Chapter 26: How Did the Rumors of the Beating Spread?

Old Mrs. Fang looked at Fang Ning deeply.

"Grandmother, that young master is no ordinary person; our Fang family cannot afford to provoke him." Fang Ning said in a low voice.

He was the type to bully honest folk. She had only looked away for a moment, and her father had already jumped right into the trap he dug. It was truly terrifying.

"Very well, I will handle it. Ningning, if only you could always be this sensible and keep me from worrying, that would be wonderful."

"I certainly will. Don't worry, Grandmother; just wait for your granddaughter to earn you the title of an officially honored lady."

"Your mouth is as sweet as if it were coated in honey. I shall wait and see, then—don't you dare try to fool me."

"I promise."

Old Mrs. Fang chuckled and patted her head. "That’s my good granddaughter!"

Si Yuheng staying at the Fang residence for medical treatment was a settled matter. Once the Fang family returned home, Old Mrs. Fang spoke of the arrangement, then specifically called Fang Ling and Fang Fei into her room to inform them that Si Yuheng was already betrothed. "Our Fang family would rather be the wife of a poor man than the concubine of a rich one, do you understand? Keep any improper thoughts to yourselves; otherwise, no one will be able to help you when the time comes."

"Yes, Grandmother, I understand," the sisters replied in unison.

"Now that your eldest uncle's family has turned over a new leaf, even if we don't become vastly wealthy, we should have better days ahead. You are both still young; listening to your elders is never wrong..." The old lady rambled on for quite a while, giving them repeated instructions before finally letting them go.

In truth, both Fang Ning and Old Mrs. Fang were suffering from the typical anxiety of those who care too much. Fang Ling had no interest in Si Yuheng, and Fang Fei was still just a child, far too young to understand affairs of the heart.

As for Fang Ning, Liang Anrong was still angry at Fang Cinian for letting Si Yuheng share a room with their daughter. Fang Ning retreated to her room early to avoid being caught in her mother's crossfire. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep, though she never learned whether her mother had forgiven her father.

The next day, because Fang Cinian had to wait for Si Yuheng, he did not join Fang Ning and the others on the mountain. Up on the slopes, the air was filled with chatter. The people of Futian Village had indeed all come up to pick bayberries. The trees nearby were quickly claimed, so Fang Ning and her family had to venture deeper into the mountain.

Fang Ning couldn't help but wonder why the entire back of the mountain was covered in bayberry trees. She even suspected they had been planted by someone in the past. However, according to the villagers, the area was uninhabited when their ancestors first settled here.

Because Fang Yu had received a double portion of radish cake yesterday, he was back in high spirits and followed Fang Ning up the mountain again. "Ningning, the radish cake yesterday was delicious. Can you bring more next time?" he asked.

"You want more? I’ll have my mother make some for you later. Her cooking is even better than the food at Quanwei Restaurant."

"Can she? I heard your mother is quite fierce; she beat your father so badly yesterday that he couldn't even get out of bed today."

Fang Ning: "..." Where did these rumors come from?

"Ningning, I'm a little scared of your mother."

"If you want to keep eating delicious food, keep that thought to yourself and never say it again. And that business about my mother hitting my father? Bury that in your stomach too!"

"Oh." Fang Yu instinctively recalled the sight of Liang Anrong hitting him and couldn't help but shudder.

Fang Ning: "..." Why did children have such vivid imaginations?

Once Fang Ning had filled her basket with bayberries, she climbed down from the tree. "Mother, I’m going to look around nearby."

"Be careful, and don't go too far."

"Got it." Fang Ning set off with her sickle. Before long, she stumbled upon a log covered in wild wood ear mushrooms. She immediately thought of cold-tossed wood ear. She hurried back, grabbed a spare basket, and harvested the fungi from the log.

When she returned, Zhao caught sight of them and was startled. "Ningning, why are you picking that? It’s poisonous and can't be eaten. Oh, child, you can't just pick random mushrooms on the mountain. Throw them away!"

"Second Aunt, these are edible wood ear mushrooms. Once you dry them and soak them, they make for a crisp and delicious dish. I'll have my mother make you some cold-tossed wood ear later; it's wonderful," Fang Ning explained.

"How can you eat just anything? Aren't you afraid of something going wrong?"

"My father is a physician. You can have him take a look; he'll prove I'm not lying to you."

Liang Anrong climbed down from her tree at that moment. Seeing the basket of mushrooms, she smiled and said, "Second Sister-in-law, those are indeed edible. Back when we were short on food, I made them often. As long as they are prepared correctly, there’s no problem."

Hearing this, Zhao said no more.

"Living by the mountain, we eat from the mountain. There is so much edible food here. It's already the fourth month; if it were earlier, we could have even dug up wild Chinese yams."

"Sister-in-law, how do you know so much about what's edible?"

"Well, in the past, when we weren't farming or making money, sometimes we couldn't scrounge up enough to eat, so we had to find food on the mountain ourselves," Liang Anrong said, improvising an excuse.

"So that's how it is." Zhao did not press the matter further.

Once everyone had filled their baskets and back-baskets, they headed home together. Back at the old Fang residence, many villagers had already arrived to sell their bayberries.

Fang Cinian had no money on him and had originally intended to make them wait for Fang Ning, but Si Yuheng asked him the purchase price and then told the villagers to weigh their own fruit. He took it upon himself to keep the ledger and pay them, then instructed them to have the goods delivered to Quanwei Restaurant.

When Fang Ning arrived home, she saw Si Yuheng sitting in the center of the courtyard, keeping the accounts. Whether he was bowing his head to write or directing the villagers to weigh their bayberries, he was perfect from every angle—a masterpiece of nature!

Fang Ning snapped out of her daze and realized he was paying the villagers himself. This was a total takeover of her business—he wasn't even leaving her a single copper of profit? That was too much!

She walked over and asked, feigning ignorance, "What is the young master doing?"

"Weren't you buying bayberries? I'm helping you keep the books," Si Yuheng said, lifting his eyes.

Fang Ning glared at him: Is this how you do business?

Si Yuheng tapped the paper on the table. Fang Ning looked down. It was embarrassing; the price he was recording was four coins.

"I will settle the rest with you later," Si Yuheng said dismissively before looking at the villagers and adding calmly, "Next."

Fang Ning pretended nothing was amiss and went to dry the wood ear. Seeing this, Zhao immediately said to Fang Ling, "Go help dry those mushrooms. Since when does a younger sister do all the work alone?"

Fang Ling hurried over. "Ningning, let me help."

"It's alright, we'll do it together. Big Sister, have you never eaten wood ear before?"

"No, I haven't," Fang Ling replied, helping to spread them out. With their combined efforts, it was finished in no time.

Si Yuheng was multitasking, listening to the conversation between Fang Ning and Fang Ling. He became increasingly convinced that his suspicions were correct. These past two days, he had had You'an thoroughly investigate Fang Ning's past. The current Fang Ning had undergone a radical change in temperament after falling into the water—and it wasn't just her; the eldest Fang and his wife were also like completely different people. The villagers of Futian believed they had been "enlightened" after a brush with death, but he did not believe such nonsense. After all, he was someone who had lived through a past life...

Noticing the gaze that periodically landed on her, Fang Ning felt her hair stand on end: What on earth is this guy planning?

"Is the physician Fang in?" Just then, someone stumbled into the courtyard, calling out in a frantic voice.