The high-tech alien system seemed oblivious to Xia Chen’s speechless and choked up mood, and its cold voice rang out in the quiet space: [Do you want to enter the system space?]

Xia Chen was silent for a long time before finally saying with difficulty, “No, let me out.”

He needed to calm down for a bit, lest he be angered to death by this trashy golden finger.

[The system cannot control the host’s consciousness. The host can choose to leave on their own.]

Xia Chen thought for a moment and silently said “go back” in his heart. Sure enough, his vision went black, and he felt a sense of heaviness from his body. He had returned to his own flesh.

After being a ghost for seven years, suddenly having a body felt quite uncomfortable. Xia Chen tried hard to control his movements, opening his eyes and moving his fingers. Every step was done as if he were a coma patient who had just woken up after a long slumber.

Qiao Niang had just wrung out a towel, ready to replace the one on Xia Chen’s forehead that had already turned hot, when she suddenly discovered that the boy who had been unconscious for two days had opened his eyes and was staring at her with a pair of black, beady eyes.

Qiao Niang’s hand trembled, almost dropping the towel on Xia Chen’s face. 

Xia Chen blinked and forced a smile at the corners of his mouth, “Sis—”

“Mother!” Qiao Niang jerked up and ran out, colliding with the table and knocking over the teapot on the way, but she didn’t care. “Mother, Jinzi Gege, Yuanbao is awake, Yuanbao is awake!”

Xia Chen watched with his own eyes as his sister-in-law ran out the door. It was also very difficult for him to speak. The little fool Xia Chen had never opened his mouth to speak before so his vocal cords were sluggish. He tried hard for a long time, but before he could say “sister-in-law,” the person had already run out of sight.

In his daze, Xia Chen’s sickroom was already packed with people. 

Mother Xia had just been sleeping and only had time to put on a lined jacket. She came inside the room with her hair bun in a mess. The moment she saw her youngest son finally awake, she threw herself to hug him tightly, unwilling to let go.

“Go, go invite Doctor Zhang to come and take a look at Bao’er,” Father Xia said, so excited that even the scar on his face was twisting, looking quite scary at first glance.

Xia Chen poked his head out from his mother’s shoulder and stared blankly at his father’s face, which still bore a few traces of handsomeness despite being disfigured. 

Father Xia was born in the military. The Xia family’s fortune was all exchanged by the heads he took on the battlefield. He himself also ended up with injuries all over his body. In addition to the scar that obliquely spanned his entire face, Father Xia was also lame in one leg and was missing two fingers.

Usually, the village children never dared to approach Master Xia, and even called him Old Ghost Xia behind his back. 

However, when Xia Chen was a ghost, he had seen countless times how Father Xia put the little fool on his shoulders, and even crawl on the ground to be his horse while coaxing the little fool who couldn’t speak to smile. Then Father Xia would laugh along with the little fool. His laughter was also very scary. The scar on his face was like a twisted worm, but Xia Chen knew how good his temper was with his children.

“Hey, what are you doing being so close? You scared my Bao’er,” Mother Xia said after her excitement passed. Just as she wanted to talk to his son as she supported him, she saw his dazed eyes that were looking behind her. Following Xia Chen’s line of sight, within a glance, it was none other than her husband’s disfigured face.

Father Xia retreated awkwardly, but his eyes were reluctant to leave his youngest son. He hesitated and raised an arm, wanting to imitate the literati that cover their face with their wide sleeves, but he hated wide robes so he never wore them. At this time, his narrow sleeve couldn’t cover his face at all. 

Xia Chen reached out his hand in time and said with difficulty, “Dad, Dad, hug.”

The seven-year-old boy spoke like a toddler who had just learned to speak, his words unclear and mumbled. However, the entire Xia family was moved to tears as if they had just heard heavenly music.

“My son can speak!” Father Xia picked up Xia Chen with trembling hands and coaxed him in a trembling voice, “Yuanbao, call me again, call me Dad again.”

Xia Chen called out again, and this time his voice was much clearer. Father Xia was over the moon that his mind blanked, his face stilled with a scary silly smile.

Mother Xia felt envious at seeing this so she went over to coax Xia Chen to call her Mom. Big brother Jinzi and Qiao Niang also joined in the excitement. 

Xia Chen had no choice but to call out to each of them. Whoever he called out to was as if they had picked up money, grinning from ear to ear.

After calling out several rounds, when they heard Xia Chen asking for water, the family whose minds were giddy with excitement finally calmed down. They dissolved some honey water for him to drink and also prepared food for him.

The Xia family had a hundred acres of fertile land, as well as other sources of income. They were a well-known wealthy household in the Qinghe Village area.

There was a cook in the family, an old woman surnamed Lei, whom Father Xia had bought from a slave-trading shop in the county town. She could make two exquisite desserts and with this skill, she had cost Father Xia a full five taels of silver. You should know that buying a young maid at the prime of her age only costs four taels of silver. 

Granny Lei was only in her forties now, but in this era, she was already considered an elderly person. 

Granny Lei had been a servant in a wealthy family before and had quite an eye for things. She knew that the little fool Xia Chen was the family’s treasure, even more favored than the eldest grandson Dong’er. She often made desserts that children liked to please Xia Chen, to the point that the entire Xia family had a very good impression of her.

When Mother Xia asked for food to be prepared and hearing that the young master had woken up, Granny Lei quickly brought over some desserts. She didn’t let the young maid Guihua help, and instead pushed her wrinkled old face in front of Xia Chen, calling out to the heavens and the earth, saying how much the young master had suffered, and repeatedly said that she would make some delicious food to nourish Xia Chen.

“Children can’t endure hunger. Young Master, eat some desserts first to fill your stomach first. This old woman will go prepare a meal right away,” Granny Lei said considerately, and Mother Xia nodded in satisfaction. 

Xia Chen appeared confused on the surface, but in his heart, he was frantically calling out to the system, “System, system, quickly help me see if there’s any poison in these desserts.”

It wasn’t that Xia Chen was making a fuss or had paranoid delusions, but this Granny Lei was one of the accomplices in his fall into the icy river this time.

Xia Chen was a fool before, and his family cherished him so much that they definitely wouldn’t let him go out and play alone. 

Although the Xia family was considered a wealthy household in Qinghe Village, they were actually just a small landlord. Because they had recently become rich, they couldn’t even be considered gentry.

Including Granny Lei, there were a total of only three servants in the family. There was an old man surnamed Yu who knew a bit of arithmetic and followed Master Xia to handle matters. There was also a twelve-year-old young maid named Guihua who handled miscellaneous tasks in the family together with Granny Lei.

On the day Xia Chen fell into the icy river, the adults in the family were all busy with their own tasks and instructed the two children in the family, Dong’er and Nan’er, to watch over their little uncle.

Dong’er was the eldest son of eldest brother Jinzi, and he was only ten years old this year. Nan’er was only three months older than Xia Chen. Boys of this age, who had not yet gone to school, and with the family being quite well-off, naturally didn’t want to be confined to the courtyard. 

As soon as the adults turned their backs, the two children’s hearts flew away. Dong’er gave Xia Chen a piece of candied fruit and coaxed him to stand in the courtyard and not move, saying that he would come back, and then he took his younger brother out to play. 

Although the little fool was foolish, he was extremely obedient. When his eldest nephew told him to stand still, he really stood in the middle of the courtyard while slowly nibbling on the piece of candied fruit.

However, not long after Dong’er left, Granny Lei popped out from somewhere and with a few words, she tricked the little fool Xia Chen out then left him after reaching a secluded place.

If it were someone else coaxing him, Xia Chen wouldn’t have listened. It was just that he had eaten too many of Granny Lei’s desserts and considered her a family member, so the little fool ended up being coaxed away.

The little fool Xia Chen didn’t know the way, so after Granny Lei ran off, he could only stand there in a daze. As luck would have it, a group of children ran past, and seeing the dazed Xia Chen, someone suggested playing a trick on him, and that’s how the subsequent events unfolded.

The little fool didn’t understand, but how could Xia Chen not see through it? He didn’t believe there could be such a coincidence. Granny Lei coaxed him out the door, but she didn’t run too far. If the Xia family members came to their senses a little, they would be able to find her. This matter had no point at all. 

So when Xia Chen was later tricked to the riverside and fell into the ice hole, Granny Lei must have known about it in advance. At the very least, she knew that someone wanted to harm Xia Chen, so she was an accomplice.

Xia Chen actually couldn’t quite understand. Granny Lei had been in the Xia family for almost five years. The Xia family was not a harsh master. They had never skimped on her food and clothing nor beaten or scolded her.

Most importantly, Granny Lei’s deed of sale was still in his mother’s hands. What was she thinking to do this traitorous thing?

Xia Chen was determined to thoroughly investigate these matters, not only to seek justice for the little fool but also because Xia Chen wanted to find the real culprit. He was just a little fool, so what was the benefit of harming him?

In the end, the ultimate goal must be directed at his family. He finally had such a good family, so he must protect them well.

With such an incident, Xia Chen didn’t dare to casually eat Granny Lei’s desserts. If she was ruthless enough to poison him and he ate it and died, wouldn’t he go back to being a ghost? He didn’t know if the system could send him back to life again.

But he also couldn’t behave too differently from usual, lest Granny Lei become suspicious, which wouldn’t be good. He still planned to use her as bait to lure out that big fish.

Although the system was a scam, it was still reliable at critical moments and quickly gave Xia Chen a reply: [Inspection complete. Glutinous rice product, non-toxic, edible. Host’s digestive system is weak so it’s not easy to digest. It’s recommended to eat less or not eat at all.]

This gave Xia Chen a little bit of confidence in his golden finger. Perhaps he could find time to take a look at the system space later. There might be some surprises.

When you see someone as a bad person, everything they do seems like a bad thing. Xia Chen was like this now. Even though the desserts weren’t poisoned, he still felt that Granny Lei must have deliberately given him desserts that were hard to digest and wanted to harm him.

Xia Chen imitated the little fool’s appearance from before, he reached out to grab a piece of dessert and stuffed it into his mouth, looking like he was a gobbling starving ghost. He quickly choked, whimpering and crying out for water.

Mother Xia was startled and quickly went to pour water for him. Qiao Niang gave the desserts to Granny Lei and told her to take them away, she was afraid that Xia Chen would see them later and would gobble more. 

When Xia Chen was communicating with the system, Granny Lei had been carefully stealing glances at Xia Chen. She also didn’t expect this little fool to be so lucky. He fell into such an icy river in this cold weather and still didn’t die.

It was also strange for that old Taoist Xu to meddle in other people’s business. However, Granny Lei only dared to think such resentful words in her heart. Although the old Taoist Xu might look disheveled, she knew that he wasn’t an ordinary Jianghu Taoist.

Earlier, when she heard Master Xia shouting in the room that the little fool could speak, it gave Granny Lei a fright. She was afraid those gossipy women’s words would come true, that the little fool would regain clarity after the fever.

Except for being able to say a few mumbled words, he was still the same as before and showed no rejection towards her. Granny Lei put her mind at ease a little and decided to be more careful in her actions in the coming days, in order to plan for the future.

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