Chapter 43

Li Jianbin sighed deeply and said, “What choice does she have? Otherwise, she’d really be stuck with this. But this Xu Guoqing seems honest enough—I’m just worried about the future…”

“Worried about what?”

“Agh, you women wouldn’t understand. Just go to Second Uncle’s house and sort out the matter of the east courtyard. That way, no one can blame us later.”

Meanwhile, Li Yuechan had no idea what was going on in the Li family. As soon as she left home, she dashed straight into the deep mountains.

When she caught her second rabbit of the day, she scratched her head in confusion. “Did I just stumble upon a rabbit nest today?”

Suddenly, she felt as if something was calling out to her. Following her instincts, she continued deeper into the forest until she arrived at a large locust tree.

She looked around but didn’t notice anything particularly special about the tree. After circling it three times, she muttered, “There’s nothing here…”

With a huff, she plopped down on the ground, grumbling, “Are you messing with me? What’s so special about this dumb tree?”

As she lowered her head, her eyes suddenly caught sight of a marking at the base of the tree. Her eyes lit up instantly. “There must be something good here!”

Without hesitation, she pulled a shovel out of her spatial storage and started digging.

One meter down—nothing.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead, she stubbornly muttered to herself, “I refuse to believe this!”

She kept digging until—clang! Her shovel hit something solid.

“Whoa, it’s buried pretty deep!”

Rolling up her sleeves, she doubled down on her efforts. Before long, she unearthed a small chest.

The box wasn’t large—about 50 cm wide and 30 cm tall. Seeing the rusted lock, Li Yuechan simply snapped it open with force.

The moment she lifted the lid, a dazzling golden light nearly blinded her.

A whole chest full of gold bars!

Heavens, she was rich! Li Yuechan had finally struck gold—literally!

She laughed gleefully for a long time before slamming her shovel into the ground, preparing to climb out of the two-meter-deep pit with her newfound treasure.

But suddenly—”Clang!”

Something felt off. She frowned.

“Hmph, you think you can fool me with a box of gold bars? Do you even know who I am?”

She eyed her shovel, now completely embedded in the earth. With her strength, she realized there had to be something else underneath.

She dug again, and soon enough, she found another small box.

This one was only half the size of the first. Li Yuechan, with her usual brute force, ripped off the lock and pried it open—only to be deeply disappointed.

Inside were just some old, yellowed papers.

Frowning, she flipped through them, and her eyes widened more and more as she read…

Suddenly, her ears twitched. Without hesitation, she tossed the papers into her spatial storage, leaped out of the pit in one swift motion, and hastily filled it back up. She even stomped on the soil several times for good measure.

Then, like a nimble little rabbit, she hopped and dashed down the mountain.

As she neared the base, she spotted a familiar figure—Dongzi-ge!

Her eyes sparkled as she ran over, blinking up at him. “Dongzi-ge, what are you doing here?”

Lu Weidong chuckled. “Xiao Chan, I finally found you! Something happened at your house. Your aunt sent me to call you back. I asked around and found out you’d gone up the mountain.”

Li Yuechan’s lips twitched. “Something happened? But I just left not long ago.”

Lu Weidong scratched his head. “Uh… You’ll understand once you get back!”

As soon as Li Yuechan stepped into the house, she could sense something was off.

A group of people sat in the courtyard—her second granduncle had just returned from work, and Li Shengli was back from school.

At the center of it all was her grandfather, the head of the family, puffing on his tobacco pipe.

Then, a sharp, piercing voice rang out—her eldest aunt was shouting at the top of her lungs.

“Mother! If it weren’t for Shengli slipping up, we never would’ve known that he gets two yuan as pocket money every month!

And what about us? What about Xiangdong and Xiangxi? When have they ever had pocket money? They’re young men working in the fields every day for this family! Your favoritism is too blatant!”

Huang Hehua raised her chin stubbornly. “It’s my money. I’ll give it to whoever I want!”

“Your money? Every year, this household is supported by the grain that my husband and Xiangdong, Xiangxi, and the others work themselves to the bone for!”

“Who says so? Laidi, Meiling, and Meixia all work in the fields too!”

“Mother, except for Meili, everyone else in our family earns ten work points each. And how many can Second Uncle’s family even earn? You’re being way too biased!”

“You wretched troublemaker! Ungrateful snake-hearted wretch! If you keep making a fuss, I’ll have my eldest divorce you and send you back to your maiden home!”

Liu Xinghua’s expression changed instantly. With a loud smack, she slapped her own thigh and collapsed onto the ground, wailing,

“Oh, Heaven above! My mother-in-law is forcing tp be dead! How am I supposed to live like this?

I gave birth to two grandsons for the Li family, and now you want to cast me out? I might as well die!”

Saying that, she shot to her feet and made a dramatic run toward the wall as if to bash her head against it.

Li Xiangdong and Li Xiangxi panicked and rushed to stop her, while Li Meili ran up to embrace her mother. The two of them clung together, sobbing.

Li Meili was truly crying—she felt so wronged. She was crying for herself and for her mother.

She had only recently learned that her third aunt had been secretly giving their grandmother 200 yuan every year.

Two hundred yuan! That was more money than their entire family could earn in years. Yet, their grandmother had hoarded it all for herself.

In her past life, she had begged and pleaded with her grandmother to let her find a job. Her third aunt had even offered to help arrange a temporary position for her—but it would cost some money.

But her grandmother had refused. She forced Li Meili to stay home and work the fields, claiming the family needed all the labor it could get.

If not for that, she wouldn’t have ended up in that situation in her past life—her entire future had been ruined because of it.

And her Second Uncle? Their grandmother had spent 800 yuan to secure his official job position and another 1,500 yuan to buy him a house in the city.

Later, Second Uncle moved his wife and Shengli to the city, and even her little aunt frequently visited just to scrounge off them. Every time she left, her bag was stuffed full.

Of the entire Li family, their branch was the most miserable!

Just then, their grandfather, Li Dashan, tapped his tobacco pipe against the ground a few times and spoke,

“Enough! Stop arguing!

Meili can take her dowry money and leave. This matter is not to be brought up again!

Now, disperse! Second daughter-in-law, go cook dinner!”

With that, he clasped his hands behind his back and strode into the main house.

Huang Hehua shot a glare at her eldest daughter-in-law before twisting her hips and following him inside.

Zhang Laidi sneered at her sister-in-law, rolled her eyes, and walked into the kitchen.

Liu Xinghua dusted herself off, satisfied with her small victory. Fifty yuan was fifty yuan—she’d take it.

In the future, if she had nothing to do, she’d just stir up more drama. Sooner or later, she’d squeeze some more money out of the old woman.

With that thought, she grabbed Li Meili’s hand and returned to their room.