"Mother," Chen Lin said viciously, "pinch him under the nose and wake him up. My leg is bad and Father is getting old. If we want to snatch the credit for this, we can’t do it without him."

But before Chen Lin could even finish, the old matriarch had already spotted them—the people bustling about in the pit by the grove of scholar trees.

Just then, the dark clouds were blown away, and moonlight spilled down brightly. The old matriarch’s eyes were sharp, and she recognized the two of them at once.

"Li Shan, Li Shi, so it’s you two! And where’s Mrs. Li? Is she down in that pit? Well, well! I was wondering who was trying to ruin our plans. It was you siblings all along! Just wonderful. Truly wonderful. No wonder they say it’s hardest to guard against a thief in your own home. That venomous bitch Mrs. Li, living off us while her loyalty lies with her own family—she can just wait for the Chen family to cast her out!"

Li Shan, Li Shi, and Mrs. Li, also known as Li Hua, were three siblings born of the same mother.

Although the three siblings didn’t always get along, they were, at the end of the day, immediate family.

Mrs. Li had told them she had a terminal illness with no cure. She wanted to seek out the shaman in Sang Village for help, but she was afraid that if the Chen family found out, Chen Lin would divorce her and bring his mistress into the home. She was also worried that if word got out, it would ruin her children’s marriage prospects.

That was why she had begged her two brothers to bring her to Sang Village after nightfall.

The shaman of Sang Village had a real knack for dealing with the supernatural. She knew why your daughter-in-law couldn’t conceive and why snakes kept appearing in your house. Not only could she help a woman conceive a son, but she could also drive out mischievous spirits from a home and exorcise wandering ghosts that possessed people.

The shaman was said to be omnipotent; she could even cure mysterious illnesses that doctors had declared hopeless.

Seeing their sister so close to death, Li Shan and Li Shi were filled with pity. Ignoring the cold glares from their own wives, they had brought their sister to Sang Village.

Who could have imagined that after seeing the shaman, just as they were preparing to leave, they would stumble upon a carriage that had fallen into a pit?

’They were only acting out of a sense of duty, saving a life—how on earth did that interfere with the Chen family’s business?’

This is where Mrs. Li’s cunning came into play.

She wanted to break away from the Chen family and build a better life for herself and her daughter. But she worried that the conversation she’d overheard outside the kitchen might have been a lie. She was also afraid that if her brothers discovered Chen Wanyue’s abnormality, they would seize control of her and her daughter to get their hands on the money.

So, after mulling it over for several days, Mrs. Li finally came up with a plan.

According to Mrs. Li’s plan, after rescuing the people from the accident, they were to hurry off somewhere else.

The excuse would be to find a doctor for the two victims as quickly as possible, but the real reason was her fear of running into the old matriarch’s party on the road and having her good deed exposed.

She knew the old matriarch and Chen Lin’s characters well and had calculated that they would surely arrive later. This would make the merchant feel immensely grateful, leaving him at their mercy.

She was counting on that window of time.

If everything went smoothly, she could get rich overnight, and Chen Lin would never suspect her involvement.

Then, once she had the means, she could finally kick Chen Lin to the curb and take Wanyue with her.

The one thing Mrs. Li hadn’t counted on was that the old matriarch and her group had arrived long ago and were lying in ambush not far away.

The moment there was a stir, they had rushed over, catching her completely off guard.

’But what’s done is done. What now?’

’A mountain of gold and silver is within my grasp; there’s no way I’m letting it go.’

Mrs. Li ignored the old matriarch, instead mustering all her strength to lift the carriage.

As she heaved, she soothed the merchant pinned underneath. Her voice was soft and gentle, a stark contrast to her usual self—she was like a completely different person.

"Don’t be afraid. My family is here, we’ll definitely get you out. You’re both very lucky. To get into an accident like this and have us come to your rescue just in time. If we hadn’t happened to be passing by, I’m afraid by the time you were discovered tomorrow morning, you’d be two dead bodies." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The merchant’s face was buried under the carriage, with only the lower half of his body visible. He mumbled, "Thank you, madam. I can never repay you for saving my life. Once I am free, I will be sure to reward you handsomely."

A smile bloomed across Mrs. Li’s face, but her words were modest. "We aren’t after your silver. We just happened to come across this and knew we had to help. Otherwise, my conscience would bother me for the rest of my life."

While Mrs. Li was sweet-talking the merchant below, Li Shan and Li Shi struggled to hold back the old matriarch and Chen Lin, who were lunging toward them.

At first, Li Shan and Li Shi had simply thought they were bringing their sister to see the shaman. Even when she lingered after her consultation, talking endlessly with the woman, neither of them had suspected anything was amiss.