Xiao Jingting listened to the father and sons’ whispered conversation next door, his heart feeling sour.
A burning sensation welled up in Xiao Jingting’s chest. Remembering something, he quickly took out the jade pendant from his chest.
A pale green jade pendant came into view, and Xiao Jingting’s heart surged with joy.
In his previous life, Xiao Jingting had owned an ancestral jade pendant that was almost identical to the one in his hand now.
In his previous life, apocalypse novels had been all the rage, and the concept of portable spaces was extremely popular.
Xiao Jingting had once tried dripping blood on his ancestral jade pendant to claim it as his master. After the blood ritual, it had indeed opened a space. In his previous life, the space within the jade pendant had only been about one cubic meter and hadn’t been very useful. In this life, the space contained an additional mu of farmland, a spring, and even various plant seeds that he had stored in his space ring from his previous life were in one corner of the space.
Xiao Jingting sorted through his memories and discovered that the original owner hadn’t possessed this jade pendant. Perhaps the catalyst for his transmigration lay within this jade pendant.
Xiao Jingting’s head began spinning with dizziness, and waves of nausea swept over him. Intense craving spread from every pore, and Xiao Jingting suddenly felt the urge to vomit blood. The addiction was kicking in—the effects of Xiaoyao Powder were equivalent to drugs from his previous world.
Xiao Jingting’s whole body trembled as he cursed the original owner thousands of times. Of all the things to get addicted to, why did it have to be something as money-burning as Xiaoyao Powder?
Taking over someone else’s body really did come with karmic retribution. Heaven knows, in his previous life he had been a law-abiding good citizen! Yet here he was, suffering from drug withdrawal as soon as he transmigrated.
Well, a bad life was still better than death. Even though it was a wastrel’s body, he supposed he had still gained some advantage.
Xiao Jingting gritted his teeth and waited quietly for this wave of addiction to pass.
When Xiao Jingting opened his door, he saw Xu Mu’an, Xiao Xiaodong, and Xiao Xiaofan sitting together eating. On the table was only a bowl of wild vegetable soup. Seeing Xiao Jingting emerge, Xiao Xiaodong bristled like a little hedgehog, raising his defenses as he stared at Xiao Jingting. Under Xiao Xiaodong’s gaze, Xiao Jingting felt somewhat guilty.
Xu Mu’an frowned slightly and shifted to shield the two little ones behind him. Xiao Xiaofan hid behind Xu Mu’an, looking at Xiao Jingting with curiosity.
Xiao Jingting looked at the originally harmonious trio who had instantly tensed up because of his appearance. Without saying anything, he walked out the door.
Seeing Xiao Jingting leave without a word, Xu Mu’an couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
Although Xu Mu’an rarely spoke with Xiao Jingting, their family’s livelihood was intimately connected to this person. Naturally, Xu Mu’an wouldn’t be completely ignorant of Xiao Jingting’s affairs. Xu Mu’an knew about Xiao Jingting going out to live lavishly, and he had watched Xiao Jingting become addicted to Xiaoyao Powder with growing anxiety, yet felt powerless to do anything about it.
A family in the village had a son who worked odd jobs at a pawn shop in the city. That person’s family had told Xu Mu’an that Xiao Jingting had pawned five mu of superior fields, six mu of middle-grade fields, and four mu of inferior fields, leaving only five mu of inferior fields.
Learning that Xiao Jingting had pawned the farmland, Xu Mu’an wanted to slap him to death. Farmland was something that could generate money! Even if he didn’t want to farm it himself, he could have rented it out!
Thinking about his own attributes, Xu Mu’an couldn’t help feeling dejected. If only he had wood attributes! People with wood attributes were all experts at managing farmland and wouldn’t have to do dangerous work that walked the knife’s edge like he did.
“Mother-father, he left—he actually left so easily,” Xiao Xiaodong said with deeply furrowed brows and a grave expression. In Xiao Xiaodong’s eyes, Xiao Jingting’s unusual behavior wasn’t a good omen.
Xu Mu’an bit his lip. Since Xiao Jingting had been banished here, it meant he had already been abandoned by the family. Unfortunately, the spoiled young master was still lost in memories of his past life of luxury and extravagance, wholeheartedly longing to return to the family and continue enjoying himself.
“He’s addicted to Xiaoyao Powder. He’s probably going to buy more of that stuff again. Wang Xiaole’s father became addicted to it and ended up selling him,” Xiao Xiaodong said worriedly. Wang Xiaole’s father had been a farmhand for the Xiao family, and when they were still with the Xiao family, Wang Xiaole had been Xiao Xiaodong’s playmate.
In Xiao Xiaodong’s view, Xiao Jingting’s behavior was too strange. Xiao Xiaodong instinctively felt there was some scheme behind it, and the most likely possibility was that Xiao Jingting wanted to sell Xiao Xiaofan.
Xu Mu’an took a deep breath, despair flashing in his eyes. Great minds think alike—Xu Mu’an’s thoughts were remarkably consistent with Xiao Xiaodong’s.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about running away with the two children, but his slavery contract was still in Xiao Jingting’s hands. If he took the two children and fled, it would be hard to guarantee the children’s livelihood, and moreover, he would become a runaway slave.
Xiao Xiaofan looked at the expressions on Xiao Xiaodong and Xu Mu’an’s faces with some confusion. “Mother-father, big brother, did Daddy go out to feast and drink again?”
Xu Mu’an glanced at Xiao Xiaofan and let out a light sigh, saying to the two children, “Let’s eat first. Fill your stomachs before anything else.”
Xiao Xiaofan had probably eaten his fill earlier, so he only drank a little soup. Although the wild vegetables didn’t taste good, Xu Mu’an and Xiao Xiaodong still ate everything clean.
