“Dad…” Xia Chen lifted his head, a timid smile playing on his lips. His voice was a soft whisper.  “How did you know I was outside? And how do you walk so quietly?”

“Silly child.” Father Xia chuckled, scooping up his youngest son, who had been caught eavesdropping. A decade of battles had honed his senses. If he lacked even this modicum of awareness, who knows how many times his head would have been lost.

Xia Jinzi’s face still held traces of anger. Seeing his little brother, he instinctively softened, but his smile twisted into a grimace.

“What’s with that strange face?” Father Xia gave his eldest son a playful slap before sitting opposite him and placing Xia Chen on his lap.

“Yuanbao, I already know. Someone lured you to the river that day. Tell Dad, who was it? Should I avenge you?” Having overheard everything, Father Xia cut to the chase.

Xia Jinzi was stunned. That wasn’t right. Hadn’t he already told his father which families they were? He opened his mouth to speak, but a glance from his father silenced him.

Xia Chen observed the subtle interaction between the father and son. He lowered his head, twisting his fingers silently.

He refused to cooperate, but Father Xia wasn’t in a hurry. Instead, he became even more gentle. “Yuanbao, don’t be afraid. Dad is here, and no one will bully you. Tell me, someone led you out of the house that day, didn’t they?”

From the moment his father discovered him, Xia Chen knew that the time was ripe. He had long been prepared to put on a grand show. Today, he had to do something big and expose Granny Lei.

When Father Xia asked the key question, Xia Chen flinched back with perfect timing, his eyes brimming with well-crafted fear.

Father Xia’s heart ached. The ever-blunt Xia Jinzi angrily exclaimed, “What?! Those little brats actually lured Yuanbao away from home?!”

Father Xia’s wrath erupted, a swift slap landing on Xia Jinzi’s face. “Shut up!” he roared, barely suppressed fury simmering in his eyes.

Xia Jinzi, chastised once more, pitifully cowered, no longer daring to interrupt.

Had it not been for a desire to teach his dim-witted eldest son some responsibility, Father Xia would have banished him from sight. Having dealt with his troublesome eldest son, Father Xia softened his expression and turned to his youngest. “Yuanbao, don’t be afraid. Tell me, was it Granny Lei who lured you out?”

His crude big brother had been dealt with until he was pitiful. Xia Chen almost broke character with a smirk. He could only desperately recall the miserable events of being taunted by Tongban and his inability to draw good items, so when his father asked, his eyes instantly welled up with tears. He threw himself into his father’s arms with a wail.

“Granny Lei said if I dared tell anyone, she’d take me away and sell me! Sob, sob… I don’t want to be sold. I just want to stay home…” His aggrieved childish^[1]weak milky voice cries, so full of anguish, cut straight to the two men’s hearts.

“Don’t cry, child. Dad is here. Don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you. No one can sell our Yuanbao.” Father Xia’s tone was gentle, but his eyes were filled with killing intent.

In recent days, he’d tasked his eldest with gathering information but hadn’t been idle himself. He had made another trip to the county to verify his suspicions.

The initial idea to buy servants was born out of necessity—the family’s newfound prosperity demanded someone who could help manage accounts. As a result, when he went to the slave shop, he bought Old Yu, then he heard the slave seller introduce that Granny Lei could make a few snacks. Thinking of the few little ones at home, he simply bought her as well.

Who could have predicted the seemingly docile Granny Lei would, after payment, drop to her knees outside the shop and beg him to also buy her daughter, wailing about not wanting to be separated?

Father Xia was deeply displeased. Had Granny Lei been upfront, he might have considered the request since the family did lack a young maidservant

But Granny Lei’s actions were clearly meant to coerce him. Could he just suffer this loss in silence?

Worse yet, the opportunistic shopkeeper took his chance to bring out Granny Lei’s daughter, clearly hoping for another sale.

The girl was a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl. She had a few points of beauty and was especially well-developed. She looked even less like a well-behaved person.

Bringing such a maid back home was out of the question for Father Xia. With his eldest son’s honest temperament and youthful vigor, the last thing he needed was a source of temptation and discord.

His refusal was immediate. He’d even sought a refund from the shop, wanting another servant. The shopkeeper, upon hearing this, cursed and threatened to expel Granny Lei, refusing the refund outright.

That incident sowed resentment in Father Xia. He’d planned to resell Granny Lei at the first opportunity.

But after Granny Lei came to the family, she was hardworking and capable, and was able to coax the whole family extremely well. She also privately apologized to him, slapping her own mouth and admitted that she had been muddled for a moment.

So Father Xia decided to keep her. Over the past few years, Granny Lei had always performed well, putting on the air of being willing to work like an ox and horse for the master’s family in order to be able to spend her old age with them. 

Only then did Father Xia relax his guard. In a moment of carelessness, he had almost lost his precious youngest son.

This time, when Father Xia went to the county, he made a point of inquiring about Granny Lei’s daughter. After slipping some silver to the right person, he learned the truth.

It turned out that Granny Lei and her daughter were both servants sold by a big household in the prefecture city. Her daughter had a pretty name called Wan He. 

She was overly ambitious but had a fragile fate. She climbed into the young master’s bed in the mansion, but before anything could happen, she was caught red-handed by the young madam, who first shut her mouth and beat her with a plank. Wan He and her mother were then bound and sold off.

That year when Father Xia had refused to buy Wan He, she nearly became a permanent fixture of the slave shop. After all, the county was small. Those who came to buy people were usually the madam in charge of household affairs. The Xia family was purely nouveau riche. Mother Xia had no understanding at all, so it was Father Xia who came.

The other madams were far too shrewd to introduce a troublesome maid like Wan He into their homes.

Later, by chance, Wan He caught the eye of Old Master Luo in the county and was bought back. It was said he almost took her as a concubine, but his advanced age proved too much, and he died of a stroke on top of her.

Madam Luo had finally endured to the end. Without a second word, she sold the person to a brothel.

Then, the Tian family somehow found out about the relationship between Wan He and Granny Lei and bought the person back.

The Tian family and the Xia family could be said to have long-standing grievances. Father Xia wasn’t surprised at all that Old Master Tian wanted to harm his family. He simply hadn’t expected them to target his innocent, foolish youngest son.

“Yuanbao, Dad will definitely get justice for you. Wait just a bit and keep this to yourself.”  After understanding the situation, Father Xia instructed his eldest son, “And you, make it look more convincing. If Granny Lei sees through it, see how I’ll deal with you.”

Xia Jinzi, reeling from the revelation of a household traitor, exclaimed, “Why?! Why keep this treacherous old woman? Why not sell her off?!”

Father Xia scoffed, “Sell her to the Tian family to let the mother and daughter reunite?”

He lacked concrete evidence of the Tian family’s plot against his son’s life. Even if he had Xia Chen’s testimony, who would believe a child who had been foolish for seven years? So now the biggest advantage was that they held Granny Lei’s slave deed.

Father Xia further instructed his eldest son before dismissing him. Seeing his youngest son’s red, tear-filled eyes, he wanted to coax him with snacks, but he never carried such things on him. It wasn’t good to let his wife see their son in this state, so he could only make an empty promise. “Yuanbao, don’t cry. Next time, Dad will buy you a big bag of preserved fruits.”

Xia Chen really didn’t care for these snacks. What he wanted most now was all kinds of seeds. He knew that planting the same seeds a second time in his space would yield significantly less experience. 

With his limited land, repeatedly planting the same seeds was inefficient. It would be faster to gain experience by planting a variety of seeds. Xia Chen had been longing for that level five gift pack.

“I don’t want preserved fruits. Dad, can you find me some seeds?” Xia Chen seized the opportunity to make a request to his father. His mother only gave him a few seeds at a time, and there were often duplicates. He hoped his father would be able to find more.

“Seeds? Aren’t the ones your mother gave you enough to plant?” Father Xia found it strange.

Xia Chen pouted and said childishly, “The seeds I plant don’t sprout. Maybe the seeds are spoiled. Dad, please find me some different seeds.”

Understanding dawned on Father Xia. Casually messing around in the middle of winter, it would be strange if the seeds could grow.

Not wanting to dampen his son’s enthusiasm, he picked up the pouting child. “Alright, Dad will find seeds for you.”

Xia Chen felt reassured. He trusted his father, a bold and resourceful man with a thoughtful side, to handle any problems. His father might look rough around the edges, but he possessed an inner refinement. 

Xia Chen happily put the matter out of his mind and focused on gaining experience and collecting gift packs.

True to his word, Father Xia presented Xia Chen with a pack of seeds the very next day. He was so overjoyed that he jumped for joy. That night, he sneakily entered the space to plant.

To his pleasant surprise, he completed an achievement for planting over ten different types of seeds! 

The achievement rewards were generous: the experience alone boosted him to level four and filled a third of the progress bar. Additionally, he gained ten gems and sixteen new plots of land.

Xia Chen knew that gems were the hardest currency to obtain. While other resources could be earned through planting and selling, gems were mainly acquired through achievements, gift packs, or selling mutated plants. Small amounts of gems might also be found in the gold reward pool.

Gems were incredibly valuable. The gem reward pool offered exclusive items, and the mall contained goods only purchasable with gems. Even expanding the warehouse required gems—ten gems per slot, with the cost increasing for every ten slots added.

Xia Chen stared at the dark red little gem icon without a blink, and felt extremely conflicted in his heart. “Tongban, should I draw or not?”

That’s right, ten gems were enough for one draw! When playing games before, in order to draw the SSR he wanted, Xia Chen didn’t know how many 648 yuan he had spent. The gem reward pool looked very high-level at a glance. He felt an unbearable itch in his heart.

Xia Tongban’s cold, mechanical voice brought him back to reality. [It is recommended that the host focus on the magical seed in the warehouse. Using gems for that purpose will be more beneficial at present.]

Xia Chen, “……”

Okay, I’m clear-headed now 🙂

🌻🌻🌻

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