“Second Sister-in-law, what are you saying? What does this have to do with me? I never wanted to falsely accuse you. This girl was the one acting on her own because she doesn’t know any better. Please don’t take it to heart. She’s still just a child. Why would you argue with an eight-year-old?
Besides, the family still hasn’t split up yet. Even if you really dug up ginseng, it should be handed over to the family funds. Even if it were sold for silver, the money should still belong to the family. Second Sister-in-law, don’t tell me you were planning to keep it all for yourself?”
Zhao Shiyu curled her lips.
“Grandpa always says, ‘If the upper beam isn’t straight, the lower beam will be crooked.’ A person should be upright and honorable so they can set a good example for future generations.
Eighth Sister has so many little schemes in her head and casually throws out accusations. Who knows whether she learned it from the adults around her?
There’s an old saying: dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes. Children naturally resemble the people who raised them. Sons take after their fathers, daughters take after their mothers. If Eighth Sister turned out like this, maybe it’s because ‘like mother, like daughter.’
Still, Eighth Sister, I truly admire you. Mother exposed you for trying to slack off, and you actually managed to come up with such an excuse. Didn’t you even think about whether your excuse made sense? Do you think everyone else is as stupid as you are?
Well… maybe your mother believed you.”
“Seventh Girl, I’m your aunt at least. What kind of way is this to speak to me? Where are your manners?”
“My daughter’s manners are perfectly fine. You should worry about disciplining your own daughter first. Mine doesn’t need your concern.”
“Enough! Stop arguing already! Every single day you people only know how to cause trouble for me. First thing in the morning and all I hear is shouting, shouting, shouting. Keep it up and none of you will get lunch today!”
Old Madam Zhao glared coldly at everyone before turning to Madam Jiang.
“Second Son’s wife, open your bundle and let everyone take a look inside. That’ll shut the mouths of certain people with ill intentions.”
As she spoke, she fiercely glared at Zhao Shiying.
This granddaughter was becoming more and more unpleasant.
Even if there really was ginseng, couldn’t she have secretly told her grandmother in private?
Why did she have to shout about it in the courtyard for everyone to hear?
By now, the neighboring households had probably all heard it too.
Just like her mother—not a single peaceful bone in her body!
Although Madam Jiang felt wronged, she still untied the bundle.
Inside were only two dry flatbreads wrapped in a handkerchief and one of Zhao Shiyu’s old clothes.
There was nothing else.
As for why she brought an extra set of clothes, that had been Zhao Shiyu’s idea.
Using her daughter’s exact words:
“The rabbits and medicinal herbs are hidden in the mountains. Once we get there, Mom can stand watch while I go retrieve them. Bring an extra outer shirt for me. I’ll wear it over my clothes afterward so I don’t dirty what I’m wearing and make people suspicious.”
After confirming the bundle contained only those two things and nothing more, Zhao Shiyu even stepped closer to Old Madam Zhao.
“Grandma, why don’t you search me too? Otherwise some people might really think we’re hiding ginseng on us and planning to secretly keep the silver for ourselves.”
Old Madam Zhao stared at Zhao Shiyu for a few moments before finally reaching out and patting her down.
Only after confirming there was nothing hidden on her did she speak:
“Enough. Today’s matter ends here. No one is allowed to keep arguing about it.
Second Son’s wife, if you’re taking the child back to your maiden home, then hurry up and go. Leave early and come back early. Don’t dawdle on the road for too long.
Everyone else, grab your buckets and dippers and come with me to the fields.”
Old Madam Zhao certainly wasn’t staying behind.
She was going to supervise the work personally to keep her sons and daughters-in-law from slacking off.
Did they really think this old woman didn’t know what they were thinking?
Ever since each of her sons formed their own little families, every single one of them only knew how to calculate for themselves in private.
Whenever one branch of the family did even a tiny bit more work than the others, they acted as though they had suffered a massive loss.
[Nothing? How could there be nothing? Could it be that the ginseng hasn’t been dug up yet? But according to the novel, she was supposed to find the ginseng a few days after transmigrating here. Did I really overthink things?]
[No, that’s not right! The way this mother and daughter pair are sneaking around definitely means they’re up to something. Too bad I can’t keep following them today…
And the novel never mentioned Madam Jiang taking her back to the Jiang family either…
Don’t tell me this is because of the butterfly effect I caused? That’s way too ridiculous.]
While Zhao Shiying’s thoughts were spiraling in every direction, Madam Jiang had already retied the bundle and slung it back over her arm.
Then she instructed her daughter:
“Seventh Girl, go carry the basket and bring two small shovels too. We’ll dig some wild vegetables on the way back.”
“Got it, Mom.”
Zhao Shiyu obediently went to carry her basket on her back and placed two small shovels inside.
This had already been planned between the two of them.
Without the basket as cover, transporting the medicinal herbs and rabbits would be difficult.
Zhao Shiying could only watch the mother and daughter leave with an unwilling expression.
Once they finally avoided everyone’s line of sight and reached the mountain path, Zhao Shiyu checked around to make sure nobody was nearby before leading Madam Jiang into the woods beside the road.
“Mom, help keep watch here. I’ll go bring out the herbs and rabbits.”
“Alright. Put on this outer shirt first so you don’t dirty the clothes you’re wearing.”
Zhao Shiyu accepted the clothes and quickly pulled them on over herself before carrying the basket deeper into the forest.
Only after she was completely out of Madam Jiang’s sight did she stop to rest for a moment while carefully observing her surroundings for other people.
After confirming no one else was nearby, she prepared to take the rabbits and medicinal herbs out of the space.
But with one casual glance, she suddenly spotted a cluster of red.
Zhao Shiyu’s heart stirred.
She immediately remembered the “ginseng” the transmigrator girl had been thinking about earlier.
Could that cluster of red actually be ginseng berries?
She instantly forgot about taking the rabbits out and hurried over instead.
Looking at the tiny cluster of red berries, it really was ginseng.
The reason she could recognize so many medicinal herbs was thanks to a large-scale survival game she had played before transmigrating.
Back then, she had acquired a thief skill that allowed her to steal a complete plant encyclopedia from another player.
Inside were illustrations and explanations for all kinds of wild vegetables and grasses.
It also included medicinal herb illustrations, explanations of their effects, and even methods for harvesting and processing every type of herb.
At the time, that book hadn’t been especially useful in the survival game.
But it worked well enough for killing time during boring moments.
Besides, wild vegetables could supplement vitamins and occasionally improve their meals.
Since it was the only book she had ever obtained in the entire game, it eventually became her main source of entertainment.
Over time, she reread it so many times that even she lost count.
The pages had practically become frayed from constant flipping.
Only because of that was she able to memorize nearly all its contents by heart.
She never could have imagined that she would later transmigrate into this ancient world—
And that the plant encyclopedia stored in her mind would actually become a small golden finger of its own.