“Chen Ergou, why are you standing at the door like a log?
What, are you unhappy about the fourth son sleeping in the shack?”
Jiang Baozhen carefully checked Lin Yingxue’s doors and windows, reminding her to lock up properly before walking out of the room with a smile.
The moment she turned around, she nearly bumped right into Chen Huaiyuan’s chest.
The sight of him infuriated her so much she wanted to punch him on the spot.
Chen Huaiyuan knew better than to clash head-on with Jiang Baozhen; she needed to be coaxed.
He probed carefully, “Your affection for Yingxue should have its limits.
There’s no reason to neglect your own son just to pour your heart out for someone else’s child.”
These words made Jiang Baozhen want to tear off Chen Huaiyuan’s hypocritical mask.
She truly wanted to see whether a beast or a demon hid beneath that harmless facade.
He was the one who had abandoned his own flesh and blood!
“My own son?
It is exactly because he’s my own son that my heart is so cold.
If you feel so sorry for him, you can give up your own room for him.” Jiang Baozhen suppressed her anger and glared at Chen Huaiyuan with a cold sneer.
Ever since Chen Ruixue was born, Chen Huaiyuan had used the excuse of needing a quiet place to study to sleep in a separate room from Jiang Baozhen.
If his heart ached so much for Chen Tianhao, he was more than welcome to let the boy have his room.
Chen Huaiyuan hesitated for a moment before explaining in a low voice, “You know I have an old injury in my knee.
I can’t stand the cold.”
Jiang Baozhen let out a sudden laugh.
Chen Huaiyuan was just that selfish.
He had brought Qin Sangrou’s bastard home, but growing up, when had Jiang Baozhen ever stopped worrying about Chen Tianhao?
Chen Huaiyuan hadn’t even helped the boy relieve himself once.
He certainly loved Chen Tianhao, but that love was built entirely on Jiang Baozhen’s sacrifices.
If he were asked to give up his own comfort to help the boy?
Absolutely not.
Feeling completely exposed under Jiang Baozhen’s scrutinizing gaze, Chen Huaiyuan didn’t dare pester her any longer.
Stomping his feet, he slipped into the shack to properly console his dear son.
Even after lying down on the torn straw mat, Chen Tianhao still couldn’t accept that Jiang Baozhen had kicked him out into the shack.
The entire structure leaked air from all sides.
The early spring night wind, carrying a biting chill, poured in from every direction, making his teeth chatter.
He couldn’t understand why Jiang Baozhen, who had always pampered and accommodated him, suddenly seemed like a completely different person.
And then there was Chen Huaiyuan.
He had always believed that his father loved him more than his mother did.
Yet tonight, when he was banished to the shack, Chen Huaiyuan had done nothing but offer a few hollow words.
He refused to give up his room, nor was he willing to spare a quilt.
Clenching his jaw in the freezing darkness, Chen Tianhao secretly swore to study desperately and rise above the rest.
One day, he would make both Jiang Baozhen and Chen Huaiyuan bitterly regret what they had done today.
Later that night.
Lin Yingxue lay in the soft, thick bedding, rolling over comfortably.
After all the time she had spent in this world, she could finally get a peaceful night’s sleep.
As drowsiness deepened, she closed her eyes and drifted into a heavy slumber.
An unknown amount of time passed before a shadowy figure flickering outside the window startled her awake.
She draped a coat over her shoulders and got up, gently peeling back a corner of the window paper to peek outside.
In the moonlight, someone was quietly pacing around the courtyard, carrying a hoe.
Looking closely, she realized it could be none other than Jiang Baozhen.
Driven by curiosity, Lin Yingxue quietly stepped out into the courtyard.
Jiang Baozhen, who was highly alert, noticed her immediately.
“Xue’er, why did you come out?
It’s cold outside, hurry back in,” Jiang Baozhen said in a hushed voice, stepping forward to grasp and rub her hands.
“I saw Mother in the courtyard, so I came out to check.
You’re carrying a hoe…?” Lin Yingxue asked softly.
She stared at the hoe with a pounding heart, terrified that Jiang Baozhen had been overly stimulated by her past life’s memories and impulsively decided to finish off Chen Tianhao in the middle of the night.
Jiang Baozhen couldn’t do anything foolish—Lin Yingxue was still counting on her protection to nurse her body back to health in the Chen Family.
Jiang Baozhen leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Didn’t you ask me for your longevity lock during the day?
I figured if I asked Chen Ergou for it directly, he would definitely make up some excuse about losing it.
While he was in the shack visiting that bastard, I turned his room upside down but found nothing.
I’m guessing he hid your longevity lock in the pigpen.”
Hid it in the pigpen?
Lin Yingxue’s mouth twitched.
Jiang Baozhen hoisted the hoe over her shoulder and waved Lin Yingxue away.
“You go back to sleep.
I’ll bring it to you once I find it.”
“I’ll go with you,” Lin Yingxue replied, grabbing the hem of her clothes.
She glanced around and whispered, “I’ll keep watch for you.”
Seeing her insistence, Jiang Baozhen didn’t refuse.
She merely pulled Lin Yingxue’s coat tighter and buttoned it properly.
The mother and daughter walked in tandem, stepping through the scattered moonlight into the pigpen.
After years of war, the pen was completely empty; there wasn’t even a single pig hair left.
Jiang Baozhen navigated easily to a corner and pried up a bluestone slab.
According to her past life’s memories, this was exactly where Chen Huaiyuan had dug up ten taels of silver.
In her previous life, shortly after the land was distributed, Chen Huaiyuan wanted to send Chen Tianhao to a private school, but the family didn’t have enough silver coins.
Jiang Baozhen had gone back to her maiden home to borrow some, but they had no money either.
Left with no choice, they had to delay Chen Tianhao’s enrollment in the academy until after the autumn grain harvest.
Yet one day, Chen Huaiyuan suddenly announced he had silver.
Where did it come from?
He had dug it up right from under this large stone slab in the pigpen.
Back then, Chen Huaiyuan had lied to Jiang Baozhen, claiming the silver had been hidden by soldiers stationed at their house during the war and left behind in their hasty retreat.
At the time, Jiang Baozhen had been too thrilled to scrutinize the glaring holes in his story.
Now reborn, she knew this silver was actually Chen Huaiyuan’s secret stash, buried right before the whole family fled to the mountains to escape the war!
Moreover, this private fund came from him secretly selling her dowry jewelry amidst the chaos.
As for Lin Yingxue’s longevity lock?
Jiang Baozhen thought it over and guessed that two years ago, using the excuse of returning to the village to trade with the garrison for food, Chen Huaiyuan had hidden the lock in the same place as his silver.
She was going to dig up both the silver and the longevity lock before he could get his hands on them.
She wanted to completely shatter his dream of sending Chen Tianhao to the academy.
She thought bitterly, “Once the silver is gone, let’s see how you manage to send that bastard to school!”
While Lin Yingxue kept watch, Jiang Baozhen swung the hoe and silently dug into the ground.
The frozen spring soil hadn’t fully thawed yet.
She dug for a long time, working up a heavy sweat, before finally carving out a hole.
Tossing the hoe aside, Jiang Baozhen lowered her voice, unable to hide her excitement.
“I got it.”
Lin Yingxue looked over in the moonlight and saw Jiang Baozhen holding a mud-caked clay pot.
Jiang Baozhen brushed the dirt off the ceramic surface and popped the lid off.
Leaning in closer, Lin Yingxue could just make out a cloth bundle inside the pot by the light of the moon.
“Take this back to your room.
I’ll join you once I clean this up.” Afraid that Chen Huaiyuan might notice them, Jiang Baozhen didn’t take the time to inspect it.
She pulled the cloth bundle out, shoved it into Lin Yingxue’s arms, and immediately turned to bury the empty pot back in the hole.
Holding the heavy bundle, Lin Yingxue quietly slipped back to her room.
Jiang Baozhen restored the stone slab to its original position, carefully covering her tracks, before darting into Lin Yingxue’s room as well.
Lin Yingxue lit an oil lamp and untied the bundle.
The mother and daughter huddled under the flickering light as they took out the contents.
First, they pulled out a pouch of silver.
It was exactly the ten taels of silver that Chen Huaiyuan had dug up in her previous life.
Then, Jiang Baozhen tugged out the longevity lock.
Just one look at it, and her eyes grew red.
This heavy gold-plated silver longevity lock was the very one Jiang Mancang had commissioned as a one-month birth gift for “Chen Ruixue.” Back then, Jiang Baozhen’s mother, Mrs.
Yao, had personally placed it around her granddaughter’s neck, declaring that the lock would bless Ruixue with a lifetime of peace and safety.
“Take a look.
Is this your longevity lock?” Jiang Baozhen handed it over, her voice trembling.