Frederick Thorne returned home that evening, but Lana Steiner wasn’t with him. After dinner, Goldie Thorne came over looking for Felix Thorne, telling him they needed to discuss something. He looked grim.

Tang Xiaonan’s heart skipped a beat. ’Have they found out something about Fairy Liu?’

"I want to go too."

Tang Xiaonan hugged Felix Thorne’s arm and wheedled. She wanted to know the truth, and she also wanted to find out if Lana Steiner was actually pregnant. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Felix Thorne picked up his daughter and went over with Goldie Thorne. Phoebe Huxley was clearing the table; she would head over once she was finished. As for Jim Thorne, he had run out to play the moment he finished his meal, joining his village friends to catch eels and loaches along the edges of the paddy fields. At home, they already had a large bag of the fish drying in the sun.

The atmosphere at the Thorne house was strange. Raina’s face was alight with joy, but Byron Thorne and his son, Frederick, looked grim and preoccupied. The moment Felix Thorne walked in the door, he asked, "So you went to the county seat? What’s the verdict?"

"Lana Steiner’s pregnant! She’s more than two months along. It’s all thanks to our little Xiaonan! Come, let Grandma give you a kiss."

Overjoyed, Raina scooped Tang Xiaonan into her arms and peppered her face with kisses. She’d been waiting for this for over a decade. At long last, her second son would have a child of his own. Whether a boy or a girl, it didn’t matter. At least now there would be someone to look after him in his old age. ’Nephews are never as dependable as your own flesh and blood.’

Tang Xiaonan held her breath as Raina covered her face in slobbery kisses, but inwardly, she was delighted. ’This time, Lana Steiner didn’t take Fairy Liu’s medicine. The baby should be safe now, right?’

’My second uncle and aunt’s fate won’t be as tragic as it was in the book now, will it?’

"This is wonderful news. Why aren’t Dad and Frederick happy?" Felix Thorne was also quite pleased.

"They’re just being paranoid. They said Linden’s mother had ill intentions when she introduced Fairy Liu to me, but how is that possible? Sure, Linden’s mother can be a bit calculating, but we live in the same village. No matter how nasty she is, she wouldn’t go so far as to sabotage one of her own, would she?" Raina said dismissively, feeling her husband and son were being far too suspicious.

Goldie Thorne sneered. "I wouldn’t be so sure. The Golding family is rotten to the core. I went to Rosillia Village to do some digging. It turns out that a few of the pregnant women who took Fairy Liu’s medicine in the past had things go terribly wrong. Their babies were born either stillborn or deformed. One was born without eyes or a nose, scaring the midwife half to death. The families kept it quiet and had the midwife secretly dispose of the babies, so not many people know about it. It took me days of asking around just to learn this much."

"Then Linden’s mom must not have known either."

It wasn’t that Raina was particularly close to Linden’s mother. She just couldn’t believe a fellow villager would do something so devoid of conscience. Besides, what good would it do Linden’s mother to harm her daughter-in-law and grandchild?

That woman loved to take advantage of petty opportunities and would never do anything that was all work and no reward. She certainly wouldn’t do something that harmed others while bringing no benefit to herself.

"I’m not finished," Goldie Thorne bit out, his eyes flashing with fury. "Those families might have kept quiet, but a secret that big can’t be kept forever. The stories eventually spread, or else I’d never have heard about it. In the last two years, Fairy Liu’s business has dried up. The only people seeking her remedies are outsiders now. No one from Rosillia Village trusts her anymore. Linden’s mother goes back to her family home there all the time. You really think she wouldn’t know?"

’They almost left my second brother without a single descendant. I’m not letting this go. I’ll destroy the entire Golding family if it’s the last thing I do!’

Tang Xiaonan’s heart sank to the pit of her stomach. ’So it really is connected to Phoenix Golding. I just don’t know if this was her mother’s idea, or if Phoenix was the one pulling the strings. If it was Phoenix... that woman is absolutely terrifying.’

’And what kind of deep-seated grudge could Phoenix Golding possibly have against my second aunt to make her do something so vicious?’

’Harming a person’s descendants has always been considered one of the most sinister things you can do. No one would stoop to something so vile unless there was a blood feud between them. What on earth was the real story between Phoenix Golding and my aunt?’