Those who purchased, please leave a comment, and I will send everyone a red envelope.
Lu Shenzhi's subtle confession that night did not bring much change to their relationship, but both of them knew that their connection was much, much better than before.
For instance, right now, every morning when she woke up, she would always see the messages Lu Shenzhi sent her, or the exquisite breakfast he delivered to her.
Setting everything else aside, Lin Xi still felt a sweet warmth in her heart. For the option that allowed free travel between space and time, Lin Xi had chosen yes, but she still hadn't made up her mind to go over to Lu Shenzhi's side.
At this stage, Lu Shenzhi could not freely travel between the two spacetimes. He knew this function existed, but he never asked Lin Xi to come over.
He felt that in matters of the heart, the woman shouldn't be the one taking the initiative. As a man, it was only proper for him to go and see Lin Xi for their first meeting.
In the ancient world of political intrigue, it was still dark when Lu Shenzhi woke up. The first thing he did upon rising was open the window. A hint of early autumn chill instantly rushed into the room, snapping him fully awake and banishing any lingering morning drowsiness.
He walked to the study opposite the bed and lit the kerosene lamp on the desk. The entire room was instantly filled with light.
He adjusted the wick, making the light a bit stronger. The lamp oil he was currently using was rendered from the fat of some unknown animal gathered from A'huahua's world; it was durable and bright.
He took out the letter that King Yu had sent over overnight from his spatial inventory, unfolded it, and read it word by word, pondering its meaning.
In just half a year, he had become King Yu's trusted confidant. His family had also moved from the exile village to the prefectural city, and they now owned a two-courtyard residence right next to King Yu's estate.
He was advancing too quickly, and many eyes were watching him. If he took even a single wrong step, he wouldn't be the only one implicated.
After reading for a long while, he closed his eyes, thought deeply, and then picked up his pen to write down his countermeasures. As dawn broke, the sound of voices drifted in from outside; it was his mother and his nephews talking.
Because there were two widowed sisters-in-law in the house, Lu Shenzhi rarely met with them to avoid arousing suspicion, but his two nephews were raised in his courtyard. No matter how busy he was, he would personally tutor his nephews in their studies.
Right now was the exact time for the two nephews to come to the study to learn.
Lu Shenzhi put away what he had written. When his nephews arrived, he first led them in reading a passage from a book, assigned some homework, ate the breakfast his mother had prepared, and then left.
It had been a while since they moved from the thatched cottages of the exile village to the Lu residence, yet the Lu family still hadn't hired any servants. Cooking, cleaning, and all other chores were done by the family members themselves.
Lu Shenzhi didn't think there was anything wrong with this.
It was fully bright outside as Lu Shenzhi headed to King Yu's estate for duty. King Yu was a lenient lord, but leniency did not mean he lacked a temper. Lu Shenzhi had seen him punish subordinates who betrayed him, and had also seen him execute spies sent by his brothers. When he flew into a rage, even Lu Shenzhi felt a chill in his heart.
In fact, the first time he witnessed someone die right in front of him, he had nightmares for two nights straight.
When he arrived at the study, quite a few people had already gathered there. Some were King Yu's former subordinate officials from the capital, while others were men of insight King Yu had recruited from all over after arriving in the border city.
They were discussing the floods in Jiangnan. Disagreeing on how to handle the disaster relief, some were engaged in a fierce argument. As Lu Shenzhi pushed the door open and entered, the arguing came to an abrupt halt.
With a calm expression, Lu Shenzhi bowed to King Yu, who sat at the highest seat of honor.
Seeing his current favorite subordinate, a smile appeared on King Yu's face. He raised his hand, signaling Lu Shenzhi to dispense with the formalities, and then asked him to take a seat on the left.
Just as Lu Shenzhi sat down, a middle-aged man sitting opposite him couldn't wait to speak up: Mr. Lu is well-informed and surely already knows about the rampant floods near the Jiangnan Circuit. May I ask if Mr. Lu has any good strategies to control the frequently flooding Yellow River?
King Yu had been banished to the border city. Even if they had a good strategy to solve the floods, they had no power to execute it. However, King Yu's ambitions lay with the whole empire, and everyone present knew he was waiting for the right moment to rebel.
Therefore, this seemingly useless strategizing was actually tied to their future wealth and glory.
Lu Shenzhi was a history major. He had specifically studied historical Yellow River control plans and had even conducted field research. The homework was laid out right in front of him; if he couldn't even copy it, his time-traveling journey would have been a total waste.
Glancing lightly at the man opposite him, he cupped his hands in a polite gesture. Mr. Fang, I do indeed have some thoughts on this matter. The Yellow River floods occur frequently. Based on the various control methods used by others in the past, I believe that dredging and channeling is better than simply blocking...
Lu Shenzhi spoke with confidence and composure. When he reached the most engaging part, he took out paper and a brush and started drawing diagrams.
King Yu walked down from his high seat to observe. The other advisors also cast aside all their prejudices against Lu Shenzhi and listened exceptionally carefully, asking questions on the spot whenever they had doubts, which Lu Shenzhi answered face-to-face.
By the end, King Yu was extremely satisfied with Lu Shenzhi, and even Mr. Fang, who had never gotten along with him, looked at him with a much softer gaze.
During the discussion, time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was noon. The arrival of the maids delivering food interrupted their conversation.
Having debated all morning, the crowd was already hungry. They naturally paired up to sit around low tables, picked up their bowls, and began to eat.
King Yu ate the fastest. Waiting until everyone was mostly finished, he dropped his previous smile, put on a solemn face, and said, The Su family has been purged.
King Yu's words made everyone in the room fall silent. They were all scholars and cared most deeply about the affairs of the imperial court.
The purging of the Lu family had been within everyone's expectations. After all, Chief Minister Lu was famously strict in his teachings and upright in character. Sometimes, when he was in the right, he wouldn't even give face to the late Emperor.
The current Emperor was the late Emperor's third son and the Empress's legitimate son. From birth, he was deeply favored by the Emperor and Empress. As a child, he was incredibly unruly, and stories of Chief Minister Lu disciplining him back then had spread everywhere.
However, Lu was also a staunch royalist. When the late Emperor suddenly died of an acute illness, he strongly supported the current Emperor's succession because he was the legitimate son and the rightful heir.
Yet, this very person he had fiercely helped onto the throne made it his first order of business—once his position was secure—to kick away the ladder. The first to fall was the Lu family, but no one had expected the second to be the Su family.
Isn't the Su family the current Emperor's maternal family? a young man in his twenties exclaimed. He was one of King Yu's subordinate officials, a southerner who had been assigned to King Yu as soon as he entered officialdom.
The crowd fell silent. Yes, the Su family was the Emperor's maternal family. His wife was his own cousin, and his uncles and male cousins were military generals guarding the southeast.
Purging the Su family was equivalent to cutting off his own arm. Mr. Fang, sitting opposite Lu Shenzhi, said, It's going to be chaos out there.
The late Emperor had five sons in total. The First Prince died of smallpox many years ago. The Second Prince, King Yu, was the son of Consort Shu. Back then, while competing for the throne with the current Emperor, he was set up by the late Emperor and subsequently banished to a border city. To ensure his safe departure, his mother, Consort Shu, drank the poisoned wine bestowed by the current Empress Dowager.
Whenever King Yu thought of his mother's murder, he wished he could storm the imperial palace and hack that mother and son to pieces.
However, King Yu figured that compared to himself, his younger brothers, the Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince, must desire revenge even more.
Those two had suffered far worse than he had, especially the Fourth Prince. Back then, because his princess consort had talked back to the current Empress Dowager a couple of times, she was punished by being forced to kneel in the imperial garden, causing her to miscarry their two-month-old child.
Her vitality was severely damaged because of this, and she passed away not long after.
The Fourth Prince was a rare romantic in their Qin family. His princess consort was someone he had loved since his youth, a treasure he had spent a tremendous amount of effort scheming to obtain. Her tragic death made the Fourth Prince absolutely detest that mother and daughter.
The old man, fearing something would happen to that mother and son, banished the Fourth Prince to the Ningzhou region. From the day he was banished, the Fourth Prince had been planning his revenge.
So many years had passed, and the Fourth Prince remained entirely alone, without even a bed-warming maid by his side.
King Yu said to Lu Shenzhi, "Sir, it's time to start preparing. Once the Fourth Prince attacks from the south, we will also begin to close in from the center."
"What about the east?" The one who spoke was still that somewhat naive subordinate official of King Yu.
King Yu and Lu Shenzhi exchanged a glance. King Yu said, "The Fifth Prince in the east is no pushover either."
His mother and the Fourth Prince's princess consort had died tragic deaths, but for the Fifth Prince, it was his own life that was utterly miserable.
His mother was a bedchamber maid in the late Empress's room, a tool used to keep the old man around when the late Empress was unwell. After giving birth to the Fifth Prince, she was put to death.
The Fifth Prince was raised in the central palace. Despite clearly being a prince, he lived a life worse than that of a eunuch. Being beaten and scolded was normal, and sometimes, when the current Emperor—who was still the Crown Prince back then—felt like it, he would call him over to humiliate and abuse him.
It took him sixteen years to escape the imperial palace and head to his fief in Ningguta. However, his body had been so ravaged that he was rendered impotent. To this day, he didn't have a single child. As early as a year ago, he had received letters from his fourth and fifth brothers.
They were going to unite and rebel. Of course, there was no need to explain these things too clearly to the subordinates. After all, in this very room, there were still a few planted spies that couldn't be cleared out at this stage.
The situation suddenly became tense. Lu Shenzhi arranged everything, and two months later, he told Lin Xi that he was going to march into battle alongside King Yu.
Lin Xi didn't say much; she simply sought out Ye Bingbing and bought many more medicines that could be used on the battlefield.
After that, the contact between the two lessened, and their private chats seemed to turn into a message board for them, though they responded to every single message.
By the time they started contacting each other frequently again, Dian Province had already entered autumn. Autumn was rainy, and last night's autumn rain had poured all night; even now, it was still pattering down without pause.
The principal, holding an umbrella, walked to the tree by the playground and rang the school bell. Lin Xi, also holding an umbrella, walked into the first-grade classroom.
This was a school deep in the mountains. The entire school had six grades but fewer than a hundred students. The campus itself was very small, consisting of a row of tile-roofed classrooms, a row of dormitories and offices, and a basketball court situated between the classrooms and the offices.
Lin Xi took out her textbook and began teaching the first-grade children, while the second-graders sat quietly at the other end of the classroom doing their homework.
Whether boys or girls, all the students were incredibly serious. Their backpacks were all charity bags distributed last semester, and every single one was washed extremely clean, without a speck of dirt.
Lin Xi taught even more earnestly, but this school wouldn't exist for much longer. According to the old principal, by next semester, they would be merged into the central primary school in town.
The central primary school had more teachers, newer textbooks, and could teach a wider variety of things. The old principal was very happy when he mentioned this in the morning.
He was a community teacher and still didn't have an official state position. Even today, in the 21st century, his salary was still less than a thousand yuan. Aside from teaching students, he also had to farm to support his family, yet he never uttered a single word of complaint.
Lin Xi had known about the existence of community teachers before, but this was truly her first time realizing how hard their lives were.
What could a thousand yuan do in this day and age? It wasn't even enough to cover a young person's monthly takeout expenses nowadays, yet it was the old principal's entire income to feed his whole family.
He never complained and was even happy, because with this one thousand yuan, he had managed to support two university students. They had both settled down in other cities now.
Every time Lin Xi heard the old principal talk about his children to her and the other teacher at the school, her heart would ache slightly.
When the class ended, the rain outside had lightened a bit. As Lin Xi came out holding her lesson plans, she happened to run into Liu Zhou, a teacher coming out of the next room. He was two years older than Lin Xi and was also a volunteer teacher. Having arrived two years earlier than her, he was currently teaching Chinese, Math, and English to the third and fourth grades, while also doubling as the physical education teacher for all grades.
The fifth and sixth grades were handled by the old principal.
The two walked back to the office together. An autumn rain had brought a bit of chill to this already cool mountainous region. They grabbed the thermos on the desk, poured hot water into their cups to mix with the previously cold water, and drank the warm water, which made their bodies feel warm as well.
Today it was Lin Xi's turn to cook. After taking a couple of sips of water, she headed toward the cafeteria. She had to cook meals for all the students in the school. The food funds were allocated by the government, ensuring one meat dish and one vegetable dish every day, and the three teachers at the school took turns cooking.
Every time Lin Xi cooked, she would add some spiritual spring water to the food. It was precisely because of this spiritual spring water that their school had managed to escape the fierce wave of flu that struck a few days ago.
By the time the food was ready, the rain had completely stopped. A gust of wind blew past, sweeping the clouds away and revealing the blue sky. Blue skies, white clouds, and green trees—the scenery was incredibly beautiful. However, beneath this beautiful scenery lay the undeniable poverty and backwardness of the place.
After lunch, they arranged for the students to take a midday nap. Following three classes in the afternoon, Liu Zhou took a flashlight and escorted the students home.
Some of the students at the school lived very far away, having to walk one or two hours on mountain paths just to get to school. The mountain paths were steep, and one could easily fall off a cliff if they weren't careful.
Therefore, after Liu Zhou came here to volunteer, he and the old principal would escort those students to the entrances of their villages every day after school.
Since Lin Xi was a girl, she received special care from them. In all the time she had been here, she had never gone out at night.
There were troops stationed nearby, so those horrifying stories about things happening to volunteer teachers had never occurred here.
Lin Xi was chatting in the group when Bai Qingting finally popped up.
Bai Qingting from the Xianxia world had been in secluded cultivation ever since her time in Hang Xingyue's world. It wasn't until now that she finally emerged. Only a few months had passed on Lin Xi's side, but tens of thousands of years had already passed in the Xianxia world.
Over the course of tens of thousands of years, the former Crown Prince of the Heavenly Tribe had already gone through several cycles of reincarnation. His destined partner, the koi spirit Tang Jin, also met him in the mortal realm just like in the original story. However, this time, due to Bai Qingting's interference, every time the former Crown Prince and Tang Jin fell in love, his Heavenly Tribe memories would awaken. As a result, every time it ended, the two of them would go through a cycle of love and mutual destruction.
By now, they hadn't successfully passed a single love trial. The soul of the former Crown Prince grew weaker with each reincarnation, and Tang Jin's magic power also degraded rapidly as she followed him time and time again.
Looking at the current situation of the various tribes, due to the events of the past, the major demon tribes were divided. The smart ones, like Qingqiu, retreated to their territories and forbade their people from going out. The foolish ones ran rampant through the Heavenly Court, the Demon Realm, and the Devil Realm, delusional about becoming the co-ruler of the heavens and the earth.
Everyone wanted to be the boss, resulting in endless, fierce battles. Those gods who returned from their trials saw their homes destroyed and invaded. With their love-struck brains finally returning to normal, they began to join the fight.
Today's demon tribes were already dwindling in population, and most of those with ambition were dead. The Heavenly Court wasn't much better off. When gods possess emotions, it spells disaster. Because they descended to the mortal realm to undergo love trials, their magic was no longer pure. In their battles with the demon tribes, many died or were injured, leaving them without the strength to fight.
The devil tribe lived in seclusion just like Qingqiu, but all living beings in the world knew of the devil tribe's covetousness toward the Heavenly Court.
But just as Bai Yi, the leader of the Qingqiu White Fox tribe, said: if those sick people could become the Heavenly Emperor and Empress, why couldn't her Qingqiu tribe?
Thus, on the day Bai Qingting came out of seclusion, all the demons living in Qingqiu and the tribes affiliated with the Qingqiu tribe gathered.
Bai Qingting only had time to say one sentence in the group chat before leading everyone up to the Heavenly Court.
The Heavenly Realm had fallen into decline. The South Heaven Gate was no longer as grand as it used to be; there were even unknown bugs building nests on the gate tower.
There were only a sparse three or five heavenly soldiers and generals guarding the gate. Upon seeing the mighty Qingqiu tribe, they laid down their weapons.
The Qingqiu tribe had lived so peacefully these past tens of thousands of years, entirely because Bai Qingting had destroyed the weapons of the Tiger and Flood Dragon tribes during their confrontation back then.
The Heavenly Court no longer had any high-level immortals or gods with profound magic. Stubborn resistance would do them no good; surrendering was the only logical choice.
So, in less than a moment, Bai Yi was already sitting on the throne of the Lingxiao Hall, with Bai Qingting sitting in the seat of honor.
The moment she sat down, a five-colored auspicious cloud floated above the Lingxiao Hall. After Bai Qingting announced herself as the new Heavenly Emperor, this decree spread throughout the world.
This meant that the Heavenly Dao had acknowledged Bai Qingting's identity.
In the Devil Realm, Chi Yan and Xu Wang, who had already rallied their troops and were preparing to head to the Heavenly Realm, exchanged a glance and dispersed the devil creatures under their command. The two walked together toward a dark hall.
Both of them were gods who had defected from the Immortal Realm. Even becoming devils couldn't change their inherent aura.
Returning to the hall, Chi Yan said to Xu Wang, As expected, destiny is not with me.
Xu Wang flicked the whisk in his hand and pinched his fingers to calculate. A moment later, he said, We don't need to keep an eye on him anymore, do we?
This him referred to the former Crown Prince of the Heavenly Tribe, who was also Chi Yan's nephew.
Chi Yan sneered, No need. Now that the Heavenly Emperor is decided, he is just a cripple. Since Tang Jin loves him so much, let them fly together.
Xu Wang's mouth twitched, but he didn't refute him. The former Crown Prince and Tang Jin had now become mortal enemies; how could they still love each other? But he said nothing, turned around, and walked out.
As soon as the news of Bai Qingting becoming the Heavenly Emperor was mentioned in the group, the chat was instantly flooded. She also unlocked the title of the only Female Emperor in the group. Her friends in the group were all happy for her and sent their congratulations and gifts.
Bai Qingting cheerfully returned the gifts and then threw herself into the construction of the Heavenly Court. As a child who grew up in Hua Xia, she believed from a young age that the Chinese land did not nurture evil gods. So, whether it was the White Fox tribe or their affiliated tribes, anyone who took a position in the Heavenly Court had to work hard for her!
Bai Qingting firmly believed that the previous Heavenly Tribe's habit of casually undergoing love trials was definitely because they had too little to do and were bored out of their minds.
After taking office, she established many departments. The work of each department was detailed down to every individual. Furthermore, at regular intervals, their previous work would be scored and evaluated. Those who failed to meet the standards were directly dismissed.
If their performance was too poor, they were directly removed from the department, yielding their original positions to capable people. In more serious cases, they would be directly kicked out of the Heavenly Court.
Bai Qingting's policies were effective. The Heavenly Court was rebuilt in a very short time. The newly appointed immortals each performed their own duties, and everyone worked very hard. They didn't even have time to think about being as idle as the original Heavenly Court, let alone going down to the mortal realm to experience so-called love trials.
In the fourth year of Bai Qingting's reign, the tribes that had once been wiped out began to multiply in their original territories. The forests and trees that had been affected by the flames of war began to sprout green shoots.
The mortal realm enjoyed favorable weather because the gods were fulfilling their duties. The countries that had been thrown into chaos by the former Heavenly Court's gods undergoing their trials also began to recover and rest.
A steady stream of merit emerged from all over the world, blessing various virtuous people. Some even crossed time and space, landing on Lin Xi.
Lin Xi couldn't see or feel it. Although Lin Zhongxun was now an ordinary person, his experiences were extraordinary, and his vision was broad. Thus, the moment he saw Lin Xi during the winter break, he felt the thick light of merit on her.
Xue Min, as a former ghost cultivator, also saw it clearly.
Dian Province was rainy in winter. With too much rain, it inevitably got a bit cold. The fire pit in Lin Xi's house came in handy again.
Just like at this moment, their family sat around the fire pit. A pot of fruit tea was boiling on the tripod above the fire pit. The sweet fragrance of fruit mixed with the aroma of tea filled the air. Under the tripod, an iron net was set up, grilling some vegetables and some rice cakes.
Lin Xi skillfully brushed garlic chili sauce on the rice cake and handed it to Xue Min. Xue Min ate it while blowing on the hot food, saying to Lin Xi, Ma Yufen is dead.
Lin Xi hadn't thought of Ma Yufen for a long time. She subconsciously let out a sound of surprise and asked, When did that happen?
Xue Min said, Just last month. She passed away in an accident.
It's said that Luo Qingfeng found a job driving for someone. Over time, he hooked up with the boss's wife. He was caught in bed by the boss who came back from a trip and was beaten severely. This matter has also spread all over our Xingshui Township.
"That woman Ma Yufen only had Luo Qingfeng in her head. As soon as she heard the news, she went straight to his door. She directly confronted the proprietress and beat her to a pulp. When Luo Qingfeng found out, he forced his ailing body over. The couple started tearing into each other, and Luo Qingfeng pushed Ma Yufen to the ground. Her current body was as fragile as tofu dregs; with that single push, she was gone."
Without the soul-stabilizing card, Ma Yufen's soul and Xue Min's body were already incompatible. Furthermore, the true owner of Xue Min's body was still present, so everyone had anticipated that Ma Yufen would die in an accident.
"I never expected this, I really didn't. Looking at it from another angle, to think Luo Qingfeng and Ma Yufen would actually end up like this!" Lin Xi sighed with deep emotion.
Lin Zhongxun and Xue Min, however, found it perfectly normal. Lin Zhongxun said, "I remember this Luo Qingfeng. Back when your mother and I first met, he was still an apprentice at a car repair shop in the county town. Whenever he had free time, he would go eat at your mother's restaurant."
This matter happened so long ago that Lin Zhongxun had almost forgotten it. It was only after Ma Yufen died and Xue Min lamented to him about the fickleness of human nature that he suddenly remembered it.
As a man, Lin Zhongxun instantly understood Luo Qingfeng's filthy little thoughts. He could not help but resort to conspiracy theories.
"Is Luo Qingfeng locked up now?"
"He's in. The police have already concluded the case, and he'll probably get the death penalty." Lin Zhongxun had not intervened in Luo Qingfeng's matter. The reason he received such a heavy sentence was that before pushing Ma Yufen down, he had stated he wanted to kill her. Moreover, the police found a detailed plan to murder his wife on his phone.
They even found ropes and an axe at the place he rented later, and a pit was already dug at his planned body disposal site. It was only because his affair with the proprietress was discovered that he never had the time to put it into action.
This whole dog-eat-dog spectacle thoroughly amused Lin Xi. In the entire case of Xue Min being replaced, Luo Qingfeng had been staying in prison the whole time, so when Shang Ji came out later, everyone's anger had been directed at Shang Ji.
During that time, Luo Qingfeng seemed to have turned invisible. But thinking carefully about the years Xue Min was replaced, out of all the things Ma Yufen did, which one did not have Luo Qingfeng instigating behind the scenes?
Looking back at his good reputation over all those years, it truly proved the saying that the dog that doesn't bark bites the hardest. Lin Xi even boldly guessed that the idea for Ma Yufen and Xue Min to swap places was actually proposed by that bastard Luo Qingfeng.
Otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence? The reason they let Luo Qingfeng off the hook before was that he happened to be in prison, a unit protected by the state. No matter how powerful Lin Zhongxun was, he could not blatantly disregard the law.
Later, when the world was restored, Lin Zhongxun and Xue Min already knew that Luo Qingfeng's days would not be easy. Having finally transmigrated back, they needed to live earnestly in this world and could not be bothered to deal with Luo Qingfeng.
Anyway, people like Luo Qingfeng would eventually reap what they sow.
Lin Xi did not take Luo Qingfeng and Ma Yufen to heart, and she did not even spare a thought for their son and daughter. As the saying goes, they were irrelevant people anyway, so what was the point of keeping them in mind?
She opened the Transmigrators' Chat Group. The group chat was as lively as ever, with everyone sending messages rapidly one after another.
Lin Xi joined the chat. After chatting for a while, Ye Bingbing appeared in the group and suddenly sent a message.
[Domineering CEO's Wicked Supporting Actress Ye Bingbing: Has anyone noticed that the time difference between the Earth plane and our respective planes has grown longer?]
As soon as Ye Bingbing said this, the group fell into a brief silence. The time difference with Earth was the matter everyone cared about the most. Over the past few months, everyone had noticed the change in the flow of time.
The reason they had not mentioned it was partly because they were observing exactly how much the difference was, and partly because they were deceiving themselves. How afraid they were! The time ratio between Lin Xi's side and theirs had already reached 10:2.
For every ten days they passed, Lin Xi passed two days. None of them had the ability to live forever, and they could already foresee that they would age and die very quickly.
[Primitive World Ah Huahua: I noticed, but I was mentally prepared. People always talk about light-years, but if you think about it carefully, aren't we communicating with Little Xi across light-years right now?]
It had already entered summer on Ah Huahua's end. The land, which had been covered by ice and snow in the winter, revealed its original appearance, and the melting snow flowed gently into the already wide river.
The cave she lived in when she first transmigrated there last year had been largely excavated by her and Mushi during this time, creating a three-bedroom, one-living-room layout.
The living room was also furnished with solid wood furniture. Mushi liked shiny things, so the walls that Ah Huahua had smoothed over with mud were inlaid by him with beautiful patterns using various colored gemstones.
Many pieces of cured meat hung from the eaves outside, and a lot of vegetables were planted in the open space outside the house. Some of the uneaten ones had been dried. Every time they saw this food, Ah Huahua and Mushi felt that their days were full of hope.
Ah Huahua originally had no lingering attachment to the modern world, and now she missed it even less.
[Doomsday Wasteland Lin Duxi: Ah Huahua is quite right. I asked the laboratory on my side to make some more gene repair fluid for me. I'll send it to everyone in a bit. This is probably the only thing I can give you guys right now.]
Through this planar chat group, Lin Duxi's world had also undergone major changes. With the help of the interstellar wanderer Yao Xiran, they had lit up their technology tree.
With a large number of star meteorites to practice on and Yao Xiran's off-site guidance, just a few months ago, they discovered a planet suitable for human habitation 1.5 million light-years away from his current planet.
With the star meteorites, Lin Duxi's world had now achieved global communication. As soon as this news was announced by the laboratory, it attracted the attention of countries worldwide.
Now, the world's top scientists were gathered together, and those former leaders had also set aside their previous political prejudices to work toward a common goal.
Just yesterday, Lin Duxi received news that the spaceship was successfully built, but whether it could actually navigate still needed to be proven. Now, countries were recruiting the first batch of test pilots to board the ship.
Lin Duxi signed up. After multiple rounds of talks, Lin Duxi finally entered the training for the first batch of astronauts. At this moment, Lin Duxi had just come out of the gravity training room. He did not know if he could return safely, so he provided the most precious thing he could offer to his friends in the group in advance.
Lin Duxi did not tell anyone that he was a test pilot for the first carrier, not even Lin Xi. Like the other friends in the group, they all thought that the people in Lin Duxi's world had already finished healing, which was why the repair fluid was no longer needed.
Lin Xi forwarded the genetic repair fluid he sent her to everyone with a single click. After receiving thank-you gifts from her friends, she forwarded them to Lin Duxi.
When giving him the items, Lin Xi inexplicably gave him two cards. Those were things Lin Zhongxun had given her after his return, which could save his life at a critical moment.
Lin Xi did not regret giving these two items to Lin Duxi. She told him how to use the cards. Lin Duxi was stunned for a moment, then expressed his gratitude, but he still did not reveal that he was about to leave.
Time flew by. Only two days had passed on Lin Xi's side, but Lin Duxi was already preparing to set off. Lin Duxi boarded the spaceship with people selected from various countries.
At the door, he looked back at this world filled with flying yellow dust. His gaze fell on He Jing, who had gone through life and death with him for many years. He smiled at her, and amidst her tears, Lin Duxi turned and entered the spaceship.
In this precarious era, both he and He Jing knew that love was useless. They both knew that no matter how much they loved each other, there might not be a future. So they both maintained their status as friends, and neither took a step forward.
Lin Duxi did not leave her any extra words. But if they could meet again, they both knew they would choose to be together, because in life, they could not afford to miss out again.
Lin Duxi still chatted in the group as before, but his person was already roaming the vast universe along with the spaceship.
Meanwhile, on the Earth plane, Lin Xi was going to the market in Xingshui Village with her grandparents and parents. However, on Xiang Qianlan's side in the 1960s, it was already the warm spring of March.
Her side had already entered the end of the year 1970, and she had been cooped up in Qinjiachuan for two years. Over the past two years, many things had happened, but no matter what, Xiang Qianlan would teach her husband and mother-in-law a lesson every few days.
She had to discipline them. This mother and son duo were the type to climb to the heavens if given a ladder. No matter how fiercely she had beaten them before, as long as she showed them a good face for two days, they would dare to talk back to her.
Xiang Qianlan was now the tractor driver of the production brigade. She drove the tractor, loaded with seeds and a small amount of fertilizer collected from the town's agricultural machinery station, chugging back to the village.
Speaking of which, her becoming a tractor driver was also a coincidence. The village chief of Qinjiachuan, Qin Qianjin, was having an affair with her mother-in-law, Widow Liu. When Xiang Qianlan first transmigrated here, she had beaten up Qin Qianjin, making him behave for a year.
Later, for some unknown reason, he started acting up again. Xiang Qianlan did not indulge him this time. After beating him up like before, she went to the commune to report him. That old bastard had a lot of dirty secrets, and just the charge of engaging in improper relations with men and women was enough to crush him.
What is more, he had affairs with more than just Widow Liu. After receiving the report from the street committee, the commune leaders conducted a thorough investigation, stripped him of his post, and paraded him through the streets.
The tractor driver position originally belonged to his son, who was implicated and could no longer do the job. The tractor was the most valuable property in the entire village. After some discussion, the village held an open selection for the tractor driver position, and Xiang Qianlan also participated.
Amidst the sounds of mockery and contempt, Xiang Qianlan successfully won first place relying on her experience of driving cars and tricycles in her previous life, becoming a famous tractor driver in the surrounding villages.
She parked the vehicle at the brigade headquarters and watched the goods being unloaded before walking home.
At this time, Widow Liu was working in the fields, and Qin Aiguo was probably playing master-and-servant games at the village rogue's house.
Thinking of this, Xiang Qianlan's expression became as disgusted as if she had swallowed a fly. She truly had not expected that just because she was disgusted by that pervert Qin Aiguo, she had instigated the village rogue to beat him up.
This actually unlocked the two perverts' hidden desires. Now, whenever they had free time, they would get together to play master-and-servant games.
Qin Aiguo was already in poor health, and now being abused and beaten every few days, Xiang Qianlan figured he was not far from death.
And their unique hobby had spread throughout the village. Now, even the village dogs would tuck their tails and run away quickly when passing by those two.
Thanks to them, no matter how much Xiang Qianlan disciplined Qin Aiguo and his mother, no one gossiped anymore.
After all, everyone knew about Widow Liu, who was currently passionately involved with an old widower with five children from the neighboring village.
Xiang Qianlan took out some food from her space and ate her fill. After doing her routine cleaning of the room, Qin Aiguo limped back.
He already walked strangely because of his lame leg, and after a certain part of him was overexploited, his walk became even weirder. Xiang Qianlan could not bear to look! If it were not for the fact that this era was a special period, and there were no job opportunities in the nearby towns and counties.
Furthermore, household registration management was very strict now, otherwise Xiang Qianlan would have left as soon as Qin Aiguo started playing around with men.
It was truly the absolute epitome of bad luck.
Qin Aiguo glanced at Xiang Qianlan and immediately looked away, hiding in the utility room he now lived in like a timid little wife. After he got together with that rogue, his own mother, Widow Liu, found him dirty and kicked him out.
The rogue's house was dilapidated, and it was not proper for two men to live together, so Qin Aiguo stayed in the small room at home.
He lay obediently on the wooden bed made of firewood, an unnatural flush on his face, and sweat dripping from his forehead. A certain special part of his body burned with pain, but Qin Aiguo was already used to these pains and illnesses.
He closed his eyes. The feeling of being abused by the rogue just now seemed to still linger in his body, making him feel incredibly satisfied amidst the pain.
This satisfaction was much more comfortable than when he had beaten Xiang Qianlan in the past.
Xiang Qianlan did not know about Qin Aiguo's perverted thoughts. She went to the kitchen to boil a bowl of porridge as a cover and then returned to her room to rest. She also pretended not to see Widow Liu happily returning from outside. After a while, Widow Liu came out carrying a bundle.
She stood in the courtyard for a moment, glanced at the woodshed, then at Xiang Qianlan's room, and left on her own.
Not long after she left, Xiang Qianlan placed some cold medicine and two portions of food that were not considered extravagant for this era at the door, knocked, and left when she heard movement inside.
The man who came out to open the door looked at the food and medicine, then at Xiang Qianlan's back. He lowered his head and moved everything into the cowshed.
Xiang Qianlan knew that the father and son in the cowshed knew who she was. When she decided to help them, she never thought of hiding her identity. Xiang Qianlan did not want anything from the father and son, and doing good deeds without leaving a name was not her style either.
So if they knew, they knew. Xiang Qianlan had nothing to fear anymore.
After returning, she pondered over participating in the county tractor driver competition. As she thought about it, Xiang Qianlan fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, she was awakened by a knock on the door. She put on her clothes, grabbed a weapon, and opened it. Qin Aiguo was standing outside the door.
His face was deathly pale. "Take me to the hospital. Hurry, hurry."
By the exceptionally bright moonlight tonight, Xiang Qianlan saw his pants; a dark, sticky mess had soaked all the way to his inner thighs.
Xiang Qianlan looked up at Qin Aiguo. He couldn't even stand steadily anymore. Although Xiang Qianlan never showed mercy when dealing with Qin Aiguo, she still couldn't bear to watch a living life slip away right in front of her.
So, she supported Qin Aiguo and went to the newly appointed village head's house to get a permit, waking up the loafer Er Liuzi along the way. Er Liuzi had drunk some water mixed with alcohol stolen from the brigade clinic that afternoon. That stuff made him a bit dizzy, so he had been a bit too rough when fooling around with Qin Aiguo.
Hearing that Qin Aiguo was going to be sent to the hospital, Er Liuzi didn't even dare to open the door. As soon as Qin Aiguo and the others left, he tremblingly packed his things and ran away.
As for Xiang Qianlan, she left shortly after Qin Aiguo was sent to the hospital. Before leaving, she notified Widow Liu and Qin Ailian.
Early the next morning, she followed the village head and others to participate in the tractor driver competition.
Three days later, when Xiang Qianlan returned, Qin Aiguo was already dead. He died of a wound infection.
Xiang Qianlan was stunned. Upon further inquiry, she found out just how wild those two had been playing.
"Just that hoe handle, it was rusty and they still shoved it in. How big is a hoe handle? Wouldn't it hurt to shove that thing in there?" The village gossips gathered together, chatting all about Qin Aiguo and Er Liuzi's affair.
Xiang Qianlan shared this great news in the group chat, leaving everyone speechless before they congratulated her on becoming a widow.
Xiang Qianlan happily accepted the congratulations from her friends in the group.
Widow Liu got married, and Qin Ailian didn't dare to come back after being taught a lesson by her a few times. Xiang Qianlan enjoyed a large courtyard all to herself, had a respected job, and lived an incredibly comfortable life.
Time flew by like a shuttle, and in the blink of an eye, it was 1984. In these ten years, Xiang Qianlan had worked her way up from a brigade tractor driver to the city.
She still hadn't married. If asked, she would say she had suffered enough from marriage. Riding the spring breeze of the reform and opening up, thirty-year-old Xiang Qianlan formed her own transportation fleet.
Relying on the advice of her friends in the group and the superficial knowledge she had gained from living in the future, she established a logistics company at the right time.
After waves of fierce competition, her logistics company became an industry leader.
At the age of thirty-five, she established a romantic relationship with the man who had been in the cowshed back then. He was now a teacher at Hucheng University, had never married, and unfailingly wrote letters and called Xiang Qianlan every week. Xiang Qianlan couldn't help but be moved.
But she didn't want to get married or have children. The man agreed and never allowed his relatives to bring their troubles to her.
Ten years passed like a day.
Xiang Qianlan lived to be seventy years old. Her man passed away a bit later than her, following her just two years after her death. It wasn't until he also passed away that the group chat system bound to Xiang Qianlan's soul finally dimmed.
At that time, Lin Xi was forty years old. Of the twenty members in the group, she had already seen off more than half.
"Xiao Xi, go check on your daughter. She's playing with water outside again." A gentle voice came, and then a man dressed in ancient clothing walked in from outside.
He was Lu Shenzhi. Over the past dozen years or so, she and Lu Shenzhi had finally achieved a happy ending. But their meetings had always been Lu Shenzhi coming to see her.
The two had been in a cross-dimensional romance for eight years. When she was thirty-two, with the help of the group chat system, she used the merit she had accumulated over the years to redeem Lu Shenzhi.
Now, Lu Shenzhi was Lin Xi's live-in son-in-law. The daughter he mentioned was named Lin Su, who was three years old this year. She was an absolute little troublemaker, yet exceptionally clever, acting as the little darling of the entire Lianhua Village.
Lin Zongping and Chi Xiangping guarded her like the apple of their eye. In the whole family, Lin Su was only afraid of Lin Xi.
Lin Xi grabbed a small bamboo stick from the wall and walked out. Little Lin Su saw her from afar and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her. By the time Lin Xi caught up to her, she was already lying in the arms of Lin Zhongxun and Xue Min, acting spoiled and complaining.
Seeing this, Lin Xi pointed the stick at her, then left with Lu Shenzhi.
Upon returning to the room, she received a message from Lin Duxi in the group.
[Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland Lin Duxi: After forty years of relocation, the entire population of the Aqua Star has finally completely moved to the second planet.]
The remaining friends in the group cheered for them. After the cheering, a deep sense of sorrow filled their hearts.
Aside from the two in the interstellar world and those who were still holding on in the cultivation and immortal worlds, there were really very few friends left in the group.
In the interstellar world, Wen Wan had also gotten married. Her marriage partner was Zhou Fei, the former leader of the beta rebel army.
Their meeting was also full of drama. Simply put, one day, Wen Wan received a friend request on her communication account.
It just so happened that Wen Wan had just finished writing a novel and was bored, so she accepted Zhou Fei's friend request. During that time, the two chatted extremely frequently and even arranged to play games together in their spare time.
After more than half a year of communication, the two established a romantic relationship. After dating for a year, they decided to meet.
Upon meeting, Wen Wan was completely stunned, while Zhou Fei confessed everything to her, detailing how he had deliberately schemed to make her his girlfriend.
After a period of careful consideration, Wen Wan decided to be with Zhou Fei. The reason was simple: as early as when Zhou Fei led the beta army to regain control of the alliance, allowing the previously low-status betas to turn their lives around and become masters, she had been full of affection for him.
Every decree Zhou Fei issued later made Wen Wan admire him even more. Knowing that Zhou Fei was her online boyfriend, this affection and admiration turned into love.
After marrying Zhou Fei, her life didn't seem to change much, except for occasionally needing to attend some unavoidable banquets and go on visits with him.
She remained the most respected web novelist on the internet. The novel themes and styles she pioneered were developed into many different variations by literature enthusiasts.
In her life, she gave birth to a son and a daughter, who had now grown up and become successful.
Not long after Xiang Qianlan's profile picture went gray, she also passed away. Before leaving, Wen Wan looked back on her life. She was incredibly glad that she hadn't chosen to return to Earth. In the interstellar world, she lived much, much more comfortably and happily!
