“Why did you take these?”
Back at the ancestral home, Tang Hao had been too upset to pay attention to what Tang Youyou was taking.
It wasn’t until everything had been brought out that he finally saw what she had picked.
“What are these things? No. I’m going to talk to your grandmother.”
“No need!”
Tang Youyou reached out to stop him.
“I want these. You don’t understand their value.”
She took out the painting by Qi Baishi that she had liked the most.
She hadn’t expected to find an authentic Qi Baishi here.
The painting might not be worth much right now, but decades later, it would be worth an astronomical amount.
Of course, she couldn’t exactly pat her chest and tell them that right now.
Tang Hao simply felt that his daughter had gotten the short end of the stick.
There were so many good things in the old lady’s room.
“The things I took are actually the best ones.”
Seeing that Tang Hao still didn’t believe her, Tang Youyou spread her hands.
“The last few authentic antiques in Grandma’s room are all here.”
Those words caused quite a stir.
Even Tang Hao didn’t react for a moment.
Tang Jiaojiao asked, “Sis, are you saying the antiques displayed in Grandma’s room are fake?”
She was Zhou Ping’s daughter, and Cai Jinhe had never liked her.
As a result, she rarely had a chance to visit the ancestral home, let alone enter Cai Jinhe’s room.
Zhou Ping looked at Tang Hao, whose brows were tightly furrowed, silently asking him with her eyes.
Tang Hao shook his head in silence.
Ever since he had learned twenty years ago that Cai Jinhe wasn’t his biological mother, he had stopped hoping for that nonexistent maternal affection.
After moving out of the ancestral home, he rarely went back except during holidays.
And today, he had been too anxious, and Tang Youyou had hurt his feelings so badly that he really hadn’t paid attention.
Tang Youyou shrugged.
“They’re real. But those counterfeits are extremely convincing. Anyone without a trained eye really wouldn’t be able to tell.”
Cai Jinhe was one of those people.
Cai Jinhe’s origins had always been a taboo subject in the Tang family.
Rumor had it that she had climbed into Old Master Tang’s bed while Tang Hao’s biological mother was pregnant.
If she hadn’t gotten pregnant, Old Master Tang wouldn’t have acknowledged her.
But the country had been in turmoil back then, and everyone in the capital had been living in fear.
By now, very few people still knew the truth about Cai Jinhe’s background.
Cai Jinhe hadn’t always been called Cai Jinhe.
Her original name was Cai Xiaohe.
It was only after she gave birth to Tang Zhen—and after Tang Hao’s biological mother died when he was two—that she was officially elevated to the position of wife.
She had also taken the opportunity to change her name to something that sounded more refined and scholarly.
But a pheasant could never truly become a phoenix.
She had spent decades pretending to be one, yet she didn’t even realize that the antiques in her room had been quietly replaced.
Zhou Ping and Tang Hao exchanged a glance.
Judging from Tang Hao’s expression, he seemed to have realized something.
He sighed.
“When your grandfather passed away, he told me that Tang Zhen wasn’t cut out for business and asked me to keep an eye on him.
“He knew I was softhearted and was afraid that the Tang family’s century-old business would be ruined by my excessive mercy, so that’s when he told me about my real parentage.”
He looked at Tang Youyou.
“Your grandfather and your mother both passed away so suddenly. At that time, I finally understood something.
“Life is only a few short decades. No one knows when an accident might happen.
“Rather than forcing yourself to do things you don’t like, it was better to take a step back and enjoy life while you could.
“Besides, during those two years, your grandmother and Second Uncle’s intentions had become increasingly obvious. There was constant infighting and faction-building within the Tang family’s businesses and department stores.
“I hated putting on false smiles and playing those political games with them, so I simply used the Land Reform as an opportunity to donate most of the family fortune.
“That enraged your grandmother, and in the end, I handed over the position of family head.”
So there had been such a story behind it.
Tang Youyou looked at Tang Hao with nothing but admiration.
To be able to remain clear-headed enough to give up such enormous wealth and status and withdraw in time…
*He really had his priorities straight.*
“So…” Tang Youyou summed it up. “Second Uncle isn’t cut out for business, so the Tang family has actually been spending more than it’s been earning for years.
“To cover those huge financial holes, he sold off the antiques in Grandma’s room?”
Tang Hao nodded heavily.
Clearly, he had come to the same conclusion.
The living room fell silent for a moment.
There was an indescribably heavy stillness in the air.
Tang Jiaojiao looked at Tang Hao, then at Tang Youyou, and asked worriedly,
“What do we do now? Our family doesn’t have any money left.
“How about I give my betrothal gifts to Sis as her dowry?”
She really couldn’t go three sentences without mentioning her sister.
Tang Youyou felt incredibly lucky that after transmigrating, she’d ended up with such a sister-con.
She laughed and pinched Tang Jiaojiao’s cheek.
“You don’t need to worry about that. Didn’t you hear Dad say that he’s saved a lot of money over the years?”
“Exactly!”
Tang Hao suddenly developed a strong competitive spirit after watching his younger daughter constantly trying to show off in front of his other daughter.
He waved his hand grandly.
“What are you afraid of? Do you really think I simply handed over the position of family head without making any preparations?
“If I had to rely on the tiny allowance Tang Zhen gives me every month, wouldn’t I have starved you all to death?
“Don’t worry. You girls will both have dowries. It’s just…”
He glanced at Zhou Ping’s belly, and his tone softened.
“We’ll have to divide some of what we originally prepared for you between the children.
“But don’t worry. If your little brother grows up and doesn’t treat you well, tell Dad. I’ll spank him for you.”
As for why he assumed it would be a younger brother—
If it were a girl, she’d naturally be another little angel to warm their hearts.
Inside the small two-story house, the family was enjoying a warm and intimate moment.
At the same time, behind the closed doors of the Tang family’s ancestral home, another conversation about the future was taking place.
After Tang Zhen returned home, Cai Jinhe told him about Tang Yue wanting to swap marriages.
He sat on the exquisite pearwood chair on the right and took a sip of pigeon soup before frowning at Tang Yue.
“Why?”
Tang Yue lightly bit her lip.
Using the same excuse she had used to deceive Cai Jinhe, she said,
“I dreamed about Grandpa last night. He told me that Qin Yuchen wasn’t a suitable husband for me.”
Tang Zhen showed no reaction.
Tang Yue wasn’t sure whether he believed her, but she had to keep going.
“Grandpa said Qin Yuchen has another woman outside, and that woman is pregnant.
“The reason the Qin family is in such a hurry to marry me off is to cover up the fact that she’s pregnant.
“She wants to use me as a scapegoat. Once the baby is born, they’ll claim it’s mine.”
Remembering her previous life, Tang Yue’s heart tightened.
In her previous life, she had entered the Qin family with a heart full of excitement.
But on her wedding night, what awaited her was Qin Yuchen’s cold ridicule.
He had cursed her for being shameless and for not knowing her place.
He had said that she actually thought she could drag the Qin family down with her.
He would never love her in this lifetime.
She had anxiously tried to explain, but Qin Yuchen hadn’t given her the slightest chance.
He had slammed the door and walked away.
She had been imprisoned in the Qin family just like that.
A month later, news spread that she was pregnant.
That was followed by eight straight months of being kept at home “waiting for the baby.”
For nine months, let alone being allowed to see outsiders, she hadn’t even been permitted to leave the small courtyard where she lived.
She wanted to ask about her parents and younger brother, but she was told that the Qin family had no intention of helping them.
She had cried, thrown tantrums, and begged.
What she eventually received was an adopted son who was already four months old.
She had been forced to raise Qin Yuchen and his lover’s child.
She thought that this was simply how the rest of her life would be.
But she never imagined something even more vicious was waiting for her.
Even now, her heart still trembled at the memory—
the sensation of a sharp blade being driven into her heart by the very adopted son she had raised.
“And what else?”
Tang Yue suddenly snapped back to reality.
She clutched the fabric over her chest and gasped for breath.
She looked at Tang Zhen’s cold, indifferent expression, and the jealousy she felt toward Tang Youyou surged through her once again.
*Why?*
*Why could that idiot Tang Youyou receive all her parents’ love, while her own father couldn’t even be bothered to look at her?*
Even after she told him that Qin Yuchen had another woman and an illegitimate child outside, her father could still calmly ask what came next.
No!
Her father wasn’t Grandma.
He wouldn’t be fooled by a few words from her.
What Tang Zhen cared about most was his reputation, the future of the Tang family, and his son.
With that thought, Tang Yue’s eyes sharpened.
“Grandpa also said that if I marry into the Qin family, my younger brother will die within a month.”