With all the necessities for food, drink, entertainment, clothing, and shelter in her spatial dimension complete, she began working on building a house in the countryside. She spent 380,000 yuan on a Chinese-style courtyard house and another 50,000 yuan to have a platform foundation built, allowing her to easily move the courtyard onto it. She had tried several times to get the house into her spatial dimension after buying it, but after building a platform above the ground, it was easily stored there. Connecting the generator she had bought illuminated the entire house.
Shen Meng tallied up her purchases and checked her account balance—1.17 million yuan. She immediately bought two old-fashioned modified Jeeps, an old-fashioned Santana, and several electric tricycles, made several trips to the countryside, and stockpiled twenty barrels of gasoline.
Making money is hard, but spending it is like water flowing away. That day, Shen Meng was riding her electric tricycle while watching a live stream. A streamer was saying that her brother-in-law's aunt was having a birthday party, a joyous occasion, and all customers who placed orders immediately would have a chance to win a prize. Plus, every order was buy-one-get-eighteen-free. Shen Meng was about to support them.
Just as she clicked to pay, a dump truck came hurtling towards her. The ear-piercing scream and screeching brakes nearly ruptured her eardrums. The impact was so severe that Shen Meng felt as if her internal organs had shifted.
Then her vision blurred, and she was plunged into darkness!
"Your whole family is all smiles on the surface but bitter on the inside. You think my daughter is easy to bully and treat her like a workhorse. When the two children got married, you said you would treat her like your own daughter. My daughter was in the prime of her life, becoming your grandson's stepmother. Now that she can't move, you're all eating and drinking to your hearts' content. How can you be so heartless?"
Wang Guizhi said, her accusations barely finished before tears started falling. She was usually a soft-hearted person, but now, despite her angry outburst, she didn't seem to have any real power to intimidate anyone.
"My dear in-laws, how can you say that? Ever since Xiaomeng entered our Lu family, my wife and I have never spoken a harsh word to her. Her siblings and in-laws have always respected and revered her. They listen to everything she says! I never imagined that our good intentions would be met with such bitterness in your mouth. Oh well, a mother-in-law isn't a biological mother. No matter how well you do, it's useless."
Liu Sanjin sobbed a few times, wiping away the tears squeezed from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. Her delicate and frail appearance was a stark contrast to Wang Guizhi.
"You, you, you…"
Her hand trembled as she pointed at Liu Sanjin, unable to utter the words she wanted to say. The onlookers, however, looked down on her behavior and began to mock her.
"Aunt Wang, your sister-in-law is still unconscious. Even if you're angry, you need to clear your head. She was clearly hit by the production team's cow. How can you blame us? Everyone in Lujia Village knows about this!" Zhou Jiaojiao quickly stepped forward to support Liu Sanjin and said this to Wang Guizhi in an unfriendly tone.
"That's right, Xiaomeng's mother, you two old folks came all this way, and you don't even know what's going on, yet you're already berating Aunt Liu. That's so unreasonable!"
"Keep your voice down, don't get involved, or you'll get scolded too. These are all unreasonable people, tsk tsk tsk!"
"Seriously, their own daughter has been unconscious for so long, and all they do is argue here. They don't even go check on her first. I think they're just trying to extort money from the Lu family because they think they're doing well. Auntie, don't you know that the Shen family has a son who's about to get married? They're just taking advantage of this opportunity..."
Wang Guizhi was trembling with anger, and Shen Fugui was also red-faced with rage. She turned and glared fiercely at the few people from Lu Family Village who were talking about their family, gritted her teeth, and pulled Shen Fugui into her daughter's room.
It wasn't that she didn't feel sorry for her daughter, but she was afraid that if her daughter woke up, she would definitely side with her mother-in-law. That brainless girl, all the cleverness she had back in her maiden home had vanished after marriage;
she listened to everything her mother-in-law said, and her relationship with her own family had become much distant. If she and her husband hadn't been working on the other side of the river and overheard a married woman from the same village telling her, she wouldn't have known her daughter had been gored by a cow!
That was a cow!!!
One wrong move and she could have died. Her daughter was lying in the house, the Lu family was all eating in the main room, and there wasn't even anyone to serve her. The children were nowhere to be seen, and judging from the situation, they hadn't even called a doctor.
Wasn't this just letting her daughter wait to die? How could she tolerate it?
Seeing Wang Guizhi enter the house, Liu Sanjin quickly pretended to be heartbroken and waved to the neighbors on either side.
"Thank you everyone, please go back now. It's our own mess, don't let it cause you all headaches."
Her words only fueled the discontent of those who had just witnessed Wang Guizhi's commotion. Liu Sanjin was known for his smooth-talking ways, and the villagers always sided with each other.
The old women who had been gossiping immediately declared that if Wang Guizhi dared to cause trouble, she should come to them; they would definitely help Liu Sanjin and show the Shen family the power of their Lu Family Village.
Shen Meng vaguely heard a sobbing sound. She struggled to open her eyes and saw a dilapidated thatched roof, several clods of earth seemingly about to fall. Turning her head slightly, she saw only gray mud walls, the wooden windows covered in tattered newspapers with two spiderwebs—and if she wasn't mistaken, the cute little spiders were still diligently working.
Without looking any further, Shen Meng felt a weight lift from her heart. She had arrived in the world of her dream. The thing she had been premonition about was happening, so she wasn't particularly surprised, but the way she arrived was a bit hard to accept. If it weren't for her optimistic and easygoing nature, she would have been traumatized. However, the sound of sobbing beside her was impossible to ignore.
Shen Meng weakly said, "You—"
"My child, my child, you're finally awake!" Wang Guizhi excitedly rushed to Shen Meng upon seeing her awake.
"Ugh!"
Shen Meng gripped the damp sheets beneath her in pain; it felt like her ribs were about to break!