“Done!
Let alone two conditions, even if it were two hundred or two thousand, I would agree to them all!”
Jiang Baozhen agreed hastily, terrified that Lin Yingxue might go back on her word.
As long as she could keep her daughter by her side, she would gladly give up her life, let alone agree to a few conditions.
Even if they could never officially recognize each other in this lifetime, just watching her daughter treat her well and eventually finding her a reliable, steady marriage made her rebirth entirely worthwhile.
“For the first condition,” Lin Yingxue said, her voice clear and calm, “I will not become a daughter-in-law of the Chen family.”
Chen Tianhao’s romantic entanglements were so overwhelming they could drown the entire Chen family courtyard.
Blessed with the protagonist’s halo, he flirted wherever he went.
Innocent young girls and glamorous widows alike threw themselves at him as if under a spell.
Lin Yingxue couldn’t stomach a walking stallion like him and wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.
Jiang Baozhen nodded immediately without a second thought.
“Deal!
This marriage arrangement is hereby canceled!”
How could a bastard like Chen Tianhao be worthy of coveting her precious daughter?
Just the thought of it felt like a stain on her daughter’s honor.
Seeing Jiang Baozhen agree so readily, Lin Yingxue breathed a sigh of relief and voiced her second, most important condition.
“I will only stay here through the spring.
Once summer arrives, I’m leaving.”
The smile on Jiang Baozhen’s face froze instantly.
Just one spring?
That was only three months.
But on second thought, three months it was!
The most pressing matter was to agree first and convince her to stay.
Her Yingxue was kind-hearted and affectionate; three months would be plenty of time.
If she devoted herself entirely to treating her daughter well, she refused to believe she couldn’t warm that deeply wounded heart.
As for what would happen after three months, she would naturally find other ways to make her stay.
“All right, we’ll do it your way.
One spring.” Suppressing the bitter ache in her heart, Jiang Baozhen gritted her teeth and agreed.
Lin Yingxue’s chest felt infinitely lighter.
Three months would give her enough time to figure out the situation outside, recover her health, and coax Jiang Baozhen into handing over the silver…
She would make full preparations to leave the Chen family for good.
She was determined to leave this household no matter what.
However, she couldn’t quite figure out one thing.
Since Jiang Baozhen had been reborn and seen the true, cold-hearted nature of the Chen family, why was she still willing to stay in this fiery pit?
In her previous life, all her sons and their wives had ultimately sided with Chen Huaiyuan and Chen Tianhao, joining forces to drive her to a dead end.
Given Jiang Baozhen’s fierce and resolute temperament, shouldn’t she be fighting to the bitter end and turning the whole place upside down?
It wasn’t a question she could ask aloud.
After all, she couldn’t let Jiang Baozhen know she was aware of her rebirth—that would be too shocking.
What Lin Yingxue didn’t know was that Jiang Baozhen’s desire to leave the Chen family was even stronger than her own.
The mere thought of being buried next to a heartless monster like Chen Huaiyuan after death made her sick to her stomach.
Originally, Jiang Baozhen had planned to spend three years carefully plotting a divorce from Chen Huaiyuan, and then burning that pair of beastly father and son to ashes as revenge.
But now, hearing that her daughter was only willing to stay in the Chen family for three months, she changed her mind on the spot.
Even if her daughter was willing to stay, would it really be good for her to face those two enemies, Chen Huaiyuan and Chen Tianhao, day in and day out?
Even with her protection, there was no guarantee that the black-hearted father and son wouldn’t secretly harm Yingxue.
So Jiang Baozhen gritted her teeth and completely altered her plan.
She was going to take her daughter and leave the Chen family together.
The sooner, the better.
She would divorce Chen Huaiyuan and expose his true colors.
Her mind made up, Jiang Baozhen looked up at Lin Yingxue with steady determination.
“Xue’er, I’ve thought it through.
You want to leave the Chen family, and so do I.
Why don’t the two of us leave together?”
Lin Yingxue’s eyes widened in shock.
Just a moment ago, she had been marveling at Jiang Baozhen’s incredible patience.
Now, in the blink of an eye, she wanted to leave the Chen family too?
She asked tentatively, “How did you come up with such an idea?
How can you bear to leave?”
Jiang Baozhen scoffed, her eyes filled with disdain.
“They’re a bunch of things worse than beasts.
What’s there to miss?”
In her previous life, even her second son and his wife, who had always been relatively filial, ultimately sided with Chen Huaiyuan and Chen Tianhao—not to mention the rest of her ungrateful sons and daughters-in-law.
There was absolutely nothing in the Chen family worth clinging to.
In this life, she only wanted to live a good life with her daughter by her side.
Afraid her daughter wouldn’t believe her, Jiang Baozhen laid the absolute truth bare.
“Xue’er, to be honest with you, this land division incident has finally made me see Chen Ergou for who he truly is.
For all these years, he’s always favored outsiders over his own family, causing me countless grievances without a shred of remorse.
I’ve finally figured it out—he was doing it on purpose to provoke me!
That man is truly sinister!
“I’m not afraid of you laughing at me.
When Chen Ergou was young, he had another girl in his heart, and he still hasn’t forgotten her.
I was truly blind back then, fooled by his hypocritical facade.
Even though I knew he didn’t treat me well, I practically threw myself at him.
I’ve fawned over him for all these years, but I still couldn’t warm that cold heart of his.”
Lin Yingxue let out a soft sigh.
The fact that Jiang Baozhen was willing to share such humiliating details with her proved that she truly had no one to confide in within the Chen family.
It also showed that Jiang Baozhen genuinely considered her a trustworthy ally.
“…Are you wondering why I’ve been so cold to Tianhao since I woke up?” Jiang Baozhen’s eyes were red, and her voice trembled, though every word was sharp and clear.
“I’m not afraid to tell you that I didn’t give birth to Chen Tianhao at all.
He’s Qin Sangrou’s bastard, and Qin Sangrou is the woman Chen Ergou has always yearned for.
That little harlot was unfaithful after her marriage, hooked up with some wild man, and gave birth to a bastard.
Afraid her husband’s family would find out, she tossed the bastard to Chen Ergou.
That dog of a man took advantage of the time I passed out from the pain of giving birth to my last daughter, brought the bastard back, and lied, claiming I had given birth to twins!
“I knew absolutely nothing about this until the day before yesterday, when I caught Chen Ergou and Chen Tianhao whispering by my bed.
They thought I had passed out, but I heard every single word loud and clear.”
During the two days Jiang Baozhen was unconscious, Chen Huaiyuan and Chen Tianhao hadn’t stepped foot into her room at all.
Since Jiang Baozhen had openly confessed such a secret, Lin Yingxue naturally wouldn’t expose the inconsistency.
She hadn’t expected Chen Tianhao’s background to be so dramatic.
The original book hadn’t mentioned at all that he was the product of an illicit affair.
The author had likely omitted that detail intentionally to protect the male protagonist’s reputation.
“I was blind and a poor judge of character.
Being tricked into wasting half my life wasn’t enough; I actually had to raise someone else’s son for them,” Jiang Baozhen continued bitterly.
“During this fainting spell, I not only found out that Chen Tianhao is a bastard, but also that my daughter was thrown away by Chen Ergou himself!
That beast was afraid I would focus all my attention on my biological daughter and neglect his bastard, so he resorted to such a venomous scheme.”
Gritting her teeth in hatred, Jiang Baozhen simply laid everything bare.
They were mother and daughter.
What couldn’t be shared between a mother and daughter?
Since she had decided to take her daughter and leave together, she shouldn’t hide Chen Huaiyuan’s evil deeds from Yingxue anymore, save for her rebirth and her daughter’s true identity.
Only by letting Yingxue see exactly what kind of monster Chen Huaiyuan was could she prevent her from being deceived by his superficial kindness and ensure she stayed on guard.
Her daughter could only belong to her.
As she spoke, Jiang Baozhen began to choke up again, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.
Thinking of Jiang Baozhen’s lonely and desolate end in her previous life in the original book, Lin Yingxue couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy.
The book hadn’t revealed Chen Ruixue’s whereabouts even by the end.
She wondered if, with this second chance at life, Jiang Baozhen would be able to find her beloved daughter.
At that thought, she was momentarily at a loss for words of comfort.
“Xue’er, tell me, how could I possibly stay in the Chen family any longer?
Just looking at Chen Ergou’s old face makes me so sick I can’t even eat.
My sons aren’t on the same page as me either.
Not a single spawn of the Chen family is any good.”
Except for her daughter, of course.
“Xue’er, don’t leave on your own.
Let me go with you, all right?
From now on, I will accompany you.
Two people are always better than one.
I know how to farm and earn money.
Once we’re living on our own, I will take good care of you.”
Jiang Baozhen tightly grasped Lin Yingxue’s hands once again.
Her eyes were earnest, and her voice was uncharacteristically soft, terrified that Lin Yingxue might refuse.