Chapter 76: Who Stole Her House

Yun Zhen took the money with trembling hands.

What did thirty thousand yuan mean? Thirty taels of Silver! It was more than enough to buy a stove for every household in the village, with plenty left over.

Yun Zhen expressed her sincere gratitude. “Thank you, Brother Zhao. Thank you so much. I definitely wouldn’t have gotten this money if I were on my own!”

If Brother Zhao hadn’t strictly refused, she would have certainly given him a share.

Zhao Peng handed her the large snack gift bag and yogurt, smiling. “You’re welcome. It’s the least I could do. Take the snacks and yogurt back with you. I’m getting off work and heading home too. Go to bed early tonight.”

Still a bit worried, he instructed her, “Make sure you keep the money safe. There are security cameras outside your dorm and in the hallway. Remember to lock your door when you go out, and your money won’t go missing. Once I get approval from the higher-ups, I’ll upgrade your communicator’s system to include a payment function. Then, I’ll help you get a bank card to deposit the money, so you can use it anytime.”

“Okay, Brother Zhao,” Yun Zhen said, clutching the money tightly.

Zhao Peng nodded. “Also, besides the two of us, don’t tell anyone else about this money. Even with Sister Lin, if she doesn’t ask, don’t mention it.”

Yun Zhen nodded obediently.

“Let’s go. I’ll drop you off at your dorm first before heading home.”

Yun Zhen rode in Brother Zhao’s large black metal beetle-like car back to her dorm. The sky had already grown dark. She planned to buy the stoves tomorrow, so for tonight, she decided to head home first.

Now holding such a large sum of money, Yun Zhen couldn’t stop the corners of her lips from curling upward. She was in such a good mood that she unconsciously started humming a song! She had even learned to look left and right while walking down the street, hoping to find a few more lost pets belonging to rich families to earn extra money. Obviously, this was just wishful thinking; she still had to work hard and stay grounded.

Upon returning to her dorm, she counted the money.

One bill, two bills, three bills… three hundred bills!

So many red banknotes. She was thrilled!

She placed the money into the treasured land in her mind. Once again, she pressed her palms together to thank the Divine Artifact bracelet. “Thank you, Great God of the Bracelet. With this treasured land in my mind, I feel much safer storing my money here.”

She could see the envelope resting in her mind’s treasured land at any time, containing thirty thousand yuan! She didn’t have to worry about losing it in the dorm. There was nowhere safer than this.

It was time to go home.

“Go back!”

A pure white light enveloped her entire body.

The dorm had heating, but the moment she crossed over, her entire body trembled from the bitter cold. Something was wrong! Did Father not light a fire today? With a treasure as good as the stove, there wouldn’t be a trace of cold air in the house once the fire was lit.

She opened her eyes, only to see a scene of utter devastation.

Looking up, snowflakes drifted down from the vast white sky. She was standing outside in the open, while the biting wind swept clumps of thatch into the air. Broken wooden beams lay on the ground, and chunks of frozen dirt crumbled from the collapsed walls.

The surroundings were desolate as the blizzard howled. The thatched cottage that used to shelter them from the wind and snow was reduced to nothing but ruins.

What happened? Where was her house? Did someone steal her house?

No! The house had collapsed! The heavy snow had crushed it!

Yun Zhen was completely dumbfounded. Instantly, the color drained from her face.

“Father! Mother! Little Bao!” she cried out anxiously.

“Zhen Niang.”

“Mother!”

“God… Goddess!”

Wearing cotton-padded clothes and shoes, the villagers stood two or three meters behind her, their arms crossed and hands tucked into their sleeves. Their faces were messy with tear stains, their eyes red, and they were covered in dirt—marks left from being pinned by the crumbling mud walls. The moment they saw her, they completely broke down. One by one, they began to sob, their cries growing louder and louder.

Father, holding Little Bao—who was bundled up like a ball—let out a heavy sigh. Little Bao, who had been happily rolling around while hugging a large tiger just last night, was now slumped listlessly against his grandfather’s shoulder.

Mother wiped her tears, crying out about their bitter fate.

The Village Chief wore a bitter expression, looking as though he wanted to cry but didn’t dare to. As for the rest of the villagers, to a man, they either wore ashen expressions or were crying at the top of their lungs.

The happiness of receiving a large sum of money today was instantly washed away by the miserable sight of the villagers! Her heart pounded wildly, filled with extreme unease.

Yun Zhen tried hard to calm herself down. “Father, Mother, Village Chief, what happened?”

The collapsed houses were visible to the naked eye. Yun Zhen felt that her question was utterly ridiculous. She steadied her complicated emotions and asked urgently, “Is anyone hurt? Where is everyone settling down right now? Everything was perfectly fine last night, so how did the houses collapse today?”

Yun Xiu remained relatively calm. He told his daughter, “Let’s head to Grandpa Zhang’s place first. The Zhang family has many rooms, and they haven’t completely collapsed yet. Right now, your mother, Little Bao, and I are staying in a side room of the Zhang family’s house.”

The Village Chief took a deep breath. “Goddess, let’s return to the Zhang family’s home first. We will explain the rest to you slowly.”

Supported by his son, Grandpa Zhang walked forward unsteadily. “Yes, yes. Goddess, and everyone else, let’s go to my home first. It’s cold outside.”

Yun Xiu raised his voice to comfort everyone. “Stop crying. On a snowy day like this, your tears will freeze into ice, and you risk your frostbitten skin cracking. Let’s gather tonight and discuss how we’re going to survive moving forward.”

The crowd ceased their sobbing. Wiping their tears with their sleeves, they swarmed after the Goddess toward the Zhang family’s home.

Along the way, Yun Zhen saw that more than half of the houses in the village had collapsed. Only four families’ homes were in slightly better condition, but even those had visible cracks on the exterior. They might all collapse in a day or two. This made things infinitely worse for the already impoverished village.

The tragic sight of the collapsed houses was shocking to behold!

Her mind was a mess, and for a moment, she didn’t know what to do. If they lacked food and cotton-padded clothes, she could buy them from the Immortal Realm. With the Divine Artifact bracelet, the villagers’ crocheting skills, and her own wages in the Immortal Realm, acquiring food and clothing would be simple.

But what about their homes?

Did the Immortal Realm have mobile homes? Even if they did, they probably wouldn’t be cheap! How could thirty thousand yuan possibly be enough to buy houses for the twenty-three households in the village, enough to settle over a hundred people?

Yun Zhen’s heart suddenly filled with panic as well. But she couldn’t afford to panic. Everyone was counting on her!

They arrived at the Zhang family’s home.

Grandpa Zhang’s eldest son had dug up a ginseng root in his early years and made some money, which he used to build seven mud houses. The walls were built with stones and mud, and the roofs were covered with a layer of mud, topped with a thick layer of thatch, and then weighed down with crushed stones. Because of this sturdy construction, while most of the houses in the village had completely collapsed, Grandpa Zhang’s house remained partially standing.

The other three families’ homes were the same. The walls of their houses had been plastered with several thick layers of stones and mud, and the roofs were reinforced with mud and stone slabs. This was the only reason they hadn’t been crushed by the snow.

The rest of the families weren’t as lucky. The majority of the houses were built using only mud and a few broken stones for the walls, with roofs covered merely in thatch. Under the prolonged weight of the snow, they had all caved in!

Upon arriving at Grandpa Zhang’s place, Yun Zhen entered the side room. It was pleasantly warm inside, as a fire was burning in the stove.

“Father, Village Chief, can you tell me now? Was anyone in the village injured? Are our rice, flour, and provisions affected? Are everyone’s belongings still intact?” Yun Zhen fired off her questions one by one.

Yun Xiu smiled bitterly. “Everyone had good luck. When the houses began collapsing one by one, we were all at the village entrance clearing the snow. Over the past few days, we had been smashing the accumulated snow and the ice layers underneath, tossing the debris into the river ditch. Perhaps we swung our pickaxes and shovels too fiercely at the ice, and the resulting tremors caused the houses to collapse. The houses in our village weren’t very sturdy to begin with. Between the prolonged pressure from the heavy snow on top and the forceful impacts against the icy ground below, the houses simply couldn’t withstand the stress and vibrations, and they all fell!”