Chapter 4

Lucy gawked at the jewelry box that had just appeared in her space. Inside were gold bracelets, gold necklaces, and gold rings, weighing around 1.6 ounces. She wondered what the current price of gold was. Eagerly searching it up on her phone, she realized the price of gold was 15,600 dollars per troy ounce. Indeed, the price had been rising. Now that Lucy thought about it, she really needed a new phone. Her current phone lagged so much that it was barely usable. However, she couldn't afford an expensive phone since her parents had already paid a lot for her college tuition. Her parents were both farmers, and every penny they earned came from hard, backbreaking labor. After graduating, Lucy had worked tirelessly every day, but her salary had only been enough to cover her rent and daily expenses. In the end, she couldn't bear the stress and came back home. She still remembered choking on her words during the phone call, telling her mother that she wanted to return to her hometown. But in contrast to her anxiety, her mother had been thrilled. "Come back, then," Sharon Yates had exclaimed. "This will always be your home!" … Staring at the gold jewelry in her hands now, Lucy figured they weighed over 1.6 ounces. She got changed and went downstairs. Her parents had gone out to work, leaving only her grandmother, Tatiana, at home. With her back hunched, Tatiana watched Lucy zoom off on her bike. While she remained at the street corner, a few old ladies approached her. "Isn't your granddaughter working in the city? Why has she returned?" one of them asked. "I was thinking of introducing someone to her!" an old lady in a red floral dress chimed in. "The guy works in Kentsville. He pays his insurance, has good looks, and even has his own house!" The entire village knew the Sandywells only had one daughter. Given the family's vast homestead, marrying Lucy would be a great deal. Still, the family was often ridiculed by other villagers for having no male heirs. "Getting her into college was hard enough, but she hadn't even worked in the city for half a year before she came back!" Tatiana fumed. "Women just aren't cut out for city life," one of the old ladies agreed. "Why not marry her off as soon as possible?" If Lucy got married, Tatiana wouldn't allow their homestead to be passed down to her grandson-in-law. She'd rather give it to her grandsons. "Once Lucy comes back, I'll tell her to go on a blind date," she said. "Women of her age in the village are already having kids. You'd better hurry and find someone for your granddaughter." In fact, Lucy didn't want to come back because the other villagers were prone to gossip. Yet, her parents gave her the greatest sense of support. Though people in the village often mocked them, Gordon and Sharon had always defended their daughter. … It took Lucy nearly 40 minutes to ride her bike to town. She headed straight to the gold shop and sold the entire box of gold jewelry. "The price will be a bit lower here if you're selling second-hand gold jewelry," the saleswoman at the counter explained. "But this design is quite unique. Why are you selling it?" This design was from another dimension, so it was rare here. It suddenly dawned on Lucy that it might fetch a higher price if she sold it online. But right now, she was short on cash and desperately needed some money to refurbish her place. She had to at least buy a new phone and a computer. "I'm a bit tight on cash right now," Lucy replied smoothly. "I bought this at a high price in the city." The saleswoman smiled and began calculating on her calculator. "The current gold price is 15,600 dollars per troy ounce. The buyback price is 15,500 dollars, but since this design looks great, I'll offer you 15,550 dollars per troy ounce." Lucy was already aware that the buyback price would be lower. "Sure." She nodded, planning to buy more food in exchange for more gold from Hans. The saleswoman showed her the calculator and said, "You have 1.94 ounces here. With 15,550 dollars per troy ounce, the total will be 30,070 dollars. Would you like to receive the payment via bank transfer or Venmo?" "The bank, please," Lucy replied. Saving her money in the bank would at least earn her some interest. Seeing the notification of 30,070 dollars being credited to her bank account, Lucy felt her heart race. Her balance had jumped from just a few hundred dollars to over a few thousand. She was thrilled, to say the least. But Lucy didn't forget her priority—stashing up supplies for Hans, who was from another dimension. She bought some instant noodles, self-heating meals, compressed biscuits, mineral water from the supermarket, and also some medicine from the pharmacy. Once done, she scurried to an isolated area and stored everything she'd just bought into the pocket space. Having already spent a third of her earnings, she dashed to the local mall and bought three smartphones—one for herself and one each for her parents. Her parents had been using old phones with poor signal, so she'd decided to upgrade them to new smartphones. She also bought clothes and shoes for her parents and grandparents, and got a computer for work and to do some drawing. The computer was going to be delivered to her house. After all, she wouldn't have been able to carry so much stuff on her bike. It was past 1:00 pm when she finally finished shopping. After finishing her pasta and fried chicken, her phone rang. She glanced at the screen, realizing it was her mother calling. "Lucy, where are you? Why haven't you come back for lunch? I've made some roasted beef for you," Sharon Yates said. "I'm in town. I'll be back soon!" With that, Lucy hung up. Glancing at her purchase that day, she was overjoyed. Having money to spend felt so good. By the time she returned home, it was nearly 4:00 pm. The old ladies in the village loved gathering in groups, gossiping about everyone else's lives. "Isn't that Gordon's daughter? Why did she buy so many things?" one of them said. "She's wasting so much money! No one can afford to marry her," another chimed in. "She used to live in the city, after all. She's different." The old ladies chattered away. Before long, they saw the daughter of the Sandywells' neighbor returning in a small car. They began gossiping again. "Isn't that Jonathan's daughter? She actually owns a car now!" "She married a man in the city and even opened a small restaurant. She's making good money!" The battery of Lucy's electric bike was almost drained after the trip, even though she had charged it once earlier in town. She would also buy a car when she had enough money. But first, she needed to get a driver's license. She would get her parents to take the test too. When she entered the yard with her shopping bags, her mother was feeding the chickens, and her father was sawing wood. "Lucy, why are you so late? We've saved lunch for you!" Sharon said enthusiastically. Noticing all the bags Lucy had in her hands, she hurried over to help her and asked, "Where did you buy all these things?"