"Heh."
Tian Jing sneered, "What's wrong? You look guilty, did I hit a nerve?"
"You destroyed the courtyard yourselves, and now you're blaming me? Remember the feeling of suffocating when your neck was choked that day?"
"Do you want me to help you recall it?"
Old Master Xiao looked up in annoyance, "Don't try to scare me, you wouldn't dare kill me."
"Yes, you're right."
Tian Jing admitted, "I don't dare to kill, but I can torture. I can do it once a day." She chuckled, "If you enjoy it, I can do it three times a day, before each meal."
"Pfft."
Li Zhengguo quickly covered his mouth. He genuinely didn't mean to; his wife's words reminded him of a duck flailing its feet when its neck was grabbed.
Old Master Xiao glared at Li Zhengguo, then said to Tian Jing, "Fine, I won't talk to you. Call your grandfather back, I have something important to tell him."
Something important? Besides the item beneath the courtyard, what else could be that important?
"It's the same if you tell me. My grandfather no longer concerns himself with any matters."
Old Master Xiao refused, "No, this is my Xiao family's business, you are an outsider."
"Alright then."
Tian Jing nodded, "Since I'm an outsider, please leave. Outsiders don't entertain people like you, who are also outsiders to me."
Old Master Xiao was furious, "Chen Jing, can you stop being so unreasonable?"
Tian Jing's voice was louder than his, "You entered my home and called me an outsider. Who is being unreasonable here?"
"If you want to talk, go talk in your own courtyard. Outsiders don't care to entertain you. Get out!"
The Xiao family, driven out of Li's gate, returned to their temporary residence under the gaze of the villagers.
"Ah Feng."
Tian Jing was still fuming, "Wash those teacups the outsiders used thoroughly, boil them with hot water. They're dirty."
"Yes."
Returning to the east room to comfort her daughter, Tian Jing lowered her head, her shoulders shaking.
Li Zhengguo followed her in, putting an arm around her shoulder, "Mischievous."
"Hahahaha."
Tian Jing couldn't help but burst into laughter, "It was too much fun. It's a shame that to avoid suspicion, I couldn't witness the expressions on their faces at that moment. It must have been priceless."
"You, and a perfectly good courtyard is gone."
Tian Jing was nonchalant, "It wasn't mine anyway, so if it's gone, it's gone. The land is still valuable, but they can't sell it back to me now, what a shame."
Li Zhengguo got down to business, "They probably want to involve your grandfather in searching for what's missing."
"Hmph."
Tian Jing snorted heavily, "They don't understand affection. When grandfather finds out, he'll be so hurt, how could he possibly help them search?"
...
Grandfather Xiao was invited by Old Master Xiao's servant to the courtyard where the Xiao family was staying. As soon as he sat down, he heard his elder brother tell him that the courtyard had collapsed. It was due to his brother's digging.
Grandfather Xiao was puzzled, "Why were you digging? If you had to dig, why didn't you hire a professional?"
Seeing the genuine expression on his third brother's face, Old Master Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't his third brother who had taken it.
"We're here to ask you to return to the capital with us and report to the police."
Grandfather Xiao didn't understand, "Report to the police? Report what?"
Old Master Xiao lowered his voice, "We were digging under the courtyard because there was a box buried by Father."
"Buried by Father?"
Grandfather Xiao's voice rose.
"Yes, buried by Father. Forty-eight boxes were buried. Twenty-eight of them contained your mother's dowry, and the other twenty contained the Xiao family's fortune."
Forty-eight boxes? Forty-eight boxes plus sixteen boxes equaled sixty-four boxes. That was equivalent to a full dowry shipment. His grandfather had prepared a full dowry shipment for his mother.
Stunned, Grandfather Xiao burst into tears. His father had taken back his mother's entire dowry. What great fortune, what great fortune.
His father had used his mother's dowry to hide the Xiao family's assets; his father had buried the Xiao family's assets under the courtyard and fled with his other family. Completely disregarding whether the enraged warlord would execute him and his mother.
When he went to join his father, his father, to avoid any trouble, built him a separate villa in a remote ranch. Before his death, under pressure from his two sons, he gave him his personal savings.
Heh heh heh, his personal savings that made him cry with emotion, were they his father's way of buying off his guilt with compensation? Even at death's door, he was still being deceived, and he had been deceived for more than half his life. And his mother, had been deceived by his father her entire life.
Heh heh heh, his father had never truly trusted him or his mother. What a tragedy, what a tragedy.
"Master!"
Xiao Shuyuan cried out, hugging his collapsing master.
Tian Jing, who had been keeping an eye on the situation, heard Xiao Shuyuan's cry and immediately jumped over several walls into the courtyard. Rushing into the main hall, she embraced her grandfather, "Uncle Xiao, let go."
Xiao Shuyuan took a step back, and Tian Jing, holding her grandfather, rushed out of the courtyard, not forgetting to leave a parting shot, "Uncle Xiao, collect your medical fees."
On the way to Dr. Yang's clinic, Tian Jing took the opportunity to transfer her superpower into her grandfather's heart.
"Dr. Yang, quickly."
Dr. Yang was startled by Tian Jing's shout. Just as he stood up, a figure flashed before his eyes, and a person was laid out on the examination bed.
"Quick, my grandfather is overcome with grief."
Yuan Man immediately took out her needle bag. As Dr. Yang parted Grandfather Xiao's clothes, Yuan Man's fingers moved, and in a blink of an eye, she inserted more than a dozen needles into his chest, twisting them continuously.
Dr. Yang also took out his needle bag and inserted several needles into Grandfather Xiao's head.
Before long, Grandfather Xiao let out a long sigh and opened his eyes.
Tian Jing exclaimed with joy, "Grandfather, you're awake?"
Dr. Yang leaned over, "Old friend, at our age, what is there to be so distraught about? You've made yourself sick. A stroke is no joke."
"Don't you want to walk on your own legs anymore? Don't you want to play chess with me?"
"Alas~" Grandfather Xiao sighed deeply, "Tiantian, you already knew, didn't you?"
"Yes, I guessed from the Second Master's attitude."
"Is everything settled?"
Tian Jing nodded vigorously, "Everything is settled."
"Hahahaha, hahahaha."
Grandfather Xiao suddenly burst into laughter, the silver needles on his body quivering. Dr. Yang and Yuan Man quickly inserted a few more needles each, stopping the trembling of the needles on Grandfather Xiao's body.
"If you really wanted to die, you should have just jumped into the Ku River. Why are you torturing this old bone of mine?"
Facing Dr. Yang's complaint, Grandfather Xiao, without time to apologize, joyfully expressed his feelings. "I'm happy, I'm happy. After a lifetime of schemes and calculations, it all turned out to be in vain. I'm delighted, haha."
"Enough, enough. How big of a matter is it that you need to be so happy or sad? In life, nothing is more important than life and death. Enjoy your twilight years."
"Yes, you're right. Nothing is more important than life and death. These small matters are not worth my concern, not worth it!"
The last tear trickled down Grandfather Xiao's eye. He would no longer grieve or be angry for that insincere person.