“Bang!”
The already dilapidated door could not withstand that kick and instantly split into two.
Several officials holding broadswords crowded into the room, their faces fierce and impatient. The one leading them barked first, “Who are you people? Have you seen an injured man, and a child?”
Tang Li instinctively glanced toward the pile of hay hidden in the dark corner, her heart pounding so hard it felt as if it would leap out of her throat.
Beneath that pile of hay were the man and the child. If the child woke up and started crying…
“Mercy, sirs! We haven’t seen anyone!”
Wang Cuihua, who stood closest to the officials, dropped to her knees with a thud, positioning herself just right to cover the bloodstains on the ground before they could notice.
Her eyes darted, and in an instant she changed her expression, putting on a look of utter misery. Slapping the floor, she burst into tears. “This old woman is just a simple farmer! My poor daughter has caught the plague, she won’t live much longer. The two of us are just waiting here to die slowly, we wouldn’t dare offend you, sirs!”
As she cried, she tilted her head slightly and signaled to Tang Li behind her.
Tang Li immediately understood and joined the act, frowning as she clutched her chest and coughed violently, curling into herself. With her pale face, she truly looked like someone on the brink of death.
In ancient times, when medical conditions were so underdeveloped, plagues were deadly and contagious. The officials were no fools. Seeing this, they hurriedly covered their noses and mouths, their faces filled with disgust.
“Damn unlucky! Let’s go, search elsewhere!”
Only after their footsteps faded into the distance did Tang Li finally come back to herself. The cold wind poured in through the broken door, striking her face, and she collapsed onto the ground with a sigh of relief.
When the man woke, it was already broad daylight.
His head throbbed violently, his mind foggy as he slowly opened his eyes, sharp vigilance flickering within them.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
Wang Cuihua crouched by the haystack with a bowl of porridge, wearing the air of a rightful savior. Three days ago, if she had not quickly hidden the man and child, they would have been taken by the officials.
While he had been unconscious, she had secretly searched his entire body. Aside from several deep, bone-revealing wounds, she hadn’t found even half a tael of silver, let alone the gold or jade ornaments she had imagined a wealthy man would casually carry.
Now that he had woken, although she wore a smile, she felt deeply disappointed. If she had known, she would have handed him over to the officials. She had truly misjudged him.
What wealthy young master? He was clearly a pauper!
The man ignored Wang Cuihua entirely. Struggling to sit up, he began searching around with persistence.
“That child of yours… our… uh, your daughter is being looked after in the side room. She eats and sleeps just fine.”
Wang Cuihua spat out a jujube pit irritably, then turned to complain to Tang Li, who was approaching with a bowl of medicine. “Look at you! Insisting on exchanging with that… that bucket… that immortal thing for this useless medicine. Do you know how much that costs? Even if we sold the two of us along with this broken house, it wouldn’t be enough to repay it. You young people are just wasteful…”
As Tang Li approached, the man’s gaze landed on her first. He narrowed his eyes, studying her as if trying hard to recognize something.
When he opened them again, they were filled with confusion.
“Isn’t this the danger you invited in pursuit of wealth?” Tang Li shot Wang Cuihua a glare before handing the medicine to the man. “Drink it. It’ll treat your wounds.”
“Thank you…”
His voice was still weak and hoarse as he spoke, “Who are you? Where is this place…”
“Hmph! What are you pretending for, acting like you’ve lost your memory?”
Wang Cuihua suddenly exploded like a lit firecracker, slamming the bowl down and jumping up to point at the man. “You heartless bastard! You abandoned my daughter back then and ran off with the child to enjoy yourself! If it weren’t for this old woman’s kindness, I would have thrown you out to be eaten by dogs! And you still have the nerve to ask who we are?”
“?”
Tang Li’s lips twitched. Her dramatic mother-in-law had started acting again…
The man froze, instinctively wanting to refute her, but the moment he moved, the wounds on his body throbbed painfully. Several deep gashes had already stopped bleeding, clearly treated with good medicine and careful care.
“I…”
He hesitated, then accepted the accusation of being a heartless man.
The healing wounds on his body proved that this mother and daughter had indeed saved him, and at considerable cost. It was a genuine life-saving favor.
“I don’t remember the past,” he lowered his head, speaking sincerely. “I will repay this life-saving grace. If you do not mind, I am willing to stay and work to pay back the cost of the medicine.”
“At least you’ve got some conscience!”
Hearing what she wanted, Wang Cuihua’s eyes curved into a smile. Even if she hadn’t gained wealth, she had at least picked up a strong laborer.
“Alright, since you’re awake, hurry up and chop the firewood outside. And the roof is still leaking, fix that too. Our family doesn’t raise freeloaders!”
“Stop it, Mom. He hasn’t recovered yet.”
Tang Li pressed the man, who had just finished his medicine and was struggling to get up, back onto the straw bed.
Then she pulled the reluctant Wang Cuihua to the corner and whispered, “Mom, don’t keep lying to him. Once he recovers, let him leave with the child. What if he regains his memory…”
“There is no ‘what if’!”
Wang Cuihua snorted and cut her off. “What do you know? He spent our money, so he should work for us! You think he’s here to eat for free?”
“And besides, if not for that little bundle he brought being so cute, I wouldn’t want to keep him even for a moment!”
“Little bundle” was the nickname she had given the child.
The more she spoke, the more emotional she became, even squeezing out a few tears. “This is also your fault. In your past life, you didn’t leave a descendant for my son… You know how much I’ve always wanted a granddaughter. Heaven must have pitied me and sent her to my side this way. You have no idea how sweet it sounds when she calls me Grandmother…”
In short, Wang Cuihua concluded, “I don’t care! If you try to drive that little bundle away, then this old body of mine won’t go on living either!”
Seeing her stubbornness, Tang Li knew there was no point in saying anything more. She could only sigh and let her be.
Over the next few days, although Tang Li forced the man to rest, he still secretly did chores like chopping wood and fetching water whenever she wasn’t watching. Since they didn’t know his name, Wang Cuihua arbitrarily gave him a nickname, calling him “A’Niu” and ordering him around because of his brute strength.
A’Niu never complained. He spoke little but worked diligently. The neighbors mocked them openly and behind their backs, saying that despite their own miserable situation, living in a drafty shack, they still meddled by taking in a foolish strongman and a burdensome child.
But Tang Li knew clearly that, according to the novel tropes she had read, A’Niu’s identity must be anything but ordinary. Even if he had not yet regained his memory, she had no desire to get entangled with anything dangerous.
So Tang Li remained distant toward A’Niu. However, for some reason, perhaps due to Wang Cuihua’s embellishments, A’Niu seemed even more convinced that he had once deeply hurt her. He resolved to make it up to Tang Li and worked even harder, to the point that no one could stop him.
Time passed quickly. When the familiar mechanical voice sounded in Tang Li’s mind again, she suddenly remembered that she still hadn’t repaid the money she had borrowed from the System to treat A’Niu.
[Warning, host! Your debt is overdue. Including interest, the total is one hundred taels. If not repaid within five days, the survival time of you and your entire family will be erased!]
“One hundred taels?”
Tang Li nearly cried out in shock. This profiteering System! It had charged such an outrageous price for just a few doses of medicine!
But a debt must be repaid, and it truly left her distressed…
For the next two days, Tang Li sat dazed on the doorstep from morning to night.
When Wang Cuihua passed by eating sunflower seeds and asked what was wrong, Tang Li only hung her head and said nothing. A’Niu, repairing the courtyard gate nearby, would glance at her from time to time, worried that she might be troubled by her past grievances with him. Though concerned, he did not dare approach, afraid of upsetting her further.
Until one evening, as dusk fell and light snow drifted from the sky, a poor scholar carrying a book box passed by the courtyard after leaving school. As he walked, he took out half a cold, hardened bun from his clothes, paired it with a bit of pickled vegetables, and swallowed it down in a few quick bites with melted snow.
The scholar was so poor, yet still persisted in his studies. No matter what, people had to eat…
Watching his retreating figure, Tang Li suddenly thought of the System reward skill, “I Am the Stove Master,” and inspiration struck.
“I’ve got it!”
She jumped to her feet so suddenly that she nearly lost her balance, but A’Niu quickly stepped forward and caught her by the waist, asking with concern, “What’s wrong?”
Tang Li turned to look at him, her eyes sparkling like scattered stars, filled with excitement.
“We’re saved! I’ve figured out how to earn those one hundred taels!”