Chapter 338 - 336: Is She Hysterical?

Chapter 338: Chapter 336: Is She Hysterical?

Seeing that it was about time, Gu Nuan Nuan said to Cao Cao in her mind, "Let’s head back."

"Master, you’re not going to walk around a bit more? Why don’t we take this chance to go get all the gold and jewels from that old, abandoned house in the village?" Cao Cao suggested enthusiastically, floating in front of Gu Nuan Nuan.

They had discovered the gold and jewels in the village’s abandoned house back in the year she was reborn. It wasn’t that they hadn’t had a chance to get them over the years; rather, Gu Nuan Nuan’s intuition told her the time wasn’t right, so she’d left them alone. Now, she shook her head again. "Let’s not touch them yet. For some reason, I just have this vague feeling that it’s still not the right time."

"Oh? Then we’d better not touch them," Cao Cao said, propping its chin on one hand. "A Cultivator’s intuition is usually very accurate. If Master has a feeling like this, it either means it’s not time for that windfall, or if we take it now, we might face some karmic consequences later on. Either way, it’s not worth the risk for something so small. Besides, that stuff doesn’t really mean much to us anyway. It won’t make a big difference whether we have it or not. After all, over the past two years, Master has collected plenty of those comic books, stamps, commemorative coins, watches... and all that liquor that will be worth a fortune in the future. If we’re ever really short on cash, selling just a little of that would bring in a lot of money."

Gu Nuan Nuan rolled her eyes at Cao Cao and didn’t take the bait.

’If I’ve been reborn and still end up broke, that would be a pathetic failure.’ She was only collecting those things on a whim, really. She planned to leave them to her children and grandchildren as keepsakes. If they ever needed money in the future, they could sell them. As for her, she had no intention of ever selling them herself.

She was more curious about this idea of a Cultivator’s intuition now. "So that’s really how it works?" she asked.

"Yes."

Cao Cao nodded. The Cultivation World had too much common knowledge, most of which was in its inherited memories, but it wouldn’t bring it up unless it was relevant. Now, it began to chatter on, taking the opportunity to give Gu Nuan Nuan a primer on the basics. With this lesson underway, time flew by, and before they knew it, the two had returned to the Zhang family’s old house.

"You finally get a chance to go out and have fun, why didn’t you stay out longer?" Hearing a sound, Wen Xiu poked her head out of the kitchen, spatula in hand. Seeing it was Gu Nuan Nuan, she couldn’t help but ask with a smile.

"Where’s Grandpa?" Gu Nuan Nuan swept the area with her Divine Sense and knew her grandfather wasn’t home. Only her grandmother was in the kitchen, where a huge pot of dough-drop soup—her favorite—was simmering.

"Your grand-uncle invited him over for drinks. He said we should go over for dinner, too." Wen Xiu beckoned to her. "It’s good you’re back early. My dough-drop soup is almost ready. Quick, ladle some out while it’s hot, and I can make another pot. This afternoon is all about making food for you. Think of what else you’d like to eat."

"How about stir-frying a separate wok of bean sprouts? We still have a lot of spring roll wrappers, so I can make spring rolls to eat later." After a moment’s thought, Gu Nuan Nuan entered the kitchen and took a large basin of raw bean sprouts out of her storage bag.

"You like scallions, so Grandma will add extra for you. But this is all vegetarian; there’s no meat. How about I make you a pot of sweet and sour pork ribs?" Wen Xiu asked.

"Okay!" Gu Nuan Nuan beamed. "Use fried sweet potatoes in it, not fried potatoes. I’ll peel the sweet potatoes."

"Whatever you want," Wen Xiu agreed with a smile.

"Grandma, I happened to overhear something when I was out today." Gu Nuan Nuan took out several large sweet potatoes and started peeling and chopping them, her hands busy but her mouth not idle.

"Oh? What was it?" Wen Xiu, whose hands were also busy, asked casually without paying much mind.

"Third Aunt’s son, Tianci, has gotten sick again recently."

"Sick again? Sigh. Doesn’t he get sick for ten days to half a month, every single month? With such an unreliable mother, every time he’s ill, she insists on performing rituals and making him eat all that strange stuff. How many times have we told her to take him to a proper doctor? She just won’t listen. It’s a wonder he could ever be healthy."

Wen Xiu paused what she was doing for a moment, then let out a long sigh. "Each generation manages its own affairs. My words are useless as a grandmother. Your Third Uncle is spineless; he’s long been used to listening to his wife. And your Third Aunt has perfected the art of paying lip service. She’s all meek and agreeable to your face, but behind your back, she does whatever she wants. She’s so obsessed she won’t listen to anyone."

"It’s a good thing Laidi does well in school and brings in so much ’scholarship’ money for them every month. Otherwise, I’d like to know what she’d use to squander. To be honest, your grandpa and I have thought about being harsh and cutting off that monthly ’scholarship’ we give them for Laidi, or maybe keeping half to save as her dowry. But then we thought about it... if we really did that, Laidi would probably go back to having a miserable time at home."

"Of all your cousins, she’s the most pitiful. In the early years, we had no idea her own parents were treating her like that behind our backs. Sigh. And they’re her own mother and father! Isn’t she their own flesh and blood? How could they be so heartless? It’s a good thing your ’scholarship’ idea worked. For the sake of the money, they’ve at least let your cousin Laidi live a bit more comfortably these past few years. Besides, we’re not short on money now anyway, so why make her miserable again just for that..."

Wen Xiu could never be in a good mood when her third son and daughter-in-law came up. In previous years, she and her husband would have people keep an eye on their second and third sons’ families. That way, they would know as soon as anything happened. But later, they saw that both families were constantly causing all sorts of petty drama that just made them unhappy. Gradually, she and her husband lost interest in their every move.

They still had people watching them now, but they’d given instructions: unless those two families got into bad company, got involved in something they shouldn’t, were being set up and used, or some other major incident occurred, she and her husband didn’t want to know about the other trivial matters.

"But I was passing by Third Uncle’s house today and overheard some commotion inside. It sounded like Third Uncle and Third Aunt were arguing. Because they were fighting so fiercely, I got curious and listened for a bit. It seemed like they were arguing because Third Aunt doesn’t want to let cousin Laidi go to school anymore."

"Not let Laidi go to school? Why? Laidi is a good student! The ’scholarship’ she earns them every month is in the highest bracket. The total for a year is more than the bride price a typical family would pay to get a wife," Wen Xiu said in surprise. "Has she lost her mind? She’s willing to give that up?"