Chapter 30: The Hard-Working Mouse
“Sister, these are the jujubes that Father picked near the back of the mountain, have a taste!” As soon as Yuhang came back, he ran up to Bailian and carefully placed the jujubes into Bailian’s outstretched hands, treating it like a treasure.
When looking at them, the jujubes looked quite shriveled and withered, and some were still a little green. One could tell that they weren’t fully ripe yet. Even so, this was a rare “fruit”.
This was because in the Wuming Village if the villagers discovered jujubes, they wouldn’t let go of this rare chance to obtain the rare ingredient. As such, the villagers had long picked the good jujubes for their children and elderly parents to eat.
Although it wasn’t too delicious, it was still a snack nevertheless.
As a result, the jujube trees located on the periphery of the mountains would have been picked clean, so it must have taken the Third Master a lot of effort to get some.
Either he went deep into the mountains where others dare not go, or it was close to the inner wall.
“Okay!” Bailian picked up the ripest looking one and popped it into her mouth.
A sour flavor burst into her mouth, the jujube tasting not at all sweet.
However, upon chewing on it, she could taste some traces of sweetness hiding among the sour taste, which wasn’t unpleasant at all.
“Sister, you have them, hide it well.” Yuhang put the rest of the jujubes into Bailian’s palms.
Yuyang had also entered the room at this time, and added on quietly, “Hide it.”
He knew that it was only by hiding it, then could these things be eaten by the Third Branch.
“You two eat some, I think it’s too sour and it’s a little hard to eat!” Bailian put on a disgusted expression and then adroitly stuffed a jujube into the unsuspecting Yuhang’s mouth.
Yuhang’s eyes widened and then his mouth began to move.
“Sister, it’s delicious!” Yuhang carefully savored the jujube’s sour, addicting taste, blinking in confusion.
Why does this delicious food not taste good to my sister?
“Too sour, I don’t want to eat it!” Bailian shook her head and then stuffed fresh jujube into Yuyang’s mouth as well.
Yuyang’s eyes brightened and he chewed on the jujube with a blank, but happy expression.
Bailian nimbly divided the rest of the jujubes between Yuhang and Yuhang, clapped her hands, and said, “Okay, I’m going to sleep.”
Yuhang and Yuyang looked at the jujubes in their hands and then looked at Bailian with a dazed, baffled expression.
Didn’t sister like to eat jujube the most?
They still remember when their father had picked jujubes before and my sister loved eating them too!
“Sister, Father picked these for you.” Yuhang set the jujubes onto the edge of the small bed, “It’s gotten late, sister take a good rest!”
Yuyang looked at Bailian and then silently placed the jujubes in his hand with the rest of the jujubes Yuhang had just set down.
Bailian felt a little moved, these two children would have rarely gotten the chance to eat jujubes.
“Here! Don’t make me angry!” Bailian forcefully handed the jujubes back into their hands with an annoyed look and then lay back on the bed, tugging the threadbare blanket over her head, pretending to sleep.
Yuhang and Yuyang stared at each other, then back at Bailian, and then back at each other. With no choice, they could only carry the jujubes back in their arms and left the room.
“Is the fifth child asleep?” Madam Zhao tottered over with her heavy belly, tenderly tucking the quilt around Bailian’s thin body.
“Um..almost…” Bailian drowsily mumbled, looking sleepy.
“Sleep then.” Madam Zhao’s soft voice murmured, and she gently touched Bailian’s forehead, and left with a heavy heart.
Bailian watched this mother of hers leave the room. She wasn’t very tall, was quite thin for a pregnant woman, but her belly indicated she was just about to give birth. From the back, she looked entirely too frail.
Bailian quietly sighed, and then closed her eyes.
Grandmother Ciying cleaned up the clutter in the yard and without disturbing Bailian, quietly crept into bed and fell asleep beside her.
Although Grandmother Ciying was already in her old age, she was still quite nimble and considered quite lively at her age. Because she worked so hard, she often slept much later and less than the rest of the Third Branch.
Who works so hard and doesn’t ever feel the need to sleep?
Once Bailian heard Grandmother Ciying’s breathing become deep and even, she turned her head slightly. The first thing she noticed was Grandmother Ciying’s silver hair that framed her gaunt face. Under the moonlight, the wrinkles on Grandmother’s Ciying’s face became much more obvious.
The windows were never closed because the original owner was afraid of the dark.
There was obviously no electricity in ancient times, but the Third Branch didn’t even have a kerosene lamp or candle, so once the doors and windows were closed, the room would be engulfed by darkness.
Therefore, as long as it wasn’t too cold, Grandmother Ciying wouldn’t shut the window closed.
It wasn’t too late, only just starting to get dark, but in ancient times, people who didn’t have money couldn’t do anything during the night, so as long as it got dark, they had to go to bed.
Besides, the second morning they would have to wake up early to get to work.
Bailian quietly lay awake and waited patiently for Li Shu to return.
After a while, a white, blinding ball of light flew in from the open window and directly landed onto the bed.
Bailian stretched out her hand and touched it. The First thing she touched was a fluffy thing. Bailian squeezed it a bit, and then there was a hard object about the size of a table tennis ball in her palm.
Knowing it must be silver, but not taking a look at it, she directly sent it into her dimensional space.
Then the fluffy ball of light flew out the open window again, and Bailian calmly waited.
Her heart already felt more at ease.
She was in charge of the Third Branch’s wellbeing, but she can’t expose her dimensional space, so the only alternative would be to make money.
In this way, she could doom the Li Family into dire financial straits, but still, keep the Third Branch alive and well-fed.
Bailian didn’t have any guilt from stealing this money and it was very tranquil in her heart. Anyways, this was all originally Grandma’s dowry, I shouldn’t let it go!
Li Shu was a hard-working mouse and it took him several trips before he fully pilfered all of Matriarch Wang’s treasures.
Once Bailain squeezed the mouse and didn’t feel anything, she directly sent the mouse back into her space.
Bailian closed her eyes, mentally concentrated and a visual image of her space came into view inside her head.
‘Squeak, master, I moved them here! It’s all in the chest and I even smelled it in the other rooms, so I took them all over!” Li Shu happily skittered in circles around the piles of things he had stolen.
“You can smell it?” Bailian was shocked.
Silver and currency were constantly in circulation, having many different owners, never staying in a person’s possession for too long. Who knows how many people have touched and used it, and he can smell it?
Could he be a treasure hunter?
“Why can’t it? The outside smell is a little different, but the essential smell is the same, squeak!” Li Shu proudly stated.
Bailian telekinetically patted the mouse using her psychic energy and then looked more closely at the silver pile.
There were twenty taels, ten coin tassels, five taels, one tael, and the most of any object were the copper coins.
There weren’t any silver bills, but there was a lavish silver hairpin and artisanally crafted bracelet.
Bailian quickly counted them all up and estimated that the entire pile was worth a bit over one hundred taels. This should be already regarded as rich in the village.
Bailian conjectured that Grandma Ciying’s dowry should have had a lot of jewelry in it, but they were all gone now and it seemed to have been sold off by Matriarch Wang.
After all, for more than twenty years, the Li Family had been seriously struggling to make ends meet.
Providing for the Eldest Master’s studies had already been quite financially consuming, Patriarch Li’s and the crops in the field were simply not enough.
Besides, although Matriarch Wang was extremely stingy and miserly, the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone used by Patriarch Li, the Eldest Master, and Yuwen were all of the highest quality. In addition, except for the Third Branch, everyone else had clothes with no patches on them.
“Master, Master, on my way back, I saw that someone furtively sneaked into the main house and even drugged everyone!” Li Shu bounced around, telling Bailian of his discovery.
Bailian was taken aback for a moment, and then she thought that it should be her Fourth Uncle. He was a compulsive gambler and naturally won over many friends with alcohol and meat.
It wasn’t too hard to believe that he could get his hands on some type of sleeping drug, but to be so ruthless….as to even drug his own parents!
This vile character really did not disappoint Bailian.
“Place this hairpin secretly under the Fourth Master’s pillow.” After Bailian passed the hairpin to Li Shu using her psychic energy, she let the mouse out.
Under the soft moonlight falling onto the Li Residence, a cute mouse scampered into the Fourth Master’s quarters.
Main house
The Fourth Master blew the sleeping drug powder into the room, waiting for it to waft about for a while, before finally sneaking in.
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