Chapter 5

The supernatural phenomena were not limited to the diary; the “spiritual spring”was also  within Jiang Ci’s body.

In her previous life, this spiritual spring had appeared simultaneously with the anomalies of the diary. At that time, she was particularly frightened, thinking she had a mental problem, and didn’t dare to use the spring.

By the time she woke up from the hospital, the spring had already dried up, and not a single drop could be squeezed out.

After being reborn, Jiang Ci chose to believe.

Lin Wan returned with a cup of hot milk. “Xiao Ci, drink this hot milk and get a good sleep. You need to wake up early tomorrow to go to the machinery factory with your grandfather.”

“Mom just put it on the table. Let it cool a bit before I drink it,” Jiang Ci replied.

She lowered her head and flipped through the diary. While Lin Wan went downstairs to wash up, she dripped a drop of pure “spiritual spring” into the hot milk.

In her previous life, Jiang Ci had suffered from a terminal illness, and Lin Wan also died from illness. During the years she spent in prison, those who had rushed around trying to get her released had also fallen ill and died before she could get out.

The diary had said that this was the “female protagonist’s” golden finger; the spiritual spring could improve a person’s constitution and was extremely rare, yielding only one drop a day.

If the spiritual spring was used properly, the “female protagonist” could live a bit longer.

Jiang Ci certainly didn’t want to suffer from a terminal illness again in this life, so she decided to test the effects of the spiritual spring.

Looking at the scratches and bruises on her arms and legs, Jiang Ci drank half a cup of milk in one go, hoping that if the spiritual spring could truly heal, her wounds would improve by morning.

The milk with the spiritual spring was richer and had a hint of delicate sweetness.

After washing up, Lin Wan returned to the room and saw the half cup of milk on the table. “Xiao Ci, why didn’t you finish it?”

Although milk that year didn’t require special approval for purchase like before, it was still relatively scarce.

Ordinary families could hardly get fresh milk at all; Lin Wan had managed to have it ordered through her employer’s family so she could bring a bottle home for her daughter every day.

Grandma Xu had argued with Lin Wan countless times for this rare bottle of fresh milk countless times, insisting that a girl didn’t need to drink milk and that it should go to her eldest grandson instead.

Lin Wan certainly refused to back down, which only made Grandma Xu dislike the two of them even more.

“Mom, I saved this half cup for you,” Jiang Ci said sweetly, handing the cup to Lin Wan. “You should drink some, too.”

Lin Wan had a heart condition.

Tomorrow, Jiang Guozhu would bring that woman back. In her previous life, Lin Wan had been so angry that her heart condition flared up, worsening until she died within two years.

This time, Jiang Ci prayed for the spiritual spring to work, hoping that Lin Wan wouldn’t fall ill due to those two scoundrels.

“Okay, Mom will drink it too.” Lin Wan downed the milk in one gulp. “Xiao Ci, your grandma and uncles all scold me for being foolish, saying I shouldn’t wait for Jiang Guozhu, that I’ve wasted my best years and will regret it one day.”

She looked at her beautiful and sensible daughter, tears glistening in her eyes.

“Mom doesn’t regret it at all. They’re all wrong. I’m not waiting for Jiang Guozhu; I’m doing this for you. I want you to be born without being called a wild child. You are the legitimate granddaughter of the Jiang family, and with that identity, no one will dare to bully you.”

Grandpa Jiang was the factory secretary at Qinchuan Machinery Factory, wielding more power than the factory director. He was highly respected, and his granddaughter, even without a father, would not be looked down upon.

“Mom, so you didn’t love my dad to the depths of your soul. We all thought you were waiting for him,” Jiang Ci remarked.

It was good that the love wasn’t that deep; it wouldn’t hurt as much when she was injured.

“I was engaged to your dad since we were kids; we had no choice but to marry,” Lin Wan said lightly. “Your dad secretly dated a girlfriend without telling his family. After that woman left for another place, he reluctantly married me.”

Just days before their wedding, Jiang Guozhu had run away.

In her heart, Jiang Ci cursed Jiang Guozhu seven hundred and eighty times: as expected, he had been a scoundrel from the very beginning!

—o—o—o—

“Xiao Ci, so drinking milk is really effective? They say drinking milk before bed is good for sleep, and now I finally believe it. I had half a cup last night and slept so soundly!”

After Lin Wan got up and looked in the mirror, she noticed that the fine lines at the corners of her eyes had faded a bit, and her skin looked translucent and fair. Could it really be because of the improved sleep quality?

Jiang Ci lowered her head to hide her astonishment; the effects of the spiritual spring had greatly exceeded her expectations.

“Yeah, Mom, you should start drinking milk regularly too.”

The scratches and bruises on her hands and feet had completely disappeared, and there was no sign of injury on her arms at all.

She was stunned.

Only one drop a day, and the effects were astonishing.

It seemed she needed to dilute it for future use to avoid drawing attention and unnecessary trouble.

After Jiang Laoer and Jiang Laoshan had a long talk with Grandpa Jiang last night, they returned to their respective homes and told their wives that the eldest brother was bringing a woman back.

The two sisters-in-law, being women themselves, couldn’t help but relate the situation to their own experiences. They launched into a tirade against the eldest brother and that woman, feeling immense sympathy for their sister-in-law.

Jiang Laoer and Jiang Laoshan went to the state-run restaurant to buy breakfast—soy milk, fried dough sticks, buns, and spring rolls—carrying their hands full when they returned.

Grandma Xu clutched her chest in pain. “Whose breakfast is this extravagant? Who can afford to eat at a state-run restaurant every day? Starting tomorrow, the eldest brother’s wife will make breakfast, the second brother’s wife will make dinner, and the third brother’s wife will wash the dishes.”

Shen Meimei, clutching a stack of homework she had stayed up late to grade, pushed her bicycle out the door, too lazy to even eat breakfast. “I’m off to school. I’ll be going back to my parents’ place tonight, so don’t wait for me for dinner.”

Shen Meimei was an educated person. With Jiang Guozhu bringing that wild woman and her children back today, the house would undoubtedly be in an uproar.

She had so much homework to grade every night that she couldn’t be bothered to get involved.

“Meimei, wait for me!” Jiang Laoshan called out. “If you leave now, how am I supposed to get to work?”

He and his wife usually commuted together. After breakfast, he would ride his bicycle to drop her off at her job before heading to the machinery factory himself.

“Just walk there yourself,” Shen Meimei replied, hopping on her bicycle and leaving.

Zhong Huihui sat at the dining table, eager to watch the drama unfolding and picked up a large meat bun. “Since I’ve already paid, I won’t cook. Mom, if you’re too stingy to hire someone, you can just cook for yourself.”

With all the nonsense Grandma Xu had pulled, keeping the entire family in the dark, she didn’t feel any respect for her.

It was a shame, though; she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the food cooked by her Eldest Sister-in-law anymore.

Jiang Ci drank a cup of soy milk and saw that Grandpa Jiang had also put down his bowl and chopsticks. He said, “Grandpa, let’s go to the machinery factory to handle the work transfer.”

“Mm.” Grandpa Jiang picked up his smoking pipe and replied, “Let’s go.”

Grandma Xu grew anxious. Her eldest son was about to return, and she still held onto the hope that Grandpa Jiang would leave the job to him or sell it to her nephew for money.

“Old man, didn’t you listen to what I told you yesterday?”

Grandpa Jiang had thought that their eldest son was dead. He had only learned the day before that Jiang Guozhu was alive, and not only that, but he had also found a woman and had a child.

How could he possibly give the job to this unfilial son? “How can you still have the face to speak? Just look at the mess you’ve made!”

“How can I not have the face to say it?” Grandma Xu, feeling desperate, decided to lay everything bare.

“Lin Wan, my eldest son, is back, but don’t get too smug. He married a wife and had a son while he was out there. You have indeed suffered over the years in my house, and since my son has married, you can no longer stay here. Grandpa’s job cannot be given to Jiang Ci, but our family will compensate you with some money.”

This was her proposal to Grandpa Jiang, which he had flatly rejected.

Yet Grandma Xu was still unwilling to give up. She hoped that Lin Wan would feel so hurt by the situation that she would take the initiative to leave, thus saving them from dealing with the job and paving the way for her eldest son’s return.

“Mom, your words are too harsh!” Jiang Laoer had already learned the night before that his mother would turn against them and treat his sister-in-law as less than human, which still shocked him.

Fortunately, the little ones had been sent off to school early that morning.

Now, Grandma Xu was openly trying to undermine Jiang Ci’s job.

Seeing that Lin Wan was already enraged, Jiang Ci couldn’t let Grandma Xu get away with bullying her mother like this.

Jiang Ci jumped up and kicked over the small table. That kick was for her mother; the harder she vented, the more relieved Lin Wan would feel inside.

“My dad is actually alive and has taken a little wife! You all band together to bully my mom!” She emphasized the words “little wife” with disdain.

Jiang Laoshan was startled by his niece’s action of kicking over the dining table and thought about how anyone in this situation would go crazy.

“Xiao Ci, you’re wronging your grandpa and your second and third uncles. We only found out last night.”

“Then when did my grandmother find out? If she knew, why didn’t she tell my mom? Letting her wait for seventeen years for nothing? Even a beast wouldn’t do something so cruel!”

That was well said. Lin Wan shivered with emotion, realizing that there wasn’t a decent person in this family, and still her daughter cared for her.

When Grandma Xu saw that Jiang Ci dared to insult her, she retorted, “You little wildling, you still don’t know if you’re even part of the Jiang family bloodline! Who knows who your mother had you with….”

“Pa!” Grandpa Jiang directly slapped Grandma Xu across the face.

“My eldest son’s wife is only Lin Wan. I now realize that the reputation of the Jiang family has been ruined by our own people. Once Jiang Guozhu returns, I’ll personally kill him. After I kill him, I’ll go repay his life.”

Grandma Xu was stunned by the slap; the old man seemed serious. She covered her face and tried to defend her eldest son.

“This has nothing to do with Guozhu. He wrote to me ten years ago, saying he wouldn’t come back, and told Lin Wan to get married. It was I who kept that news from her.”

Apparently, Grandma Xu hadn’t told the whole story last night. Grandpa Jiang leaned back, about to lose consciousness.

Jiang Laoer, the third son, panicked and held onto Grandpa Jiang, pinching his acupoint. Zhong Huihui hurried to brew a cup of ginseng tea.

The old man couldn’t die; otherwise, this family would fall into Grandma Xu’s hands. With the eldest brother returning with a wild woman, no one would have a good life.

After drinking the ginseng tea, Grandpa Jiang finally regained consciousness. “Old woman, why didn’t you say anything ten years ago? You harmed my eldest daughter-in-law, making her waste ten years! She waited for nothing!”

Zhong Huihui felt a chill run down her spine. There was no way that her sister-in-law would stay in this house any longer.

The third son’s wife could always go back to her family if things got tough, but she had nowhere to go.

She had no strong brothers to support her and had already borne four children for the Jiang family.

Where could she go? Would she be left alone to face such a malicious mother-in-law?

Unable to hold back, Zhong Huihui spoke up for Lin Wan. “You truly are the best mother in the world. No one can say a word against how you treat your son, but it’s those of us who are married to your sons who suffer. Ten years ago, my sister-in-law was only twenty-seven, in the prime of her life. If the Jiang family had provided a dowry, she could have found a decent man to live with rather than facing this humiliation today!”

Jiang Ci felt a bit of admiration for this outspoken second aunt.

Grandma Xu slapped Zhong Huihui hard. “You, the second daughter-in-law, haven’t even cooked a single dinner for Lin Wan in these past ten years, yet you enjoy the benefits and now blame me? If Lin Wan leaves, you’ll have to take care of all the household chores!”

When her mother-in-law hit her, Zhong Huihui felt too powerless to retaliate. In her frustration, she slapped Jiang Laoer instead. “This is all your mother’s doing! And now she’s shifting the blame onto me!”

Grandpa Jiang sat up again. “Eldest son’s wife, the Jiang family owes you an apology. I understand what the old woman was thinking back then. When you married into our family, the second and third sons were not yet of marrying age. That old woman was lazy and greedy, unwilling to do any housework. You managed the entire household.”

“She thought that her son would never return. So, she kept it a secret from everyone, allowing you to continue being the housekeeper. Now that the eldest is struggling outside and has brought a woman back, only then does she bring this up.”

Jiang Ci spat on the ground. “So, she just used my mom as a free maid? I refuse to acknowledge a grandmother like that!”

She would never recognize that scoundrel Jiang Guozhu as her father.

Grandma Xu wished she could kick Jiang Ci out right then and there. “I don’t even care about recognizing you! If you have the ability, don’t rely on your grandpa’s job!”

“I certainly want the job. I just said I don’t recognize you, not that I don’t recognize my grandpa.”

“The job is mine. I’ll give it to whoever I want,” Grandpa Jiang said angrily, turning to Grandma Xu. “Where are the eldest son and his family now?”

“They arrived last night and are at the guesthouse,” Grandma Xu felt a flicker of joy. “Old man, you’re not angry with the eldest anymore?”

“I’d like to break his legs.” Grandpa Jiang ordered his sons, “Second son, go to the guesthouse and bring the eldest back. Third son, take a leave of absence from work. Second daughter-in-law, help your husband ask for leave, too. Lin Wan, you shouldn’t go to work today either. We’re holding a family meeting.”

“We need to resolve this mess face to face once and for all!”