Chapter 16: Keeping the Peace

Lihua gently clasped Xia Daohua’s small hand in hers. With her other hand, she softly stroked the newly grown stubble of hair on Daohua’s head. It was fuzzy and slightly prickly to the touch.

“Dear little sister, you’ve really suffered.”

Linghua suddenly spoke up:

“Not a single good person in that branch of the family! Our grandfather is always hoping that Eldest Brother Dalang will succeed in his studies and help the whole family, support his brothers. But honestly, who knows whether he’ll even acknowledge us in the future? Our father and mother always say we should get closer to the main branch, but can’t they see clearly? Those people don’t want to be close to us at all!”

Wulang remained unusually silent, head lowered, deep in thought, not saying a single word.

Xia Daohua smiled and said:

“What our father and mother think isn’t something we can control, nor do we need to. We just need to know in our hearts what kind of people the main branch really is. As long as we maintain appearances on the surface, that’s enough. No need to force ourselves to be close to them.”

She glanced at Wulang and continued:

“In the future, we’ll earn more money ourselves and send Wulang to school! Once our Wulang is also enrolled in the academy, will our parents still have to cling to Eldest Brother Dalang?”

Wulang’s body jolted when he heard that. He looked up at Xia Daohua in disbelief.

“Daohua, what nonsense are you saying?”

Xia Daohua smiled and replied:

“How is that nonsense? Once spring comes, we’ll go into the mountains to dig medicinal herbs, pick mushrooms, collect shed snake skins, and hunt rabbits!

After a little processing, we can take those things to town and sell them for money. Once we’ve saved up for a year or so, that should be enough to pay for your schooling!

As long as we cover the first year’s tuition and supplies, and if you study hard and impress the teacher a few times, won’t our parents and grandparents step in to help? They couldn’t possibly just stand by and do nothing, right?”

Wulang’s eyes widened. This kind of hopeful future made his breathing quicken. But after thinking it over, he became hesitant:

“But back when we supported Dalang’s education, the whole family was busy all year round, and life was still tight.

If I go to school too, with only the few of us here at home, how much more suffering would you all have to endure?”

Xia Daohua laughed:

“Wulang, don’t tell me you didn’t see what the main branch was wearing today? What they had on, what jewelry they wore? When they came back from town, they even had a horse-drawn carriage. Other than the time they took me to Puji Clinic, who in our family has ever ridden in a carriage?”

Wulang stayed silent.

Xia Daohua continued:

“If you want to wear fine brocade robes, eat gourmet delicacies, carry a bookcase with a servant boy attending you, riding in a carriage to Songxi Academy every day—then sure, even if we sold all of us, we still couldn’t afford it.

But if you keep living simply like now, honestly study and find a decent teacher, don’t get involved in any nonsense, and stop comparing yourself with those pampered rich boys—what’s so hard about sending you to school?

At worst, we’ll grit our teeth and come up with more ways to earn money!”

To ease Wulang’s worries, Xia Daohua greatly simplified the difficulties they were facing.

But she wasn’t lying.

Because her greatest confidence came from her space supermarket.

With the space supermarket as her secret weapon, even if she couldn’t catch valuable prey in the mountains, or find rare herbs or tasty mushrooms, it didn’t matter.

She could simply choose a few suitable items from the supermarket that fit this era, take them to town, and easily exchange them for money. Earning tuition for Wulang would be effortless.

Seeing how serious Xia Daohua was, Lihua and Wulang exchanged a look and decided not to say anything discouraging for the time being.

Their little sister was so dedicated to helping her older brother—they couldn’t bear to dampen her enthusiasm.

Neither of them could have imagined that their seemingly innocent and naive little sister wasn’t clueless about how hard it was to make money. In fact, if she wanted to, she could make the whole family rich overnight with minimal effort.

After chatting for a while, they heard Jiang-shi calling them to dinner.

It turned out Jiang-shi was starting to worry because Xia Youtian still hadn’t come home. She had prepared the meal early and kept it warm in the pot. But even after the cabbage leaves had turned an unappetizing color, there was still no sign of him.

Jiang-shi wanted to go look for him, but couldn’t bring herself to leave the children unattended—especially Xia Daohua.

After some hesitation, she set the table and told the children to eat first. She gave detailed instructions to the eldest, Lihua, to make sure everyone went to bed safely after the meal.

Only after rambling through her reminders did Jiang-shi head to the old couple’s room to find someone.

Not long after the children lay down, their breathing grew slow and steady.

Linghua practically fell asleep instantly—her head hit the pillow and she was out.

Wulang, who now had a lot on his mind, tossed and turned a bit but still fell asleep within ten minutes.

Lihua tucked everyone in again before she herself crawled into bed. She stared quietly at the ceiling beams for a while before drifting off into a deep sleep.

Xia Daohua was just about to use the opportunity to enter her space supermarket again when she heard the footsteps of Jiang-shi and Xia Youtian approaching.

She had no choice but to close her eyes and pretend to be asleep.

Once they entered the room, the couple first checked on the children’s sleeping positions. Then, by the light of the moon, they undressed quietly.

While rustling about, they whispered to each other in hushed tones.

Jiang-shi’s voice still carried a trace of tears:

“I’ve never offended Eldest Sister-in-law. Why is she treating me like this? Deliberately making things hard for me?”

Xia Youtian comforted her:

“Eldest Sister-in-law is just being overly protective of Yinhua. Our hearts ached when Daohua got hurt. Eldest Sister-in-law is just the same when it comes to her daughter.”

But Jiang-shi still felt wronged. She sniffled softly for a while before speaking again:

“I didn’t even ask Eldest Sister-in-law to blame Yinhua for anything. I just wanted to ask what really happened that day. But did you see her expression? She practically told me to get out!”

Xia Youtian pulled her into his arms and gently patted her back to soothe her.

“Don’t cry anymore. I’ll handle everything.

Later I’ll talk to Eldest Brother and have him ask Yinhua carefully. If we don’t get to the bottom of this, not just you—even I won’t be able to rest easy.

But for the next few days, let it go. It’s the New Year.

If Eldest Sister-in-law makes a scene, it won’t just embarrass Eldest Brother—our parents will also be upset. We just split the family. Our parents are already heartbroken. We can’t ruin their New Year too.”

“You think I don’t care about our parents? But look at Eldest Sister-in-law—she clearly wants me to drop the matter, to move on like nothing happened and never bring it up again!

If I really agreed to that, how could I face Daohua?”

“I understand. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”

Their voices grew softer and softer. No one knew what Xia Youtian whispered next, but Jiang-shi suddenly let out a giggle.

After that, the crying, complaining, and murmuring all stopped.

But the cold winter night wasn’t entirely silent. Certain gentle, intimate sounds quietly flowed through the darkness.

Xia Daohua pulled the blanket over her head to muffle the soft, cat-like whispers that followed.

(End of Chapter)