Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Volume 4 Chapter 19

The ginseng was stored away by Ge Shiyan. Since the family’s savings were already substantial, she did not intend to sell such a rare medicinal herb.

In truth, Ge Shiyan did not understand ginseng well. But before she married, someone in her natal village once dug up a small ginseng root in the mountains. Because a child in that family accidentally let the news slip, many villagers went to their home to see it.

That ginseng root had only been as thick as a child’s little finger, its main body about six or seven centimeters long. Afraid that delay would bring trouble, the man had sold it to the village doctor that same afternoon.

It was said to be nearly twenty years old. Because the digging had damaged many of the fine roots, it finally sold for fifteen taels of silver.

Back then, Ge Shiyan had never seen such a large sum of money in her life. For a long time after that, villagers would go up the mountain whenever they had spare time—especially the area where that ginseng was found. They dug it up three feet deep. Ge Shiyan had been one of those villagers dreaming of instant riches, so the impression that ginseng made on her was especially deep.

Now, the ginseng in Baobao’s hands was much longer and much thicker than that old one. The older the ginseng, the better; once it surpassed fifty years, its price would increase drastically. Ge Shiyan thought that this ginseng might not be worth any less than that piece of jade material.

Her Baobao really possessed great fortune—to even get such a mystical treasure-seeking mouse. 

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that her own boy truly did not deserve her.

Ge Shiyan took out a red string to tie around the ginseng. According to local elders, a long-aged ginseng had its own spirit. If one did not tie a red string around it, it might secretly run away. After tying the string, she carefully stored the ginseng inside her dowry chest—one box nested inside another, three layers in total, and locked the outermost one.

Since she did not intend to sell the ginseng anyway, she might as well cut off a tiny bit of the fine root from time to time to make soup for the whole family. Ginseng was a great tonic. Just a small section of the fine root would not cause excessive nourishment.

As for the root leftovers from the soup… she would give those to Sanhua. It probably would not know the difference… maybe…

Ge Shiyan thought with little confidence, faintly guilty. After all, this ginseng had been found by a mouse, yet she was feeding it the part with no medicinal strength left after boiling.

She glanced at the fat little mouse whose head could not be seen because its round backside was sticking up. 

It was already so plump—if she nourished it more, it might get nosebleeds. She was helping it. Thinking this way, Ge Shiyan became confident again.

“Baobao, the things we talked about just now—you must never tell anyone. Not even your brother or A’Yu.”

Ge Shiyan felt that Sanhua was far too mystical. She had only heard of such treasure-finding abilities in legends. If someone with ill intentions learned of it, not only would they be unable to keep Sanhua safe, even their own lives would be uncertain.

She forbid Baobao from telling a third person, including her son Fu Shinian and Lin Yu. Besides worrying that children might let things slip, she also feared human hearts would change. Such a treasure tested a person’s character too deeply.

“I can’t say it?” Baobao tilted her head, playing the role of a confused five-year-old perfectly.

“No, you can’t. If you tell, outsiders will take Sanhua away, and they will kill me, and kill your brother and your cousin.” Ge Shiyan squatted down and placed her hands on Baobao’s shoulders, speaking very seriously.

“I don’t want anyone to kill Mother, Brother, or Cousin.” Baobao hid fearfully in her mother’s arms, burying her head in Ge Shiyan’s chest. “Baobao will be good. I won’t say it.”

Seeing Baobao almost burst into tears, Ge Shiyan wondered if she had gone too far. But thinking of the danger involved, she hardened her heart and continued.

“In the future, when you go out, try not to bring Sanhua. If it finds something else, come home first and tell Mother. Mother will find a way to get it.”

Ge Shiyan’s ambitions were not large. She felt content with small wealth. Everything Baobao had now was already enough for her to live comfortably for the rest of her life. The best choice would be to get rid of Sanhua.

But she was also somewhat superstitious. Such a mystical mouse appearing beside Baobao must be part of Baobao’s own fortune. If she threw it away, perhaps it would harm Baobao’s fate.

In her conflict, she finally decided: from now on, Baobao would take Sanhua out as little as possible. Even if it found something again, Baobao must not retrieve it herself—she must come home and tell her.

After all, she had eaten several decades more rice than Baobao and could judge better which things were safe to bring home and which weren’t, reducing risks.

“Mm, I’ll listen to Mother.” Baobao hugged her tightly, her eyes full of attachment.

Seeing her like this, Ge Shiyan’s heart softened even more.

Girls really were the sweetest—the more she looked, the more she felt that her own son truly did not deserve Baobao.

That day, when Fu Shinian returned from the schoolhouse, he learned that his Baobao-sister was raising a little mouse named Sanhua. After Lin Yu, now there was another creature competing with him for his sister’s attention.

“Baobao, should I recite poetry for you?”

Fu Shinian held a copy of Thousand Years of Famous Poems, one of the Jiang Dynasty’s children’s primers, recording renowned poems from the past thousand years. Since this was a parallel world to all the ones Baobao had lived through, most of the poems were ones she had never heard before.

Listening to Fu Shinian recite and explain them was both learning and enjoyment.

Baobao naturally agreed.

Seeing her nod, Fu Shinian finally smiled again.

“Then I’ll recite.”

He held the book lightly with one hand behind his back, imitating the teacher’s movements as he walked slowly through the courtyard, reciting today’s passage with dramatic emotion.

At that moment, Sanhua flipped onto its back, exposing its soft, round belly to Baobao. Its four tiny paws curled adorably in its fur, with paws no larger than grains of rice.

“Squeak squeak—” It called out to Baobao. 

After so many days together, Baobao understood—it wanted her to rub its belly.

The fat little mouse was greedy. Ever since Baobao introduced it to her mother and cousin at noon, its food sources multiplied.

Ge Shiyan thought it was a spiritual beast and fed it preserved fruits. Lin Yu also liked the plump, fluffy mouse and gave it nuts and bits of steamed bun whenever she came by.

Even though Lin Yu’s offerings weren’t as good, the mouse accepted everything, stuffing it all into its cheek pouches until its face became a wide, flat pancake.

With so much food stored and eating nonstop, it had stuffed itself too full. Seeing Baobao only watching and not acting, it lifted a paw and pawed at her twice, its beady black eyes clearly showing displeasure.

Fine. It was cute. Even its temper was justified.

Baobao gently rubbed its belly with the pad of her finger. 

Sanhua shivered in pleasure and adjusted its posture.

Very comfortable—its little legs even stretched out straight.

While she focused on rubbing the mouse’s belly, Baobao completely failed to notice that Fu Shinian’s recitation grew quieter and his gaze at her more resentful.

“I’m done reciting.” Fu Shinian walked right up to her and said loudly.

“Ah? Oh!” Baobao snapped back to her senses.“Brother, you’re amazing. You recited it so well.”

It was a hollow compliment—no feeling at all.

Heh. Girls.

Fu Shinian glanced at Baobao, glared fiercely at the blissed-out fat mouse, then turned away clutching his book and stormed back to his room.

He hadn’t even finished reciting the entire poem. The last line was only half-said—anyone could tell he hadn’t finished. Yet Baobao had praised him anyway, proving she hadn’t listened seriously.

His steps grew heavy. In his heart, he silently counted:

If Baobao called him back within three steps, he would forgive her. Within six steps, he would only stay mad a little while. If she didn’t call him by nine steps, he wouldn’t talk to her for an entire hour. If ten steps—

QAQ He never expected his room to be so close. Before he even finished counting ten steps, he was already at the threshold.

Fine.

Right at that moment, Sanhua flipped over again, sprawled flat like a mouse pancake, squeaking for Baobao to groom its fur.

The mouse was so cute—how could Baobao refuse?

Fu Shinian looked back. Baobao hadn’t even noticed he was upset. Their years of affection couldn’t compare to a mouse.

So their three years of bond… had all been misplaced.

He pursed his lips and ran into his room, QAQ deciding he wouldn’t be nice to Baobao anymore.

But obviously, Baobao had no awareness at all that because she valued a mouse over her friend, she nearly lost her little child-groom.

“That stepmother of yours is truly something. Didn’t I tell you? What woman would ever love a child she didn’t give birth to? Before she had her own kid, she had to guard against her stepchildren taking advantage of her. Now that her brat is so big, she’ll only plot harder for him.”

A relative visited the Fu family today and was complaining in Fu Shichun’s room.

The elderly woman in her sixties or seventies was Liu Wangshi, Fu Shichun’s maternal grandmother—mother of Fu Dayan’s late wife. 

Upon hearing the family had split and knowing her biological grandson had suffered a loss, she couldn’t sit still. She had her eldest daughter-in-law borrow a donkey cart to bring her to the Fu household.

“Your father is no good either. They say where there’s a stepmother, there’s a stepfather. He always says he loves you, but if he does, how could he give most of the family property to that little bastard born later? In every family split, the eldest son takes the biggest share. And he even wants you two to support him? That family property should’ve been yours! He must have been bewitched by that hussy he married.”

The old woman looked kind enough on the surface, but the viciousness in her eyes ruined the gentleness of her features, making her appear harsh and unapproachable.

“Grandmother, only you and Uncle understand my and Dachun’s grievances. Tell me, how is this fair?” Mentioning the family split, Ma Meifang was full of resentment. “You don’t even know. My father-in-law said he’s living with me and Dachun, but he spends more than half the day helping that woman and that brat. How is he helping us? He’s saving their food! Eating ours, living here—splitting the family wasn’t enough, now he wants to drink our blood!”

Ma Meifang believed her father-in-law was unreasonable. Since he lived with them, he should work entirely for them.

“There’s such a thing?” Liu Wangshi widened her eyes, her lips sinking further down.

“But I’m no pushover. These days, Dachun and I purposely return early from the fields. We eat dinner early, and by the time he comes back from helping the other side, the food is stone cold. If he’s so biased toward that woman and her son, let him suffer! Let’s see if they’ll prepare dinner for him!” Ma Meifang proudly shared her plan. 

If Ge Shiyan didn’t prepare food, that would show the father-in-law the woman’s true colors. If she did prepare food, then good—it saved their own grain.

Since he helped them over there, he should eat over there. Why should they support a freeloader?

No one noticed that someone was standing outside their room.

These days Fu Dayan had been eating dinner alone. Even a fool would realize this was silent protest from his son and daughter-in-law.

When his wife was alive, he could voice dissatisfaction to her. Now that his daughter-in-law managed the household, he, as the elder, instinctively kept some distance. Some things he held back and didn’t dare to say.

He thought that since the Tao family had become more reliable, he might reduce the time spent helping his daughter-in-law. So that afternoon, after working an hour at Ge Shiyan’s place, he had gone to help his eldest son instead. But unexpectedly, the fields were already empty.

He feared something had happened, so without doing any work, he rushed home. 

Before he could knock on their tightly closed door, he overheard the old woman and his daughter-in-law speaking.

Hearing them accuse him of favoritism, hearing the old woman call his wife a hussy and his youngest child a little bastard, hearing them depict him as a cold stepfather—Fu Dayan’s heart chilled.

He believed he had never wronged his eldest son. He had even defended him, which had driven his wife to propose splitting the household and leave with the youngest.

And his daughter-in-law—how could she think of him this way? As her father-in-law, he had raised her husband. The house they lived in, the land they farmed were all given by him. Did he not deserve even a little respect?

“Father!” Fu Yuexia had rushed over upon hearing her grandmother was visiting. Seeing her father standing motionless at the doorway, dread clenched her heart.

Startled and wanting to warn those inside, her shout was unusually loud and even harsh.

Sure enough, the conversation inside stopped abruptly and the room fell silent.

Fu Dayan stiffened. Slowly, he turned around.

The one looking at him in panic was his own daughter.

And she—what did she think of him?