The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

Chen Guanglu must have held a grudge about his wife’s betrayal.

However, for the time being, he couldn’t act against the Chen Family, so he just came to gather some information.

As for his resentment towards the Jiang Family, it was a certainty.

“Yingbao, is Chen Tiantian really studying at the town’s medical bureau?” Chen Zhao asked, “So, is she with you?”

Yingbao: “Yes, she is in the medical department of the bureau, and I am in the Yin Yang Department; we hardly see each other.”

Chen Zhao asked again, “Since she is at the town’s medical bureau, why hasn’t she returned with you?”

“I’m not sure,” Yingbao, still preoccupied with Chen Guanglu’s affairs, asked Chen Zhao, “Is Chen Guanglu still at your house?”

“He left a long time ago,” Chen Zhao turned and took her younger brother’s hand, saying, “What I told you must not be divulged to others, and neither can my grandparents know.”

Yingbao nodded, thought about it, then took a pair of beaded flowers from her purse and handed them to Chen Zhao. “I bought these in the county town. You can wear them.”

In her previous life, Chen Zhao loved beauty the most. If she had some money, she would buy some cheap jewelry to put on her head. This pair of beaded flowers was like a favor in return.

Chen Zhao chuckled, held the beaded flowers, looked at them over and over, carefully putting them into her waist pouch. She then suddenly leaned into Yingbao’s ear and said, “I have to tell you something else. It’s about Chen Erya.”

Yingbao blinked her eyes and perked up her ears to listen.

“That Chen Erya knows witchcraft,” Chen Zhao said in a low voice, “She once told me that she learned a spell from her stepfather. It uses a person’s hair sewn onto a cloth doll to curse the person, making that person unlucky.”

Yingbao:

She suddenly had some understanding of why Chen Tiantian kept trying to ingratiate herself.

Was she trying to pluck Yingbao’s hair to create a voodoo doll?

All of Yingbao’s toiletries, including her comb, were casually thrown into her cave dwelling.

Even the singular hairs that fell off when combing were picked up by her, balled up, and stored in the cave dwelling. This meant outsiders wouldn’t have the opportunity to get her hair.

She hadn’t expected that this action had successfully helped her avoid Chen Tiantian’s tricks.

Chen Zhao added: “When I heard her say that, it scare me. Since then, every hair I comb off is burnt by me.”

She then looked at Yingbao and said, “You have to be careful of her. Because when she used to sleep with me, she would often talk in her sleep. She said that you stole her things and that she must get them back from you.”

Yingbao was speechless.

She stole Chen Tiantian’s stuff?

For both her past and present lives, and even in the story in her mind, she hardly had any interaction with Chen Tiantian. What could she possibly steal from her?

Chen Zhao patted Yingbao’s shoulder and said, “I’ve only told you this. You can’t betray me.”

“Alright.” Yingbao nodded.

At this moment, Xubao, who was standing next to them, licked his lips and suddenly called out, “Sister Yingbao.”

Yingbao gave him a glance, “What?”

Xubao reached out with his dirty little hand to hold hers, wearing a big smile, “I want to eat more fruits.”

Yingbao hesitated for a moment, then took out two milk cakes from her bag and gave them to him, “You just had some fruit, so now eat these.”

The milk cakes were made by his older sister-in-law. Yingbao valued them too much to eat them, so she kept them in her cave dwelling all along.

She had given some to Niuniu earlier, and a few she had left untouched, so she decided to give those to Xubao now.

Xubao was very happy, shoving one piece into his mouth and giving the other to Chen Zhao.

Yingbao silently watched this two or three-year-old child. Thinking of Xubao’s wilfulness and arrogance in his previous life and juxtaposing it with his current state, his face still bearing some bruises, she suddenly felt a bit sorry for him.

His father, Chen Changping, seemed to cherish this son of his, but didn’t appear to care about his living conditions.

As for Chen’s father-in-law and wife, they seemed to dislike him even more, otherwise they wouldn’t have let Chu Man secretly mistreat him.

Chen Zhao and Chen Wan had no time to take care of this little brother, as the two of them had a lot of work to do every day.

Gathering pigweed, collecting firewood, sifting rice, washing clothes, cooking meals, and even more tasks out in the farmland and the vegetable garden kept them busy all day. By evening, they had to fetch water from the well.

Being so caught up in their work, they couldn’t pay much attention to Xubao, opening up an opportunity for her stepmother to exploit.

“Let’s go home,” called Chen Zhao to Yingbao before leading his younger brother back.

Yingbao nodded and started making her way home.

Once she saw her father, she immediately relayed what Chen Zhao had told her, “Chen Guanglu has returned and has threatened our family. Father, please take care, especially when Jiang Wu is out alone.”

Jiang Sanlang pondered for a moment, “I understand. Be careful in town as well. I’ll also remind Jiang Quan to bring more people with him when he’s traveling back and forth from town.”

Yingbao went into her room and came back with a large bag of medicine, handing it to her father. “These should be kept at home for emergencies; they include both wound treatments and antidotes.”

Jiang Sanlang accepted the bag of medicine and handed it to his wife for safekeeping. To his daughter, he warned, “I heard the child from Chen Guanglu’s family has been bothering you, be careful of her tricks.”

With a casual wave of her hand, Yingbao dismissed the warning. “I’ve already seen through her petty tricks. You don’t need to worry, she wouldn’t dare to kill.”

After all, a life for a life. No matter how much Chen Tiantian hates her, she wouldn’t dare to harbor murderous intentions.

The busy month on the farm quickly passed by.

Instead of rushing back to town, Yingbao decided to stay home longer and help her aunt recover her health.

Most of the Jiang family’s fields were now tended by hired hands, so the household chores were relatively light.

Mother Jiang and her daughter-in-law sat under the grape trellis to enjoy the cool air, discussing the old house.

“At some point, we should fix up the old house. I inspected it a few days ago, and if we don’t do something soon, it will collapse.”

The eldest Daughter-in-law, part of the Zhou family, acted indifferent. “Why bother repairing it? We aren’t going to live there.”

Mother Jiang shot her a glare. “Even if we don’t live there, we should still repair it. After all, it’s our ancestral home.”

She turned to Chunniang and said, “Let Sanlang know. Ask him to hire more people to do the job. It should be done in ten days or so.”

Chunniang responded half-heartedly and then returned to working on the sole of a shoe.

Seeing that her third daughter-in-law wasn’t taking her words seriously, Mother Jiang became displeased. Just then, she spotted Yingbao and waved her over, “Baobao, come over here.”

Yingbao walked over and sat beside her.

Mother Jiang asked with a smile, “Baobao, what do you think about us repairing the old house?”

After thinking for a moment, Yingbao nodded, “That could work, but mere repairs aren’t enough. We need to raise the foundation and build a new house.”

If we are to construct a house, the foundation of the old house must first be raised with large stones. The height, too, should be at least one ‘Zhang’ (10 Chinese feet).

However, such a project would be massive and since we weren’t going to live there, it seemed like a waste of money.

Upon hearing her granddaughter voice similar concerns, the old lady sighed and dropped the idea. “Forget it, we’ll talk about it later.”

Seeing their mother-in-law finally relenting, the two daughters-in-law couldn’t help but suppress a laugh.

Yingbao tilted her head and thought for a while.

Without the threat of flood, the old village would have actually been the most convenient place to live.

A small stream ran through the village with fertile fields on both sides. The village was shaded by green trees, and planting fruit trees and flowers would make the scenery even more pleasant.

What’s more, its proximity to North Mountain made it convenient for collecting firewood and harvesting hemp.

However, those were mere whims. Moving back to the old village was simply unrealistic.

The severe flooding that would occur in three years was enough to sweep away all such fantasies.

A few days later, when Jiang Quan returned to transport fruit, Yingbao tagged along on his carriage back to town.

On the day she arrived, she encountered her cousin arriving with his new bride to pay their respect to their mother.

At that moment, Jiang Yunniang was in the shop helping out and was caught off guard by her son. She was forced to face this girl, Qiu Ling, who was paying her respect.

The girl was around seventeen or eighteen, with a slim face that revealed a certain frailness. She bore a resemblance to Zhang Jia’s concubine, which only irritated Jiang Yunniang more.

Yingbao pulled her aunt back to reality.