Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Back home, Liu told Zhang Youtie about it as if it were news. To her surprise, Zhang Youtie was quite moved after hearing it.

"When our family becomes successful, I'll build a big garden too."

Hearing his crazy talk, Liu scolded him, "He's a high-ranking official, and we're just ordinary people. Even if we have money, we can't build a garden like his. You should finish digging our pond first before thinking about anything else."

"Hehe, we'll dig a pond, and when we have money, we'll build a few houses. We'll use blue bricks for everything, and we won't need any soil to build them up."

"I think you should go wash up and go to bed. The big brick house might arrive sooner."

"..."

At this moment, a person dressed in black was kneeling in the study of the Shen family mansion.

“Young master, this was taken from that kitchen. I was afraid of being discovered, so I only took this small pot.” He then handed over a small gourd about the size of a palm.

"Hmm," the young man said, toying with the small gourd in his hand, waiting for the person below to continue.

"I have something else to say, but I'm not sure how," the kneeling man said hesitantly.

"Just say what you want to say, you know my personality."

"Yes, one day I seemed to see that little girl from that family suddenly produce something out of thin air, but it was too far away and the sky was a bit dark, so I'm not sure."

"Oh? You mean their little girl, not an adult?"

"Yes, she is that family's daughter," the kneeling person answered with certainty.

"Understood, go ahead and continue observing. Return if you discover anything else."

"Young master, I also discovered yesterday that an old lady went to their backyard and ruined all the remaining watermelons." As he was leaving, the man remembered something else.

"Don't worry about anything else. Now that they're rich, naturally some people will dislike them. That's their business. Don't interfere; just do what you're supposed to do."

"Yes, I am resigning."

As the study door closed, the young man, who was toying with the gourd in his hand, suddenly let out a low chuckle.

"Heh, is the secret just this water?" Shen Jingheng muttered to himself, looking at the gourd in his hand and recalling what his subordinate had just said.

Suddenly he stood up abruptly, left the study, and walked straight in one direction. The servant waiting at the door saw him come out and quickly followed behind to serve him.

Arriving at a flowerbed, Shen Jingheng stopped. Looking at the half-dead peonies inside, which his mother had planted, he realized that although more died than survived each year, his family was wealthy. As long as his mother was happy, what did it matter if they transplanted all the new ones every year?

He waved for the servant to step back, then took out a palm-sized gourd from his sleeve, opened it, picked out a nearly withered peony, and poured it over the base of the flower. He didn't dare pour too much, stopping only when the gourd was half full. He put the gourd away, preparing to leave, intending to check on things again tomorrow. But the scene that caught his eye as he stood up left the usually composed and collected Master Shen speechless with astonishment.

The flowers, which had initially seemed half-dead, stretched out their branches and stems as if stretching, their stems growing thicker and taller before his eyes. The previously scattered blossoms were instantly coaxed into full bloom, accompanied by an intoxicating fragrance. Pink, white, yellow, and red flowers—large, vibrant, and captivatingly beautiful. Although it was night, the lanterns illuminated the nearby peonies, their beauty still clearly visible.

Gazing at the scene before him, Shen Jingheng forgot to breathe for almost a minute before finally letting out a long sigh. Two more minutes passed, and the flowerbed before him finally stopped changing. Turning back to look at the servant carrying a lantern in the distance, Shen Jingheng calmed his racing heart and turned to walk back to his own courtyard.

The servant was far away and unaware of what was happening, but later he could smell a strong floral fragrance. However, since there were large areas of peonies planted there, the fragrance was not surprising.

"Remember, no one has come to the flower garden tonight." Shen Jingheng's voice suddenly came, startling the servant.

"Yes, sir." The servant quickly realized that the master was speaking to him and hurriedly responded. Although he was puzzled, he dared not ask.

Shen Jingheng sent the servant back to rest, then returned to his study. The scene he had just witnessed was beyond his comprehension; he couldn't rest easy until he uncovered this secret. On his way back from the flower garden, he thought of a book of strange tales he had once read, purely for relaxation and entertainment. But now it seemed that there were still many things in this world unknown to him that might actually exist.

Xia Yu and her family were completely unaware of what had happened. However, Xia Yu kept dreaming about the kitchen while sleeping at night. After a night of disturbing dreams, she recalled the dream again the next morning while eating breakfast, feeling somewhat uneasy. She wondered if her daytime thoughts were mirroring her nighttime anxieties. She reasoned that her recurring dreams about the kitchen stemmed from her suspicion that someone had entered it.

After breakfast, before the sun had even risen, the workers arrived with their tools. Zhang Youtie led everyone to work as usual. Liu Shi and Xia Yu stayed home to do housework.

"Mother, let's pick all the watermelons in the backyard and put them in our spatial storage. We should plant other vegetables in the backyard too," Xia Yu discussed with Liu Shi, who was dyeing cloth for the second time.

"Okay, you go ahead, I'll soak these fabrics and come right away."

After receiving her mother's affirmative answer, Xia Yu went to the backyard without taking anything with her.

"Mother..." A panicked cry came from the backyard.

Having never heard her daughter exclaim like that before, Liu was startled. She quickly wiped her hands on her clothes and ran to the backyard.

"Oh my... how could this be?" Liu was also shocked by the scene before her.

The ten watermelons that were originally left were smashed on the ground, their red flesh scattered everywhere. The sweet smell attracted a swarm of black greenbottle flies, and none of the remaining watermelons were good. They were all rotten.

After recovering from the shock, Liu led Xia Yu to carefully examine the watermelon vines. They actually found some things: several pieces of watermelon rind that had been gnawed on, not very cleanly, but clearly human teeth marks.

"Which heartless bastard did something so inhuman, deliberately ruining such a perfectly good thing?" Liu was trembling with anger, not caring whether her daughter was present or not, and blurted out her rant. At first, she thought some wild animal from the mountain had damaged the watermelon, but the irregular pieces of rind she found showed that it had been deliberately smashed and then eaten. The human teeth marks were different from animal bite marks. Besides, what animal would know to pick out the red flesh and eat the green rind without touching it?

"Mom, I'm going to find my father." Xia Yu was also furious, and her first thought was to find her father.

"Come back, Xiaxia. You can't talk to your father about this. Go to the old house and find your grandmother." Madam Liu took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Go find my grandma. What can she do besides scold us?" Xia Yu asked, puzzled. If her grandma knew that so many watermelons had been ruined, she would definitely scold her mother.

"Listen to your mother, go to the old house and call your grandmother." Looking at the watermelons scattered on the ground, Liu Shi's teeth were practically grinding together. The person who did this was wicked to the core; even if they had been stolen and eaten, she wouldn't be this angry. This was clearly deliberate bullying.

Seeing that her mother was so certain that she wanted to call her grandma, Xia Yu sighed and ran towards the old house.