Chapter 6

Summer Mother’s Love

In the afternoon, after Summer Mother left for work, Xia Wanyang decided it was time to check on the two warehouses.

“Store it away!”

In the next second, she appeared in the space. At that moment, 007’s mischievous voice sounded again. “You don’t need to shout every time you come in. Just think it in your mind. You can collect things with your consciousness. You old-fashioned fool!”

Xia Wanyang puffed up her cheeks. “Hmph, you’re the old-fashioned fool! How would I know if you didn’t tell me? You dare laugh at me! Do you believe I’ll file a complaint against you?”

007 chuckled. “File a complaint? Where would you even file a complaint?”

In the afternoon, after Summer Mother went to work, Xia Wanyang decided to go check the two warehouses.

“Store it away!”

In the next second, she appeared in the space. At that moment, 007’s mischievous voice sounded again. “You don’t need to shout every time you come in. Just think it in your mind. You can collect things with your consciousness. You old-fashioned fool!”

Xia Wanyang puffed up her cheeks. “Hmph, you’re the old-fashioned fool! How would I know if you didn’t tell me? You dare laugh at me! Do you believe I’ll file a complaint against you?”

007 chuckled. “File a complaint? Where would you even file a complaint?”

Xia Wanyang rolled her eyes and ignored him. She really didn’t know where she could file a complaint!

The entire afternoon, Xia Wanyang went to the mountain. There were many small animals and wild beasts, but when they saw her, they all ran away. At first, she was quite scared, but slowly, she realized that after seeing her, these wild animals seemed both friendly and fearful. That gave her the courage to continue exploring!

She then went to the warehouse. She had only visited the first one the night before, and during lunch, she opened the second one with her mother. To her surprise, the second warehouse was packed full with rice, flour, soybean oil, and even dozens of kinds of seasonings, along with a large amount of fruits and vegetables. Though the variety wasn’t much, the quantity was enormous!

That evening, when the whole family came home from work and finished dinner, Summer Mother mysteriously led Xia Wanyang back to her room and took out a box from the wardrobe.

“What’s this, Mom?”

Summer Mother whispered, “I was afraid you’d lose it, so I didn’t dare to give you too much. Now that you have a place to keep it, I feel more at ease. Of course, before you leave, I’m giving you some more!”

She opened the box, revealing it was filled with money!

“Oh my!” Xia Wanyang exclaimed in shock. “Mom, where did all this money come from? Are we really that rich?”

Summer Mother gave her a look that said ‘you have no experience.’ “Of course it’s passed down from the family. My great-grandmother was a princess from the late Qing Dynasty. When she was persecuted, she was injured, and after marrying your grandfather, she had no children of her own, so she treated your maternal grandfather like her own son. When she passed away, she left over a hundred boxes of things to him. When your grandfather passed, he passed everything on to me. Only your father knows about it, and even your brother doesn’t know!”

Xia Wanyang was stunned. “But how did you get through the political review when you married Dad?”

“Your great-grandmother passed away a year after marrying my grandfather, and he remarried a woman from three generations of poor farmers. When she married him, they didn’t even have a marriage certificate. My grandfather didn’t mind her background and even saved her, which is why he treated your father so well.”

“By the way, those boxes are hidden in your maternal grandfather’s old house backyard. Tomorrow, let’s go there. We’ll put everything in your secret garden; nothing is safer than that. In the past two years, your father’s rivals have been watching our family closely. We need to be careful, or these things might bring harm. Your father and I have been secretly taking some back at night, and what you see here is everything we’ve gathered this year!”

Xia Wanyang closed the box and put it back in the wardrobe, then locked the cabinet. “Mom, keep this money for household use. We’ll quietly go at night and hide some in the house. The rest can stay with me.”

Summer Mother looked at her daughter’s serious expression and nodded in agreement.

Later that night, Summer Mother asked to sleep with her daughter, claiming it was because Xia Wanyang was going to the countryside soon. In the middle of the night, the two of them rode bicycles to the old house of Xia Wanyang’s maternal grandfather. They spent half an hour digging before uncovering a box. Summer Mother wiped the sweat from her brow and whispered, “Your dad could have opened this in ten minutes with his strength. How long will it take us to dig it all out?”

Xia Wanyang thought for a moment, then jumped into the hole and placed her hand on the ground. Thinking of 007’s teasing, she mentally said “Store it!” and then grinned.

Summer Mother pulled her up, and they both appeared in the space.

Seeing over a hundred large boxes on the ground, Summer Mother laughed so hard she almost fell over. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have dug! That was exhausting!”

The two of them counted everything. There were over thirty boxes of jewelry and gold, fifty boxes of dried fish, twenty boxes of antique paintings and calligraphy, and twenty-eight boxes of cash!

Each box of cash contained 300 rolls, with each roll being 100 yuan. One box was worth 30,000 yuan, so 28 boxes added up to 840,000 yuan!

Mother and daughter were stunned for a full ten minutes. With meat buns costing only 30 cents each, what was the significance of 840,000 yuan?

“Mom, I understand the jewelry and gold, but your great-grandmother was from the late Qing Dynasty. Where did all this wealth come from?”

Summer Mother chuckled. “Silly girl, this money was earned by your grandfather when he sold goods to a capitalist. The capitalist left for overseas a few years ago and couldn’t take all the money with him, so he accidentally sold some of the paintings to your grandfather before leaving!”

Xia Wanyang clicked her tongue regretfully. “So all these treasures have been sold off!”

“Alright, that’s not something you need to worry about. But listen carefully, you can’t let anyone find out about this money. If others find out, our whole family will be in danger!”

“Ha, are you afraid I’ll take it all for myself, Mom?” Xia Wanyang teased.

Summer Mother slapped her on the bottom. “You ungrateful little brat! You are my life. Everything I have is for you!”

Hearing this, Xia Wanyang’s eyes filled with tears. “Mom, I’m sorry for the last life. It was my fault for not listening to you and Dad, and that’s why things turned out the way they did…”

Summer Mother wiped her tears. “Good girl, there’s no need to apologize. I don’t remember anything from the past. This life, just be good and listen to me.”

Xia Wanyang was momentarily taken aback. “If I meet Zhang Shiye in this life, would you accept us being together? He’s the youngest son of the village chief, and no matter what, he’s still a farmer. Would you accept him?”

Summer Mother looked at her seriously. “I’ll accept any man who is willing to die for you. Why wouldn’t I accept him? My dear, it’s already hard enough to meet a like-minded partner. What a pity it is to miss out on someone just because of a small mistake! You said in your past life, you two missed each other. In those twenty years, you must have thought about him every day. How painful that must have been! I won’t let my precious daughter live with regret for two lifetimes. If you meet him this time, I will bless you both.”

Xia Wanyang felt her heart lift, deeply moved by her mother’s words, tears flowing freely.

Summer Mother comforted her for a while, and finally, Xia Wanyang smiled through her tears. “Alright, let’s go back. I’m exhausted!”

When they returned home, it was already 2 AM. The mother and daughter were so tired that they collapsed into bed and fell asleep immediately.

The next morning, when Xia Wanyang woke up, it was already 10 AM. As she stepped out of her room, she saw Summer Mother busy in the kitchen, preparing a variety of dishes: sauerkraut pork, stir-fried potatoes, sweet and sour cabbage, and round dumplings.

Summer Mother didn’t stop working. “Oh, the little lazy pig is awake? Do you have a lot of lunchboxes in your warehouse? Hurry up and take them out to pack the food, then put them back. I plan to make more for you in the next few days, but it’s hard to buy meat with the purchase limits. Take some out. Since you don’t know how to cook raw meat, and it’s not safe to eat meat every day if you ask someone else to cook for you, just eat the big pot meals when you’re at home. When you’re hungry, find a chance to sneak into the secret garden and eat!”

Xia Wanyang hugged Summer Mother from behind. “Mom, you’re so good to me. I’m really happy!”

“Oh, stop getting all sentimental. Hurry up and grab the meat! I told you I’d take you shopping for things at lunch. Your sisters-in-law ate in the cafeteria, and they’re getting off work in less than seven hours. I can still make ten more bowls of food!”

Xia Wanyang regretted it deeply. Why hadn’t she thought to have her mother make more food for her to bring? Yesterday, she had spent over sixty yuan on food, and it really hurt her heart!

In the afternoon, Summer Mother made stewed chicken with mushrooms, braised pork, fried meatballs, fried shrimp, and fish-flavored shredded pork.

Each dish could fill eight lunchboxes, and they were all packed to the brim. If Summer Mother kept making food like this for a few more days, Xia Wanyang would probably have enough to eat for the whole year!