished her thoughts of sowing discord. It was truly killing two birds with one stone. She helped Old Madam Shen sit down and said sincerely, "Mother, I know you are doing this for the good of the Shen family, but I really didn't receive the compensation. If I ever have money in the future, I will definitely not forget you and the Shen family."
Hearing her say that, Old Mrs. Shen's anger subsided considerably. She sighed and said, "Alright, I won't pursue this matter any further. It's not easy for you, a woman, to raise Nian'an alone. Just live a good life from now on." After saying that, she didn't stay any longer and got up to go home.
After seeing Grandma Shen off, Lin Wanqiu turned and went back into the house. Shen Nian'an immediately rushed into her arms: "Mom, you're so amazing! That Aunt Jasmine won't dare to bully us anymore!"
Holding her son, Lin Wanqiu was preoccupied with another matter—although the troubles of Old Lady Shen and Lin Moli had been temporarily resolved, life still had to go on. Relying solely on the supplies in her spatial storage wasn't a long-term solution; she needed to find a sustainable way to earn money, one that could support herself and Nian'an, and also allow them to establish themselves in the village.
She sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), her fingers lightly tapping the edge, her mind racing—growing grains takes too long and attracts attention; making clothes requires fabric, which is now rationed and hard to come by; making food is a good idea, though. In her previous life, she was a food blogger and was best at making all kinds of food, and food is essential to life, so she would never have to worry about selling her food.
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