Chapter 4

    Tonight was a moonless, pitch-black night. With only a single oil lamp in the house, everyone quickly retreated to their rooms to conserve lamp oil. Xiao Bao wanted to sleep with Zhao Ying, but since the room setup wasn’t ready for that yet, she promised he could join her tomorrow night. Satisfied, Xiao Bao obediently went to sleep with his grandparents, proving himself a well-behaved child.

    Back in her dark room, Zhao Ying slipped into her mystical dimension. She would sleep here tonight, unable to bear the stale odor of her actual room. In the middle of the night, there would be little risk of anyone calling for her. Having already slept all afternoon, she was now wide awake. So, she wandered around, looking for anything that might be sold for money. The Lu family’s living conditions were so poor that money was the most immediate necessity to improve their lives.

    Her priority was treating Lu Santing’s injured leg before he risked losing it. She also needed to repair the house, or she’d be sneaking into this realm to sleep every night. It wasn’t enough to just take care of herself; everything she was considering required funds. She couldn’t go into the forest to cut wood herself. 

    She also needed to address their diet. Everyone in the family was malnourished, with pale, sickly complexions. Left untreated, this would shorten their lives.

    After wandering around, she decided to explore her traditional medicine room. Inside were precious herbs: lingzhi mushrooms, red ginseng, white ginseng, and even century-old ginseng roots.

    'Ah, now this is more like it—at least I have my own treasure trove.'

    Other herbs would require a bit of research to determine which ones were valuable and in demand in this era. For now, she’d take a cautious approach, focusing on short-term solutions while learning more about local markets and resources for long-term planning.

    Everything needed to be done carefully. She knew too well that people who suddenly came into valuable possessions often became targets for trouble. If she couldn’t defend herself yet, it was best to act discreetly.

    Having settled on a plan, Zhao Ying began preparing medicinal herbs for her father-in-law, or Father Lu. She had everything she needed, and these traditional remedies would be highly effective. If she could incorporate modern medicine, the results would be even faster.

    Zhao Ying headed to her modern medicine storage, where she carefully ground up an antibiotic pill and wrapped the powder in paper to use as an external antiseptic for Father Lu’s wound. She also grabbed some weight-loss supplements for herself—she needed a shortcut, as her current body made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.

    Once everything was prepared, she returned to her room. Passing the tiny kitchen, her stomach grumbled loudly at the sight; the thin rice soup from earlier hadn’t been enough to fill her. She settled on having some instant noodles for now, as her hunger was intense. Satisfied, she could finally relax and felt sleep creeping in.

    She decided to get up early the next morning to tackle both food and medicine preparations. She wasn’t sure when people in this world typically woke up, as the body’s previous owner had a reputation for sleeping in far past everyone else.

    Thinking of the original Zhao Yingying, it occurred to her that she hadn’t seen her spirit since waking up that afternoon. It was strange, but maybe Zhao Yingying’s soul had already moved on to a new life. With a shrug, Zhao Ying decided she would burn some spirit money for her, hoping she’d find peace in the cycle of reincarnation.

    Before falling asleep, Zhao Ying set her alarm for 5 a.m., though she wasn’t certain if the time in her mystical dimension matched the outside world. But it was better than no help at all, and before long, she was fast asleep.

    In Her Dream

    Zhao Ying found herself walking toward the old house she’d lived in as a child. She reached for the door, but suddenly, the scene shifted, and she was now in the medical research lab where she used to work. There, at her own workstation, sat one of her trusted subordinates, looking nervous and casting furtive glances around, his brow furrowed.

    Zhao Ying approached quietly from behind to see what he was up to and discovered he was attempting to access her top-secret files.

    “Damn it, why would the boss set such a complicated password?” he muttered, ruffling his hair in frustration.

    “What are you planning to do with that?” Zhao Ying asked, knowing he wouldn’t be able to hear her.

    “Ugh! Why does it feel so cold all of a sudden? I’ve got goosebumps everywhere… don’t tell me… the boss is here?”

    He rubbed his arms, looking around nervously, and then whispered to the empty air, “Boss… if you’re out there, let me copy the antidote formula for the deadly horse flower poison. Our criminal organization is actually going to start using it soon, and if I don’t get the antidote, I’ll probably end up joining you in the afterlife.”

    Then he clasped his hands together, closed his eyes tight, and muttered a quick prayer.

    Hearing this, Zhao Ying sighed. She’d always wondered how the enemy had known her exact hiding spot, as if they’d been tipped off that she’d risk her life to protect the girl, hitting her so precisely in the chest. It must have been an insider in the organization who wanted her gone.

    “Fine, I’ll give you the code,” Zhao Ying said aloud, though she knew he couldn’t hear her.

    Suddenly, she remembered she’d written the code down on the side of the filing cabinet behind her desk for emergencies, in case someone from her team ever needed to access her computer. Gathering her strength, she struck the side of the wooden cabinet, causing it to shake just enough to catch his attention. After a few more strikes, the cabinet finally shook noticeably.

    “There? Thanks, Boss! I’ll be sure to burn lots of spirit money for you, and I’ll throw in some handsome guys, too!” he said, delighted, his fear of ghosts momentarily forgotten.

    The last thing Zhao Ying saw was her former subordinate jotting down the code. Then the vision faded like a breeze, and she slipped into a dreamless sleep until dawn.

    The next morning, well-rested, Zhao Ying opened her eyes, got up from her comfortable bed, washed up, and returned to her shabby little room. Looking outside, she saw that dawn had yet to break. Only the sounds of crowing roosters and chirping birds filled the air. Judging by the faint outline of the moon, it was still around 4 or 5 a.m. No one else in the house was awake yet, but now that she was up, she had no intention of going back to sleep.

    Zhao Ying headed to the kitchen to survey the supplies. She found only about a jin of unpolished rice, explaining why Madam Zhang had made such watery porridge. There was a small pile of wilted wild greens and a single seasoning—salt. That was it. Nothing else.

    Returning to the main hall, Zhao Ying took out the food items from Zhao Yingying’s stash and thought over her options. She decided to use all the rice to make a thicker salted rice porridge. She set the pot on the stove and kept stirring to prevent it from sticking to the bottom, as she was still unfamiliar with adjusting the heat from the firewood.

    Once the porridge had thickened, she removed some firewood to keep the pot warm until it was time to eat.

    As dawn gradually broke, Zhao Ying decided to explore behind the house for other ingredients. She walked through the kitchen, past the side of the building, and out to the back, where she found a somewhat overgrown area. There were a few cleared patches, likely where Lu Santing had started preparing land for planting, though his injured leg had slowed any real progress.

    Not far from there, she spotted a river flowing down from the mountain and passing behind the house.

    'Perfect! This location is ideal—there’s water, mountains, and no close neighbors, so I can work undisturbed,' she thought.

    Walking around, she found only the same wild greens that were piled in the kitchen and a type of plant that resembled Chinese cabbage. She examined it for signs of caterpillars, reasoning that if it was safe for insects, it would be safe for humans. Sure enough, she found a few nibbled leaves and stems. Tasting a piece, she confirmed it was similar to cabbage, possibly a local variety. Confident it was edible, she picked a small bunch, just enough for a stir-fried dish.

    Continuing toward the river, she came across an old pier—likely built by ancestors who’d once lived here but now decayed and worn. The river itself didn’t look too deep; the banks were shallow enough to wade into, with the deepest parts around two or three meters. She noticed small fish and, to her delight, freshwater shrimp.

    'Shrimp!' Zhao Ying’s eyes sparkled. She’d found a real treasure. In her previous life, she’d traveled widely and sampled local delicacies from many places, and freshwater shrimp had always been a favorite.

    With excitement, she waded to the edge of the riverbank where the shrimp hid around the rocks near shallow water. Her experience catching shrimp by the lake near her mountain cabin came in handy, and within two incense sticks' time, she had caught three or four good-sized shrimp.

    She could have caught even more, but it seemed wise to avoid drawing suspicion. Seeing so many shrimp untouched by the locals suggested they were unfamiliar with this delicacy, possibly due to its strange appearance. Zhao Ying lifted her catch with a grin, pleased.

'Heh, they don’t know what they’re missing!'