Chapter 2: Blessed

In her past life, Gu Yuzhu had already been in her twenties. She was an orphan with no parents. An old Taoist priest in the mountain temple had raised her, sent her to school, and treated her with great kindness—his care as deep and weighty as a mountain.

A year ago, the old Taoist passed away, and she once again became completely alone.

Before his death, the old Taoist used to say she was a blessed child. Then he’d shake his head and mutter words she couldn’t understand. As a child, she didn’t get it. After growing up, Gu Yuzhu stopped believing it. She was just an orphan—no father, no mother. Where was the blessing in that?

But now, in this life, she had a mother—Yan Fengru—who protected her like a mother hen guarding her chicks. Thinking of this, Gu Yuzhu felt that maybe the old Taoist had been right all along. Maybe she was a blessed child. How else could she be so fortunate as to have a birth mother who would protect her so fiercely and wholeheartedly?

Gu Yuzhu remembered that during the car accident, the place on her chest where she wore the peanut-shaped jade had suddenly turned burning hot, as if a beam of light had flashed through.

She subconsciously reached for her chest, only to realize she couldn’t lift her hand no matter how hard she tried. Just then, a sharp, needle-like pain surged through her. Her blurry vision made out a few silhouettes.

Before she could see them clearly, she heard someone cry out, “Zhu’er! My Zhu’er!” And then she was pulled into a warm, tight embrace.

To be honest, with the original body’s memories now in her mind, Gu Yuzhu didn’t reject Yan Fengru at all.

In this life, she, who once had no parents, now actually had both a mother and father—and even a twin brother to boot. That didn’t sound bad at all. It was just a pity about the original girl. So young, and she died from falling out of a tree.

Gu Yuzhu silently spoke in her heart, Original soul, I hope you’ll have a better fate in your next life. I’ll live well in your place and be a filial daughter to your mother.

After going through something as unbelievable as a time-traveling soul transfer, Gu Yuzhu’s worldview had completely collapsed. But she was surprisingly calm and accepting of it all.

“It’s good that you’re awake, it’s good that you’re awake. Zhu’er, how are you feeling?”

Gu Dapeng also spoke happily and excitedly.

Gu Dapeng was a simple and honest man. He did have some partiality toward his two older children, mostly because they lost their birth mother at a young age and he pitied them. But to say he didn’t love the dragon-phoenix twins born to Yan Fengru would be a lie.

After all, they were all his children—and these two were born when he was older, a set of twins symbolizing auspicious fortune. Their birth had brought him immense joy, and he grew even more affectionate toward his blessed wife, Yan Fengru.

But still, whether the flesh was from the palm or the back of the hand, it was all his own flesh and blood. To favor one side would be unfair. This dilemma gave the honest Gu Dapeng quite a headache.

Yet at this moment, Gu Dapeng was truly happy. He didn’t even care about the money spent on hiring a doctor from town.

Normally, when a rural villager got sick, they’d just rely on some ancestral folk remedies. If things got a bit more serious, they’d turn to the barefoot doctor in the village for a prescription—it never cost much.

But hiring a town doctor was a different story. Travel expenses, house call fees, plus two prescriptions—at minimum, it would add up to half a tael of silver. For a rural peasant family, half a tael could cover food for over half a month.

“She’s awake now—that’s what matters,” the old doctor said, stroking his goat-like beard. His face remained stoic, but deep inside, he was relieved. When he first felt the faint pulse of the little girl, he thought it didn’t bode well. The child had been premature and weak from the womb, and after hearing she’d fallen from such a tall tree, he thought she probably wouldn’t make it.

But under the intense gaze of this strong, honest farmer and the tearful pleading of that pale-faced, proud woman who almost knelt before him, the old doctor had reluctantly decided to try a last-ditch treatment—treating a “dead horse like a living one.” Who would’ve thought the child’s fate wasn’t over yet? She pulled through.

As a physician with compassion, the old doctor was truly pleased to have saved a life. He went on to prescribe two sets of medicine for the child and explained in detail the care and precautions they needed to take afterward.

Yan Fengru wished she could treat the doctor’s words like imperial edicts. She listened and nodded like a pecking chicken, so earnestly that Gu Yuzhu felt her heart swell with warmth.

Just like that, half a tael of silver was spent.

But Yan Fengru didn’t see it that way. She was sincerely grateful to the doctor. Besides the house call and medicine fees, she even gave him a bit extra as a token of thanks.

She had finally figured it out: being a stepmother was always a difficult position. No matter how fair she tried to be, those ungrateful brats would always think she was playing favorites and mistreating them. Fine then—let them think what they want.

The Gu family hadn’t divided their property yet. The silver she used came from the communal funds. Her young daughter had fallen from a tree—who knew what exactly happened? And she still hadn’t settled the score with those two troublemakers who pushed her son into the pond last time. So what if she spent a little more?

Not only would she spend, she would also buy more nourishing things to help her son and daughter recover.

Gu Dapeng was a plain but hardworking farmer. He was strong and honest. In the past, they had spent quite a bit of money when his former wife was sick. But after her death, his burdens suddenly lightened. During the agricultural off-season, he even found some work in town.

Yan Fengru, on the other hand, had been a senior maid before. In the early years, when her younger siblings were still unmarried, she often used her monthly wages to help support them. But a few years before she bought her freedom, her brothers had already married and started families of their own, and she had begun saving her wages.

Besides what she spent on redeeming herself from servitude, her mistress had appreciated her years of faithful service and often rewarded her generously.

In other words, Yan Fengru had no real use for the small allowance Gu Dapeng handed over to her.

She had at least a hundred taels of silver saved—maybe even several hundred.

Of course, she kept this quiet. Publicly, she said that most of it had been spent on redeeming her freedom and that little was left.

Counting the silver Gu Dapeng gave her over the years, the couple had more than 120 taels saved. Of that, twenty taels and some odds and ends were from Gu Dapeng—what she had managed to save from his money by living frugally.

The remaining hundred or so taels were her private savings. These would all go to her two children in the future.

Elsewhere, watching her stepmother-in-law smilingly walk the old doctor out, Li-shi knew that her young sister-in-law was out of danger. She felt a little relieved inside.

She was Gu Qingshan’s wife, and her stance followed his. Coupled with his attitude toward his stepmother, it was hard for her to feel warmly toward that woman—or to dare to.

But, to be fair, this stepmother-in-law actually wasn’t bad. Though she often wore a stern expression, like everyone owed her a hundred or eighty taels, she had never mistreated her husband or her younger sister-in-law.

As the saying goes, those involved are often confused, while bystanders see things more clearly. Li-shi understood very well—if this woman were truly the kind of wicked stepmother who abused the children of her predecessor, could her husband have married her at just eighteen? Would her young sister-in-law have such a good life?

Her sister-in-law’s husband wasn’t from a rich or powerful family, but he was a local villager—honest and reliable. Since the couple lived close to her natal family, they could always rely on support when needed.

Her sister-in-law and her husband had been childhood sweethearts, growing up together. That kind of affection was different.

Her little sister-in-law lived a wonderful life. Her birth brother and husband spoiled her, and she could return to her maternal home anytime she wanted to freeload food and toss her kid to her sister-in-law for babysitting.

In the village, there were plenty of real wicked stepmothers. They used the late wife’s sons like farmhands and the daughters like maids. When the children reached marriageable age, they wouldn’t help arrange proper matches. Only when they had no choice left would they hastily marry them off to just anyone.

Some even sold off the children from the previous wife.

In the end, when they’re not your own, you don’t love them the same.

But this stepmother of hers? Though her attitude wasn’t warm, she never did anything cruel.

Honestly, having a stepmother like her—wasn’t that a stroke of luck?