After time travel, share a space with your modern family.

As night fell and the stars twinkled, the four members of the Ruan family sat around the dining table. Unlike usual, tonight's dinner was no longer a simple bowl of porridge. Chen Donghua generously cooked a pot of fragrant white rice for everyone. However, because they hadn't been able to buy anything during the day and their food supplies were limited, they only had some wild vegetables they had picked the day before, as well as potatoes and taro that Ruan Mumu had brought from her spatial dimension.

Ruan Mumu volunteered to take on the task of cooking.

She skillfully shredded the potatoes into thin strips and stir-fried them into a delicious dish; then, she cooked a rich soup with wild vegetables and taro. Although these dishes were hard to eat in Ruan Mumu's eyes, they were a delicacy for the other members of the Ruan family.

As they savored the food, they kept praising Ruan Mumu's superb culinary skills. It's worth noting that Ruan Mumu had never had the opportunity to cook in the Ruan family before. Therefore, everyone was curious about her excellent cooking skills and wondered where she had learned them. However, they didn't dwell on this question; as long as they had food to eat and could fill their stomachs, that was the most important thing.

After dinner, the family of four gathered in Ruan Mumu's room to discuss matters related to building the house.

Ruan Mumu spoke first: "Mother, where do you think would be a suitable place for us to build our house?"

Chen Donghua frowned slightly, lost in thought: "Our family hasn't been allocated any land for building a house. What should we do?" She couldn't make up her mind.

The atmosphere in the room immediately became heavy, and everyone was thinking about solutions.

“Mom, how about we buy a hill at the end of the village? We can plant all kinds of fruit trees there, and there’s a flat area that’s perfect for building a house. It’s also spacious enough. What do you think of this idea?” Ruan Mumu suggested to her mother, Chen Donghua, with great enthusiasm.

Upon hearing Ruan Mumu's words, Ruan Xiaojun immediately raised a question: "But the mountains there are quite large. Do we have enough money to buy them?"

After thinking for a moment, Ruan Mumu replied, "Brother, why don't we go find the village chief first thing tomorrow morning to inquire about the situation? If possible, we can also take the clan chief with us. Maybe the clan chief can put in a good word for us and get us a better price."

At this moment, Ruan Xiaojun turned to his mother and asked, "Mom, will you come with us tomorrow?"

Although Chen Donghua didn't know much about buying a mountain and building a house, she thought that the children were still young, and she might feel more at ease if she went along. Besides, this was a major event for the family, and she needed to be personally involved. So, she smiled and nodded, indicating her agreement to go.

As moonlight streamed through the window at night, Ruan Mumu's heart stirred. She made an excuse to relieve herself and left the room, stepping into the mysterious space. Her goal was clear—to collect the spiritual spring water. Suddenly, she realized she had forgotten to collect the water after entering the space yesterday, a realization that pained her deeply.

After all, she had missed a precious opportunity to collect spiritual spring water! She was secretly relieved that there wasn't a particular need for the water at the moment, which made her breathe a sigh of relief. At the same time, she silently reminded herself that she must remember to collect spiritual spring water every day from now on.

The next morning, before the sun had even risen, Ruan Xiaojun had already gotten up early to fetch water.

Chen Donghua also got up and cooked a pot of hot porridge before waking up Ruan Mumu, who was still lying in bed.

"Mom, it's all your fault! I was just dreaming that I was eating chicken legs, and then you yelled at me and ruined my dream!" Ruan Mumu wailed as she reluctantly got out of bed.

Chen Donghua couldn't help but laugh out loud, thinking to herself that this child was already so old, yet he still threw a tantrum over a dream.

"Alright, stop grumbling and get up. Have you forgotten that you have something important to do today? If you leave late, the village chief will be out on business and you won't be able to find him," Chen Donghua kindly reminded her.

Ruan Mumu quickly got up to wash up, hurriedly ate breakfast, and then pulled Chen Donghua and Ruan Xiaojun out the door. Ruan Xiaohai, however, was eager to check on the rice seedlings, so he did not go to the village chief's house with them.

"Mom, you two go to the village chief's house first. I'll go and invite the clan chief," Ruan Xiaojun said.

“Okay, big brother, you guys should come over as soon as possible.” Ruan Mumu said, taking Chen Donghua’s arm as the two walked together toward the village entrance.

The small mountain village where Ruan Mumu's family lives is called Jinwan Village. The village is quite large, with more than 600 households. Most of the people here have the surname Tian or Ruan, and there are also some people with the surnames Yang and Xu living among them.

The village chief's name was Tian Youjin, and his house was located at the village entrance. The house was a spacious tiled roof built of blue bricks, with six large rooms, and it looked magnificent. The ability to build such a grand residence was mainly due to the fact that the village chief had two successful sons.

When Ruan Mumu and Chen Donghua arrived at the village chief's house, they saw a girl about their age standing there. Ruan Mumu stepped forward and politely asked, "Qinghe, is your grandfather home? We have some things we'd like to discuss with him."

"Oh, it's Mumu! Come in quickly, my grandfather is in the inner room, I'll go call him now." Qinghe responded with a sweet smile, then she turned around and walked lightly into the house, preparing to invite the village chief out.

Ruan Mumu and Chen Donghua entered the hall, and soon the village chief came out from the inner room.

"Grandpa Village Chief, we're sorry to bother you. My mother and I have come to discuss something with you. We were wondering if it would be convenient for you?" Ruan Mumu said politely.

"Oh, it's you!" The village chief smiled kindly, looking at Ruan Mumu with curiosity. "Mumu, did your injuries heal so quickly?"

"Yes, it's all thanks to Doctor Liu's miraculous healing skills. The medicine he prescribed is very effective, and the wound healed quickly," Ruan Mumu replied gratefully. Then, she lowered her voice slightly and asked cautiously, "Grandpa Village Chief, I want to ask you about something. Does that small hill at the end of our village have an owner now?"

Upon hearing that the question concerned the mountain at the end of the village, the village chief couldn't help but feel puzzled. Why would they suddenly be interested in that mountain? Did they have the money to buy it? Although somewhat doubtful, he still answered truthfully, "That mountain still belongs to the village and hasn't been sold to anyone else. What's wrong, Mumu? Why are you asking this?"

"Hmm..." Ruan Mumu hesitated for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Grandpa Village Chief, I just want to know if there are any plans to sell that mountain? If so, what would the approximate price be?"

"Haha, kid, why are you suddenly interested in this mountain?" The village chief found it amusing and teased him with a laugh. "You can't possibly afford it, so why are you asking about these things?"

Chen Donghua then spoke up, "Uncle Village Chief, we came here today to inquire about the price of that mountain. If it's a good deal, we'd like to buy it and build a house there."

Upon hearing this, the village chief was stunned for a long time, and asked again in disbelief, "Are you really planning to buy the mountain?"

Just then, Ruan Xiaojun also brought the clan chief to the village chief's house.

"Chief Ruan, you've come too." The village chief was also surprised to see Chief Ruan arrive.

“It was Xiaojun who said he had something important to discuss and asked me to come here,” Chief Ruan replied.

"Chief Ruan, Mu Mu came to inquire about the mountain at the end of our village. He said he wants to buy the mountain and build a house at its foot!" The village chief told the chief about the matter.

"What are you thinking, village chief? That mountain is just a barren mountain. If they can afford the price, they should just sell it. It's useless to leave it there," Chief Ruan said calmly.

The village chief pondered for a moment, looked at Chief Ruan, and tentatively asked, "Chief Ruan, what do you think of four hundred coins per mu there?"

Upon hearing the village chief's words, Chief Ruan quickly replied, "Although that mountain doesn't look very big, it must be at least 150 mu (approximately 70 acres) including the wasteland at its foot. How can you expect them to come up with such a large sum of money? Could you offer 300 wen (approximately 150 coins) per mu? It's been there for so many years, and nobody has shown interest in it. Who knows how much money and effort it will take to reclaim and cultivate the land!"

Ruan Mumu was not familiar with these situations, so she did not intend to speak. She believed that the clan leader would help them get the best price, so she decided to wait and see.

The village chief quickly waved his hand and said, "No, no, this price is unacceptable. How about this: include the mountain and the flat land at its foot, all the way to the edge of the cultivated fields, it's at least 160 mu, and that's only 60 taels of silver. Eldest daughter-in-law of the Ruan family, do you think this price is acceptable?"

Chen Donghua wanted to ask if there could be a further discount, and at the same time glanced at Ruan Mumu, asking for her opinion with her eyes.

Ruan Mumu silently calculated in her mind that if it really was 160 mu, it would cost 375 wen per mu, which was a reasonable price. So she nodded to Chen Donghua.

“Uncle Village Chief, we want to buy it. If possible, we’ll go and process the land deed today.” Chen Donghua’s tone was firm and powerful, as if she had already made her decision and there was no room for doubt.

The village chief and the clan chief of Ruan exchanged a glance, both showing surprise. The village chief even doubted whether he had misheard. He asked hesitantly, "Xiaojun's mother, can you really come up with so much money all at once? This is no small sum!"

Ruan Mumu nodded quickly and replied, "Grandpa Village Chief, please rest assured, we do have enough funds to buy the land. As for the source of this money, we hope you won't ask too many questions, as everyone has their own privacy. We urgently need to buy this land to build a house; we can't keep living in the Ruan Family Ancestral Hall forever. Moreover, if we continue to live there, it might cause dissatisfaction among other clansmen and bring trouble to Grandpa Village Chief. So, please grant our request, Grandpa Village Chief."

Hearing Ruan Mumu's words, the village chief muttered to himself, but didn't press the matter further. He knew that the Ruan family hadn't had an easy time these past few years, and their sudden ability to buy land must mean they had their own methods.

So he stopped dwelling on it and simply smiled and said, "In that case, let's go to town together today and get the land deed done. That way, you can start building your house sooner and have a stable place to live."