In her previous life, Hu Huiniang’s second and third children had both been registered under Jiang Li’s name.
Jiang Li disciplined them strictly and hired renowned tutors, which was the only reason they managed to distinguish themselves.
But Hu Huiniang had disrupted her efforts countless times.
Even though the two children were registered under Jiang Li’s name, they usually lived with Hu Huiniang, so they took after her in personality.
Only later did Jiang Li realize that whenever she disciplined the two children during the day, Hu Huiniang would return at night and badmouth her in front of them.
As a result, not only did the children feel no closeness to Jiang Li, their nominal mother, but they also came to resent and despise her.
Jiang Li snapped out of her reverie. Enduring the stares of the ungrateful wolves in the room, she let tears fall as well.
"I’m just too incompetent. I couldn’t even hold onto the Jiang family’s shops, and I had to pour my own dowry silver into them just to keep them running. It’s all my fault I can’t help my second brother-in-law."
The Yin Family was very concerned with appearances. Seeing Jiang Li speak so pitifully, they found it difficult to press the matter.
Besides, they had long known Jiang Li was an incapable woman. Perhaps she truly had no money left.
Yin Hongcai, not wanting the embarrassing scene to drag on, told Jiang Li to leave first.
Jiang Li was more than happy to leave. She had no desire to get involved in Yin Chengzhou’s problems.
On the surface, however, Jiang Li maintained a meek and subservient facade, feigning concern for her second brother-in-law.
"I heard the court gives a sum of money when a husband dies on the battlefield. Why not use that money to cover Second Brother-in-law’s debt? That way, he can focus on his studies in the future and never touch gambling again."
In the Yin Family, only Mr. Yin and Mrs. Fan knew about the court’s pension silver.
The moment Yin Chengzhou heard there was pension silver, his eyes lit up.
"Father, Mother, quick, give me Big Brother’s pension silver! I can definitely turn things around and win even more money!"
Yin Hongcai looked like he wanted to slap him. "You brat, you must have a death wish!" he roared. "To even think of using the money your brother paid for with his life to gamble! I say we shouldn’t have bothered with him at all! Just let the men from the gambling den chop off his hand!"
Yin Hongcai hadn’t expected his younger son to be so muddle-headed at a time like this. ’Fortunately, my eldest son didn’t really die on the battlefield; he’s still alive.’
’When my eldest son returns, he can take over the Yin Family’s mantle, instead of me handing it over to this fool of a second son.’
Yin Chengzhou almost blurted out, "But isn’t Big Brother still alive?" Remembering Jiang Li was still present, he forced the words back down.
Mrs. Fan quickly ushered her two daughters-in-law out, leaving the three family members to confer in the hall.
Yin Chengzhou only wanted more money to win back his losses at the gambling den.
Yin Hongcai refused, convinced his son was determined to bankrupt them.
Mrs. Fan was unwilling to part with her eldest son’s pension silver, but she also couldn’t bear the thought of her second son losing a hand. She was utterly torn.
In the end, Mrs. Fan and Yin Hongcai came to an agreement: they would secretly sell off unused items from the manor to scrape together the money their second son owed the gambling den.
At the same time, they forbade their second son from ever setting foot in a gambling den again.
Yin Chengzhou was deeply unsatisfied. In his eyes, his parents were shortsighted and stubborn. ’There’s a much faster way to make money,’ he thought, ’but they just refuse to support me.’
’If only Father and Mother would help, I wouldn’t have to suffer through the drudgery of studying. In just a few years, I could give the Yin Family a much better life.’
Yin Chengzhou mulled this over but kept his thoughts to himself, simply resolving to find another opportunity.
...
Jiang Li didn’t care what the Yin Family was planning. As long as their schemes didn’t involve her, she couldn’t be bothered.
After leaving the main hall, Jiang Li received another notification from the system.
[Ding! White-eyed wolf Yin Chengzhou’s gambling addiction has been detected. Host has been rewarded with one Deep Sea Night Pearl.]
Jiang Li heard the system notification and had expected some kind of elixir. She never imagined it would be a Luminous Pearl.
Once back in Qinghe Courtyard, she took out the Luminous Pearl and examined it closely.
’It’s of the highest quality,’ she thought. ’The system is quite generous.’
As it happened, Jiang Li was thinking of secretly opening a Treasure Shop. She could use this Luminous Pearl as the shop’s crowning jewel to make a name for it.
The only problem was, Jiang Li hadn’t decided whose name to register the shop under.
It had to be someone trustworthy who wouldn’t arouse the Yin Family’s suspicion.
If she couldn’t find anyone suitable, Jiang Li planned to use one of the Disguise Pills from the system to create a new, non-existent identity for herself.
But that would create other problems. The system had only given her two Disguise Pills, and she had no idea if it would ever give her more.
Even the system couldn’t confirm this, only stating that rewards were random and could not be selected.
’No matter,’ she thought. ’Opening the shop isn’t urgent. The Yin Family won’t be letting me leave anytime soon anyway.’
Jiang Li needed to take things one step at a time. It would be best if the Yin Family came to see her as completely useless.
Wangyou reported the information she had gathered to Jiang Li.
"Miss, I’ve investigated thoroughly. A Gua wasn’t lying. She and her mother did come to the Capital City to find her father. Her father is indeed Pan Shiyan, but the one who drove them out was Pan Shiyan’s mother, a woman from the Song Family. She disliked her daughter-in-law from the moment they were married, so she used the opportunity when Pan Shiyan left for the Capital City to take the imperial exams to separate them. Over the years, Pan Shiyan’s mother has tried to arrange many matches for him, but he has refused them all. He has been searching for his wife and daughter this whole time, but the men he sent to look for them were all bribed by his mother."
Jiang Li hadn’t expected this. ’Even if the woman from the Song Family disliked A Gua’s mother, she was still her daughter-in-law. And A Gua is her own flesh-and-blood granddaughter. How could she abandon her like that?’
’It seems I need to go see A Gua,’ she decided. ’I’ll tell her what I’ve learned, and then see if she’s willing to meet Pan Shiyan.’
Jiang Li said, "Wangyou, cover for me. I need to go out."
Wangyou agreed and prepared a maid’s uniform for Jiang Li.
After changing, Jiang Li didn’t leave through the Yin Family’s main gate. Instead, she found a deserted spot and vaulted over the wall.
The Disguise Pills were too rare; Jiang Li had no intention of using one unless it was absolutely necessary.
It was just a matter of leaving the Yin Family estate. With her Martial Arts, she could easily do so without being noticed.
When Jiang Li arrived at the backyard of the pastry shop, she saw A Gua sitting on a small stool, helping sort beans.
Tiny little A Gua clutched a basket to her chest, picking through the beans one by one with a serious, solemn expression.
Seeing this, Jiang Li couldn’t help but smile.
She had just heard from the shop staff that A Gua was a very well-behaved child who did whatever she was told without complaint.
She ate and slept well every day, making her very easy to care for.
Plus, the child was adorable. All the pastry shop employees loved talking to her, and some even brought her clothes from their own homes.
This warmed Jiang Li’s heart. ’Although A Gua did something wrong,’ she reflected, ’it’s not as if she had a choice.’
At such a young age, she had been driven out by her grandmother and lost her mother to illness, leaving her with nowhere to go, forced to live at the mercy of others.
Looking at her now, it seemed there was still a chance to guide her back to the right path.
In truth, after being hurt by the entire Yin Family of ungrateful wolves in her past life, Jiang Li had developed a subconscious distrust of people.
But she also knew that the Yin Family was at fault, not everyone else.
Her kindness had never been a mistake.