Even though they hurried as much as they could, they still didn’t make it home before dark.
Old Man Zhao and Zhao Dashan walked in front and behind, holding torches. They reminded Mrs. Zhu and Zhao Feng to watch their steps carefully and avoid poisonous snakes, pits, and uneven ground. If they slipped or got bitten, it would be serious trouble.
The sky was filled with stars, and the sound of cicadas mixed with all kinds of noises echoed around them.
Zhao Xiaobao was curled up in the basket, fast asleep, completely unaware of what was happening outside. On this trip, she basically slept the whole way there and back, barely touching the ground.
Mrs. Zhu and Zhao Feng were so tired they couldn’t even speak. When they saw the flickering torchlight ahead and heard familiar voices from afar, they finally let out a sigh of relief—they were home at last.
“Eldest son, is that you?” Wang stood at the village entrance holding a torch. Hearing movement ahead, she stepped forward.
“Mother, it’s us!” Zhao Dashan replied quickly. The night was quiet, so his voice carried far. “Why did you come out so late?”
“Why are you back so late?” Hearing her eldest son’s voice, Wang relaxed and walked forward with Zhao Ertian. “Did something delay you on the way?”
“We were delayed a bit on the way there. Nothing serious,” Old Man Zhao said, letting out a long breath. He could finally rest.
As they spoke, the two sides met.
Zhao Ertian quickly took his father’s load, while Wang went to check on Zhao Xiaobao. Seeing her sleeping soundly, she smiled and didn’t wake her. Then she turned and saw her daughter-in-law covered in sweat, so she took her basket. It was quite heavy—she wondered what they had bought.
After meeting up, they headed home. As they passed through the village, the old yellow dog from Zhao Youcai’s house barked a few times.
When they arrived home, there was some movement from the second and third households waking up. Wang stood in the courtyard and said, “Go back to sleep. No need to get up.”
Then she went to the kitchen to bring out the food. It had been kept warm by the stove. The fire had only been put out when they left earlier, so the bowls were still hot.
Zhao Xiaobao woke up as soon as she was taken out of the basket. She had slept the whole way, and once home, she became energetic. The moment her feet touched the ground, she went straight to the basket, thinking only about the three candied hawthorn sticks wrapped in oil paper.
Mrs. Zhu took everything out of the basket—pork belly, two large bones, coarse salt, needles and thread, scissors, malt sugar, coarse flour—and placed them one by one on the table.
Wang came out of the kitchen and saw the table almost overflowing, especially the six jin of pork belly, which was very eye-catching. She couldn’t help asking, “Why did you buy so much meat?” In the past, when they went to town, buying even half a jin of pork was already a big deal. Had the old man gone mad today?
“The fat pork was sold out. It’s not easy to come to town, so I bought a few jin of fatty pork belly for you to render oil. Xiaobao likes lean meat, so I bought another two jin that are leaner,” Old Man Zhao said, sitting on a small stool and drinking water nonstop from a ladle.
Using good pork belly just to render oil—you really know how to live, Wang thought, giving him a sideways look. Still, she didn’t say anything. She looked over everything on the table and frowned again when she saw how much flour he had bought.
“We had a bowl of plain noodles in town at noon. The soup was really fresh…” Seeing his wife glare at him, Old Man Zhao chuckled awkwardly and said, “We ate well in town, but we were thinking about you all too. So I bought some flour. We have meat—later we’ll make a good meal for everyone and get some nourishment.”
They might be poor, but they shouldn’t be stingy. When they earn money, they eat; after eating, they earn again. That’s how life works—focus on the present first.
This old man couldn’t be trusted to hold money. Wang held out her hand without hesitation.
Old Man Zhao understood immediately. He first handed over the remaining copper coins from selling the eels, then searched in his clothes for a while and pulled out two handkerchiefs tied with tight knots—one of them given to him earlier by his eldest son. He handed them all to Wang.
As soon as she saw the handkerchiefs, Wang felt something was off. The silk was smooth and fine—where did he get something like this?
“What is this?” she asked, squeezing what was inside. Her expression changed slightly.
“Keep it first. I’ll explain later,” Old Man Zhao waved his hand.
It was already late at night, and she knew they had walked all day and were hungry, so she didn’t press further. She busied herself serving them food.
After they finished eating, Wang told Mrs. Zhu to go rest early and said the dishes could be cleaned the next day.
She closed the main room door, carried Zhao Xiaobao—who had just bathed—back to the room, lit an oil lamp, and soon coaxed the energetic little girl to sleep.
When Old Man Zhao came in after washing up, he saw his wife sitting cross-legged on the bed. In front of her were the valuable items wrapped in handkerchiefs. Under the oil lamp, the pile of gold looked especially striking.
“Where did you get all this?” Wang demanded sharply.
“What are you talking about? Do I look like a thief? Where would I ‘get’ it from?” Old Man Zhao said unhappily, feeling his character was being questioned. “If I say we dug it up from the ground, would you believe me?”
“Stop talking nonsense and tell me the truth! Where did this come from?” Wang punched him. She knew he had gone to sell eels to a wealthy household today, and she feared something had happened—that he had developed bad intentions and stolen these things.
No wonder he acted so strangely today, buying so much meat, salt, and flour, spending money so freely. So it turned out he had done something shady!
“Zhao Dagen! Even if we starve, we cannot steal from others!” Seeing him remain silent, Wang became more convinced of her suspicion. She was furious, worried he had brought disaster to the family. These weren’t just a few gold leaves or bracelets—there was even a long-life lock!
Who would wear a long-life lock?
It must belong to a beloved child in a wealthy family.
If so many valuable items were lost, that family would definitely report it to the authorities. If officials came to investigate, how could they possibly repay this with their lives? This foolish old man—getting more reckless with age!
“Oh, you woman, I don’t even want to argue with you. I tell the truth and you still don’t believe it,” Old Man Zhao said. He pushed her aside, climbed onto the bed, and lay down comfortably with a long sigh. Then he slowly told her everything that had happened that day. After finishing, he stretched his neck to look at their daughter sleeping sprawled on the bed and kept calling her his precious treasure. “A lucky star—she’s truly our family’s lucky star! What she produced wasn’t waste—it was gold, it was fortune!”
“Think about it—how could it be such a coincidence? As soon as we got there, she woke up, said her stomach hurt and she needed to go, and after that she insisted on digging a hole…” Old Man Zhao didn’t believe it was all coincidence. So many people passed through that area every day, and woodcutters went into the mountains constantly—why had no one else found that jar?
It just showed that the gold was meant for them. No matter who buried it or how long it had been there… whoever dug it up owned it. He hadn’t stolen or robbed anyone. With gold right in front of him, how could he not take it?
He felt no guilt about digging up someone else’s hidden treasure. He firmly believed his family was the “chosen one.”
After hearing everything, Wang looked uncertain and turned to glance at their sleeping daughter.
“You really dug this up? You didn’t steal it?” She still found it unbelievable. That morning, she had been worrying about having only a few copper coins. By night, she was holding a gold hairpin in one hand and a gold bracelet in the other?
Just the hairpin alone could sell for at least twenty or thirty taels of silver.
And they just… dug it up like that? It was like money falling from the sky.
“If you don’t believe me, ask Dashan tomorrow. He dug it up himself,” Old Man Zhao muttered as he turned over. After a full day of walking, he was exhausted. As soon as he closed his eyes, his snoring filled the room.
Wang looked at the gold in her hands. Deep down, she already believed him. She knew what kind of man her husband was—he didn’t have the courage to steal. What she said earlier was just to test him.
Thinking about how they had really dug it up, her heart began to burn with excitement.
Money… this was all money! All gold—pure gold. Even one piece pawned for silver would greatly improve their family’s situation.
What great virtue had their Zhao family accumulated in their past life to have such a daughter in this life? And she was the one who gave birth to her!
Wang tried to hold back, but in the end she couldn’t. She slapped the old man’s bent leg aside, leaned over, and gently squeezed her daughter’s chubby face. Her eyes were filled with overflowing affection.
She touched each piece of gold again, then locked them all into her money box. This would be the Zhao family’s foundation from now on. It had to be hidden somewhere safe.
The box had originally been hidden under the bed, but now she felt that wasn’t safe enough.
Not under the bed, not in the cabinet, not in the wall cracks…
In the middle of the night, she wandered around the room anxiously, like a headless fly. Finally, her gaze landed on the sleeping Zhao Xiaobao.
Old Man Zhao, snoring loudly, was slapped again. Wang moved beside her daughter, took her small hands in her rough ones, and muttered softly, “Xiaobao, Mother wants to go to that immortal place. Xiaobao, take Mother there. Little fairy, show your power…”
Holding the money box, Wang suddenly disappeared from the spot.
She found herself in that familiar place again. Standing on solid ground, her legs still trembled. With both gratitude and fear, she looked at the land that had been cleared not far away. Slowly, she walked to the large peach tree and saw her daughter sleeping soundly beneath it. She went over and picked her up.
She had come here many times—from initial fear to now being familiar with it. Yet she never felt at ease. She always held a sense of reverence for this place. If not for this year’s poor harvest and the lack of food for the whole family, she and her husband would never have dared to think of reclaiming land here to farm.
She sat down on some logs her husband had brought in to build a house, holding her daughter, and looked up at the sun in the sky.
In this immortal place, the weather seemed to follow no rules—sun, rain, day, and night changed unpredictably every time they came.
Was this how things worked in a place where immortals lived?
Was this their kind of order?
Wang looked down at her sleeping daughter. Because she was still young, she always thought her parents and family came into her dreams to play with her. In truth, it was the parents taking advantage of her, using her without her understanding.
Wang placed the box beside the peach tree, then held her daughter and squatted down, digging a hole in the ground with a branch.
There was no safer place than this.