Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Plunging Headfirst into the Space

Chi Wan never had any patience for these leeches. Before, she’d at least been polite since they were always trying to get money from her family.

But the moment they found out her family was bankrupt, they couldn’t hide their true colors anymore.

Chi Wan certainly wasn’t going to coddle him. Her younger maternal uncle had been spoiled rotten since childhood, knowing nothing but how to eat, drink, and carouse. He was a complete good-for-nothing.

She casually threatened him, "Our family is drowning in debt right now. You dare ask my mom for money? Go ahead. I’ll just tell the debt collectors that you have our money and let them go after you!"

The good-for-nothing was actually scared off. It looked like he hadn’t brought up the money with Song Yinghe.

Before, he had made the outrageous demand that the Chi Family give him three million to buy a house and get married. After hearing the Chi Family had gone bankrupt, he dropped the amount all the way to two hundred thousand—and still acted as if he was the one being terribly wronged.

It suddenly occurred to Chi Wan: ’Since the Ghost Orchid is involved, why did he only ask for two hundred thousand? Could it be that he knew they couldn’t possibly come up with any more?’

Song Yinghe’s lips trembled as she whispered, "But Song Yangming has always just been a loafer. What kind of connections could he possibly have to threaten that boss?"

Chi Wan sighed. "That’s what I can’t figure out either. It couldn’t be that one of Dad’s old business rivals is in cahoots with him, could it?"

Upon hearing this, however, a glint appeared in Chi Yuanshan’s eyes, and his expression grew thoughtful.

Since she couldn’t figure it out, Chi Wan decided to stop thinking about it for now. She stretched languidly. "First, let’s buy some things for Boss Li. We’ll worry about everything else later."

This time, Chi Wan had a clear goal and didn’t plan on buying too much. First, she made a sweep of a nearby pharmacy, grabbing various types of anti-inflammatory medicine, bandages, and the like. Then, she went to a seafood shop and bought a large haul of seafood.

Finally, to Chi Yuanshan’s utter confusion, she bought a bunch of baby chicks.

On the drive back, their car laden with purchases, Song Yinghe asked curiously, "Wanwan, what did you buy the chicks for? They’re so little; they’ll be hard to raise."

Chi Wan smiled. "They’re for Li Xingye and the others to raise."

When she opened her space this morning, she discovered something astonishing. For some unknown reason, the pots of the plants she had previously placed inside had suddenly vanished.

As a result, the plants, along with their soil, were sitting directly on the floor of the space.

But Chi Wan didn’t understand. ’How could the soil from a single small flowerpot spread to cover nearly forty square meters?’

But when she tried to lift the plants, she discovered they seemed to have taken root directly in the space itself!

Even the ground beneath that layer of dirt was no longer the space’s original flat, smooth floor, but a much thicker layer of soil.

In her disbelief, Chi Wan thought about getting a shovel to see how deep she could dig, and as she did, she fell headfirst right into the space!

Previously, the most she could do was reach her hand in to retrieve items; she had never been able to actually step inside the space.

But after falling in, she seemed to have shrunk. She wasn’t sure if it was a limitation of the space itself, but the once-short plants now towered over her like great trees.

Chi Wan wasn’t worried. After confirming she could leave the space with a single thought, she started digging with her bare hands, pushing away the topsoil. The shovel she had imagined earlier was too big for her to use now.

After digging for what felt like ages without hitting the bottom, she was finally convinced that the soil had completely fused with the space.

Her first thought was: ’If the space can have soil, maybe one day it can have water, too.’

’In that case, once the space gets a little bigger, maybe Li Xingye and the others could raise some livestock...’

’And... if I can enter the space, does that mean Li Xingye can too?’

The prospect of meeting her online friend was so sudden that Chi Wan felt a strange flutter of nervousness.

She had wanted to tell Li Xingye the good news, but he seemed to have been busy all day and hadn’t accessed the space. So, she decided to buy some chicks first to see if they could be raised inside it.

*

By now, the relationship between the Chi Family and the villagers had hit rock bottom—so much so that people would secretly spit on the ground whenever their car drove past.

Now that they lived up on the mountain, however, Chi Wan didn’t much care what these people thought. She just didn’t understand why they harbored so much hostility toward her family. Even if Liu Dali had built a road, hadn’t Chi Yuanshan donated plenty to the village after he made his fortune?

He had paid for the village’s streetlights and electrical cables to be installed...

Wait a minute.

Something suddenly occurred to Chi Wan. She asked Chi Yuanshan with some hesitation, "Dad, back when you paid for the streetlights and cables... how did you get the money here?"

Chi Yuanshan was driving. He answered offhandedly, "Your mother and I were busy with a new business venture at the time, so we didn’t have time to come back. We just transferred the money directly to the village chief and had him take care of everything."

Chi Wan: !!!

She suddenly had a sinking feeling she knew why the village chief and Liu Dali treated her family this way.

"Dad, have you ever considered that even though our family donated a lot of money to the village, those people look at us like we’re their mortal enemies?"

"Well..." Chi Yuanshan gave a bitter laugh. "Maybe the village chief and Liu Dali are related somehow? After all, I don’t really have any connection to these villagers. It’s only natural they’d be closer to Liu Dali and his family."

Song Yinghe, however, seemed to guess what Chi Wan was getting at. Her eyes widened. "Surely Liu Dali and the village chief wouldn’t be that shameless, would they?!"

Chi Yuanshan asked, confused, "What?"

"What Mom and I are saying is, is it possible that the village chief never told anyone that our family was the one who donated the money!" Chi Wan was so angry she could have ground her teeth to dust. "In fact, they probably took all the credit for themselves!"

"After all, your parents passed away a long time ago. You haven’t had any real ties to the village or any reason to return," Song Yinghe said resentfully. "If our family hadn’t gone bankrupt, we never would have come back to your hometown. So they just went ahead and took the credit for themselves!"

In truth, when Chi Yuanshan had donated the money, his only intention was to help out his hometown. It wasn’t as if he was seeking everyone’s gratitude.

After all, just as Song Yinghe had said, if they hadn’t gone bankrupt, they probably would have never returned to the village.

But not needing gratitude was one thing; having the credit stolen and then being targeted by the thieves was another matter entirely.

Chi Yuanshan instantly put the pieces together, his face turning livid. "That rotten Liu Yaozu! No wonder he and Liu Dali have such a good reputation in the village. Even after pulling something like this, there are still so many people willing to speak up for them!"

Liu Yaozu was the village chief.

Chi Yuanshan was so agitated that he pulled the car over to the side of the road, taking deep breaths to calm himself. "Liu Yaozu must have been sure I’d never come back, so he passed the money off as his own family’s donation to build up his reputation in the village!"

Chi Wan sneered. "So that’s why they’ve been acting this way ever since we suddenly returned. They must be worried the truth will get out. Hmph. Taking our money only to kick us while we’re down. They really have some nerve."

"Dad, I have an idea..."