Chapter 3

Yang Wan retched once and hurriedly ran away from the troublesome place, clutching the bundle of vegetable leaves in her hands. By now, the sky was beginning to brighten. Behind her, the man's furious curses and the woman's screams could still be heard. She followed the same route back and only then realized that the path the navigation system had taken her along really wasn't a proper road. As far as the navigation system was concerned, anything a person could walk through wasn't an obstacle. She wondered whether the half-star danger warning had referred to the two people having an affair or the butcher-like man. She had crossed a partially dried-up riverbed to reach the house on the opposite bank. In reality, taking the proper village path would have required going around nearly half the village. Yang Wan had just jumped into the river, intending to throw the disgusting bundle into the water and wash it, when someone nearby suddenly shouted: "Someone's jumped into the river!" Yang Wan had no choice but to clutch the bundle tightly and shout toward the riverbank: "Why are you shouting nonsense? I'm just collecting river snails!" She reached into the mud and, sure enough, pulled out a handful of river snails. The person approached. Yang Wan immediately felt that something was wrong. It was Liu Cuihua, the village's notorious gossip. She had married Yang Wan's fourth uncle, a distant relative from the Yang family. Yang Wan had to address her as Fourth Aunt. "Oh my! It's Wanya! You nearly scared your Fourth Aunt to death!" Liu Cuihua's tiny, mung-bean-like eyes peered out from her round, doughy face. They were filled with the excitement of someone who had just stumbled upon juicy gossip. She put down her dirty laundry, moved closer to Yang Wan, and lowered her voice. However, she could barely contain her excitement. "Wanya, I heard the Chen family ran away! Were you so upset that you tried to take your own life? Listen to your Fourth Aunt. Those scholars are no good! Honestly, it's still our farming families who are the most dependable!" "That Chen boy has nothing going for him except his fair, handsome face. Did you know? The Qiu family was cheated out of hundreds of taels of silver by him. That poor girl even hanged herself. You were actually lucky!" Lucky? Yang Wan's hand, which was holding the river snails, suddenly froze. She had been so focused on the silver that she hadn't wanted to pay attention to this long-tongued woman. "Did she really die?" Yang Wan couldn't help looking up and asking. Just then, an angry voice rang out. "Fourth Aunt! What kind of nonsense are you telling my little sister so early in the morning?!" It was Yang Yong. His square, dark-skinned face was filled with concern as he looked at Yang Wan, clearly afraid that Liu Cuihua's words might upset her. Liu Cuihua looked somewhat embarrassed. "I was only making a little casual conversation. Nephew, you're being rather unreasonable!" However, she knew that although Yang Yong was somewhat simple-minded, he wasn't someone who would tolerate nonsense. She immediately turned around and went back to washing her clothes. It turned out that Zhou Chunxiu had gotten up that morning and discovered that her daughter's room was empty. She had been so frightened that she nearly lost her wits, immediately sending the entire family out to search for her. "Little sister, why are you up so early? The water is cold! Hurry and come out!" Yang Yong reached out to pull Yang Wan from the river. But Yang Wan was still standing on top of the bundle of silver. How could she possibly leave? She raised a handful of river snails. "Eldest Brother, hurry home and get a basin! I've collected so many river snails!" Yang Yong wanted to tell her that river snails had very little meat and weren't particularly tasty. But then he thought about how his little sister now understood the family's difficult circumstances. She had never worked in the fields before, yet here she was, getting up so early to look for food. His heart ached. Thinking about how Chen Guansheng had deceived his little sister, he wished he could punch that bastard to death. Nevertheless, he pretended to be calm and nodded. "Alright, I'll go home and get a basin. You come up onto the riverbank first." "I'll come up in a moment, Eldest Brother. Hurry!" Although Yang Wan said that, she had absolutely no intention of getting out of the water. What if the current carried away the silver? All her efforts would have been wasted! At that moment, faint sounds began coming from the direction of Yinxiang's house. Liu Cuihua immediately stopped washing her clothes. Carrying her laundry basin, she hurried off to watch the commotion. Before leaving, she glanced at Yang Wan, who was still standing in the water, and muttered: "Has the water gone into her brain and turned her into an idiot?" Not long afterward, Yang Yong returned with a basin. Yang Wan placed the money bag inside and covered it with the muddy river snails. Yang Yong was just about to rinse everything clean when Yang Wan stopped him. "Brother, that's enough. Let's go home and have breakfast!" Yang Yong couldn't understand why his little sister wanted to go home after collecting so few river snails. But since they couldn't really serve as a proper meal anyway, he obediently followed her home. Along the way, they encountered several villagers who had come to the river to collect water. After exchanging greetings, Yang Wan heard them whispering behind her. "Does their family really have to resort to eating those things now?" "They have to save money to avoid military service, don't they? I heard they've already sold all their grain." "Has their situation really become that bad? Or are they deliberately putting on a show so we won't come knocking to borrow money?" It turned out that the Yang family hadn't told anyone in the village that the original Yang Wan had stolen their savings. The villagers only knew that she had thrown herself into a well because Chen Guansheng had gotten engaged to another woman. Walking ahead of her, Yang Yong spoke in a low voice. "Little sister, don't worry. At worst, I'll ask Father to sell a few mu of farmland. Once the crops are harvested, I'll go to the county town and find work carrying heavy loads. I'll definitely earn enough to buy the land back." Yang Wan could only nod as she gazed expectantly at the wooden basin in her hands. When the family saw that Yang Wan had returned home safe and sound, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. Zhou Chunxiu scolded her. "You silly girl! Why did you go out so early without telling anyone?" Her eldest sister-in-law, Wu Fen, reached out to take the wooden basin from her hands. "Little sister, you must be tired. Let me wash these river snails for you." Yang Wan refused to let go of the basin. Instead, she turned toward Yang Yong and said: "Eldest Brother, hurry and close the door first!" Before Yang Yong could even move, Yang Li quickly shut the door, keeping his eyes fixed on Yang Wan as he waited to see what she would do next. "Eldest Sister-in-law, let's carry this into the inner room!" The entire family then gathered around Yang Wan in the inner room, where she placed the half-basin of dirty river snails on the dining table. The bowls and chopsticks had already been arranged, and everyone had been preparing to eat breakfast. Yang Wan wanted to reach into the basin and rummage through the snails, but the thought of touching them still made her feel disgusted. In the end, she picked up a pair of chopsticks and prepared to search through the basin. Wu Fen immediately stopped her. "Little sister, these aren't ready to eat yet!" Yang Wan felt that, judging by her eldest sister-in-law's expression, she probably thought Yang Wan had lost her mind. She looked around and realized that everyone in the family was staring at her with strange expressions. Even her second older brother, whom she had just thought was particularly perceptive, was looking at her with an indescribable expression. Yang Wan felt both speechless and touched. Although the family couldn't understand her strange behavior, they were still doing their best to cooperate with her. What she didn't know was that, in the eyes of the Yang family, their pampered young daughter, who had always stayed inside and never lifted a finger to work in the fields, had now returned covered in mud after getting up early to find food for the family—even if it wasn't particularly good food. That alone was enough to astonish everyone. They simply attributed Yang Wan's sudden change in personality to the emotional blow she had suffered after being deceived by Chen Guansheng. Not a single person suspected that she had become someone else entirely. "I'm not trying to eat them. Look at this!" Yang Wan used her chopsticks to rummage through the river snails a few times until she uncovered the money bag, which had become so discolored that it was almost unrecognizable. She reluctantly tried to lift it with her chopsticks, but Yang Li reached over, grabbed it, and opened it himself. "Hey—!" Yang Wan wanted to stop him, but it was already too late. She hadn't properly washed the bag. She had merely soaked it in the river. CLATTER! Several small silver ingots, along with some copper coins, spilled into the basin of river snails. Yang Daye abruptly stood up, moving with the speed and agility of a young man. He warily glanced outside several times before closing the door to the main hall. "S-Silver!" Yang Yong stammered. Everyone stared at Yang Wan in complete shock. Yang Daye was the first to speak. "Girl, where did you get this?" Yang Wan silently took two steps away from Yang Li before answering. "I... found it in a bucket of human waste." Yang Li chuckled, completely unbothered. "So that's why I kept smelling something strange!" The entire family instinctively moved a little farther away from him. After counting everything, they discovered that there was actually more than fifteen taels of silver! Not a single person asked which bucket she had found it in or how she had known there was silver hidden inside. Yang Daye used his one remaining eye to give everyone in the family a stern, intimidating look. He warned them firmly: "Not a single person is allowed to reveal even the tiniest detail about this matter. As far as anyone knows, Wanya went to the river this morning to collect river snails. Understand?" "Yes, Father!" Everyone answered in unison.