Lin Xi's dining table wasn't large—just 60x60 cm, foldable, with a seascape print on its surface. The dishes she cooked were modest in portion, served on six-inch plates. Even with rice bowls and beer glasses placed on it, a significant space remained empty.
Two seconds ago, that empty spot held nothing. But now, a string of golden peanuts lay there, gleaming brightly under the light.
A loud gulp—the sound of Lin Xi swallowing hard—followed by her pinching her thigh so fiercely she winced in pain. The gloom that had settled over her after her Third Aunt’s phone call instantly dissipated.
Money solves all sorrows—truer words were never spoken!
She carefully picked up one of the golden peanuts. Tiny as it was, she mimicked the people on TV, bringing it to her mouth for a gentle bite. When she pulled it away, a faint imprint of her canine tooth marked the gold.
Ding-dong!
Ding-dong!
Her phone chimed repeatedly with WeChat notifications. Snapping out of her daze, Lin Xi picked it up. The "Transmigrators Group Chat" was flooded with messages.
She tapped the "@me" notification on the left, and the chat instantly jumped to the first relevant message. Right after she’d accepted the task, a system notification appeared:
[System Alert: "Earth Girl Lin Xi" has accepted the task posted by "Ancient World Xu Huanhuan." Reward: 10 taels of gold. Advance payment: 1 tael of gold, already delivered.]
For five whole minutes after this message, the chat fell silent. Then, Xu Huanhuan from the ancient world sent her first reply:
[Ancient World Xu Huanhuan: AHHHHHH! Just now, the golden peanuts in my jewelry box VANISHED right before my eyes! Five golden peanuts—exactly one tael! AHHHHH!]
Xu Huanhuan’s screams of excitement filled the screen. The others in the group soon joined in, their own "AHHHHs" flooding two whole pages before any coherent words emerged.
[Primitive World Ah Huahua: What’s happening?! Has the Transmigration God finally noticed His suffering child in this godforsaken world and let me connect with my Earth siblings?!]
[Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland Lin Duxi: I LOVE YOU, TRANSMIGRATION GOD! I knew You wouldn’t abandon any child who left Mother Earth’s embrace!]
[Villainess in a CEO Drama Ye Bingbing: Who’s crying? ME! Finally, I see my Earth comrades! You have no idea how much I’ve suffered in this insane world. Just now, that idiot "devoted second lead" brother of mine threatened to send me to a mental hospital if I didn’t stay away from the female lead.]
[Villainess in a CEO Drama Ye Bingbing: The joke’s on him—I’ve been lying at home for three months and haven’t even seen the female lead! Honestly, all these delusional protagonists should be locked up in psych wards. As the only sane person here, I’ve endured TOO MUCH.]
Ye Bingbing’s lengthy rants made it painfully clear how unhinged her CEO-world setting was.
[Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland Lin Duxi: @Earth Girl Lin Xi, Lin Xi, Lin Xi! Come out, come out! Tell me, did you get the golden peanuts?!]
Lin Xi didn’t scroll further. Instead, she swiped to the bottom and started typing.
In the face of glittering gold, the cringe-inducing nickname "Earth Girl" didn’t faze her at all—not even a flicker of embarrassment.
[Earth Girl Lin Xi: Yes, received the golden peanuts. Sorry for the late reply—I was too stunned to function.]
The group understood perfectly. They’d all been just as shocked when they first joined.
[Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland Lin Duxi: No worries! When I realized I’d transmigrated, I was the same. To this day, I can’t fathom why someone as ordinary as me was chosen. It’s beyond ridiculous.]
Once the topic of "why we transmigrated" came up, the floodgates opened. Even after ranting about it countless times, they couldn’t resist revisiting the absurdity.
Just then, a private message popped up in Lin Xi’s WeChat notifications.
[Ancient World Xu Huanhuan: Lin Xi, the system says I can DM you. You really got my golden peanuts, right?]
Before Lin Xi could reply, another message followed:
[Ancient World Xu Huanhuan: Let me give you some background about me.]
[Ancient World Xu Huanhuan: My name is Xu Huanhuan. My family lives at No. 13, 10th Row, Happiness Third Street, Huangjiabao Village, Tongzhou District, Capital City. My dad’s name is Xu Dafu, my mom is Liu Jinxia, and I have an older brother named Xu Taotao. Could you visit them for me?]
[Ancient World Xu Huanhuan: Oh, and I died in a car crash in 2017. What year is it now?]
Lin Xi thought for a moment before replying:
[Sis Xu, it’s 2020 here. I’m in Guangyang District, but I have a job in Tongzhou tomorrow. I’ll drop by after I’m done.]
Two minutes passed before Xu Huanhuan responded:
[It’s already 2020? Three years have passed… Time flies, and the flow between worlds really is different. I’ve been in this ancient world for six years now.]
Though Xu Huanhuan had always been active in the group, she’d never shared personal details until now. With someone who could bridge her to Earth, the words poured out uncontrollably.
[Ancient World Xu Huanhuan: I transmigrated as the legitimate daughter of a fifth-rank prefect. I was only 13 when I arrived. Now, I’m 19—already married for three years with a son, Nian, who’s almost two.]
[Ancient World Xu Huanhuan: Living in ancient times is HARD. The food’s worse, the clothes are worse, and the men? Sure, they’re handsome, but they can’t keep it in their pants. My husband stayed faithful for three years, but now he’s eyeing a third woman.]
In the ancient world, Xu Huanhuan reclined on a chaise lounge, idly toying with a jade tablet. As her fingers brushed it, lines of text appeared and sent automatically.
A maid stood silently nearby. Soon, another identically dressed maid entered and whispered:
"Second Madam, the Old Mistress summoned Second Master again. The cousin lady went too."
Xu Huanhuan’s fingers stilled. A cold smirk curled her lips.
"If a cat wants to steal fish, no one can stop it—especially when someone’s helping. Forget it. Don’t bother reporting this again."
"Yes, Madam."
Lin Xi, far away on Earth, had no idea what Xu Huanhuan was going through at that moment. After reading the message Xu Huanhuan sent, she fell silent for a while before replying:
"A man cheating is as common as rain. There’s hardly any difference between modern times and ancient ones. Whether rich or poor, men always seem to want a 'soulmate' outside their relationships."
As a woman, Lin Xi knew all too well how painful it was to watch your partner betray you—she had been through it herself.
Just as her message went out, Xu Huanhuan’s reply came through:
"Xu Huanhuan (Ancient World): You’re absolutely right. Maybe I’ve been in this world for so long that my memories got filtered through rose-tinted glasses. I kept thinking modern relationships were all about 'one love for a lifetime,' but when I really think about it, men nowadays aren’t any more faithful."
With that illusion shattered, Xu Huanhuan’s lingering resentment faded a little.
Lin Xi read the message and smiled faintly. "Exactly. Men these days don’t even have two pennies to rub together, yet they still try to flirt around."
In the ancient world, Xu Huanhuan burst out laughing at that line.
She wasn’t destined to be like those time-travel romance heroines who found their 'one true love' in ancient times. So she might as well hold onto what she could.
Having successfully comforted Xu Huanhuan, Lin Xi answered a few more questions in the group chat before realizing how late it was. She hurriedly ate dinner, unrolled her yoga mat for a quick workout, and then climbed into bed.
It was already 11 PM—her usual bedtime when she didn’t have social obligations.
The next morning, Lin Xi checked her phone first thing. Nothing urgent. She followed her usual routine: boiling eggs, brushing her teeth, washing up, then grabbing the eggs and heading out.
It was a bright, clear day. Though the sun hadn’t risen yet by 6:30 AM, the clouds on the horizon were already tinged pink.
She arrived at the building materials market around the same time as yesterday. Without changing into her work uniform, she listened to the manager’s briefing, picked up the client’s documents, scheduled a time with the surveyor, and called the client before rushing off to Tongzhou District.
The distance between Guangyang District and Tongzhou wasn’t short. Instead of taking the bus, she opted for the subway, switching lines and spending over two hours en route. The surveyor arrived even later, and they met at the neighborhood entrance. After a quick call to the client, they were soon inside the client’s home.
The work took over two hours, wrapping up by noon. After saying goodbye to the client and parting ways with the surveyor, Lin Xi checked her map for directions to Huangjiabao Village. It wasn’t far—just two stops away.
As someone drowning in debt and pinching every penny, Lin Xi scanned a blue shared e-bike by the roadside. Coincidentally, there was a pawnshop along the way to Huangjiabao. She parked the bike outside and walked in.
This was Lin Xi’s first time in a pawnshop. It resembled a bank, with staff behind counters separated by glass partitions. No one greeted her, so she approached a window and pulled out the five gold peanuts Xu Huanhuan had prepaid her with.
"Hello, could you appraise these peanuts for quality and tell me how much they’re worth?" The peanuts were exquisitely crafted—after all, Xu Huanhuan had married into a wealthy family. The gold peanuts looked almost real, with a satisfying heft in the hand.
But the pawnshop employee was no stranger to luxury. Unfazed by the fine craftsmanship, he examined them briefly before saying, "Please wait a moment. I’ll run a test."
"Sure."
The waiting area, like a bank, had sofas and coffee tables. Lin Xi sat down and scrolled through her phone. Xu Huanhuan had been messaging her since morning—mostly small talk.
Lin Xi had replied sporadically while working, but now that she had time, she mentioned she was already on her way to Huangjiabao. Strangely, Xu Huanhuan went silent.
The sudden contrast made Lin Xi acutely aware of Xu Huanhuan’s nervous anticipation.
Five minutes later, the employee called her back. "Ma’am, these are 24K gold—very high purity. Are you looking to sell?"
Lin Xi had researched gold prices online the night before. In the gold world, 24K was as pure as it got.
"What’s the offer?" Lin Xi needed money. Gold was useless sitting in her hands, and her rented apartment wasn’t secure. Every extra minute those peanuts stayed with her was a minute of anxiety.
"Today’s gold price is 390 per gram, but our buyback rate is 360. These peanuts total 50 grams, so that’s 18,000 yuan. Would you like to proceed?"
"Sell." Lin Xi didn’t hesitate.
Ten minutes later, she stepped out of the pawnshop, gripping her phone tightly. Three minutes earlier, her WeChat balance had jumped by a full 18,000 yuan!
What did 18,000 mean? In the off-season, that was two months of her salary! Enough to cover two months of her grandmother’s radiation therapy.
Under the blazing sun, Lin Xi felt exhilarated. She unlocked the e-bike and rode toward Huangjiabao like she was on a rocket.
18,000 yuan! And once she completed Xu Huanhuan’s task, she’d earn 180,000.
What did 180,000 mean? She could repay a huge chunk of the debts from her grandfather’s illness. She could afford better medication for her grandmother.
For the first time in two years, the tension in her nerves eased—just a little.
