Lan Jin wasn't concerned about who was arguing or what drama the outside world was caught up in. Right now, she stood in front of her mountain of supplies inside the spatial storage, feeling deeply satisfied. Her appetite had even come back with a vengeance. Dinner that night was a feast of steak and chicken drumsticks—so much that even Nana ended up yowling from being overfed.
After dinner, Lan Jin let herself sleep hard. Two days of intense scavenging had pushed her body to the limit. She needed the rest, and she made sure to take it.
Once she woke up feeling refreshed, Lan Jin got back to work.
She moved the coffee table to a corner of the living room and fenced off a small area in front of the sofa. This would be Ren Siqiao's very own play corner.
She placed all the toys—new and old—into the space first, and only then brought in Ren Siqiao. Among the mountain of toys, Ren Siqiao's favorite was, without a doubt, Barbie dolls. But instead of changing their outfits like most little girls, she had a unique approach: she tore them apart.
Lan Jin watched her daughter go to work on a poor doll with silent disbelief. "Qiao Qiao, that's not how you play with Barbies. You're supposed to dress them up. If you like an outfit, you just change her clothes. You don't need to rip off her arms…"
Before she could even finish her sentence, Ren Siqiao had already yanked the Barbie's head clean off.
Lan Jin knew some dolls had detachable limbs, but she had never seen a head come off like that. Curious, she took the doll to inspect it more closely—and sure enough, it wasn't designed to be removed. The head hadn't popped off. It had been forcibly torn off.
"Qiao Qiao," Lan Jin said, trying to keep her tone even. "How did you get the head off? It's supposed to be attached to the neck."
Ren Siqiao, eager to show her process, grabbed a perfectly intact Barbie and held it out. "Mama, like this. Easy-peasy. Just pull, and poof! Off!"
Lan Jin's lips twitched. That motion had looked gentle enough, but the result was still a decapitated doll.
And suddenly, Lan Jin remembered something else—something from the day she visited MuMart. The door she had lifted had seemed sturdy enough. So why had it broken the moment she touched it? Was it poor construction, or had she simply been too strong without realizing it?
She looked at Ren Siqiao with new eyes. A thought crossed her mind—bold and ridiculous, but it wouldn't leave her alone.
She stood up and scanned the room. Her gaze settled on the fridge tucked into the corner.
Without a word, Lan Jin walked over, wrapped her arms around the middle of the fridge, and gave it a lift.
The fridge rose off the floor like it weighed nothing.
Lan Jin's eyes widened. She had known her strength had improved after drinking the spiritual spring water, but she had never tested it like this. This was a full-sized double-door fridge. It wasn't supposed to be portable. Yet here she was, lifting it like it was made of feathers.
Could she lift something even heavier?
But then another thought struck her.
If her strength had increased because of the spiritual water, then Ren Siqiao had probably changed too. No wonder she had such an easy time popping doll heads off.
"Qiao Qiao," Lan Jin called. "Don't play just yet. Can you help Mama lift this table?"
She pointed at the dining table beside her.
Ren Siqiao looked at the table, then at Lan Jin's finger. She didn't understand why Mama wanted her to do that, but as long as she didn't get scolded for pulling Barbie heads, she was fine with anything. "Okay!"
Ren Siqiao stepped out of the playpen and walked over to the dining table. At just over two years old, she wasn't very tall—her head barely reached the edge of the table. But even so, she reached out with one hand and, without effort, lifted it straight up.
She stared at the table in her hand, amazed. She hadn't known she was this strong.
"Look, Mama! Qiao Qiao super strong!"
Lan Jin grinned. "Yes, you're super strong! Want to try lifting the fridge too?"
Ren Siqiao remembered seeing Lan Jin lift it earlier and her eyes lit up. "Wanna try! Wanna try!"
She ran over to the fridge, but being so small, she couldn't get her arms around it. She looked up at Lan Jin, puzzled.
"You don't have to hug it like Mama did," Lan Jin said gently. "Just hold the corner, right here."
She helped Ren Siqiao shift to one side of the fridge and wrap her arms around a corner.
Ren Siqiao gave a tug, using more force this time. The fridge wobbled—and lifted.
She managed to raise it a few inches before gently setting it back down. Then she stepped back, puffing a little. "Mama… this one heavy."
Lan Jin's mouth twitched again. "Of course it's heavy. But Qiao Qiao lifted it anyway. That's amazing! When you grow up a little more, it'll be easy-peasy. My Qiao Qiao is the best."
It really was a hilarious sight—a tiny toddler lifting a fridge like a pint-sized superhero. She looked like a little girl with monster strength.
Ren Siqiao beamed under the praise, her cheeks flushed with pride. But then Lan Jin followed up with something that made the smile on her daughter's face freeze.
"Qiao Qiao, Mama knows you're strong now. But that doesn't mean you can pull your dolls apart. Even if it's just a toy, we still have to treat it nicely, okay?"
Ren Siqiao's shoulders drooped. Her little voice was soft. "Okay, Mama. Qiao Qiao fix it."
There was no way to actually fix it. The neck joint had been completely torn apart. But it was the thought that mattered.
"You play with it however you want for now. Mama's going into the storage space to sort yesterday's supplies. I'll be back in a bit. If anything happens, just call me. I can hear you even from inside, okay?"
Ren Siqiao nodded, then returned to her play corner and started fiddling with her broken toy. Lan Jin slipped into the spatial storage.
Inside, the space remained still and quiet. Any sound from outside filtered in just enough that she'd be able to hear Ren Siqiao if she called.
Lan Jin used her mind to control the items, moving through the supply zone to sort and organize everything she'd collected. By the end of an hour, everything was categorized and stored in its proper place.
Before leaving, she grabbed a few snack packs and munched on them, skipping lunch entirely.
That afternoon, after coaxing Ren Siqiao into a nap, Lan Jin went back into the space again to finally deal with the black soil.
That's right—the 100 square meters of black soil she hadn't touched once.
But honestly, Lan Jin had no idea where to start when it came to planting vegetables. She looked over at the nearby tree and figured maybe she should start there instead. Trees seemed easier.
She found a hoe and a shovel from storage and wandered around the space for a while before settling on a spot just to the right of the thatched hut.
The black soil was on the left, and if she planted trees on the right, there'd be a nice balance of "a tree and a crop" on either side. The image in her mind was unexpectedly charming.