17 Chapter 17: Tool Man_1
Translator: 549690339
“Just go and see for yourself, even if nothing else, that deer alone of the Jiang Family is worth a fortune.”
Chen Family’s Feng sighed, “I heard rumors last time claiming that they refused to sell their deer even when they were offered twenty taels. Twenty taels, my God, that’s what our eldest son makes in a year!”
Old Chen scoffed, “However much it is, it’s just a one-time deal. Can it compare with the steady income of our eldest son?”
Feng rolled her eyes, “Then do you know who is raising the deer?”
Without waiting for her husband to answer, she continued, “It’s that little girl. She pastures it every day without needing to lead it by a leash. The deer follows her everywhere without ever straying from her side. Everyone in the village knows this, right? Even Master from the clan school said that the child has a special aura.”
Old Chen frowned, “What good does that do? Even if the child has a special aura, she was raised by the Jiang Family. You actually want to shamelessly ask the Jiangs for her back? Tch!”
If they really did so, the spit from the villagers could literally drown them.
They abandoned a perfectly good child in the past. Now that they see how good she has turned out, they want her back. As the Chen family, they can’t stoop so low or lose face like that.”
Feng was taken aback and mumbled, “I was just saying… who claimed to go ask for her back? Besides, we’re not even sure if she’s our second son’s child.”
With that said, she angrily stood up, lifted the curtain and left the room.
Meanwhile, at the Jiang’s.
The celebration party for the newborn’s first month didn’t end until late.
Jiang Sanlang felt exhausted but overjoyed as he lay side by side with his wife on the platform bed. Their two sons were sleeping soundly between them.
“Who would’ve guessed that I, Jiang Sanlang, would have both a son and a daughter one day.” Jiang Sanlang said, “Just two years ago, I was considering adopting another child.”
His wife Chunniang stroked their son’s head, smiling, “We owe all our luck to Yingbao. Haven’t you heard the gossip? They say our Yingbao is a little fairy bestowed to us from heaven.”
“Don’t spout nonsense,” Jiang Sanlang frowned, “Let the outsiders gossip all they want, but we shouldn’t blindly join in.”
“I know,” Chunniang said softly, “I’m just sharing it with you, no strangers here to hear.”
Jiang Sanlang cupped his hands behind his head and sighed deeply, “Alas, our daughter’s reputation is drawing way too much attention. I fear we might be unable to protect her one day.”
Chunniang poked him lightly, expressing her annoyance with his remark, “That’s nonsense. Yingbao is our eldest daughter, the real sister of Xiaojie and Xiaowu. Her name is already recorded in our family registry, what do you mean we couldn’t protect her?”
Although the Jiang Family were recent arrivals, they also had their own clan. The vital base of the Jiang Family lay in the Jiang Family village located twenty miles away.
Even to this day, Jiang Sanlang’s uncle still lived in the Jiang Family Village. Likewise, people came from there to celebrate the newborn’s first month.
Jiang Sanlang turned towards his wife, grabbing her hand, “I’m speaking the truth. You don’t know, Chen Changping’s mother even came to our house today. She stood at our doorstep for a long time, watching with her sharp eyes. It was quite unnerving.”
“Why did she come?” Chunniang immediately became displeased.
They weren’t on friendly terms with Chen Changping’s family, and they hadn’t invited them over for their son’s first month celebration either.
Jiang Sanlang sneered, “That woman actually told Yingbao that we aren’t her real parents.”
“What…” Chunniang was infuriated, “Did she really say that?”
“Yes, Dani told me. Yingbao called her a bad woman and hid at my older brother’s house.”
“That damned woman!” Chunniang was both angry and resentful, “What else did she say to Yingbao?”
“She wanted to say more, but our Yingbao didn’t give her the chance.” Jiang Sanlang chuckled, “Our daughter is smart.”
Chunniang fell silent, feeling heartbroken.
This woman had the audacity to harass a one-year-old child without consulting the child’s parents. What on earth was she plotting?
She has absolutely no shame!
“Sanlang, what should we do?” Chunniang pulled on her husband’s arm, worriedly asking, “That woman might come again. What about Yingbao…”
She was truly worried that Yingbao would leave her, leave this family.
“Hm,” Jiang Sanlang snorted, “Let her come. We’re not afraid of her.”
His fist wouldn’t hesitate to punch a woman. Since that woman was not playing fair, he had nothing to worry about.
Even if it escalated to the Chen Family Clan Leader, he still had the upper hand.
…
Meanwhile, in the western room, Yingbao was crouched on the ground, taking a half-burnt, thin piece of charcoal from the fireplace.
It was still warm to the touch.
If she could heat this piece of charcoal until it glowed red, she could use it to burn off the birthmark on her wrist.
Yingbao took a deep breath, pulled out a tinderbox from the fireplace, and lit the piece of charcoal.
When the charcoal was almost fully burned, she blew out the flame.
She stuffed a folded cloth into her mouth, closed her eyes, and, gathering all her resolve, pressed her wrist onto the red-hot charcoal.
Sss…
The smell of charred flesh assaulted her senses.
“Whimper, whimper, …” Yingbao’s entire body trembled, and the pain brought her to tears.
Looking at her wrist, the birthmark area was now a charred mess.
She whimpered softly, discarded the chewed-up cloth, and with one hand, picked up the prepared Five-Tribute Mushroom, swallowed it, and smeared its juice over her burnt flesh.
A cooling sensation coursed through her, easing the wretched pain temporarily, yet it was still unbearable.
Wiping away her tears, Yingbao stepped onto a stool, climbed onto the kang bed-stove, and buried herself in the quilt, trying to force herself to fall asleep.
Shouldn’t she feel no pain once she’s asleep? Oh, it hurts, it hurts so badly…
After what felt like forever, the pain in her wrist started to fade, finally allowing Yingbao to drift into slumber.
In her dream, she found herself standing in thick fog once more, with that book laid out in front of her again.
Yingbao felt a sense of bewilderment.
This dream was persistently cryptic; she hadn’t thought or pondered about the story during her day, yet she found herself dreaming about the narrative once again. And it was the same narrative.
Regardless, she was still anxious to find out what was to come next.
She approached the book, opened the pages skillfully, and resumed reading where she had left off.
The story continued with Chen Tiantian taking her three cousins from her aunt’s family out to play, only to lose one of a pair of golden Hua-Sheng hairpins.
Originally a pair, the precious hairpins were gifted to her by a noble gentleman on the day Chen Tiantian had her hair coiffed up for the first time, so losing one left her morosely regretful.
A few days went by, and surprisingly, the lost hairpin was found beneath the pillow of her third cousin, Chen Ying.
This sent the entire family into uproar. Her aunt was mortified, and slapped her third daughter over a dozen times, forcing her to kneel and admit her wrongdoing and apologize to her cousin.
Unexpectedly, Chen Ying stubbornly refused to submit. She glared at her mother with a fierce look in her eyes, defiantly refusing to apologize.
Chen Tiantian, kind-hearted as she was, saw Chen Ying’s face in painful disfigurement, with blood oozing from her nose and lips, and couldn’t bear it. She offered to give the hairpin to her obstinate third cousin.
However, their aunt turned down the offer, chastised her daughter once again, and locked her in an abandoned chicken coop in her yard, refusing to feed her for three days.
Afterward, the incident seemed to have been swept under the rug and forgotten.
A few more days later, the most beautiful dress in Chen Tiantian’s wardrobe was slashed.
This time, both her second cousin and a younger cousin claimed that it was Chen Ying, who was just recently released, that was responsible. Even her usually reticent eldest cousin agreed to their accusation.
But just like before, Chen Ying adamantly rejected the accusation. She even attacked her elder sister and younger brother, leaving two bloody scratches on the face of Chen Zhao.
At this point, everyone concluded that Chen Ying was malicious and insolent, uncivilized, and simply impossible to educate.
Even the usually placid Mrs. Han started to disdain this persistent niece of hers.
In the end, the defiant cousin was taken away by the aunt to the countryside.
As she read up to this point, the book changed into paper butterflies and vanished.
“So according to the book, I am evil and beyond reproach. Not even a supporting character, merely a tool used to emphasize the protagonist’s beauty, kindness, and purity.”
No one would be happy to be portrayed in such a manner.
Similarly, Yingbao was furious and completely lost interest in the book.
What rubbish was written in it!
That’s not how it happened at all.
Firstly, it was Chen Zhao, her second sister, who found the hairpin. Yingbao had seen her secretly trying it on.
However, because this matter had nothing to do with herself, Yingbao chose to ignore it.
Perhaps her older sister didn’t think so. For whatever reason, she put the hairpin under the younger sister’s pillow, then went to Chen Tiantian and falsely incriminated Chen Ying.
Admittedly, Chen Zhao’s preemptive attack had been successful. No matter how much Yingbao tried to refute the accusations, no one would believe her.
Chen Ying was slapped by her mother, Mrs. Han, a dozen times in front of everyone. Later, she was whipped with bamboo till her body was covered in wounds and was locked in a chicken coop for three days without food.
When they let her out three days later, right after she finished a bowl of porridge, she was accused by Chen Zhao and their younger brother of slashing Chen Tiantian’s dress.
She argued vehemently with her second elder sister and younger brother on the spot.
While Chen Zhao was eloquent and prudent with her words, how could a four-year-old be so cautious? He slipped up the moment he started to speak. “Second Sister said that if I rip the dress, she will give me candies, and that it was you who did it. Everyone hates you so you can’t deny. Humph! It was you, Third Sister!”
Those were the exact words of the four-year-old.
Yet no one cared about these details. All that mattered was that she was the one they could blame.
The result was that everyone began accusing Ying Bao. They said she had become wicked and ruthless from living with the Jiang Family and could not be reformed.
Later, Aunt Han suggested to her own sister, Mrs. Chen, that they send Yingbao to a family renowned for training dancers and voice actresses for the wealthy upper class so that she could learn some manners.
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