Chapter 19 Space Upgrade

Xia Xiao wasn't one to steal the limelight, but with the mother and sons quarreling, it was still better for her to support Zheng Xianghong back home.

Zheng Xianghong nodded her head, indeed feeling very tired, especially at heart.

As Xia Xiao supported Zheng Xianghong home, neither Gao Jiazhi nor Gao Jiaxing said a word, quietly following behind.

Xia Xiao moved her lips but in the end did not say anything, as it was not her place to comment on someone else's family affairs.

Zheng Xianghong spoke faintly, "I'm doing this for their own good, but none of them understand me."

"Auntie, now that the reform has taken place, serving in the military shouldn't be as dangerous as it used to be," Xia Xiao couldn't help saying.

"Jiazhi can't go," Zheng Xianghong said, and then added, "Jiaxing can't either, if only my health were better..."

Zheng Xianghong didn't finish her sentence. Xia Xiao didn't understand, but she didn't ask further.

After helping Zheng Xianghong back home to rest, Xia Xiao sat down for a while, urged her to not overthink and take a good rest, and stayed by her side.

Probably because Zheng Xianghong had been busy all day and was exhausted, she soon fell into a deep sleep.

After Xia Xiao left Zheng Xianghong's room, she looked at the two brothers in the living room and still couldn't resist saying:

"Brother Gao, Brother Gao Er, I'm just an outsider, and it's not my place to say much about your family matters, but the auntie has been so kind to me, and I truly feel close to her. I don't know if you've noticed, but the auntie has a heart condition; she can't handle too much stress, or it might endanger her life. Also, I sense that the auntie has her predicaments. Please try to understand her."

"If you both really want to be soldiers, you can work hard and try to get into a military academy instead. The graduates from the academies are all officers. If you just graduate from junior high and enlist, you're just a foot soldier, and after a few years, you'll simply mustered out. What kind of future is that? It's nothing more than a stint with the troops for kicks. Is this what you call lofty aspirations? No wonder the team leader and your auntie don't let you go; you might as well stay home and farm sweet potatoes."

Gao Jiaxing glared, "Do you think getting into a military academy is that easy?"

Xia Xiao chuckled, "Of course, it's difficult. Officers aren't as common as cabbages. That's what distinguishes the superiority of officers. How else could they be called leaders? It's not easy to be in charge. Isn't there a saying, 'A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier'? If you join the army, don't you want to get promoted? Enlistment means learning and training too, but starting lower than a military academy, which is where excellent soldiers are nurtured. Just look at our country's great leaders and marshals; many outstanding commanders come from military academies. Even those who rise from ordinary soldiers to battalion, regimental, and divisional levels need to enter an academy for training."

After saying all this, Xia Xiao realized she had said too much and quickly laughed it off, "Take good care of your auntie, I need to go now."

Xia Xiao swiftly made her exit, not expecting to run into Team Leader Gao Guoqiang standing at the door. Startled, she wasn't sure how long Gao Guoqiang had been there, and promptly said with a serious face, "Team Leader, you've returned."

"Educated Youth Xia, I thank you for today," Gao Guoqiang had also heard that Zheng Xianghong nearly fainted and had come back to check on her. He had unexpectedly heard Xia Xiao's words at the door, which made him regard her in a new light.

"It's nothing, nothing at all. The auntie often helps me too. I won't disturb the team leader any longer; I'm heading back to Youth Point now." Xia Xiao quickly left the Gao family home, her face flushed and her heart pounding—but not with the kind of excitement she felt around He Xuebing, rather a kind of embarrassing awkwardness from being caught out.

She would be embarrassed to go to the Gao family's place next time, and feel awkward seeing the team leader and the two Gao brothers. Why had she been so audacious as to spout off in someone else's house?

Returning to Youth Point, Xia Xiao felt her emotions had been on a roller coaster that day. She thought of He Xuebing, the first to stir her feelings; the annoying Li Shengmei; and the matters of the Gao family. Shaking her head to clear it, she let those thoughts drift away.

She pulled out the stone from her pocket, thinking about how it had accidentally fallen to the ground earlier without her even noticing. Xia Xiao began to worry—after all, the space was very useful to her, for raising chickens, growing vegetables, nurturing her body with spiritual spring jade water, and as storage for money and valuables. If she lost it, everything inside would be lost, and she would have nowhere to cry.

Reflecting on the space-themed novels she had read before, she felt the stone was bound to her by her blood, which seemed to be why only she could enter it. Now, Xia Xiao was holding a pair of scissors, lightly cutting her arm and letting the blood drip onto the stone. She wanted to test if this would bind the stone to her.

One drop, two drops, three drops. As Xia Xiao watched the blood fall on the stone and remain motionless, she grew anxious—maybe the blood didn't work?

Suddenly, Xia Xiao blinked. Eh, where did the blood on the stone go? It vanished in the blink of an eye.

She quickly stopped the bleeding, holding the stone which felt cold to the touch, and saw no trace of her blood.

Had it not been for the wound she still bore, had it not been for her own bloodletting, witnessed by her own eyes, Xia Xiao would have really thought it was an illusion.

"Stone, stone, I'm calling you, can you hear me, can you speak?" Xia Xiao spoke to the stone.

The stone didn't respond. Xia Xiao uttered a phrase, "I want to go in," and in an instant, she flashed into the space.

As soon as she entered, Xia Xiao noticed the changes within the space. Previously, she couldn't see any walls, with no physical entities around, but now she saw an icy blue wall on the left side of the space, detailed with white lines and tiny red dots.

Looking left and right, Xia Xiao couldn't help but scratch her head, "It looks so much like a map, hmm, like routes."

Talking to herself, she touched it. The cold sensation brought no response, leaving her slightly deflated. But soon, Xia Xiao excitedly discovered that her space had expanded, the land had widened, and the Spiritual Spring had grown larger, something she hadn't noticed when she first entered.

A bigger space meant it could hold more, and she could grow more.

Xia Xiao's face lit up with joy, realizing that the space could be upgraded—was it with her blood?

She paused, conflicted for a moment—how much blood would it take? Could it endanger her life? If it posed a risk to her life, then she'd rather not upgrade it, yet giving up the space was also not an option for Xia Xiao.

"Stone, can you get any smaller?" Xia Xiao asked, mainly because she felt keeping the stone in her pocket wasn't safe. If it could shrink, she could wrap it and hang it around her neck without fear of losing it so easily.

As she finished talking, the stone suddenly shrank to the size of a jade pendant, and Xia Xiao was instantly overjoyed.

"I'm not called stone." At the same time, a soft, childlike yet ethereal voice rang out, tinged with reluctance and dissatisfaction, as if protesting to Xia Xiao.