Chi Wan looked at Chi Yuanshan's hunched back and felt her own eyes grow hot.
She knew that as the pillar of the family, Chi Yuanshan had been under immense psychological pressure ever since they went bankrupt.
When they had just returned to the village and seen this dilapidated brick house, his eyes had reddened once, but he had hidden it, not wanting Chi Wan and Song Yinghe to see.
Of course, he hadn't fooled anyone, but mother and daughter tacitly pretended not to notice.
Chi Wan immediately looped her arm through Chi Yuanshan's other arm. There wasn't a trace of dismay in her voice. "Mom, Dad, don't worry. Actually, the fruit trees on the mountain have already been... healed by Brother Xingye!"
Chi Yuanshan's head shot up, a glimmer of hope igniting in his eyes. "Wanwan, what did you say?!"
Song Yinghe was also pleasantly surprised. "Wanwan! Is what you're saying true?!"
Chi Wan smiled and pulled them both into the courtyard, closing the door behind them. Only then did she recount what had just happened on the mountain. "So, worst-case scenario, we can live on the mountain first and just rebuild that house. You know I have my space. We can put all our things in there for now and move in as soon as the house is ready."
After she finished, she added in a wheedling tone to Chi Yuanshan, "Besides, we can't change this house, and we're not used to the toilet here anyway. Now everything's fine. We can just build a new house without any worries~"
Song Yinghe chimed in, "Wanwan is right. I've been wanting to say it for a while now—the house on the mountain would be more comfortable to live in anyway."
Listening to the considerate words of his daughter and wife, Chi Yuanshan felt that all his earlier anger amounted to nothing.
As long as his family was by his side, all difficulties were temporary. He felt a surge of motivation, wishing he could haul a pile of bricks up the mountain right now and build a beautiful, big house for his wife and daughter!
*
While the Chi Family was packing their things to move, Li Xingye finally calmed down from his feverish thoughts.
He didn't leave the bank vault immediately. Instead, he stared at his hand, feeling the superpower coursing through his body, and fell into deep thought.
He had noticed something the first time he tried to use the Fragrant Vine to save Chi Wan. The vines he had catalyzed back then had green leaves.
He hadn't paid much attention to it at first, thinking it was just an issue with the Fragrant Vine itself. After all, it was a plant that had grown in Chi Wan's environment.
Later, during the attack on Wildfire Base, he had an idea and deliberately used the potted plants and seeds Chi Wan had bought.
Perhaps he had wanted to add a splash of hopeful color to the gray, hazy apocalypse.
But to his disappointment, whether it was potted plants or seeds, the catalyzed vegetation was still an ominous grayish-black, no different from before.
Li Xingye gradually realized that perhaps it wasn't just the environment that was changing the effect of his superpower.
The first Fragrant Vine was thrown by Chi Wan's hand. And just now, during the expansion of the space, there was that extremely faint touch of green mixed in with his superpower.
He, who had only ever used his superpower to grow killer plants, had even managed to actually save those fruit trees...
Li Xingye's hand suddenly clenched into a fist, his expression hardening with resolve.
He placed all the Zombie Crystal Cores he had previously collected into his space, then got up and quickly swept through the bank again.
On the other side of the vault, Li Xingye discovered a room full of safe deposit boxes. Inside were mostly exquisite jade and jadeite, as well as diamond rings with gems the size of pigeon eggs.
After unceremoniously taking it all, he headed toward another bank he remembered.
Five minutes after Li Xingye left, a prone figure slowly materialized on the ground.
He watched the direction Li Xingye had gone, a look of confusion on his gloomy face, and muttered, "No, this isn't right. What went wrong?
"Someone who should have been dead long ago not only came back alive but also saved a bunch of useless meat-bags. And why are you collecting all this gold, silver, and jade..."
*
Before it got dark, the three members of the Chi Family packed up their few belongings and moved them to the small house on the mountain.
The thorns they had originally planned to plant around the old house were, of course, moved to the cabin on the mountain.
This small cabin was originally built for the Mountain Guardian to rest in; it was just a small, single-story house with nothing inside.
It was only a little over forty square meters, divided into two rooms. One was for storing various tools, and the other held a bed and a dining table.
The tool shed already had plumbing and pipes. Later, likely for convenience, Liu Dali and the others had built a small toilet out of bricks inside it and even added a large wardrobe, which conveniently worked out for Chi Wan.
But looking at this house, which was even more rudimentary than their old one, Chi Yuanshan and Song Yinghe sighed in unison.
Knowing what they were thinking, Chi Wan made a "time-out" gesture. "Hold on! Mom, Dad, don't feel guilty. Everything I have came from you. After enjoying so many years of wealth, I can handle a little hardship.
"Besides, don't forget your daughter is something of a rich woman now. It's just a house. We can just build a new one ourselves."
Knowing Chi Wan was referring to the gold bars in her space, Chi Yuanshan shook his head. "Those gold bars Li Xingye gave you are worth millions. Taking them out all of a sudden could attract unwanted attention. You should keep that money for yourself for now, Wanwan. Your mother and I will work hard to earn money too."
Perhaps it was because he saw Li Xingye save the entire orchard, or perhaps it was because he had listened to Chi Wan's earnest explanation of the different values between their two worlds, but Chi Yuanshan was no longer as opposed to the gold bars in her space as he had been before.
In fact, before the bankruptcy, if someone had given Chi Wan a gift worth over a million, he wouldn't have thought much of it; he could have just returned a gift of equal value. But after going bankrupt, he had to worry that if he couldn't reciprocate, Chi Wan would be forced to pay a price.
Moreover, a large sum of money from an unknown source suddenly appearing in their account would be difficult for a bankrupt family like theirs to explain.
Chi Wan just nodded obediently at Chi Yuanshan's words, not daring to mention that she probably had several hundred kilograms of gold in her space by now, not to mention all the priceless jade and jewelry.
'Just as Dad said, money isn't the problem for me now; the problem is how to get that money into my bank account legally...'
By the time the three of them had finished tidying up, it was already evening. After dinner, Chi Wan made a plan to go into the city the next day to buy two tents, then tear down the small single-story house and build a new building on the original site.
"Tonight, we'll just make do with sleeping bags for one night. Tomorrow, we can go into the city together, find a designer to draw up the overall plans for the house, and then we can start building."
Building a house from scratch for the first time, Chi Wan was filled with an excitement like she was playing house, so much so that she didn't notice the slightly stiff expressions on Chi Yuanshan's and Song Yinghe's faces.