Chapter 26 – Past Life: Lady Li Steals Grain at Midnight

Lady Song next door would sometimes give them a bit of food out of concern that the Wu family might not have enough to eat.

Because of this, Lady Li only stole a small handful of grain each day, so even her mother-in-law didn’t notice anything was off.

Even Wu Erlang, who slept beside her, had no idea what she was up to. That just showed how deeply he slept. When she went out to sell the grain, she’d simply say she was visiting her maiden home—no one in the family ever suspected a thing.

Later, after Madam Chen hacked open the cabinet where she stored grain in the second room, she took a tough stance and locked all the grain in the kitchen.

But that wasn’t a problem for Lady Li. She pulled out a thin piece of iron—it was a spare key to the kitchen cabinet she had secretly made three months earlier.

Lady Li had actually thought about going with that man back then, running away with him. But she didn’t even have enough money for her own travel expenses at the time, so she had no choice but to give up regretfully.

And she absolutely had to bring Wu Erfan along. A woman traveling alone would be far too dangerous.

The four of them needed four hundred taels of silver. They didn’t have enough yet, but…

She really ought to thank Wu Dalang and He Yanxin. Truly… dying was the best thing they ever did!

Lady Li sneered coldly, “Hah! You two little brats—just wait!”

When night fell and everyone was asleep, Lady Li shook Wu Erlang awake with force.

“What the hell?! Can’t you let a man sleep?” Wu Erlang grumbled groggily.

“Keep your voice down,” Lady Li hissed, gesturing for him to get dressed.

Wu Erlang didn’t understand what was going on, but he was so used to obeying her that he moved without question.

As he got out of bed, he accidentally kicked a sack of something. He didn’t think much of it.

That sack was the rice Lady Li had just taken from the kitchen. They originally had five jin left at home, and the eighty new jin were still there. She took it all—not leaving a single grain behind.

She had sewn fifty taels of silver into the lining of her clothes, and the other twenty-six taels were tied to her waist.

“Listen to me carefully…” she whispered into his ear.

“This isn’t right,” Wu Erlang said hesitantly.

“What’s wrong about it? Don’t you want to eat meat anymore? Or do you like that little tramp next door?” Lady Li grabbed his ear and glared at him—not just a question, but a threat.

Wu Erlang shivered and quickly folded his hands in apology, agreeing to whatever she said.

Lady Li didn’t tell him that they were leaving Qizhou. She just said they were taking the family’s and the neighbor’s grain to sell and buy meat.

If she told the truth, what if he insisted on bringing his parents along?

She had figured it out long ago—from how he’d insisted on feeding the same food to those two old things. Blood is thicker than water.

Bring them? She’d never waste two hundred taels on two burdens.

As for why she wanted to take the neighbor’s grain too? Wu Erlang didn’t even know what grain cost nowadays—he always thought meat was more expensive.

So if you wanted to buy more meat, naturally you had to bring more grain, right? That’s why he didn’t question her.

Once the man stepped out, Lady Li woke the two children, telling them to get dressed.

The two kids were still groggy and confused. She told them they were going to the county town to buy cloth for new clothes. The children understood—it wasn’t for anyone else in the family.

But who wouldn’t be happy about getting new clothes? They quickly got ready and obediently waited for their “father,” who had supposedly gone to the outhouse, to return.

The He family’s courtyard wall was two and a half meters tall, but there was one spot that was just under two meters—the section that bordered the Wu family.

Wu Erlang came to the wall, placed a wooden block beneath him, and climbed up. He carefully straddled the top and jumped down.

The back kitchen door wasn’t locked. He crept in quietly.

Before long, Wu Erlang returned.

Lady Li looked at his empty hands. “Where’s the grain?”

“The cabinet was locked,” he explained.

Turns out that after their house had been broken into that one time, He Yanxin had bought a lock and secured the cabinet.

Lady Li ground her teeth in frustration. If she had just the rice from their own home combined with what she already had, it would’ve been enough to get them past the border.

But who ever thinks they have too much money? Besides, she really wanted to teach Lady Song a good lesson.

She resisted the urge to set the neighbor’s house on fire. After all, a fire would be too bright—it would wake people up.

And if, in the rush to save the grain, they realized both people and food were gone, they’d definitely come chasing after them. Then they’d be doomed.

Forget it. Without He Yanxin, how long would a few dozen jin of grain even last? Lady Li was convinced that woman would come to a miserable end.

That was the reason she’d made up her mind to flee Qizhou. Wu Dalang was dead—there would be no more twenty jin of monthly rations. What would they do then? She wasn’t about to let Wu Erfan go to the army while she stayed home a widow.

Now that she had found a way out, she imagined Lady Song starving to death while she herself lived comfortably with money in hand.

That thought made her feel much better.

“Let’s go.”

She had Wu Erlang carry the grain, and signaled for everyone to leave.

Carrying all that rice on his back, Wu Erlang felt something wasn’t quite right. Was his wife really planning to sell all their grain? What would they eat after that?

As they walked the deserted road out of the village, he couldn’t help but ask.

“Shut up!” Lady Li snapped. She was already in a foul mood—he had no business asking questions.

“Oh.” Wu Erlang went silent.

The two children also didn’t dare say a word. Heads down, the four of them trudged on. Before dawn, they arrived at the city gates. When the gates opened at 6 a.m., they entered.

What they didn’t notice was that a ragged beggar near the gate gave a subtle signal to another man, who nodded and darted into a side alley.

Yongqing County was now more dilapidated and desolate than ever.

Lady Li led her group into a residential alley clearly inhabited by wealthy families. They stood to the side and waited quietly.

She had sold rice here the last two times. It was the best place to sell grain in the whole county—these people could afford to buy. Though the man she’d met before hadn’t been from here.

She had only kept four jin of rice for the road and planned to sell the rest.

After about fifteen minutes, someone opened a door just a crack and peeked out. Lady Li skillfully opened her sack for them to inspect.

Her practiced movements made even the children feel uneasy. Had she done this before?

In the end, only three families bought, and the rice sold out. She earned a total of three hundred and thirty-two taels and one qian. According to her inquiries, grain prices had gone up by another qian in just the past half-month.

Perfect. After paying the four hundred taels for passage, she’d still have some left to live on.

Clutching the warm silver notes hidden in her clothes, Lady Li couldn’t stop herself from grinning. It was the first time she’d ever seen so much money.

She led the three others to a corner and told them to wait. She then circled back to the spot where she’d previously met that man.

Sure enough, he appeared again not long after. She rushed over and whispered:

“Mister, I’ve got the money! When do we leave?”

The man seemed surprised that she’d gathered the funds so quickly.

“You really have enough?”

Lady Li panicked. They had no way back now. Afraid he wouldn’t believe her, she lifted the edge of her clothing to show a corner of the silver notes.

A flash of greed flickered in the man’s eyes.

“Midnight tonight. Wait for us in the pine grove outside the county.”

He said only that, then lowered his head and walked off.

Lady Li finally relaxed. Heart pounding with excitement, she returned to the father and sons.

“Spring Flower, weren’t you going to buy meat?”
“Mom, didn’t you get the cloth?”

Wu Erlang and the older son asked at the same time, then looked at each other in confusion.

Buy meat? Buy cloth? She hadn’t mentioned either of those.

They both turned to Lady Li, waiting for her answer.

Lady Li realized she couldn’t hide it any longer and confessed everything to the three of them.

Upon hearing they were leaving Qizhou tonight, Wu Erlang and the older boy fell silent. Only the seven-year-old younger son spoke up.

“Mom, I don’t think this is right!”

“What’s wrong with it?” Lady Li was convinced this was the best plan ever.

“Aren’t we going to bring Grandpa and Grandma, Aunt and Uncle, and Sister Daling too?” Weren’t they family? They should all leave together.

“…!” She knew it.

This brat had been raised by his grandmother since birth—he wasn’t close to her at all. He always hung out with the eldest branch, too. Infuriating.

But when she looked into his clear, innocent eyes, she found she really couldn’t bring herself to say it outright:

We’re not bringing them.

(End of Chapter)