The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

Seeing Chen Wan’s resistance, she continued, “If it’s reasonable, I will pay you fifty taels of silver as a reward.”

Fifty taels was no small sum, even after running a food stall for so long, Chen Zhao and Chen Wan had not managed to save that much money.

Chen Zhao’s eyes lit up, passionately signaling his big sister.

Yingbao was famously rich in the village, no one knew exactly how much money she had, but everyone knew she was very wealthy. Even the matchmaker dared not casually speak to her about engagements.

If she said fifty taels, she would certainly give fifty taels.

Chen Wan looked back at her hesitant mother-in-law, and after a long time of hesitation, she finally nodded, “Follow me.”

She was indeed short of money.

It was because she was short of money that she had to come here.

If possible, she just wanted to remain unmarried for her entire life, living with her younger siblings until old age.

Unexpectedly, Yingbao was willing to pay fifty taels for her dream.

After thinking it over, Chen Wan agreed.

It was just a dream, so what if she told her about the strange memory?

Yingbao followed Chen Wan to a seclusion, quietly observing her.

Feeling uneasy under her gaze, Chen Wan asked, “Why do you want to know about my dream?”

“Because you said I was your sister.” Yingbao replied emotionlessly.

Chen Wan lowered her head.

Yingbao: “You can tell me now, why did you say I was your sister?”

Chen Wan frowned, unsure how to explain.

Yingbao: “What did you dream about? Tell me everything from beginning to end. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

Seeing Chen Wan still hesitating, she added, “If you tell me in detail, I will give an extra ten taels. With these sixty taels of silver, you can marry with dignity, without the stigma of a runaway bride. You can also take your siblings to the county town, buy a small house there, and make a living from some small business.”

There were indeed houses in the county town that were worth dozens of taels, albeit shabby and remote. They could still be lived in after some tidying up.

“I will tell.” Chen Wan finally made up her mind, “The dream I had was bizarre, I hope you won’t take it seriously.”

Yingbao listened attentively.

Chen Wan thought for a moment, then slowly spoke.

“I often dream the same dream, where you are my third younger sister, named Yaya, and when you grew up your name became Chen Ying. When you were six, dad passed the Scholar examination, and our whole family moved to the county town. Then dad passed another examination, and became the County Magistrate, afterwards, you… you became an expert in medical skills, saved Xiao Chengjun’s father, and then later, you married Xiao Chengjun…”

Yingbao listened expressionlessly, seeing that Chen Wan stopped, she urged, “Continue.”

“In the year when you were twenty-one, you suddenly died. Xiao Chengjun, who was now the regent prince, had your coffin sent back to our hometown, and also ordered our whole family to return.”

Chen Wan’s lips trembled slightly: “The ship carrying the coffin encountered a storm in the middle of the river… ”

In the storm, her angry parents pushed the coffin into the river.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the coffin fell into the water, a wave came and overturned the entire ship.

She and her siblings miraculously survived, rescued by fishermen, but their parents were not so fortunate.

Yingbao asked, “What happened afterward?”

Chen Wan: “Then I woke up.” She didn’t want to tell Yingbao about those things, because in the dream, herself and her siblings all hated her, blaming her for her sudden death, which not only brought disaster to the family but also killed their parents.

Yingbao chuckled: “You’re not being honest, I just want to hear your real dream, not this fabrication.”

Chen Wan was stunned: “How… how do you…” It was true that she omitted a lot, but how could she let Yingbao know about those parts?

“You didn’t mention why there’s a birthmark on my wrist, who I learned medical skills from, and you concealed the name taboo of the Empress Dowager.”

These were all crucial.

Because the dream of Chen Wan was exactly like the plot of the book, almost identical.

Chen Wan was stunned.

She didn’t know why her third sister in the dream would have medical skills.

Because when her third sister was brought home by her mother, she already had medical skills.

Yingbao squinted at Chen Wan, “It’s just a dream, I’m just curious, there is no other meaning, you can tell the truth.”

Chen Wan gritted her teeth, “In the dream, you were raised by… by a Taoist priest since you were a child, there is a Taoist Temple on the North Mountain, called Jiuyang Temple, you grew up in the temple from an early age, you were found and brought home by mother when you were five years old, the scar on your wrist was left when you were nine years old, I do not know what happened, I didn’t see it in the dream. As for the Empress Dowager, she is Chen Tiantian, your mother’s niece.”

Yingbao smiled, “Very good. I have one last question, how old did Chen Tiantian live in your dream?”

Chen Wan shook her head in confusion: “I’m not sure, later I was living in the countryside with my brothers and sisters, I had no news from the court.”

“Good.” Yingbao patted Chen Wan’s shoulder and took out six taels of silver from her bag: “Here! Sixty taels, not one coin short, if you have another interesting dream in the future, come tell me, I will pay for it.”

Chen Wan took the silver, a little unbelieving.

Yingbao really paid her to tell her dream.

Wasn’t she afraid she might lie to her?

After coming back from Chen Wan’s house, Yingbao ran directly to ask Chunniang: “Mother, is there a Taoist Temple on North Mountain?”

Chunniang looked at her daughter in confusion: “Taoist Temple? I haven’t heard of it, you can go ask your grandfather, um, or ask your Grandpa Chen.”

After all, the Chen Family had been living here generation after generation.

Yingbao nodded her head, then ran to ask the Clan Leader Chen: “Grandpa Chen, was there a Taoist Temple on North Mountain before?”

Clan Leader Chen stroked his beard and thought for a while, then said: “There was indeed a Taoist Temple on North Mountain, but it was burned down by a huge fire a long time ago.”

Yingbao’s eyes lit up: “What was the name of that Taoist Temple?”

“I think it’s called Jiuyang Temple. I heard about it from my grandfather when I was a kid, he said the Taoist ancestor from Jiuyang Temple was very efficacious, people in the family who had headaches and fevers would get better after burning a stick of incense there. Ah, hardly anyone knows about that temple now.”

“Jiuyang Temple?” Yingbao frowned more tightly.

There really was a Jiuyang Temple.

“Grandpa, do you know where that Taoist Temple is?” Yingbao asked.

Clan Leader Chen shook his head: “I don’t know. But there’s a Jiuyang Peak on North Mountain, I wonder if it’s there.”

“Where is Jiuyang Peak?” Yingbao kept asking.

“Jiuyang Peak? That’s quite far, it’s several miles away from North Mountain.” Actually, Clan Leader Chen had never been there, because the place was too remote, deep in the mountains and forests, and there were rumors of wild animals roaming around.

After leaving the Clan Leader’s house, Yingbao stood dazed in the orchard for a long time.

She had memories of her past life, but so did Chen Wan.

The key was that her memories were exactly the same story in her own mind.

Yingbao rubbed her forehead.

What on earth was happening?

If she wanted to understand the connection between Chen Wan’s memory and the story in her own mind, she had to go to Jiuyang Peak to take a look.

After making her decision, Yingbao headed home.

On the way, she suddenly encountered a pair of messengers wearing red silk around their waist, they were galloping towards her home on swift horses.

“Congratulations to Young Master Jiang Yuanbao for ranking ninth in the prefectural examination!”

The two messengers had been singing praises all the way since they entered the village, and they occasionally rang the gong in their hands: “Congratulations to Young Master Jiang Yuanbao for ranking ninth in the prefectural examination!”

Yingbao was stunned, and ran home quickly.