Chapter 52

As the green herbal paste was applied, a cool sensation spread across the skin, soothing the previous sharp pain.

“Rest at home tomorrow. My leg has almost fully recovered, and I’ll be able to return to work soon.”

Xu Huai’an’s tone carried a hint of pleading, mixed with helplessness. His worried gaze remained fixed on Gu Qinghuan, making her feel increasingly uneasy. Why was this guy looking at her like that?

In the end, she could only nod awkwardly.

A wise person knew when to yield. Now was not the time to act tough.

She had no intention of exhausting herself just to earn some work points. Today had been an accident. With her current strength, carrying a full basket of sweet potatoes on her back was not an issue. But she had forgotten to consider her body’s condition.

Her delicate skin simply could not withstand the heavy basket’s friction, and as a result, her shoulder had been injured.

Seeing her agree, Xu Huai’an finally felt the weight in his heart lift. He quickly stood up to clear the dishes.

Zhong Zijun’s injured hand made it inconvenient for him to help, so Xu Huai’an planned to take over all of her tasks gradually. The only embarrassing part was that his cooking skills were poor—he could only prepare the ingredients while Zhong Zijun handled the actual cooking.

While washing the dishes, Xu Huai’an suddenly realized something—when he saw the blood on Gu Qinghuan’s shoulder today, he hadn’t lost control of his emotions.

In the past, just the sight of blood would send him into a frenzy, causing him to smash things uncontrollably.

But today, all he felt was overwhelming heartache.

His condition had significantly improved. Except for occasional late-night anxiety and overthinking that kept him awake, his emotions during the day had remained stable.

Moreover, he had discovered something—whenever he felt anxious, eating a persimmon or drinking the water Gu Qinghuan gave him would quickly calm him down.

It was not hard to guess that there was some secret behind it, but since Gu Qinghuan hadn’t told him, he didn’t want to ask.

All he knew was that his condition was improving, and it was all thanks to Gu Qinghuan.

Too exhausted to do anything else, Gu Qinghuan simply washed up, took some anti-inflammatory medicine from her spatial storage, drank a cup of Spiritual Spring Water, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Recently, Gu Qinghuan had been secretly adding Spiritual Spring Water into the household water tank. Since all the meals at home were cooked using this water, she hadn’t needed to give anyone extra doses to drink separately.

With proper nutrition, the whole family seemed to be growing like inflated balloons, and the most noticeable change was in Xu Huai’an.

These past few days, with plenty of food and the nourishment of the Spiritual Spring Water, he had transformed from being skin and bones to looking much healthier, even a bit rounder.

Gu Qinghuan had originally planned to bring some food over to the cowshed that night. But with her shoulder injured, she couldn’t carry heavy loads or even lift anything with ease, so she had no choice but to wait.

Early the next morning, Gu Qinghuan was woken up by voices outside.

“Huai’an, your leg isn’t in good shape. Let me do it instead. I may only have one hand, but I can still handle a lot of work. Stop trying to take over everything.”

It was Zhong Zijun’s voice.

It seemed that while she was away, Xu Huai’an had done quite a bit to win over her mother-in-law. She remembered how, when they had first met, Zhong Zijun had been full of disdain toward him. Yet now, in just a few days, she had grown fond of him. Just yesterday, she had even spoken up on his behalf.

She had to admit, Xu Huai’an had his good points. Aside from being handsome, he wasn’t the domineering type and treated both her and the children well.

“Mom, my hands and legs haven’t been active for too long—I need to exercise them to fully recover. Your hand, on the other hand, must not be injured again. Turning the soil takes strength, so let me do it.”

Xu Huai’an sounded somewhat helpless. His mother-in-law was simply too hardworking.

“Besides, if someone sees you, Huan Huan’s efforts will have been in vain.”

Zhong Zijun understood her own sensitive identity and didn’t want to cause her daughter any more trouble. In the end, she couldn’t argue against Xu Huai’an and could only watch as he picked up a hoe and walked out.

The private plot was just behind the house, only a few steps away, so there was no need to worry too much.

Gu Qinghuan turned over and got up. Her shoulder no longer hurt, but she still didn’t dare to move it too much—when she stretched, there was still some pain.

The herbal residue from the poultice had seeped into her clothes, staining them green. She needed to change and clean up, but bathing was out of the question for now. She would have to endure a few days until the wound scabbed over.

Hearing movement inside, Zhong Zijun quickly came in to help. As the mother and daughter were tidying up inside the house, a sudden, violent knocking on the door rang out.

Gu Qinghuan immediately instructed Zhong Zijun to hide behind the door and not make a sound, no matter what happened.

Da Bao, who had been inside, heard the knocking first and rushed out ahead of them. He peeked through the crack of the door—and in an instant, cold sweat broke out all over his body.

It was Grandma!

Because of their interactions over the past few years, Da Bao had developed a deep-seated fear of the old woman. Just hearing her voice was enough to make his face turn pale—one could only imagine how much suffering he had endured at her hands.

He didn’t dare to open the door and quickly ran to find Gu Qinghuan.

“Mom, Grandma is here.”

Seeing his panic, Gu Qinghuan patted his head and said: “Don’t be afraid, Mom is here. Go back to your room and stay with your sister.”

After a moment of thought, she went into the kitchen and stashed away the rice, flour, eggs, and other food supplies from under the cupboard into her spatial storage, leaving only a bag of black flour behind.

She double-checked everything and, finding nothing else worth taking, finally strolled leisurely toward the door.

Outside, Liu Guifang had already grown impatient from waiting. Since there were no other houses nearby to witness her behavior, she showed her true face without restraint.

She opened her mouth and started cursing: “I’ve been knocking for so long—long enough to give birth to a child! Gu Qinghuan, are you inside fooling around with some man?”

Her words were crude and vicious.

Hearing this from inside, Zhong Zijun felt as if a knife was twisting in her heart. She had to force herself to stay put. Her perfectly fine daughter was being insulted like this—how utterly infuriating!

But expecting someone like Liu Guifang to treat her daughter-in-law well was foolish. After all, she didn’t even have a shred of humanity toward her own son.

Gu Qinghuan, however, was not one to tolerate such nonsense. She immediately fired back: “Which crazy old hag is standing outside spewing garbage? Your mouth stinks so bad, I think it needs to be sewn shut!” She shouted as she opened the door.

Liu Guifang hadn’t expected Gu Qinghuan to dare curse back at her. She was so furious that she wanted to hit her but managed to restrain herself when she remembered the reason for her visit.

“Lao Er’s wife, what did you just say?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s you, Mom? I thought it was some crazy old woman yelling at my door.”

“Hmph!” Liu Guifang snorted coldly and walked straight into the house.

“Hey, where are you going?” Gu Qinghuan quickly followed her.

Liu Guifang headed straight for the kitchen. The moment she saw the new cupboard and the fresh set of bowls and chopsticks on the stove, she immediately thought to herself—this woman must have money on her.

Gu Qinghuan blocked her path. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Since there was no one else around, Liu Guifang couldn’t even be bothered to pretend. She directly shoved Gu Qinghuan aside.

Gu Qinghuan was already weaker than her, and she hadn’t been prepared for the sudden push. With her injuries still fresh, she was thrown to the ground, her shoulder aching so intensely that it felt like the pain was drilling into her bones.

“Get out of my way! I haven’t even settled the score with you for before. Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Even though you’ve separated from the family, you still have to give me and your father the festival gifts. That’s non-negotiable!”

As she spoke, Liu Guifang rummaged through the cupboard like a bandit. But all she found was a single bag of black flour. She wrinkled her nose in disgust but still grabbed it and held it in her hand.

She didn’t even spare the wild vegetables that the children had picked the day before. Without hesitation, she scooped up the entire basket and tucked it under her arm.

Finally, she lifted the pot lid.

Inside was the breakfast Zhong Zijun had prepared early in the morning and left warming in the pot—a plate of potato and egg pancakes and a pot of wild vegetable soup.

Liu Guifang’s eyes immediately lit up. “These pancakes have eggs and white flour in them? You little liar! You must be hiding white flour somewhere, aren’t you?”

As she spoke, she tossed the egg pancakes into the basket of wild vegetables.

Perfect—she could take them back for her own children’s breakfast. They looked delicious.

Gu Qinghuan hadn’t thought to hide the food in the pot earlier, and now she regretted it deeply.

Liu Guifang, having seized her loot, prepared to storm into the other rooms to continue searching. She was determined to find white flour and whatever other good things were hidden inside.

Gu Qinghuan couldn’t allow her to go any further. If Zhong Zijun was discovered, everything would be ruined.

Enduring the pain, she forced herself to stand and blocked Liu Guifang’s way with all her strength.

But with her injuries limiting her movements, and her strength no match for Liu Guifang’s, she was shoved aside once again.

Da Bao and Bei Bei had been peeking through the crack in the door, watching everything unfold. The moment they saw their mother being thrown aside so ruthlessly, they burst out of the room.

Da Bao, like a little bull calf, charged at Liu Guifang, ramming his head straight into her stomach.

Liu Guifang was too focused on clutching her stolen goods and couldn’t use her hands to defend herself. She had no choice but to endure the blow, her teeth grinding in fury as she spat out her words: “You little bastard! I should’ve killed you back then!”

“You should’ve killed who?”

Xu Huai’an stood in the doorway, leaning on a hoe. His sharp, hawk-like eyes were ablaze with fury, piercing straight through Liu Guifang.