RYEY – Chapter 5 The Space

Jiang Guangrong clenched his fists in anger. The autumn harvest was only a couple of days away, yet instead of resting properly, people kept stirring up trouble. Couldn’t they let anyone live in peace? He slipped on his shoes, stormed into the courtyard, and shouted:

“Anyone who keeps making noise will leave the educated youth dorm! If you don’t want to sleep, don’t disturb others!”

Xu Laidi’s wailing stopped abruptly. She remembered Jiang Guangrong’s earlier warning. If she really provoked the leader’s anger, he might just write a report to the Village Head. With the head’s approval, she could be sent away.

Cheng Qiao sat on her bed, glancing at the jade pendant in her hand. She noticed its color seemed slightly different, but under the dim oil lamp, she didn’t think much of it. She put the pendant around her neck and then ordered Xu Laidi to bring out all the ration tickets—those she owed her.

Looking at the nearly crazed Cheng Qiao, Xu Laidi grew fearful. She had no choice but to follow the amounts recorded in the notebook and hand over the tickets one by one.

Cheng Qiao opened her cabinet, placed the money and tickets inside, then took out her last packet of peach crisps. After locking the cabinet, she walked over to Zhang Yuefang with a sweet smile.

“Sister Yuefang, I bought these peach crisps at the county supply and marketing cooperative. There are still several pieces left. Take them and have a taste. I really need to thank you for today.”

Zhang Yuefang accepted the bag, weighed it slightly—it was about half a jin. She turned her back, peeked inside, and her eyes curved with delight as her lips curled into a satisfied smile.

She quickly locked the crisps in her own cabinet but took one piece out after some thought, chewing it slowly and deliberately. Then, she cast a sideways glance at Xu Laidi, who was dumbfounded with rage.

That single glance made Xu Laidi feel utterly humiliated. She wanted to pounce on Zhang Yuefang, snatch away the peach crisp, and crush it into crumbs under her feet.

But she didn’t dare. Zhang Yuefang was not someone to provoke. If there was another fight in the women’s dorm, the one who would suffer the most would definitely be her.

She quietly climbed back to her bed, burrowed under the blanket, but the missing layer of padding beneath her made her whole body uncomfortable.

She desperately hoped that later Cheng Qiao would return to her usual naïve and kind self and tell her, “I was just too angry today and vented a bit, so I took those things back. Tomorrow we’ll still be good friends.”

Cheng Qiao, meanwhile, took out clean clothes and went to the kitchen to boil water for a bath. Too much had happened today, and she had even been with Li Huan. Her body was covered in dirt and sweat; she needed a proper wash.

She carried the hot water into the tiny bathhouse. To call it a bathhouse was generous—it was just a small shed the educated youths had paid villagers to put together with wooden planks.

They could only use a towel dipped in hot water to wipe themselves down. A proper, refreshing bath was impossible. How she longed for her large bathroom from her previous life.

In the blink of an eye, the scene shifted. Cheng Qiao was standing in her previous life’s spacious bathroom. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. What was going on? Had she returned to her past life?

No, she couldn’t stay here. She had just been with Li Huan today—she was almost certain she was carrying his child now. Her baby couldn’t grow up without a father.

To her shock, she found herself back in the educated youth dorm’s bathhouse. Her heart leapt with joy. Could this be the heaven-sent gift of rebirth—her own superpower?

“Take me to my old bathroom.”

She silently recited the words.

In an instant, she appeared in her former life’s bathroom again. Looking into the large mirror, she realized something was missing—the jade pendant she had just hung around her neck was gone. So it was the pendant that served as the medium for traveling back and forth!

This place was the property she had bought with the money she earned from small businesses in her previous life. The land was about two mu, on which she had built a two-story house.

Upstairs were bedrooms and a small warehouse, while downstairs was her shop. There were front and back doors, though the back door had never been opened to outsiders.

The front door opened onto the street. To earn extra money, Cheng Qiao had once placed a huge steaming box outside, stacked with layers of bamboo steamers, selling buns and mantou.

Because the shop was near the station, passersby would often buy a meat bun or two white mantou on their way to work, eating breakfast as they walked.

But now, strangely, the steaming box wasn’t outside. Instead, it had been moved to the inner courtyard. No matter what she tried, the front door leading to the road would not open.

Disappointed, she turned to the steaming box, still releasing clouds of steam. A voice inside her urged her to lift the lid. Sure enough, inside were stacks of steaming hot meat buns, exuding an irresistible aroma.

Cheng Qiao laughed. Xu Laidi had almost cheated her out of all her food and money. She had been starving for days. She grabbed a bun and devoured it.

Perhaps because her stomach had been empty for too long, one bun wasn’t enough. She reached for another, only to discover that the empty spot was already refilled with a fresh bun.

Staring at the endless supply of buns, she froze for a moment before bursting into laughter. In this era where even eating one’s fill was a luxury, she would never have to worry about hunger again.

And her baby—no longer would he have to look at her with a pale, thin face, too hungry to speak up for food.

“Baby, if you can come back to me in this life, Mommy will love you dearly. Everything I owed you in the past, I’ll repay double this time.”

Cheng Qiao touched her still-flat belly and whispered her promise.

Thinking of the nutrition her child would need, she began inspecting the shop that had once thrived in her previous life. The store was divided in two: the left side was rented to vendors selling meat and fish, while the right side was her own grocery store.

At the meat stalls, neat cuts of pork lay on stone slabs—pork belly, pork shoulder, trotters, large ribs, small ribs. In the corner were piles of pork bones and several pig heads.

The fish stall beside it had plenty of crucian carp, black fish, and groupers. Even two live Australian lobsters thrashed about in a glass tank.

Cheng Qiao picked up a strip of pork belly to test it. Before long, another identical strip appeared in the same spot.

Further down, there were stalls for vegetables, tofu products, eggs, preserved foods, and fruits. The shelves were full—even strawberries and cherries were there.

She returned to her own grocery store on the right. It was square in layout, with a glass counter directly facing the entrance, where she used to stand for more than ten hours a day.

Inside the counter sat a cash register. But when she opened it, all the money once stuffed inside was gone.

She frowned. Of course—it had been decades, with multiple currency changes. The money of her past life couldn’t be used in the 60s and 70s.

Beneath the counter were rows of cigarette packs of various brands. For extra profit, she had also displayed oden and grilled sausages prominently on the counter.