But as things stand, she's just a seventeen-year-old kid, and with a house standing in the way, wanting to keep her little brother isn't going to be easy.
The more Mei Mengzhen thought about it, the more her head hurt. But on a closer look, isn't this also a chance to start over?
She can't possibly let the regrets of her last life repeat themselves in this one.
There's always a way; just deal with things as they come. As long as she and her brother don't want to give up, could they really snatch it away by force?
With that, she closed her eyes and her consciousness entered the space.
Rebirth itself is an unbelievable thing, and coming back to life with a space gifted out of nowhere is even more incredible.
Speaking of how Mei Mengzhen found this space, it actually happened the very day she was reborn.
After waking up in the hospital, Mei Mengzhen went home alone. But as soon as she walked through the door, she noticed that the big Osmanthus Tree in the front yard was gone.
A tree that large couldn't possibly just disappear without a trace—not even leaving behind a mark.
She was in a state of panic, and as the world spun around her, she was brought into the present space, standing right beside the missing Osmanthus Tree.
Mei Mengzhen recalled the scent of Osmanthus before she died, and seeing this space and the Osmanthus Tree, she couldn't help but feel a rush of surprise. "Could it be the Osmanthus Tree manifested its spirit and that's why I could be reborn, and got such a space for free?"
She couldn't think of any other explanation.
Mei Mengzhen looked around the space. Not far away, a thatched hut caught her attention, so she walked over. From a distance, it was hard to see clearly, but now up close she realized the hut didn't even have a door.
She stood at the entrance, peering inside, but heard nothing from within. She stood at the doorway and shouted, "Is anyone there?"
...
No answer.
Mei Mengzhen called again, "Is anyone there? If not, I'm coming in."
After saying that, she stepped inside.
From outside, the hut looked square and barely palm-sized, but once inside she saw it was far more than it seemed.
This area should be called the front hall, and in the center hangs a landscape painting. In front of the painting sits a square table with four chairs circling it, placed right in the middle of the hall.
To the left of the landscape painting is a semi-circular arch. Mei Mengzhen walked through it and, seeing the room piled full of things, couldn't help but let out a "Wow."
The room was not only big, but filled with all kinds of stuff.
She estimated the room at over a hundred square meters. Since there were no partitions, it felt very spacious.
But even in the open space, cloth bags were stacked everywhere, one bag on top of another, packed tightly, leaving only a path to the stairs connecting the upper and lower floors.
That's right, this room wasn't a single level, but had stairs up and down—which couldn't be seen from outside. This was the most magical thing about the hut.
Mei Mengzhen was very curious about what the bags held, so she opened a few nearby ones and found that they were all filled with seeds.
As for seeds, Mei Mengzhen knew a thing or two. Her family had a patch of land in their backyard, and after her grandfather retired he liked to grow vegetables for fun, so naturally, she picked up some knowledge herself.
After checking the seeds, Mei Mengzhen decided to go upstairs and take a look.
The stairs weren't long; after about ten steps she reached the upper floor.
Upstairs, the first thing she saw was the Study Room. The Study Room was huge, taking up most of the space, and everywhere were bookshelves, all crammed full of books.
Mei Mengzhen casually flipped through one, but quickly put it back—the writing was incomprehensible to her.
She walked through the Study Room, and came upon a desk, with a simple bed facing it—a place for the owner to rest when tired.
Further inside, against the wall, several big wooden chests were piled.
Mei Mengzhen cautiously wandered around this floor, and soon found a letter on the desk.
The envelope was labeled "For the Fated One."
Mei Mengzhen thought, does "Fated One" mean the person who inherits this space? Then she should be that person. With this in mind, she opened the letter.
The contents of the letter were very useful to her, because it turned out to be an instruction manual written by the previous owner of the space.
The prior owner mentioned that she, too, got the space after dying unexpectedly and living anew—there was an Osmanthus Tree at the door of her house as well. After rebirth, the Osmanthus Tree vanished from outside and appeared in the space. From then on, people outside forgot about the tree entirely. After a lot of experimenting, she discovered the Osmanthus Tree's magic.
Right now, the Osmanthus Tree is dormant, and needs to be awakened using her own blood.
Of course, even if not awakened, it can still be used, but after awakening, the Osmanthus Tree becomes a little steward for the space, helping with harvesting, storing, organizing, and automatic cleaning—very practical features.
This thatched hut was always part of the space, but the items inside were stored by generations of space owners.
After the previous owner died, everything naturally passed to the next owner, with a note reassuring her to use it freely.
The herbs and fruits grown here, as long as they are not taken out, will always remain as fresh as when they were picked—they won't spoil. Basically, there's a preservation function.
The space can also be controlled with your thoughts—like storing, sorting, moving things. But planting vegetables isn't included; you have to take the seeds and personally sow them into the black soil in the space. Only then will they grow. That's why the seeds are kept on the entry level.
When planting vegetables in the black earth, you don't need to fertilize or water—they just grow and mature naturally, and much faster than outside. This, the owner had personally tested.
The previous owner also said the space is more versatile: the stream can raise fish, the pond can grow lotus roots, you can keep poultry on the Savanna. When fish and poultry reach their best size, they stop growing. Any mess caused by them gets cleaned automatically by the Osmanthus Tree, and it can even handle processing—very smart.
There's also a Spiritual Spring in the space, whose effects are numerous: beauty, health, enhanced memory. Beyond that, the space's vegetables are also strengthening, though nothing compares to the spring's effects—but the taste of those space-grown veggies is superb.
The letter specially highlighted one thing: any vegetables, trees, poultry, or fish still growing at the moment the space owner dies will all vanish, waiting for the next owner to restart, but anything already harvested will last in the space for years without a problem.
The previous owner said she concluded this from several space owners before her, and hoped it would help.
She also mentioned in passing—her successor, namely Mei Mengzhen—and hoped that the new owner would use the space wisely, never for evil.
And that's where the letter ends.