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

“Mother, look!” Baobao pattered into the kitchen. Once the door closed, she pulled the wooden box out from inside her clothes.

“Where did you find this?” Ge Shiyan put down her spatula and wiped her hands on her apron before taking the box and examining it closely.

There was still damp soil clinging to it—clearly it had been dug up not long ago. 

Ge Shiyan knew everything inside her own rooms; she could guarantee she had never seen this box before.

“I dug it up outside that side’s window.”

Baobao did not even bother calling him Big Brother anymore—she simply referred to Fu Shichun as “that side”.

“You dug this up over there?”

Ge Shiyan’s expression changed immediately. She didn’t question why Baobao would be digging near the eldest branch’s window. Children liked to play with dirt—she assumed it was coincidence.

“And it’s locked.”

She fiddled with it a moment, but the lock prevented her from opening it. That only increased her curiosity about the contents.

Her gaze slid toward the kitchen knife on the cutting board. 

Without hesitation, she picked it up and hacked directly at the wooden box.

Bang—bang—bang—

After several heavy strikes, wood chips flew everywhere. The box couldn’t withstand the force and split in half, spilling scattered bits of silver and copper coins onto the floor.

Well now—this was a treasure box indeed.

Ge Shiyan instantly understood. This must be the eldest branch’s hidden stash of private money.

Those two really had more schemes than a sieve had holes. They probably assumed that whenever they went to the fields, Ge Shiyan would rummage through their room, so they hid their money outside the house entirely.

The narrow path beneath their window was frequently walked on, but only with purpose—tending the vegetables in the back or fetching produce for cooking. No one would ever imagine private money being buried under that stone by the walkway.

Had they simply hidden it inside their own room, Ge Shiyan’s golden finger would never have sensed it.

Truly, as the saying went, “Outsmarting oneself” was a real thing.

“Baobao is truly a blessed child—she even digs up treasure while playing in the dirt.”

Ge Shiyan adored her little treasure to death. Who else’s child could dig up someone else’s private savings just by fooling around in the mud?

It seemed that heaven indeed had opened its eyes—since the eldest branch had done something so vile, this money should count as compensation for nearly causing Baobao’s death.

Cooking forgotten, she sat down with Baobao, and the two of them began counting the eldest branch’s assets.

The box contained mostly silver bits. Ge Shiyan had no scale, so she gauged the weight by hand—there were about thirteen taels.

Besides that were many copper coins. She and Baobao counted for a long time before getting the total—two hundred thirty-seven wen.

Aside from money, there was also a golden hairpin. 

At first sight, Ge Shiyan was frightened.

Gold was rare. Although the official conversion was ten taels of silver for one tael of gold, in reality no one could exchange for a tael of gold without at least eleven or twelve taels.

Judging from its weight, this hairpin would not be less than three taels if it were real.

Her younger sister had two thick gold bracelets and a few fine gold hairpins—that was after marrying into a wealthy landlord’s home and giving birth to the only male heir. For ordinary folk, even a thin gold ring was enough to boast of being well-off.

But before Ge Shiyan could rejoice for long, she discovered the hairpin was fake—yellow brass covered with a thin layer of gold. Something only good for show.

Even fake, it was worth a little silver.

Ge Shiyan happily kept it. Worried it might be something Fu Shichun had stolen while doing day labor, she planned to scrape off the thin layer of gold and later take it to a goldsmith to melt into a small ring for Baobao’s dowry.

Then, thinking of something, her expression turned amused. She set aside the fake gold hairpin and a portion of the silver bits, placing the remaining silver bits and copper coins back into the split wooden box.

“Watch carefully, Baobao. When we eat later, Mother will help you vent your anger.”

Her nature was straightforward, but she was not without cunning—especially when pushed.

“Mother! Baobao!” A crisp boy’s voice sounded from the courtyard.

“Big Sister! I brought Dabao back!” The rough male voice belonged to Ge Shiyan’s second brother, Ge Shitou.

Dabao was Fu Shinian’s nickname. Because Baobao had arrived later, and “Baobao” sounded sweet and matched well with “Dabao,” the names felt like a pair.

Ge Shiyan quickly gathered the things on the floor, then took Baobao out.

“Mother! Baobao!” A round-faced little boy waved excitedly and ran toward them.

With the original memories, Baobao recognized him instantly. After only a few days apart, Fu Shinian looked thinner—his cheeks less round.

Before he could hug her, Baobao instinctively reached out and cupped his face, squeezing gently.

“Thin.”

With two plump cheeks squished up, Fu Shinian spoke with muffled clarity.

Among the Ge siblings’ children, he most resembled little aunt Ge Feiyan—said to be even more similar than Ge Feiyan’s own son raised under the main wife’s knee.

Ge Feiyan must have been a rare beauty—favored for years despite the landlord taking multiple concubines. Beauty that only deepened with age.

Fu Shinian inherited her features—except less flirtatious, more delicate and clear.

And with his gentle, kind nature, his wide, bright eyes were clear as spring water. When he stared so earnestly at Baobao, she almost felt embarrassed to bully him.

Ah… such a good child. Bullying him brought guilt.

“Shitou, stay for lunch before heading back.”

Ge Shiyan’s maiden home was some distance away. After the Ge family prospered, Ge Shimeng bought a shop in town and left the old house and land to the eldest brother and sister-in-law. They even bought a donkey, and today the donkey cart had brought Fu Shinian back.

Even so, the round trip took over an hour and a half—not comfortable.

“No, no. There’s still work in the fields.” Ge Shitou drank a ladle of cold well water and waved his hand. “Little Baobao’s spirits look good—seems she’s recovered.”

The Ge siblings all liked Baobao. They knew their big sister’s intentions and already treated Baobao as family.

“This is from Second Brother, and some red eggs and broth ingredients from your sister-in-law. Let Little Baobao build up strength.” He handed over a cloth bag, refused any thanks, and left.

Inside were a large piece of red sugarcane candy and a bundle of eggs—at least twenty.

Eggs were precious. Red sugar even more so—costing five to six times as much as brown sugar, brought by traveling traders from far away. Locals used it only for postpartum women or sick girls, believing red sugar egg soup was better than medicine.

“See? Everyone likes our Baobao. Your aunts and uncles adore you.”

Ge Shiyan took every chance to plant the idea in Baobao’s heart that she was loved. She feared village gossip would hurt Baobao as she grew older—especially with the eldest branch fabricating stories out of spite.

“Dabao, play with your sister. And don’t you bully her, understand?”

“Mm—” Fu Shinian, his face still squished, obeyed sweetly. He looked at Baobao with bright, sparkling eyes.

If Baobao stayed healthy, he would gladly let her bully him forever. He would never bully her.

That morning, Fu Shinian became Baobao’s little tail—refusing to let her out of his sight for more than three seconds.

By the time Fu Dayan returned with Fu Shichun and his wife from the fields, lunch was ready.

Fu Guangyuan and Fu Lianqiao followed behind their parents listlessly—too afraid to meet Ge Shiyan’s eyes, but sneaking vicious glares at Baobao and Fu Shinian whenever possible.

They had learned that Little Uncle had taken their chance at school. Their parents had scolded them repeatedly, blaming their carelessness. Now the only option was to use their private stash to send Fu Guangyuan to school.

Their parents had fretted over it, planning for Ma Meifang to visit her maiden home during the off-season and claim she “borrowed” money there—so that when the proud old man felt ashamed, he would voluntarily pay the debt and replace their private money with household funds.

“Old man, look what I found in the yard today!”

Once everyone sat down, Ge Shiyan didn’t help the eldest daughter-in-law serve food. Instead, she returned to her room and brought out the split wooden box.

Fu Shichun and Ma Meifang immediately turned ashen.

“I was going to the garden to pick vegetables when I tripped over a stone under your window. This was buried beneath it. I wondered why there’d be a box in our yard, so I split it open—and guess what I found?” Ge Shiyan clapped her hands dramatically. “Silver. The whole thing full of silver! More than seven taels!”

Ma Meifang nearly sprang up to claw her face off. The box had contained over ten taels and a fake gold hairpin—so where was the rest? Had that damned woman swallowed it whole?

The flames in the couple’s eyes were impossible to hide.

“I wondered—our family yard wouldn’t hold anyone else’s treasure. Could it be something Father or Mother hid long ago but never told us?” She asked innocently.

This courtyard was ancestral property. Only Fu family members could have buried anything here.

But Fu Dayan knew at a glance—judging from the box’s condition, it wasn’t buried long ago. Looking at the eldest branch’s stiff expressions, he understood everything.

Suddenly, a deep disappointment settled in.

Just as he believed family ugliness must not be aired outside, he also believed that before the household separated, hiding private assets behind his back was a sign that the eldest branch did not trust or respect him. It was a direct challenge to his authority as head of household.

“Perhaps Father and Mother hid it and didn’t have time to tell us.”

He felt a strange sense of relief—thankfully his wife wasn’t cunning enough to guess the truth. Otherwise, the family would descend into even worse chaos.

“Take the silver. Use it for sending Little One to school, and buy him proper clothing.”

With one decree, Fu Dayan assigned the silver’s ownership.

“Alright!” Ge Shiyan answered crisply.

In contrast, Fu Shichun and Ma Meifang looked as though they had swallowed dung.