25. Danni Suddenly Comes to Her Senses

When the topic turned to her being pretty, adorable, and well-liked, Jiang Ruo’s expression became noticeably haughty, and her downcast mood vanished.

"Grandma, I also bought a lot of flawed goods. Those really didn't cost much..."

As she spoke, she fluttered her beautiful eyes, looking as if she were begging for her grandmother’s praise. If she had a tail, it would have been wagging so fast it turned into a blur.

"There are flawed goods, too..." Granny Liu truly hadn't noticed, and hearing this provided her with a small measure of comfort.

While they were called "flawed goods," they were still high-quality items. Without the right connections, an ordinary person wouldn't be able to buy them; they were usually snapped up by the shop staff before they could even be put out on display.

"Mm, mm, hmm," Jiang Ruo nodded incessantly, her face full of pride in her own capability.

Granny Liu, of course, couldn't let her granddaughter down, and she pulled her into an embrace once more.

"My precious girl is truly amazing, to be able to even purchase flawed goods!"

"It’s all thanks to the good teaching from Grandpa and Grandma..."

Even in her pride, she didn't forget to boast a little.

As expected, dinner that day was delayed for a long time; it wasn't served until well after dark. Sijun had returned from town, and Dajun and Erjun had searched the mountains for a while before the sky turned dark and they followed suit, heading back down. The house had been turned upside down, with every mouse hole and cockroach nest inspected, yet the jade gourd remained unfound.

At that moment, everyone was watching Ruo-ruo with anxious eyes, having forgotten all about their hunger.

Well, almost everyone. Dani—furious, exhausted, and famished, and having covered herself in filth to no avail—had finally stopped her search. After cleaning herself up, she locked herself in her room. "Out of sight, out of mind," she thought. She knew her own state of mind had been problematic lately, and it was better to avoid everyone to keep her temper in check.

But... where on earth had that jade gourd gone? And... was her family’s concern for it perhaps too exaggerated? Was it truly just because of their doting on Jiang Ruo? Dani felt there was more to it; there had to be some untold secret. Unfortunately, whenever the subject involved Jiang Ruo, her father—usually a reasonable man—would clam up immediately, saying only that children shouldn't pry.

The jade gourd seemed to be very important to Jiang Ruo. Once she reached this realization, Dani felt a sudden surge of relief. No matter how important it was, it was still lost, wasn't it? Regardless, this was the first piece of good news she had received since her return.

As long as Jiang Ruo was miserable, she felt wonderful. In her past life, she had the capacity to reach out and help her, yet everyone had turned a blind eye, leaving her to die a miserable death before the age of sixty. In this life, she would drag the high-and-mighty Jiang Ruo down from her pedestal. She wanted to see if Jiang Ruo could maintain that composed, noble expression once her feet were caked in mud.

And her beloved family...

At this thought, Dani’s body suddenly stiffened, and her complexion drained to a visible white. Forgetting her injured foot, she stood up abruptly from the bed, only to be brought back to reality by a sharp, searing pain in her heel.

"No, no," she whispered. How could she have forgotten something so important?

After waking up, her mind had been filled with images of the glamorous Jiang Ruo from the television screen before her death—the woman who seemed untouched by time, young and beautiful, surrounded by children, returning to her hometown to make investments. Her mind had been consumed by the injustice of it all: why, when they were both daughters of the Jiang family, was she the one to be trampled upon and left to rot in the mire, while her parents and brothers never gave her a second glance, their eyes forever fixed on Jiang Ruo?

After waking up and seeing Jiang Ruo being held in the palms of her family’s hands, a maddening jealousy had corroded her thoughts, leaving no room for anything else.

Dani broke into a cold sweat. How could she have forgotten those most difficult years? If not for Jiang Ruo... then they... Dani gasped, a chill running down her spine.

...Jiang Ruo could not be allowed to come to harm.

At this moment, she felt a sudden sense of relief. Fortunately, Jiang Ruo had always been lucky. She didn't want to admit it, but she had to: during the most desperate times, if not for Jiang Ruo and their third cousin, their entire family wouldn't have made it through intact. In the village, there were many elderly people who had starved themselves just so their families could survive.

In that instant, Dani cleared her head. She would stop walking down a dead-end street, stop acting like a bull hitting a wall. Right now, she had no money and no power; even if she wanted to prepare for the future, she couldn't make bricks without straw. All she had to her name was one yuan, twenty-three cents.

Realizing this, Dani’s face turned even paler. No... this wouldn't do. Even if she told them what would happen in the future, no one in this family, not even her parents, would believe her. The only thing she could do now was to be well-behaved, find a job, and marry a reliable man.

With this thought, her muddled memories suddenly clarified. She remembered something else. She hopped on her feet, ran to the main living room, and grabbed the calendar, flipping through it. After finding what she was looking for, she hopped away again, leaving everyone in the room stunned.

The Jiang family members: "..."

Still, it served to break the gloomy atmosphere in the house.

"What... what is wrong with her?" Wang Xiaocao asked, her expression unreadable.

Clearly, no one answered her.

Back in her room, Dani hopped around in excitement. Her brain really had been malfunctioning; how could she have forgotten so many important things? If her memory served her right, the paper mill was hiring in the next few days. They weren't just looking for frontline workers but also office staff. However, there were educational requirements—a minimum of a middle school diploma—and she happened to have exactly that.

Thinking of this, she couldn't sit still for another moment and hurriedly dug out her old middle school textbooks. She felt a wave of regret; she had been back for so long and had done absolutely nothing, wasting so much time. She didn't realize that it was the deep, obsessive jealousy and resentment from her deathbed that had clouded her mind upon waking.

The atmosphere in the main hall began to return to normal.

"Alright, eldest daughter-in-law, you and the others go and make dinner."

"Mother, what about the jade gourd..."

Wang Xiaocao knew how important the jade gourd was to her niece. Thinking of how the little girl had been plagued by nightmares every night when she first arrived, she couldn't help but feel anxious.

"Put the matter of the jade gourd aside for now. Go and make dinner."

Granny Liu sighed. Although she was worried, they couldn't just stop eating because of the jade gourd; they still had to work in the fields tomorrow. As for the other items, she had no heart to inspect them closely, so they were all piled into the old couple's room. Wang Xiaocao, who had been eyeing the goods greedily, opened her mouth to speak but wisely shut it again; if she dared to say anything now, she would surely face a storm. Since these things wouldn't end up in anyone else's hands anyway, Wang Xiaocao forced herself to look away.

That night, except for the younger members of the family and the second daughter-in-law, no one had much of an appetite. They finished dinner in a rush and returned to their rooms, each wearing a look of worry.

Granny Liu slept with her granddaughter, mostly out of fear that the child would have nightmares. Facing her grandmother’s concern, Jiang Ruo complied, even if she felt a bit uncomfortable. However, she was secretly wondering if she should find a jade gourd of similar texture.

It seemed she had a similar jade gourd when she was a child, even the color was about the same. As a child, she had been quite mischievous and, finding it inconvenient to wear, had tucked it away in her "Starry Sky" watch.

Once she woke up tomorrow, she would definitely search for it. Facing everyone’s worried gazes made her feel inexplicably guilty, especially since her grandparents were getting on in years, and constant worry was bad for their health.