The bedroom door slammed open, and Xia Jinzi rushed to the bedside. “Yuanbao, wake up,” he urged, gently patting Xia Chen’s shoulder.

Xia Chen squinted his eyes, feigning drowsiness. “Big Brother, what’s the matter?”

Xia Jinzi quickly helped Xia Chen put on the small jacket placed by the bedside. “Those brats who bullied you—their families are making a fuss. Father told me to bring you over.”

Xia Chen’s eyes gleamed with excitement. Something felt off about the timing of this ruckus. His father must have acted swiftly. 

“Yuanbao, Father told me to tell you,” Xia Jinzi hesitated, “when you go, just point out who tricked you to the riverside. Don’t say anything else. If you can’t handle it, just cry.” He didn’t understand these odd instructions, but conveyed them faithfully.

Xia Chen, however, grasped the situation immediately. Several children had committed this offense together, meaning there must be a ringleader. Now in trouble, they would pressure him to reveal their leader, shifting the blame to exonerate themselves.

His father’s investigation likely revealed that the child who genuinely benefited from the Tian family’s favor wasn’t the same one who had spoken up to trick Xia Chen. This so-called mastermind was merely a scapegoat.

Moreover, these brats from well-off village families held no fear of the Xias, who despite their land, were seen as ordinary farmers. In the past, they’d often insulted and bullied Xia Chen.

“Brother, I understand.” Xia Chen nodded obediently. Xia Jinzi lifted his younger brother and strode towards the gathering villagers..

A large crowd had assembled on the sandy riverbank. When Xia Jinzi arrived carrying Xia Chen, they parted, revealing a chilling scene.

The children who tricked him, all but one, who was wet from the waist down, were soaked head to toe, as if forcibly dunked in the icy river. 

Although the weather turned warmer by the day, spring had not truly arrived. Unmelted ice floes still dotted the river, so after a dip in such frigid water, their cotton-padded jackets weighed them down like iron.

Their family members cried and shouted as they fished the children out, becoming drenched in the process. Adults and children alike wore sodden clothes, their hair frozen into icy clumps. They shivered, dripping water as they huddled together.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to go home and change out of their wet clothes, but Xia Chen’s uncles, cousins, and nephews—a dozen or so burly young men—blocked the way, brandishing pig-slaughtering knives, cow-slaughtering knives, and other fearsome tools.

Though Mother Xia appeared gentle and frail, her family were the town butchers. Her three elder brothers were tall and robust. When they wielded the heavy knives, the air whistled with each swing.

This was the first time Xia Chen had seen his maternal relatives since recovering from his illness. They have treated him well when he was foolish during the time he’d visited his maternal grandfather’s house with his mother. His second sister, Xia Yinzi, had married the youngest son of his eldest uncle.

Of course, marrying close relatives wasn’t ideal, but by the time he was born, his sister was already married. After his recovery, his sister had already given birth to two children. Fortunately, except for his nephew Bei’er being a bit frail, the children seemed unharmed.

Seeing his maternal relatives, Xia Chen felt more certain of his suspicions. This incident must have been orchestrated by his father. Otherwise, his uncles would never have arrived from town so quickly—a journey that usually took two hours on foot.

“He’s here!” Someone spotted Xia Chen and shouted. The mothers of the soaked children lunged towards him but were swiftly intercepted by Xia Jinzi.

“Little fool, tell us, who told you to go on the icy river? Which family? Point them out!”

“Who are you calling a little fool?!” Xia Jinzi angrily retorted, “If you can’t speak properly, shut that stinking mouth of yours!”

Calling him a little fool as soon as she opened her mouth—with this attitude from the elders, it was no wonder the children at home followed their example.

The woman who misspoke was quickly shoved to the back by the others, who repeated the same question.

Xia Chen put on a timid appearance, cowering behind his big brother, only poking his head out to point at the few brats whose snot had frozen on their faces. “Him, him, him, and him, just those few.”

If they pressed further about who specifically told him to go on the ice, he refused to speak again, hiding behind his eldest brother, who shielded him tightly. This standoff only stopped when Qiao Niang came over, supporting the red-eyed Mother Xia. He was then carried home with his mother and sister-in-law.

Not long after, Father Xia returned with Xia Chen’s uncles. Mother Xia and Qiao Niang, along with the pale-faced Granny Lei, went to the kitchen to boil water and prepare food because Father Xia invited them to have dinner at home.

Not long after, Father Xia returned with Xia Chen’s uncles. Mother Xia, Qiao Niang, and a pale-faced Granny Lei went to the kitchen to boil water and prepare food. Father Xia had invited them to have dinner at home.

A group of men conversed in the living room. Xia Chen hid outside the door to eavesdrop, learning that his father had severed ties with these families in front of the whole village. They would no longer associate with each other in the future.

Xia Chen fully understood his father’s approach. Even if he demanded compensation, the temperament of these families meant they would likely cause endless trouble. 

It was better to make a clean break, and they could gain a favorable reputation among the villagers. His father had already exacted revenge. Those who deserved it had been thrown into the river and a proper freezing should be enough to clear their heads.

Concerned that the mountain road would be treacherous to navigate at night, the family started dinner early. After the meal, his uncle’s family rose to take their leave. Mother Xia packed some dried vegetables for them to take back because, unlike the village, her mother’s family, as butchers, could often enjoy meat, but vegetables were scarce in the town during winter.

After seeing off his uncles and their group, Mother Xia and Qiao Niang tidied the rooms. Father Xia whispered to his youngest son, “Yuanbao, Dad has declared that no one can bully you. Just wait, I won’t let those people off easily.”

Xia Chen’s mood still hadn’t recovered until evening. After living for over twenty years, only now did he truly experience what it meant to be a child doted on by his father.

In his previous life, his biological father was handsome and wealthy.  He had been featured in business magazines and engaged in image marketing for the sake of the company’s interests. Many netizens called his dad “daddy,” but his dad had never attended a single parent-teacher conference for his own biological son.

“Tongban, my dad is really good, especially good. My mom is also good—my family members are all good.” Xia Chen, grinning foolishly, poured out the surging emotions in his heart to Tongban.

However, Xia Tongban wasn’t a qualified listener. Otherwise, it should have seized the opportunity to offer a few words of praise. Instead, it said rigidly: [It was I who helped you choose this time and space. If the host doesn’t work hard at farming, you will become a “boomerang kid,” relying on your “best family members” to support you.]

Xia Chen had already developed some immunity to Tongban’s retorts. He was in a good mood right now and too lazy to bicker. Obviously, compared to a small landlord father, a top scholar father would have been more prestigious.

“Farming, farming, I’m doing it now.” Xia Chen skillfully harvested the mature crops on his sixteen plots of land, then planted new seeds. He glanced at the experience bar— it was already more than halfway through level four.

After finishing the daily tasks, Xia Chen looked with a pained expression at his savings, which only had a few hundred copper coins left. He took out the agricultural book he had bought at noon from the warehouse.

When Xia Chen’s parents were at their worst fight during his childhood, he had stayed at his grandparents’ homes for a while. Grandpa Xia enjoyed writing with a brush and taught him to recognize traditional Chinese characters. The writing in this time and space was very similar to the ancient traditional Chinese characters from his previous life.

“Let me see, what kind of book is worth three taels of silver?” Xia Chen gritted his teeth as he spoke.

The agricultural book used vertical writing without the punctuation common in this era. Xia Chen only knew the most common characters, so he struggled, half-guessing his way through. He had to seek help from Xia Tongban from time to time.

Fortunately, the book wasn’t thick. After skimming through it, he found that it discussed the cultivation of common vegetables, especially the ones in his space. 

Xia Chen felt that this content was useless to him because the planting restrictions in the space were so minimal that they were almost non-existent. As for the outside world, the farmers who planted these vegetables all year round knew how to grow them.

Luckily, Xia Tongban hadn’t completely scammed him. The book also contained strawberry planting methods and vegetable processing recipes, like how to pickle sweet and sour radishes and cucumbers.

Xia Chen swallowed. He wanted to eat that sweet and sour radish, but unfortunately, all he had were radishes. With no white vinegar or sugar, he could only look at the recipe longingly.

“Still useless.” Xia Chen listlessly tossed the book back into the warehouse and clicked open his task scroll. As expected, the eighth novice task appeared marked as completed.

Xia Chen was surprised to see the ninth task was also complete. This task required him to possess an iron farming tool—a requirement his father, his external cheat, had already fulfilled.

The experience and money rewards for the early novice tasks were low, increasing gradually for later tasks. Even though Xia Tongban took half the rewards to pay off the debt, completing two tasks in a row boosted Xia Chen’s savings to over one tael of silver.

“Not a total loss,” Xia Chen muttered, the easily-soothed voice of someone accustomed to his unlucky halo.

Two tasks down, he was one step closer to the novice gift pack. He checked his final novice task: [Host must reach level five.]

Xia Chen glanced at his experience bar. The two recent tasks had been generous, pushing the bar to the brink of completion. It seemed he was just ten experience points away from leveling up.

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