Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I pulled free of my father’s hand and thought for a moment.

“These past few days since you arrived, my sister and I have been able to eat our fill every day… Everyone says you’re a noble benefactor, a living bodhisattva. If Heaven has eyes, then even without me, it wouldn’t have let you be crushed to death by that timber.”

“I’m afraid of dying, but I’m even more afraid that there won’t be anyone to give us food anymore. If I’d been crushed to death, it would’ve been over in an instant, but starving to death hurts too much.”

“Food isn’t something you wait for others to give you,” Zhou You cut in lazily. “You have to earn it yourself.”

I looked at him. “Young Master is right. Then does this count as me earning it for myself?”

His smile was not quite a smile. “Mother, this little girl is terribly sharp for her age.”

Madam Zhou asked me, “Then what do you want?”

“I…”

I had barely begun when my father abruptly cut me off.

In an instant, his expression went from anxious and uneasy to wildly overjoyed. Kowtowing as he spoke over me, he said, “In reply to Madam, we don’t ask for anything else. As long as we can eat our fill, that’s enough.”

I glanced at him and closed my mouth.

Madam Zhou gave a soft hum. “That is easy enough. Do you have any trade or skill by which you make a living? If you do, I can have someone set you up with a house and shop here in town. As long as you can get a business going, eating your fill won’t be a problem.”

The joy on my father’s face stiffened. “Madam, this humble one is only a farmer. Other than farming, I don’t… I don’t have any other skills.”

“Farming works too,” Zhou You said. “We’ll buy you a few mu of good farmland. Tend it properly, sell whatever grain you have left over, and you’ll be able to live.”

My father hesitated. “Young Master may not know this, but the harvests have been worse year after year… And with this year’s frost disaster, even the fields at home have gone barren.”

Zhou You raised a brow slightly. “No trade, and you don’t want land either. What, should we just hand you gold, silver, and jewels?”

My father knocked his head to the floor. “This humble one will leave it entirely to Madam and Young Master!”

Zhou You gave a soft snort of laughter and drew a banknote from his sleeve, holding it out to me. “Here.”

One hundred taels.

My father snatched it first. “Thank you, Young Master! The girl is still young and doesn’t know how important money is. It’s better if you give it to me.”

I silently drew my hand back.

He tucked the note away and, overjoyed, pulled me and Ah Yun toward the door. Madam Zhou called after me, “This estate belongs to Zhou Manor. You may stay here and recover in peace.”

My father gave me a sharp tug.

I declined politely. “Thank you for your kindness, Madam. I want to go home.”

“We’re rich, we’re rich.”

My father muttered the words the whole way, turning that one-hundred-tael banknote over and over in his hands. “Ah Yu, our good days are coming! Let’s not hurry home just yet. We’ll stroll around town first, buy some good food and drink to take back, and treat the villagers to a proper meal!”

I smiled sweetly. “Then can I buy a sugar cake too?”

Ah Yun chimed in after me, “Daddy, I want a sugar cake too!”

My father scooped her up and pinched her cheek. “Oh, why eat sugar cakes? We’re going to eat meat!”

Ah Yun clapped her hands. “Good!”

“Once we’ve bought the food, Daddy will use the rest of the money to renovate our house properly. It won’t be long before we’re living in a new house!”

My father happily bought things all along the road, and by the time we returned to the village, he was carrying bags and bundles in both hands.

That night, the village was extraordinarily lively. In the crowd, my father drank cup after cup with the others, telling them how dangerous the earthquake had been, and how quickly he had reacted-not only protecting Ah Yun, but also helping the Zhou Family’s young master rescue Madam Zhou from the collapsed porridge shed when she had nearly been pinned beneath it.

When someone asked about my hand, my father said I had hurt it in the fall then.

The villagers gathered around him in excitement, praising him to the skies. They all said he must have been blessed by fate to form such a good connection with the General’s Mansion.

After plenty of wine had gone around, my father’s face was flushed red. Once he had seen the villagers off, he finally staggered drunkenly to the bed and collapsed onto it, falling asleep at once.

When his snores gradually rose, I shook the sleeping Ah Yun awake.

“Sister?”

“Be good, Ah Yun.” I pressed a finger to my lips and shushed her, then whispered, “Sister is hungry. Will Ah Yun come with me to find something to eat? Daddy’s asleep, so let’s be quiet and not wake him.”

She rubbed her eyes and obediently nodded. “Okay.”

Holding her hand, I quickly slipped out through the courtyard gate.

My father had been so dazzled by money and riches that he had completely forgotten one principle.

Never flaunt your wealth-especially not in a famine year like this.

While he and the villagers were flushed with wine and excitement, I had climbed up onto our courtyard wall. From there, I could see, in the ruined temple not far away, several figures wandering back and forth with torches in hand.

They were the refugees who, in my previous life, had stormed into our home to steal our grain and carry off Ah Yun.

They weren’t from the village. No one knew where they had drifted in from, and they had no ties to anyone here.

They had long since been driven mad by hunger.