Chapter 57 (Bonus Chapter) Who could be so petty!

Song Tiancheng nodded, reached under his pillow to fish out a piece of broken silver, and handed it to him. "See if this is enough. If it falls short, I'll make up the difference for you later."

Chen Shunzi decisively pushed his hand back. "How could I take your silver! You've helped me out so much, I can't take this from you."

Knowing all too well what kind of temperament Chen Shunzi had, Song Tiancheng said unhurriedly, "If you won't take it, I'll find someone else."

Chen Shunzi clapped his hands in exasperation. "Now is anyone else going to be as devoted as me? Oh, Brother Cheng, you—you're just being too polite!"

"Well, are you going to take it or not?"

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll take it. But I'll say this first, this is definitely way more than enough. Goodness, you could practically buy a whole pig with this."

Chen Shunzi felt the silver was almost too hot to handle in his palm. "Where would all this even be needed!"

"If there's any left over, you can just bring it back to me."

"Alright then, I'll definitely get it done properly for you."

Chen Shunzi stayed a little longer to chat, but the other man urged him along after just a couple of sentences. He had no choice but to leave briskly, only praying he could make it back before dark.

Meanwhile, Huanya and Mother Song followed the path Huanya had taken up the mountain earlier, and indeed ran into quite a few others who were also heading up to gather firewood.

Huanya quickened her pace slightly.

"Huanya, you've run deep into the mountains again?" Mother Song frowned as she looked at the unfamiliar surroundings ahead of her. "I told you last time not to go too far in."

"This time was an accident! I didn't come by myself," she explained. "I met an auntie on the way, surnamed Xu, Auntie Xu. She walked with me."

"Xu? Which Xu?" Mother Song asked. "Where does her family live?"

Huanya answered honestly, "She said it's the third house at the entrance of the village, and even told me to drop by for a visit sometime when I'm free."

Upon hearing this, Mother Song's expression shifted, and she said, "She has no shame at all! Don't pay any attention to her from now on. That woman is narrow-minded and greedy for petty gains. If you run into her next time, stay far away!"

With that, Mother Song blamed herself. If only she had walked a few steps further at the time to see clearly who Huanya had run into, she wouldn't have let that Xu family woman take advantage of the opening!

Such an unlucky creature!

Seeing the utter disgust on Mother Song's face, Huanya was glad she hadn't said much to the woman earlier. She nodded repeatedly and said, "I know now."

"Right, did she do anything to you? What did she talk to you about?" Mother Song asked, pulling Huanya over to look her up and down thoroughly.

Huanya smiled and shook her head. "Nothing, I'm just fine. She just asked what treasures I had found on the mountain before."

She recounted the encounter with Auntie Xu and a few others, mentioning that she had even taken them to the place where she picked perilla leaves.

Mother Song's face darkened instantly at the news. "It must have been that big-mouthed Guiying who spread it! Why is she always so unable to bear seeing our family do well?"

Huanya tried to soothe her, "Auntie, don't get too angry. We had already picked those perilla leaves clean, and they didn't think much of what was left anyway. It's fine."

Mother Song said coldly, "This isn't about whether anything came of it or not; it's about her deliberately targeting our family!"

Huanya was momentarily stunned, then heard Mother Song say, "I didn't tell you before, but back when Chengzi passed the imperial exams with high honors, that same Guiying came to our house to propose a match, pushing a younger female cousin from her own clan. Since Chengzi was already betrothed to someone else, naturally we couldn't agree, and her expression turned ugly right then and there."

"Later on, I found out she had already taken silver from the other party! You tell me, isn't this kind of person bringing trouble upon herself? She dared to take benefits from people over an uncertain prospect, and when she got rejected, she turned around and blamed us instead. Don't you think there's something wrong with people like that?"

The more Mother Song talked, the angrier she grew. Huanya quickly patted her back to help her catch her breath and gave her some water to drink, and only then did Mother Song slowly calm down.