Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Volume 4 Chapter 3

“This is our family’s private matter, everyone should go back first.”

After piecing together the chaos that happened while he was away, Fu Dayan looked rather unpleasant—not because he thought Ge Shiyan was bullying the eldest branch, but because, in his view, family matters should not be aired outside. Among the people present, how many truly cared about their family? Most only treated it as entertainment, something to talk about later.

To him, a household was like a tightly sealed pot—things should be stewed to mush inside, never lifted for outsiders to laugh at.

“No. No one leaves!” Ge Shiyan held the opposite stance.

Since the eldest branch refused to behave like human beings, why should she save their face? Better to make it big and let the whole village see what kind of people they really were.

“Ge Shiyan!” Fu Dayan’s tone sharpened. “Don’t worry. This time, I will give you a satisfactory answer.”

By now, even his voice carried pleading.

“Oh—suddenly remembered I left water boiling on the stove.”

“My pigs haven’t been fed yet.”

“My baby might need milk.”

…

Neighbors never stayed when the host clearly expressed displeasure. Everyone exchanged looks, then found excuses to slip out one after another.

Before leaving, the women cast sympathetic and encouraging glances at Ge Shiyan and Baobao.

In the past the village always said Fu Dayan was biased—favoring his new wife and youngest son—leaving the eldest branch living like pitiful cabbages soaked in hardship. Now it seemed Fu Dayan might not be as one-sided as rumored. Clearly, those village rumors weren’t reliable.

Everyone’s thoughts shifted, and the pitiful image Fu Shichun and Ma Meifang had carefully built over the years suffered a significant blow.

After the crowd dispersed, Ma Meifang’s expression stiffened. She stared darkly at Baobao, wondering whether that earlier speech was something Baobao said randomly… or something someone had coached her to say.

Baobao naturally sensed that malicious, piercing stare. She rubbed her eyes, then pretended to walk casually, adjusting her steps until she hid behind Fu Dayan.

Ma Meifang’s gaze followed her, but when she realized Baobao was already at Fu Dayan’s side, she immediately withdrew her eyes.

Too late.

Fu Dayan had seen that vicious look clearly.

Baobao clung to her adoptive father’s leg, hiding timidly behind him. After a long moment, she poked out half her little head, her eyes trembling uneasily. She hesitated for quite a while, then quietly tugged his trouser leg and, when he looked down, gave him a trusting look.

In Fu Dayan’s heart, this adopted girl’s place had never equaled that of his own children—at most she equaled a relative’s child. Yet at this moment, when she was scared and instinctively sought refuge from him, and when she looked at him with such unwavering trust, something inside him swelled to the brim. For the first time, he truly regarded Baobao as family.

The eldest daughter-in-law really was too much!

He recalled that earlier malicious expression and found it hard to believe such a look could come from his usually gentle, soft-spoken eldest daughter-in-law.

What happened next was something Baobao, as an ignorant child, was not suitable to hear. Even though she tried to cling and act spoiled, she was still brought back to the room by Ge Shiyan and made to lie on the kang bed, anxiously waiting for the outcome.

“I don’t agree!”

“Mother, if you can hear me in heaven, open your eyes and see how your son and daughter are being bullied!”

Through the stone wall, Baobao vaguely heard shouting.

Fu Shichun had been called back from the fields, and the married-out Fu Yuexia rushed home the moment she heard the commotion, afraid her brother would suffer losses.

They were a united front. Only Ge Shiyan stood alone, and Fu Dayan’s stance was unknown.

Since waking up, Baobao had yet to see the boy who cared most for the original owner—her little brother, Ge Shiyan’s biological son, Fu Shinian.

Given how close the two children were, and how serious the original body’s illness had been, Fu Shinian should have been by the bed like Ge Shiyan. The fact that she hadn’t seen him only confirmed Baobao’s suspicion—Ge Shiyan must have sent him back to her maiden home, as she had no hands left to watch over him and the desperately ill Baobao at the same time.

If Fu Shinian were here, Ge Shiyan would have had more footing. But he was still too young—born in the same year as the twins—completely powerless against older, married siblings.

His only usefulness would have been to sway Fu Dayan a little.

Baobao had only just recovered. Going out earlier to stand up for her foster mother had drained her strength. Now she lay on the kang, drifting in and out of anxious thoughts, until she finally couldn’t hold on and fell asleep.

When she next woke, Ge Shiyan was already sitting beside her, with a bowl of steaming medicine on the bedside table.

“Baobao, let Mother wipe your face first. After the medicine, you can eat.”

Ge Shiyan had just been about to wake her when she saw Baobao open her eyes. She quickly wrung out a clean cloth and began wiping Baobao’s little face.

An adult’s hand strength was heavy, and Baobao felt like her face was dough under a rolling pin—the towel covered her entire face, rubbing in firm circles. By the time she nearly ran out of breath, the washing finally ended. If she had a mirror, she was sure her face would be glowing red like a steamed bun.

“Mother prepared a spoonful of sugar. After you finish the medicine, you can eat it—then it won’t be bitter at all.”

Ge Shiyan had worried her daughter would fuss, so she had prepared the sugar in advance. But instead of needing coaxing, Baobao gulped the medicine down quickly—pinching her nose, closing her eyes, swallowing mouthful after mouthful until the bowl was empty.

She immediately stuffed the sugar into her mouth, fighting down the urge to gag. The original body’s serious illness hadn’t taken her life, but this bitter medicine nearly took half.

“Baobao is so good.”

Ge Shiyan was first stunned, then her eyes softened with heartache.

Her daughter had suffered a terrible fright, and instead of being more delicate, she had become more sensible. She was comforting her mother.

“I won’t ever let Baobao suffer again.”

Ge Shiyan embraced her tightly. The tears that had not fallen earlier in front of others now streamed freely.

She finally understood—Fu Dayan was unreliable. To him, no matter what the eldest branch did, they were still his flesh and blood. Whether he favored his eldest son more or his youngest son more, they were still sons.

In this home, she could only rely on herself—and her two children. Only they were one family.

Earlier, she had used this incident to wrestle an advantage: the public household money would now fund her son Fu Shinian’s studies at the village school.

She didn’t expect her son to achieve great scholarly heights. Ideally, he might pass the xiucai exam one day. Even if he only learned to read and write, with her siblings’ help, he could work as a shop assistant or an accountant—both far superior to farming, both respectable and better-paying. When Baobao married little Shinian, she too would live well.

At the start of the conflict, Ge Shiyan had impulsively considered divorcing Fu Dayan—but she calmed down quickly.

Why should she!

If she left with her son and adoptive daughter, she would lose all of Fu Dayan’s property. This wasn’t modern times—there was no division of assets in divorce. As an outsider woman, she could not take a single thing from the Fu family. Worse, clan elders would interfere if she tried to take Fu Shinian away—boys inherited the father’s surname, and taking him would mean making him take a stepfather’s name, a disgrace to the clan.

Even if the elders didn’t interfere, the moment she walked out the door, the eldest branch would celebrate—they wouldn’t even need to lift a finger to take the entire family estate.

Realizing this, Ge Shiyan became even more determined to stay.

She had secretly saved public money over the years to prepare for her children’s future. If she left, all that would become meaningless. Now she didn’t even intend to leave leftover money for the eldest branch when they eventually split households.

She would rather spend every last coin than leave them a single wen.

More than that—she planned to win Fu Dayan’s heart completely. Once he no longer defended the eldest branch, she wanted to see what face those siblings would have left.

And as for Ma Meifang’s wish to get her twins into school—no way.

The Fu family was just an ordinary farming household with only a few good fields. They could barely afford one scholar. Now that her son was going, the eldest branch’s dream would collapse unless they used their own hidden savings.

Ge Shiyan knew those two hid money—every time Fu Shichun went out to take odd jobs, he secretly kept part of his earnings. Over ten years, that would be a sizeable stash.

If they used that money, Fu Dayan would realize how they had been hiding things from him for years. That alone would burn whatever remaining trust he had for them.

“Tomorrow, Mother will send word for your brother to come home from your uncle’s house. He must be worried sick.” Ge Shiyan stroked Baobao’s head.

No wonder villagers joked Baobao was Fu Shinian’s little child bride—Ge Shiyan’s behavior practically matched that interpretation.

Baobao didn’t know what Ge Shiyan told Fu Shinian, but based on the original memories, she knew Ge Shiyan praised the boy endlessly to her—how much he doted on her, loved her, protected her. To the original body, her little brother was the best person in the world after her mother.

Fu Shinian himself was simple and kind—always giving way to this little sister who bullied him daily.

“Brother is coming back?” Baobao had correctly guessed earlier. “I miss Brother.” She said sweetly

Ge Shiyan’s smile deepened.

Although Baobao was still very young, Ge Shiyan had already started planning her future. People’s hearts were unknowable. Until you lived in your husband’s home, you never knew whether someone was human or dog.

Just like Fu Shichun’s branch: beautiful reputation on the outside, cruel and venomous on the inside.

Compared to that, there was no mother-in-law who would love Baobao more than herself. Why entrust her precious girl to another household when she could choose her own son and guarantee Baobao a gentle husband and a loving home?

So long as she raised Fu Shinian well, she would not fail the promise she made to Baobao’s birth mother.

For two straight days, Ge Shiyan didn’t allow Baobao out of the room. All meals were cooked by her and brought to Baobao personally.

On the third day, word came that Ge Shiyan’s eldest brother would bring Fu Shinian back today. Only then did she allow Baobao to leave the room.

Before opening the door, she warned Baobao over and over again never to play with the eldest branch’s children or with Fu Yuexia’s children. If they bullied her, she must shout for adults—never endure it alone.

Stepping out for the second time since the white-lotus counterattack earlier, Baobao carefully observed her new home.

Fu Dayan and the eldest couple were working in the fields. Those two never believed Ge Shiyan wasn’t capable of harming their children, so before leaving they had sent the twins to their aunt’s house. Thus the house held only Ge Shiyan and Baobao.

Baobao dragged a rattan chair into the courtyard and took a deep breath.

So fragrant.

It wasn’t food. But it was enticing.

Her nose twitched uncontrollably, and the strange scent seemed stronger. She hopped off the chair, half-closing her eyes, following the trail.

The Fu home was a standard three-room courtyard. The main house held the hall and the elders’ bedroom. The east wing housed Fu Shichun’s family and the twins. A storage room with a cellar was also on that side. The west wing contained the children’s room and the kitchen. The whole compound was surrounded by stone-and-mud walls, with vegetables and fruit trees in the back, and in the front courtyard a well on the left and a simple shed for chickens and ducks on the right.

The path from front to back lay behind the east wing, a narrow stone walkway.

Following the scent, Baobao reached the path. The smell came from the patch of soil beneath the east wing’s window.

She looked around—no one. She crouched and began digging with a twig.

Immediately she sensed something unusual.

The surrounding soil was firm, but this spot was too soft—like it was frequently turned. Only a stone had kept it unnoticed.

After a long while of effort, Baobao dug up a small wooden box.

The moment she uncovered it, the scent vanished, and she suddenly understood her golden finger.

She could sense any treasure hidden outside private interior rooms—like a treasure-sniffing mouse.

A very practical ability.

Baobao slipped the box into her clothes, filled the hole, pressed the stone back, and skipped off in delight.

But… how could she be a mouse? She paused, frowning, small nose twitching proudly.

If a mouse—then the cutest: a golden hamster or fluffy dwarf hamster!

With that comforting thought, she brightened immediately and bounced away with even lighter steps.