Worried something terrible might happen to her son, the old lady had Chen Lin stay at the clinic, planning for him to return home only after his fever subsided.

Now, thinking back on it, Xu Su Ying was still fuming. "Just you wait. The moment that old lady gets back to the village, she’ll come to our house demanding silver."

She shot a glare at Chen Song as she spoke. "And you! Even though he’s your brother, we haven’t had anything to do with him for ages. He’s a good-for-nothing who took out high-interest loans; let him pay them back himself. It’s not like the debt collectors are coming after you, so what were you so worked up about? And you kicked him! Now look, you’ve kicked up a whole mess of trouble."

Chen Song knew he was in the wrong. "I was just furious at the time."

’Even if we weren’t born from the same mother, he’s still called me his big brother for all these years.’

’He never learns anything good, only the bad. Who knows who put him up to swindling me. I’ve been bottling up this rage for days. It’s a miracle of self-control I didn’t kick him to death yesterday.’

"When the old lady comes asking for silver later, you keep your mouth shut. Just watch how I handle her."

"Wife, I’m the one who hurt him. It’s only right that we give him a little something..."

"You shut your mouth! The little silver you earn all goes to supporting this family, with not a single coin to spare. Whatever’s left in this house is all mine, and if I say I’m not giving her any, then I’m not! I’ll give her jack-squat! If that old lady dares to ask me for silver, then I’ll dare to demand my hens back, and the angelica root Qing’er left out to dry."

The hens were ones Xu Su Ying was raising for eggs, but the old lady was a crafty thief. She snuck in when no one was home, snatched two of them, and left.

But she had a stroke of bad luck and ran into Xu Su Ying and a few others, including Second Aunt, on the road. The old lady was the first to cry out, "These hens are from my eldest son’s family! A gift to show respect for us old folks. Don’t think that just because the family’s divided, they’ve forgotten us. My eldest and his wife are good people, always thinking of us..."

With such a heap of public praise, Xu Su Ying didn’t want to become the village laughingstock, so she could only stomach the old woman’s shameless behavior.

Another time, Chen Wanqing had laid out some angelica root in the courtyard to dry for making incense. The old lady must have heard about it from someone, because she snuck over again and poured all the angelica from the wicker basket into a burlap sack she’d brought.

When Xu Su Ying later went to her house to get it back, the old lady claimed that she, an old woman, needed some angelica root to get rid of the gamy taste while stewing meat.

’Since when does stewing meat require half a sack of angelica root?’

’What a load of bull!’

The old lady did end up stewing meat with angelica root, but only after selling most of it. The meat she stewed was bought with the proceeds. She bought a full three *jin* of it, too. If the old lady hadn’t subsequently eaten so much fatty pork that she came down with a vicious case of diarrhea for two days, leaving her too weak to get out of bed, Xu Su Ying would have demanded that three taels of silver back no matter what.

The old lady’s bizarre antics were too numerous to count. In the past, Xu Su Ying couldn’t be bothered to list them all, but now, just talking about them filled her with rage.

The other people on the ox cart didn’t dare to breathe too loudly, listening as Xu Su Ying tore into everyone from the old family home.

Even the crooked-neck tree at the gate of the old residence was a problem. Most of its canopy leaned out over the road, which was a real nuisance for people coming and going. Everyone knew the old lady was unreasonable; if you went to complain to her about it, she’d just turn around and hack the top of the tree off herself.

When they finally arrived at the new house, the passengers practically tumbled out of the cart. They all started fussing with their clothes and hoisting their baskets, each trying to look busier than the next.

The people inside the house heard the commotion and hurried over to open the gate. It wasn’t the old couple, but the agent, Sun.

When Sun saw that the whole family had arrived, a brilliant smile bloomed on his face and refused to leave. This was especially true when he saw Chen Song; his eyes and brows practically overflowed with delight.

He no longer dared to call him "Mr. Chen," fearing it was too familiar and might seem presumptuous. Instead, it was "Magistrate Assistant Chen" this and "Magistrate Assistant Chen" that. He went on about how great Chen Song’s recent accomplishment was, claiming he had long seen that Chen Song was no "fish in a small pond" and that he never expected his fortunes to turn so dramatically in just a day or two.

Who doesn’t enjoy a little flattery?

Chen Song was only human, and all humans like to hear pleasantries.

But he hadn’t been the one to find the treasure chest. In the past, if his son and daughter weren’t around, he might have just soaked up the adulation. Now, however... ’Please, just stop talking,’ he thought, feeling his face flush with embarrassment.

The old couple selling the house soon appeared behind Sun. They enthusiastically threw open both sides of the large gate, welcoming the family into the courtyard.

When Xu Su Ying and Chen Wanqing had come to see the house earlier, they had only wandered around the front courtyard and taken a quick glance at the back.

The house was neither new nor old, but it was clear the owners had taken meticulous care of it, as it looked very clean.

Since there were only a few people in their family, they all lived in the front courtyard. Although the rear courtyard also had solidly built rooms, no one lived in them. Instead, a half-*mu* plot had been cleared in the middle of the yard to serve as a dedicated vegetable garden.