The sky cleared the next day, but the weather didn’t grow warmer. In fact, the cold was so bitter it made one’s fingertips ache.

It’s not the snowing that’s cold, but the melting—the old adage was never wrong. But this level of cold was still hard to bear.

It was simply too cold. Chen Wanqing and her mother had bundled up their heads and faces, but their noses were still running from the freeze. The cold made their eyes water, and when they spoke, puffs of condensation made it look as if they were in a celestial realm.

It was still early, and a thin layer of ice coated the ground. Every step had to be taken with extreme caution.

Chen Song had returned to the county government late the previous night, leaving the two hapless men, Zhao Jing and Chen De’an, to drive the carts.

Since Chen De’an’s driving skills were a cause for concern, all the newly packed trunks were loaded onto the horse-drawn carriage he was managing. Everyone else rode in the ox-cart driven by Zhao Jing.

The land was frozen solid, and they didn’t see another soul on the road. But that did little to curb Xu Suying’s desire to chat.

Despite not having slept a wink, she was in high spirits. She relayed all the news she’d gotten from Chen Song the previous night to her daughter and son-in-law.

"Those relatives of ours must have heard some gossip somewhere, because they ran off to Sang Village in the dead of night to scavenge for a windfall. There’s a main road near Sang Village; it’s a major route for anyone traveling north. And with the new year approaching, you’d expect some people to be traveling through the night to get home to their families. That part is predictable. But people falling off their horses? That’s been rare over the years. However, with the heavy snow we just had, the roads are covered in black ice. A horse’s hoof could easily slip, leading to a bloody accident for the rider. It’s not so surprising, I suppose.

"Some ’genius’ must have put two and two together and figured they could scavenge something valuable or profit off the dead. And what do they do? They went to lie in wait in the middle of the night."

"So according to you, Grandmother and the others got what they deserved?" Chen Wanqing asked her mother.

"All day long, all they think about is getting something for nothing instead of earning money through honest work. Windfalls don’t just fall from the sky. If you’re lucky, one won’t hit you. But if one does, you’d better stop and wonder if it’s a blessing or a trap."

Xu Suying leaned in and added, "And this time, things went sideways! The people in that carriage are bad news. They found ropes and a blood-stained handkerchief hidden inside. The owner is either some degenerate young master from a rich family or a vicious human trafficker. If Li Hua really did take them home, they’d better watch their backs. Instead of getting any money, they might be the ones getting sold!"

As Xu Suying spoke to her daughter, she had no idea how close she was to the truth.

After all, weren’t the Li siblings nearly sold off themselves?

When Chen Song arrived with a group of constables and surrounded Li Shan’s house in the Li Family Village, the entire Li family was busy fawning over the two "honored guests." They were even preparing to go into town to hire a carriage to personally escort the men to the Prefecture.

According to the "merchant," his family home was in the Prefecture, and he was in the mahogany furniture business. With the new year upon them, he was hurrying back for a family reunion.

Unfortunately, the heavens hadn’t been kind, and he’d been caught in several snowstorms along the way. To avoid being late, he had sent his attendants ahead with the New Year’s gifts for his relatives, telling them to catch up slowly. He and his steward, meanwhile, were traveling day and night to reach the Prefecture.

But who could have predicted such bad luck? As they were passing Sang Village, his horse’s hooves slipped, and he was thrown into a ditch.

If it weren’t for the timely assistance of his kind benefactors, he and his steward would have surely perished.

A debt for saving one’s life must be repaid tenfold. Unfortunately, all his belongings had been lost in the ditch. The only valuable item he had on him, a Jade Pendant, had also shattered.

He hadn’t wanted to trouble his benefactors any further, but to keep his family from worrying, he implored them to help him one last time. If they could just escort him to his home in the Prefecture, he would surely purchase a residence for them as a token of his gratitude.

The entire Li family was left dumbfounded by this pie that had seemingly fallen from the heavens.

They were in no state to consider any of the inconsistencies in the story.

The three siblings even began to argue over the reward they had yet to receive.

Li Hua argued that it was thanks to her that they’d had this stroke of luck. Therefore, when they got the residence, it had to be registered in her name.

Li Shan and Li Shi, of course, refused. They admitted that they’d only stumbled upon this good fortune because of her, but she was already on death’s door. "What would you do with such worldly possessions?" they argued. "You can’t just leave it to someone with the surname Chen, can you? Could you rest in peace in the afterlife if you did? Besides, we two brothers did most of the heavy lifting when we rescued them."

They pointed out that they were the ones who had fronted the money for her medicine. For the past two days, it had been their wives and daughters serving the "honored guests." All she, the married-out aunt, had done was offer a few empty words of concern; she hadn’t lifted a finger to help.