Chen Juxiang asked Chen Lanfen, “Did you just arrive arrive?”

Chen Lanfen nodded but said nothing, her expression full of worry.

At this moment, Chen Juxiang’s thoughts were entirely on the five hundred yuan she had just retrieved. Her mind was consumed with the thought: I must find a safe place to hide the money! And this time, I must be on guard against even the little fool…

So she didn’t pay much attention to Chen Lanfen.

But then she had a sudden thought: What is Sun Xiumei doing here?

She asked casually, “Xiumei, what brings you here?!”

Sun Xiumei’s face turned red. Stammering, she said, “Grandma, I-I missed you… M-my mom asked me to come see you, so I-I…”

Chen Juxiang thought for a moment and understood. “Your mom is forcing you to go on a blind date again?”

Sun Xiumei’s eyes turned red, and tears began to fall. “Yesterday, Brother Jianguo finally managed to scrape together sixty yuan… but my mom changed her mind again. She said it needed to be a hundred yuan. Brother Jianguo couldn’t come up with it, so she drove him away!

“I argued with her a bit, and she got angry. She’s forcing me to go meet someone today. The man is a widower with two children and a lame leg, but he can offer two hundred yuan as a betrothal gift… My mom said that marrying a lame man is better than marrying An Jianguo. I was so upset, I went to my uncle’s house. Aunt happened to be picking up Sister Lanfen, so I thought, I haven’t seen you in a long time…”

Chen Juxiang said, “Fine, but you can stay here for three days at most. If your mom comes causing trouble, I can’t handle it!”

Sun Xiumei cried even more pitifully.

Chen Juxiang, eager to return to her room to hide the money, ignored her and ran off with the cash.

Tang Liren called out to Bai Zhengqian, “Husband, go back inside! You’ve been out in the sun all morning… Xing’er, go check the kitchen to see if your Second Aunt needs help! Hui’er, keep an eye on Taotao, Hongdou, and Huangdou!”

As she spoke, she helped Bai Zhengqian up, and the couple prepared to head back into the house.

Chen Lanfen also stood up and chased after them. “Mom! Please let me explain. It’s not what you think…”

Tan Fenghui, being sharp, immediately understood. From the way things looked, Chen Lanfen must have done something to upset her mother-in-law again. Otherwise, her mother-in-law wouldn’t have hurriedly sent Dongsheng to send an urgent telegram calling for Nansheng to return.

Right now, her in-laws must be going to discuss this matter. So what she needed to do was keep an eye on her silly sister-in-law and the kids and ensure that Chen Lanfen didn’t go in to disturb their conversation.

Tan Fenghui smiled and said, “Lanfen, what did your mother prepare for you to eat when you visited yesterday?”

Chen Lanfen saw that Tang Liren ignored her and had gone inside with Bai Zhengqian. She wanted to follow them but inexplicably collapsed weakly onto the chair, her face showing a look of near tears. She also had no desire to respond to Tan Fenghui.

At that moment, Bai Lili returned after escorting the journalist out. Tan Fenghui told her sister-in-law, “Lizi, take Taozi, Hongdou, and Huangdou to the back mountain to play. Don’t go too far; it’ll be lunchtime soon.”

Bai Lili felt it was strange but still complied, leading Bai Taotao and the two little ones toward the back mountain.

Bai Taotao was very interested in the strange happenings at home.

But she was even more interested in the back mountain.

—She wondered if there were herbs she recognized in this world that could treat her father Bai Zhengqian’s back injury. She also wanted to find some fruit trees or something similar to improve her family’s living conditions.

So she followed them to the back mountain.

Ruyi Village was situated halfway up a range of rolling mountains. It was said that there were other villages at both the mountain’s peak and base. Though the back mountain had dense forests, it wasn’t completely uninhabited.

In fact, the area close to the village had been planted with neatly arranged artificial forests.

As soon as Bai Lili arrived with the group, she took off the pair of sleeve guards draped over her arms and placed them on a low tree nearby. She told Bai Taotao and the two little ones, “Don’t go too far… Don’t go beyond this spot!”

Bai Taotao looked around and noticed that the deeper part of the forest seemed dark and gloomy.

Seeing that she was looking around, Hongdou explained, “Fourth Sister, we aren’t going there. That’s the primitive forest. There are tigers, leopards, and black bears there. In autumn and winter, they eat people!”

Bai Taotao nodded and wandered nearby.

Although she only strolled through the artificial forest, Bai Taotao didn’t come away empty-handed.

She discovered two or three types of herbs suitable for treating Bai Zhengqian’s back injury. Carefully, she dug them up to take back.

Suddenly, a deep voice spoke. [You must be the Taotao that Little Grape mentioned?]

Bai Taotao blinked and looked around.

—Neither Bai Lili nor Hongdou or Huangdou reacted to the voice? Bai Lili was crouching nearby, picking wild vegetables. Hongdou and Huangdou were bickering as they dug through the soil under rocks to catch earthworms.

[Stop looking. You can’t see me right now. I’m deep in the forest.]

Bai Taotao asked, [Can you see me?]

After a long pause, the deep voice replied, [No, but the flowers and grass around you told me about you.]

Bai Taotao asked again, [Who are you?]

[I am the oldest one in this forest. Taotao, when you have time, come find me alone!]

Bai Taotao hesitated. Considering how much her family valued her, they probably wouldn’t let her wander alone into a dangerous forest.

[Can’t you tell me now?] Bai Taotao asked.

[It’s too complicated… Taotao, you must come to me as soon as possible.]

The old, deep voice gradually faded.

Bai Taotao began to feel uneasy.

—Her body was gradually losing strength and her limbs were going limp. Her vision blurred. Worst of all, it seemed as if someone had stuffed her ears with cloth, making her hearing dull and fuzzy.

It felt just like before Song Zhi arrived, when she had no spiritual energy to draw upon and felt “foolish”!

This was bad. She was going to revert to being a fool!

Thinking back to how she had also spoken to Little Grape last night, she realized that back then, Song Zhi had been around. His body provided her with endless spiritual energy, and she had been drawing on it, so she didn’t feel the depletion.

But now, Song Zhi wasn’t by her side.

And just a few words exchanged using spiritual energy with the forest’s oldest being had completely drained her reserves?

Bai Taotao used all her strength to call out, “Third Sister!” Her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground.

She vaguely heard Hongdou and Huangdou shouting anxiously. She even felt Third Sister grabbing her tightly, seemingly calling her name in a panic.

Bai Taotao could no longer hear clearly. She struggled to shout, “Go find Song Zhi…”

But her cry turned into a faint whisper. Bai Lili and the others had no idea what she had said.

Bai Taotao felt as if she were wrapped in layers of thick gauze, completely isolated from the world.

—————————–

By evening, Song Zhi hesitated for a long time before finally knocking on the door of the Bai family’s main house.

Tan Fenghui, who was visibly pregnant, came to open the door. Seeing that it was Song Zhi, she froze for a moment.

Song Zhi’s face flushed. “Sister-in-law, I’m so sorry, I… I…”

“Come in quickly!” Tan Fenghui pulled Song Zhi inside and called out, “Dad, Mom, Xiao Song is here!”

Tang Liren immediately came out from the inner room. “Xiao Song, you’re here! Oh, you came just in time… Hurry, hurry! Go check on Taotao—she’s sick again!”

Song Zhi: ???

—Wait, no. He didn’t come to see Bai Taotao.

But was that little beauty sick?

Before Song Zhi could react, Tang Liren pulled him along to the kang.

—Bai Taotao was lying there with her eyes tightly shut, looking lifeless.

“What happened to Taotao?” Song Zhi asked.

Tang Liren sighed. “She went to play on the back mountain for a while and suddenly fainted!”

Song Zhi asked, “Does she need to go to the hospital?”

Tang Liren shook her head. “Not really… She’s always been like this. It’s just that about a month ago, she started getting better. Yesterday, she was as normal as anyone else—smart and adorable! I really thought she was… cured! But now…”

As she spoke, Tang Liren’s eyes reddened.

Bai Zhengqian interjected, “Xiao Song, did you need something?”

Song Zhi snapped back to reality. “Yes, Uncle Bai, I… I…”

Bai Zhengqian motioned for him to sit. “Sit down! Sit down! Have you eaten yet? Ah, what am I saying! Of course, you haven’t eaten at this hour. Neither have we. Let’s eat together!”

Song Zhi took the opportunity to sit down on the brick bed. “Uncle, I won’t hide it from you. Dealing with Jiang Hongzhi is difficult, so I wanted to ask if I could eat here at your place? I can pay for the meals in advance—would fifteen yuan a month be enough?”

He was a bit nervous, unsure if fifteen yuan a month for food was too little.

But Bai Zhengqian was taken aback. “Fifteen yuan a month? That’s way too much! No need, no need! Xiao Song, you can eat here at Uncle Bai’s house without worry—three meals a day, all included. But, well, you should know that our food isn’t anything fancy.”

“I’m fine with that. I’m not picky.” Song Zhi replied.

Meanwhile, Bai Taotao was in a daze when she suddenly smelled a rich, fragrant spiritual energy???

Overjoyed, she immediately knew Song Zhi was here!

She just didn’t know where he was…

Her limbs wouldn’t cooperate, so she desperately flailed her hands and feet (though it didn’t look like she moved much). Eventually, her foot touched something that felt soft yet firm—flesh???

Soon, the rich spiritual energy began flowing into her through her toes, endlessly surging from that flesh.

Bai Taotao quietly relaxed and closed her eyes.

After a while, she opened them again. The world was clear and sharp once more, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness—she was finally back to normal.

Looking up, she saw Song Zhi sitting right in front of her, his back facing her. Her foot was… resting on his butt???

Uh… and his butt was…

Pretty bouncy.

Bai Taotao couldn’t resist pressing down with her foot.

Song Zhi had just finished discussing the meal arrangement with Bai Zhengqian when he turned around and saw that the little beauty on the kang had already woken up. She was even propped halfway up, staring at him with bright, focused eyes?

And to top it off, her foot was stepping on his… butt???

Song Zhi knew Bai Taotao was a little fooll, so he couldn’t treat her like an ordinary girl. Instead, he treated her like a child, smiled at her, and said, “Taotao, you’re awake?”

Bai Taotao liked his attitude and sweetly responded.

Tang Liren was overjoyed to see her daughter awake. She rushed over and hugged Bai Taotao while crying and shouting that she was her sweetheart and the apple of her mother’s eye…

Meanwhile, Bai Taotao kept pressing her foot against Song Zhi’s butt.

Feeling awkward, he shifted to the left, but her foot quickly followed. He shifted to the right, and she followed again?

Bai Taotao: Spiritual energy, you’re not getting away!

In the end, Song Zhi couldn’t help but glance back.

What he saw was a small, delicate, jade-like foot playfully tapping him. The round, adorable, pale pink toes curled and stretched in a mischievous rhythm…

For some inexplicable reason, Song Zhi felt his mouth go dry, and his heart started pounding wildly.