Chapter 2: The Golden Finger

Shen Feiyang strained to turn her head to catch a glimpse of her future home, and after just a glance, she groaned, turned her head back, and closed her eyes.

It was truly unbearable to look at.

She should feel fortunate that she was now living in an earthen house, which was much better than a straw-thatched cottage at least. It could provide shelter against the wind and rain, haha!

In the room, there was a table by the door with two wooden stools underneath, and there were also two big camphor wood trunks with peeling paint on the bed she was lying on.

She unconsciously tightened the blanket around her body, thinking that the bed was probably the most valuable thing in the house.

Indeed, the original Shen Yunfang's family was so poor, they had only one quilt, the kind made of homespun cloth, with a very old pattern of small red flowers on a blue background. The cotton stuffing was quite thick, but it was lumpy and hard. It looked ancient and outdated, as if a simple clap would raise a cloud of dust in the room. As for such a quilt, the Shen Family only had one, used as a mattress in the summer and a blanket in the winter.

Fortunately, the quilt was large enough. After folding it over, it served both as a mattress and a blanket for Yunfang alone.

Seeing how poor this family was, Shen Feiyang found it hard to imagine. In her previous life, although she was also a village child, she grew up during the good times of reform and opening-up. She had heard that life was tough before she had memories, but ever since she could remember, her family had slowly been working their way towards a moderately prosperous life, so to be honest, she really hadn't experienced hard times.

Thinking about something, Shen Feiyang arched an eyebrow, considering that Yunfang wasn't entirely useless...

Shen Feiyang raised her hand to her eyes and then stared hard at it.

In that small hand, covered with several calluses, a handkerchief bundle appeared quite abruptly.

Shen Feiyang slowly unfolded the handkerchief to reveal a stack of money; the highest denomination was five yuan, and the rest were coins of one, two, ten, and twenty cents. She already had a total in mind, 63.46, which was all her current wealth.

Clutching the money tightly in her hand, Shen Feiyang closed her eyes as her consciousness sank into that space.

Yes, no one could have imagined that such a thin and small girl, lacking any sort of heroine's aura, actually possessed a space unheard of quietly, the type of space that only a fairy would have in legends.

How this space came to be...

Shen Feiyang tried hard to search through Yunfang's memories but found nothing; meaning, the original Yunfang didn't know how this space came about. At that time, people were very superstitious, and the child had been so frightened since learning of this space's existence that she was almost scared out of her wits. She never dared to tell anyone about it, including her mother. She regarded the space as a fierce beast, something to be avoided at all costs, and thus, for many years, she never dared to inspect the space.

It was only after coming into possession of a sizeable amount of money and finding countless hiding places that were not secure enough, that she wrapped the money in a handkerchief and stored it in the space.

Shen Feiyang shook her head with a couple of tisks, thinking how wasteful this was, to have such a remarkable thing and yet live in such depravity. It was truly bizarre.

Shen Feiyang didn't know that in earlier years, during the national campaigns, one of the objectives was to eliminate feudal superstitions. She had witnessed a witch in her village being dragged out to be paraded and criticized, and a few days after returning, she hanged herself in her own house. The memory of that swaying shadow on the beam of the house made Yunfang too frightened to reveal even the slightest hint, let alone contemplate it, she would shake all over just thinking about it.

Shen Feiyang, having grown up in a new era, didn't experience that time and couldn't understand the fear associated with it, which is why she thought Yunfang was wasting her potential by not utilizing the treasure in her hands.

As for Shen Feiyang, though she appeared to be asleep in bed, her consciousness had already entered the space. To her disappointment, the space she owned was not like the life-based spaces described in novels where one could farm and raise livestock. It was more akin to a storage space.

The entire space was only about half the size of a basketball court, covered in gray dust with no sunlight. The ground lacked soil, so it seemed farming was out of the question. As she had entered with her consciousness, Shen Feiyang couldn't tell if there was air inside or if it was possible to raise livestock there.

The space was vast and empty, Shen Feiyang didn't have to wander around, she took in the entire area with a glance.

Yet she still couldn't help but drift to the edge of the space, where there was no fog, only the honest presence of walls.

Shen Feiyang tapped on it with her hand, and there was an echo; she had no idea what material it was made of, not dirt, not stone, and not iron. It seemed that the space would stay as it was, not appearing to have the capacity to grow.

After circling the entire space, Shen Feiyang actually found a peculiar spot.

She was now floating in the very center of the space, looking up to see something like a small bowl hanging there.

As Shen Feiyang was thinking about whether to bring down the object or to float up for a closer look, the bowl-like thing started to drift down on its own, landing right in front of her.

Shen Feiyang was surprised for a moment. Was this thing alive?

She circled the small bowl, and no matter how she looked at it, it didn't seem like a living creature, the breathing kind.

But to be safe, Shen Feiyang quickly stuck her head above the bowl and then immediately retreated to a safe distance. After several more tentative tries, like an idiot, she made sure that it didn't emit any poisonous gases or liquids from within. Only then did she calm down and stuck her head into the bowl to take a closer look.

To her great disappointment, there was nothing inside.

Shen Feiyang stubbornly reached her hand into the bowl, thinking there might be some undetectable substance like oil or water at the bottom. Yet, she was disappointed again.

There was nothing, and her hands felt dry and clean.

The small bowl also drifted back up under Shen Feiyang's gaze, re-suspending itself two heads above her.

Beyond that, there was nothing else worthy of attention in the space.

Shen Feiyang's consciousness exited, and she opened her eyes filled with disappointment; no wonder Shen Yunfang never used this space. There was nothing in it. It was just for storage, which for her was quite useless. The family was so poor, what could they possibly need to store in the space?

But for the current Shen Feiyang, it was a troubling matter. She had been reborn in a time where nothing was available, and she wasn't allowed to just plant crops. Even with all her capabilities, there was no space to use them.

She had thought that being a reborn individual, fate had bestowed her with a golden finger, but it turned out to be a little skewed. Had she been reborn during the economic reforms, she could have used the space to become the most successful speculator. But now, the space seemed rather useless to her. Although she had never experienced this era first-hand, she knew that speculation was absolutely not acceptable at this time; getting caught would mean being charged with profiteering.

Thinking of the stories told by the older folks at home, Shen Feiyang shivered and kept reminding herself that no matter the difficulties, they were only temporary, and it would get better after a few years...

Considering this, Shen Feiyang shook her head. With her daredevil character, asking her to lay low for a few years when she couldn't even feed or clothe herself properly despite all her abilities was something she found impossible to do.

Shen Feiyang closed her eyes and began to think very carefully in her mind about the path ahead. Although she feared this combative and bureaucratic era, she ultimately decided to fight for it with her own skills. Of course, she wouldn't foolishly charge in; she set a basic policy for the next few years, which was to be low-key and prudent in both actions and behavior, even when making money.

And so she pondered and pondered, falling asleep again in a dazed state.